Snow Day

Last week we (finally) got some snow! I was getting a little jealous of everyone in the South getting snow, but seriously, I'm so glad it waited until after Caroline was born to snow though, that would have made the trip to the hospital just a little more stressful, right? :) Anyway, here are some pics of the kids playing in the snow!

Timothy's Special Day

Timothy's preschool does a "special day" for each kid in the preschool classes and Timothy's day happened to be this past Wednesday. He was very excited and decided he wanted to make it a puppy-themed special day. He picked out Scooby Doo masks to give to all of his classmates, brought Scooby snacks to share and, best of all, Grammy and Grumpy came and brought their new puppy Sunny! The girls and I stayed home, but Brandon went and said they all had a great time. Here are some pictures...

Catch Up - Family Day

I meant to blog about this a while ago, but didn't get around to it...two weeks ago we took the kids out for a "special family day" since we weren't sure how many more weekends we had before Caroline would be here. Thank goodness we picked that one because she decided to come the next week!!

We started off the day with new haircuts, had a yummy lunch at Panera, played for a while at the Children's Museum in Tacoma, let the kids pick out new stuffed animals at Build-a-Bear, and ended the day with take out for dinner complete with dessert. It was fun to see them play and sad at the same time to think about how much they're growing up. I still remember Timothy's special day before Charlotte was born and it seems like so long ago! It was definitely fun to spoil them though and I think we all had fun!!

Caroline Paige York

I need to get this written down before I forget it all...it all happened so fast, I'm worried that I'll forget the details!

So...Thursday night (the 17th), nesting set in big time and the kids and I spent a good two hours scrubbing down the kitchen and living room. I seriously was down on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor with Clorox wipes. I finished cleaning all the floors in the house that night and wiped down every surface I could think of. Friday (the 18th), I freaked out big time...the kids and I got up like normal, ate breakfast like normal and as soon as I said it was time to leave to take Timothy to school, he started acting weird and continued the whole drive to the school. It ended in him going to the bathroom as soon as we got there to throw up. I think he was nervous about something and then maybe a little car sick because as soon as we got back home he was fine for the rest of the day. I spent most of that day laying around being depressed that I wasn't in labor. Saturday (the 19th), started normal...we didn't have much to do and I was still throwing myself a "I'm so sad I'm not in labor" pity party. That afternoon I decided to read up on the medicine the doctor was planning to use to induce me with and totally freaked myself out about it. I left to go to the store and had a very serious talk with God about how scared I was to be induced and could He please not let that happen...

I had a few contractions while I was out, but they weren't that bad so I didn't think much about it. We ate dinner like normal and went about our normal Saturday night routine. While the kids were taking their bath, I had the urge to iron all of the clothes in their closets that needed to be ironed. That's when I really started to notice the contractions. They weren't bad enough to make me stop walking around or talking though, so I kept on ironing. Brandon put the kids to bed and I noticed the contractions were getting a little more painful. I decided to keep myself busy and started working making new bow holders for Charlotte and Caroline. That's when they started getting bad...I noticed I had to stop working to get through them and decided I should probably send my mom a text and let her know that they were bad enough to start timing. They were coming about every six minutes or so and I finally consented to calling labor and delivery.

The girl on the phone suggested that I drink 32 oz. of water and wait an hour to see if they got better or worse...well, they got much worse. Closer to 3 minutes apart and I couldn't move or talk or anything. Meanwhile, I had been calling and calling every family member I had a phone number for and NO ONE was answering their phones. It got pretty funny after a while and I'm sure they all enjoyed hearing my voice mails asking them to please call me back because I was pretty sure we were headed to the hospital soon! Finally, Heather called me and her and Kevin and Tyler immediately hopped in their car to head down this way and stay at the house with the kids. Brandon decided we couldn't wait that long (it takes them about an hour and half to get here), so he called our good friend Cindy to come over and sit at the house until they all got here. Thankfully, she was still up and lives only a few minutes away and was here fast and we finally left for the hospital a little after 11pm.

