A Delivery Story

Only a week late, but here it goes...

Well ironically one of the first things I did Monday morning was to email Keri and let her know that despite her intuition I was not having the baby. But as she pointed out in her blog she has a knack for these things obviously!

I went to my 38 week ob appointment at 4:00 on Monday August 17th. My regular OB was out of town so I saw another Dr. in the practice. I DID not like him with Kaitlyn and I still did not like him this time. He always freaks me out. The first thing he said was your baby is huge. I'm sending you for an ultrasound tomorrow morning. Then he told me I should be induced soon. I left his office a little freaked out thinking I was having a 12 pounder or something. My regular Dr. had never said anything and the midwife I had seen the week before said this baby would be bigger than the other two (7 pounds) but she didn't seem concerned. So anyway I left and drove home.

Joe and I had asked Rosilea (Kaitlyn's old nanny) to babysit the kids so we could go out for our anniversary. We got to the restaurant and I started to feel a little weird. It felt like I was having braxton hicks contractions but they were pretty regular but mild. I thought maybe it was just because of the internal. Then as we were standing in line at the movies, they were still coming and after about 10 minutes of the movie I decided we should go to the hospital. I was 1 1/2 at the Dr. at 4 and by the time we got to the hospital at around 9 I was 3 1/2. They admitted me. I was hoping the scary Dr. wasn't on call and luckily it turned out to be the midwife who I loved. YEAH!!!

After I told EVERY one about the way they had to hold Kaitlyn in they were all aware of how quick I deliver. My contractions were still mild and about 11:30 the midwife decided to break my water to get things moving. An hour later I still hadn't progressed much so she decided to give me pitocin. This wasn't really doing much at first either so they increased the dosage. The nurse asked (actually almost begged me to get an epidural) but I said I was fine. After all, I'd done it twice before without one. Well around 3:00 am Jackson decided he was going to come and come quickly. The nurse was right. The contractions were MUCH worse after being induced. She checked me again and said I was only 6-7. Ughh...bring on the epidural. But by the time the anesthesiologist came (like 15 minutes later) I was in lots of pain. She told me I had to hold still but I really didn't think I could. So she checked me again and I was 8-9 and said it would be about another hour before I delivered...well needless to say it was more like 5 minutes and Jackson was out. They were amazing this time and the midwife got there immediately. I think I pushed for about 2 minutes!

No tearing, no complications everything was perfect. I will admit though that if I ever had to do it again (which I'm not) I would definitely get an epidural if they induced me. The uterine contractions afterward while I was nursing were more painful than I remember with the other 2 also but the nurse said that was because after your 2nd or 3rd you have muscle memory so it contracts quicker/harder something like that.

Jackson was perfect as well. 8lbs 5 oz (not 12) and 20 3/4 inches long. We got up to our room around 7am. They wanted to keep me in the hospital until Thursday but I asked if we could leave Wednesday since they weren't really doing anything for me or Jackson. I hate the hospital. Kaitlyn and Zachary came to the hospital Tuesday afternoon. Zachary wouldn't really get near him because he didn't want to wake him, but Kaitlyn was obsessed with him. She hasn't left him alone since. That first day she was rocking and singing to him. I have yet to get this on film because she wants to grab the camera whenever we try to take a picture or video of it. I'll get it though!

We left the hospital around 4:00pm on Wednesday to come home. It felt very surreal bringing home baby number 3. Stay tuned for more...

Boating

Yesterday we went out in my parent's boat. It was a beautiful amazing day. We rode up to a place called Peanut Island. It is in the middle of the intercoastal in
Riveria Beach. The kids loved the boat and playing in the water. The water was the perfect depth for Zach to stand and swim. Both of the kids discovered they LOVED jumping off of the side of the boat towards the end of the day. We couldn't exactly get the timing right on the pictures but this is pretty much what we saw of Zach for about an hour. What a blast. This is the "after" shot.

Zoo Fun

The mommies in my neighborhood planned a few field trips this summer. I took Friday off of work and went with all of them to the Palm Beach County Zoo. It was a blast. The kids both loved it. I had never been there before and I always assumed it was just a lame version of Metro Zoo. It was completely different. I wouldn't say that either was better than the other just different. The Palm Beach zoo doesn't have a lot of the bigger animals like hippos, giraffes or lions but it is much more intimate. All of the animals are closer which I think the kids really liked. They got to be really close to the tiger, jaguar and bears. Zachary was completely excited because there was a baby jaguar, just like Diego. It made his day. Kaitlyn was in awe of everything. She started at this turtle for like 10 minutes trying to catch/pet him. She also loved staring at all of the animals and talking to them. I'm so sad I didn't have my video camera because she was hilarious "cock-a-doodle-dooing" at the rooster! All of the paths were also shady and tropical looking which was nice because it was HOT!

Kaitlyn wants to do everything that Zachary does...









In between looking at the animals we stopped for a splash break. It was a great day and I was happy to spend the day with other mommies!

Any Suggestions?

