he's here!

Raleigh James

May 22, 2012

7:38 pm

5 lbs 10 oz

19 inches

we welcomed raleigh to the world 3 weeks early on May 22nd

waiting for my dr. to arrive and get this baby out!

and here is his story:

monday (the day before) soph and i were super busy. we went for a walk, went to the park, the grocery store, ran errands that needed to be done before baby arrived (i must have known), played outside, and went to the park for jd's mom's birthday. the rest of the family was playing kickball and i thought i could handle being the pitcher. later that night i realized i did way too much. i could hardly move. i was going to pack my hospital bag, but decided to do it later because i was could hardly move. maybe that's what did it?

i went to work tuesday morning, May 22nd, feeling completely fine. i was training a girl who is filling in for me while i'm gone, so i was super busy. about mid-day i thought maybe my water broke, but i kept thinking i would have contractions if it had. so i kept working. i think i must have been in denial. it was 3 weeks before my due date, and 2 weeks before my scheduled induction. it wasn't a gush like everyone says, it was just a slow leak. finally, at the end of the day (about 3:00 pm) when i couldn't deny it anymore, i called my mom to see what she thought. then i called my doctor's office. they both said to go down to labor and delivery and get checked. when i told my boss i was going down to get checked, it really hit me and i got super nervous. i left work about 3:45 and walked down to labor and delivery (with my co-worker who was due the exact same day). i was a little upset because i had 2 baby showers scheduled for the next day, a hair appointment and a pedicure to get to still. silly, i know.

as i was walking down i started feeling a little bit crampy, but not like real contractions. i got checked in and in my room about 4:00, and it took a little while for them to be able to tell if it was my water that broke. while the nurse was trying to figure out if it was my water, i was getting more and more uncomfortable. the contractions were starting to pick up and they were about 1-3 minutes apart. finally, at about 5:00 they decided that it was my water that broke and i was staying. at this point, i was having harder contractions and i was having a hard time getting through them. i was having a hard time talking through them and i was having to stop and breathe.

i was still there by myself because jd went to pick up sophie and i sent him home to get some things for me. i kept thinking i was being such a wimp because i had only been there an hour and already needed an epidural. i thought for sure they were going to tell me i was at a 2 or 3 or something. the nurse told me she was going to get the anesthesiologist there as soon as she could, but that they were changing shifts. in the meantime, my boss came down to stay with me since i was still alone. thank goodness she was there! she sat there with me and held my hand and helped me breathe through contractions. she had 3 babies that were all bigger than 10 pounds with no epidural...she was a great coach! the anesthesiologist came in and i couldn't be more glad to see him! it took him a little bit to get it in because i was having contractions so close together. he asked me what i was dilated to, but i didn't know. i told him i hadn't been checked since my appointment last week. and i was at a 1. he said he thought i was pretty far because i was in so much pain and the contractions were so close. little did i know. once the epidural took effect (about 5:30) i was feeling great!  

finally, my sister, ashley, made it. i was so glad to have someone there. my other sister, allison, also came while i was still waiting for jd. unfortunately my mom couldn't be there. she had gone home sick earlier and i was so sad she couldn't be there with me. the nurse came in about 5:45 and told me she'd be back in a few minutes to check me once i was good and numb. she came back about 6:00 to do the catheter, and said she was having a really hard time getting it past the baby's head because it was so low. she checked me and said she'd tell me what i was at when she finished with the catheter. she finished and told me i was at a 9! i kind of freaked out. jd still wasn't there! he was at 5th south in bountiful. yikes.

luckily, he made it in time. he got there about 6:25. my doctor had gone home for the day and wasn't going to be able to come so i was waiting for the on call doctor. but she was delivering another baby. they kept having to hold me off. i kept paging the nurse and telling her i felt more pressure and she just kept telling me to wait and to not laugh or sneeze. that was not very comforting. then, the door opened and MY doctor walked in! i was so happy to see her! she said she was on her way to book club and decided she had to come. it made me so happy to have my own doctor! i love her! finally, i they let me push at about 7:30 and raleigh was born at 7:38 pm. it was so quick and easy. i couldn't believe how fast everything happened and that he was already here. it was so surreal. we were so happy he made it here safely! my doctor said it was probably the infection that started everything. that's probably why my water broke and why everything went so quickly. i hope so or next baby i may have to live at the hospital to get there in time!

