December Happenings

Our little Yoda baby.

Hayden's blessing day.

On a walk, devouring his hand.

In his "jailbird" jammies

Hayden met Santa at our ward Christmas Party!

One of his favorite places...the bathtub

On another walk...this one was much colder.

May disgust some of you, but he spit up and then face planted right into it. We're loving parents...we break out the camera before cleaning him up.

I LOVE this picture. He is wearing an outfit that Darren wore as a baby...Makes my heart melt!

Christmas 2012

Darren is 29!

Darren is so old! Just kidding. He did turn 29 on Sunday though! He had a special birthday breakfast, went to church at 9, had whatever we could find for lunch and then had one of his favorites, Baked Ziti, for dinner. My parents came up, with Aaron, Dallin & Sarah, to celebrate with us. 

After dinner, which was delish, we had cake and ice cream!

I thought I'd try and make his cake look like a baseball. The red turned out to be more pink than red, but he says he still loved it.

The birthday boy with his cake

It's a bonfire!

I'm pretty impressed he got them all out on one try...

He was a pretty spoiled boy most of the day. I got him the Giants' 2012 World Series commemorative DVD and he got money from my parents and grandparents. 

He says his day was fun, and I sure hope so. Happy Birthday Darren!

Hayden at Two Months

Hayden is now two months old! He had his two month appointment yesterday (the 17th) and weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 9 ounces and measured 22 inches long. His doctor said he's right where he should be on his growth curve (approximately the 15th percentile) and should have no problem getting to double his birth weight by 6 months. He handled his shots pretty well (one of the nurses had to swat him a little to get him to take a breath after he turned super red and was about to start crying). We came home, gave him some Advil, and he took a long 3 hour nap. When he woke up I changed his diaper (which he usually loves), but he had this confused look on his face when he was trying to kick and play. I'm guessing his legs were bothering him and he was unsure why...

In the last month he has lost just about all of the hair he had when he was born. He's still sporting a few long strands at his cowlick on the top/back of his head, and has a mullet-like strip at the top of his neck. Everything that has fallen out is slowly coming back in, so his head has some nice peach fuzz going on. His eyes are still beautiful blue, and we're hoping they'll stay that way. He has started to smile too! His first real smile was on Thanksgiving, at my mom. I was not too thrilled, but it didn't take too long before he smiled for me and Darren too. He's also mastered the art of sleeping for more than 4 hours at night! The night after Darren's parents left he decided to sleep from 9pm-3:30am. It was fantastic! He has since moved his waking time up to 4 or 5, and then will go back down for a couple more hours, usually up for the day by 7 or 8. Darren and I are loving our lives a little more now!

We've gradually started putting him in 0-3 month size clothes, but he still wears some of his Newborn sized sleepers. Mommy's having a hard time saying goodbye to those cute clothes! He is still wearing Newborn sized diapers, but that will probably only last another week or so.

At two months Hayden likes to: eat (though only Gerber Soy formula agrees with him), smile, babble and coo, play with anyone who will play with him, be in just his diaper, take naps in his swing, and have his binkie nearby.

He does not like: baby formula that is not soy based, generic soy formula, being cold, being in the car for more than 15 minutes, the straight water we make him drink to help with his diaper situation...

We're excited to see what the next month will bring!

Hayden's Blessing

Hayden was given a name and a blessing by his dad on Sunday, December 2nd. Darren did a great job! He was able to have my dad, his dad, and two members of our bishopric in the circle with him. We wish we could have had more family there, but we live too far away. Bummer...

After Sacrament Meeting we all came back to our apartment for some snacks, and then headed down to my parents house for dinner (and more room to relax). It was so much fun to socialize and spend time together.

Sherry took more photos than I did, so when I get them from her I'll post them here. For now, this is the only picture I have from that day...

November Happenings

I feel like the holidays have completely snuck up on me this year. I'm going to say that it's because I was in a new baby cave for the first month after Hayden was born, but who knows what the real reason is...

