Oh Baby!

Well, I want to tell everyone who commented on my last post that I really appreciate your comments! It’s nice to know that other people have been through it too and that I’m not the only one who thinks having a baby is hard. I guess people have been telling me that for years but I guess I just couldn’t know until I actually went through it.

I am so happy with our little A. He is a great baby and we are learning a lot together. He LOVES the bath and I am so happy that he likes water. I love to swim and I love the water too, so I see a lot of swimming days ahead of us.

Archer was out in the shop helping Grandpa one day and this is the result. I just took this picture with my phone, so I will have to get a better picture from my mom's camera.

The story.

I have really been postponing the "birth story" post because, to tell you the truth, I am not really happy with the way things turned out. Need less to say, things didn't go as planned and I was having a hard time dealing with it. I am the kind of person that likes to be in control and when I lose that, I don’t really know what to do with myself. A few months ago, I told Jeff that if the Doctor tells me she wants to do a c-section he has to just say no! With that said, here is how it went.
At around 1am on October 26th I woke up with contractions that weren’t painful but were coming every 5-7 minutes apart. With all the excitement of the contractions and knowing my little man would be coming soon, I couldn’t sleep. I got up and made some sandwiches for Jeff, took a shower, cleaned up a little, and watched a movie. At 4:30am the contractions were getting stronger and I called my sister and my mom to see if I should go to the hospital or wait it out. We decided that Jeff and I would get a ride into town with my mom on her way to work at around 7am. I watched another movie and then woke Jeff up. At the hospital I was checked, given a shot of Demerol, and sent home. I was glad to be home and actually got some sleep. At noon the contractions were getting stronger but I wasn’t sure if it was because the Demerol was wearing off or if the contractions were actually getting stronger. I got up to walk around and my water broke. I didn't know what to do. I didn’t want to go into the hospital to be sent home again and I really liked being comfortable at home. I called the hospital to see what they would have me do and they told me to come back in. So, after dillydallying around for a little while I finally went back in at around 3pm. They confirmed that my water actually did break and sent me to the labour room, put me on IV, and started to induce labour (which meant I had to be hooked up to the monitor and couldn’t move around). After that, things moved quickly. The contractions were too much and after 2 shots of morphine I asked for an epidural. As I was sitting on the side of the bed, the needle was about to go into my back when the nurse rushed in and said stop! I was soooo upset! "You can’t just tell them to stop, can’t you see how much pain I am in" I thought. Turns out the baby’s heart rate went down too low and wasn’t going back up no matter what they tried. The Doctor came in and explained this to us and let us know that the baby needed to come out NOW and she couldn’t wait for me to dilate any more. It was time for a c-section. I wanted to cry but I felt disconnected from my body. I wanted to say no but I was in so much pain that I really didn’t care what they did I just wanted it all to go away. I signed the consent form and all of a sudden there were 100 people in my room running around and telling me what to do. I wasn’t really aware of everything that was going on and it even took me a few seconds to respond when someone would ask me a question. We were rushed to the operating room and finally I was out of pain. What seemed like a few seconds later, they were putting a little baby boy on my chest! This was at 6:41pm. I only had a few seconds with my baby before him and Jeff were sent away and I was moved to recovery. I was meet by 3 nurses who did their thing while I shivered uncontrollably (apparently it's because of the drugs). That night was the worst night, I couldn’t move my lower half, I couldn’t stop shivering, I was soooo itchy, and I had a tinny little baby that depended on me. For the first 2 weeks I didn’t believe people when they told me it would get better, but I can honestly say it does. The wounds are healing and I’m starting to feel better and better every day. My little man is the cutest little baby I have ever seen! It’s getting easier to take Archer out in public now and as for feeding, that’s a whole other story.

Introducing....

ARCHER LAWRENCE

Born October 26th

8lbs 3oz

Pumpkins and an Oilers Cake

I've been tryinig to keep busy latley so here are a few of the projects I've been working on.

This is the Oilers cake I made for my brother-in-law for his birthday.

And these are the cute little Halloween blocks I made. I found the idea on another blog and was orignally going to paint the faces on the front but it turns out i'm not much of a painter! I ended up cutting the shapes out of black paper and glueing them on.

