He's here!!

Happy Birthday,

Paxton John Finke

May 14, 2012

11:00pm

9lbs. 14oz.

22 inches

Here's our story:

*6:45am check in at admissions

*get settled into our room. had lengthy discussions with the doctor and nurses as far as the traumatic experiences we had last time, what we wanted the day to look like, and the decisions we needed to make in order for it to go more smoothly.

*9:00 started the induction with a single dose of cytotec, dilated to 2cm, contractions starting to get more consistent

*1:15pm 3cm, dr. breaks my water, now contractions really starting to intensify over the next few hours

*3:00 dilated to 4cm, ordered my epidural

*4:00 epidural. the anesthesiologist was aware that I did NOT have optimal pain management during my last labor/delivery, so he was determined to make this experience different. he gave me a combination spinal/epidural and he was the new love of my life :)  I was 100% numb from my belly down (I was enjoying the idea of being pain-free, but not being able to move or feel anything, really kind of messed with my mind, and I didn't like it very much)

*5:00 dilated to 5cm

*7:00 complete and ready to start pushing! there was only one doctor on the floor, so we needed to wait for her to come in and give us the "ok"

*7:30 started pushing. contractions were very consistent at 2-3 minutes apart

*9:00 my spinal was starting to wear off. I was really starting to feel a lot of pain again and we weren't really getting close to delivery, so it started to worry me with how long we had to go yet. the anesthesiologist was paged again and he came back and gave me another bolus of a different medication, in hopes of getting me through delivery! he didn't anticipate it doing much, but boy it worked out perfectly! it took away my pain, but I could still feel touch and pressure, which really helped me in the pushing process.

*11:00 baby was born!  three and a half hours of pushing, I didn't know if we were going to get it done!

*Paxton was here, all 9 pounds and 14 ounces of him! I never thought he would be that big!

*I can't even begin to tell you how awesome this experience was as compared to the delivery of the twins. we had an amazing team from start to finish and I couldn't have asked for anything to go any differently. the whole proces, worked 100% in our favor and that makes us very happy :)

Today is {hopefully} the day!

We are all checked in and hanging out in our room. We were here at 6:45 this morning and in our room at about 7:00am. 

I was checked and dialed to 2cm. My cervix is pretty soft, but baby remains kind of high.

Cytotec was given at 9:00. This is the induction medication. Last time, they inserted it vaginally, this time I just took it orally. This is to help kick-start my contractions. Dr. will be back around 1:00 to re-check things and hopefully break my water at that time.

Now we are just "waiting".  I don't know if we'll expect him today, but that is our hope.

38 weeks

I was 38 weeks on Monday and had my appointment yesterday afternoon. I first did my NST and then met with the doctor (unfortunately not my regular OB). The NST looked good. Baby boy was pretty active right away in the beginning, giving them the information they needed and then he got a little sleepy. I stayed hooked up to the monitors for about 45 minutes. It simply amazes me that they can put me in this chair, recline me, and put my feet up and I won't have a single contraction for 45 minutes, but once I stand up or move around, I start contracting like crazy! 

After that I saw the doctor. She checked my cervix and I've dialated to a 1cm. I was really hoping to be further along than that. I know he is still high, because I can feeling him digging into my ribs and I'm always short of breath. But I also know he's dropping because I can feel increasing pressure on my pubic bone. Maybe it's because he's so big and he's just everywhere!

Our goal for delivery is obviously to try a vaginal birth first. My doctor is completely aware that I am terrified I'm going to have an experience like I did with the twins, and she has done everything she can to calm my fears. If at any point, I'm getting uncomfortable with things or the process, we will go straight into a c-section. I'm hoping she's right and things will go much smoother and faster this time around.

I've been working around the house like crazy this week. I really feel like the organizing and everything as far as the baby's concerned is complete. Now, I just want my house clean. Like, deep-spring-cleaning, clean! I know I'm over-doing it, but I can't seem to get my husband to help out :(  My to-do list is still a mile long and we're running out of time. I'm trying to tell myself it's ok not to get everything done. This is not the important stuff (although in my mind, it is a big deal).