The ride there was horrible and funny at the same time. The contractions were terrible and hurt so bad I could barely breathe. But, anyone that knows my husband knows how very carefully he follows the law and thankfully he could tell I was in a bit of pain so he turned on the flashers on the car and sped the whole way there...he even ran quite a few red lights and drove down the median for a while :) Love that man!! We got to the hospital a little before midnight and had to go in at the main entrance. The lady there that checked us in was nice but SLOW and I was in so much pain I wanted to scream at her...but she finally got us checked in and pushed me down to L&D. Thankfully they had a room left (we got the last one) and the nurse checked me and I was already dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced. I told her to hold off on the epidural because I still wasn't sure I wanted one...and she got to work getting my IV in...the first try didn't work and the second girl that came in couldn't find a vein so they called IV therapy and thankfully that girl was amazing and got it in quickly! The nurse pushed some pain killers through the IV and I was able to relax a bit...and then the contractions picked back up again and I gave in to the epidural. It seemed like it took forever for that girl to get in our room and even longer for her to get it all in and working and by the time I could make it through a contraction without screaming I had progressed to an 8 and she could feel Caroline's head already.

It's true what they say that the third time's a charm because with Timothy and Charlotte my epidurals didn't quite work right, but this one was perfect. I could feel tons of pressure, but it wasn't really painful, but I still knew when I was having a contraction so I knew when I was going to need to start pushing. Now, all of this happened in a little over an hour, so the doc came in and told me she was staying close because she thought I'd be ready to go at any minute. In the meantime, Brandon had gotten a hold of Brittany and she and Mike were on their way to my parent's house (from Seattle), so wake them up and get them to the hospital. I made it to a 10 and the nurse said I could wait to push if I wanted to, so Brandon texted Brittany to see how close they were and decided that I should go ahead and start pushing.

Our whole world changed with that first push. Immediately the nurse turned to the neonatal nurse and told her to call the NICU and get them in there. Apparently, Caroline had passed her first meconium already and they had to call NICU. I kept pushing when the doctor coached me to and after about 5 pushes she was out. They took her away immediately to clean her up and my heart almost stopped beating until Brandon told me she was moving and I heard her cry out. It turned out that her cord had a perfect knot in it that thankfully wasn't completely cinched and the remaining cord was wrapped around her neck twice. Brandon didn't get to cut the cord, but neither of us cared at all because she was here and alive and healthy.

I was sad that I didn't get to hold her right away, but one of the reasons I love Tacoma General is that your baby stays in the room with you from the beginning until you leave (unless there's a serious issue, obviously), so Caroline was able to stay close and I had her in my arms soon. All the nurses went on and on about how she's a miracle baby. Mom and dad and Britt and Mike got there right as they were finishing up cleaning everything up and were able to come in and see our new little girl. They were there when they weighed and measured her and got to love on her for a bit before heading back home. I got to spend lots of quality time nursing her and holding her and we were moved into our recovery room a little before 5 that morning.

It seemed like it all happened so fast and so slow all at the same time. Seriously, we got to L&D around midnight and she was born at 2:28am. I think because the pain was so intense it seemed like everything took forever and it still seems surreal that she's here and we're home and our family is now complete.

Since we've been home, life has been pretty good. Caroline is one well-loved little girl. From the first time they saw her in the hospital, Timothy and Charlotte have not stopped being sweet to her. Charlotte is hilarious with her, she gets so excited every time she sees her and especially loves seeing her eyes open and will tell anyone close by that "eyes are open"!! Timothy loves to hold her and hug her and is so sweet and gentle with her. It's such a crazy thing about babies, she's so new, but it seems like she's been here forever and I can't imagine life without her.

So here are her stats and a few pictures...

Caroline Paige York

born Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 2:28 am.

weight 6 pounds, 12 ounces

height 19.5 inches

Baby Blues

I went to the doctor again yesterday and....absolutely no progress at all. She even said that Caroline's head is so far up that she can't even reach up enough to strip my membranes or help things along. She said she tickled as much as she could and hoped it would start moving things along. I guess technically I'm not due till Saturday, so it's not like she's late or anything (yet), but more than likely she'll hold out past Saturday.

