Diesel Knox Isom

 

2/20/2011   9:25pm   8lbs 12oz   21 in

Finally some pictures!  Everything is great here!  Got induced Sunday in a rather slow-going process.  Usually I go in, they break my water, give me pitocin and the babies come out within a few hours.  This doc was pretty conservative - he started me off, put some pill in to get things going and said, "Ok, I'll come check on you in 4 hours."  My mouth fell open and I was like, "What? I thought this thing was going to be OVER in 4 hours!"  So after that first 4 hours I had dilated all the way from a 1 to a 2.  Oh brother.  So then he started pitocin, but still didn't break my water.  After another 3 hours or so, I had gone from a 2 to a 3.  I was dying.  So then he broke my water and I started having good contractions, enough to get myself an epidural, and after another 3+ hours he came in around 8:20pm and I had dilated from a 3 to a 4.  Now I was really dying!!  

At that point we started to worry that we were doing the wrong thing and trying to force out some baby that just wasn't ready.  That morning some resident had checked me and measured the baby as pretty small and told me it wasn't going to be more than 7 pounds (shows how much she knows) - and then Ryan was starting to question if I was sure I'd calculated my dates right.... So then we're wondering if we're trying to force out some runt that wasn't even ready....

So anyway, after the doctor left when I was at a 4, I called Ryan who had gone home to help put the kids to bed and sadly told him to just wait around at home and I'd just call him when something started happening since we'd had nice friends watching our kids all day and nothing had happened yet.  Later I checked the times on my phone - 12 minutes after that call, I called Ryan to tell him he better get back to the hospital - now.  Seriously, 10 hours to get from a 1 to a 4, and then 12 minutes to get to a 10.  Sheesh.  The nurse was in serious disbelief when I called her in - since everyone had left me alone at that point, Ryan was gone, and the doctor had gone over to another hospital to do consults.  (And my epidural had just stopped working on the whole right side of my body which I wasn't happy about.) She was like, "but he just checked you and you were a 4."  I was like, "I know, that's why I feel stupid, but I really think something is going on!"  So she went and found a resident, had them come in, and the resident was also in disbelief and said, "If you really are already at a 10, that would be like the fastest 4 to 10 in history."  She checked me and was like, "Ok, I guess I'm going to go page the doctor!"  So after she paged him she asked if I wanted to start pushing and I said I really kind of wanted to wait for my husband.  So Ryan made it, then I waited for the doctor - so I was sitting there at a 10 waiting to push for over 30 minutes!  It was pretty funny, but at least it added some excitement I guess. We were laughing at this planned induction business since we've never done it before. It was pretty weird to wake up and have the kids say, "Where are you going?" and to be like, "Oh, I'm going to have a baby. See you later!"  Anyhow, the baby came out with one contraction and it was all smooth.  I even felt kind of proud when Ryan told me it was my best delivery yet.  :)

Cash's reaction when we brought the baby over for him to see was super cute and he's been great with the baby, trying to talk to it in a cute baby voice. 

The twins were pretty much like this:     :)

Although every once in a while we can get them to acknowledge him.  Hasn't seemed to rock anyone's world too much so far. (And frankly our kids aren't used to getting that much attention from us anyway.  :)

The boys spent most of the time at the hospital like this.

The first thing I said was that I was so happy he came out with dark hair!  And he looks so much like Cash did, which makes me happy.  Now we can have two of each.

Naming the baby was a bit of drama. Every time the lady came in I told her we didn't have a name yet and to come back.  She finally said, "I leave at 3:30 today, and I need it by then."  I told her to come back at 3.  She came at 3.  We told her to come back at 3:15.  I wanted to name him Knox, Ryan (and the twins) wanted Diesel, and Cash really really wanted Keaton. (I really liked Knox while I was reading 1776 back in the fall - from Henry Knox, one of Washington's generals.)  I said I wanted to just give him three names and we could all call him whatever we wanted.  Ryan wasn't up for that.  So she finally came back and we were still totally undecided. So I said, "You tell her the first name."  So Ryan said Diesel.  Then he said, "You tell her the middle name, and I said Knox.  So there you have it.  Diesel Knox.  Yes, I feel a little bad Cash's choice got left out, but next time I won't make the mistake of asking our kids opinions.  :)  

They kept us at the hospital an extra day - they kept saying we were such a late delivery they hadn't really had time to watch the baby for 48 hours plus he had had a lot of mucus and his bilirubin levels were too high. Funny, we delivered the same time with the twins on a Sunday night and I was begging for an extra day since I wasn't ready to go home with twins by myself yet and they refused!  This one I felt fine and they kept us.  Whatever.  Too bad I wasn't at the same hospital as last time with the hot tub and the massage therapist....