Things at work are finally starting to wind down, although I've worked my butt off trying to get everything done in time. I wish I would have this kind of ambition the whole school year!!  I couldn't have done it though without some amazing co-workers who really stepped up to help me out :)


Happy Wednesday!! 

we're set

Well, we've scheduled our induction.

Monday, May 14th at 7:00am (checking in at 6:45).

HOLY COW!!

Now, I'm starting to get a little nervous :)

37 weeks

Pregnancy #1

Pregnancy #2

(yep, same shirt)

*I made it to 37 weeks last pregnancy, that's all the further I went. I was kind of hoping to go at 37 weeks this time around too, but doesn't look like that's going to happen :(

*The pain from my kidney stones has been pretty manageable since getting out of the hospital. I continue to have a dull aching pain in my back on the right side, but I've only had to take a few pain pills since being home.

*I had a follow up ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder this past Monday. The scan continues to show the large stone in my right kidney, but it doesn't show any blockages of any sort, so that's good.

*I also had my monthly ultrasound of baby on Monday. This was my last one :(  He wasn't cooperating very well and kept his hands over his face almost the entire time, so I really didn't get to see much of him. He continues to move around like crazy and was weighing 8lbs. 6oz.

*I met with my OB that same afternoon. She checked me and I haven't started dialating at all yet. Baby has dropped some though because she could now feel the top of his head.

*My feet have just now started to swell. My blood pressure was also a little high at my last appointment. Nothing dangerously high, but just higher than It's been lately.

*We set an induction date of Monday, May 14th. I wouldn't be at all sad if he decided to come before that!

*I honestly do not have a clue how I was able to carry twins my first pregnancy. I have been getting very uncomfortable and feel like I'm about as big as I was with the twins. Taking pictures like these puts things right back into perspective!

*I'm getting a little emotional about Kaden and Kenley not being my only babies anymore. I can't tell you how excited I am to be having another one and can't tell you how excited I am for him to be here, but I still have that hurt in my heart that makes me question if I'll be able to show them as much love as they deserve once I'm busy with another baby. They're not going to be babies anymore, they are already turning into such "big kids" and I know that will be even more evident with a new baby. I'm really struggling with that right now.

*Cody gave me a "pedicure" last night. It was really a nice gesture, but I don't think I'll be recommending him to anyone, anytime soon! Maybe it was becasue we didn't really have the right "tools" but I woke up to raw feet this morning and before long my toes will probably have scabs on them. The massage was absolutely amazing though! If you know Cody, this was pretty huge for him. I don't think I can even remember him ever rubbing my feet before :)

*We had a real tornado emergency this afternoon at school. The weather got pretty bad, pretty quickly. We were rushed into the women's bathroom with nine 4th grade boys who had just spent the last couple of hours in the principal's office for discipline issues. They were now very terrified and a lot of tears were shed. The power had gone out, it had got a pretty warm and pretty stinky in there before we were given the all clear. Needless to say, it was not how I was hoping to spend my Friday afternoon.

*We are still dealing with Kenley's bottom. She hasn't had a rash-free butt for 4 months now!! Poor thing!  Some days she just screams even when she's just peed.  We've been back to the doctor who put her on another oral antibiotic and has started to think it could possibly be from her inhaler. We clean their mouths after their inhalers so they don't get thrush, which is basically a yeast infection of the mouth. Well, if she's getting any of that medicine into her gut then it could possibly be coming out in her stools and we're just never getting rid of it.  We've actually stopped the inhalers now for the summer months and she's starting to clear up!  Not completely, but it's a lot better. Could this really, finally, be the answer?  We meet with the pulmonologist again at the end of this month, so I'll be curious to get his opinion on it all. But seriously, something's gotta make this girl's butt better.

another unexpected week

For those of you who have not heard, kidney stones have made their way back into my life, disrupting our little routine.

