Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Elliot Wesley Easton

Elliot Wesley Easton joined our family on July 21, 2021. He was born at 11:29 p.m. at our home in Aurora. He weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 20.5 inches at birth.



It's taken me some time to write down all of Elliot's birth story. Having 5 kids sure does take up a lot of your time! Elliot's birth was such a special experience for us, and since it was different from our 4 previous ones, I really wanted to remember and record every detail I could think of. So, here goes:

We found out we were pregnant at the very end of November 2020. I decided that I wanted to do a home birth with this baby. I had great birth experiences before with midwife-attended water births in the hospital, but I have always disliked the postpartum hospital stay afterwards. This time I wanted to be at home in my own bed with my family close. I didn't like the idea of being woken up and bothered in the middle of the night for temperature/blood pressure checks, or being told I couldn't sleep with my baby in my arms or that I couldn't leave the hospital on my own terms. I had liked the idea of doing a home birth for a while, but I already had hospital midwives in Indiana I was comfortable with and I didn't feel a big need to change. Being pregnant with baby #5 in Colorado, I would have to find a new midwife anyway. With the COVID-19 pandemic still going strong, I knew that hospital restrictions would be tighter than ever and Mckay would be the only support person or visitor allowed. Our children wouldn't be able to meet their new sibling right away. I knew they might require wearing a mask in labor. Knowing how much I rely on calming, deep breathing to help me focus through contractions, wearing a mask would be setting me up for an incredibly difficult labor experiencesomething I did not want.

I found a group of Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM, the same credentials as hospital midwives) that do home births. I felt really comfortable with Tiffany, Lauren and Megan and their balance between trusting moms to birth their own babies and supporting with medical intervention as necessary.  As an added perk, they were also covered by our insurance. The only downside was that the office location was in Colorado Springsan hour south of usbut they attend births in South Denver so we were in their service region.

I had a smooth pregnancy and was a great candidate for home birth. Except for painful varicose veins all over the lower half of my body that have gotten worse with each pregnancy and made standing and walking difficult, it was an uneventful pregnancy. We chose to not find out the baby's gender again during the 20 week ultrasound. It had been such a neat experience to find out at birth when Addison was born, so we wanted to do that again. And It was even easier this time because now we had both boy and girl clothes ready. 

In April, Mckay got a new job in Boulder and we knew the long commute wouldn't work for our family, so we made plans to sell our house, build a new one in Longmont and prepare to move, but to still have a home birth in our Aurora home. My due date was July 30th, so we hoped the baby would come a little early like the 3 births before so we could move north in time to get the kids ready to start at their new schools.

36 weeks

At 38 weeks along, my mom came from Arizona to be there for the birth and help with the older kids. I had a lot of contractions in the days after she arrived. Monday night on July 19th, we watched Mission Impossible and I was having contractions 5 minutes apart throughout the movie. Then they just stopped. I went to bed and woke up at 2 a.m. on the 20th and felt a contraction. I'm not sure if it was the contraction that woke me or if waking up and moving made me have a contraction, but they kept coming. I timed them while half asleep, resting between each one. They were coming every 5 minutes for almost 2 hours. I was thinking, "This is it! I don't want to wake anyone yet, but if they're still regular at 6 a.m. when Mckay gets up for work, then I'll call the midwife." I fell asleep around 4am and didn't have anymore contractions all morning. I was starting to feel frustrated and anxious because I just wanted to get things over with. And with the closing on our house approaching, I knew the sooner I had the baby, the more recovered I would feel when it was time to move in a few short weeks. 

