Baby Hannah

Well, sense it has been over 3 weeks I suppose I should write about Hannah's birth. I wrote briefly about it in my journal, so I figure this one should be a little more detailed...

First off, we knew we were going in Friday morning to have the baby, so I asked Kyle if he would give me my blessing Thurs. night. It was a great blessing! I was told so many things I didn't even know about myself like being an inspiration to others and always putting others before myself. I am so grateful for the priesthood and the blessings it brings. I felt much more comfortable with the day ahead. I had been nervous in not knowing if Hannah had moved from a transverse position. Anyway...

Grandma Hercules got to our house to stay with the boys around 5:45am and we took off for the hospital. We got there around 6:30am. They had me get into the buttless dress and into the bed. The nurse I had was GREAT! I loved her!!! She was so helpful and you could tell she loved what she did. I did tell her they always try to put the IV into the side of my wrist whatever vein that is, and it never works, they always have to go through my hand. She looked around and found the vein so I let her try once. It didn't go in....hhmm... just like I said.... she said it didn't roll it just clamped up. So, like I said originally she had to do it in my hand. They started the IV and put the monitors on me to feel for contractions and Hannah's heartbeat. My contractions were already coming every 5 min but not very strong. She thought I was already in early labor on my own, but I don't think so as I knew they were coming regularly for a couple days, but I also knew they weren't near strong enough. Then, they had me lay in one side and I said, baby doesn't like this side. Well a few min. later the nurse came back in saying her heart rate dropped....like I said, she doesn't like this side. So, I turned over, and low and behold her heart rate came back up.

We waited for the doc to come in. I was dilated to a 3. He tried to break my water, but Hannah's head was in the way and he couldn't really get a good shot at it. So, he said he would try again around lunch time.

Kyle told the nurse that once I get dilated to a 5 I usually go pretty fast after that. I didn't remember that, so I'm glad he did. It's just getting to the 5. So we were hoping for a fast delivery since I was already at 3. They started the pitocin and we waited. I warned the nurse that for some reason my body seems to get used to the medicine really fast and I need more (it's a good thing I have never been a druggie...haha) She asked what my natural hair color was and I told her blond. She said that the anesthesiologist once told her that fair skinned, fair haired people tend to need more meds....interesting.... apparently it is a fact.

So, the pit isn't really working....I feel the contractions, but nothing crazy, maybe hurting a level 2 on a scale up to 10. They keep turning up the pit. This is going on four hours. Then with one contraction I feel a little fluid seep out. That continues with the oncoming contractions. I told the nurse, she checked me and I was still at a 3 and she couldn't tell that my water had broken. Anyway, lunch time rolls around, the doc comes back, I'm still at a 3, but my cervix was thinned. He moved Hannah's head and more water came out. He was like, Oh, your water must have broken. It was strange though because it was just little seepages, with the boys it was gushes.

They kept turning up the pit and it was starting to look like another long delivery. But around 3pm I started to feel the contractions more. So we called for the epidural so I wouldn't have to be in pain even if it was manageable. Apparently the nurse told the epi guy about my needing lots of meds because he gave me tons! He said I shouldn't need to push the button for more with the amount he was giving me. And he wasn't kidding! I literally could not move my left side. If they needed me to move Kyle had to move me. Weird feeling, but not painful! Love that! Epis don't even really hurt, I mean the worse part is when they give you the shot to numb you and that isn't even bad, maybe after giving myself a shot everyday for 9 months curred me of the fear of them, but still, worth a little pinch to be pain free the rest of the time. It was good we called the epi guy when we did too because he was about to go in for a c-section and wouldn't have been available for a while.

So we are around 3pm, I just had my epi and feeling good. I tried to get some sleep, but sleeping in a hospital is just about pointless with all the people coming in to check this or look at that. The contractions were putting pressure on Hannah, obviously, so they had me put oxygen on and she really like that. I said I felt more pressure and the nurse checked me and I was at a 6, about 20 min later I had her check again and I was at an 8. They called the doc and he was finishing up with his last 2 patients and would be over. Well I really felt the need to push not even 10 min after that and when I was checked I was completely dilated. Kyle could actually see the head with each contraction. I told them I needed to push and the doc came in, got suited up, told me to push and with just 1 contraction and 2.5 pushes she was out!!!!

