Photo Shoot

I got the pictures that my friend Suzana took and I am in love! I could only narrow it down to about 20 to put on the blog. :) Sorry. That was from 105 though! Anyway, enjoy! I think they are cute. (Not that I'm biased or anything)

Grandparents visit, One month old, and a trip to the Burgh

(I don't know if anyone calls Pittsburgh the Burgh, but whatever).

A lot has happened lately! Jeremy's parents came to visit on Sunday, April 10th. We were very happy they were able to come and spend time with us. They were sooo helpful cooking meals, taking shifts in the night with Connor, burping Connor (he struggles with that and it takes forEVer), playing with Eli, etc., etc. Eli had a blast going on walks with Papa and trips to the store (he loved Cabela's especially - he's still talking about it).

The Thursday after they got here, Jeremy, Connor and I hopped on a plane at 11:45pm and flew all night to Pittsburgh. Sounds like fun, right? Haha. We got there about 9:30am, picked up our rental car, drove to the hotel, showered and got ready for our busy weekend! The school Jeremy's going to be attending - Carnegie Mellon University - had a Welcome Weekend on Friday and Saturday. It started with a lunch on Friday at noon and was jam-packed full until Saturday night. Connor and I stayed in the hotel for some of the festivities, but we were able to attend quite a bit. They had some sessions on Friday (icebreakers and stuff), a fancy event at Heinz Field Friday night (where the Steelers play), and lots of information sessions/panels on Saturday. It was fun getting to meet a bunch of the current and future students and start to get a feel for what the school is like.

We met a few LDS students and their wives and they were very helpful answering all sorts of questions for us. There are 2 second year LDS students and 5 first years. It's really nice to feel that instant connection with people through the church. Most of them also had kids, so that will be fun once we get there. On Saturday they had a Partners Club meeting for partners (obviously) at the school which was also really nice. I guess they get together pretty often and have social events and stuff. So it was really fun to be at the school and learn more about everything. Jeremy had a great time and is getting even more excited to go.

Sunday and Monday was spent looking for housing - not nearly as fun. Oh boy. We had a rough time. Pittsburgh is a very old city and most of the houses we looked at were completely disgusting. Some reeked of animals, others of mothballs, others of alcohol. We had talked to several people about where to look, but we just couldn't really find anything in those areas. We finally found one possibility on Sunday afternoon. It's a little further away than we'd like to be, but it's light years ahead of everything else, so we're going to try to get it. The couple that lives there now is LDS, so we met them at church on Sunday and then we went over and looked at it. We liked it because it had a basement with laundry hookups and it was well taken care of, unlike all the other gross places we looked at.

Sunday night, we got invited over for dinner, which was really fun. I guess four of the LDS first years get together every Sunday for dinner (switching off at each other's houses) and so they invited us. It was really fun and it was nice to relax for once that weekend! We'd been running around like crazy, so it was fun to just chat and have a good time. Monday morning we drove around for hours looking for housing again (but not finding anything) and then we headed back to the airport and came home!

It was so nice to get home and we were so grateful for Jeremy's parents for watching Eli. The trip would have been a lot harder with him - not because he's hard, but because he would have been bored out of his mind driving around for hours and attending the Welcome Weekend. He had a blast with Grammy and Papa and was so sad when they left Tuesday morning! He cried and told me he wanted me to go on another trip. Thanks kid. I see how it is. :)

Connor was really good on our trip. I don't think it made any difference to him where we were, so that was nice. He's also one month old today! Crazy. It's gone by really fast. He still seems like a total newborn - maybe since he was up pretty much every hour last night, but he's definitely growing.

Here are some random pictures from the past couple weeks. Jeremy's parents took some pictures while we were gone too, so that was nice. I know this is long, but that's what happens when I don't blog very often!

Eli at Cabela's

Connor and Grammy

Sleeping in the swing

Someone else sleeping in the swing

Big-eyed boy

Eli helping Papa fix our door. George can't come without fixing something. :) This was his project while we were gone. We appreciate it!

Ready for church!
Making brownies with Grammy - these awaited us when we got home Monday night. Thank you!
Eli's new favorite spot to hang out. :)

Cute one-month-old boy.

