todays update

Kate had to return to the hospital today for a check-up.

At 4 days old she weighed 7lbs 12oz.

Her bilirubin was 13.5... at a 14 they start drawing blood and doing all that fun stuff so I was pretty proud of her for passing!

Tyler needs to bring a family photo to school and of course we didn't have one yet. Luckily I remembered at the last minute as we were about to put them to bed. So we quickly gathered and took one (yes in jammies). It didn't turn out of course but hey, here's our first family photo: And then Kate enjoyed a lot of cuddle time today. Here she is enjoying the fresh night air with Aunt Katy and then sitting at the breakfast table with Dylan:

at home update

My mom was here this past week which was SO helpful. She was able to be at home (while I was in the hospital and PJ was at work) to take care of the kids and get them to and from school and I didn't have to worry. And she snuck in some cuddle time with little miss Kate when she could...

But she had to leave today so Katy and the boys came. I'm hoping cousins will be a good distraction for my kiddos who I thought I might kill yesterday. While they are fine with Kate, they started acting up a little... oh, no actually that would be an understment... they started acting up a lot. They even drove Grandma to stop asking PJ and I if we really were done having children :/ But so far so good with cousin fun...

One thing to remember about Kate that I forgot to mention... She came out snorting. The nurses commented on it right away. But it didn't surprise PJ or I because all of our kids have done it for some reason. She's a cutie though. And Brynn is slightly possesive and is making a great mommy.

It should also be noted that even though I was in meltdown tears yesterday - due to the fact that my kids decided to act their worst, and PJ was home for maybe close to 3 hours total while he was out doing rounds at the hospital, taking golf lessons, and then golfing 27 holes for fun - PJ has been wonderful. He takes the kids to the park, out to lunch, and both nights we've been out of the hospital he has voluntarily taken night duty with Kate downstairs - they enjoy their little sleepovers while I sleep and I happen to think its a great routine :)

the hospital stay

Prestons play by play was pretty darn acurrate. Yesterday morning after he got me checked in and comfortable he headed off to work. I was fine with that because I wanted to rest and didn't want to have to entertain him - he gets bored too easily ;) And as the morning progressed they said I was having good, steady contractions but I wasn't really feeling them. I assured them I wasn't a champion, that I indeed wanted an epidural, but that I really was fine for now. I slept and when my doctor came to check me at lunch time she said I was at a 5 and 75% effaced and she broke my water - which is what PJ's medical lingo meant on the previous post :) Then the fun began. The contractions got pretty bad and I requested my epidural, which took forever to come. They managed to located my husband and get him to me so he could be there while I got the epidural. And yes, my blood pressure had been very low all day. And while the nurses weren't worried about it apparently the anesthesiologist was, so he gave me a very low dose... which didn't work. I finally got him to come back and give me more and then when they checked me and I was at a 7. By the time the 2nd dose finally kicked in I had about a 20 minute pleasant period before my doctor came in the room to see how things were going. Since it had only been 45 minutes since they checked me at a 7 she wasn't going to check me again but at the last minute changed her mind. Good thing she did... baby was ready to come out already. So she told me not to do anything while they got prepped... not that I could if I wanted to because I was finally numb and couldn't move. It took two pushes and she was out.


People often wondered if PJ was going to do the delivery. We opted for him not too. He helped deliver Tyler and Dylan and over the past year has delivered more babies than I can count. So for this last time I wanted him to just be the dad and do dad things, not doctor things. So instead I had a wonderful doctor, Dr. Kirsten Vitrikas... also PJ's flight commander...

The kids came to the hospital not long after. And they each reacted just as I thought they would. Brynn walked in very cautiously and skeptical and while she wanted to look at the baby she had no desire to hold her yet. She needed her time to take things in and slowly adjust to the situation and by the end, when it was time to go she was ready to hold her.

Tyler walked in as excited as could be, talking a mile a minute and asking every question possible. He couldn't stop saying how cute my baby was and loving her.

Dylan was happy and interested and liked the baby but also liked exploring everything else about the hospital room.