Sunday night, Cody went to bed shortly after the kids, however I have a lot of paperwork to get done yet before I'm done with school, so I stayed up a while and worked on that. I wasn't in bed long before waking up with excruciating back pain. I wasn't sure if I had just been laying wrong, or if I needed to go to the bathroom, or if I was in labor?  I walked around the living room a while, drank some water, and tried to sit in some different positions, hoping something would make the pain less intense. Well, nothing was seeming like it was helping. When I started paying more attention to my pain, I was noticing that it was only on my right side, in my lower back. It wrapped itself around my side and down into my groin area (this is exactly like the pain I had the first time with kidney stones, only it was on the opposite side).

I called the on-call doctor, just to make sure ... or to at least make myself feel better :)  She had said it didn't sound like labor or contractions, but I should take some Tylenol and try to get some rest. And if the pain didn't go away in an hour or so to come in and they would check things out. So I woke Cody up and gave him an update. I took some Tylenol, crawled back into bed and "tried" to get some rest. I don't think I laid there for more than 3 minutes when I was up again telling him we needed to go. Fortunately I had just packed our hospital bags the day before, so I threw a few last minute things in for the kids, Cody took a shower, we loaded the kids up, and away we went at 12:35am. I didn't know how I was going to last the hour drive over to Sioux Falls!

Cody had to pull over on the side of the interstate several times so I could throw-up, slowing down our process, but I think he made up for it with a little speeding in between times :) My parents met us at the emergency room. We switched vehicles so they could take the kids home and get them back to bed.

After getting hooked up to the monitors and doing a little checking, it looked like I was not in labor and the baby was doing just fine! They wheeled me down do get a renal ultrasound and look for anything going on with my kidneys and bladder. They actually found quite a large stone this time around, sitting in my kidney. So they started an IV to give me some fluids and some pain medication while they ran some more tests. My urine came back showing some blood, but everything else was looking normal.

Once again, they were going to send me home with some oral pain meds, but I was hesitant. Because of what happened last time with not being able to keep anything down and because I was throwing up again this time, I didn't know if this was going to work or not. I didn't really want to go home and not be able to tolerate the pain and have to come back in and start everything over. So they decided to keep me and just see how things went through the following day. The oral pain meds weren't cutting the pain nearly enough, so they decided to switch up the medication and gave me a pump that I could give them to myself...now this, I liked :)   Although I didn't feel like it ever took my pain completely away, I felt more in control knowing that I could push my button every 10 minutes rather than waiting every 4 hours before being able to take something orally again. They also placed a catheter to help empty my bladder completely. I kept having this horrible urge to go to the bathroom  all the time!!  They thought some of my pain would go away if my bladder was emptied completely.

So anyway, I have a 9mm sized stone in my kidney and the urologist says it's something that's too big to pass on my own. The pain is more than likely coming from it moving around within my kidney. So basically I will have to just manage the pain until after the baby is born and then they will have to go in and remove the stone surgically (more on that when the time comes).

I was able to come home Tuesday afternoon with oral pain meds in hopes of just managing my pain. Because the meds have some pretty significant side effects, my doctor recommended I remain out of work the remainder of the week. We've been staying in Brandon in order for my parents to help out with the kids.

35 Weeks

Earlier this week I had my 35 week appointment. No ultrasound this time, just a Non Stress Test and a visit with my OB.  During my NST, little man was a rockstar!  He moves almost constantly so they were able to track some awesome accelerations and decelerations in his heartrate within the first few minutes. They wanted to get a good 30 minute strip though for the dr. to see, so I sat there, reclined in my chair, drinking a sprite, and reading a magazine...in peace and quiet!  (Other than the little guy's heartbeat, which I don't at all mind listening to).

I'm experiencing a lot more contractions/tightenings, cramping, and just "uncomfortable-ness" (is that a word?). Baby is growing and my dr. guesses he will probably be in the 9 pound range when he comes. She's not nervous about me going into labor early, but she said we will schedule an induction at 39 weeks if he doesn't come before then. I was all for it!!! So, now, it's crunch time! 

