Mother of Two

I made it! I did it! I'm now a mother of two beautiful boys! Here is how it went down:

As most of you know, I was to be induced on March 29th which would be my 39 week mark. It had been a difficult pregnancy and I felt like this was the right thing to do. At 38 weeks I was dilated to almost a 5 and I was extremely uncomfortable with all the contractions and it hurt to get up or walk so I kept thinking, "it could happen any time-I'll bet I wont make it to my induction date..." BUT with my induction date it mind, it helped that I knew when it'd be over. I could make it until the 29th I kept telling myself. Well, after a week of "four more days!", "two more days!", "tomorrow is the day!" etc, I called into labor and delivery on the 29th like I was told to.

The charge nurse came on the phone and I asked her what time I was supposed to come in for my induction. She looked and stated, "Well, you're not on the schedule and we don't have room for you." I was in shock. Are you kidding me?! I had been on the schedule for a month now and when I would go into my doctors appointments weekly I'd ask, "we still good for the 29th?" and the answer was always "yes". My doctor called me to apologize and tell me that he had to idea whos fault this was or how this happened because his nurse specifically remembers calling in and scheduling it with the hospital. And then he asked, "How does your schedule for Saturday look to have a baby?" I'm thinking, 'TWO days? What?!'but I told him my schedule was wide open. The reason why he couldn't do it the next day (Friday) was because he'd be at a conference in Reno until Friday night so that's why I had to wait until Saturday. I had already packed everything, gotten ready, Parker stayed the night at my in-laws Wednesday night, everything and everyone was ready to have a baby on Thursday. So, needless to say, I was heartbroken, angry, and sad. Let's face it-I was a wreck.

But my sweet Mom, sisters, husband and friends helped me to keep my mind off it the fact that I had to wait two more days to hold my baby boy. On Thursday my mom took me to get a massage and it helped me calm down and relax immensely. Then on Friday, my sisters took me to breakfast and diaper bag shopping (they bought me the CUTEST diaper bag!). After that, Darrin, Parker and I went to City Creek Mall to walk around and enjoy the beautiful weather. I also had friends who brought me treats, and who called to let me spill my guts to them. I am SO grateful to have such AMAZING family and friends who were there for me in a time of need.

So, SATURDAY was the new day to have my baby. You're not supposed to eat after midnight the night before and induction. But my doctor told me to break the rules and EAT because I'd need the energy (thank you Dr. Watts!). I called the hospital at 6am on Saturday like I was told to see what time I could come in. They told me to be there by 7:45. So we packed up the last minute items and Darrin and I headed to Village Inn for our last breakfast before having a new addition to our family. After breakfast we headed to the hospital. This is how it went down:
Breakfast at Village Inn before the big even:
















Heading to the hospital and getting ready:






























































7:45am-Checked in and I was in my room and dressed by 8:00.
8:00am-Got an IV. The nurse missed the first and second time and was hitting BONE, not a vein. OUCH! (I now have an awesome, massive black and blue bruise :)). We finally got it right the third time.
8:45am-My Doctor (Dr. Watts) came in and started the pitocin, then broke my water. I was dilated to almost a 5-same as at 38 weeks.
9:00am-Before my doc had broken my water, I was offered the epidural. But I really wasn't feeling any more pain at this point then I had been with my contractions be past 20 weeks. I wanted to at least feel like my body was in labor before I was numb to it all. The nurse told me that if I waited to have the epidural I'd have to wait until 10:30am since the anesthesiologist was going into a c-section. I thought about it and decided I could wait until 10:30-only an hour and a half away-I could do that!
9:00am-10:30am-Contractions were getting worse and worse. Closer and closer together. I couldn't sit it the bed anymore. I needed to be up and trying to DO SOMETHING about the pain. I asked for a birthing ball to try out and see if that could relieve some of the pain. Darrin came over and held my hand, massaged my back and told me I was doing great. I love that man! It was getting really intense. The nurse offered me pain meds for my IV but that's the last thing I wanted. I didn't want to be loopy at all! I just wanted to be numb-that's what I planned on. I kept looking at the clock and saying, "only 45 more minutes until I can get my epidural!", "only 15 more minutes...".












