Labor and delivery of Rodrik McCoy

fyi: Some of the pictures that follow might be slightly graphic.

My amazing labor went like this:

-Finally hooked up to pitocin at 11am.

-Anaesthesiologist poked his head in at noon-ish and asked if i would like my epidural then because he was going to a meeting at 1 o'clock and would be unavailable during that time. I hesitated momentarily because i wasn't really in pain and didn't think to get the epidural before then; and he looked at me and said "were you wanting to feel any pain today?" Bless him. So i got it then. I'm really glad i did. Even though they are scary. He did a really good job.

-They "checked" me about every hour. I was a 3 at the epidural and stayed a 3 for about 2 hours, then went to a 4 at like 2:00ish. I was checked right before 3:00 and was still a 4. Zach and Clarissa came at 3:00 and stayed for about an hour. 

-By the time they left i was feeling the contractions pretty bad and was getting nervous--but realized i had never pushed the "self-medicate" button they give you with the epidural, so i pushed it and was feeling TONS better after about 30min. you can push it like every 15 minutes. So that is what i did from there on out and I got REALLY numb. I really didn't need to push it as much as i did. Next time i won’t. It took like 6 hours for me to not be numb. TMI: My body couldn't figure out how to pee because it had been numb for so long---like i didn't even feel the urge even though i hadn't pee'd in forever. Wouldn't have been a big deal but my bladder was taking up my entire stomach which pushed my uterus WAY up and to the side--the nurse said that is bad. So they had to put a catheter me later that night--around midnight.  gross. And seriously--like 3 quarts of pee came out. NOT joking. The nurse was AMAZED. Anyway I can pee now.

-So I started not feeling the contractions at about 4:30 and was bored and had Justin call my mom and sister (Chanel) to come visit. We figured we were in for a fairly long haul because we had gone from a 3 to a 4 in like 4 hrs--not exactly the speed of light. We thought we had quite the wait ahead of us.

-My mom and Chanel showed up at about 5:00 just in time for me to be "checked". My mom was actually on the phone right before i was checked and was telling my Grandma "oh ya, she isn't even close--last they checked she was at a 4, so you don't have to hurry yourself." She gets off the phone and the nurse is like "You are complete; you are dilated to a 10." WHAT??!?

-So then it's like craziness, they are calling the Doc and bringing in all the stuff to do the actual delivery. My mom was frantically trying to get my other sisters there in time because I was planning on them being there for the birth. And me and Justin were in slight shock that it was now and really already time and the baby was almost here.

-There was a big stress part at this point for a little bit because the baby's heart rate dropped WAY low, like in the low 70's and they couldn't get it up. So that was REALLY freaky. I remember that. They were trying to get the doctor there asap; we were all really scared. But then, after intense silent prayers and after I had been on oxygen for a bit with my mom holding my leg up in this weird way the baby started doing a lot better. I just had to have my legs spread eagle with the left one lifted up and bent back, completely exposed. :)

-At around 5:20 my doctor, Dr. Judd, or should I say Dr AMAZING arrived. I firmly believe if he had delivered my 1st it would have been a WAY better experience...but i loved my other doctor too; Dr. Judd is just REALLY good. Amazing. He instantly knew, just by feel, before i even pushed, that Rod was coming out wrong; posterior, and so he just sticks his hands up there and moves the kid completely--thank you epidural. I didn't see what he did but i saw the faces of everyone that did. Their eyes all went huge. And then they all took a step back--at the same time. haha. That was funny.

-So then i push for a whopping 15 minutes (SO SO SO much better than 3 1/2hrs...seriously??) Rod was born at 5:45. Done and done.

-I was SO happy. That was all i could think over and over. I just kept thinking "I'm so happy". And i couldn't stop smiling. It was amazing. He was SO cute and so angry. :) It was all just amazing and wonderful. yay! 

Hazel (4 days old) and Rodrik with my mom. New little cousins!

 We love you baby Rod!

xoxo

The morning of the 25th of May...

I was scheduled to be induced May 25th at 10am. 4 days after my due date. This is me the morning of. 10am is SO much better than my 5:30am induction with Jax. EVERYTHING about this labor/delivery and just the general experience was SO much better with Rodrik than with Jax. Millions of times better in every way. Happy 2nd pregnancy to me!!

Because of my last experience of almost starving to death during my 24hr labor and having zero energy and happiness; we made sure to do a big, good breakfast. We went to "Joe's" across from the University Mall. It was pretty good; and was a fun last meal before the new babe. It was nice to just spend some fun time with Justin and Jax.

Jax was not being very photogenic...he was darn cute in person though. Staying true to himself he ate very little, even though we had bacon AND sausage, which he usually really likes. They were bigger than the kind we get at home though, so i think it threw him off... plus, why would he eat bacon if he has a chocolate milk bottle? :)

Hehe, i LOVE this smile!! What a cute kid!

Picture of our grub! Yum! Justin got the eggs, sausage, and hash browns thing, and i got a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. with a side of bacon and eggs--just in case Jax decided to venture out of character and actually eat something--anything...nope.

What a fun time with my boys!! Such a good last memory of when we were just a family of 3!

Even with the later inducement time we were still running late, Orem hospital was SO nice. We didn't even get there until like 10:30, and they didn't even care. Gave me the biggest best room in the hospital with the hugest window ever. I LOVE that place.

Here is the one picture we took pre-rod's arrival. Zach and Clarissa were down for the U2 concert and stopped by before they had to go back to Colorado. Love you guys!

