A Birth Story... One year late.

Hello everyone. I realize it has been over 2 years since I last blogged! Wow, that is a long time. Today is Edwin's 1st birthday and I realized that I didn't have his birth story written down anywhere so I thought today would be a good day to share it on the blog. 

Wednesday March 6, 2013

                I started having contractions pretty much all day but nothing was consistent or very hard and everyone I had talked to had said that you would definitely know when you were in labor so I figured these were just starter contractions, nothing to worry about. I could still easily talk through them. Later that night they started to get a little more intense but again I could still talk through them and enjoy a movie that Ryan and I were watching. I decided to try and sleep and I figured if I could fall asleep these definitely were not real contractions. So, I fell asleep and I slept through the night. 

Thursday March 7, 2013

          I woke up feeling great, other than the fact that I was now officially a whole week over due. I had a doctors appointment that afternoon and I was super excited to see if anything was happening. When I was getting ready for my appointment I thought for one second about packing my hospital bag and taking it with me because maybe they might tell me I was in labor and I was having this baby but then I put that out of my mind. That wasn't going to happen. So I arrived at my appt and they hooked me up for a non stress test. During the test I had several contractions and the nurses would all ask me, are you sure you're ok? Those are some strong contractions. I told them I was fine. They were strong but nothing bad. So next i went into the room and the doc came in. It was a dr I had never met at the practice but right away I loved him. He was so nice and super sweet and he told me that i was either having this baby today or we would induce this weekend. I was happy either way. 41 weeks was good enough for me! So I got ready for my cervical check and the doctor took about 2 seconds and he goes. whoa! We are going over to the hospital right now! You are 6 cm dilated and about to have a baby soon! I burst into tears! I was super excited and a little thrown off at the sudden realization that I was finally having this baby boy right now! and of course Ryan was not with me. So I got dressed and called Ryan and told him they are wheeling me over to the hospital right now. We are having a baby today! Then I called my mom and asked her to pack my hospital bag. I don't know why i didn't have that ready, being 41 weeks pregnant. I guess you could say I am a pro procrastinator. Hence the year late birth story! So I got to ride in a wheel chair over to the hospital and as soon as we got the the desk my first question, "Can I get my epidural? I do not want to be to far along and not have that. I need that. now please!" haha. So I got all ready and hooked up to all the iv's and stuff. I must have had like 6 nurses working on me. I was positive for group strep b or something like that so I needed to have antibiotics before I delivered so they were hurrying to get that going since I was already 6 cm! So I got all settled and the anesthesiologist got there plenty early and I got my epidural. Ryan finally got there and then we just waited. We waited 4 hours until i got my second dose of antibiotics and then my dr came in and broke my water. OMG! after he did that my contractions immediately got stronger and of course, my epidural started wearing off. I have never been in so much pain ever. I was crying, yelling, pleading for more drugs. I was not prepared for this pain. I believe at some point I even said, "I don't know WHY Beth does this!" (Side note: my sister in law had a natural birth. I think that is crazy. Brave and strong, but crazy!) So, finally they got me some more drugs but they gave me a ton right away because I was in transition and it hurt like hell! So, I was completely numb from the waist down. could not even will my legs to move at all. When it came time to push this was difficult because i could not hold my legs at all. So Ryan had to help hold my legs and he about passed out from that so I told him to go find my mom and she could help and he could watch Duncan. By the time he found my mom and everyone was in the room I pushed 2 or 3 times i think and the baby was out! I couldn't believe how fast that went. Duncan took me 2.5 hours of pushing and Edwin was about 5 minutes! I couldn't believe he was already here! 7:32 pm March 7, 2013 Edwin Dean Walker was born. 7 lbs 6 oz. A whole pound bigger than Duncan. 

After the delivery they transferred us to a postpartum room where we would try to get some rest. With Duncan I was so nervous and checked on him like every 15 minutes to make sure he was still breathing. With Edwin, he made sure we knew he was there. About every 20 minutes he would just start shrieking and screaming. It scared the begezies out of me every single time. He did not like to lay down in his bassinet. One of the rules of the hospital is that you can't sleep with your baby but I did not care. This baby was not going to sleep unless i was holding him and I was not going to keep my eyelids open. This extreme crying went on for about a month! 

