I'm back, and it's a long one!

Well I had to check out for over three months because things got a bit busier around here than expected! I'm just going recap the few months the best shortest way possible before Cohen wakes from hid nap!

 Oh how life has changed and better for the most part! Our precious boy came two weeks early on June 2nd. The night I went into labor (Friday) Hadley spent the night with her Nana and Papa thank goodness! We tried to have her stay with them or Nini and Pops as much as possible the closer I got to my due date. I could not imagine going into labor and having to tote a toddler to the hospital at 2am in the morning! That evening Patrick and I went to the movies with my sisters and their significant others and I cant even remember what movie now! lol That's pretty bad but I have had plenty of sleepless nights since then! Throughout the movie I was pretty much uncomfortable the whole time which could be expected and I just had a strange feeling so we went home after the movie and it was about 10 or so. I could not fall asleep first of all and I had that anxious foot twitch lying in bed I get when something is on my mind. I finally fell asleep but not for long! I woke up at 1am and still had a strange feeling other than a few mild contractions so I woke Patrick up and we came into the living room to contemplate on whether we should head towards the hospital or not. I timed my contractions and they were averaging about 8 min apart and over a minute in duration and Patrick wanted to ahead and go but I was reluctant! I didn't want to be sent home! Since I was already a 4 and had been for nearly three weeks I decided I better just go in. Thank God I did because I was a 6!

When we found out we were going to be staying I called all my family and friends who wanted "the call" and then we got out room! The anesthesiologist came around 7am and that is when my good fortune came to an end! It was all down hill from there! He tapped into my spinal fluid! I figured something was wrong when I felt warm liquid drip down my back and about that time he told me what he had done. He first acted like it was no big deal and informed me that I would probably have a pretty bad headache in the next 12 hours. Wow, how I learned that was a huge understatement! But I wasn't in the clear yet, about two minutes after he gave me my epidural I started to feel like I was going to faint. My blood pressure dropped so low and I could see them start to panic and then I started to panic. All the while my mom and Patrick were made to stand outside for the epidural and they could also tell something was wrong. I laid looking up at the ceiling of the hospital seriously thinking I was going to die! I could not feel my heart beating and and I was cold. It didn't help that the epidural was starting to work also. I did not feel in control at all and it was the worst feeling! He proceeded to tell me to stay with him because he did not want me to pass out. Thank God that while all this was going on Cohen's vitals stayed normal. Usually when moms BP drops the baby's does too which leads to a C-section. About that time I started to vomit and afterwards I felt a lot better but a few minutes later I started to feel like I was going to die again. I stared at the ceiling and I could hear the nurse asking me to talk to her but I seriously could not respond! I felt overwhelmingly lethargic and that's when the anesthesiologist told her he thinks the epidural went to high and he wanted to sit me up and make the medicine work its way down. It was seriously scary because he told me that its only happens to 1 in 1000 epidurals and he has only tapped fluid one other time. Things were starting to calm down and the anesthesiologist decided he would stick around for a while to make sure things were okay. I'm pretty sure I gave him a good scare!

As always they ended up breaking my water around 10am and had Cohen at 11am with no problem at all! He came out as hairy as Kaston did! He had and still has such a furry back and shoulders! lol Cohen weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 21 1/4 in long.