We went down to my parents for Thanksgiving again this year. I was a little nervous about going, since this was our first trip (if you can call an hour away a trip) with the baby. He did great though. My mom came up the Tuesday before and helped me get the house ready for Darren's parents (they arrived on Black Friday), and then took us to get Hayden's one month photos taken at JC Penny and then drove us down to their house.

We hung out that evening and all day Wednesday to help get everything ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. We did it differently this year and instead of trying to fit everyone around the kitchen table we ate on the couch in the living room and watched football. It was really fun! Unfortunately we had to come back up Thanksgiving evening, but we enjoyed the time we had with my family.

Darren's parents flew in early Friday morning and Darren picked them up and came back to our apartment. We decided to give them some time to sleep so we took Hayden and did some Black Friday shopping. I can describe it in one word - disaster. We went to Kohls, but the line was forever long (I stood for 10-15 minutes and didn't move) and I was getting frustrated and Hayden was hungry and tired so we headed back pretty soon.

I'd like to say that we did a bunch of fun stuff with Darren's parents while they were in town, but we did a lot of hanging out and watching tv. Darren did take them into DC the Friday before they left, but I stayed back with Hayden to let him have a good day of naps. I was a little bummed, but it ended up being a really relaxing day and that's exactly what I needed. Sherry and I did get the chance to go and see Twilight Breaking Dawn: Part 2 one of the days, while Glade watched Hayden sleep away in his swing for a few hours.

They headed back to California on the 3rd of December, the day after we blessed Hayden! We had a lot of fun with them during their visit, and were sad to see them go, but we were ready to get back to our usual routine. Hayden decided to be extra special to us that night and only woke up once, sleeping from 9-3:30! And, he's continued to do that ever since. We are beginning to feel like real people again...Hallelujah!!!

Here are some pictures of our little squirt throughout the month...

Hayden at One Month

Our little Hayden is one month old today! At his last appointment (on Halloween) he was 6 pounds, 14 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. It's been two weeks since then, so we are pretty sure he's gained more weight and is somewhere over 7 pounds by now. We are loving how light his hair has gotten, and his BIG blue eyes. He was sleeping for a few good 4 hour chunks at night, but has suddenly decided he doesn't want to be nice anymore. We're lucky if he'll go four at first, then it goes down to 2 1/2-3, then 1 1/2-2. We sure do miss sleeping...

At one month Hayden likes to: eat, sleep in Mommy or Daddy's arms, sleep in his carseat while at home, and suck on his fingers or binkie.

He does NOT like: being swaddled, being naked to take a bath (though he's fine once he's in the water), sleeping in his crib/pack 'n play, being in the stroller while out shopping, and taking naps during the day (though this is getting better).

We sure love him!

Life in October

Now that October is over, and I feel like I missed it somehow, it's time to go back and update...The first few days home were mighty rough. We were completely sleep deprived, nursing was a joke, and I was having major baby blues. We learned pretty quickly why people have their moms come to help, so I called my mom in tears Saturday night, the 20th, and asked her to come up. She came and spent the night Saturday, taking the night shift as well (we got sleep!!), and stayed through Sunday.

Sunday afternoon she helped us give Hayden his first bath at home! Not to mention, his first bath in like a week, since I had no clue how to do it so I didn't even try.

She came back Monday, the 22nd, and stayed for a few days to help us get back on our feet. It was the best decision we've ever made. I have no idea what I was thinking, believing we could do it just the two of us. Luckily Darren was able to take 3 weeks of paternity leave and be home 24/7 too. The weeks that he was home looked pretty much like this...

We pretty much have the swing of things now. Every day is different, some are better than others, but I have learned to accept that :) Maybe one day we'll sleep for more than just 3 hours at a time and be able to form coherent sentences again...

Hayden's Arrival

So, it all started around 11:30pm on Saturday, October 13...

I woke up to a slightly painful cramp/contraction but didn't really think anything of it. I got up, used the bathroom and then went back to bed. Through the course of the night I was woken up by a few more, but nothing consistent.

By the time 7am came (time to get up for church) I was pretty tired still and wasn't sure I wanted to go. I got up anyway and decided to see how things went while I got ready. I didn't really notice much while I showered, ate and got dressed so I headed out the door with Darren thinking it was just a weird night.