Ready to go home:

Seriously I can't believe how much fun #4 is.  I think the first is so stressful, we didn't know what we were doing, I was in lots of pain everywhere, nursing was complicated, he was colicky....then with the twins there were just two and everything was complicated and exhausting.  By #4 I may actually be getting the hang of this enough to just enjoy it!  I'm not usually a huge one to dote on babies, but I could sit around and stare and cuddle this little guy all day.  It is really SO fun. I'm blissfully happy. And tired.  :)

Now if only I can avoid getting staph infections, yeast infections, plumeting estrogen levels causing menopausal symptoms, mastitis, blocked ducts, open wounds, and herniated discs (all which have happened with my past babies)...then I will really consider this my best delivery yet.  :)

(Delivering at my inner-city hospital is probably another story in itself, but hey, it's always comforting to have an exterminator called in to visit your room while you're there, right?)

Things I will miss about this pregnancy

Yes, there are actually some things I may miss about being pregnant. And just to be warned, there's a fill of belly shots in this post.

Strange as it is, I will actually miss my pregnant body. I really think I like my pregnant body more than my non-pregnant body because it is actually how it's supposed to be then. Curvy where it should be curvy (and where it usually isn't) and even if I have a big belly, at least it's firm, which will not be the case in a matter of days.  And all that excess skin that stretches forward to accomodate my growing belly will spring back into love handle position as soon as this baby is out. Blech.

I will also miss not necessarily my pregnancy cravings, but more like the foods I've been addicted to with this kid which will always remind me of this pregnancy. I took a serious loving to fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. I salt and pepper the tomatoes and then put them with a big slice of mozzarella- I get a kind from Costco, not actually a fresh mozzarella, which would be better, but this one is pretty darn moist and good. And then after weeks of eating this on a daily basis I realized the package said "whole milk mozzarella" and it finally occurred to me - oh, that's why it's so good. Isn't most the kind we get part skim?  Oh well, eat on.

And granola. I had a couple friends get me into making my own granola recently, and while I think it may actually be pretty calorically dense, I love all the good stuff I get to put in it - flax seed, wheat germ, powdered milk for some extra protein, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, nuts, whatever.  And so I eat it all the time.  And now I love seeing what I can eat it with. Besides eating it for breakfast every day, my afternoon snack has taken me through gallons of vanilla yogurt with granola in it. I've made layered parfaits with yogurt, granola and fresh fruits that have been fabulous. Some of my staples have been yogurt, granola and one of the following... chocolate chips, m&ms, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or my new favorite - pomegranates.   Mmmmm.  My latest batch is in the oven as we speak.

I will also miss the strange fact that my leg hair doesn't grow much while I'm pregnant.  Random, but the awkward-to-bend-over-belly appreciates it.

 I will miss my kids shaking my belly to get my attention. I guess it used to be my leg or something, but once I looked at that picture of my shadow with Phoenix standing there I had to laugh when I realized exactly what they see so prominently at their eye level.  No wonder the belly shake is the chosen mode of attention-getting right now.

And sleep. I've remarkably well considering my condition, and I think I've even trained myself to ignore the bladder enough to stay in bed the whole night.

But I know it's time to have the baby because every time it's my last Sunday at church before having a baby, I get a ridiculous and uncharacteristic amount of gawking and comments on my belly.  This has happened every pregnancy. Eyes follow my belly as I walk into any room, everyone gives you the you're still here? look, people comment on how huge I am, and those who know enough not to tell me how big I am give me the sympathetic smile that says, "oh, you look huge and uncomfortable, but I have enough tact not to tell you that...."






I walked into the gym for the last time the other day with my two pregnant friends, all three of us due within about the next 2 weeks. (The three of us on the left are the gym-goers - disregard the grossness of an after-gym picture, and ignore the skinny girl on the right who claims to be 24 weeks pregnant. :) We dropped our kids off at the kids club and then walked out and I said to the others, "Look, that trainer is totally laughing at us."  Then I looked up to the sea of aerobic machines in front of us and said, "Um, no.  Everyone is laughing at us!"  Seriously, 90% of the gym was staring at these three ridiculously pregnant women walking in the gym.  We must be quite the sight. They must think we have some maternity fit club or something. That's why I'm at least glad I got to work out with them for the last couple months - to at least distribute the stares among all of us.  :)  Too bad all that working out hasn't sent me into labor yet!