Baby Jack-Jack

I'm officially down to 1 week appointments with my Dr. and when I tell people when i'm due thay say, "Oh thats soon!". It finally feels like things are happening. At the last appointent, we found out that his head is down and somewhat low. We have Jack-Jack's room all together with a TON of clothes in his dresser. We just packed that hospital bag and already put the car seat in the car! The only problem with being this ready is the waiting. I only have 23 days till my due date but lets be honest it could be 33 or more days before we actually get to meet him! I guess there is always more to do to get ready, i could clean out the cupboards and scrub the bathtub one more time. Or do something useful and start the freezer meals i've been thinking about for a long time now.

On another note, in anticipation for the baby shower, I have regestered with Usborne books! For those of you who dont know what they are, Its just a book company that does home partys but their books are awesome! They have touch and feel books with great textures and tons of others for all ages. I have sent a list of my favorites to a great lady named Brittany and if you want to order one for me off my list or just one for youself, you can e-mail her at brittderricott@gmail.com . To look at the catalogue or find out more about them, just go to http://www.usborne.ca/ .

This is a picture of me at 32 weeks but my belly hasnt grown much since then.

Home!

Jeff and I have been home for 2 weeks now and its been fun. We went to Body Works and the Brain which was crazy! Getting to see the things you only learn about in school was really interesting. Now its time to get back to routine. Jeff starts school tomorrow and will actually have to wake up early every morning. He will have to start packing his lunches and doing homework! In other news, we have 40 days (give or take a few) until we get to meet our baby boy. I have had a great pregnancy so far but i'm starting to wonder how i'm going to make it through these next 40 days. When I have a busy day and am on my feet, by the end of the day I can hardly walk. In other events, we (with lots of help from my dad) sanded and painted the rust off our car! YAY! It looks way better now! and my sister came over to my parents house and we made home made salsa. What an event! It took all day but now we have salsa in our food storage. I'm starting to think about freezer meals but I dont have many ideas so If anyone wants to leave some great freezer meal ideas, that would be great!

Hair Cut

I have been wanting to get my hair cut to awhile now and Jeff kept telling me to keep it long. So.... Finally I convinced him to let me cut my hair! Yay. Here are the before and after pictures.

My First Quilt

With a lot of help for Jeff's Auntie Carol and Jeff's Mom, I made this quilt! Its not quilted yet so the pictures may be a little premature but I was excited about having made my first quilt. 

on the back it says 

To: Jack-Jack 

Love: Mom 

Cherry Grove 2010

Here is a picture of the finished product.

Jack-Jack

Ever since I found out I was pregnant I have been wanting to call our little one something. For the first few weeks it was easy to just call him "the baby" but a few weeks before my ultrasound I started wanting to call him, Her. I would tell Jeff SHE was kicking and SHE was giving me gas. The only problem was every time I did, I felt a little bad thinking If it was actually a boy he may be a little upset about me calling him a her. So, I held off calling him anything until after the ultrasound when we found out he was actually a BOY! Yikes, I had been calling my little boy a girl for weeks! I decided it was time for an official boy name, never to be mistaken for a girl again. So for now we call him Jack-Jack. Many of you may think i'm crazy for naming him so soon, but I figure he needed a name while he was cooking inside of me. When he comes out we will give him a real name even though people tell me that he will forever be known as Jack-Jack. For now, I think its fun to have a name for him.

Farmers Market

This week I decided I needed something to do, so I made some cupcakes for the local farmers market. I started off by making hamburger cupcakes and then decided I needed more of a selection so I went out and bought some more supplies. These cupcakes were actually fairly easy and fun to make. The spaghetti and meatballs were the biggest hit and people also seemed to love the hamburgers. I'm still deciding if I will make some for next week. The table cost $10 plus the supplies so I didn't make much money even though I sold out before the sale was over. Here are some pictures of the cupcakes

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ice Cream Cone

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Hamburgers

Peas and Carrots

Raspberry

Jeff came with me and we both had a good time. I think next time I will have to make even more cupcakes though.

an ambulance ride.