On Wednesday, July 21, I had a midwife appointment. I was 38 weeks and 4 days. Mckay worked from home that day so he could come with me to the appointment. I talked to Lauren about my worries with the move timeline and with the frequent contractions. She offered to do a membrane sweep. They don't routinely do cervical checks and membrane sweeps, but can if warranted. Lauren said that if a membrane sweep would help put me at ease then it was worth it. She said I was about 4 cm dilated, so all the contractions I'd been having weren't for nothing and would probably make my labor shorter once it started. She felt the baby's position through my belly and commented that he was laying with his spine off to the side, instead of lined up in the front along my belly button and chest. While he was still head down, his face was facing more towards my front (a posterior presentation) instead of towards my back. And laying along the side of my uterus like that meant that his head wasn't fully down and engaged in the pelvis. Lauren told me that if we could get his body laying differently with his head turned and lower, the pressure would encourage dilation and labor. So she gave me some yoga exercises to do as homework.

I got home from the appointment and started doing cat-cow yoga poses and all the other suggestions to encourage the baby to move from my side. I didn't notice or feel any change to the baby's position, but I soon got busy doing other things. Around 5 p.m., mom and I started making lasagna for dinner. I was timing my contractions while cooking and I knew they were coming fairly frequently, but I wasn't paying much attention to them. After we got the lasagna in the oven, I looked at my timer app and saw over the course of more than an hour, the contractions had gotten closer together. They were coming every 10 minutes, then every 7 minutes, then every 5 minutes. As we finished preparing dinner, I took several breaks to sit on the yoga ball during contractions. I could feel more intensity in my back, so I suspected these were unlike the Braxton-Hicks contractions of the past couple days.

Contractions were coming every 3-4 minutes as we ate dinner. Mckay, my mom, and Connor all thought I should call the midwife. I was still hesitant because they had fizzled out before, but I said I would call after dinner if they were still coming.

A little after 7 p.m., I called. The midwife said it sounded like labor and she began heading up to us. That meant it was time to finish our checklist to prepare the birthing space in our bedroom. Mckay and the kids inflated and filled the birth tub. We put a waterproof cover and fresh sheets on the bed. The kids were overflowing with excitement. Mckay told them if they wanted to stay in the room to wait for the midwife, they would have to be silent. I've never heard those kids be silent for so long! Around 8:30 p.m., our midwife Megan and an RN both arrived to assist the birth. The kids all ran out to meet them and lead the way. Now that the whole birth team was there, it was time to put the kids in bed and get down to business. Megan asked if she could do a cervical check to gauge my progress. Including the membrane sweep earlier that day, those two were the only exams I had the entire pregnancy. I was at 4 cm.

She felt my belly to determine the baby's position for listening to his heartbeat. He was laying on my left side, the complete opposite of where he had been at my appointment! All those exercises I did must have really worked to move him and get his head in the right place to get labor going!

After taking some vitals for me and baby, Megan asked me what kind of role I wanted her to take during labor: did I want her hands-on, helping with each contraction or did I want her to give me space to do it on my own. I told her that with this being my 5th birth, I pretty much knew what I needed to do to move through each contraction and that I would need her most as I went through transition and was feeling pressure to push. I love that she asked me that. She helped me create just the right space I needed to feel comfortable so I could follow my body's instincts during birth. She was there to watch me the whole time and make sure the baby and I were supported and safe.

I got in the birth tub around 9:20 p.m. because I could tell the contractions were increasing in intensity. The next few hours are kind of a blur as far as the timeline. They checked on baby's heart rate every 30 minutes or so to ensure he was tolerating labor well and he sounded great every time. I asked Mckay to turn on a show to play in the background to take my mind off things. We watched an episode of 30 Rock and then switched to the Great British Baking Show. The calm British voices were relaxing.

Probably around 10 p.m., Megan went downstairs to lay down and rest on the couch. I'm not sure how much sleep she actually got, but she told me later (after the birth) that she ate dinner from a food truck that didn't agree with her and she threw up in the bathroom downstairs. She said she was glad she made it out of the room first and that it didn't make me throw up too!

Mckay was applying counter-pressure to my lower back for each contraction. He eventually got into the water with me to better support me. Before labor, I wasn't sure how I would feel with him there in the water in my space, but it was really comforting to have him holding me and for me to lean on him.