Not too long after delivery my headache started and got worse every hour. At first I didn't even notice it because of all the company and enjoying the new bundle but it was hard to ignore after a while. By the next morning it was in full swing and I could not even see straight! I couldn't sit up either, I had to be laying flat on my back and that was the only way I felt any sort of relief. My Dr came in and told me that what I was experiencing was called a spinal headache and that a anesthesiologist could do a short procedure called a blood patch to help. But it came with risks of possibly not working at all or making my spinal headache worse. I felt like that way I was feeling it could only help because I could not imaging it becoming any worse than it already was. The blood patch is basically an epidural but instead of injecting you with medicine they take blood out of your arm and inject it at the sight of the previous epidural. Getting another epidural after what I had already been through made my heart race! I was so nervous and did not want to feel like I felt before! Well I made it through that and felt so much better! I felt almost too good, it was instant relief and I am so impressed with how that works! However I was released the next day and went home and I guess I over did it because my head started to hurt again but not as bad and not only my head but my neck hurt even worse that shot a shooting pain down my arms! I started to panic because I thought my spine was just ruined forever! By noon the next day my mom had to run and errand and Whitney had to go back to work so it was me and Patrick's first day alone with both Hadley and Cohen. My mom had been gone for about an hour and I went to make myself a bowl of cereal and every time I would go to take a bite my neck and head felt like they were literally going to explode! I broke down and started crying which I never do when in pain and Patrick was feeding Cohen so he jumped up and said we are going to the ER. He went to the bedroom to start getting him and both babies ready to go and a few minutes later he came back out and said I'm just going to call someone to come over here so I can take you. I think he realized what a chore it was to get everyone out the door! Long story short I was readmitted to the hospital and they performed another blood patch but not until the next day because my CT scan showed an air bubble in the left frontal lobe of my brain! They wanted a neurologist to check it out before doing anything else to me. It was horrible not being with Cohen! I even had to miss his first Dr appt because I was in the hospital! My mom and Whitney took him to his appt and his Dr said his jaundice count was almost high enough to admit him but he said if they go rent a bilirubin lamp bed and try to keep him in there for 24 hrs that he would not admit him. So that's what they did!

He did excellent and slept in there great! I think he liked the warmth! Any way I was still in the hospital when they sent Patrick this pic and they did not want him to show me this picture because it would upset me. My mom sent this pic in a text to Patrick and said that Cohen was just getting his tan on! I made my mom send me the pic because I couldn't stand it any longer and when I first saw it I was okay and then a few minutes later I looked at the pic again and couldn't hold the tears back any longer! I wanted to be with him sooo bad! When they took him back to the Dr the next day his jaundice count was almost normal! That day the neurologist came in early that same morning and told me the air bubble was nromal with the procedures I had and that it would just absorb so basically no big deal! Yay! But that didn't stop the air head jokes by any means! lol I had my second blood patch and this one worked for good! I haven't had a headache in almost three months! I was also released the next day so that I could rest and make sure the the blood clotted this time. It was so nice to get home and be with my family again! I missed my girl Hadley so bad! We spent everyday together for almost two years and to be away from her that long was not fun! Thank God for all of my wonderful family for helping us during that time! I was so glad to be able to put all of that behind us and start our new life of a family of five!

That's all for now! I feel like I've written a book! lol Any way my next post I will talk about the next major event that happened (Cohen's surgery)!

We have a date!

We are being induced on June 6th!  However, I went to the doctor today (Friday 18th) and I am dilated to a 4! I am currently 36 weeks and 4 days. It could literally be any day now. My anxiety is through the roof because Hadley was induced but I have a feeling I will go naturally into labor and that scared me to death! I went into labor naturally with Kaston and that was the scariest thing not knowing if you are going to make it to the hospital!  We are so ready for baby Cohen to be here. I am starting to feel a little anxiety about having a newborn and a toddler but I'm sure I will cope. I have tons of family and friends as a support system and that is always comforting to know!

Since I decided not to have a baby shower we had a family cookout this last weekend and it was a lot of fun! I received a few gifts and that was perfect! We have everything we need for baby and some! We got a lot of clothes, money, and was even surprised with the double stroller that I wanted! After much research and a whole lot of thought I decided to go with the City Mini Elite double stroller/jogger. We already put it together thanks to Paige and Zac! They stayed late that night and put it together with didn't take much thank goodness. I struggled with deciding to get a side by side or front to back stroller but am very pleased with the side by side stroller. I can get it through any door way in my house and it rides like a dream! I can't to use it! There are two versions of the City Mini and I recommend spending the extra because the tires on this Elite are real rubber and will go over anything, it also has two wheels up front for better balance!  We also got the car seat adapter and Zac put it on already too! I LOVE this thing!

He made out pretty good on clothes too!

