More Pictures....

I sent an e-mail to my in-laws asking for pictures that they took when visiting the hospital. All of these are from about three hours after Porter was born. I didn’t realize how tired I looked until I saw the one where I was holding him!                                                                         

     

Porter's Arrival!!!

The long awaited day has finally arrived!                                                                       
 Born: November 4^th             Weight: 7lbs. 1 oz.                                                                                                               Height: 19 ½ in.                                                                                                                      

The day started at 5 a.m. for me. I got up and showered, did my hair, and got ready. I called the hospital to see if they had room for me to come in to get induced(I was on the list), and they told me to come in at 7:30. Around 8 they came in and started the pitocin. I was already at a 3 and more than 90% effaced. The nurse said she thought we would have the baby by noon because everything looked favorable. After not having drugs with Cole, I asked for my epidural right away. They came in and put it in within the half hour. Dave can’t handle the needle so he went in the hall and I sat there all by myself while they did the whole thing! The doctor put the meds on a slow drip because it was early on and he didn’t think I needed very much. It was just enough to take the edge off and I could feel everything still the whole day. When I had one with Braxton I couldn’t do anything because it was too strong and I liked feeling like I had a little control in the situation.

Noon rolled around and still no baby! I just watched tv and took a few naps while Dave listened to a book, and worked on some downloads for Braxton. They broke my water around then. At 2:45 the nurse came in to check me and I was between a 7 and an 8 so she called the doctor and told him he had about an hour before he needed to come in. Within five minutes I started feeling tons of pressure and it was happening every minute. I thought I would wait for the nurse to come back, but they started getting so intense that for the first time the whole day I pressed the button for her to come back. She came in and checked me and I was more than a nine and he was ready to come. For the first time that day she pressed the button to release more pain meds and turned down the pitocin. She wanted the doctor to get there in time and didn’t want me to feel what was going on any more so that they could hold off a little longer.                                           

The doctor was called again and told he needed to come right now. It took about twenty minutes, and he checked me as soon as he came in the room and said , “yep this baby is coming now!” I pushed five times, maybe for no more than three minutes and we had a baby!!!! He was a meconium baby and they whisked him away as soon as he came out so they could make sure he didn’t swallow any of the poop. Luckily he was just fine, otherwise it could have been a big problem for him. After about fifteen minutes I FINALLY got to see my baby for the first time! He was perfect and so much worth the wait!                                    

After about an hour they took us to my room, and later that night my parents came to visit, Dave’s parents came with his brother Jorgen, and my friends Whitney and Hayley came also. It was an ideal day, without any complications, or pain!

                                                                               

Porter's First Week!

I can’t believe that our little guy is already a week old!! It has gone by so fast, it’s become a blur. It has been busy and he’s been such a trooper. We’ve been to the doctor’s, on a fieldtrip, to parent teacher conferences, and much more! Today we aren’t doing much of anything.

Porter so far is a good baby! The first few days were really rough. Nursing wasn’t working very well so he was spending 45 minutes or more each time screaming. Once he latched on he was fine, he just gets mad immediately and had no patience in wanting to wait to figure it out. I finally figured out that if I gave him a bottle for a second, he would latch on right away after I took the bottle away. After a few days of being a trooper he’s become a pro and it’s getting a little bit easier for me. The other boys didn’t nurse so this is all new to me.

He pee’s through everything which is a good sign, but makes lots of extra laundry! He’s started spitting up the last day or two, but it’s not too bad yet. Braxton would throw up whole bottles and this isn’t even close to that! He has no sleep schedule and no matter how hard we try he stays up most of the night! He is totally worth all the sleepless nights!                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
       

Grandparent Week at Preschool!

This month at preschool is grandparent month! Lucky for Cole his are visiting and got the chance to go. For fifteen minutes they got to come in and talk about things that they like to do. It was exciting for Cole to have them visit!                                                                                                              

Cole's November Fieldtrip

This week Cole’s preschool went to a movie theatre and Krispy Kreme’s. At the theatre they got a tour of where the movies play from, where the treats are sold, and they got to watch a few short films where they got a bag of popcorn and a soda. At Krispy Kreme’s, they watched how donuts were made and everyone got a free donut! My parents are here and they went with us (yes, the baby too)! It was a big outing for me and I didn’t do much of anything the rest of the day!                                                                                                                                                                                               

Halloween Activities!

WOW!!! What a busy week the week of Halloween was for us! I was so thankful for all the distractions though. I signed up to be room mom in Braxton’s class again this year and was in charge of the Halloween party! I had parents helping in the class, but I prepared almost everything on my own for all 23 kids. One mom picked up the cookies and another mom picked up the candy to decorate cookies, but I put together all the craft kits and made all the games. It was quite the undertaking in my “condition!”                                                                
To start things off the elementary school had a Halloween parade. Cole’s preschool had the ok to be a part of the parade so both boys got to walk around.                                                                                 
After the parade Cole went back to preschool for his party, which I feel awful for missing the whole thing! Then Braxton’s class put on some short skits for the parents, and his party followed those.                        
For Braxton’s class party we decorated cookies, read a story, made bat pins that they could wear, played pumpkin bowling (they knocked over ghosts), and had a witch hat ring toss game also. It went great and they all had fun!                                                                                              
As soon as picking up Cole from preschool we hurried to a birthday party for his friend Keaton. They had a lot of fun as the day continued! That night at church we had our trunk or treat with a party before that. Four parties in one day!!! Man was I tired!                                                                                                                        
On Friday night Dave and the boys carved pumpkins while I was at the laundry mat cleaning our comforter that Cole threw up on in the middle of the night. They were also watching t.v. (one picture of Braxton shows him looking straight at it!).                                                                             
I didn’t take any pictures on Halloween I forgot, but Dave took the boys out trick or treating while I stayed home. I sat out with candy for a few minutes, but got bored so I just left the bowl out and enjoyed the peace and quiet!                                                                       
                            

October Fieldtrip!

Cole’s preschool goes on a fieldtrip once a month. For October they went to a pumpkin patch in Syracuse. While we were there we went on a VERY bumpy trailer ride (I was hoping it would help the baby come), the kids got to pick a pumpkin from the patch, and they had several activities in an open area that they could play in when they were done. Some of the activities were slides, a pumpkin bounce house, a sandbox full of corn, an animal ride and a pig race!   

Here are a few highlights......