The contractions were exhausting me and it was getting harder to ground my thoughts between each one. Megan could tell I needed some strength and suggested some coconut water. With each sip, I felt a renewed energy and a refreshing respite from the warmth of the room. As I struggled to keep my breath slow and even, she spoke calming mantras to me, reminding me I was strong enough for this, that my body knew what to do.

(Mckay's face in this picture cracks me up.)

With all my previous births, my water was broken by my midwife or doctor. It had never broken on its own. I didn't want to have my water artificially ruptured this time, but in the past it had always seemed to help move labor along, so I was fearful I wouldn't be able to complete labor without having my water manually broken. Around 11 p.m., I could tell I was in transition by the intensity and pressure I was feeling. As I began feeling pressure to bear down, Megan directed my breathing and pushing to be slow and gentle. The baby would move down a little more with each contraction, then move back up a little, gently stretching me so tearing would be minimal. As I was bearing down, I could feel that my bag of waters was leaking out. For some reason, that gave me a renewed confidence that I COULD do this, that the baby would come out soon.


At 11:29 p.m., after about 10-15 minutes of pushing, the head was out and the rest of the body came quickly after. Mckay caught the baby from behind me and pulled him out of the water and brought him up on my chest. I wasn't expecting him to come out with that push so I was surprised and very relieved! After holding the baby to my chest for a few seconds, I pulled him back to see that he was a boy! I instantly started crying. I didn't really cry after my other births, and I teared up a little after Addison (our first girl!) was born, so I'm not sure why I bawled for this one. I think it was the combination of many things: immense joy after all the difficulty with being pregnant while selling a house, and an overwhelming feeling that this particular baby was sent to be in our family for a reason.


He didn't cry at all when he was born and he opened his eyes within the first minute. He was breathing just fine and had great coloring. He was very relaxed and snuggled up to my chest for several minutes. After some time, we got out of the water and I went over to our bed, Elliot still in my arms, umbilical cord still attached. The placenta came out as soon as I got into the bed. Megan inspected the placenta to insure it was intact and then put it in a Ziploc bag. We didn't clamp Elliot's umbilical cord until 90 minutes after his birth. That way he could get all of the blood from it. With Elliot on my chest skin to skin, they checked us both over to make sure we were doing well. I had the tiniest vaginal tear that didn't even need a stitch. I much prefer no stitches after birth; the recovery is much smoother for me.

Even after moving to the bed, Elliot was doing great. He was still content, not crying at all. His eyes were still open and looking around at the world. Even though his breathing was fine, Megan was trying to get him to cry to help clear all the normal mucus from his breathing pathways. They palpated his midsection. No crying. They flicked his feet. No crying. He was just too content. He latched onto me and tried eating for a bit. He didn't get much milk but it was good practice.

About 20 minutes after the birth, Dallin knocked on our door. He is a light sleeper and his room is right across the hall from ours, so he could hear the commotion and excitement going on in our room. I'm sure he had been up since I was in transition (I was very "vocal"), but he wisely waited until it seemed like a good time to interrupt. We invited him in to see the baby. Connor came right behind him. They held the baby for a short minute and then went back to bed. I eventually left the bed and got cleaned up with a little bit of help from the nurse. Mckay held Elliot (still attached to his placenta "briefcase"...a different experience for sure!). I felt a little weak, but not a "loss of blood, I'm going to faint" kind of weakness. It was a feeling of having depleted every bit of energy I had, much like running a long race. It was midnight, so I didn't really want to eat much. Megan brought me some fresh cherries from downstairs and some more coconut water. It was the perfect snack to replenish my body.

For the next hour, Mckay and I had mostly uninterrupted time with Elliot. Midwife Megan and the nurse went about cleaning up, starting laundry, charting birth information and such. My wonderful mother, who was there through the whole labor to support me, finally went to bed. I was exhausted but still wide awake because I couldn't get enough of the adorable baby in my arms. We took turns snuggling him and trying to think of a name. Even though I've been calling him Elliot throughout this retelling, he didn't have a name yet. We called him baby #5. We woke up Bennett and Addison around 12:30 a.m. to meet the new baby. They were pretty groggy and out of it, so the visit didn't last long, but they were excited to see him.