Jaxton's #2 Birthday

Jaxton's birthday was on Saturday the 14th. It was a TON of fun! The weather held out JUST long enough for us to finish our party up. We had the party at an awesome park by our house and the kids would probably have loved the party if playing at that park was all we did the entire time...:)

 Jaxton's cousins all came, Max, Mairee, Ethan, Katelyn and Lincoln...Lincoln is only like 6wks old... He LOVED it. :)

 

  

 Grandpa Gause did the hot dog cookin' while Justin supervised. :)

 Here is more of the crew that came to wish Jax a happy one...

 My dad made that cool board that is propped up behind the kids; it's for "bean bag toss". But once the kids figured out they got bubbles for making it in the circles they all aborted bean bag toss and just did boring bubbles for like 20 minutes. Kids are CRAZY. :)

 I tried to get a picture of the "big kids" playing some fun games on the lawn (Arianne, Gabe, Steve, Jason and Justin)... you can't even see who they are. But they were there and they loved it...or so i told myself. :)

 Look at cute Tasha with the kiddies who are still obsessing over bubbles! Tash is having her baby on Friday!!
(ps. I'm "due" this saturday--5 days. I went to my appointment yesturday and the doctor "checked" me; he actually laughed. I said "What does that mean?" and he said "Well, if there was something to tell, I would tell!" and I was llike, "What does THAT mean?" and he said "This baby's is NOT comin' this week!" Did I really expect different? No. Not for one second. But for some reason it just didn't feel good.)

 Oh cute!! They found a use for the bean bag game board! :)

            Here is us, thanks for snappin the pict mom! :)

 And you will never realize how cute this "duck, duck, goose!" game was. It was SO fun to watch. One kid was "it" and did the "duck, duck, duck" thing and when they "goose!" someone, ALL the kids get up and run around the circle after each other giggling and laughing. Then they all sit down and start again.

There they go! SO cute!! 

I made Jax a Cars cake. It was huge and delicious.

The car was made using a frozen buttercream transfer method that is supper easy. The cake had 3 layers (chocolate, vanilla, chocolate) with pored evaporated milk+sweetened condensed milk over each layer and had strawberries and whipping cream inbetween the layers as well.

Jax LOVES strawberries and LOVED his cake. Made his mom feel good.

 Sadly it was too windy for us to light any candles, so they came off.
 Jax LOVED everyone singing to him.

Presents came next and everyone had fun helping Jax. He's not a super fast present opener, and it was getting windy and cold and my mom had to go to work. :) So the help was GOOD.

SO many FUN presents--what THOUGHTFUL family he has!! Jax loved EVERYTHING!  The squirt guns were a big hit for all.

We got Jax the Radio Flyer Slider Rider. It's got rollerblade wheels in the back that slide around when you turn or break. Really funny to watch. I think my nephew Ethan did a 360, unintentionally--it was a riot. Super cool. :) 

Jax got a Cars helmet from his Grandma Gause--which he couldn't keep on his head for more than 5 sec. but it came with this bell that we can mount on his bike--he LOVED that bell.

It Jax couldn't quite figure it out at the park, he's tried it once for like 2 minutes since then and got a little better. It will take a little practice but i can see him just speedin' around in that thing doing all sorts of slidin'. :)

It was so nice of our families to come play with us!! Thanks for helping us make it such a fun day for Jax!!

Jax- 2yrs old in a week!

These pictures show what Jax spends a lot of time playing: Cars on our entertainment table. He loves playing cars. Sometimes he plays with the big ones shown here, sometimes its those small metal ones, and sometimes it's both. It is SO cute to hear his made-up sound effects and the way that he has the cars drive and line up and fly. I love it.

Under normal circumstances he would have cloths on. But this cloth-less bum was just to cute for a mother to pass up though.

Jax had his 2yr old check-up. Jax HATES the doctors, more than any other child I have ever seen. So it is ALWAYS a HUGE battle and involves TONS of sugar and tears and sad, trembling babies--or just sad, trembling Jax. It's all because of the stupid flu study that we did, they had to draw his blood twice (HORRIBLE---drawing blood from a baby is terrible!) and gave him 3 shots--on top of his immunizations (I think he had 4). These were different appointments so every time we've gone to the doctor its been a SAD day. This was no exception. It also doesn't help that 80% of the time the doctor has to un-stick his badly done circumcision (and that is a BIG youch). This time however the doctor was un-sucsessful (double youch) as a result of that and some other things we had to make an appointment to see the urologists at Primary Children's. So basically, if I were Jax, I would HATE the doctor too. Poor kid always looks so pleadingly at me; I DO hate those doctors too. :(

 

 These are his stats:

30lbs = 78th % for Weight

36.5in = 96th % for Height (He grew 3 1/2 inches in 5 months! He is getting so tall!)

20in = 93rd % for Head Size (He used to be over 100%, so he is growing into that head a little bit!)

It's always fun for me to see how much he's grown; it's really amazing.

 I'm not going to spend very much time on this subject--it deserves none of my crazy ranting. But these are cute pictures and remember how I tried to potty train Jax a week ago? I remember. I'm trying to forget...I was SO prepared, 3 pages of notes from the method I was trying to do, a dolly that pee'd, candy, soda, charts...I'll just say, he had NO idea what the heck I was trying to do. I think he might have thought I had lost my mind.

He looked SO cute in his Cars undies though...Too bad he's not going to wear them until he's 5. ;)

And, my dad has pneumonia (he's on antibiotics), Jax has bronchitis (on antibiotics), and I think that I have something now...gross. Coughing fits, coughing in general, when 9 months pregnant, is not a good idea for a number of reasons... 

2 weeks till baby comes!(-ish) Jax is suddenly as of the last 2 weeks, started to be SO sweet to me. If you know Jax you know that "sweet" isn't usually the first descriptive word that comes to mind...but, It is SO cute, and I love it. I think it's because he knows something is coming, something big that's why he's doing it...The poor kid is going to really have a shock.