Birth Story

WARNING:

***This is the birth story of Pallas, in full. Some material may not be suitable for children......... or men.***

I have had many requests to hear the birth story of baby Pallas, so by popular demand, here it is.

Let's start about 2 1/2 weeks before she was born. First off, I was HUGE. I know every pregnant women feels that way at the end, but I really was. When she would move her foot I literally would feel it almost in my back. I knew she was gonna be way bigger than my first 2 (Landen: 7lbs 1 oz, Boston: 6 lbs 7 oz) but everyone kept telling me she's not that big, she's not that big. HA!! So about 2 1/2 weeks before she made her appearance, I felt her try to move into position. She move down (to the point it felt like she was going to fall out) I would have a couple contractions and as soon as the contractions were over she would move back up. I kept telling Rob it felt like she was trying to come but just couldn't. Since my first 2 were 2 weeks and 3 weeks early on their own, I thought she would be coming any day.

So I had my last Dr. appt the day before Thanksgiving. The doctor didn't even think I would make it to that appointment, but alas I did. At this point I could barely move. I was in SO much pain all the time and especially when she would move. I was living on about 2 hours of sleep a night because my arms would go completely numb. One time I didn't get the feeling back for over 20 minutes (Scary!). So the doctor called the hospital and scheduled me to be induced on THursday December 3rd at 7:30am which was my 39 week mark exactly. I was SOOOO happy! Finally an end in sight. So I make all the arrangements I need for the kids, Rob puts in his paperwork for the time off work and I make sure I have everything ready. The night before I was supposed to go in, the hospital calls and says they are WAY behind and can't fit me in. I about hit the floor. My doctor called me the next morning and said that he talked to the hospital and rescheduled me for Sunday the 6th at 3:00am. I barely made it through the next 2 days. So Saturday night rolls around and we get ANOTHER phone call from the hospital. Rob answers it and after talking to the person for a second he looks at me and just shakes his head "no". That's when I took the phone. Let me just say that I was not nice at all. Anyone who knows me knows that I can already be a very mean person, just imagine what I was like at that very moment. Needless to say, I let them know that I was coming in no matter what.

A little before midnight I starting having very intense pains and could just tell that something wasn't right. So as soon as my sisters got to the house to stay with the boys, we headed to the hospital. When we got there I wasn't considered in active labor, but they decided to keep me anyway since I had been on the induction list. I was only dilated to a 1 and they got me all hooked up and started the pitocin around 2am. The contractions started slowly but weren't so intense that I couldn't handle them. I was having them about every 12 minutes. This went on for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. When they checked me to see how I was progressing, they said that my cervix hadn't even changed. They said my cervix was unbelievably thick. Basically inpenetrable. They pumped up the pitocin to the maximum amount and I just had to endure the never ending contractions. Not to mention that I was starving by this time. Around 4pm they checked me again. I had now been on pitocin for about 14 hours and so I thought "Ok, this is it. I've got to be at least at a 3 or 4 by now." The nurse looked at me and said I was only at a 1 and a half. THAT'S IT?!?! After all that I had only progressed a 1/2 a centimeter. My doctor said to stop the pitocin and let me have something to eat. My darn cervix was like a tank.

The next step was to insert something inside me that was supposed to soften my cervix. At around 6pm the nurse inserted something called Cervadil. It's basically a $1200 tampon that was going to stay inside me all night and then they would start the pitocin again around 6am. They ordered me an Ambian to sleep, but I was out before I even took it. I was woken up at midnight with really intense contractions. They were now coming about every 5 minutes or so and were definitely more intense than before, but weren't completely consistant. These intense ones lasted the rest of the night so I didn't get much sleep after that. At 5am the nurse came in to check me and see if the Cervadil had done it's job. At this point I am completely exhausted and my uterus is completely exhausted. It had been contracting non stop for a LONG time now. The good news was that I was dilated to a 3. Still not much but I was happy for any progress at all. They started up the pitocin again and let me just say I was about ready for my epidural. The doctor came in around 9am (i think) to break my water. When the doctor broke my water with Boston I had already gotten my epidural, this time I wasn't so lucky. I'm pretty tough and have a good tollerance for pain but when the doctor broke my water I was practically sobbing it hurt so much. Then the contractions started getting incredibly intense and more frequent. I was crying with each one. It felt like an eternity before the doc finally came in to give me my epidural. Ahhh, finally some relief. But it was short lived.