By the time that 10:30 rolled around I was SO ready for that epidural. BUT I was still glad that I waited until then so that I could feel the labor until I couldn't stand it any more. The nurse came in at about 10:20 and I told her-YES-I'M READY FOR THE EPIDURAL! So, she went off to get the anesthesiologist. I turned to my sweet husband and told him, "I am SO excited to get the epidural. SO ready." At this point the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 6.
10:35am-The nurse came in and calmly said, "Um, they actually hadn't gone into the c-section yet, but just went in." I replied with, "You're joking right?" literally believing she was joking. She said, "No-I'm not joking." I said, "So, what does that mean? When can I get it?" The nurse told me, "An hour and a half.". WHAT?!?!??!?!?!? I was already in so much pain and now I was shocked. I wasn't ready for this-I wasn't prepared-I couldn't possibly do this. The nurse said, "By the time they get out it'll be about noon. By that point you could be dilated to a 9 or something and I'd just DO IT if that's the case-you can do this!". Um, no, surely I couldn't. But I had to push forward. Did I have a choice in the matter??
10:35-11:35am-I called my sister who does natural births. I asked for ideas inbetween excrutiating contractions that were only getting worse and closer together. She gave me a few ideas to try. I did. They didn't really help much to be honest. At first I was getting through them one contraction at a time. And then it seemed I had no breaks. Just pure pain! At about 11:00 I was dilated to an 8. Then at 11:15 I was at an 8 1/2. At this point I was thinking, 'I may DIE. I cannot do this!' literally. But Darrin was there to assure me I was doing great and I was DOING IT! I'm sure I was putting Darrin through pain as well as I was SQUEEZING him with all my might to get through each contraction. Trying to SWAY, trying to BREATH, trying to PRAY for help, trying to imagine HOLDING my baby, but it was SO hard!
11:40am-I was feeling a lot of pressure and it got to the point where I just KNEW I had to push. The nurse checked me at I was ready in all forms. She was holding my legs closed and looked me in the eye saying, "Your doctor is on his way. You can do this!". I replied with, "I need him NOW and I NEED to push!" Another doctor ran in, scrubbed up and said, "Let her do her thing".
11:47am-I'd say about 5 pushes later and he was out. I got to see the whole thing in the mirror and I'm so glad I was able to. What an amazing thing it was. Darrin got to cut the umbilical cord and then they put him right on my chest. It was beautiful. I was holding my baby boy. He was perfect. I did it! I really did it! I got to hold and cuddle Spencer for about 20 minutes and then they took him to do all the tests.































Spencer was breathing rapidly and had low blood sugar. So, Darrin headed to the NICU with him. He was poked, prodded and monitored in the NICU for three days which was really hard :(. We felt like they were terrible at communicating with us what was going on, how he was doing and when we could take him home. Each nurse gave us different answers, different updates and different expectations of when we could bring him home. That made it all that much harder. BUT, he's doing much better now and he's HOME!!! I cannot explain how amazing it felt to bring my baby home and to have Spencer and Parker meet for the very first time. What a special moment that I'll never forget. It was so sweet.

The question is, would I go natural again? The answer is no. I don't think so. Granted if circumstances were different, maybe I'd feel differently. Like 1)If I wasn't on Pitocin with my water broken, 2)If I had prepared for a natural birth, 3)If I had a deep desire to do a natural birth and 4)If I felt like I had a choice in the matter. But let's face it-it HURT extremely bad. The pushing BURNED like non other. And then there's all the after math pain that I never even noticed with Parker's birth because I couldn't feel it. The delivering the placenta, the pushing on the belly to get everything out and then all the aftermath contractions. Not fun and doesn't feel good. It was not the worst thing of my life though. Yes, the worst pain of my life, but it does feel good that I did it (still not worth it in my opinion :)) but I feel like I came out of it with a good attitude. Not the attitude that I'll do it again, but the attitude that I was so thankful that I could now hold my sweet baby. I did it and I would do it again if I HAD TO to have my little boy, but if I had the choice, epidural all the way :). Like I said though, this is circumstantial with all the things I went through. I completely admire those who do it on purpose :).