I've been waiting for something exciting to happen before I posted again, I was just hoping it would good exciting instead of what actually happened. I think I can honestly say that last night was one of the scariest nights of my life. I had a few scary nights when Jeff was in the hospital but we were in good hands and we always knew he would be ok. Last night (Saturday night) we had gotten home from a great time at a friends house and ready for bed. Saturday seemed normal enough. Jeff was acting like same old Jeff and we talked a bit before we both fell asleep. Suddenly, about 2 minutes after I fell asleep I woke to a stiff and loudly groaning Jeff. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on and first I thought he had a leg cramp when he wouldn't respond to me, I turned the light on and realized that he was having a seizure. His stiff arms and legs and blue lips were my main concern but I remembered what to do. He had vomited in his mouth so I turned him on his side so he wouldn't choke on it and all I could do was sit there and watch him. The actual seizure lasted only about a minute but its what was after that was worse. When the stiffness stopped, he went into an after seizure state in which he couldn't respond and would only move his eyes to look at us. Jeff's mom called 911 and 20 minutes later his first words after his seizure were to the paramedic asking him why he was there. He asked Jeff If he knew where he was and Jeff said that he didn't and a few minutes later Jeff asked the paramedic again who he was and why he was there. I think we told Jeff a total of 5 times that he had had a seizure and was going to the hospital and every time it was news to him. Now Jeff says the only thing he remembers is waking up in the ambulance and being really confused and not knowing where he was. He can only remember a few things from Saturday night even hours before the seizure and It was really bothering him that he couldn't remember more. At the hospital they filled him full of anti-seizure meds and sent him home. We got home around 4:30am and he has been sleeping ever since. Its now 8pm Sunday night and I think he will sleep through the night. He has been alert and aware when I wake him up to give him more meds or make him drink some water so I think he's going to be ok. We just hope it doesn't happen again.

The Great Reveal

Last night was the official reveal party for our little baby. It was a blast but i'm really upset that I had a MAJOR cold and felt totaly sick the whole time. Which influenced my ability to do anything other than what was totaly necessary, including taking pictures. So, yet again, you will have to go another post without pictures. We had an official name board with 4 girl names and 4 boy names. Everyone that come had to choose their favorite name and write it on a paper. The official winners! Laker for a boy, and Scarlet for a girl. The first runner up for the boy names was Boston, but it wasnt until today that I realized that would make our childs initials BB and i'm not into that! After playing a really nasty diaper chocolate bar game, it was time for the big reveal. I made some cupcakes and hid little candys inside so when everyone got a cupcake, they were allowed to chomp into the cupcake to see what color the candy was. Suprise! The candys were BLUE! Everyone was excited except for my little neice Kaylee! Oh what a disapointment it was when she found out she has to deal with another BOY cousin! On Jeffs side there are 7 soon to be 8 boys and only 1 girl! Other than that little upset we had a blast and Jeff and I are very excited for our little boy!

Summer Fun

Summer is rapidly approaching and I'm sitting here thinking, where did spring go? You know, Spring. My favorite season, where the rain is supposed to fall and the sun is supposed to shine (a little bit). The flowers have time to grow before the scorching summer sun has at them. The mud puddles are cold but not too cold to run through. There was none of that this year! Just as I thought Winter had us in her grasp for eternity, the sun came out at full force. When is it ever 30 degrees in May? When is there ever 2 HUGE snow storms that knock out the power in April?

As I sit here perplexed, I'm also thinking of the many adventures we might find ourselves on this summer. Since Jeff's surgery he has actually improved quite well and is planning on going back to school in September. Meanwhile, we are planning to pack up and move north for the summer. Thats right, back to our roots! Horray! Ever since leaving Edmonton 2 years ago (holly smokes! has it really been 2 years!!) I've missed the summer in the North. Jeff didn't really have to do any convincing to get me to go. He will be working for his Dad on the farm and I will be going to the lake and sitting in the sun. (that means I really don't know what i'll be doing but i'm sure I will get myself into trouble somehow.) I'm trying not to think about how my internal temperature is going to 500 degrees higher than anyone else and my belly is going to be so big jeff will have to shave my legs for me! I'm sure he wont mind. 