15 minutes after getting my epidural, they laid me back to put in my catheter (sp?). I felt all the blood suddenly rush from my face and I got incredibly nauseous. I told the nurses I thought I was gonna be sick and they said Yeah you don't look so good, you just got really pale. And then I started to black out. It all seem to happen in slow motion and i can just remember the nurses saying "Are you still with us? Can you hear me?" Then they lifted my legs up and I started to come back. I felt the blood come back into my face, but my blood pressure dropped dramatically and stayed really low. Just another thing they had to monitor. After that things finally started to happen the way a normal delivery would. My contractions were steady and I was dilated to a 4. With my previous deliveries, once I hit a 4, I go to a 9 or 10 within practically minutes. Luckily this labor was no exception. I started to feel a lot of pressure, like she was trying to push herself out. With Boston I felt this too and the doctor didn't make it to the delivery room. He was in the elevator when Boston literally pushed himself out. So I quickly called the nurse in and explained. She checked me and said "Oh! You're right, her head is right here." They called the doctor and luckily he made it this time.

On December 7th at 2:29pm, after 37 hours of labor, I gave a couple of good pushes and out she came. Less than 5 minutes of pushing. As soon as she was out I pretty much collapsed. I didn't even have the strength to lift my arms to hold her. Then they told me she weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. WHOA!!! No wonder she was kicking my back, she was almost 2 feet long! She weighed more than 2.5 lbs more than Boston did when he was born. But the fun wasn't over yet.

I tore just a little so the doctor put in a couple of stitches then started to deliver the placenta. I had to gather every last bit of energy I had to give a few more pushes. But something was wrong and the placenta wouldn't come out. It was stuck or attached to something. The doctor said he couldn't just pull it out because if you pull to fast or to hard, it can actually turn the uterus inside out. The doc said if he couldn't get it out within the next few minutes they would have to surgically remove it. So what he did next was pretty mind boggling and I know that its something my husband will never forget. The doctor reached up inside me to pull it out by hand. He was inside me so far that I could feel his fingers up by my rib cage. His arm was in me all the way up to his elbow. Thank goodness I had an epidural!!! He was finally able to get it loose and pull it out. 5 minutes to push the baby out, 20 minutes to deliver the placenta.

After this, everything went well. I healed great and Pallas was doing well. The only set back was that Pallas had to stay under the lights for Jaundice. I was discharged a day earlier than Pallas and having to come home while my baby stayed in the hospital was much harder than I thought it would be. But she got to come home the next day and we couldn't be happier. We love her SO much and even though this was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, I would do it all over again for her if I had to.

1 more day

Well baby "P" decided she doesn't want to come on her own, so I am going in tomorrow at 7:30am to be induced. That's my scheduled time anyway, but it could be hours before they get to me. It will all depend on how busy they are and if they have a room for me. I'm about to the point though where I don't even care if they stick me on a bed in the hallway!

We are all so excited! Of course me most of all, for lots of reasons besides just having our little girl finally here. I really haven't been able to enjoy the Holiday season yet since I can barely walk and don't go anywhere. I tried to talk my doctor into inducing me a few days earlier because we have the big SRP Christmas carnival and Kylee's wedding reception on Saturday the 5th, but he wouldn't budge. I will probably be headed home from the hospital that day (if everything goes well) so I won't be able to attend either events I was SOOO excited about. But things happen when they are supposed to and I am just very grateful I won't be pregnant anymore and we can have a sweet new addition to our family!!

Almost there

I had my last Dr. appt today. I will be 38 weeks tomorrow, but feel like I'm at about 38 months. We have tried everything that has been recommended to jumpstart labor and nothing has worked. The doctor said it could be any day, but if she doesn't come on her own, I have been scheduled to be induced a week from today. My appt is on December 3rd at 7:30am, but it doesn't mean they will even get to me that day. I have never been induced before so I don't know exactly how the hospital works the appointments. I guess it depends on other people's progress and when they have a room available. I'm still hoping Baby "P" will come on her own before that, but if not, at least I only have 1 more week! She will probably come tomorrow on Thanksgiving, just to inconvenience everyone, but I don't care. As long as she comes.

Award

Katie Richards http://randomlyrichards.blogspot.com/, one of my very best friends from high school nominated me for this award:

THANKS KATIE!!

As part of my reward I get to answer these questions in one word (or pretty close!)

1.Where is your cell phone? Downstairs

2.Your hair? Fuzzy

3.Your Mother? Busy

4.Your Father? Under the weather

5.Your favorite food? Shrimp, Pizza, Cereal

6.Your dream last night? Don't remember

7.Your favorite drink? Diet Coke, Chocolate Milk

8.Your dream/goal? See MJ in concert :(

9.What room are you in? Master Bedroom

10.Your hobby? Dance (not right now though!)