we had a couple of little complications. i was strep positive and they wanted me to have 4 hours of antibiotics and start another round before i delivered. since i didn't have my iv in until about 5:00, i only got about 2 hours. they were worried about the baby and wanted to watch him very closely. also, right after i delivered i spiked a fever of 102. that made them extra worried about baby. after they weighed him, they watched him for a while and decided he needed to go to the nicu. he was having a little bit of a hard time breathing. his chest was kind of sinking in when he was breathing. his blood sugar was also kind of low. they decided he needed iv antibiotics since i was strep positive and had a fever. poor little guy.

i had an ultrasound the week before and they told me how big he was going to be. they said he was measuring a week ahead and they were estimating he already weighed 6 lbs 14 oz. ha, how can they be so wrong?

here's the other awesome part about this day: rod had surgery that morning, and my mom had to leave him at the hospital because she was sick, and my brother-in-law also had his gallbladder out. it was quite a day for my family. at least rod was already at the hospital and could come down and visit. my mom told me the night before this, "don't have this baby tomorrow" and i was sure i wouldn't. i'm terrible at guessing things like that.

don't mind my face in these next few pictures. after he was born i was so shaky i couldn't hold myself still. apparently it was a combination of the epidural, adrenaline, and the fever. i could hardly talk, let alone smile, i was shaking so bad. it was all i could do to just hold my jaw and my arms still. i couldn't hold raleigh so jd had to hold him up for me to look at. unfortunately i felt pretty crappy for the next couple of hours until the shaking was under control. after that i felt great!

sophie was so excited to come visit. she hadn't seen me all day and she climbed right up on my bed and wanted to snuggle. she had to wait a while to meet raleigh because he was still down in the nicu. luckily they brought him up to the regular nursery just before she left, so she got to see him. and, the shaking finally stopped and i was able to smile again, yay!

grandma ann got a special birthday present this year. raleigh was born on her 50th birthday!

they finally brought raleigh up to the regular nursery around midnight and gave him his first bath.

getting all cleaned up. the diaper on his hand is to cover his iv so it wouldn't get wet and so he couldn't pull it out.

snuggling my new, clean baby. this is when i finally got to hold him and look at him. they took him away so quickly that i had hardly seen him. this was about 2:00 am. it was a long day.

sophie came to visit again the next day and actually got to spend some time with raleigh. she was so excited to feed him, hold him, and burp him. she really is such a great little helper. she loves him!

i got to go home from the hospital thursday, but raleigh had to stay until friday morning. they kept testing his c reactive protein and it was higher than they wanted it to be. i guess it tests inflammation in the body and they thought he may have an infection somewhere still. so they kept him another night to give him some more antibiotics and keep an eye on him. luckily, he got to come home friday morning. we are so glad to have him home!

finally home!

soph loving and snuggling raleigh. i love the way she says his name. it's so cute.

we love our little raleigh james and are so glad to have him in our family. things were crazy and happened so much fast and sooner than we thought, but we are so happy everything turned out well. now, i'm off to snuggle this little dude. he'll be too big before i know it.

new mexico

we went to new mexico in april to visit ashley, jeremy, and bryce. sophie could not have been more excited to see bryce. we had lots of fun visiting and checking out santa fe and albuquerque. we got there saturday morning and went to the flea market, a car tour of downtown albuquerque, the mall with the disney store, a sweet new burger place, and watched a movie at ash and jeremy's. bryce and sophie did so good playing together while we watched a movie...minus the one time i found them jumping on the bed with my camera and eating my sugar babies.

sophie was in heaven at the disney store. she had never been before and i'm pretty sure she thought she was in disneyland. she was going nuts with all the princess dressed and shoes. i told her she could pick something out and she had such a hard time deciding. she finally narrowed it down to a flynn rider doll or pascal to go with her rapunzel. she picked pascal and took him everywhere. bryce picked out this minnie mouse cup for her. she loves it!

sunday we went to church and took a car tour of santa fe and old town santa fe. it was a cool, old city with some neat buildings.

old town santa fe.

monday we went to this park with a giant slide, visited jeremy's work in espanola, went shopping, to the mall to ride the carousel and swimming. 