I have a secret.

Good news blogging is way better than bad news blogging, thats why I decided to blog about this!

Its kind of hard to keep my growing belly a secret from people around here, although i'm sure some of them still think i'm just getting fat! My pregnancy has been great so far. The only time I threw up during my 1st trimester was when I had the flu (and had to go to the hospital for fluids because I was that dehidrated! YUCK). And I have descovered that I cant eat leftovers. Or, pritty much anything that I make. Its kind of difficult latley (we have been eating pre-made store bought food alot). But other than that I have felt great the whole time! I will be 17 weeks on Sunday and the little GIRL is due October 17th. (Although, i thought it would be cool if I had it on the 10th then her birthday would be 10/10/10) I say she is a girl because thats what I think it is. Jeff thinks so also. I have an ultrasound on the 19th and we will see if I am right!

Thank You

I just wanted to let you all know how much we appreciate all the support we have received this past month. It has been hard to see Jeff go through something like this but I think we are pulling out of the worst of it. Jeff was transfered south yesterday to be closer to home. We couldnt be happier! We had about 1 hour notice and he even got to ride in an ambulance. 

we still have a few months before he can drive again and he's got some therapy to get through. But we are on our way!

Warning: Content may not be suitable for all viewers.

I always think its not a good post unless their is a picture (most of the time I only look at the pictures on other peoples posts anyway). So, I have some pictures of Jeff. He is doing well. The surgery went great according to the surgeons. Now its just the recovery that seems to be taking a long time. I know this is just the beginning but it already seems like its bin forever.

This is after his head had some time to heal. I didn't want to post the REALLY bad pictures.

We thought that little side mohawk was kinda cool. It didn't stay for long though.

Right after he got his stitches out! It has healed really well. Too bad his brain doesn't want to heal that fast.

April Fool

This is no April fools joke, Jeff will be in surgery by 7:30 am tomorrow morning! I cant believe it came so soon but now comes the long road ahead. I expect him to be in surgery for about 6 hours and then its unknown from there. Jeff's parents and sister are here with us and will be there all through the surgery. We were told to leave the hospital during the surgery so I guess we will be doing some shopping.

Still waiting.

Our trip north yesterday was very informative and I even got to do a bit of shopping! The Dr. appointment only lasted about 20-30 minutes so there was plenty of time for lunch and shopping. We found out a lot but still are left wondering. We were given a time line of 2-3 weeks for surgery (I'm really hoping its during my  week off for easter) and will get a phone call some time to let us know the exact date. We do know that the type of surgery they are doing has only been recorded in medical literature TWICE!! Needless to say, its a new type of surgery but sounds to be less invasive than our other options. Surgery could take anywhere between 2 - 17 or more hours (depending on if things go well or not.) We are eager to get things going but I'm not looking forward to the recovery. Thats the update for now. If anyone wants to know something else that I haven't written, just let me know.   

Moonlight Run 2010

A few weeks ago my mom gave me and Jeff this crazy idea to run in the moonlight run. She has done it every year for about the past 12 years and I have plenty of experience waiting at the finish line for her. A few years ago my dad actually got into it too and he as been doing the 6k ever since. So, i thought it would be fun to do the 6k as well. Saturday night was the night of the race and we were so excited. It was a perfect night for a run!

Waiting

I've been trying to teach about waiting to one of the kids at school. I deal mostly with screaming and hitting when he has to wait for something he wants, but it has been helping me remember to wait patiently when things don't happen when I expect them to. 

On March 5th Jeff had a CT scan and MRI and was told he has tumor in his brain. It has been nothing but waiting ever since. Waiting for the doctors to call and then waiting in the neurosurgeons office for an hour. Waiting for information about what to do, and waiting for a surgery date. I cant believe we have made it to the 17th already and we still have no idea how much more waiting we will have to do. We do know that surgery is needed and papers for the surgery are to be signed next week. But when that surgery will be is unknown. We are very grateful for family and friends who have shown love and concern. We know that the prayers of many have been answered. Things are looking very optimistic. I guess I will continue to wait. But I think i'll be a bit more patient when teaching kids about waiting since now I know how hard it can be.