Before the cookout my mom went to Merritt's to pick up the cupcake cake for me while Whitney and I cleaned up and decorated. While we were doing so, Whitney gets a phone call from my mom and all I heard was cupcakes and the look on Whitney's face I knew there was something WRONG! So I said give me the phone and Whitney handed right over! lol I said what is wrong with my cake?! My mom proceeds to tell me that the bakery thought they had until Saturday to make the cake and not Friday evening! I was so upset! I picked out the cutest cupcake cake and could not believe that it was not even ready when it was supposed to be! Luckily the cake decorator was still there and told my mom that she would do her best to have it done by 6. The cookout started at 6:30. The whole time from 5 to 6 I was stewing , getting more and more MAD! I even had a confirmation email saying it would be ready by 3 on Friday! Well the lady pulled it off (lucky her). She was saved from the hormonal pregnant lady! Here is a pic of the cupcake cake, it really did turn out cute!

Well as some of you may know Patrick and I are huge OKC Thunder fans. We had the opportunity this last Monday to go to the first series game with the LA Lakers! If anyone has debated on going to a Thunder game or not or wondered if it was worth it, it was hands down one of the most fun experiences in my life! The atmosphere is amazing and it is truly touching to see such support from Oklahoma fans! There is never a dull moment, they really know how to get the crowd involved to make it a great time! If you ever have a chance to go then do it, you will not be disappointed! We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel which is only a block away from the arena. However we decided to walk to Chellino's mexican restaurant which was about about 3 blocks away and that was about 3 blocks too far away for this pregnant girl! By the time we got to the arena (4 blocks of walking) I was sooo worn out! I was thinking the whole time OMG I'm totally going to pay for this tomorrow and sure enough I could barely walk the next day- make that two days! But it was totally worth it and I would have even went to the Wednesday night game if we had tickets! Here is how crazy we are about the Thunder, there was an advertisement on the jumbo tron that Midfirst Bank was offering Thunder Visa check cards so Patrick and I the next day go open a checking account at Midfirst so we can have the Thunder card! lol There is a Midfirst Bank less than a mile from us any way so it worked out rather well! I currently bank with BOA and the closest one is 5 miles away! The Midfirst is brand new and super nice with friendly employees so I'm thinking it was a good move on our part! Can't wait to swipe my Thunder card for the first time! I'm a huge nerd, i know!

36 weeks! I'm a ticking time bomb!

Just a little comparison. (34 weeks)











I go to the doctor tomorrow so I will update if there is any further progression! I know Hadley is as ready as I am to not be pregnant anymore. She really notices my belly at this point. She says Babies and points at it quite often throughout the day! lol Its pretty cute but my belly gets in the way of me picking her up and playing with her the way I want to! : ( Oh well I need to enjoy these last few weeks as much as possible because this one is my last and I know I will miss this time so much! That's all for now! : )

Randomness

Well Patrick is back and life is in full swing again! This weekend we took some time to prepare more for baby boy. Patrick detailed my Tahoe so good I don't want to even drive it and get it dirty! I don't know about anyone else but it seems like every time I detail the house or car it gets dirty twice as fast! Its amazing how much time out of my day I take just picking up the house. It doesn't help either that I have a toddler that drags things back out the second I put it away! Oh the joys of having a Toddler!

On Friday Taylar, her sister Amber, and her little boy Bodie came by for a visit. Hadley was infatuated with him! I believe he is three or getting ready to turn three so they were pretty close in age. Bodie loved playing with Reese and Ollie (two min pins) and it was cracking Hadley up! I've only heard her laugh that hard a few times. And you could tell Bodie was liked making her laugh like that. Taylar brought me three of the cutest NY Yankees onsies ever for baby boy! I showed them to Patrick and he loved them so much he said one of them is going to be is coming home outfit! Taylar is 30 weeks pregnant with a girl! Her shower is coming up in the next two weeks and I am so excited I already bought her gifts! For those of you who know me I'm usually at the store the morning of the shower looking for a gift, can we say procrastinator!  Here is a pic of two enjoying the dogs!