Born Oct 8, 2010 at 5:41pm. 8lbs 3 oz, 20.5in. She has been my biggest baby yet! But she is beautiful and healthy. She is a great nurser and sleeps through the night, just waking up every 3-4 hours to eat. I love her so much and I am so happy she is part of our family. Welcome Hannah Mae Hercules!

Conner Milk

This post is dedicated to my sister Melanie, since she keeps asking me to post something....

I have yet to write all the details of Hannah's birth, but I will soon, I just wanted to get this little blop down first as I thought it so so funny!

I'm nursing Hannah and we have a boppy pillow. Conner always asks what Hannah is doing and I tell him she is drinking Mama milk. So, now he knows whenever Hannah is lying on that pillow she is eating. Conner loves Hannah so much and always asks to hold her. Yesterday Conner sat down and wanted to hold her. I was about to hand her to him but then he said WAIT! He jumped up and grabbed the boppy pillow and sat down. I put Hannah in his lap (he wasn't wearing a shirt at this time) Then he kind of tilts Hannah and leans toward her and says, "OK Hannah time to drink Conner Milk." hahahaha!!! I was laughing so hard and said, "Conner you don't have milk. It's only Mommies milk she drinks." He just said, Oh.... It was to funny. Hannah's 3 year old brother trying to nurse her...

what's that?

Conner: "Here mama." Holding out his hand for me.

Me: "Thanks Conner." It takes a few tries but finally he puts something in my hand. I look at it and turn it over and just can't figure out what the little white sticky thing is and where it came from.

Me: "What is it?"

Conner: "My buger!"

haha... ewww..... Kyle started cracking up which made me laugh, which made both boys start laughing like they were all in on the whole thing! Oh man, what is next?

oh Conner

This conversation just made me laugh for a long time and I still chuckle just thinking about it. I wanted to write it down so I wouldn't forget. 2 days ago Conner comes downstairs wearing nothing but his undies...

me: "Conner, where are your clothes?"

Conner: "I dunno mama, they just run away!"

hahaha!!!! I love hearing him talk more and more and the funny things he says!

a scoot across the floor

I think to any pregnant women, who has kids, a clean house is just a distant memory....

I am one of those people who likes to get everything done at once and then have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. That is next to impossible while pregnant. Even my doctor has told me I need to take breaks. Just clean one room at a time with a little break in between. But this drives me nuts! Mainly because while I am "breaking" the kids have already messed up the room that I just cleaned. And then you add in being only 5 weeks away from popping out a kid and that doesn't help. She is sitting so high compared to the boys. With Joshua mostly, my pelvic bone killed all the time! Even just to lift up a leg to put on my pants would sometimes bring tears to my eyes, but with her geesh! Get out of my ribs!!! Even at the last doc appointment I had the nurse was trying to find her heartbeat down low and on the sides. It wasn't until she tried right next to my ribs that she could find it. And the nurse was like, wow, she is up high. I know! And try bending over! It has to be one of the most uncomfortable things! I have mastered the pregnancy spreading of the legs to bend over so your belly fits in between them. When it comes to picking up toys/clothes/food/etc it is the worse. Thus I have reverted to the floor scoot.... yes, I scoot across the floor and pick everything up to avoid bending over. It is a little tricky in the bedrooms as those are carpeted. But the rest of the house has laminate wood floors so it is so easy to scoot. I pull a toy box along with me first and go all around, then through the dirty clothes in a pile for Conner to put in a basket and so forth till the floor is clean. The downside, is that I have found pop tart pieces stuck to my bum later on, but I will take that compared to bending over. I'm sure it looks so funny if you were to walk in, since I'm not just staying in one area, but scooting all over. But, you gotta do what you gotta do to get the job done. Plus, the bonus is since I'm not exerting to much energy I can get multiple rooms done at once instead of having to break all the time! Yeah! Hopefully in a few more weeks this little rib-sitter will be rocking in a swing and I won't have to scoot across the floor, but until then, my bum is giving the floor a nice cleaning...

You're starting to sound like a Mormon!