Tonight was a craft night.

I tagged along to the mom and tots garage sale with my sister-in-law today and found some really cute things, then went to the fabric store (I cant believe Jeff let me go!!) And found the best fabric. So, tonight was a craft night! Turns out the headband was SUPER simple and the giraffe was just plain FUN! Jeff even unleashed his craftiness within and is putting together a coat hanger for me!   

I know he's not perfect but I love him! Is that not the cutest fabric you have ever seen?

FYI. I know this blog is starting to turn into a crafting baking blog (or maybe it always has been) but I just wanted to let you know what Jeff and I have been up to. We had a week of school for both of us and I cant believe we have to go back on monday. What a drag. But, our week was filled with snowboarding, dentists, yoga, and lots of fun together. Its great being able to sleep in and get things done but, I have found that my house has been more messy this week than ever! I can't believe that! Anyway, I am anxiously awaiting spring while Jeff seems to be basking in the Winter weather! Hopefully we only have a few more weeks! 

Valentines Day!

I'm  not as excited for the actual day as I am for the great things I have been making for the day. Thanks to The Idea Room and a miracle  find at the dollar store, I am now presenting you with candy cane hearts! Are they not the cutest! Even my Dad thought they were clever when I showed him. (Now thats saying something). I wasn't planning on making these, thinking I would NEVER be able to find little candy canes in February. But while on one of my treasure finding trips to the Dollar Store, I found them! 50% off. What a steal. Heres where I found the great idea, http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2010/02/heart-suckers-and-heart-candies.html 

Cake Pops and a Quote.

Well.... I'm trying to get out of the mid-winter slump and I think i've got it. I've never been into Valentines Day so much as I am this year but I think  It gives me something to look forward to. We will just be that much closer to spring once it get to Valentines day! I went shopping yesterday and they even have some spring things in the stores!!! Horray!! Anyway, back to the cake pops. I had some left over icing from my Dad's cake so I decided to just whip us a cake and use the extra icing for these pops. They are suprisingly easy and very fun to have some of your own little creations! I got the idea from bakerella (there is a link on the right)

I have to warn you, they are VERY messy! (or maybe I was just messy making them)

As soon as I was done and everything was cleaned up, Jeff asked me what I was going to do with them? Thats when I realized I was a little early! So.... they are in the freezer until the big day, when we will go one some secret nicky nicky nine door adventures. (I guess now they will have to go to someone I am sure doesnt read my blog)

Of course, Jeff got to sample one.

  Now for the quote. Jeffs sister and brother in law have a vinyl company and it is very handy for us! I went over and we played with fonts until I found the one I wanted for this quote. I have ALWAYS loved "Today is your day" by Dr. Seuss and I thought it was fitting to put this quote on the door so we can read it when we leave the house.

THANKS SHELLY! 

German Chocolate Mountain

It was my Dads birthday and he loves German Chocolate cake. So, I decided to make a mountain out of it. Not as creative as it could have been but it tasted great!

Family Tree

I didn't quite make it to the quote boards yet, but I have been busy. Here is just one of the little crafts i've been creating latley. It's my family tree!

Is it STILL winter?

If you ask me, this is the worst time of the year. Well, actually it gets worse in February. It's been winter long enough that were not excited to see that white stiff fall and my heat reserves are almost gone. Now that Christmas is over, we have no winter holidays to look forward too. We just have to wait it out until May or June when we can actually go outside without dreading it. Who agrees with me? I know Jeff doesn't, but thats another story. Today I've been trying to beat the winter blues and I am attempting something crafty. Quote boards! I'll have pictures up if they turn out cute.

As for an update, Jeff and I have a new place to live and we (for the most part) are loving it! Organization is still on my to do list but I think most everything has a place. For the past few days, our food cupboard has been the battle ground of a mighty war, but I think were winning.  We had a great Christmas and it even included an authentic hay ride with Jeff's family! Now its back to the grind and I am counting the days until school is over.