Ok, creative friends, I need some help. I'm trying to decide what to do with the kids rooms. Should the baby have his own room or should Kaitlyn, the only girl, have her own room? I was leaning toward Kaitlyn and Zachary sharing a room for now and then once Jaxson is in a bed having the boys share a room.

I think since the kids are so little, mixing genders in a room won't matter. What do you guys think?


I think the kids might be a little small yet for bunk beds but this one from IKEA converts to a loft bed. Then they each would have their own space on each side of the room.

I would probably have it on the floor for Kaitlyn and possibly raised for Zachary. In the store display they have an extra mattress under the loft with pillows propped against the wall like a little sitting area. It is super cute.

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day. My parents pool was finished just in time so we got to swim in it for the first time on Saturday night and we didn't really get out until Sunday night.

Zachary and Kaitlyn both LOVE the water. Jade was so protective of both of the kids. Every time Kaitlyn got out of the water Jade tried to herd her away from the pool. She never took her eyes off of the kids. It was so HOT on Sunday and Jade would not go inside because she had to "guard" the kids.

I made my mom's favorite dinner with duchess potatoes and creamed spinach and berry trifle. YUMMY!

I hope all of you had a nice day as well.

Here are my favorite pictures from the weekend.

Saturday Dress Up

Zachary loves his cowboy costume. I think we take it out at least once a month. Saturday, Kaitlyn and Zachary dressed up in their costumes and then asked me to take pictures. Zachary then proceeded to sing and dance in front of our wall mirror. It was hillarious. Kaitlyn was more interested in climbing over the wall but Zachary suddenly became very interested in what she was doing.




After I stopped recording, I put the crown on. Zachary told me that I couldn't wear it because I was already married. Then he pointed to our wedding picture on the wall and said, "see mom, you are already married there is a picture of you and daddy right there on the wall."

May

Here are pictures of Zachary and Kaitlyn making Vau's gift box. Kaitlyn liked painting the box but she REALLY liked painting herself. Please note the paint in her hair, eyelashes and ENTIRE body! She also tried painting Zachary. Zach usually stays pretty clean but he had to join in on the silliness and paint himself also.

Easter 2009

Zachary loved dying Easter Eggs and making Easter cupcakes. Kaitlyn only found 1 Easter egg. After the first egg, she figured out that she could sit there and eat and Zachary would find all of the eggs for her!

February

Hmm...noticing a theme here. Apparently I only take my camera out at Zach's school. Well, one of them is not at Zach's school. Zach and I had a camp out in my room one night.

Nikki also got some really great pictures of the kids at Halle's birthday party. I LOVE having talented friends! Halle's birthday party was a princess theme. There are a few pictures of Kaitlyn in her princess dress and Zachary in his Knight costume.

Pictures from Halle's birthday My favorite picture of Kaitlyn is 145 and Zach 89

January

Since we don't have snow in South Florida, Zach's school brought in a huge truckful of "snow" one Saturday so the kids could have snowball fights and play in the snow.

Ballin' the Jack Dance

M-O-M-M-Y

Don't worry I'm still alive...

So I can't believe it has really been 7 months since I last blogged. Hi, my name is Christina, and I'm a blog failure!

I'll start with updates

Zachary: He is the sweetest big brother. I can't wait to see how he is with his newest little brother. He continues to come up with new names for the baby. My top 3 favorites are:
1. Ted the White Guy
2. Moskowitz (the last name of a boy in his class)
3. Tom, just Tom.

I absolutely love his preschool. I went to a mother's day tea there on Tuesday. It was amazing. This was the first time Zach actually sang and danced the entire time. He was so adorable. I loved the pride he had in his face while he was doing it. You could tell he was just so tickled by himself. Then as soon as it was over he ran over to give me all of my gifts. He made me a bracelet, a flower pot and a picture. Great day!!

Joe's mom was in the hospital for a few days so we made her a gift box to send to her. He absolutely loved doing everything for his "Vau". We went to Michaels and I let him pick everything out. Then we came home and made it. He even had to carry it all in to Fed Ex and pay because, it was for his Vau. I had him tell me what to write on his card and he told me to write, "I love you so much Vau and I can't wait to do a spiderman puzzle with you." I love that kid!

Kaitlyn:
She is doing great. She is talking but on her terms. She can name everything in all of our books but she is reluctant to actually talk in conversation. Her favorite expressions now are "what happened", "i sorry" "uh oh" and Zachey!!! She LOVES her brother also.

She also is the greatest eater. She will try anything I give her and loves her veggies, at least one of my kids eats!

At her 19th month appointment on the 1st she weighed 24lbs and was 34 1/2 inches long. I think that puts her in the 95%.

Kaitlyn is usually the happiest child and is smiley all of the time, except if you take away her food or her books, she pitches a huge fit. The tantrums are starting to stop now that she sees they aren't working though.

Baby: So I'm feeling pretty good. I look like I swallowed a basketball. It is amazing how all 3 of my pregnancies have been so different. I think we've decided on Jaxson Terrell (Jax). We are still struggling with the spelling, meaning Joe doesn't like the way I want to spell it. Any thoughts?

My next post will be a 7 month update in photos and videos.