I was pretty numb for a while afterwards because the epidural had just kicked in as I was delivering. My left leg came back faster than my right but it took me a while to be up and about. When I got up to go to the bathroom and shower at about 11:30pm I had a HUGE bloodclot come out. The nurse and I both looked at each other and she went to get the doctor to look at it. He decided we needed to check for other clots, which left me wishing I could have another epidural (and thinking I was going to need to be restitched) as he dug around pulling out some more little clots. Then I got a huge shot in my thigh (shouldn't have looked at that needle) and everything was fine. But they left me in the labor and delivery room until the next morning so they could monitor me.

Friday, the next day, I relaxed and hung out with little Miss Kate while we waited for daddy to get off of work. We got all checked out around 6pm and headed home to the excited chaos...

As you can see Kate loves her pacifier! I've never liked these pacifiers - my other kids couldn't even keep them in their mouths when they were like 4 months old. But she uses it like a pro and she was attached by the first night.

Kate Whitney Wilson...twitter style

4:30 AM- Kelly's alarm went off. She "had" to take a shower, shave her legs, and do her hair before going in for induction/augmentation. Are you serious!!???

5:30 AM- In the car and on the way to the St Elizabeth's Hospital...uugh (I always end up at his place)

6:45 AM- After 10 months of anticipation, the pitocin was started and there is no turning back. Kelly-"How long until this medicine takes effect?"

Me-"Uh, long time!!!"

7:30 AM- Finally, off to work. Nothin' beats the irony of doing vasectomies the same day your daughter is born. I am sure I will be punished for this one.

12:00 PM- First check 5/70/-1 and swimming in poop (doc AROMed her)

1:00 PM- After a quick lunch and checking on my pt who was laboring, I find Kelly huffing and puffing and really flushed.

Me: "What's wrong with you?"

Kelly: "This really hurts!!!!"

Me: "Hehehehehe!!!"

2:00 PM- Epidural ordered. Of course, he is in another room giving an epidural to another girl. Won't see him for awhile.

3:00 PM- Epidural in. 7/75/0. But still feeling everything. Anesthesiology please!

3:30 PM- Redosed epidural. Kelly's BP was low in the beginning so she got the "pediatric" epidural dose. Now she gets the "big girl" dose and she can't feel anything.

4:15 PM- OB doc: "OHHHH!!!! Don't cough. "

4:29 PM- Give one little push. WHAAAAAAAAAA!!! Oh that sound...........how cute...............no sleep...............

4:35 PM- 8 lbs 5 oz, 20 in long, red headed, just like her older sister. This definitely will be our last.

Another Tyler Family Photo

I couldn't be able to help myself... here is another Tyler family photo - his artwork from school today:

Please note a few things:

• First, daddy's tummy appears to be almost as big as mommy's which is SO far from reality. And in reality I should never outweigh my husband... oh well, we'll have to handle that situation in a few days.
• Second, see that adorable smiley face on my huge tummy?!?... its there look real close... that would be baby sister :) I think Tyler is the most excited out of the three kids for her to get here. He has been waiting so long and is very excited to hold his cute little baby.
• Third, yes, we are missing someone in the family. Who is it I kindly asked Tyler... oops, that would be Brynn. Apparently Tyler is standing next to mommy and Dylan is next to him. He also pointed out that Tyler is just in his underwears and Dylan is just in his diaper - yes, that is how they like to run around the house these days. Tyler is just like that and Dylan is just trying to be like Tyler right now.

So there you have it. We are anxiously awaiting for tomorrow when baby sister is now scheduled (because she wouldn't just come on her own) to be here if all goes according to plans. Looks like we have another stubborn girl with attitude on our hands - pray for us!!!

More of last week...

So PJ had last week off (and only went into work twice), which didn't end up being great timing for the baby, but boy did we love having him home and I feel that we were very productive. I feel much more 'nested' now that we have cleaned out the garage, van, laundry room, cleaned carpets, done yard work, got out and washed and sanitized baby gear, etc, etc, etc.

This past week Dylan and Daddy were kind of connected at the hip. All my kids love their daddy and Dylan couldn't have been more happy to have him home...especially since Brynn and Tyler now leave him during the day. Dylan cried when daddy left for work this morning. It was very sad. Anyway... thankfully this week daddy also got around to giving Dylan a haircut! Here is the best before and after pictures I could find...