I would not have survived that first month if it was not for my mom. She slept upstairs in Duncans big boy bed (he was still in the crib) and every night she helped me get him back to sleep so that I could try and sleep at least an hour or two until he needed to eat again. (My mom is the best, most amazing mom and person that I know.) It's taken a lot of hard work and lots of crying, from both me and Edwin, but he's finally learning to sleep through the night. The first 4 months of Edwin's life was really hard. He was not an easy baby. He's become a much easier toddler though. 

And now a year later, Edwin is so much fun and I love watching my boys play together. It's hard a lot of days but so worth it.  Sorry for the ramble but I just wanted to put everything in writing before I forget and want another one! lol. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDWIN!!!

Spring Time Photoshoot

I received a new camera a few months ago and I haven't been putting it to good use. So yesterday we had a gorgeous sunny, spring like day and I just had to go out in it. I was just beautiful. Duncan got to play on the grass for the first time and he loved it! He was very curious about all the different textures and pine needles. My father-in-law helped me when I got the camera and put it on auto so it takes decent pictures. I'm hoping this spring to start using my camera more and practicing more in a manual mode and screwing around with all the settings. Until then though these pictures will do...

8 Months!

Duncan turned 8 months old on Saturday. He his getting so big! I feel like he is less and less a baby and becoming more and more and little boy. He has mastered crawling on his hands and knees. He can get anywhere he wants to super quick. His favorite spot as of today is the ficus tree. He crawls as fast as he can because he knows that we are coming after him to stop him! He loves to walk around everything. He will stand up whenever he can. He sleeps about 9 hours every night, gets up to drink a 6 oz bottle and get a diaper change, then goes back to bed for at least another 2+ hours. He still only has his 2 bottom teeth. He is becoming super fun to play with and everyday is better than the one before!

 His current love is his rubber ducky. He carries him around like a pacifier every where.

 This is his new rocket ship. He Loves it! He likes to ride on it and push all the cool buttons

7 Months

Ahhh! I can't believe he's 7 months old already! He is getting soooo big. I missed his 6 month update so I'll give you some stats. He is almost 20 lbs, 27 1/2 in long. He is in the 85% for height and 35% or weight! We've upped the solid food intake though so hopefully his weight will catch up to his height! He is loving all foods. He was kind of picky when he first started eating solids but now he'll pretty much eat whatever I give him. He started crawling around thanksgiving and in the last two weeks has started to pull himself up on everything! Here are a few pictures to show off his new skills.

And here's one of all the boys hanging out!

Homemade Apple Juice

We went to Greenbluff about a month ago and I picked a bunch of apples with the intent to make applesauce for Duncan. The apples have been sitting on my kitchen table just starring at me. I finally decided to make applesauce today. I've been putting it off because I didn't want to peel them all and steam them and the purée. It just seemed like a long task. So today I realized I could make it in the vitamix. Super easy! I made applesauce first and I tasted ok but then I decided to make some apple juice. After I made the apple juice I decided that it tastes way better than the sauce so I made the sauce into more juice! And I did it all during one nap!

An Update in Pictures

So this post is worth about a million words! It's been awhile since I've blogged so this is going to be a bit of a picture dump.

First, we went over to the west coast and visited some friends Kim, Eddie, and Danica. Danica was born about 15 hours before duncan. They became close friends pretty fast. Duncan was still recovering from a little bit of a cold though so he had to wear a mask! Unfortunatly the mask didn't stop Duncan from sharing his germs and I think we got them a little sick. Sorry. 

After visiting Kim, Eddie, and Danica we headed down to Olympia to visit Amy, Sam, and Parker. The boys enjoyed some time together while watching Elmo. Then Parker tried to teach Duncan how to play ball.

Duncan still loves his bath time!

 This last weekend we were in Couer d'Alene for Kim and Ben's little boy Brayden's baby blessing. Duncan was enjoying singing but then he got tired of it and decided to take a quick nap on the hymnal. 

 After the blessing we went over for some delicious lunch and Duncan learned how to be a cowboy!

5 Months!

5 Months Old! Can you believe it? I can't. I feel like I just gave birth to this little boy yesterday. He is becoming so much fun though. He just started to roll over both directions a few days ago so he is our little rollie pollie now. He rolled across the entire living room tonight. He loves it. He is constantly laughing, screeching or eating something. He's pretty much always happy, even when he's getting tired and ready for a nap. Taking pictures of him laying still is becoming a thing of the past.