There were three other girls that I know of that were due within a week or so of my due date and all three of them have had their babies now...so yes, the baby blues have definitely set in and I'm throwing myself a pity party today! I've hit that point where I'm just so ready to be done that everything is annoying. I've actually been having pretty strong contractions all day today but I'm still just assuming that they're going to stop and go away and not even be effective enough to dilate me anywhere past 1cm. Can you tell I'm being a little pessimistic today :)

The good (I guess) news is that my doc checked her schedule and we did go ahead and schedule an induction for March 1st if she doesn't come before then. I'll be 41 weeks and 3 days then, but since Caroline has been measuring 2-3 weeks behind anyway, the doc didn't see anything wrong with letting me go that long. I go back next Tuesday and I'm hoping I can get her to drop more before then so that they can at least try and strip my membranes and maybe send me into labor before March. I know it sounds silly, but I've been so excited to have a February baby that I'm hoping she'll come before the end of the month...but obviously it's not a big deal if she doesn't, the rest of you just have to put up with my whining and complaining for a couple more weeks :)

And all of this is starting to sound scarily similar to my labor with Charlotte...I went in for my 40 week check up, was at a 1.5 and she hadn't dropped at all, scheduled my induction and the next night we had a thunderstorm and my water broke...there are thunderstorms in the forecast for today and tonight, so I'm crossing my fingers that history repeats itself!!

I do have a lot to keep me busy, I just need to find the energy to get it all done. And that does include downloading the pictures I took Saturday of our family fun day...and while I'm thinking about it, please pray for Timothy, he's started on a new medication and we're having some trouble adjusting to it, hopefully it'll balance out soon!

Update and Random Pictures

I had my 38 week check up yesterday and all went well. I'm still dilated to a 1, no effacing, but she thought Caroline might be starting to move down...my ribs think otherwise, but she's the professional, right? I asked her about the measurements from last week and she took extra care in measuring this week and said it was more like 35 or 36 weeks and they must have measured incorrectly last week. That made me feel MUCH better!! She said Caroline still feels small, but if I go another two or more weeks she should be a perfectly normal size. I'm assuming I'll go late this time as well, it seems like no matter what I do to help speed things along, it's not really doing much so I just have to wait for her to come on her own.

The rest of the family fell victim to the stomach bug last week. It hit Brandon on Tuesday, me on Saturday and all of us except Charlotte had a small case of it on Sunday...not a fun week and weekend around here!! Thankfully, I think we're all over it now and I'm praying it stays far FAR away from our house for a VERY long time!!

I know these pictures have nothing to do with the rest of the post, but that's life lately! The kids are obsessed with iPods right now and I have to say, at times, they are real lifesavers! The last picture is from Friday, the kids had an early dentist appointment and we had some time to kill before I had to take Timothy to school, so we went to Krispy Kreme for breakfast! Enjoy!

Baby Update

Lots of fun stuff going on over here...Saturday night, Brandon and I went out to dinner to celebrate closing on our house and to enjoy what is probably our last night out before Caroline is here. It was so much fun to spend time together and I know the kids had a blast playing with Aunt Heather and Uncle Kevin and Tyler...we got home and put the kids to bed and I was exhausted...and then the contractions started and didn't stop for a good 5 hours...I was seriously considering going to the hospital, but they finally stopped. At some point during the night, I heard Charlotte cough a little bit, but didn't think anything of it...but when Brandon went in to get her up Sunday morning, she had thrown up all in her crib, poor girl, I can't believe she didn't cry or anything! So he stayed home with her and I got Timothy out of there so we could (hopefully) avoid the germs. Charlotte was fine by Sunday night and has been back to her normal, fussy, prissy, girly little self since then. It hit Brandon yesterday and he spent the day in bed and the kids and I spent the day out of the house avoiding the germs. So far, Timothy and I have been safe, but we'll give it a few more days before I'm sure! I'm really not feeling great tonight, but who knows what that could be from!

Monday I had my 37 week check up. I was dilated to 1cm, but not effaced and she hasn't dropped at all. I figured some progress is better than nothing, so I wasn't too upset. The thing that worried me most was the doc said she's measuring really small (like closer to 30 weeks), but she didn't seem concerned so I'm trying to not worry! I got back again Monday, and I'm thinking we're making even more progress because the contractions are really picking up this week and (TMI WARNING) I think I'm starting to lose my mucus plug, so I'm hoping that means we're getting closer to delivery. I've been trying to rock on my exercise ball as much as I can hoping that will help her move into the right spot but it usually makes the contractions worse so I can't do it for too long without being in too much pain!

I feel like we have so much to do before she gets here, but at the same time, I'm also just thinking it would make things a little easier to just get it over with and then I might not have so much stress! I do need to clean up her bassinet though and get a fresh coat of paint on there, that's the priority for this weekend!!

So that's our life in a nutshell right now...I'm living for Mondays when I get to see my doctor and see how much closer we are to baby time, while at the same time stressing about what else needs to get done around here. It's lots of fun, trust me...