I had another contraction during sacrament meeting, and then one every 45 minutes to an hour for the rest of church. After our block of meetings we were talking to a member of our bishopric who informed us we would be getting released from our calling in primary the next Sunday. He asked if we would like following Sunday to be our last, or if we would like to be done right now. I told him, halfway joking, that I wasn't sure I would last until next Sunday since I'd been having contractions all morning. He said ok and we headed on our way home.

My contractions seemed to start to come closer together by mid-afternoon. They were about 20-30 minutes apart, with some as close as 15. They started to get painful enough that I had to break out my breathing techniques from our childbirth class dvd. I decided to go on a walk with Darren to get my mind off of them and to see what would happen. I didn't have any on our walk, until we were just about back to the apartment and then the one I had was a doozy. I called my mom and asked her what she thought, because I still wasn't convinced I was in labor because I was 10 days away from my due date. I tried for the next few hours to relax as much as possible, and limited my food to jello and juice just in case this was the real thing.

By 9:00pm I was getting pretty uncomfortable, but my contractions still weren't all that consistent. They'd vary from 15 minutes, to 8 minutes, and then maybe 20. I took a bath to see if that would help me relax, and thankfully it did! I had no contractions while I was soaking, but the moment I stood up to get out I had another one. I was so mad. Darren and I decided to just go to bed and do the best we could to sleep for at least a few hours.

A few more hours went by, but the contractions didn't come any closer. They just decided to come stronger. At about 1:00am I had started getting the shakes whenever I would get up to go to the bathroom, and I had started throwing up during my super strong contractions as well. Oh, joy. My back was starting to kill me, so I got in the bathtub again and decided to call the on call midwife. She said there really wasn't much I could do since my contractions were still only 10-15 minutes apart. I could come in the next morning and have them check me, or try to relax and see if they speed up. I really didn't want to have to wait 8 hours to figure out what was going on, but I didn't see them really getting closer since they'd been at 15 minutes for quite a few hours.

I decided to get back in bed and put a heating pad on my back. I didn't really get much sleep since I was timing my contractions pretty much the whole time. By about 5:00am they had been coming 5-8 minutes apart for over an hour so I called my lovely midwife back. She asked if I was ready to come in, I said "I guess", and we headed out the door. It actually took us longer to get out the door than I thought it would. I didn't anticipate how slowly I would be moving while having contractions...

One last belly shot. I was slightly uncomfortable...

We got to the hospital at about 6:00am, and Darren couldn't have driven any faster. In the weeks leading up to D-day I told him he'd better drive carefully on the way to the hospital when I was in labor. I was singing a different tune when the time actually came and told him to get there as fast as he could. I didn't care.

The front parking was full when we arrived, so Darren dropped me off at the doors while he went and parked. I sat down and waited at the Triage area for a nurse to come get me. When one arrived she looked at me and said, "Oh, you look uncomfortable." I thought, "No, duh." She was actually very nice though. Darren found me, and I got all changed into my gown and hooked up to the monitors. My contractions were coming back to back at this point, so I was pretty miserable and still throwing up. The triage nurse checked me at this point and told us I was 3 cm dialated, 100% effaced, and at a -1 or 0 station. I was at least happy there had been progress! I had been 1cm, 60% and -2 for the last 2 appointments. She called my midwife to tell her where I was at, and then informed us my midwife didn't want to admit me just yet. I was told to walk for an hour, to hopefully get me to 4cm, and then we'd see.

I was less than thrilled. I gritted through a few more intense contractions and then slowly got myself out of bed and into the hallway. It took about 10 minutes to get going, but we walked down to the nurses station and were about to turn around and go back when we got great news - my midwife had changed her mind and the hospital had received an admit order for me. I could just turn the corner and head to my labor/delivery room. I was SO happy I didn't have to keep walking, because I pretty much wanted to die at this point. I had to stop a few times and lean against the railing on the wall during contractions, but we eventually made it to the room. I think it was close to 6:45 or 7 by this time, but I really have no clue.

