Two weeks old

I took Alexander in for his two week check today.  He's doing very well.  When he went to see the doctor at 4 days old to be weighed he had dropped to 8lb. 7oz.  Very typical for a newborn.  Today he was weighed and he has gained an entire pound.  He wieghs 9lb. 7oz. and has grown 1 inch already.  Good job little man.  He also had to have his heel poked so he could have the second PKU check.  I forgot how much blood they need for that.  The nurse seemed to squeeze forever.  He got a clean bill of health though so everything is going so well.  Alex is such a good baby.  I love to give him as many kisses as he will let me give him.  All the fears I had about having a little boy are gone.  I feel so much peace when I look at him.  I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for each and every one of our children.

Alexander's arrival

After the false labor embarrassment I kept having occasional contractions all the time, every day, but tried not to think too much about it because I felt so bad waking my family up in the middle of the night for nothing.  Sunday afternoon I started having the contractions a little more frequently but they felt exactly like false labor so I didn't say anything.  When I went in to labor with Dakota (the only other child I went into labor on my own with) the contrations started in my back similar to gas pains before they moved in to the front, so that is what I was waiting for to signal that the contractions were real and not false.  The day went on and the contractions kept coming a little more frequently but not really painfully.  I timed them to about 10 to 20 min. appart. for most of the evening.  They did get a little closer around 10:30pm so I thought maybe I should go in but was just not sure so agian I said nothing.  I sat on a rocking chair talking to my mom and kept falling asleep.  When I fell asleep the contractions were very light if at all so I decided that they were most likely false again and went to bed around midnight.  Just like before it took me a while to fall asleep but when I did I kept dreaming about the contractions.  I got up about 2:45am for a break and thought they were a little closer together but they were still not too strong so I went back to bed.  At 3:20am I got up again thinking that if I really was in labor I'd rather labor in the hospital where there were drugs for when the contractions got too painful.  I debated on taking a shower or just going right then.  The contractions stopped as I was thinking about the shower so I figured once again they were false.  At 3:30 CJ woke up to see if I was okay.  I told him I think I am in labor.  He asked if it was real this time.  I said I wasn't sure but I wanted to get in the shower just in case I did end up going in.  In the shower the contractions came back with a vengance.  I got out and started to fix my hair while CJ took a shower.  It only took 10 min. before the contractions got so strong that I could no longer hide them and they were about 3 min appart.  I was in to the moaning phase.  I figured they had to be real this time but I was still afraid of being sent back home.  I finally decided to wake up my mom and said we should probably go.  She got right up and we left for the hospital.  I'm not sure what time it was then but the contractions were so bad now that I dreaded the 25 min. trip to the hospital.  I did my best not to scream so I counted backwards from 12 as calmly as I could during each contraction.  I was having a hard time staying calm though since the contractions were now comming about 1 min. apart and hurt really badly (I did scream a few times in the car.)  I was so grateful to see that the trip to the hospital seemed to be going really quickly even though my mom wasn't speeding.  We got off the highway and on to the surface streets before I knew it and when we came to the first red light I tried to keep my sense of humor and told my mom to run the light.  She laughed and said that it shouldn't take long for the light to go green.  It felt like an eternity to me but I knew we were almost there.  One more red light and we were finally at the hospital.  My mom pulled up to the front doors and I asked CJ to make sure the doors were unlocked before I got out of the car because I wasn't sure I could get back in.  Thankfully there was one door unlocked.  The maternity ward was on the 5th floor (extremely stupid to me since all other hospitals have them on the 1st floor with a direct entrance) so I walked quickly to the elevator hoping to make it before the next contraction.  The night guard asked if I wanted a wheel chair and I didn't even look at him as I said there wasn't time and I prefer to walk.  The elevator reached the 5th floor just as the contraction ended so I knew I had one minute to get past the locked doors and stupid red phone before the next one hit.  I got to the front desk and the lady looked at me and called back for a room for a labor check.  Yeah right, I knew I was in full blown labor by now, couldn't she tell.  A contraction hit right then and I said I could feel the baby comming.  That brought a look of panic on the receptionists face real quick, as well as mine.  She asked if I needed a wheel chair and I said no, I just want to walk so we left right away.  I practically ran behind her to the first room available and barely made it before the next contraction.  Right after I got to the room 4 nurses ran in because I was now past moaning and into screaming.  After that contraction I got into bed as one nurse helped me into the gown and tried to see how far along I was.  The nurse had a hard time seeing how far along I was because she was checking during a contraction and I couldn't relax.  She thought it was an 8 or maybe complete.  The other nurse asked if she just said I was complete.  Right then the water broke.  They all came running over.  One nurse tried to get the IV in because I am group B strep positive and they need antibiotics to protect the baby during delivery but I couldn't give her my arm because of the next contraction.  They asked if I would like to try to get the epidural but I said no I want the IV meds.  She said it was way too late for that and right then I felt the baby coming (apparently it was too late for the epidural too.)  I had a moment of panic when I realized I was going to deliver the baby with no drugs.  I never in a million years would have thought that I would deliver with no medication.  I told the crowd the baby was coming and one nurse put her hand to my face and said "DON'T PUSH!"  I told her I wasn't but I couldn't stop the baby either.  The contraction ended and I was able to hold the baby off for a few moments, however, with the next contraction the baby shot out like a bullet.  No crowning, no head then shoulders then body, the baby just shot out and landed ON THE BED in one second.  Everyone was in shock.  I was a little scared because I didn't hear a cry and they seemed to be working on him franticly before moving him to the baby bed.  I just laid there dazed and confused trying to wrap my mind around the fact that it was already over.  Finally I heard the baby cry and I knew everything was going to be fine.  Just then my doctor walked in the room.  He was asleep on the 4th floor.  He got a page that one of his patients just arrived screaming and it was a code white.  He put his pants on (TMI for me) and ran upstairs but still didn't make the delivery.  The nurse said that I arrived on the floor at 4:41am and delivered at 4:44am.  He said thats what I get for waiting so long with a 5th baby.  I just wanted to smack him.  It was because of him that I wasn't sure if I should come back or not.  He asked if the baby was what we were expecting.  I said I don't know because no one told me what it was yet.  Just then a nurse trying to be funny said, "Yup, it's a baby."  CJ smiled at me and said it's a boy.  They brought him to me so I could hold him for a few minutes before they took him to the nursery.  They needed to take him sooner than usual because he didn't receive the antibiotics during delivery and they needed to check him out asap.  He was perfect with a full head of BLOND hair.  That shocked me.  All the kids were born with dark hair so I didn't expect to see blond hair.  It has since darkened up a little.  It's dark blond now with light blond streaks.  He is absolutely beautiful!