I can't even begin to tell you how much I have to get done at work before I'll be ready, but hings at home are coming along. We were able to finish the baby's room last weekend, thanks to a ton of help from my parents! I feel like things are finally falling into place. I sorted through all of the baby clothes and separated the boys from the girls and then resorted into age groups. (that was a little emotional!!) In my mind, everything from Kaden and Kenley come as a "pair." It felt weird packing away Kenley's stuff, but leaving out Kaden's :(   We need to get some kind of organizational unit for the closet, so in the meantime clothes are laying all over the floor. But that's about the last thing we need to get done. (other than some final touches). I'll try to post some pictures of the room when I have a free minute, ha! 

Another big transition (which didn't turn out to be a big deal at all) was taking away the night-time bottles. Both kids had still gotten a bottle of milk before bedtime. Well it was definitely time to break that habit and I certainly wanted to get it done before the new baby comes. So one night, after baths, we offered them their milk in their cups. Kenley threw a fit and wouldn't take it...only whining and pointing to the cupboard, crying "ba". It only took a few minutes of convincing though, before she sat down with her cup and finished her milk. Kaden didn't bat an eye :)  So now we are "paci-free" and "bottle-free"... it's a great feeling! Of course a little sad at the same time. My babies aren't babies anymore :(

34 weeks and updates

At 34 weeks, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs. In fact, baby will recognize frequently sung tunes after birth and probably find them soothing. Less cute news: he now urinates about one pint per day. 
His fat layers – which he'll need to regulate his body temperature once he's born – are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

My current pregnancy symptoms:
*Swelling: my feet, ankles, and hands are starting to swell some by the end of the day. I've reached the point where I've had to take off my wedding ring.
*Frequent urination: this baby is sitting right on my bladder. When I'm sitting down, I usually don't notice it, but once I stand up, that's when it hits me...and it hits me hard...I must get to the bathroom immediately!
*Nerve pain: the last couple of weeks I've started having this sharp, shooting pain, just off the bottom of my tail bone at the top of my butt. It's uncomfortable for the most part during the day, but when I move a certain way it's that take-your-breath-away type pain. Any pressure by standing on that leg makes the pain worse. I'm just hoping it's something that goes away when baby comes :)
*Contractions: I'm still having quite a few contractions throughout the day, which can get rather uncomfortable at times.
*Baby is continuing to move like crazy! He remains head down and his butt is right in the middle of my right side. It's making my belly look a little distorted because I always feel like he's pushing that little butt right out, making my stomach bulge on that side. I'm not really sure when he sleeps. The twins always slept with me at night, but this little guy seems to move almost all the time. I'm hoping all this moving around now will wear him out once he gets here and he'll sleep really well :)  But, I'm guessing that's not going to be the case :)
*Acid Reflux:  I'm continuing to take Zantac twice a day around the clock just to keep it under control.


*last week, at 33 weeks, I had another ultrasound and dr. visit. Everything on the ultrasound looked good, baby is continuing to grow! Which is a good thing, however it's starting to worry me just a bit. He's moved up into the 90th percentile and is measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule. He was weighing 5lbs. 14oz. already!  I asked if she though I might go early with his size or just have a huge baby?!?  Of course it's hard to tell, but she really feels confident that my uterus will not go into labor early, given my past history... because I was able to hold 2 good sized babies in for 37 weeks, she really thinks my uterus will hold this guy in too and he'll stay comfortable for a while.

*I now will be starting appts. every two weeks. No ultrasound this next time, but I will be starting my Non-Stress Tests as well as visiting with the dr.  Apparently Sanford is very "over the top" with how they monitor their IVF patients. From this point on I am supposed to be doing NSTs twice weekly to measure baby's growth and movement. However, since we know baby is growing so well and given the fact that I live an hour from Sioux Falls, my dr. is comfortable with once weekly NSTs.