Around 1 a.m., Megan returned to do a final check on both of us. It was time to for Mckay to cut the umbilical cord. Megan asked if we had any plans for the placenta, like encapsulation or to plant a tree with it or something. For a slight moment, I felt like a bad "hippie" because I didn't have any plans for it (and I worked hard for 9 months to grow that thing!), but Megan assured us it was fine to throw it away and told us how. Elliot was weighed and measured. Both of us had great vitals, so our team was ready to leave us to sleep for the night, after only two hours had passed since the birth. Megan told us what things to look out for if anything were to go wrong and to call with any concerns. They left, and Mckay and I got to enjoy the quiet of the night. We looked at each other in awe of the simplicity of the experience we just had. I was really looking forward to the night ahead. I know that seems weird to think of having a peaceful night with a brand new baby, but it was. No one would come in to poke or prod. Nobody would intrude while we slept. No one would make us "switch rooms because our time was up in the labor and recovery room."

Our first night with Elliot was great. He slept for several hours in his bassinet, then several hours of nursing and sleeping on and off. Mckay and I took turns through the night rocking and holding him while the other slept. We woke up on our own around 8 a.m. I could hear the kids awake and knew my mom was keeping them away until we were ready for them. We invited them all to come in and hold the baby properly in the light of day.

My mom didn't get a chance to hold him the night before, so she got plenty of time for Grandma snuggles.

The first day after his birth was very relaxing. I never left my bed except to use the bathroom. Grandma and Grandpa Easton were on their way out of town, so they were able to stop by and see the baby on his first day before they left. Elliot and I stayed in the bedroom for 2 full days. Mckay and my mom brought all my meals up to me so I could recover. The other 4 kids came in to visit and hold the baby VERY often. I fed the baby and rested. That's pretty much it!

Part of the midwife care after birth is doing another home visit at 1 day old and 5 days old. For both visits, they came right up to my bedroom and did the exam on my own bed. I didn't have to do anything to prepare or drive anywhere. Even though it was a different midwife each time, it felt like a friend visiting. They were more concerned about how "I" was doing, not just with my immediate physical well being, but with mental and emotional health, and that I was eating well and being gentle with myself. I love that the midwife model of care focuses more on the whole person. They do newborn care up to a month old as well, so I didn't have to take Elliot out to the pediatrician. (Of course, we were welcome to do that, but we had no concerns about his health, so he didn't see a pediatrician until he was out of the midwife's care.)

Elliot didn't want to nurse very much during that first day. He was happy and content, though he did eventually figure out how to cry! He knew how to latch, but didn't seem to want to bother with it. When he was next weighed over 24 hours after birth, his weigh had gone down a little from his birth weight. It's within normal range to lose up to 10% of birth weight, and he was down 9%. He was having plenty of wet and dirty diapers, so we weren't concerned. In the next few days he really got the hang of eating and was up to 8 lbs. 11 oz. two weeks after birth. Leaving the umbilical cord intact for so long before clamping helped his umbilical stump to fall off his belly button much sooner than any of our other kids. He was only 5 days old when it happened!

He eventually got to see the inside of a hospital when he was 3 weeks old. We took him in for his state-mandated newborn screening test. Boy did they have a hard time understanding how this child came to exist without their computer system knowing about it.

Now, at three months old, he is smiling and talking. He loves having his diaper changed and loves to look at the ceiling fan. The novelty of a baby in the house has not worn off yet with the kids. They still fight over who gets to hold him. A chorus of "Elliot!" erupts from their mouths every morning when they see mom or dad emerge with him. He continues to grow in size and grow in our hearts.