Here is a pic of Hadley when they left. It was so sad, she stared at the window saying bye bye for a few minutes after they had left! My poor baby is lonely but not for long!













 BELLY PIC!
I finally took another belly pic at 34 weeks and baby boy has grown so much since my last 27 week pic! I still have about 4 weeks left so its hard to believe I'm going to BIGGER! I'll try not to think about that for now though! ; ) Well here it is!

34 weeks

27 weeks

















I wanted to share what I found in US Weekly magazine this week. For those of you getting ready to have a baby or already do this is a great find! In the back of the magazine they always share these great websites for products that you can get great deals on and I happen to find a deal at SevenSlings.com for a FREE baby sling worth $48! The promo code is USM17 and they have several cute designs and colors to choose from! You do have to pay shipping though but its only $11.90. I should get mine in the mail this week so I will post what I think of it when I get it. There is also a free promo code (USMAG17) for a car seat canopy to carseatcanopy.com worth $49.95! I order one of those too and the shipping was only 12.90 so I can't wait to get it in the mail! Here are some pics of the products with all the info! : )

Sling














Canopy

















That's all for today!

Yay for Friday!

Today is an exciting day! One of my besties, Taylar is coming for a visit and Patrick is coming home! Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning because I want everything to be perfect for Patrick's return. I also managed to get out and go to Babies R Us for Taylar's baby shower gift, Hobby Lobby for Cohen's OKC Thunder onsie, and finally Walmart for a FEW things which turned into a cart full! Needless to say this momma is worn out!

So I recently and finally took the initiative to touch up the paint in my kitchen and dining room. It is painted in a milk chocolate high textured adobe style plaster. I just bought some acrylic paint at Hobby Lobby and tried to match it as best as possible. There is left over paint from the builders in the garage but I was trying to avoid dragging the big can of paint in the house and I especially did not want to inhale the fumes. So my easy way out was an epic FAIL! lol Let's just say I suck! Here is a pic of what I thought was going to "blend" right in!

I'm going to back track a little and post a 27 week belly pic. For some reason and the same reason I started this blog is that I am not very good at remembering or documenting things. For example I have maybe 4 different pics of my pregnant belly with Hadley so I promised myself that I was going to take weekly pics with this third and final pregnancy. So far I have two pics (15th and 27th week). Another epic FAIL on my part! I am now 34 weeks and have not taken any pics in between the 27th and 34th week so I need to get on the ball! Here is  my week 27 pic!

Hadley's new thing is walking up to me and getting in my face while jabbering like she is really telling me a story. I love it! She sounds like she is speaking Chinese. I will try really hard to get a video of it but she stops everything she is doing the second I pull out my phone. Its like she purposely does it I swear! She is also becoming more aware of the baby in my belly. She points at my belly and says baby baby baby. The other day I was washing some bottles and pacifiers, which she thought were hers of course, and I explained to her that they belonged to the baby in my belly. She actually excepted it without whining that time. Even though Hadley has been off a bottle since she was 12 months old when she sees one she thinks she has to have it! We had a little bit of kiddie pool time since the weather has been so amazing this week. She loves the water and is not afraid at all which is nice but a little nerve racking when we go to my parents lake house. When we are down at the dock she gets so close to the edge and even though she has a life jacket on it still freaks me out! She gets it from Kaston, he was never scared of water and was jumping in the lake at age 2! Any way back to the kiddie pool- I bought this little blow up pool and I know I should have just bought the hard plastic one with a slide because they are way easier to maintain! However I bought this pool in March when it was nice and we used it one of the days is was 80+ degrees outside and they did not have the slide pool in stock yet. I would like to get a soft pool so that Kaston could swim in it too. We ruled out getting an in-ground pool this year because of the new baby coming and all of the maintenance they require. Hopefully we can work on getting one for next summer. When you live in OK and in the dead of summer you almost have to have a pool! It gets so hot that we hardly even go outside so it would pay for itself in entertainment to put a pool in. Here is a pic and video of Hadley enjoying some pool time. Notice Reese on the pic, she wanted to get in real bad! lol

Tuesday Bluesday

Yes can you believe it, I'm still whining about Patrick being gone! Pathetic I know, I just got spoiled to him being home so much. In his line of work he is able to leave early in the day and work from home a lot so we never go more than three hours without seeing each other. It is nice that he is able to to that because it helps me a lot with Hadley and being 34 weeks pregnant his schedule really comes in handy! Okay enough about that already! Last night Hadley and I stayed in Claremore with my mom and Tom. Hadley got to see the horses and feed them, she had so much fun. Here are some pics.

