1 Month

Really? It's been a month already?? We went to Jess' doctor appointment yesterday for her one month check up. She is now 10lbs. 6 oz. and is 21 1/2 inches long. I would put her head size here but I don't really think it matters. Her head is the PERFECT size as far as I'm concerned. You would think that our nights would be getting better...and I guess they would be if I could lay off the chocolate. I went without any yesterday just as an experiment and she did have a better night. I'm just not disciplined enough to eat ZERO chocolate EVERY DAY! I just can't have four brownies in a couple hours time and not expect to pay the price, at least that's the way I'm figuring it?

Can you see Julia in the background??

We love this baby girl. Julia tells me all the time, "I love our baby, mom". It's so cute that she's so loved...and I have to remind myself that when she's being smothered with kisses and being fought over because they all want to hold her at the same time. I'm afraid if I offered to cut her in half to share with everyone, they might take me up on it. No King Solomon options here.

24th of July

I'm over a month behind on posting this but to my credit....I would have only had 6 days to scrapbook these pics and post them before Jess was born. If you know me at all, that's just NOT enough time.

Pioneer Day was spent up in Enterprise with Todd's family for the day and we ended the night at Tiff's for a BBQ with Tiff and Kandice's families. We left for Enterprise in the morning, had a delicious brunch breakfast and then waited/digested until the races at 2pm. The kids all raced in their age groups and then they got to search for money in the big man made pool with the fire dept. spraying them with their hoses. Julia and Riley were best buddies for the day. They didn't get much money but they enjoyed eating their laffy taffy's from the races and having a taste of the other kids shaved ice. Porter was the big money man in the water search coming home with over $2 in change. Payton got some money but mostly just got wet.

It was a good way to spend the day!

10 Year Anniversary

Todd and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on the 10th of this month. Of course we wanted to do something fun because it's our 10th year together but because Jess was only born a couple weeks ago...what could we do? We just didn't feel like dinner was enough. So after a brain storming session we decided we'd go to Hatch for the weekend. It just didn't feel right that we pawn our kids off on anyone so we took the whole family. What a way to celebrate, right? We left Friday night after Todd got off work--and we got everything packed. We went through Zion's Park which is supposed to be shorter from where we live but it turned out taking us much longer because of the traffic. Because we took the "short cut" I could show my kids my grandma's house in Mt. Carmel and tell a couple memories I had of going to my grandma's. We got to Hatch too late to mow lawns (which was part of our job while we were there) so we just unloaded the truck, ate too many cookies and peanut butter bars, watched a movie and then called it a night. Payton was the only one willing to sleep out on the bed in the front room. Julia and Porter were both too scared to sleep in the other bed alone. So, our first night (and second, I guess) was spent with Porter and Todd in one room and Julia, Jess and I in the other room. So romantic, right?
The next morning Todd came in WAY too early... 7am. He was ready to get going. Does he know who he married?? I was not excited to get up--I blame it on the fact that we didn't go to bed until 12am and then I had to fee Jess a couple times through the night. While I made breakfast, Todd got to sleep on the bed while the kids watched more "Dark Wing Duck". After breakfast we loaded up the truck with hiking and picnic items and we were off for our fun filled day. Our first hike was to a waterfall and Mossy Cave. It was a short hike which is what I needed--it being only 2 weeks before I was laying in a hospital bed pushing a baby out.
It was really pretty and fun to see the kids hiking and enjoying the sunshine.
After our hike we went to Kodachrome Park. I wasn't all that impressed with what my $6 paid for but it was still cool to see a couple places I hadn't seen before. We stopped in Cannonville at the park for a picnic after that. It was good to get out, stretch our legs, eat some sandwiches and spin on the merry-go-round for a while. The next few hours were a blur because I was so tired I fell asleep in the truck while we drove to pick up Todd's trail camera out in the desert. I probably would have thought it was worth the gas to pick it up but there was NOTHING living on the pictures it picked up. (well, I take that back. It did take a picture of a bird and Todd walking away from it).
We drove back to Escalante where Todd was going to leave Porter and the girls while he, Payton and our neighbor Tyler were going to go fishing on Boulder Mountain. Todd must have taken the hint that I wasn't looking forward to spending the next four hours at someone's house waiting for him to get back. We decided to just head back to Hatch instead--although Payton made me feel guilty while he cried about not getting to go fishing, and Porter just wanted to play in Escalante with Carsen.
When we got home (to the Hatch House) we mowed the lawns and then had dinner. After that, Todd and Payton went fishing while Porter, Julia, Jess and I all went up to the park in Hatch. It had been a long day of driving and dirt so we hit the tub and got ready for bed. The next day was Sunday and we were going to attend the Sacrament meeting in Hatch. I slept much better the next night...or maybe it was because Todd wasn't in waking us up at the crack of dawn. I actually had to come into wake him up (around 9) so I could get breakfast started--Waffles and Eggs! Yum!!
We didn't do much on Sunday but lay around and watch more cartoons and of course I had a great nap. When I woke up, Todd had gone for a "drive", Julia was asleep in the other room, Jess was still asleep in her car seat, and the boys were still watching cartoons. It was time to clean the house and call it a weekend. Too bad school started the next day or we would have spent one more night there.
It was a nice get-a-way before school started and a fun way to spend our 10 year mark...at least it was something more than just dinner.