I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with a home birth. It was everything I wanted and expected. I felt fully supported and cared for the entire time. I never worried for my safety or Elliot's. I trusted completely in the midwives who cared for me. If we ever have another baby, we will definitely try for another home birth. I even wish I could have done this sooner.



Here is a movie I made from the pictures and videos we took during labor and after his birth.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

It's a girl!

We have a baby girl! Addison Isabel Easton was born on December 1, 2017 at 8pm, weighing 8 lbs 1oz and measuring 21 inches long.

My pregnancy went pretty well. Varicose veins made the last ten weeks of pregnancy uncomfortable but, luckily, we had cooler weather for most of that so it wasn't unbearably hot wearing knee high compression socks every day. We chose not to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl at the 20 week ultrasound. It made buying baby clothes a little tricky (sorry Mom!) but it made the birth all the more exciting.

Around 32 weeks along, we discovered the baby was not head down (AKA breech presentation). This wasn't a big concern yet as babies can still be moving around at that point, but I started making efforts to get the baby to turn so it didn't become an issue. Between doing Spinning Babies stretches, going to a chiropractor, getting a priesthood blessing, and trying Chinese moxibustion, something helped the baby to flip around 35 weeks and stay head down the rest of the pregnancy. 

My mom planned to fly from California on November 29th to help with the birth. My due date was December 5th and since I've had babies born at 38 and 39 weeks, she was worried she wouldn't get here to Indiana soon enough. At 37 weeks I was already 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced so it was a valid concern. Luckily, I tried my hardest not to go into labor (if that's even possible) by taking it easy, keeping my feet up and not cooking Thanksgiving dinner (we have wonderful friends who invited us to eat with them). My house was not nearly as clean and organized as I wanted it to be when my mom arrived, but I was still pregnant, so mission accomplished!

On the morning of Friday December 1st, I started having contractions around 9:30am. I was cautiously optimistic that this was the start of labor, so I started timing them. Right away, they were coming every 5-7 minutes.  From 10-11am, they were coming every 4 minutes. Since I tested positive for Group B strep again, I wanted to get to the hospital sooner rather than laboring mostly at home. I wanted to get 2 full doses of antibiotics in (with 4 hours between doses) so they wouldn't have to treat the baby for infection after birth.

I called the hospital to speak to the midwife on-call, who happened to be the same midwife who delivered Bennett. I had seen her at my appointment the day before and she knew I was close to labor. She asked if I could still speak through contractions. I told her I can usually speak through my contractions right up until the end so that wouldn't really help with gauging progress. She agreed that this was likely labor. The hospital was very full that day, so she asked me to come to the outpatient office (where I normally went for visits) rather than the hospital to be checked since they didn't even have space in L&D triage.

Mckay and I packed some things up and we left, while my mom stayed home with Bennett. We stopped at Jimmy Johns to pick up some lunch on the way over to the hospital, knowing it could be a while before we ate again. We got to the outpatient building before 1pm. At this point, the contractions were coming every 3 minutes. They were increasing in intensity but still very manageable. After being checked (I think I was about 6cm?), my midwife said they were getting a room ready for us and we made our way over to the hospital.

Final belly shot at 39 weeks, 3 days.

We got settled in and I was hooked up to monitors for some initial monitoring of the baby while I answered a billion questions I know they already have answers to on file. ("No, my address hasn't changed since my last appointment an hour ago.") I could tell the nurse I had was new to working with the midwives, who favor a low intervention and hands-off approach as directed by the laboring mother. After I got the first dose of antibiotics around 2pm, I asked the nurse when I could be unhooked from the fetal monitors and IV. She said that those would stay throughout labor. I replied, "No, I want to get up and walk around." She went to check with the midwife who assured me I could disconnect (keeping a saline lock on my hand for the next dose of antibiotics). There were a few other times when the nurse would say to for me to do something, only for me to check with the midwife to find that wasn't the case. So when the nurse told me I needed to lay down in the bed with monitors on because the baby's heart rate wasn't responding to contractions well, I was hesitant to believe her. When my midwife came in and said the same thing a few seconds later, I was more willing to comply. 

