Poor Girl!!

Poor Belle cannot get well it seems like. She came home after I had Ethan with a stomach bug that gave her diarrhea. She was over that for a few days when a mild cough started, and has had that for bout a week. Then last night she was up half the night throwing up only to wake up with more diarrhea.

Can we all just get a break!!!

Awwwww!

Sunday Best

We took Ethan to his first church service. Both kids looked so darn cute.


And just cause they are so darn cute.


More cuteness:
- She calls Ethan "monkey toes". She'll get up on the chair beside the diaper changer and call him monkey toes. Nic was showing Belle his feet one night and called him that and I guess it stuck.

- She loves to hold Ethan. She's always saying "holdy?"

- She's been helping me burp Ethan. She'll come over and pat his back with me.

Hospital Photo

Albeit very small and grainy, here is Ethan's hospital portrait. No more baby mug shots. These people did an excellent job with Belle's pictures and we just had to have a matching one fore Ethan.

Big Sister

Belle came home on sunday and met Ethan. She has wet hair because she had to immediately get a bath. She had thrown up in the car. She spent the next several days sick and feeling kinda crummy.

She loves her new brother. She loves to hold him and give him his bottle. She'll also let us know as soon as he cries.

She said something funny today. While I was changing Ethan's diaper, Belle climbed up on the table and pointed at his umbilical cord. She called it "belly poopy". How funny is that?









His first bath

He's Here!!

Some of you may have already seen my sister's blog and saw some pictures, but here are some more for you.

Ethan Amadeus entered the world at 1:57pm weighing in at 8lbs 5oz and 21 inches long on Thursday Oct. 2nd. He was about 6oz heavier than Belle was. I thought for sure he'd weigh less, going by the ultrasound I had 2 weeks earlier.

I'll post a birth story on this post, but I must say that this experience was MUCH better. Some of you know that I had a horrible tear with Belle and while I still tore this time, it was no where near as bad.

**Warning** Some ooey gooey pictures are included. Don't look if that grosses you out.

Here is me still pregnant. And the proud papa.


I love this picture for some reason. Maybe it's the cute little tushy. Oh and by the way, Ethan did not get a crooked butt crack like Belle. Darn =)


Here is my "what? you want me touch him?" picture. I wasn't expecting them to just throw him on my stomach. With Belle, she had meconium and so they had to wisk her off to the NICU nurses.


Here he is. He looks a lot fuller in these pictures. He's since lost some weight and is down to 7lbs 15oz.



Us getting ready to come home.


Stay tuned for some pictures when Belle gets to meet him tomorrow when my inlaws bring her home.

BIRTH STORY:
7:30 - Nic and I arrive at the hospital for the induction. The nurses were already in the room waiting for me. I got into my gown and worked on getting my IV going.

8:30 - Dr. Davidson came by and broke my water and got my pitocin started. I wasn't expecting them to break my water right off the bat. I was a little scared of the pitocin too cause I had heard some bad things about it. While the Dr. was doing her thing she checked me and I was 4cm 75% effaced.

I just sat back and hung out at this point. The pitocin was doing it's job cause I started getting crampy right away. Nothing too awful though.

10:00 - They were upping my pitocin every half hour or so and things got progressively more painful. Still nothing I didn't think I could handle.

11:00 - Thing are getting a little worse in the pain dept. Enough that I was having to breath through the contractions. I decide that Im not going to be a martyr and ask for the epidural. I figured that I'm going to get one in the end anyways and so why deal with this pain now.

11:45 - The epidural nurse comes in and not a moment too soon. I was really glad I asked for it when I did because the contractions are coming fast and furious at this point.

Once they got the epidural in they checked me and I was at 6cm. It probably took about 45 min to get the epi in once everything got situated and done.

After about 15 minutes the nurses came back cause I was having some break through pain. Nothing horrible, just enough pain that I was feeling it, even with the epidural. That and I was starting to shake uncontrollably. I should've known something was up cause the one nurse looked at the other nurse and just shook her head. They left saying that they were going to get the warmer and call Dr. Davidson.

I pushed my little epidural button since they said it would probably take 30 minutes to take effect. It gave me a little extra dose of medicine to combat the break through pain.

The nurses come back in after calling the Dr. They ask me if I was feeling any pressure, I said no. Not 5 minutes after they leave I do start to feel pressure.

1:00 - They call the Dr back and tell her to head on over. I guess the Dr. had said to just let me "labor down". Well that wasn't needed cause I was ready to push.

So we all just hung out waiting for the dr. to get there. I continued to feel more and more pressure. Sara decides to nurse Brody and send him out with Poppy. About the time the Dr. gets there Brody decides to poop up his back and holds up progress. We had to wait to he got cleaned up so that the Dr. could move in her equipment and we could get started.

1:20 - I start pushing. This time I had just enough epidural that I could feel something, just not pain. We took things a lot slower so that I could "stretch".

1:57 - Ethan was born!! I totally was not expecting them to just throw him up on my stomach. I didn't get to experience that with Belle because she had to be rushed over to the nurses because of the meconium in the water. The nurse actually had to grab my hand and put it on him. While I love my son dearly, I really was just thinking to myself "can't you just clean him first".

He was much bigger than we all thought and I was glad that we didn't wait til he was 40 weeks.

Get out of my belly!!