My recovery was great though I will say! It was great to be able to move my legs, and I was up and walking around pretty much right after everything. But I attribute a lot of my speedy recovery to the fact that I didn't tear at all. I'm not sure that my recovery had much to do with the fact I went natural. Who knows though.

I'm SO thankful that everything worked out in the end. I have my perfect baby to have and to hold, I have my helpful, sweet Parker. I have an amazing husband who gets two weeks paternity leave which is AWESOME, and I feel so content with life right now. Don't get me wrong, it's not all perfect :). I am very sleep deprived and Parker isn't always an angel around Spencer. I think it'd be hard to have to share mom and dad's time and attention too! But so far, he's such a sweet big brother and loves Spencer SO much! He's constantly wanting to hold him, give him his binky, "Shhhhh, shhhhh"ing him, and looking at him with the most proud, loving expressions. It's SO cute!

I also have an incredible extended family to be grateful for. an amazing ward family and wonderful friends. Everyone has been so supportive and sweet to us. Thank you all so much! We're so happy to be a family of four!

Fire

This past week we've had 2 backyard fires. Don't worry-they were on purpose :). It's been SO SO nice outside-what a blessing-I LOVE the sunshine! So in the evenings I still just want to be outside. Our solution? Backyard fires in our new firepit we got on Black Friday :).

A couple weeks ago we had an incident where one of our dead trees in our backyard fell over into our power lines. There was a set of 3 dead Aspen trees together and so we got them all taken down to reduce further falling into power lines. What was the result? FIREWOOD! Sa-weet!

So, we've got plenty of firewood, a firepit, and I certainly have good company with my hubs and Parker! One night we just went out, enjoyed the fire and roasted hot dogs. Another night we had some of Darrin's family over and we did tin foil dinners, banana boats, and hot dogs. YUM, YUM and YUM! I've been craving another tin foil dinner ever since.

The only downside to fires is the campfire smell which=immediate showers and washing of the clothes so our house doesn't smell up. SO worth it though. Quality family time right there!























































































P.S. My sis in Law Melissa pictured pregnant with me had an awesome thing happen! Her water broke just about 9 hours after this picture was taken and now they have a beautiful baby boy, Lincoln who weighed in at 9lbs 9oz! He's ADORABLE!!! So happy for them!

Three

I am now 36 Weeks prego! Wow. This means that I'm in the clear to have this baby boy whenever now-they wont stop me :). Very exciting.

At 33 weeks I was dilated to a fingertip and 60% effaced. At 34 weeks, I was dilated to a 1 and 60% effaced. 35 weeks-no change-I know this was a good thing, but it really got me down. I just feel like my body is working so hard with all the contractions and it didn't even DO ANYTHING! I cried. Don't worry-this is a normal occurrence lately. Hormones raging. Wow. These days my crying episodes are usually 1-3 times per day! Sheesh-get a hold of yourself Trish! haha. But the days I get by without tears, even though they aren't too often are great-hoping today is one of those days :). A lot of the time I don't even know why I'm crying or I do know why but it's a very very silly reason to be crying. I'm guessing every female out there knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Anyways, yesterday I had my 36 week appointment. I had an extra uncomfortable week between 35-36 weeks so I was really hoping I had made some sort of progression! By uncomfortable I mean, lots of contractions (not new for me but still-), but what was new was pressure and it has just been painful to get up, to walk, to do much at all. I believe it's because he's been dropping and dropping-that's what I'm guessing? Ouch though-don't even remember these feelings with Parker. So, I told the doctor that he'd better lie to me if I hadn't progressed to make me feel better cause it'd been a rough week. He laughed and said he could do that! hehe. But he checked me and I am a good 3 and 70% effaced!!!! I couldn't be happier. I thought the most it would be was 2-maybe. But hey-I'll take a 3! To me, this just means that my body has actually been doing something which is wonderful! So, here at 36 weeks, I'm a 3, 70%, he's head down and low :).