Kaston had a game last night in Jenks at 7:45! SO late! I do not make it to many of his games at that time in fact I've only been to one this season. When we signed him up for Marquette baseball we didn't realize that it was with a Jenks league and all of our games would be there. Its about 25 min from BA to where they play deep in Jenks and the 7:45 games to not work well with Hadley's bedtime. Kaston usually gets home around 10:00 and is in bed by 10:30 which is entirely to late for a school night! Kaston has struggled this season with hitting too. He now plays kid pitch and those games are so boring! There are not near as many hits as there are with coach pitch. Also Kaston does a lot better in practice for some reason and recently admitted to having stage fright. Poor guy I just wish he could find a groove and start liking baseball more. Not getting any hits in some of his games here recently has affected his confidence too. : ( We are making him stick with it though because once he really develops he will be great because he has such an athletic build and Id hate to see it go to waste!

One another note- last Friday on April 28th, Kaston had one bad luck of a day! Lets just start with the fact I got a call from the assistant principal at 11:00! She told me that Kaston had been sent to the office twice already and by two different teachers! Let me just say that Kaston is pretty well behaved and this was totally a shocker even to Tracey (asst princ). Friday was a bad combination though, not only was it almost the weekend but he had a sub and all the kids were going wild according to the sub.Poor Sub! I remember being in elementary and having a sub, it was pretty much something as kids we all looked forward to because we got a way with a lot more! So when Kaston got home I asked him what happened in music class and he proceeded to tell me that Mr. W (a not so favorite teacher in the school) told him to stop talking just once and then sent him to the office. The sub sent him for playing with playdo and Kaston claims that he did not hear him and kept playing with it. Hate to sound like that parent of a child who does no wrong but COME ON! Both situations sound a little petty to me. If you cannot control your students then maybe teaching/subbing is not for you. However I did talk to Kaston about respecting and listening to subs and other teachers who are not his main teacher. He also is grounded from his xbox and PSP for a week. Now here is the real kicker! A couple hours after being home from school Kaston went out and Patrick's putter just so happened to be out there with some golf balls and Kaston Chipped a ball into one of our bedroom windows on accident!!! I heard it from the living room and Kaston came right in. His face was ghost white and he looked scared to death! lol That was enough punishment for me just to know how scared he was to tell us. Poor kid is at a tough age and hard to entertain without electronics and the one time he picks up a golf club he breaks a window! I know it was an accident so he did not get in trouble but he is not getting the bday present he wanted- instead it will be his way of paying us back. Just when you don't think it can get any worse...it does! Thank God our windows are doubled paned and only the outside pane broke! With Patrick leaving on Monday we are not able to get it fixed until he gets back so I'm just thankful there is no outside air coming in! Needless to say both Hadley and Kaston stayed with Nana and Papa Friday night because momma needed a break! lol

Tonight Whitney and Chris are staying the night with us. It should be fun, we plan on ordering takeout from somewhere and watching a movie in the theater room! That is of course if I can figure out how to turn the projector on! Patrick usually messes with that side of it. Well that is all for today! I know it was a pretty long post...

Monday blues.

Kinda of a sad day :( Patrick left at 4:30 this morning and I got maybe 31/2 hours of sleep! It was so hard to say goodbye to Patrick this morning! He did not want to go at all but I told him as soon as he sees the beach he will forget all about us! lol We both have anxiety when it comes to flying to I know he was nervous this morning. : (  I remember last year when we left Hadley for the first time to go to the Bahamas. It was the hardest thing to do ever. Being away from your baby for a week will make you go crazy! All I kept thinking about was that she was going to forget me- NOT a good feeling! He will be back on Friday so I need to quit being a baby and keep myself busy!

