Home

Today Sam gets home. Today we have a home. Or rather, will have a home when we get to Maryland. At least, I hope so. I guess I'll feel a little more secure in that fact when checks have been cashed. But a lease is signed and we are getting anxious to get moved in there. And we are so excited to have a single family home, complete with a big back yard, and deck. And a master bathroom. But I think I'm more excited to have my husband back. It's been a long week...

Pictures

I have had quite a few requests for more pictures (namely some with Olivia's eyes open.) You asked for it, so here they are:

Sleeping - what she spends most of her time doing (thank goodness!)

Harrison loves holding her, and patting her gently.

She does open her eyes - and I love her quiet alert times. She just looks around contently.

Strike a pose!

Sleepy...

Stretch!

The Story

I thought I would record the events surrounding Olivia's birth. My dad kept a good journal growing up, and as kids we always loved to hear about our birth story. So here goes...

For some odd reason, I was convinced my baby girl would come by her due date - at the latest. I'm not really sure why... possibly because that would be most convenient. Possibly because on my first OB appointment, my doctor said he liked to induce, and offered it to all his patients at 1 week before their due date. On Thursday I was pretty sure I could have the baby at anytime (having had regular contractions for several hours during the night) but when Harrison woke up with a fever, I almost started hoping the baby would wait until he was better. Friday August 1st came and went, with another sleepless contraction-ful night, but no real labor. Harrison's fever was going down by Saturday night, but now it looked like Noah may have pink eye. We started him on medication right away, and that began to clear up. It looked like I'd have well boys by the time the baby would come.

My doctor scheduled me to be induced on Sunday, August 3rd at 7 PM. So, much like my experience with Harrison, we calmly loaded the car and did a few last minute things with no contractions. It just feels weird to go to the hospital when your not really in labor. When you're not really in much pain. I could have driven myself, and left Sam at home with the boys, but I thought the hospital staff might think that a little odd. So we went together. My good friend Isa took my boys for the night, so Sam could stay with me.

Upon checking in, everyone asked, "This is your third? So why are you being induced?" I felt like saying, "None of your business." but instead answered, "We're moving in a few weeks" which is probably just as true as, "I'm done." About an hour and a half after being admitted, my fabulous nurse, Jessica, gave me some medication called Cervidil, which is suppose to get you ready for labor, not put you into labor. My doctor does not like midnight deliveries, so he purposefully induced me at 7 PM thinking they would put me on Pitocin in the morning and I would deliver sometime the next day - during daylight hours. Well within an hour, I was having pretty good contractions every 2 1/2 minutes. I was able to watch some HGTV, but started to get uncomfortable. My nurse decided I was officially in labor, and stopped the medication. I asked for an epidural, and got one with in an hour. Epidurals seem to help my labor progress, and they also allow me to get some sleep. Unfortunately, they had me hooked up to a blood pressure monitor, so every 1/2 hour I would be awoken by the arm band squeezing my arm. So, not to much sleep was had, but I was excited by the prospect of the baby coming soon. I couldn't really feel my contractions, but I would watch the monitor - they would jump from a 5 to an 105 and back down over the course of a minute or two, and they came pretty frequently. Thank goodness for epidurals.

Around three am, my nurse checked me and said I was close, and I should call if I started to feel pressure. Around four I thought I started to feel pressure, but I waited another 1/2 hour or so just to make sure. She came back and said I was fully dilated and she would call the doctor. My Dr. arrived around 5:30, they prepped the room, broke my water, and let me push. Two sets of pushes, and Olivia was delivered at precisely 6 AM. Apparently the nurses started to notice Sam had very little color, so while the doctor was cutting the cord, my nurse was calling another nurse to care for Sam. They handed me sweet little (well 8 lbs 14 oz may be large for a newborn, but she's still little...) Olivia, and my first thought was, "Oh, good, she really is a girl." It was a bit of a relief, since I had been suddenly worried the last couple weeks of my pregnancy that my Dr. could be wrong about the gender - having given away all my boy things, and having obtained quite a bit of pink, I wasn't sure what I would do if she had been a boy. My next thought was how beautiful and perfect she was. She had a very round face, with large chubby checks, a cute button nose, big dark blue eyes and dark hair. Much like my two boys. I was so happy to have her in my arms. I was slightly distracted by my queazy hubby, but he seemed to be getting better. The nurse actually took the camera away from him - worried that he may pass out while snapping some photos.

They took Olivia over to check her out - she was a bit blue still, so they gave her some oxygen, and she started to get more and more pink. After a few minutes my nurse noted to my Dr. that she may have a broken clavicle. It was a little heart breaking to think that my sweet brand new baby girl had already broken her first bone. After getting her cleaned up and swaddling her, they gave her back to me, and I held and nursed her for a long while. Sam was able to stand up, and take some more pictures. She was very sweet, and very alert. She didn't cry much at all. We were so so happy to have our sweet baby girl in our arms, and so grateful everything had gone smoothly with the delivery.