The waiting game has begun. It's a bit different with the second child vs. the first with the waiting game. I'm trying to enjoy every moment possible with little Parker as my only child at the moment. I'm trying to enjoy nap times while I just have one-trying to enjoy my body doing all the work of feeding, caring for and nurturing my little baby boy. BUT I will say, I'm still very anxious. Anxious to not have all the pain and discomfort I've been having. Anxious to meet and hold my little boy! Anxious to have Parker meet "baby brother". Anxious to see how my new life will be and the joy it will bring.

This being said, I have chosen (please don't tell me I'm wrong) to be induced at 39 weeks if I haven't had him by then. It really helps me to have an end date in mind that I know I can make it to. I feel good about it. Besides me wanting to be done being pregnant, have the pain and discomfort go away, etc, I've just heard way too many stories of stillbirths after due dates. One day your baby is alive and well and the next they're not. This terrifies me. I'd rather take care of my baby myself and know he's alright then to wonder about the umbilical cord, not getting the nutrients he needs from the placenta and the list goes on and on. ANYWAYS, March 29th is the day! So, my blog is titled "Three" because I have three OR LESS weeks to go, and I'm dilated to a 3 :).

Can't wait to meet "baby brother"! I think I'll announce his real name when he's born-just for fun :)

35 weeks prego:











































Sledding Fun:




















































Fun at Trafalga (we LOVE our pass of all passes :)):

Where does the time go??

Time flies! I am now 34 (let's not forget and 1/2) weeks pregnant! And my little not so little Parker is now 20 months old!

I'll talk about my pregnancy first, and then I'll mention some 20 month Parker stuff.

I look over at the sidebar and see "39 Days Left" of this pregnancy. Wow. It hasn't been an easy pregnancy for me, but it sure seems like the time flies by so fast when you have a toddler to look after! I was pretty nauseated and vomitty with this pregnancy until about 18 weeks or so. THANK goodness to Zofran! I didn't have much access to zofran last pregnancy and this pregnancy I did and I'm so so thankful as it literally helped me to survive! I don't know what I would have done without it. Possibly died. haha. Anyways, starting at 19 weeks I started having contractions this time around. With Parker this didn't start until about 29 weeks or so. By contractions I mean at least 20 in a day or more and sometimes it'll go on for 5-6 hours having contractions regularly every 3 minutes or so. This is what I mean by contractions.

For those that don't know or remember, I went into preterm labor with Parker at 33 weeks and had to be put on bedrest. This time around I've been having to do progesterone shots once a week since 20 weeks. Darrin has been giving me these thick, painful shots in the bum every week-what a sweet hubby :). I've also been taking "niphedipine" as needed for contractions. I'm not going to sit here and complain about every detail but it's been hard!

BUT I've been SO blessed! I've been threatened with bedrest for a while, but I'm OFF THE HOOK this time around which is SUCH a blessing! All the shots and meds paid off! I started dialating at 32 weeks but not enough to make my doctor confine me. Thank you Dr. Watts! Just as a reference at 33 weeks I was dialated to a full 1 cm and 60% and still got off the hook. I'm so grateful for this.
-I'm grateful I'm still pregnant.
-I'm greatful to feel my baby be SO super active. I swear that this baby is way more active than Parker which is great because I'm constantly being reassured that he's healthy and well :).
-I'm grateful to be having another little boy that I can care for and love. I'm excited (don't get me wrong-there's terrified feelings too!) to meet him, get to know him, see Parker and him interact etc.
-I'm grateful (again-also some terrified of the unknown) to be able to experience the birth experience again. I don't know how it will go down this time opposed to last time, but I do know what a BEAUTIFUL, INCREDIBLE, AMAZING feeling comes from birthing a baby. I can't wait to see how this time goes-hopefully smoothly and calmly!
-I'm grateful for an amazing husband who's been there with me every step of the way for BOTH of my pregnancies! He's very supportive and sweet. He also doesn't make me feel like a fat cow, but he's always commenting on how beautiful I am which I am so grateful for. The last thing I want or need is to feel more pig like than I do. But he helps me to see that having stretch marks, sags, bulkiness everywhere, and a popped out belly button is a miracle-we're having a baby!
-I am SO grateful for the MIRACLE of LIFE itself. God has BLESSED me with the ability to have children and what an amazing, wonderful experience it is and I feel SO PRIVILEGED!
-I am grateful for a loving family who checks up on me and cares about me!
-I am grateful for supportive friends I have who are willing to babysit and help out in any way. I have such wonderful friends!
-I am grateful for the comfort I feel when I pray about concerns I have. I just know that everything is going to work out. Everything. What an amazing comfort this is that I know comes from Heaven above.