I'm trying to get motivated today to get out of the house for a bit since my house is clean and laundry is done. Hadley and I are bored! Over the last two months I have been so busy getting the house in order and decorated and now that it is finally complete I'm finding myself a bit bored! The nursery is complete and so is Hadley and Kaston's rooms. It feels so good to have everything situated! The only thing I am waiting on for baby boy is his car seat! It arrives tomorrow and I am so excited, I love it and I'm a super picky person so I'm glad I found one I like. With Hadley I had a Graco 35 and found it to be kind of bulky so we bought a Chicco Keyfit 30 this time and it is smaller and easier to use.
I just love the bright lime green!

There is one thing I still have yet to do and that is to pack a bag for the hospital. I will work on that this week while Patrick is soaking up the sun on Coco Beach. So not fair! I found a great list for what to pack for the hospital for mom and baby at http://www.americanpregnancy.org/planningandpreparing/packinglist.htm   You would think by now I would know what to pack but with pregnancy brain its nearly impossible to think of everything! I have to say with Kaston it was kind of nice having the surprise factor when it comes to going into labor but with Hadley there were no worries what so ever knowing the date and time I was going to be induced. I think everyone I know in the last two years have been induced. That is pretty interesting.

Enough about pregnancy, lets talk food! This weekend I was watching a cook show on TV and I cannot for the life of me remember what channel or what her name was. She only comes on the weekends and its not even a food channel! However the recipe was french toast dipped in corn flake crumbs. The only thing you do is after dipping the Texas sized toast in the egg you dip it in corn flake crumbs and start frying. Haven't tried it yet but will sometime this week! I'll post pics. Next time I talk food I promise to do much better with pictures and an actual recipe! lol

I'm a little late getting Hadley's OKC Thunder outfit made this year. It will be finished sometime this week. I had to take it to Brylee's Bowtique here in BA to do the sewing on it. Last year I did the onsie myself because it required no sewing. I'm just hoping the Thunder make it to the next series so she can wear it to a playoff game! I have faith though, they are a young amazing team and I know they will go all the way! Here is a pic of Hadley's onsie I made her last year.

Well that is all for now. Post was a little boring this time I know but I will do better next time! ;)

My First Post!

Today is my 1st day to blog ever! I probably do not have time to do this but I'm going to give it a try. Thanks Shelby for inspiring me because I have a terrible memory and want to be able to go back and look at all these memories of my family!

Just to catch everyone up a bit- I am due June 13th and Patrick and I will be welcoming a new baby boy (Cohen) into our family! We are beyond excited but poor Hadley does not know what is coming at all! We point to my belly and tell her there is a baby in there and she says baby and points at it but she is too young to grasp what is about to happen. Kaston is pretty excited about having a brother and the crazy thing is that baby boy is due on his birthday! When I was pregnant with Kaston his due date was June 13th and he came right on that very date. However these days it seems that doctors like to induce a week early. I'm pretty sure that I will take that option since Hadley was induced a week early and she weighed almost 8lbs!

On another note- Patrick is leaving for San Jaun, Puerto Rico on Monday without me! : (  The doc says its too close to due date for me to go and with the small problems I've had with this third and final pregnancy we are just going to play it safe this time! Patrick earned this trip through his work by meeting and exceeding all expectations of job his functions. Basically he killed it at work this year and made Cox a whole lot of money so they are sending him with the best of the best in the "winners circle" to Coco Beach! I am so so proud of him. I love Patrick's enthusiasm when it comes to being successful. This will be a trying week for me because we have never spent more than a day apart and I know Hadley is going to wonder where he is and miss him!

Well that is all for today, but my next posts I plan on updating the details to the few very minor complications of this pregnancy. The baby is perfect so not to worry, its more about me and my left ovary so...

Here is a 20 week pic of our little man.

27 week 4D pic.