sophie thought this slide was super cool, surprisingly. she gets scared of the baby slides at the park. ash and i had jd take the kids down the slide since we were both 30ish weeks pregnant.

the first time, jd took them down at the same time. everyone made it out ok.

the next time around soph wanted to go by herself. what? who is this kid?

and she made it out ok again. i love the look on her face. priceless.

the last time down didn't go so well...

jd went down with bryce and somehow got turned around on the way down. they both shot out head first at the end and landed on the ground. luckily, jd caught bryce. then came sophie...also on her back and head first. yikes! luckily no one got hurt, but it sure scared me. that's why i didn't get any pictures after this. i was too worried about everyone coming out of the slide.

cousins.

they also had lots of fun at the carousel at the mall. they were the only ones on and they got a nice long ride.

after the mall we headed to the swimming pool. unfortunately, sophie had a couple of accidents there and had a rough night. she was going down a little frog slide, but got scared and tried to climb off. she slipped and fell down the stairs backwards. poor girl.

ash and i went shopping for baby stuff and found the kids some new pajamas. here they are in the new jammies and matching slippers.

they had so much fun and were so excited to see each other. poor bryce was so sad when we went home. thanks for letting us come visit!

march and easter 2012

first of all, i guess i should mention this...

baby #2 is well in his way. yep, his. definitely a boy. obviously this isn't new, i'm just terrible at blogging. we found out while we were on our trip to georgia in october. we told our families right away, but waited til thanksgiving to tell everyone else.

 this is his profile at 20 weeks. he will be here in the next few weeks. a lot of changes are coming our way. we are super excited, but nervous for 2 kids. sophie knows she is going to have a baby brother, but i don't think she really understands how her life is going to change. i'm a little nervous for the both of us. we are in a really good stage right now and i love how sophie can do things for herself. it's going to be a little bit hard to go back to all the baby stuff. i'm sure we'll get used to it, but it's weirds me out to think about having another baby. sophie is getting so big and independent. she is such a good helper lately. i hope she'll still want to be a good helper when the baby gets here!

i just had an ultrasound today to check the size of this baby since sophie was so small. they said i was a lot more likely to have a small baby again. turns out there is nothing small about this baby. the doctor said he is measuring about a week ahead. so, he is measuring about 37 weeks at 36 weeks. and, they estimated his weight to be 6 lbs 14 oz. already. that scares me. how much bigger is he going to get in the next 4 weeks? hopefully he'll come a little bit early and not be too big. yikes!

 here i am at about 26 weeks. i guess i need to take a more recent one.

sophie and i have been having lots of fun doing things before the baby comes. we are going on lots of outings and doing lots of fun stuff. here's what we've been up to.

we had a super warm day in march so we tested out the new water table. she loved it! she was soaked by the time we went inside.

she is totally and completely obsessed with ballerinas. she loves watching angelina ballerina, wearing tutus, and dancing around. here she is in her ballerina outfit.

she also loves to sing while she's dancing around. she sings at the top of her lungs, as loud as she can, and usually you can't understand the words because she just makes them up. she does love to sing rapunzel songs, and you can definitely understand the "and at last i see the light" part. oh, and she is obsessed with rapunzel, too. anything princess, really.

easter 2012

the easter bunny made a stop by our house. good thing we left some carrots outside for him. sophie was so excited to leave carrots for him. she talked about it for days. i forgot about it and put her in bed, so i had to go get her up to put the carrots out, oops!

 he left us some paw prints. sophie thought that was super cool.

 soph with her easter basket. she was lucky and got some cool stuff. a new book, golf clubs, dora jellies, a jump rope, and some treats.

soph in her easter dress. she looked so darling. her toenails and fingernails even matched.

this is kind of picture overload, but i love them all. she's so cute.

 with the cousins. i did really awesome getting a good one of all 3, huh?

grandma's easter egg hunt. sophie kept calling in an easter egg "hunk".

me and baby. about 31 weeks.

soph and daddy checking out the goods. soph was totally spoiled. no wonder she loves grandma and grandpa so much!

the fam.

we had a lovely easter with family and reflecting on the life and resurrection of our Savior. we are especially grateful for the things we have been given: our family, friends, blessings, plan of salvation, the atonement, and the love of our Father in Heaven.