Beautiful Pictures

I have lots to blog about, but don't have the time right now. However, I wanted to share some beautiful pictures my friend Suzana took of Connor when he was 10 days old. She's sending me the disc with all the pictures, but for now you can click here to see the ones she posted on her blog. She's amazing! Thank you Suzana!

Connor Dean's Birth

Alrighty, here we go! (I know it's long, I didn't know how to make it shorter. Sorry).

I've said before that Connor's birth was much easier than Eli's. Let me just give a quick recap of Eli's so you know what I'm talking about:

Eli's birth: induced 10 days after my due date, 14-hr. labor, 1.5+ hrs. pushing, full posterior plus his head was tilted back (he was coming out with his forehead first), forceps to tilt his head, 9lb. 3oz.!, 3rd degree tear, severely bruised tailbone (because the back of his head was jammed into it for hours - took weeks to be able to sit at all, months to be able to sit comfortably), very cute boy - but a rough time delivering and a really rough time recovering.

Connor was much nicer to his mommy. :) My doctor was a little worried about me having another very large and late baby (as was I), so that combined with the fact that we're flying to Pittsburgh in a week and I didn't want too young of a baby on the trip made me decide to set an inducement date for the day after my due date. I had high hopes of going into labor on my own, especially since he dropped earlier than Eli, I lost my mucus plug a week and a half before my due date, and I had all sorts of false labor.

But...I ended up getting induced anyway. I figured it would happen that way since I wasn't giving myself very much time. In a way it was really nice because my mom was here with Eli and we didn't have to get up in the middle of the night or anything (trust me - I really hope to go into labor on my own someday, I'm just thinking of the positive aspects to inducement :).

So I was due on Monday, March 21, and we went into the hospital on Tuesday, March 22nd. We got there at 7:30am and got checked in and everything.

(Below: all ready to get things going at the hospital)

The doctor came in about 8:45am and chatted with me for a bit. I asked him if maybe he could just break my water to see if that would get me started, and he agreed. However, when he went to check me and break my water, he had a really hard time reaching my cervix and oh my, it hurt like the dickens! I remember the same thing with Eli. He said something about my cervix being posterior or something. All I know is that it felt like he went in one direction, then tried to curve around or something and it just was not working out. So he tried to break my water as I writhed in pain (I was trying to be tough, I promise), but he wasn't sure if it worked. He felt really bad I could tell, and I told him it was fine, just start me on Pitocin, I don't care, I don't want anymore of that! Oh, and he also said I was dilated to a 2.5.

So at 9:00 they started me on the lowest dose of Pitocin and bam, right away my contractions started along with gushing of amniotic fluid - the water had broken after all! That was a really weird feeling. I was surprised with how fast everything started because it took awhile to get things going with Eli. So the contractions were coming hard and fast and I was breathing through them and everything and then at 10:00 I decided to get an epidural. I knew there was no way I could do the whole thing without one (being on Pitocin and all - I knew it was only going to get worse; I waited like 4 hours with Eli - trying to tough it out, not fun) so I decided I might as well get it sooner rather than later since I planned on for sure getting one.

So the anesthesiologist came in and he was very nice. He seemed to do a good job (I think I was more relaxed and less nervous than I was with Eli) and it seemed to be done in not very much time at all. I ended up having to lay on my right side for the remainder of labor because otherwise it stopped working on that side, but that was fine with me because I'm usually more comfortable on that side anyway. :) So that was nice once that took effect. I could get some rest and enjoy feeling the pressure of the contractions, but not the pain. :)

So the nurse came back to check me at 12:30 and I was dilated to a 6. They had turned up my dose of Pitocin earlier a little bit, but they still never had it very high; in fact, after that I think they turned it down. She said everything looked like it was progressing great - my cervix was easier to access (or something, I don't know) so that was a good sign I guess (I sound really dumb, I know - I don't know the correct lingo for these things).

Then things started getting crazy! At 1:10, I started feeling a lot of pressure really low and I started to feel a lot of pain with the contractions again. So I "upped" my dose of the epidural and told the nurse I was feeling a lot of pressure. She checked me at 1:15 and said I was only dilated to a 7, so I thought that was weird. Well this pressure continued to increase and I told Jeremy, I feel like his head is right between my legs! So at 1:50, the anesthesiologist came to check on me - I told you he was nice, he kept checking on me. I told him I'd given myself another dose (it had taken effect by then) and that I was feeling a lot of pressure. He asked if it felt really low and I said YES, very low, so he got the nurse to check me again.