11.Your fear? Germs

12.Where do you want to be in 6 years? Utah

13.Where were you last night? Home and swollen

14.Something you aren't? Patient

15.Muffins? ALL

16.Wish list item? Labor, Puppy, Rain

17.Where did you grow up? Arizona

18.Last thing you did? Laundry

19.What are you wearing? PJ's

20.TV? When I get a chance

21.Your pets? Awesome the Hamster

22.Your friends? Successful

23.Your life? Productive

24.Your mood? Impatient

25.Missing someone? Cosette

26.Vehicle? None, Hubby's: Ford F150

27.Something you're not wearing? Rings (fingers to swollen)

28.Your favorite store? Hobby Lobby

29.Your favorite color? Don't have one

30.When was the last time you laughed? Today

31.When was the last time you cried? In my sleep

32.Your best friend? Rob

33.One place you go over and over? The bathroom

34.One person who e-mails you regularly? Grandma Linda

35.Favorite place to eat? Anywhere (Pregnant!)

Now I Nominate:

1. The Howe Family

2. Sage and Kelly Shirley

3. Make her mine in 2009

Ouch!

About a month ago we all got our flu shots. 3 out of the 4 of us got our swine flu shot today and by Friday we will all have been vaccinated. Let's hope we don't sprout a curly tail and a snout.

I'm 35 weeks and must look like I'm ready to pop. Everywhere I went today someone made a comment. That hasn't happened even once before today. I have a doc appt tomorrow so we'll see what he says. I know she will be here sooner than we think. I give it 2 weeks.

Halloween

Look how much they've grown!!!!

Our Halloween started off making these fun goodie bags and shoes for the family.
(As if everyone wasn't going to get enough candy as it is!)

On Friday night we went to our ward Trunk or Treat Party. We had to wake Landen up from his nap so he was VERY grumpy. I had a hard time putting the spray in his hair and especially doing the white makeup because he kept crying saying,"It's not really Halloween yet! Not till tomorrow!!!" If you know Landen, you know this makes perfect sense, my OCD child. But after he was all dressed up, he loved it.

Landen the SCARY GHOST!

Boston loves animals just like Landen does and he wanted to wear Landen's Giraffe costume from last year. Fine with me! He LOVED Trick or Treating! At first he had no idea why people were just GIVING him candy, but after a very short period of time he caught on and there was no holding this kid back!

Boston the GIRAFFE!

At the Trunk or Treat there was a car decorated with lots of glowing,moving,and talking Halloween decorations. There was also a little Elephant there, and these two were just mesmerized by the moving head in the trunk. We joked that this guys car just attracted WILD ANIMALS, it was SOOO cute!!

These 2 made out like bandits. Their buckets were practically full to the top, just from the Trunk or Treat!

After we were done Trick or Treating on Halloween, the boys had gotten a total of 3 big Gallon size baggies full to the top with Candy!!! They were so proud! And since these are the last few weeks I can actually eat some candy bars without feeling to guilty or having to worry about a diet, I'm going to take full advantage!

A touch of Girly

Since our carseat that we used with Landen and Boston is still in awesome condition, we figure there is no reason to spend the money on a new one. The only problem is that the first 2 little ones were boys and this one is not. I didn't want to spend the money on a new carseat cover cause those can get pretty pricey too, so I looked in my craft closet to see if there was anything I could do to girly up the seat a little bit.

I barely sew, and the little bit I do is just self taught through trial and error. So I took some pink & white ribbon that I had and sewed it together width-wise. Then cut some elastic about 2/3 the length of the ribbon. I stretched it out and sewed it to the ribbon so that it would give it a bunchy effect. Now the pain in the butt part was that my carseat shade cover does not come off, so I had to hand sew each piece of ribbon onto the cover. I added a couple bows and this is what I got.

BEFORE

( The best picture I had of the carseat. That cutie is Landen by the way!)

AFTER

Definitely not Project Runway worthy, but it came out a lot better than I expected it to. And it was FREE!

It doesn't match the bottom part of the carseat and there isn't much I can do about that, but at least you will be able to tell it's a little girl in the seat!

Just stuff

I haven't been up to much. I had a bad spout of bronchitis, but the doc gave me some antibiotics and now aside from having a lot of trouble breathing, I'm feeling much better. But on an energy scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest, mine is about 1. I live on Diet Coke to get me through the day, but not to much longer!!

Here are some more pics of my big belly. These were taken about 2 weeks ago and I have already grown a lot since then. This little girl is so active! She is so forceful when she moves (especially on my left side) that it stops me dead in my tracks and almost drops me to my knees it's so painful. The doctor said I'm all bruised underneath my skin from her.