Kyle has made it through his first week and a half of school! Yeah! He seems to be really enjoying it. He gets along great with the kids. His 4th period class is a 50 min long class (like the others) but adds in 1/2hr for lunch and 1/2 for homeroom. He isn't allowed to teach during that time, so he gets to see those kids a big chunk of the day. Well, the other day during homeroom, somehow the kids got on the conversation of drinking. Kyle mentioned how he has never had a drink in his life. The kids had a hard time believing that. Then one of the kids says, "Senor Hercules, you don't drink or do drugs, man you are starting to sound like a Mormon!" hahaha... Kyle said, well now that you mention it, I am one. The same kid then says there is a Mormon who happens to be in one of Kyle's other classes. So, after class Kyle pulls the LDS kid aside and says, "I heard something about you. I hear you're a Mormon. *pause* what ward are you in?" The kid was so surprised and was like "are you Mormon too?!?!?" Anyway, I just thought it was so funny, I wanted to blog about it before I forgot. For an assignment Kyle was having the kids do, they had to write 5 sentences using a verb. One of the kids said Mr. Hercules is CALVO. (I don't know how to write the whole thing in Spanish, or I would have. I was helping input grades for Kyle as he was grading this paper and he didn't know what Calvo meant. I looked it up online and it means Bald!!! haha... this made me laugh for a long time. I thought it was pretty gutsy for a student to write in the first week of class! I think teaching will be full of interesting stories, just like being a mom!

We were invited to go swimming at a previous ward member house this morning. We had a fun time and they even had a huge backyard the kids were playing in with a swing set too. One of the other families there had a little 4 month old baby. Conner ran up to him and just stared at him for a straight 5 min. Then he turns around looks at me and says "look mama, a baby! Can we take him?" I said no and he says "please mama, can we take him?" I told him we will soon have our own baby at home and that his parents will miss him if we take him. Then he ran off and didn't look at the baby again. I hope this means he will be a great big brother! I'm sure he will be!

stinky garage

We now live in a townhouse. We really like it! One of the rules of the community though, to keep it looking nice, is that you are not allowed to have bags of trash in front of your door anywhere or you will get fined. That is fine with me, however the trash bins are a little walk away. Especially when you are 7 1/2 months pregnant in 100+ degree weather! So, Kyle being the wonderful husband he is, usually takes the trash out. I typically tie one bag up and set it in the garage and then within 1-2 days another bag is ready to go out and he takes them both at the same time. This system has been working pretty well, until about a week and a half ago.

I was cleaning out the fridge when I remembered a fruit salad I made that didn't get all the way eaten. Well the fruit had gotten all squishy and I just can't eat squishy fruit, so I put it in the bag, tied it and set it in the garage for Kyle to take out (it was the #2 bag so I thought it would go out that day) Well, for some reason we didn't park our car in the garage so that bag sat out there for over 24 hours in the hot hot hot weather, and decided to leak its juiciness onto the garage floor.... great. Because I opened the door to the garage and just about passed out! It was so gross!!!!! I can't even describe the stench. Obviously Kyle took the trash out instantly, but the damage had been done. I tried getting a bucket with soap and water and just used a broom to clean off the cement. We aired out the garage for a few hours, and it helped, but not perfect. I bought a thick bristled brush and scrubbed it down. It's not perfect, but it is much much better. We can actually park in the garage now without gagging!. The kids ask me every day now too if we can clean out the garage because they loved running around in the water on the floor and helping scoot the water out with the broom. I'm not sure what else, if anything, there is to do to help it be back to normal. I mean, does baking soda work on cement? Anyway, it's not to bad now, and I have learned my lesson about putting squishy fruit in the trash, when, hello! we have a garbage disposal!

It has been GREAT having Kyle as a teacher. I love having a schedule to work with and having a routine. He has been leaving around 7:45am and getting home around 5:30. And he we just got the first pay check direct deposited today. I love that for us! His classes seem to be going well. He intimidated the kids on the first day, but I'm sure they will soon learn he is a goofball and they will enjoy class.

All in all, life is good. We are so blessed! We have so much to be grateful for. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows each of us and knows what we need. He gives us support when we think we can't go on, and blesses us everyday. All we need to do is ask and we shall receive. In church on Sunday, our Sunday School teacher said, "life without God is a meaningless life." Amen brother! If we don't have God in our lives, what is the point? I am so grateful once again for the wonderful life He has blessed me and my family with!