*The baby's room is STILL no where near being done and it's sending me into panic mode. Finding storage for everything that is in that room has been a bit challenging. The closet is still full. The huge desk is in there and we have a rather large gun cabinet in there that still needs a home. (Cody keeps asking if there'll be enough room in there to be able to just keep the gun cabinet where it's at...umm yeah, NO!)  We are hopefully going to get the room painted next weekend and then start putting together the furniture.

*I took Kenley back into the dr. to see if we couldn't figure something else out that's going on with her butt-rash.  I'm telling you, this isn't your typical diaper rash and she's had it now for 3 months. The dr. finally did a culture of it and sent it to the lab. The lab results came back showing several types of bacterial overgrowth as well as some yeast growth. We have since been trying an antibacterial topical cream, an anti-fungal cream, as well as an oral antibiotic. I would like to say we're seeing some improvement .

*I believe we have finally ridden Kenley girl of her darn pacifier. My final straw was when our daycare provider told me that Kenley really hasn't been using her paci at her house during nap time anymore. So I thought to myself...well she really doesn't go to bed with it anymore at home either. So, the only times she's having it is when she's in the car or wanting it just around the house. She was playing me like a fiddle! If she didn't need it anymore to sleep with, then it was definitely time to go!  So we just literally stopped giving it to her. We didn't make a big production out of it, we just removed any pacifiers from sight and it was never an issue!  I couldn't believe it. As much as I felt she was addicted to it, she never seemed to have an issue with not having one anymore. Geez, I wish I would have known that sooner :)   There are times however where it would still be easier to just pop that thing into her mouth. You know, the times where she just whines and moans and won't give it up. Or in the car when she's crying and I know it would make her quiet just to have that thing in her mouth. I think it's been more of a challenge for me than her :)

*Two weekends ago we headed down to Des Moines to celebrate my niece Khloe's 2nd birthday!  We enjoyed: her birthday party..cake..presents..playtime..playing at the park..shopping..eating out..ordering pizza in..naptimes..late nights..laughter..warm weather..and good company! I love it there :)

*This last weekend we headed back to Des Moines to celebrate Easter down there. My sister attends an absolutely phenomenal church. It would be worth the drive just to attend church on Sundays and to be a part of their Easter service is like no other!!  We also enjoyed an Easter egg hunt..lunch at Wakonda Country Club..a visit with the Easter bunny..more shopping..more eating out..more laughter..and one, year and a half old little girl, who has developed a new "not-so-precious-attitude", requiring the efforts of every adult just to get us all through the weekend. (We love you Kenley girl, but you sure are a tough one right now :)

32 weeks

change

So I'll be honest with you...I'm kinda hating the changes going on around here.

I guess I'm that kind of girl. I don't do well with change. Even simple change.

The kids and I spent this last weekend in Brandon, visiting my sister and niece who were home for spring break (hopefully more on that later).  Cody stayed back in Brewster, because apparently we're going to have a baby in 9 weeks OR LESS and we are no where near ready to bring another baby into this home. So he was on a mission to tackle some projects we've been putting off.

He put up some window blinds to give us a little privacy...since most of our windows in the house are completely exposed to the outside world...and I haven't been a huge fan of that.

Our third bedroom upstairs is what we like to call our "office" and "laundry room."  Well, that is the room that is going to be made into the baby's room, so the other stuff had to find a new home. Not an easy task in such a small house :(

I bought a smaller desk for the computer and Cody got everything hooked up so we now have our computer up and running....in our bedroom!  I'm losing a lot of storage and filing space with this smaller desk, so I'm gonna have to get organized. Like, really organized. But we'll figure it out. It'll also be an adjustment when one of us wants to go to bed and the other one isn't quite ready to get off the computer :)

The other major thing Cody's been working on is re-plumbing our house (because apparently it wasn't done right in the first place...ok, mr. plumber!)  And also plumbing to be able to hook up the washing machine down in the basement. Remember our basement?  Gross...scary...dark...spider infested...GROSS!  Yeah, that's where I'm going to have to do laundry from now on. Oh sad day :(

So on Sunday night when the kids and I got home, he showed me everything he was able to accomplish in two days. I must say, he was a rather busy boy! 