My nurse was busy so another lady came in, barely stuck her hand up there and said "Oh boy, yeah, you're at a 10, I'll go get the doctor!" So the doctor rushes in, they ready everything, I had 3-4 contractions that I pushed during, and at 1:58 he was out! It was so fast, it was unreal. I seriously pushed for less than 5 minutes - it was amazing. After my very first push they could see his head (and full head of hair!) and if he wasn't posterior I think he would have come out in 2 pushes, no joke. The doctor actually turned him the right way while I was pushing, but on the next contraction he turned back, so I just delivered him posterior (I don't know why both boys decided to come that way - am I shaped funny?).

He came out and had a great cry and they put him right on me and I couldn't believe it was over and it was so easy! Those last 10 minutes were such a rush and it was so exciting! I loved also that I could feel all the pressure and I really felt the urge to push him out and I felt really connected to my body (sounds weird, I know). With Eli, I didn't feel the urge because his forehead was coming out and he was stuck - it wasn't until the doctor tilted his head right at the end that I felt all the pressure and pain like crazy. So out he came! I remember the first thing I said was "He's so small!" He had a gloriously small head and was only 7 lb. 8 oz. - almost 2 lb. smaller than Eli! Crazy. After they did a few things (they had to clear his lungs a bit) they gave him back to me while they did a few tests and then everyone left and we enjoyed some alone time with our precious new boy. I nursed him and we spent a good hour or so just snuggling and resting.

Everything went so smoothly and I feel so blessed. I'd been praying a lot for an easier time, especially since we're going on this trip and I was really worried about being able to sit on the plane and have the stamina for the trip in general. The Lord really answered our prayers because recovery has been SO much easier this time. I only got a 2nd degree tear, and it feels sooo much easier. The two experiences aren't even on the same scale, seriously.

So that's the story! I probably left out some things, but I'm not getting too much sleep these days, so we'll blame it on that. :) It's really fun having two boys and I'm excited for them to be good buddies. Eli has been really good and I'm also very grateful for that!

(The Sunday after Connor was born - Eli trying to share his animals with him).

2 Weeks

Time sure flies. We are alive and kicking over here...well I don't know about kicking, but we're alive. :) Connor is 2 weeks old today! We went to the doctor this morning and he's already up to 8 lb. 6 oz. Pretty good considering he was only 7.5 lbs. at birth and 7 lb. when we left the hospital. He's eating like a champ (obviously) and he's very easy to love. :)

My mom was here until last Thursday, which was wonderful! She came the day before Connor was born, so she was here with Eli while we were in the hospital and then here for about a week after we got home. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, she spent most of the day with my sister Amy who came down with her kids to visit in-laws and us and she took Eli with her on some of their excursions, which was great.

Eli was sad to see her go, (as was I!) but we're so glad she was able to come as long as she could. She cooked and cleaned and entertained and ran around being the awesome energetic grandma she is. Thank you mom!

And here are some more pictures of our cute little Connor.
This was Friday after a little newborn photo session done by my friend (which I can't wait to see pictures from!). He was awake through the whole thing, so afterward he was so tired I just wrapped the blanket around him and stuck him in the swing and he conked out like this.
These just make me laugh. :) This was yesterday after a bath. You can see how he's starting to fill out a lot more. And this is a usual awake face for him. Hey, what are you lookin' at?
Is he flexing his muscles here? Haha. Who knows.
And these are sweet. I love Connor's big blue eyes. He and Eli look very different so it's fun to have such contrast!
Sweet boys.
I love these two. Connor kind of leaned into Eli and Eli started laughing saying "Snuggle!" because he thought Connor was giving him snuggles. Cute. :)
So there's a little catch up of the last few days. We're adjusting to life as a family of four. I survived going to the store on Saturday by myself with the 2 boys and again going to the doctor today. I thought those were pretty good accomplishments. :) I'm feeling really good as far as my physical recovery goes. I could use more sleep of course, but I don't think that will be happening for awhile. :) I'll try to share the birth story (it's pretty short, but I should record it nonetheless) soon. It was wonderful and stress-free, which was nice. Anyway, that's all for now! Thanks for checking in on us.