(We took the kids to Sonic for the first time and this was them eating in the car.)

PJ also had to spend one of his days off taking his PT test (in which he kicked some young kids butts and scored very well - he is 30 now you know) and getting his wisdom teeth out. He wasn't thrilled I took this picture of him...

He was also suppose to schedule one other procedure for his week off that he never got done - the dermetologist he just finished working with ever-so-matter-of-factly highly recommended that he get this thing done to get rid of precancerous stuff on his face and head. And while he didn't follow through on that just yet, it did convince him to get his very first hat he's owned since I've known him (modeled by Dylan). Thanks Clay for getting that for him in Utah!!! Anyway...

Getting the wisdom teeth out wasn't so bad for him. What was awful was the news that he couldn't have pop for THREE DAYS!!! because of it. He (and I) didn't know if he would make it. And in reality, while he did pretty good, he didn't last in the end. He played in a golf tournament on Saturday (his 3rd day off of pop) in which they were offering all the free pop he could want and so when he ran into some dentist he knew he asked permission to drink away... and they let him.

Also, while we are talking about his wisdom teeth... he saved them and brought them home to show the kids. At first Brynn thought it was gross, then it took her all of about 3 minutes to realize there were loose teeth floating around. So she asked daddy if she and Tyler could have them. We weren't sure why the sudden change of heart until she asked if the tooth fairy left more money for bigger teeth :)
I guess to clarify... PJ only has certain months during the year where he can actually take leave/vacation. My due date happen to fall on the last day of one 4 week rotation before a new 4 week rotation started. And he could take vacation up until my due date - but then starting the day after he couldn't take it again until mid November. And since we have to request leave many months in advance we just decided he would take it the last week he could and see what happened. Oh well... like I said it was a good week for our family... but now I'm past due and we are just waiting for our new little sister to arrive.
Tyler drew this picture at church of our family:

Daddy & Mommy are the big ones on the left, then Brynn is the red one and Tyler is the blue one next to her. Then on the bottom in green are our "two babies" (hard to see)... "baby Dydan and baby sister".

2 Special Visitors

Steven has been living over in Indiana with mom & dad for a few months while he prepares for Grad school and we've enjoyed seeing more of him. Well the time has finally come for him to move out to Maryland so we persuaded him to come visit and say goodbye. He came yesterday and left this evening but we managed to pack in plenty of fun. Of course we went to the pool...

And to the farm...

PJ has been trying to avoid the farm so far this picking season, but with the arrival of Uncle Steven we were able to talk him into going and getting some peaches.

And then he tasted his first one and decided they were pretty dang good and this was totally worth it.

So then after working hard and enjoying a few peaches we needed to get some icecream before dinner.

By the way, no, the very bumpy tractor ride and trampsing through the farm didn't make me go in to labor either.
And back at home for dinner we had yummy crepes with our peaches...

And the added bonus and other special visitor...

Uncle Steven brought Miss Jalepeno Peper (aka Jali) to visit...

The kids have loved having her here (PJ not so much) but I'm sure she's going to be thankful to be going back to her nice, quite house at Grandma's where there won't be quite so much torture... I mean love... from these kiddos! They are just very helpful and friendly with the poor, old, frail doggy.

The Long Awaited Bus Ride

Today the big day was finally here. The long awaited day. So long in fact we've been waiting for it since Brynn's first day of Kindergarten. Tyler finally got to ride the bus to (and from) school!

His "little bus" picks him up at our door at 11:30 - which I'm not in love with since school doesn't start until 12:30, but he is their first stop.

On Friday Dylan walked around the house asking, "where Bin?", all day. And today he wanted to know where the bus was taking Tyler. Thankfully its his nap time while Tyler is gone so hopefully he doesn't get too lonely.

Then Tylers "big bus" drops him off at the bus stop at 3:30. And today he came bounding off the bus, so proud and talkative, amidst all the 4th and 5th graders. I was told the Pre-K kids were seated in the front few rows but he assured me he sat in the back of the bus with a big kid...huh?!...not sure...

But he loves being a big boy now. And even came home knowing and informing us that he lived at "66 Boeing"... even though he really lives at 4416 Boeing :) He definitely learned something today :)