I will say that this muscle or ligament at the top of my belly protrusion that seems to be saying "I can't hold it any longer!!!" - is about enough to get me past the terror of having a baby. And the fact that I've had the worst back pain with this one that I have with any of my pregnancies. But even with all that, I have to admit I'm not in dire condition dying to get this baby out like I was with the twins. Thank heavens I don't feel like I did last time at the end. Just to really give myself something to appreciate at the uncomfortable end, I decided I had to have some comparison, so once again, love or hate them, here's a belly shot - twins on the left, #4 on the right:

I'm not sure it's a totally fair comparison since the one of the twins was probably 36 or 37 weeks, not 39.5 like this time, but it does give one something to appreciate.  :)

Birthday

We had  such a fun birthday party for the twins on Saturday.







(Ok, some people still managed to be grumpy for some of it, of course.)

And it's miraculous to say it was so fun since by weather standards it was a total disaster!  I don't understand why their birthday is destined to be rained out every year!  But at least it wasn't quite as much of a disaster as last year.  But seriously, it was a freakishly cold day - the coldest in over a month, and when the first guest pulled up to the park at 9:30 - it started raining.  And rained for two hours - until we pulled out of the park to leave.  Just my luck. Thank goodness I had decided to do it at the only park with a fully covered pavilion that I even know of, so we toughed out the cold and partied on.


The twins wanted a Diego party so I did my best on an attempted jungle cake and set up an animal rescue mission for the kids to go on (not exactly how I'd planned with the weather but we improvised).  We had to find and rescue baby bunny who was stuck in a tree, which involved following the map, figuring out directions, getting the bunny out of the tree and doctoring up his wounds, and figuring out which animal tracks to follow to get him back to his mommy.  Since no Diego adventure would be complete without it, we had tools (magnifying glasses, compass rings, whistles, etc.) to help us rescue the bunny in everyone's Rescue Packs:

Then throw on some Diego music and a bubble machine and who knew kids could be entertained for so long?  Guess that's the beauty of a rainy day.

(Although some people are entertained by lesser means.)

 

 

(Almost had some eyelash singe on the candle blowing.) 

And there's only one real way to eat your birthday cake, of course.

Anyway, I can't believe we have so many great friends that braved the rain and 50 degree weather to have our party with us - it made it memorable at least!  

Enjoying their presents:

Phew. Thank heavens the twos are over.  That was a rough year.

*And no one tell them their birthday is really on the 24th, as far as they know it's over and done (before this baby comes along!  :)

Silhouette

I caught a glimpse of my shadow the other day.  It seemed to say a lot.



































And it said it much more politely than did the pictures of me at the beach.  :)

Cash

I love that Cash seems to have inherited my disability for determining song lyrics.  I still get made fun of by Ryan for singing along to a song with totally wrong words that make no sense at all.  The other day I had Cash unloading the silverware and as he was putting a butter knife in the drawer I heard him sing, "like a knife at night," instantly recognizing the tune as "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz (the line he was singing is supposed to be like it's dynamite).  I had no idea he knew that song!  We listen to the radio, but it wasn't one we necessarily play a lot or have around our house. So I was quite amused as he continued and all the lyrics related to things he knows.  So instead of  Sayin' ay-o, gotta let go, it comes out as "Say Diego, got a Lego...."  Love it.

Then when we went to the hockey game, the kids first heard "We Will Rock You" by Queen and became instant fans.  Although this fondness was first discovered when we kept hearing him sing, "Feed the, feed the rocket.  Rocket."   Because why wouldn't that make more sense to a 4 year-old than we will rock you?  Even Phoenix has stood up on the bench and done a lovely rendition of this in the middle of sacrament meeting.  Awesome.

In fact just to test my theory that they're picking up more than I realize, the other day I started out the Rhianna song, "Oh, na na..." and then stopped, and all three kids filled in, "...what's my name..."   Great. Makes me realize I better watch what we listen to around here since you never know what may come out during sacrament meeting.  :)

And I had to document the first, "Look mom! I drew a picture of you!"  This was one he drew a few months back.  At the time, I'd never seen him draw a person or a stick figure (let alone one of us), and he'd never really discussed my pregnant condition, so I had to laugh when out of nowhere he drew this picture of me:

So proud that my girth was such an inspiration. 

Cash is doing great in school, can read quite a bit, knows when all the kids birthdays are at school, and is already sad for next year when he'll have to miss all his friend's birthdays since he'll be going to another school. He asks me cute things like "When I'm 10 years old will I still be your kid?"  And says he doesn't want to become and old man or have body hair that makes him look like a monkey like dad. Or when I put on my fat pants for the billionth time during this pregnancy he says, "Why do you have to wear those pants every day?!?!?" He's also sad that when he's 5 he won't be home for naps (even though he rarely takes them).  Darn that all-day kindergarten in Miami.  Now we're just waiting to see if we happen to get the lottery for any of the schools we're trying to get him in. Stress.