But things are different around here. And being the emotional wreck I've been lately, I had to cry about it. I know I will be so pleased when the baby's room is done and put together. But now, it's a mess and I'm having a hard time thinking it's ever going to turn into a baby's room. We have a long way to go around here.

30 weeks

Baby's now the size of a head of cabbage!

As baby's skin smoothes out, his brain just keeps getting more wrinkled. All those grooves and indentations increase surface area, meaning more room for that oh-so-essential brain tissue. He's also adding some brawn -- his grip is now strong enough to grasp a finger.        

A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Hiseyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after he's born, he'll keep his eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision – which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face.


My pregnancy symptoms this week continue to be pretty similar to what I've been experiencing.  The only difference is my mood. A little moody. A little sensitive. WATCH OUT!!                

this is how we do it...

at 18 months they've figured out how to get IN their cribs.

we're still praying they don't figure out how to get OUT!

stubborn rash

I wish I could just take a picture of Kenley's toosh and post it for everyone to give me their thoughts, but apparently that's not appropriate to have out there for the world to see.

She's had this butt-rash for about two months now and we can't seem to get rid of it.

I took her into the doctor this week, thinking it was maybe a yeast infection. Well he thought there might be yeast there, but he didn't look at it as a definite case of yeast.

So we've been trying a prescription cream (along with everything else under the sun) and nothing seems to be getting rid of it.

It is the oddest rash I've ever seen. And it's up front, not back near her rear.

And it doesn't seem to bother her at all, which is really a blessing seeing how nasty it can look at times.

So I thought we might just start taking stock in butt-cream :)

29 weeks

Baby's now the size of a squash!

Baby's energy is surging, thanks to white fat depositing beneath his skin. And since he's growing so fast things are getting kind of cramped in the womb.You’re probably already getting a little preview of baby’s personality, the more you feel him move. You might get some playful kicks and jabs, and start to feel little hiccups, too!

His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is getting bigger to accommodate his growing brain – which is busy developing billions of neurons. Every day, about 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in your baby's skeleton, which is now hardening. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester.

*I seriously feel as though I am as big as I was with the twins. But WOW, when you compare it side by side like this...I really wonder what I have to complain about!  In Cody's words "you were a big son of a bitch!"  (thanks honey, I can always count on you for words of encouragement).
My uterus was measuring 39 weeks at this point with the twins!

I had my 29 week ultrasound and OB visit earlier this week. Everything continues to look great. With the best news being that my placenta has moved up and away from my cervix, so I no longer have to worry about my marginal Placenta Previa and worrying about a c-section!!

Baby is continuing to grow! He now weighs 3lbs. 14oz. (82nd percentile)

His heartrate was 159

He continues to move like crazy!  He is sitting a lot higher than the twins. I never had any issues with baby-in-the-ribs...but I am this time. He's not hurting me yet, but he's just sitting right up there making it difficult to bend over. The worst I've noticed it was the other day when I was typing at my computer at work, and I couldn't lean over to even type. I had to sit back in my chair and try to work him down a bit. Little stinker!

Who do you think he looks like??

maybe a little camera shy?

remember this...??

We're still having MAJOR ISSUES with it...

Little Miss seems to have gotten this small idea in her head that she needs to have her paci in her mouth ALL the time.

She makes her way to her room and then will hang on her crib (if she sees one in there) otherwise she will hang on her dresser drawer (where she knows we keep them, even though we've moved them and have shown her that several times) and moan and whine and cry.

Sometimes she must even be able to reach it if one is in her crib, because out of the blue she'll be walking around the house with it in her mouth....wait a second!! I think NOT!!

She really has gotten away from needing one in the car, unless our trip is a little longer.

And at times, she will even go to bed without it.

But it's those "in-between" times where we seem to be butting heads a bit!

And let me tell you, she is a strong-willed child!