We got all situated in our room and met my labor nurse Barbara. She was super sweet and the only one who could get the IV in. Apparently my veins didn't show up for my delivery, or so she told me. They gave me some Zofran to help with the throwing up, and I felt quite a bit better. The triage nurse was filling Barbara in on my birth plan and told her I might want an epidural at some point. I immediately chimed in, "It's no longer might. It's for sure want." They both kinda laughed and said they'd get the order in right away.

A little bit later, before anesthesia showed up, my midwife Marjie came in to say hi and see how I was doing. She helped me breathe through a few contractions and showed Darren where to push on my back to help with my back pain. At one point he pulled his hand away and shook it like it was hurting from pushing so hard. I just glared at him with a look that said, "You think that hurts?!" Hilarious. A few minutes later Marjie noticed I was shaking and told us it was because I was progressing so quickly, so she checked me again. This time I was at a 5! I had gone from a 3 to 5 in just over an hour. I was thrilled. She knew I had ordered the epidural already, but she also knew that I had wanted to make it to a 5 before getting it. She told me I had definitely earned that epidural and was so proud of me for getting as far as I wanted to. I had to smile, since it felt like a small victory. I was getting the epidural regardless of how far I was, but I was glad I progressed far enough before I did.

My favorite lady of the day, Mrs. Anesthesia, showed up soon after and my epidural was in by 7:30am. I was really nervous about the whole process in the weeks leading up, but it seemed like a breeze compared to contractions. She told me it could take a little bit for it to start working and I might still feel a few contractions before it took effect. I felt half of one and then felt nothing else. It was fantastic!

In epidural heaven

I felt like a new person after my epidural. I was able to call my mom and talk to a few other people without wanting to just punch someone in the face. It was marvelous. Darren got a little light headed and had to sit down right after, but he recovered quickly. He claims it was the combination of being up all night, not eating breakfast yet, and fasting the day before that did him in...

Over the next 5 hours or so I pretty much progressed 1 cm each hour. The midwife on call switched sometime that morning, and my new one, Courtney, broke my water when I was at a 7. I was at a 9 by 11:30am, but then they thought my contractions had completely stopped and were going to start me on pitocin. Courtney decided to check me just in case, and turns out I was still contracting (the monitor was not picking it up since I had rolled over), and I was at a 10! She wanted to wait about an hour to push, so that the contractions I was having could help to bring him down more, and hopefully I wouldn't have to push for too long.

I started feeling crazy pressure around 1:00pm, and by a little after 1:30 we were pushing. Darren was awesome and held one leg and watched the whole thing. He didn't even get light headed this time :) Luckily my epidural was not too strong and I was able to have tons of control during the pushing process, and even feel some tension from my contractions. It was exactly the experience I wanted. I dare say I even enjoyed the whole delivery. Courtney and Darren chatted about baseball teams and the playoffs and I remember laughing about something.

After just under an hour of pushing, at 2:26pm, little Hayden was born:

He was super purple and didn't really cry right when he was born. The nursery nurse didn't seem to think it was a problem though and said he pinked up pretty quickly after being under the light. It was a super emotional experience. Darren quickly left my side and went by the nursery nurse to watch her do all of the initial assessments while I got stitched up (1st degree tear). He took a ton of photos:

Emptying his bladder!

Such a proud Daddy

After about an hour after delivering Hayden, and one mandatory trip to the bathroom, I was wheeled down to the postpartum wing to recover for the next two days.

My mom and Aaron were able to stop by that evening and meet our little guy...

Our first family photo

The next day my dad and Sarah were able to come up as well. Dallin didn't want to come to the hospital, so he came up after we got home.

Hayden and his Grandpa. I think he's giving Sarah a look for something she said...

The next day was a blur as we headed home that afternoon. I wish I could have taken home all of the nurses that were with us in recovery. They were so great.

All suited up and ready to head home!

Our first night home was so overwhelming, and I'm pretty sure I cried through most of it, but we got through it. I have no clue why I thought Darren and I could do it without any help. My mom ended up coming and staying with us for 4-5 days to help get us back on our feet. It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for your outlook on life :)

We've now got almost 3 weeks under our belt and while each day is a new challenge, it somehow gets a little easier. He's definitely changed our lives :)