Bottle vs Boob

Forgive the title but that's what this post is all about. I've been able to pump at least 4 oz of milk every morning and I've been freezing it. The whole pumping experience has been funny with the kids. They know where the pump is and they think that's where my milk comes from--the pump. Of course they know Jess can only have the milk mom gives her and they know how I feed her. Yesterday I decided I might as well even see if Jess will take a bottle--what's the point of pumping if she won't take it that way? I was a little apprehensive because I haven't gotten her to even like a binkie. ALL my kids have taken binkie's right off the bat. Not this girl. She gags and gags some more. We're still working on the binkie thing--I can't give up! I rely on it too much!

Back to the bottle-She actually took it and drank from the bottle!! Of course it took way longer than it does for me to nurse her but I was happy to see she'd at least drink from one. Porter was so excited to see her drinking from a bottle. He ran in the other room to let Payton know, "Jess can drink from a bottle now!!" I know the kids will love to be able to feed her, when I give them a chance. Later, Porter said, "Are you so excited now Jess can drink a bottle and you don't have to feed her with your boob?" Ahh, Porter. How I love you and the funny things you are saying lately--even if I'm not sure it's always good, it's usually enough to make me smile.

Jess Lorraine Calico

It's high time I posted about this sweet girl that entered our home last week. She wasn't "due" until August 12th but apparently she couldn't wait the extra two weeks and wanted to come in July instead. 

My water broke in the night and I woke up Friday morning around 4:15am to find out. There wasn't enough of a breakage that our bed was soaked but I knew that I hadn't wet the bed either. My water broke on Payton and Porter so this wasn't a first. I was not too excited about my water breaking because I wasn't having consistent contractions and knew that meant I was going to be receiving pitocin at the hospital--which I haven't had the best experience with. Another reason I wasn't thrilled about my water breaking is that my Dr. was not going to be in town until Sunday night. I had been to see him the Tuesday before and I was only at a one so I felt pretty confident that I could wait until he got back into town. So much for my plans.

I woke Todd up and let him know what had happened. I told him I was going to shower and then I needed to put some things together (yeah, I was prepared with all this stuff with baby #1--but let's face it. This is baby #4--and I had 2 weeks left! No preparation). At least I did have the car seat washed and ready for use.

After getting things put together for myself and the three kids we all loaded up in the truck for our next adventure. One cute thing that Payton did was got dressed and made his bed before we left. He was so excited to think we were on our way to the hospital.

We called Todd's mom when we were about to the hospital thinking maybe they wouldn't allow the kids into the room before I had been admitted to the hospital. She was willing and waiting at her back door when we dropped them off around 5:45am.

When we got to the hospital (around 6am) I told them my water had broke and they took me right into a waiting room to get changed and then hooked up to all the goods. When I told them who my Dr. was they already knew he was out of town and knew that his partner, Dr. Chalmers would be doing the delivery. When I came out of the bathroom changed they told me that Dr. Chalmers was actually out of town too and Dr. Fagnant would be doing the delivery. I had never heard of him but the nurses assured me he was really good. They got me all hooked up to the monitors and checked to make sure my water had broken. The test was not as positive as I thought it would be but the nurse said it was enough to let them know I had really ruptured and could be admitted. While we were waiting for the test results I was informed that Dr. Fagnant was also out of town and Dr. Dickens would be doing the delivery. At that point I just wanted someone to be able to deliver this baby!!