Looking back my mom said that if she knew how close I was to delivery she would have run all the red lights.  CJ is really glad that he didn't have to deliver the baby in the back seat of the car.  I still can't believe how close we came to doing just that.  After the nurses left the receptionist came in and told me that she was so glad I was able to walk in to the room because she couldn't find a wheel chair or any nurses to help her right then.  One of the delivery nurses came up to my mom down stairs and told her, with big eyes, that that was exciting.  All in all we feel so blessed that everything ended up so well, and that both baby and momma are healthy.

His first day here on earth.  His face was bruised from the birth.  The bruising has gone away.

Perfect little boy.

Posing for momma.

Sleepy little man.

Baby poll winners

Here are the results for the baby poll.  Thanks to everyone who played along.  It was so fun to see everyone's guesses.

Date:
Grandpa Tanquary and Myranda with Jan. 4th  (Right on.  Way to go guys.)

Time:
Grandpa Tanquary with 5am  (Only off by 16 min.  Boy you're good.)

Weight:
Matt with 9lb. 1oz.  (Are you good or what.  It was off by 1 oz.  Thank goodness, I was expecting 10lb.)

Length:
Amy and Grandma Tanquary with 20.5 in.  (Right on again.  You know your babies.)

Name:
Well, everyone was a little bit off but they were so fun to read.  I think that was the best part of the game.

The grand winner is...Grandpa Tanquary with two guesses most closely matching the real deal.

Baby Boy Thompson is here!

I just wanted to post a quick note to announce that our sweet little boy is finally here.  He was born at 4:44am on Jan. 4th.  He weiged 9lb even and is 20.5 in. long.  He is a beautiful healthy little boy and we feel so blessed.  I will post again as soon as I can with the birth story (you won't want to miss it) and some pictures of our little man.  Right now I have to go feed him.


We did finally name him.  I just thought I'd make you wait but I won't.  His name is Alexander Charles Thompson.

Eventful night (and day).

Well I took the caster oil on Wednesday night like I said, ate dinner, then sat down to watch a movie.  About an hour after the caster oil I started having contractions.  These were pretty strong but the thing that got me excited was that they were coming on regular at about 10 min. apart.  I managed to make it through the movie and then started playing games with my parents.  The contractions did slow down during the game so I didn't think much more about it.  After games we went to bed around 11pm.  I was still having irregular contractions so it took a while to fall asleep.  I kept dreaming that I was having one big contraction that never went away.  I woke up about 1:30am for a usual potty trip and noticed that my dream was infact a reality.  I was having strong contractions that just seemed to be coming one right after the other.  I didn't know if they were real or not so I just laid there seeing if they stopped.  By 2:30 I realized that they weren't stopping nor were they getting any farther apart, they were still coming on one right after the other.  I decided that it would be better to be safe and go be checked out at the hospital than to wait too long and have the baby at home or worse, in the car on the way to the hospital.  It was snowing and pretty icy on the roads so it took a little longer to get to the hospital than usual.  Normally that would be okay but in the car the contractions got stronger and longer.  I was sure that it wouldn't be long after arriving at the hospital that we would have baby.  I was taken to an L&D room and hooked up to the monitors.  Acording to the monitors the contractions were 2-5 min. appart and they were deffinately getting stronger.  The nurse checked to see what dialation I was at and it was a 2+.  A little more than my doctor appointment earlier so I was excited to see more progress.  I was given an hour and checked again.  No change this time so I was given another hour.  No change again so my doctor was called.  He said to wait two more hours and check again.  After the last wait it was now 7am and again there was no change.  The doctor said that I was most likely in early labor so he wanted me to go home and rest.  He said to come back at 1pm and if there was still no progress he would have the nurse induce labor to help it along.  I couldn't believe they were sending me home but I at least knew that it was only a matter of hours now before we would have baby.

I went home and rested easily since I had not gotten much sleep that night.  By the time I woke up though the contractions had stopped completely!  I couldn't figure out why but it didn't matter because I was told to come back and be induced.  When I got back I was checked again and was now a 3 and 60% efaced.  The contractions had come back but now they were about 12 min. apart.  I was back to the waiting game again.  After a few checks with no new progress the nurse decided that I wasn't in early labor but was really just having false labor so she called the doctor and convinced him that there was no need to induce the baby.  They sent me home again and told me to come back when I was really in labor.  Needless to say that didn't make me very happy. 

I was so close and now we were back to square one.  Not wanting to give up completely we went straight to Wal-Mart to walk around hoping to get things started again.  No such luck, not even one little contraction.  I went home and took another dose of caster oil since it had worked so well the night before but this time there was nothing.  I guess I truly was in false labor.  It was a hard night as I watched the clock tick closer and closer to midnight on New Year's Eve knowing how close we were to having the baby exactly when I was hoping to, but realizing that it wasn't going to happen now.  It's still very emotional for me...but at least I know that the baby is doing well and that is what is most important.  I don't want to do anything that would hurt the baby.

Progress and a date!

I had a check-up today and learned that we finally have progress.  I had to ask the doctor because he wasn't going to just volunteer the information but I am dialated to a 2.  I'm so glad these contractions are finally working.  The other news is that because of the baby's size (he is measuring big, I estimate at least 10lb.) and the fact that the doctor does not like to go a week over the due date due to possible complications he said that if I don't have the baby on my own he will induce labor on Tuesday, Jan. 5th.  I really, really don't want to be induced so if you have a chance please pray for me that I can go into labor on my own soon.  Right after the appointment we went walking at Wal-Mart (it's snowing pretty bad here and that was the closest place we have that was big enough to walk in) to get things going.  While there my Mom picked up some caster oil.  It was so funny because she knew right where it was. Apparently she had checked it out as soon as she got in town.  I know it's an old wives tale but I took the caster oil anyway.  We'll see if it does any good.  I sure hope it does.  I really think it would be fun to have the baby tomorrow or on New Years.  I'll keep you updated.

Baby Poll

I was wondering if anyone wanted to do a baby poll?  If you want to put in your guesses just leave them in the comments and we'll see who is the closest.  Here are the catagories:

Day baby is born.
Time of day baby is born.
Weight and length of baby.
Name of baby.

Good luck.  

Baby progress.

So I went in to the doctor today for a normal visit.  I am nearly 39 weeks so he thought it would be a good idea to do an internal check to see what the progress is.  I couldn't believe it when he told me there was absolutely NO progress at all.  I knew all these contractions weren't doing much but I thought that maybe a little progress had happened since I am suposed to be done in just over a week.  The cervix is still high and in the back so of course there is no efacement or dilation yet!  I guess I should at least be grateful that the baby is head down so there is no talk of a c-section but that was all the progress that was made.  I don't really know how to feel right now.  It is a really good thing that Christmas will keep me busy enough that I won't sit and dwell on it too much or I might go crazy.  I just hope that there will be some progress by next week or I will start to worry that I may have to be induced instead of going in to labor naturally. 

Our last day together.

Today is the last day with just me and Megan during the day.  Tomorrow starts the Christmas break at school so the girls will be home and when they go back next year we will have a baby at home with us too.  I love the special time she and I have together.  She is so much fun.  I am so grateful for the time I have been able to spend with her.  I had a hard time bonding with her in the beginning but our bond couldn't be stronger now.  I do look forward to the baby and the joy he will bring to our family.  I also can't wait to see Megan bond with the baby too.  It's so cute because she doesn't just say baby any more, now she says baby brother.  The older girls have been so wonderful with Megan and are so excited for a brother that I also can't wait to see them with the baby too.  So while it won't be just Megan and I any more I do think the changes about to happen are going to be wonderful.

Gone

So earlier this month I told you that my parents were coming for Christmas and I am so excited that time was going to pass by super slowly.  Boy was I wrong!!!!  This month is almost gone.  I can't believe this is Christmas week.  I almost didn't get my Christmas cards out in time.  We still haven't gotten out the nieghbor cookies yet (I mean to do them every year but have never done it because we always seem to run out of time. This year I really want to actually give out cookies.)  I need to go shopping for Christmas dinner and if I don't hurry then there will be nothing left.  I waited till the last minute for Thanksgiving dinner and missed out on some things because they were all sold out, I don't want the same to happen for Christmas.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  I wish I could say that things will eventually slow down but I think that is a lost cause.  If anyone has a few minutes to spare could you send them my way, I would love some extra time before the end of the year.  Thanks.

Christmas party

We went to our ward Christmas party last Saturday.  I almost didn't go because I was exhausted but I had been looking forward to getting a picture with Santa for a long time (not to mention eating a great dinner that I didn't have to cook or clean up.)  I have missed getting a picture with the girls and Santa for the last two years because I just kept putting it off until it was too late so this year I didn't want to miss a super easy opportunity to have them sit on Santa's lap.  The Christmas program for the dinner was simple and sweet but what really surprised me was the number of people that came.  We had about 250 people there that night.  I don't know if that's how many have shown up to our other ward Christmas parties but it was packed.  They had to set up tables in adjacent rooms because there were no spots left in the cultural hall.  It could also have felt like more people because that is one of the smallest cultural halls I have seen in a new church building.  It is less than half the size of all the other cultural halls.  Anyway, it was a great night and I am so glad we went.  The older girls did each take a turn sitting on Santa's lap to tell him what they wanted.  Then I had them get ready for the picture before we put Megan on his lap.  She didn't want to go at first but she saw that he had a candy cane so she braved the scary man to score some candy.  As long as she didn't look at him she was fine.  In fact I think she was blocking everyone out just to be on the safe side.  She thought it was worth it though because that candy cane was gone as soon as we got home.
 

Just a side note.  The kids came home with candy canes but mom and dad came home with a free 50lb bag of wheat for our food storage.  Christmas wishes really do come true.

It's cold!

Our long, warm days of fall weather are behind us.  The news people kept saying "where's the snow" over and over again and they got it.  Here in Payson we got 15in. of snow in a little over 24 hrs. and the temperatures at night dropped to around -8.  It warms up to about -6 by the time I take Elizabeth to school.  It is super cold.  This is January weather.  If we are already getting January temps what is it going to be like when the really cold weather comes in January?  Here are some pics of the snow in our back yard.  There is a snow drift back there that is pretty deep. 

Contractions

I have been having a lot of contractions lately.  No, not the real ones, these are the practice ones.  They feel very similar though.  Lately they have been getting stronger, not closer together, just stronger.  I wouldn't mind so much if they were actually doing some good but I know from experience that they are exactly what their name says, practice ones.  I will show no signs that contractions have been doing any work until one week before my due date.  Since I still have 3 weeks to go these contractions are only making me uncomfortable, not getting me ready for delivery.  So if you see me staring off into space while controlling my breathing I'm not going into labor, I'm just "practicing" for labor.  I won't complain though.  I am otherwise still rather comfortable and pain free.  It's been a good pregnancy and we have been blessed.

So sweet

Oh to be as content as a child.  Megan was playing with her toys and came to show me some toys she found that she hadn't seen in a while.  She was so happy to see them.  I played along showing my joy as well then handed her back the toys.  She smiled her sweet smile, turned around and left the room with a skip in her step and a song on her lips.  She is just such a happy little girl.  She melts my heart in so many ways but this is one I will remember forever.

I can't wait for Christmas!

I'm so excited!!!  My mom and dad are coming to be with us for Christmas and New Year's this year!  We can't hardly stand the wait until Christmas.  I feel like a little kid again who can't wait for Christmas morning because they know that they are getting exactly what they wanted.  This is the best present I could have received.  And to add to the excitement one of my brothers will be here for Christmas too.  He lives in Reno and doesn't get a chance to visit the family very often but this year he has chosen to visit with us for the  Christmas weekend.  It just keeps getting better.  The more excited you are the slower time goes so these next few weeks will feel like an eternity for me (and the girls who keep counting the days before grandma and grandpa get here) but I don't care because at the end of all the waiting my family will be here.  What a wonderful Christmas this will be.