After about 15-20 minutes of laying on my side in bed and drinking a sugary soda to wake the baby up, they were no longer concerned and I was able to get up and move around again. My mom and Bennett came over to the hospital to visit for a while. Bennett seemed very unphased by being at the hospital and seeing me there in a hospital gown. He was very sweet and well behaved. Around 3:30pm, my mom left with Bennett to pick up the other kids from the bus stop and take them all over to the Madsen's house to play and be watched while she came back over to the hospital with us. 

We played card games and watched some TV while we passed the time. Contractions were still coming every 2-3 minutes and I had to focus on breathing through some of them, but I was still feeling pretty great. With the hospital being so packed and busy that day, the nurses and midwife had lots of other people to tend to. And since I was feeling great and didn't need much attention, my midwife didn't spend a ton of time in our room like she had in the past since there were other moms who needed her more.

We had a few good ideas for girl names, but still did not have a boy name we could agree on. We spent a good part of the afternoon/evening spouting off as many boy names as we could, each name more ridiculous than the last. We made little progress on actual candidates.

It was time for the second does of antibiotics after 6pm. With that second dose in, we could consider options to speed things along a little, like breaking my water. I wanted the boys to be able to come over to visit that night and meet the baby, and I knew that labor would go very quickly for me once my water broke, so I was strongly considering it. First, my midwife said she would have to check with someone (the nurses desk maybe?) to see if it was ok to break my water. I was confused at first on why she would need anyone's permission other than mine, but I think it had to do with how full the hospital was. If there was no space for me to have a recovery room in the Mother/Baby wing, then they probably couldn't let her "speed up" my labor for no medical reason. She got permission and broke my water. 

At some time during the antibiotic dose and the breaking of my water they brought the inflatable birthing tub into the room and began filling it. Mckay took over the job of filling it with water and making sure the temperature was just right. Once it was filled I got in. Contractions were picking up in intensity and I loved how the warm water helped to diffuse that intensity. I labored for about an hour in the tub.

I'd guess it was around 7:30/7:40pm (I wasn't paying attention to the clock so I'm a little hazy on the timeline) that contractions became very intense. I asked for the TV to be turned off and really had to focus on calm breathing to get through them. My contractions  quickly went from being manageable to very uncomfortable. It was around the time that Mckay's outlandish baby name suggestions stopped being funny that I knew the baby would be coming soon, so I asked Mckay to stop with the names and to fetch the midwife. I was beginning to feel pressure. I've previously pushed babies out very quickly, in under 5 minutes, and had some tearing with that. This time, I tried really hard to push slowly to avoid tearing. I'm not sure how slow or fast I was but after some minutes of very intense pressure the baby was out at 8pm exactly! 

I pulled the baby quickly up out of the water and onto my chest. It was such a big relief to be done with labor and to have a sweet baby in my arms that I momentarily forgot that we didn't know if the baby was a boy or a girl. I pulled her away from my chest for a quick second and saw that we had a girl! I think I said, "Is that a girl?! Is this a girl?!" I think being exhausted, worn out and hungry, I wasn't sure I could trust my eyes. I thought we would be having a girl, but part of me didn't want to think it could really be true because I didn't want to be disappointed by whatever child we were blessed with. So when I saw she was in fact a girl, I was overcome with joy. Mckay and I both cried a little.
I don't think I've ever cried after labor before.
 


We took turns snuggling her while they checked us both over. I didn't need any stitches this time which really made a huge difference in how quickly I recovered. I was feeling pretty great after only a few days.

Shortly after Addison was born, my mom went to pick the boys up from the Madsen's house and brought them to the hospital. She told them the baby was born but didn't say if if she was a boy or girl. They had all been hoping for a sister. When they walked into the room and heard she was a girl, Dallin started jumping up and down, cheering, "I knew it! I knew she was a girl!!" They all took turns holding her.


