hospital photo [over]load!

so.blessed.

let's be honest..

First, I need some help with a new blog title - Kelly is going to give my blog a nice re-do now that Gage is here so I'd like to come up with a catchy new title - leave your suggestions as a comment or email them to me - kanderson611 [at] comcast [dot] net - Thanks!!!  {and a BIG thank you to Kelly!!}

Things with me have been going alright.. sometimes I forget I just had a baby 10 days ago and try to do too much.  To be honest, the worst part of recovering after this birth has been my milk coming in.  (sorry if that's TMI but I'm just being honest!)  My chest has been so painful for the past week.  I used cabbage like the midwife suggested, which worked with my other 2 kiddos, but it just wasn't cutting it this time.  Thankfully I think my milk has finally dried up.. maybe soon I can ditch the sports bras and wear a normal bra =)  My back hasn't hurt nearly as much over the past few days but I am still cramping and bleeding but hopefully that will end soon.  Here is a 1 week post baby belly shot, for the final page of Gage's belly book!

Gage has been an awesome baby so far!  He is super laid-back and really doesn't cry too often.  He eats well, doesn't spit up much and is a great burper =)  I am completely head over heals in love with him.. it's such a powerful feeling!!  Today was the first day on my own with the kiddos while Steven slept (since he works 3rd shift) and it actually wasn't a complete disaster!  Gabby doesn't really understand yet that Gage drinks bottles too.  She gets a little confused when Gage is eating and she can't have the bottle.  All in all I think everyone is adjusting well! 

Check back for some photos - I need to sort through the millions I have taken over the past few days =)

Gage’s birth story

So the journey to meet our son began bright and early Saturday morning, around 5:24 a.m. when I decided to start timing the extremely uncomfortable contractions that had kept me awake all night. They began at 10 minutes apart and were 5 minutes apart within an hour of timing them. I decided to call the doctor’s office around 6:45 a.m. to see if they’d want me to come in.. thankfully the midwife said to come in and get checked. I don’t think I would have been able to last much longer at home. I didn’t need a shower since I had already taken two over the course of the night. (I only slept for about an hour.) I woke Steven and began throwing the last minute items into my hospital bag. My mother-in-law Lil quickly arrived to watch the kiddos while I went to get checked out. Steven decided he needed to shave before we could leave, but thankfully he works quickly!

We arrived at Women & Babies Hospital around 7:30 a.m. and were through registration quickly. Kim was the lady that checked me in and she was extremely nice and chipper for it being so early in the morning. Our triage room was #103 and our first nurse was Ursula.  I immediately thought of The Little Mermaid! She hooked me up to the heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor and my first monitored contraction came at 7:56 a.m. Steven was with me and of course trying to make me laugh and smile in between the increasingly painful contractions. I was so nervous they were going to tell me I wasn’t in labor.. with Gavin and Gabby my water had began to break so that was my sure sign to head to the hospital.. sadly, I was ‘new’ at deciphering these real vs. false contractions. My contractions ranged from 5 to 7 minutes apart and were almost taking my breath away. After being monitored for about an hour the midwife Jana (who I love!!) came in to check me. She first tested for amniotic fluid.. negative.. then she check my cervix and told us I was 4 centimeters dilated.. WAHOOOOO.. TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

Not too long after that we were greeted by our labor and delivery nurse, Harriet. Imagine my horror when I realized it was the same nurse who treated me during THIS visit to triage. I took a deep deep breath, asked the Lord for an open heart, and proceeded to cover up my bare bum to take the walk from triage to my labor and delivery room. We were in room #65, right next door to where Gabby was born! The jacuzzi tub was just about ready for me but first I had to go over all the basic info with Harriet and sign a couple of papers. I got into the tub around 9:30 a.m. – the same tub I was in during my labor with Gabby – pretty cool! I didn’t last long in the jacuzzi.. at this point the contractions were every 3 minutes and just a little too much for me to handle. After the jacuzzi I was given an IV and had some blood drawn. Thankfully the IV was painless.. Shawna did a great job! My mother-in-law Lil arrived and let us know that Gavin and Gabby were now at their Aunt Patty’s house and having loads of fun! Dr. Steiber, the anesthesiologist, came in around 10:25 a.m. and began the epidural process. He was wonderful! He was such a nice, genuine person who really made me feel at ease with everything. {I am definitely going to write a letter to the doctor’s office about him.. he really was spectacular!} After my epidural was in and began working my mom and niece Shayna arrived and Lil was let back into the room. Mom and Shayna brought some very very sweet gifts for me and the baby, including a baby blue crocheted infant hat that my grammie had made.. oh my did this make me cry! About 20 minutes after my epidural Jana came in and checked me again.. I was 6 to 7 centimeters dilated!