One funny thing--ok so maybe funny's not the right word--while we were waiting we had to share a room with another girl in labor. Every contractions she had we could hear. Eventually it got to the point that every contraction turned into a moan. Todd and I would just look at each other and smile. I knew my turn would come but I was sure going to try and be tough enough not to make such great noises. I guess you can't be admitted into the labor and delivery ward unless you're dialated to a four and are having consistent contractions 5 minutes apart...or have your membranes rupture. I guess I got in "easy".

We let the nurse know we were trying to have this baby without an epidural and that we really didn't want the pitocin if we could avoid it. Dr. Dickens (who by the way was a big black female doctor filling in that night and day--wish I would have taken a picture of her!) put me on a very low dose of pitocin to get things started. She actually seemed shocked that the standard amount administered was so high. By 7:00am we were underway and playing the waiting game. We watched TV, made a phone call to my parents, slept, ate ice chips, suckers and pop cycles...and waited. My contractions were no closer than 8-10 minutes apart and I was only at a 3+. They decided they were going to try and break the rest of my water (I guess there was another bag?) That was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever done. Dr. Dickens tried and tried to break it. She even pulled out some long tool that supposedly had a sharp hook on the end that was supposed to break it--NOTHING! They decided to wait and let it break on its own...which it did about an hour or so later--much easier! We still had a lot of time.  They thought the baby's head was face up so I had to lay on my side--alternating every 20-30 minutes to try and get her to turn. By lunch time Todd went and got himself a sandwich and then came back to hang out with me. By the time he got back around 12:30 my contractions were getting closer (about 5 minutes apart now) and a little harder. I was only at a 4.

That's when I had my epidural chat with Todd. I know he really wanted me to have the baby natural because he's seen what happened to Porter when I had an epidural. I, on the other hand, was the one having the pain and let him know that if it was going to take a really long time I didn't know how long I could put up with the pain. That's when he gave me the ok to have an epidural if I really wanted one. All that time I had wanted to try and be so tough just to make him happy. Now I knew that it would come down to me and what I really wanted.

 A couple hours later I was getting the urges to push but it felt more in my bowels than where is should be. The nurse checked me and let me know we were almost there. I was at a 7 and my contractions were every 2-3 minutes. They started getting things set up in the room which made me very encouraged that I really could have this baby with out drugs! I really kept feeling the urge to push and the nurse told me a breathing trick to keep myself from pushing before I was fully dialated. One of our other nurses taught Todd a trick of pushing on my knees during a contraction to help decrease the pain. IT WAS AWESOME! I'm not saying I was pain free but it really didn't hurt as bad.

After 30 minutes of that it was time to have a baby. I was fully dialated, Dr. Dickens was ready, and so was I. I am not going to lie. It was a harder delivery than I've had in the past. I was almost hyperventilating and I couldn't feel my fingers because I was squeezing the side bars so hard during the contractions. I'm sure people down the hall heard me a time or two and my delivery team all had to tell me to stay focused and push. I remember pushing so hard one time that I got to the point of seeing black and thought I was going to black out. The next push I was determined to get that girl through the burning I was feeling so I could just breath. Dr. Dickens said she must have gotten stuck under my pelvic bone because she heard a pop and she came out face up and then flipped herself over. I didn't see or hear anything! I was just glad I felt her come through so I could breath again and stop pushing. 

They put her on my belly and I had never been so happy to see that blue baby girl and hear that first cry.

  She was born at 2:26pm and weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. I guess it's good she came two weeks early. Her face was so bruised. Her pictures at the hospital almost make her look dead. Her body was nice and pink though.

Dr. Twiggs, our pediatrician, just laughed at her pink tongue against her blue face when he came in to check her out. She had been through heck to get here but she was healthy and that's all that mattered to me.

We made our phone calls to let family know she was here and just enjoyed holding her and loving her. We had no idea what we were going to call her but decided we had time to figure that out.

We brought Baby Jess home, without a name, Saturday afternoon. I will have to post later about our trouble coming up with a name later. It's just nice that she's here and she's healthy. She can't seem to get enough love from her brothers and sister...and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Feeling Spoiled

I have a lot of blogging to do (what's new?) but I've been very blessed or spoiled, depending on how you look at it, since Baby Jess arrived to our family. The kids have been shuttled to different family member's homes that I've really been able to enjoy the baby, just her and I together. I have good intentions of writing the whole "birth/delivery" story as soon as I get the true urge to write it all. 

I love having family close enough that they can help. I love it even more that they are willing to help and then still talk to me after they've helped. I hope when "real life" returns I can keep up because so far I haven't had to.