I'll take a moment here for a shout out to my wonderful friend Maren. She watched the kids all afternoon/evening for us at a moment's notice (along with her own 4 kids), fed them dinner, and sent some homemade cookies with them to the hospital. You can see the bag of cookies in the above picture, on the left side of the window. Those cookies were so delicious and especially welcome as the first thing I ate post labor. Maren is the best!

Mckay is also the best for going out to pick up some food for us to eat and continuing the tradition of bringing me ice cream after delivery.

The nurses told us that we would likely stay the night in the delivery room instead of moving to a recovery room 2 hours post birth (the standard) because the hospital was so full and rooms were limited. Delivery rooms are bigger anyway so I was perfectly fine with not moving. Mckay, Addison and I settled in for the night. Around 2AM, our nurse came in, turned on the lights, waking us, and exclaimed in what was probably a normal voice but loud for 2AM, "Great news! There is a recovery room open for you in the mother/baby wing so we're going to move you there right now." I can only imagine how my face looked, but's Mckay's definitely did not look like this was great news at all. We groggily gathered our things and changed rooms. The nurse said when the room became available she said, "My patients get that room! They've been here the longest." She kept talking about how she really "fought" for us. She really shouldn't have.


The rest of the hospital stay was pretty uneventful. They checked her biliruben level twice and it was zero both times. The nurse thought the handheld testing device was broken because it only showed a zero. Then she realized that was the correct number. Addison was a very red baby!

When Bennett was born and I was GBS positive for his delivery, the hospital made a big deal about letting us go home before the standard 48 hour hospital stay. (You can read about his birth story HERE.) Being GBS positive again for Addison's birth, we wondered if it was worth fighting the hospital policy again or just waiting the full 48 hours until 8pm to go home. Sunday morning, I was cleared by my midwife to go home and the on-call pediatrician came in to evaluate Addison. We asked the pediatrician if  we could go home early, and he nonchalantly said, "Sure, I don't see a problem with that. She looks great." We were amazed! Clearly, the hospital "policy" that was thrown in our face so much last time is more of a guideline.

It always takes longer than I think to pack up, go through all the discharge information and do the newborn screening heel stick, so we got home from the hospital around 6pm. 

The boys all love holding her every chance they get.
The first night she was home, Bennett picked her up by himself while we weren't looking, carried her to a couch and set her down. I saw the very end of it happening. After recovering from the mild panic attack I had in that moment and wishing I hadn't yelled at him, it occurred to me that Bennett hasn't been around babies much and genuinely didn't know what the right/wrong things are for him to do with the baby. We've since had many discussion with all of them about being gentle with her.

My mom stayed for two weeks and it was a big help. She took care of the older kids, helping them pack lunches and get to school every morning. She played with Bennett and kept him busy, and she kept us all well fed. She took care of Addison late at night so I could get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. She is great.

Addison survived her first bath.
Even with Bennett "helping."

We all love her a whole bunch.




Read Dallin's birth story HERE.
Connor's brith story HERE.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Happy Birthday Connor

Connor is 5 now!
 I asked Connor some questions about himself. Here are his answers (with my comments in parentheses).

Connor, according to Connor (Age 5)

Favorite color: red, for fire

Favorite game: Guess Who (the old-school game)

Favorite tv show: Transformers Rescue Bots and PJ masks. "Transformers isn't better than PJ Masks and PJ Masks isn't better than Transformers. They're both the same like."

Favorite book: A Big Guy Took My Ball by Mo Willems

I really like to wear: my shark shirt

I love: cake

Favorite animal: cheetah and armadillo. When asked which animal would win in a one-on-one battle: "Armadillo, 'cause it can roll into a ball and has armor all around and under him. And then when he jumps into the cheetahs face it just Boom! Bonks him in the face."

favorite stuffed animal: octopus
(He just got this for his birthday. I made it.)