I have A LOT to be grateful for! We will see when this little guy decides to come out and play. But I'm pretty much in the clear now to have a healthy baby. He may wait to come until my due date, April 5th-we'll see but however and whenever it happens, I'm grateful for it to be happening and know that I will have Darrin, family, friends and my Savior with me every step of the way for this beautiful experience.

Here's the most recent prego pictures that I have. I need to update as I'm getting bigger by the minute!

29 weeks:











































31 Weeks:

































Now, onto my Parker boy! Here he is at 20 months old:



Here is some stuff about Parker at 20 months:

His favorite sayings are:
•“Aww Man!” (he says this while playing bball, if someone takes a toy from him and he starts crying, and in other situations too . It’s so funny when he says this!)
•“Score” when he makes a basket
•He’s great at saying “peese” and signing please at the same time
•He says “Helf” (help) although usually he needs reminding on this one and we tell him to ask for it when he’s frustrated which happens often.
•He loves to go into the bathroom, get his stool up by the sink and say, “wa” (water) or “Hands?” because he wants to play in the sink with the water/wash his hands
•When it’s time to go outside or down some stairs he says, “Hand?” because he wants you to hold his hand (so cute!)
•Anytime we put shoes and socks on him he wont stop saying “bye, bye?” until we go 
•He says “ok” more and more now
•He loves to point to pictures and say “Mama” when he sees one of Mom and “Dada” if he sees one of Dad. He calls himself “bubu” in pictures :)
•He can also recognize and say “Jesus”
•He can say “pray” and folds his arms, and sometimes he’ll even repeat some of the words in prayers while we pray which is so precious!
•He loves to hide something and say, “where’d it go??”
•Parker will lay on blankets or get a stuffed animal and say, “nigh, nigh” and pretend to go to sleep. :)
•He can count “one, two” all by himself and he’s getting to three-hard to understand that one though.
•He says “away!” when he’s putting things away whether that be Tupperware he got out, shoes and socks, books, toys etc. He likes to get them all out and then say, “away!” and put them all back.
•He’ll bring you a book and either say, “book!” or “read!” when he wants to sit with you and read it.
•When he can’t get to something or it’s hard to get he’ll say “stuck!” over and over
•He’ll say, “want it” when he wants something or “some?”
•When Parker knows he shouldn’t be doing something he’ll say “no, no, no!”
•If Parker thinks something or someone is funny he’ll let you know by saying, “shilly, shilly!”
•Parker will say, “weeee” if something is exhilaratingly fun :)
•Parker loves cars and says “Vroom!!” excitedly with cars he’s either playing with or sees. If it sounds like a big car he’ll usually say, “truck!”
•Parker LOVES to look at and read books and point out things that he knows in them like, “flower”, “ball”, “bear”, “star”, “hat”, “shoes”, etc!
•Parker loves to give others TICKLES! He will tickle you (especially mommy and daddy) and say, “tickle, tickle, tickle!” So fun and cute!
•He says so many more things too like “books, shoes, socks, fun!, funny, wow!, uh oh!, sad, hurt, on/off for the light, potty etc! These are not nearly all the things he can say, just what I can think of off the top of my head. But he can also repeat almost any word! We sure love hearing this kid talk more and more!
•When Parker disobeys, hits, throws toys at others, etc. he needs to go to timeout. So, Mom or Dad say “uh oh-you chose to go to timeout” and he’ll take himself to his room and sit down on the floor all by himself! When he’s done with timeout he’s usually pretty good at hugging the person he hurt/disobeyed.
•If you made a facial expression at Parker he’ll usually try and make it back at you which makes for some fun entertainment!
•Parker is terrified of sitting on the big potty even with the toddler insert we have for it. I guess he’s afraid he’ll fall in?
•Parker will take people’s fingers and try to help them up now. Haha. He pulls and pulls!
•Parker LOVES, LOVES, LOVES ‘ring around the rosies’. It’s so cute to play it with him or watch him do it himself or with other kids. Mommy’s getting pretty big and tired to play it now that she only has 6 weeks left until baby brother comes, but she tries anyways.
•Parker will try and copy most songs actions when singing with mommy. He does pretty well with “Itsy bitsy Spider”, “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”, “where is thumpkin” (and when he puts his hands behind his back or I do when I’m singing he’ll say “where’d he go??”), and “pat a cake”
•Parker knows where a lot of his body parts are including: hair, head, eyes, nose, ears, cheeks, chin, mouth, teeth, belly button, knees, feet, hands, fingers, toes and armpit!
•Parker is so cooperative with brushing his teeth! Mommy sings him the whole alphabet song while she brushes his teeth each night and he just lets her brush away! What a great kid you are Parker!
•In the past month we’ve taken Parker to a BOUNCY HOUSE with the Waddoups family. Parker LOVES it there and could play there all day! He loves the slides and playing with his bouncy daddy all over the place. It was so much fun to watch them and watch Parker be SO SO happy!