Sam went home around 9 to take care of the boys. When I called him around 10 he noted that Noah felt warm. I was so sad - I knew the boys wouldn't be able to visit me and Olivia in the hospital, and I was sad I couldn't be at home to take care of my sick little boy. I was also sad that I would have to ask friends to take care of my boys when they were sick. But my friends were so gracious and kind to do so. Sam was able to come back to the hospital that evening - Olivia had become quite fussy, so it was nice to have someone to share the crying with. She had had x-rays which confirmed she did indeed have a broken clavicle. The pediatrician assured me it wasn't a big deal and it would heal within 2 weeks. I think it was really bothering her the rest of the time at the hospital because she was very fussy, and wouldn't sleep or eat well. I was beginning to worry that she had Harrison's disposition as a baby - which would make my life very difficult for the next few months. But I should know by now, you can't jump to any conclusions after just a day or two. Noah's fever was gone by Wednesday morning, just hours before I was coming home. When we got home she began to calm down. I think her shoulder and arm were not nearly as tender, and she began to sleep eat, and be generally a happier baby.

She is such a blessing in our home. The boys are just so excited to see her, and touch her and hold her. Harrison will come inside from playing to "check on Olivia" and will often offer to help calm her down. When she is awake, he comes and waves to her and says, "Olivia, it's me, Harrison. I'm your brother." He loves to hold her, and pat her back. Noah loves to pet her head, and point out all of her "tiny" parts. He has been so gentle, and sweet. He almost always uses a whisper voice when he's around her. He thinks her little squeaks and squawks are hilarious, and likes to laugh at her.

We are all doing very well now - boys are no longer sick, Olivia is content, and I am getting more sleep than I did in the hospital. Grettle gets here tomorrow night, and Sam leaves on Thursday for Maryland to find our next home. Then it's toss, pack and move. I can't believe we have less than a month in San Diego. What an adventure these last few months have been!

Side by Side by Side

A few people have asked me who I think Olivia looks more like - Noah or Harrsion. I tend to think Harrison. You tell me... (From left to right, Harrison, Noah & Olivia, 2 days old)

Tiger fixation?

This morning we were eating some Frosted flakes, Harrison, Noah and I. We had the following conversation.

Noah: Toni has no feet. Is that funny?
Me: yes, the box only shows his hand.
Noah: He says, "Number one!"
Harrison: He says, "Horray, they're sugared!"
Me: that's pretty funny, let's blog that. Then everyone can see that and think its funny when they look at the internet.
Harrison: You should write on the blog "nucker-cooker-gunk." John (Mitchell) will think that's funny if he sees it on his internet account.

Yesterday we also had this exchange.
Harrison (out of the blue): Tiger Woods!
Me: who's Tiger Woods?
Harrison: Silly daddy. He's only the best golfer there is. You know that.
Me: Yes I did know that. Who told you?
Harrison: Grandpa Brent. The golfing grandpa. Tiger woods can hit it farther than anyone else. He is the best

Happy Birthday!

Mollie went to the hospital at 7pm on Sunday night, and Olivia came at 6am Monday morning. 11 hours in the hospital puts her between Harrison (almost 24 hours) and Noah (not even 2 hours). She and Mollie are both doing well. For those curious about details:

8 lb 14 oz.
20 1/4 in
Female
Olivia Grace Payne

Baby Girl

Olivia was born this morning at 6am. She and Mollie are both fine, more details and pictures to follow.

Two weeks and counting

I know all of you are looking here to see if we've had our baby yet, which sadly we have not. It has however, been two weeks since we got rid of our TV. We sold it on craigslist and it's been great. We did not go completely cold turkey. Our computer has a TV tuner and tivo built in, but in the past two weeks I've watched exactly 2 hours of TV (two episodes of House, if you were curious). That is a significant reduction for me. I was a serious TV junkie. They boys have also really shut down their TV time. Thankfully they have stopped asking for it for the most part.

There were several big motivators behind this. First, we are moving in a pod and can't take anything but the essentials. And frankly TV did not make the cut. Secondly, I read the ensign article about President Eyring. His wife cut the cord (literally) on their TV and it really inspired me to get rid of it.

So you might ask, what have we been doing with our time? Well, there is the great purge in preparation for the aforementioned move. We are trying to get rid of almost everything we own (an editorial on this to come later). We donate/sell/toss at least a few bags of stuff every day. More importantly, we've been having a more fun together. Noah dresses up more, I read to the kids more, Noah makes more messes, and Harrison plays more with legos.