Around 11:40 a.m. I began feeling pressure with each of my contractions. I wasn’t in much pain from the contraction but could certainly feel the pressure. (I should mention that through all of this my nurse Harriet was great.. very funny, sweet, laid back, attentive and understanding.. nothing like what I thought she would be considering my previous experience with her.) Jana came back around 12:05 p.m. to check me because of all the pressure I was having.. I was 8 centimeters. At that point she decided to break my water.. boy o boy I had a lot of fluid! I had my bladder drained at 12:20 p.m. and began the ‘wait’ for Gum Drop to make his way down so we could begin pushing. The pressure began to increase and I was feeling it constantly, not just with contractions. Jana checked me at 1:15 p.m., I was fully dilated and the baby was at +1. I began pushing at 1:16 p.m. – Steven was to my left, my niece Shayna was to my right at my head, my mom was holding my right leg and Lil was next to my mom taking pictures. I pushed through 2 contractions.. only 2 minutes.. and Gage David was here, 1:18 p.m.!! My sweet surprise, my absolutely beautiful, healthy son was finally here!! The entire birth was amazing.. everyone that was there with me was amazing. Gage laid on my chest for a while, I was crying and praising God, everyone in the room was crying.. it was magical! The nurse took him to weigh him, clean him up, all that good stuff. We announced his name to everyone, which was a lot of fun! He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 19 ¾ inches long. {right before I started pushing everyone guessed how much he would weigh and both Steven and I guessed he would weigh 8 lbs 2 oz.. we were right!} His APGAR scores were 9 at one minute and 9 at five minutes!! After Gage was nice and clean and wrapped up he came back to his momma and the song ‘Today Is The Day’ by Lincoln Brewster came on my iPod radio. This short chorus of the song has been my ring tone for the past 7 months or so, so when I heard it I didn’t pay much attention to it at first, then I listened to the words a little more closely and realized how powerful they were at that moment.

Today is the day You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.  Today is the day you have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.  And I won’t worry about tomorrow, I’m trusting in what You say, Today is the day!

Today is the day, the day of my third child’s birth. The child I had no idea I longed for so badly, the child I was so scared to bring into the world, the child that was an absolute complete surprise but such an amazing blessing. I won’t worry about tomorrow, I am going to trust in my God and know that with Him nothing is impossible and our life as a family of 5 will be wonderful!

I promise to share more about our hospital time.. and to of course share more photos of my lovely kiddos =)  Things are quite crazy around here but we sure do feel blessed!

busy!

Oh my goodness we are busy around here!  I promise one day I will return and tell you all about Gage's beautiful birth.  My hubbs has been home this entire week which has been fantastic.. he has been taking care of Gavin and Gabby and I am on baby patrol.  He has been on Gav and Gabby patrol because I am not allowed to lift or carry either of them for 1 to 2 weeks.  Gage has been a great baby so far - he's very laid back and he does not cry too loud or very often.  He sleeps a lot but sadly seems to have his days and nights a little mixed up.  I am certain he got use to the noise of our house while in my tummy because the crazy loud noises around the house while he sleeps don't seem to bother him one bit.

As I said, I promise to share about his birth - it was wonderful - I pushed for 2 minutes - and was able to share the experience with very special people =)  And most importantly, Momma and baby were healthy!  What a blessing!

 

{more photos to come.. of course.. when children permit!}

Welcome Gum Drop!

 

Gage David Anderson

10-9-10 - 1:18 p.m. - 8 lbs 2 oz - 19 3/4 inches

DR visit update

I guess I will start with my visit last week since I forgot to post about it.  Nothing real exciting happened at that visit.. except one thing.. it finally happened.. after 3 pregnancies.. peeing in a cup at every single DR visit..  I dropped the cup in the toilet!!  Oh my goodness I was cracking up.  It may not seem all that funny to any of you but every time I pee in the cup I'm afraid I'm going to drop it.. and go figure, I knew I couldn't make it through 3 babies without it happening.  {so I held on a little extra tight today!}

My visit today was a little more exciting!   I was nervous because it was with the midwife I saw a couple of weeks ago in triage.. and I didn't really care for her much that day.  I tried to have an open mind.. maybe she was having a bad day that day, maybe I was being 'overly-hormonal' that day, maybe it was both.. but I was going to go into the appointment this morning with no judgments and just let it be.  Turned out.. I was completely wrong about her.  She must have been having a bad day when I saw her in triage because she was not at all the same person!  She was very cheery with me, was laughing with me, seemed genuinely interested in my questions and really made the appointment very pleasant!  [it may also have been b/c I was her first patient of the day and it's Friday!]  She asked if delivered early with my other pregnancies and I shared that I was 1 day early with Gavin and 11 days early with Gabby, but Salley had stripped my membranes with Gabby.  Immediately she asks, well would you like me to strip your membranes today?!  I did not hesitate for one mili-second.. yes, yes please, if you're open to doing it and think it's okay then yes please!  Then, I panicked a little.. I thought about my memories of having the membranes stripped with Gabby..  I was scared it would hurt just as bad, if not worse this time around.. but I went ahead and undressed, got up on the table and prayed.. and prayed and prayed and prayed =)  She did her business.. and it was super uncomfortable.. but not nearly as painful as it was with Gabby.. thank goodness!!  Angie, the midwife, said that she was able to clear a good bit of the membranes and she definitely thinks that should help me along.  Yipppeeee!!  I hope that means our little sweet surprise of a son will be coming this weekend =)  I've been walking my little heart out today and plan to do the same tonight.. maybe I will take the kiddos to the mall since Steven has to work and we will walk walk walk until our legs fall off =)

DR visit stats:

Weight: +21 lbs.