There you have it-my little boy is growing up so fast and I'm trying to soak up every minute I have with him!

Bouncin'

We went to a bouncy house twice this past month. We got a groupon with some friends for it and so we got to go twice with it. Let me just say that Parker is OBSESSED! He loved every single second there-except for a brief minute where he got a bloody nose from a face plant-but then he was right back to having a blast. My friend Pattyanne and I are both prego so we watched and encouraged while the hubby's played like children themselves :). Very fun to watch! I sure love that Parker and my hubby!



Video of Parker and Daddy Slidin':



Cute Dancin' Video of Parker:

Anniversary plus new calling

Darrin and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary which was on February 1st. Hawaii was pretty much for our anniversary, but when we came across a killer deal for "The Alaskan Inn B&B" we couldn't pass it up ($71/night! Ya, you wouldn't wanna pass it up either) We had such a great time! I would recommend this B&B to anyone. It was so nice and secluded, tucked away in Ogden canyon. You can have your very own cabin and choose your own breakfast (which was really delicious and big!) Here are some pictures:

First Comes the Proposal:

















Then Comes Marriage:






























Then comes the honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico:

















Then, 2 1/2 years later comes the first baby in the baby carriage:





































Then comes another baby (not quite yet) in our baby carriage:
















































And THEN comes our 4th Anniversary Feb 1, 2012 :)

































































































I has been such a wonderful 4 years Darrin! We've certainly gone through our fair share of trials together and I feel so grateful to have someone like you to be by my side and hold hands through it all. I love having you as my best friend and eternal companion. I wouldn't choose anyone else to have a family with and to share my life with. You are such a wonderful husband and father. Thank you for everything you do and for all your hard work! I love you more than words can express! Here's to a million more years PLUS to come! Can't wait!



On a completely separate side note-I got a new calling that I'm finally getting the hang of...I think... Anyways, drumroll please for this shocker...........................I'm now the new........................YOUNG WOMEN's PRESIDENT. WHHHAAAA????? That's what I said. I absolutely LOVE the girls-I taught all of them but one in primary so I already know most of them which is great. I feel very inadequate but at the same time SO privileged to be able to spend time with these beautiful daughters of God! Here are some pics from my first activity: