Audrey at the ballpark–June 29, 2010

The morning of the 16th, I woke up for another miserable day of pregnancy. To be fair, I don’t think pregnancy itself is miserable and I know that some people cherish all the things that pregnancy brings. Not I. I hated being pregnant and I have never been happy about it. I would have liked to have just slept for 9 months and taken the surprise at the end. Anyway.

I woke up that morning getting ready for my appointment. Yay! Another appointment where I was going to get to be poked and prodded like a science experiment. Dylan had to go to his own appointment, so I was left alone. At my appointment, my NP saw how miserable I was and in addition to that, my blood  pressure was slightly higher than it should have been and considering that had never been an issue for me, she told me that she would strip my membranes and I should go walk for a bit but I had to check in at the hospital for a NST before the day was up.

So, Dylan’s appointment gets done, my appointment is done. We walk! We walked through Wal-Mart so I could get our last minute essentials. We walked through the mall. We walked into Starbucks (what, I wanted a muffin). At 1:30, I was having what seemed to be contractions, so off to the hospital we go.

We go to the ER and I get carted up to the 4th floor because evidently I can’t walk by myself up there because a few contractions mean the baby is just going to plop right out. I get hooked up to all the gadgets and gizmos and prods and squeezy things all to be told my contractions were nothing but a direct result of an insane UTI. I was given breathene to stop my contractions and started a VERY long course of IV antibiotics.

At 8 that evening, the on call OB came in to give me the lowdown. Apparently in all the testing they did, one showed that I had a slightly elevated risk for placental abruption. He gave me my choices. I could go home, and come back the next morning to have the test run again. I could stay overnight as an outpatient, and have the test run the next morning, or he could induce.

Right away the firm answer on induction was no. Not at 38 weeks. Dylan asked him what he would do and he said that he thought I should stay. So, that’s what we did. I sent Dylan to get me some Burger King and to gather up stuff for the boys to stay overnight at my moms. Right as he was leaving, the first contraction registered on the monitor. I saw and remember the very first contraction that started it all.

At 11 that night, after sitting through 3 hours of steady, amazingly painful contractions that were going and going, the OB came back in and told us we made the right decision. My labor was official and I was being admitted and could have my epidural. I got a shot of demoral (that’s amazing stuff when you are being given pitocin).  I get my epidural and everything is going swell…..it figures my contractions pretty much stopped, right?

After that, the OB came in and broke my water and started some Pit to get it going again. (Have I previously mentioned how much I hate Pit?) All things are go again. I am contracting and sleeping and things are swell. We didn’t call anyone or anything to tell them what was going on.

At 5 on the morning of April 17th, something popped or something and I started freaking out. I had never been in so much pain ever and it was my fail since I wasn’t pressing the button to keep my epidural going. In those moments though, I pressed the button at least 50 times. This was it….she was on her way!

About 10 minutes of pushing, I heard the ob say “it’s a girl” and I don’t think there was ever a moment in my life where I was more emotional. I was over the moon at the thought of having a daughter and at the same time….what the hell am I supposed to do with a girl?

She had SUA, which is Single Umbilical Artery. Go look it up if you are interested. I don’t want to type it all out. We had no idea about it until she was born. But, lucky for us, this 7.5 lb baby girl was super healthy.

We called the brothers to let them know their sister was here and that our lives were going to forever insane.

Tomorrow, my Princess turns 3. I can’t believe how fast it’s gone.

He went from this:

to this:

in just 11 short years. He is an amazing kid. I don’t know what I’d do without him. Even the days where he makes me completely insane. Happy Birthday Little Man! I ♥ You!

I’ll start with P/T conferences. Of course they all went well. Not surprised. Maddux is doing well and there’s no way he needed to be held back last year. He’s already came so far in just a month. He writes beautifully and he is starting to read a bit here and there. Not too shabby I’d say.

Spencer is doing well. His handwriting is still atrocious, but when he writes in cursive you wouldn’t know it was his. It’s gorgeous. I actually got a little teary when she showed me his work. It’s on the honor roll and already made his AR goal for the 9 weeks. His teacher says she finds him hilarious, and that’s a good thing since we do too. I always said he is going to be a comedian. He’s just goofy that way.

Jakob is doing great also. Honor roll, no major behavior issues. That’s always a good thing. He is an alternate in Honors Choir this year, which I am thrilled about. He was last year too, but I let him quit. Not going to happen this year little buddy. Mama’s off the medication. Once again, for the 3rd year in a row we were told there is no reason why he shouldn’t have straight A’s. He is so easily distracted and hurried that he doesn’t care. It’s fine that he doesn’t make all A’s, just so long as he’s trying.

We went to the Zoo in Ft. Worth last Sunday and had a blast. I have TONS of pictures but haven’t uploaded a single one anywhere yet. Boo me! I’ll get to it eventually.

Demanding Diva is just that. One minute, she is the sweetest girl ever and the next I want to give her away (not that I actually would or anything). She seems to be leaving the terrible twos behind a little more each day, but then there are days where she’s completely in that zone.

Jakob went skating by himself with his friends for the first time last night. I was so nervous, but he had so much fun. He’ll have to start doing more chores if he wants to go on a regular basis though.

There’s not much else to talk about. Enjoy those little bits.

Jakob is in the 5th grade, Spencer is in the 3rd grade and Maddux is in Kindergarten. YAY boys! Today went well for all of them, not that I am at all surprised. It’s going to be a good year. And yes, I cried, but only this morning before we even left for school.

We went through 6 pairs of undies (including 2 pair of bubba’s), but with every accident she became more aware of peeing and would at least immediately sit on the potty after she had her accidents. By the end of the night, she had at least manage to have an accident in the bathroom. It’s progress. Small and minuscule, but progress none the less.

I bought her some Melissa & Doug wooden dolls and I have them sitting on my desk (out of her reach) as her incentive to go potty in the seat. She knows that once she goes she can have them. She begged me for half an hour to put a diaper on her so she could have the dolls. That girl is too smart for her own good. We did have to put a diaper on her for bed time and she used it for all it was worth too.

We’ll work on it again tomorrow. I can’t stop now. The girl is stubborn and if I give in, then she wins.

We will start with Maddux, since he was by far and away the easiest to shop for. He went in and right away picked out these Vans. Tried them on, liked them, the end.

Jakob and Spencer, not so easy. If you ever want to know what it’s like to shop with a girl, go shoe shopping with those two. It’s insane. After about 50 pair of shoes between the two of them, we all finally agreed on these Vans for Spencer and these Nike for Jakob. So, they are going to be pretty stylish this year.

And, I knew there was a reason we had 4 kids. It’s for the by one, get one half off sales. Those aren’t so easy to do when you only have 3 kids. So, Auddie got her some new kicks too. She got these rockin little Converse. They are totally her. And she loves them.

We also got their socks and underwear taken care of. It’d be nice if our school system would release the schools supplies list so we can get those taken care of too. But no, 3 weeks till school starts and not a mention of them. Blurg!

Anyway…..It’s nice out today, so the boys are out back playing baseball. I really need to get up and get my dishes done, but this lingering headache just doesn’t want to go away no matter what I do.

I am being all white & nerdy waiting for the Alice in Wonderland live action movie preview to get online. I really want to see it. I can’t imagine it being a bad movie with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton involved. And Helena Bonham Carter. They are awesome.

I’m sort of in the mood to sew today. I have a hundred ideas about things I want to make, but I won’t do it. I really need to start thinking about Halloween costumes because that will be here before I know it. Of course, Maddux can always recycle his Clown being that he hasn’t grown at all since last year.

No idea what Audrey will be. She may be a fairy since she likes Tinkerbell so much, but then she also does not love frilly, dressy things. So probably not.

Anyway, head hurting, gonna go.

• Obsessed-Mariah Carey
• Halo-Beyonce
• ABC-Jackson 5
• Wanted-Jessie James
• The Climb-Miley Cyrus
• Her Diamonds-Rob Thomas
• I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week-Mandy Moore
• Blame it-Jamie Foxx
• What You Know-T.I.
• He Could Be the One-Hannah Montana (that’s really for Audrey, but uh, mama rocks out too)
• If This Isn’t Love-Jennifer Hudson

With that, I did my dishes, washed my counter tops, thought about vacuuming, cleaned my living room, folded some laundry, thought about vacuuming again, and that was it. Productive play list. Now to make one for when I exercise. Or pretend to.

It’s not necessary to scare the bejesus out of some poor, unsuspecting mother. No, your child’s swing set isn’t going to swallow her whole. What’s sad is that I really used to be that mom. I would have heard that line and dropped everything I was doing to tune in. Heaven forbid my kids might end up getting a scratch from the tree swing. There was no way I would have let that happen. It makes me literally ill how these newscasters will prey on the paranoia of mothers.

Go to www.freerangekids.com for more on this subject. She’s better at explaining my feelings on it than I am.

Crap…I got the ADD and forgot I was blogging. I hate when that happens.

Dylan strained a muscle in his back yesterday, poor guy. He had to go to the DR today and get him some good drugs. They appear to be helping because he isn’t complaining about it hurting right now. Actually he is sleeping so, I guess the not complaining kinda goes without saying I suppose.

Anyway, I had full intentions to get all bloggy tonight, but Jill has distracted me with the information that she may be ever so distantly related to Dylan. I don’t think we will find a connection, but I am looking anyway. ♥