Here is my final belly shot. Ethan will be evicted next Thurs starting at 7:30. So far I'm 4cm 50% dialated. The dr. said she kinda stretched things out so we'll see if things get moving on their own.

I'm not sure why Belle will not open her dang eyes when we tell her to smile. I hope it's just a phase.

She talk good!

I was always kinda worried about Belle's speech. Several weeks ago I finally got around to calling Early Intervention to have her evaluated. Of course about that time she really started talking better.

Well she had her evaluation today and she is in fact on track with her speech. No need for any kind of intervention. Way to make mommy look like a fool! =) The evaluators had a good time playing with her though and just thought she was hilarious, which she is.

Time for a new movie!

We've caught Belle sucking her thumb or finger while in the car lately. We could not figure it out until sunday. We were on our way home from the grocery and Belle not only was sucking her thumb, but was also holding her ear.

It finally clicked that we've had Robin Hood in the dvd player for a looong time. I think it's time to change things up. =)

Set a date!

Ok so we didn't set a csection date, but a date nonetheless. Dr. talked me out of a csection, but it is still on the table as an option. I will be induced on Oct. 2nd if I don't have Ethan before then. The dr. doesn't want me to go past 39 weeks to try and keep Ethan from getting too big. Hes currently 7lbs 6oz.

Big Sister

We've been telling Belle that she's a big girl lately. Like "Big Girls go to the potty" "Big girls don't climb in the crib" "Big Girls don't lay in the baby glider". You get the idea. Well lately when we say to Belle that she is a "big girl", she'll respond with a "i a sister". Its awfully cute, but I have no idea where it came from. Maybe she's starting to understand those big sister books we've been reading to her.

A potty note: The last 2-3 days Belle has asked to go potty in the evening. I think it's just because thats the time of day she feels that she wants a sticker and would put pee in the potty for it. I guess thats progress. =)

Ethan's room

Here is a pic of Ethan's room so far. It still feels undone, but it's gonna have to do.

Whats for Dinner?

Apparently Belle thought she'd make some Kiki for dinner. Poor kitty thought she'd just lay in the window by Belle's play area. Little did she know that she'd soon become the toy. Funny thing is that she didn't seem all that bothered by the fact that she was shoved into the play oven.

Belle....where's Kiki?




The cat has found some other strange places lately.

Progress!

This may verge on too much information, but we're all girls right? =)

I had my first physical check today by the dr. I'm already 2-3 cm and 50% effaced. I DO NOT remember those checks hurting so much. Belle almost got a new vocabulary. We are going to have an ultrasound next Thurs to determine Ethan's size and figure out his "route". More than likely a csection.

It really hit me today that we're in the home stretch.

And because I know you are tired of these no pic posts.

Always the youngest

Yesterday at Sunday School Belle got to move up to a new class. This class is for 2 yr olds and 3yr olds. Well when church was over, all the kids were still sitting at the table eating their snack. It was a sugar cookie with homemade icing, extremely messy. Well all the parents just filed into the room and waited.

As we were all standing there the teacher very cheerfully announced, "I can tell you who is the youngest in the class.....Miss Isabella and Miss Audrey" I guess Belle didn't want to participate as much as she should. With this new class they are expected to sit on the floor for puppet/story time, as well as sit at a table and participate in a craft.

The teacher assured me though that we'll see amazing changes from Belle this year and that she'll soon get comfortable with whats expected of her.

She is in fact one of the younger kids. The class goes by Indiana's age cutoff date of August 1st. So Belle will always be the youngest in school if she starts on time.

Here is a pic since I haven't posted any recently. Belle has started this winking thing, it was in all the pictures I took. She was awfully excited that I got her some pediasure for almost free, see how here.

I'm SO over it!!

I'm so ready to evict this baby. I'm miserable and I don't remember feeling this way with Belle. I'm only 35 weeks so I've still got 5 more. =(

How is it that this kid can be half way up my chest and be jumping on "the exit" at the same time? Am I going to give birth to a three footer?

I'm tired of the simplest tasks, like getting up off the couch or rolling over in bed, being difficult. And I'm walking at a snail's pace for some reason, whats up with that. Oh and then there is getting up 5x a night to pee. And don't let me forget the horrible heartburn, thats a new thing this time round.

Oh I guess some would say that since this is my last pregnancy that I should enjoy it. Blah Blah Blah. Yeah well not at this particular moment. Lets get this show on the road.

The Baby Made Me Do It!!

I've found myself eating a rather weird lunch after Belle goes down for her nap. I sit on the couch with a jar of Jiff, a bag of choc. chips and a spoon. Yumm!!

The baby made me do it and thats the excuse I'm sticking to. =)

Our First MOPS!

Belle and I had our first MOPS meeting. It was a lot of fun and I think we'll both really enjoy it. And hey, we both came home with crafts. All the moms made journals to keep throughout the MOPS year and the kids made little foam picture frame magnets. =)

Oh, the motivation of a chocolate chip cookie!

Belle has gone pee pee in the potty twice in the past two days. I think we've learned her motivation. They just happen to be the soft chocolate chip cookies from the Walmart bakery. This could get expensive and very unhealthy if she wants a cookie every time. Maybe she'll start letting me break them in half. =)

Bump Progress - 34 weeks

Its been awhile since I've done this and I've been bad about taking pics. So late last night I made Nic take a new bump pic. Im not real sure on a comparison pic so this will have to do. I figure it's about the same time.

First pic: 2006
Second pic: 34 weeks