Blood pressure: 123/75 - this is the highest it's been but still within normal range, so no biggie!

Urine: didn't ask.. I'm sure it was fine or they would have said something

Heartbeat: 143 bpm!!

38 weeks - 10 months - 4 years!

Note to self – MUST buy Beauty & the Beast on DVD!!!!!!

• Maybe I should do 3 separate posts.. this may be pretty long.. hopefully you’ll stick around until the end!  Let's start with my adorable 4 year old son, Gavin Arthur!  We celebrated his 4th birthday on Saturday and we had a great time =)  Somehow we managed to squeeze 35 family members into our home and no one got hurt!  Gavin received so many wonderful gifts.. I know he was a happy fella.. and it was great to spend a few hours with almost all of our family together in our home.  I was completely exhausted and a little hormonal during the party but I think I held it together fairly well.. Here are some photos of our fun day =) 
  
  My little sweet potato is 10 months old today.. no more single digits!!  I cannot believe how fast the time has gone; it seems almost impossible that in just 2 short months she will be one year old. {YIKES!}  I feel terrible because I never did complete her 9 month post - I did the photos but never posted any fun 9 month facts.  Hopefully she doesn't hate me for that when she's older =)
  
• You weigh about 22 lbs and are likely 30 inches long (I will weigh and measure you tomorrow to be sure!)
• You are still wearing size 3 diapers
• Most of your new fall/winter clothes are size 12 months except for some pjs that are 18 months!
• You still only have 2 teeth on the bottom, although I don't think it will be long before some appear on top
• Crawling.. well, you've mastered that.. and at this point can crawl faster than your preggo momma can walk!
• You pull yourself up on everything and are a pro at walking along the furniture!
• You still absolutely love music!
• And you love any of big brother's toys that you know you are not supposed to play with
• You definitely know your name and respond to it - I also think you understand 'no'
• Puffs are one of the greatest things in the world to you - you would eat a whole container of them in one sitting if we let you!
• You are great with your sippy cup and seem to really like juice
• Clapping, waving and high-fiving are constant activities for you now!!  (now we need to work on learning to blow kisses!)
• You still are a fantastic eater - 3 meals a day with 3 to 4 bottles a day [and tons of puffs!]
• Your hair is growing and is curly and oh-so-adorable!!
• You still have not said 'mama' but we're working on it!
• that nose.. oh Gabby, momma loves your adorable nose =)

Here is my 38 week belly post!  (maybe it will be my last one..)

How far along: 38 weeks 3 days

Weight gain: + 19 lbs

Stretch marks: I keep seeing that mederma stretch mark cream comercial.. think it works?

Any new baby items: I did get him a couple new outfits; Our friends Natalie and Travis, “Aunt Natalie and Uncle Travis” got us a Babies.R.Us gift card along with an adorable rattle for Mr. Gum Drop - THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I am excited to use the gift card =)  My Aunt MaryLou and Uncle John also bought Gum Drop a couple adorable outfits and gave me some other baby related items - I can't wait to see him in the one octopus outfit they bought for him!!  THANK YOU Aunt MaryLou and Uncle John - and thank you for making the long drive to come for Gav's birthday party!!

Any new maternity items: nope.. I'm actually thinking about trying to sell a few items that I don't fit into anymore..

Best moment of the week: hearing his heartbeat at the DR on Friday;

(please just enjoy the lovely heartbeat.. don’t pay any attention to the ‘need to throw away fake birkenstocks’ on my feet!) celebrating Gavin's 4th birthday on Saturday with our wonderful family; knowing that we are less than 2 weeks away from meeting our sweet surprise little man!

Sleep: negative.

Movement: not as much the past few days.. maybe he's resting up for his arrival!

Gender: blue team =)

Labor signs: I am ready for them now! (well, let's be honest, I am terrified of labor but 100% ready for it.. if that makes sense!)

Belly button in or out: out.

Food cravings: ice, apple pie, sweets, WINE!!!

What I miss: oh you already know all this stuff - nothing has changed - but I am so close to being able to enjoy many of the things I have missed =)

What I'm looking forward to: meeting my son.

Weekly wisdom: If you were put on trial for being Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Milestones: As you know, you've arrived at the final leg of your pregnancy journey, and if you're still carrying your little love around, they've just about reached their birth weight (somewhere between 6 to 8 pounds is average depending on whether they're a boy or girl). There really isn't a lot to report on baby this week, so lets do a quick recount of where we're at: all internal organ systems are pretty much ready for the outside world, they've got their meconium stockpile building up (their first black baby poo), lots of healthy baby fat, a rapidly developing brain (that'll keep growing with them for years to come), and they've more or less reached official baby status-- all they need to do is "head out" and say hello to the rest of the world and especially their ready-to-pop momma.

[please don’t mind all the un-edited photos, I’m too lazy..]

Here are some other random fun photos!

    

{my kiddos are so darn cute}

we were taking down a wall at work so my coworker Amy decided to trace my tummy.. and add some other creative touches of her own =)