Favorite breakfast: cereal, cookie crisp or frosted flakes

Favorite lunch: chicken nuggets or a hot dog

Favorite dinner: corn dogs

food you don't like: onions

what are you really good at: drawing

Best Friend: Ellen (she moved away a few months ago and Connor misses her)

Are you going to get married when you grow up? Yes
To whom? Maddie (a friend from church who we see all the time at playgroup, the library, etc.)

What do you love to do with mom: go on bike rides

With dad: build things, help him with projects. But I couldn't help him with his thesis, cause I didn't know any words I could write.

With Dallin: play legos and swing outside

With Bennett: running away from Bennett when he's chasing us with a lightsaber and we have to run until we get to the secret base.

I would describe myself as: a painter.


What do you want to be when you grow up: a painter. (He changed to this answer about 2 months ago. Before that, his answer was an animal doctor.  Before that, it was librarian. He asked if he was allowed to change his mind on what job he wanted to have as a grown up. I told him he could still change his mind lots of times and that he has many years before he REALLY has to decide.)
***

Connor loves to learn. He loves to ask a lot of questions (which is very tiring at times) because he likes to understand how things work. He likes looking at maps, and he asks me to draw him maps of the roads we're driving on to follow while we're driving. After using several poorly drawn maps, we gave him some free ones from the Lafayette visitors center as a birthday gift. He is so excited to start marking all our favorite landmarks in town.

We also got Connor a bigger, surprise present. Here is a video of him opening it.


We love our Connor boy!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Connor's 5th Birthday

Connor's birthday in October is always at a busy time of year when all our weekends are filled up with Halloween parties, piano recitals, etc., so his birthdays are usually a family-only affair. This year, he really wanted to have a party with some friends, and we made it happen. The only time that worked for us was a weekday morning, which meant that his 5 year old friends already in Kindergarten couldn't come, but it worked out really well for the preschool crowd. Connor wanted an animal themed party. That's a pretty easy theme to throw together at the last minute (which is what I did!). 

When the kids first arrived, they decorated paper animal masks (found at Hobby Lobby).


Then we played a few games. Monkey bean bag toss.
I drew the monkey free hand on poster board, added details and color and attached to a large cardboard box.

Then they played an Elephant peanut race.
The kids had to push a shelled peanut with their nose across the floor to the finish line. This was actually harder than I thought it would be.

For the next game, the kids each had a straw to be their elephant trunk. They had to suck air through the straw to pick up foam packing peanuts with their "trunk" and move it into a bowl.
You could make this into a competition to see who could pick up the most peanuts, but these young kids just enjoyed the process and worked together to fill bowls. And they were all so quiet with straws in their mouths! This game was a win!

Then it was lunch time. I used our sandwich shape cutters to make elephant and penguin shaped bread.
 Everyone got to make their own sandwich.

Sides: animal crackers (obviously), tiger tails (cheetos puffs), apple boats (I'm not sure why, but that's what Connor called these apple slices), watermelon, and lion hummus.
I love the way the lion turned out.

Connor helped me decorate the cupcakes to look like monkeys and pandas. 
Connor placed most of the candy eyes on the monkeys, which is why it looks like they're all looking up surprised. We used m&ms, mini oreos, chocolate chips and sprinkles to make the rest of the details.

He looks very serious here, but I promise he was super excited to eat the panda.

I forgot to put these out with lunch, so they became a party favor to take home: tiger cutie oranges!
So simple but pretty adorable.

The decorations were also simple but I loved how it looked. I taped strips of green streamers to the ceiling to look like jungle vines. Connor cut out some paper leaves to attach to a few of the vines.

 The easiest part of decorating was using all the stuffed animals we already had at home and putting them on any surface that would hold them.
Like on on the ceiling fan, the couches, the TV cabinet...
and the curtain rods.

 Connor wanted me to take a picture of him coloring in a new coloring book he got as a gift at his party.

 We had a fun time and played pretty hard. So hard that Connor wiped out on the couch not to long after.
Snuggled up with his octopus.