It's also finally cooling down. We leave the windows open all night and are FREEZING in the morning. The thermostat said it was 62 in here when I checked it, so this is how we walk around the house. The boys just LOVE it!!!

Keeping me busy

Here are a few things that have been keeping me pretty busy lately. Nothing that I HAVE to do, but I am pretty limited on things I CAN do since I have zero energy. I have had some of this material for awhile so I thought I would put it to good use.

The boys LOVE the movie Cars, so I made them both some new Pajama Pants. Boston was SO proud of these!

I was going to make the new baby a little rag quilt, so I figured now was as good a time as any. So I went over to Hobby Lobby and got this cute material. It's hard to get the fullness of the cuteness in a picture, but it turned out good.

Landen saw that I had this Moose material and he said he HAD to have a Moose blanket like his Uncle Sage, so I made this one for him. He loves it and says it's just so snuggly!

This is just a Christmas one, but Boston has kinda taken ownership of this one. He has another blanket that takes priority over everything, but he will use this one occasionally, which is a big thing for him.

I love making the rag quilts, but here in AZ we just don't need them for actual warmth really. So I will probably see how cold it starts to get, then start sewing some more!

(The Pj pants and rag quilts are the only thing I know how to make!)

Baby Shower & A Little Bit of Halloween

My sister Autumn and my Sis-in-law Kelly threw me a baby shower a couple weeks ago. It was lots of fun and I got some super cute stuff. Thanks to everyone for coming and for my sis's for all the work they put into it! I think Autumn made about 200 cupcakes!!!

I didn't take any pictures during the shower (don't know what I was thinking), but here are the pics of the set-up.

Loved the clothesline with the clothes!

Gift Table

Yummy Food!

SUPER CUTE Diaper Cake that Autumn made!

The Baby Shower decorations were so cute I didn't want to take them down, but the boys were excited to start decorating for Halloween. So literally 2 days after the shower decorations came down, the Halloween ones went up. Of course it looks WAY cooler in person and in the dark, but camera's don't do so well in the dark. You will get the gist of it.

These ones will eventually go outside in front, but since we put them up 1 1/2 weeks before October, we figured we would just wait a little longer till they went outside.

Hard to see, but it's all covered in cobwebs.

Again it looks much cooler in the dark, and the banister is covered in cobwebs, which you can't see.

Just thought I would give a dark one a go.

At first Landen was set on being a Ninja turtle, but now he is set on being a ghost. I already made his costume so no going back now. Boston was also going to be a Ninja turtle, but he wants to wear Landen's giraffe costume from last year. Can you say SUPER EASY HALLOWEEN!

Luau

My cousin Jillene is leaving tomorrow for BYU Hawaii and we went to a going away Luau for her this past weekend. It went really well and the boys had a blast!
I took mostly video but here are a few pictures of the boys in their Hawaiin get-up.

Landen and his weird faces.

Cute little Boston



A couple of studs.

Here's a video of Landen doing one of the Tongan dances, He LOVED it!

Ninja turtle

I am hoping that this...

Turned into this......

and this....
will eventually become what will be a couple of awesome ninja turtle shells. Landen loves ninja turtles and that's what him and Boston want to be for Halloween. Landen has to be Leo of course. I looked online for costumes, but they are so expensive and they look so cheap! SO we are home making some ninja turtles.
Wish us luck.

Under the knife, kid style

A couple weeks ago Landen had ear surgery on his left ear. He had a congenial cholestoma (sp?). It's an extra piece of skin in his eardrum that crystalized and would get bigger. It was an outpatient surgery and only took about an hour and a half. Landen was a trooper!! ALL the nurses just LOVED him!!! He was being so funny the whole time. He really did great.

Landen waiting in the wait room and he loved it cause there was animal stuff everywhere.

Landen in his cute hospital gown and ninja turtle socks.

(Look at those banana legs!!)

He loved waiting in this chair during pre-op and had everyone laughing!


Just being silly

Cute bum!

He kept taking pics of the nurses and his ninja turtle socks.

Here is the first time we saw him after surgery. Still passed out with the IV.

When he finally woke up, he woke up SCREAMING because he didn't want a cotton ball in his ear. He cried the entire way home and for awhile after we got home. Until we got the pain medicine in him (thank you baby vicodin!), then he did much better.

Here he is waiting for the medicine to kick in.

We were so glad that he did well and that it was a relatively easy surgery. It was SO HARD sending him into the surgery room without me. But he was so brave and is doing fantastic! And thank goodness for his pediatrician that just happened to see something a little strange in his left ear at one of his checkups!