Catching Up

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve blogged. I have fallen waaaay behind on my blogging and e-mails – so please accept my apologies. Once the kids and I get into a new groove I might get better...


We had a wonderful visit with Chris’s parents – or better known as Gu-kaa and Me-mee now. =) It’s funny to me how kids come up with their own nicknames.

Mom Scott was able to stay with us for 4 weeks. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her help and company. She helped me wait out the last few weeks of pregnancy, loved on Luke, cooked, cleaned – and after Will arrived, helped and loved on him in addition to all the above - we got so spoiled! =) Here are some pics from Will's first week home:







We had a small accumulation of snow a few days after Will and I came home from the hospital, so I put Luke in his snowsuit, Me-mee stayed with Will, and Luke and I went to check out the snow.




These next 2 pics are for you Teniah! When Luke started walking with the stick, it made me think of you and Travis hiking in the Alaskan wilderness!

Luke kissing Will...how sweet!

Dad Scott joined us the Friday before last. Luke was completely awe struck! The first few days he was practically glued to Gu-kaa’s side. Luke wasn’t exactly thrilled when Gu-kaa held Will, but he learned to deal with it. It was great to all be together and enjoy our visit together.

Here is a quick, very brief recap of the last week:

Friday – Chris and Me-mee pick up Gu-kaa at the airport. The roads were terrible due to an ice storm during the night. By the grace of God, they made it to the airport. We spent the rest of the day visiting, playing with Luke, holding Will and letting Gu-kaa adjust to the new time zone.






Saturday – More snow! Gu-kaa, Chris and I take Luke out to play. Luke LOVES the snow! Earlier in the morning, Gu-kaa and Chris went on the impossible mission of finding a sled. Sadly, no luck. So, we fashion a sled out of a laundry basket, duct tape and twine. It was fun for Luke until Chris face planted him in the snow twice. After that, Luke refused to get in the basket. He did however enjoy throwing snowballs, building a snowman and making tracks in the fresh snow.








Sunday – Everyone except Will and I went to the chapel service on post. After a light lunch, Gu-kaa, Chris and I took Luke to the playground. He was still way more interested in the snow – so after going down the slide maybe twice – he spent the rest of the time throwing snow around. After that, we came home to a huge supper of chicken and dumplings…YUM!










Monday – It was rainy and icky out - and most of the snow had melted away. Luke so badly wanted to go out and play in what little snow was left. Since the weather was awful, Gu-kaa went out and found some snow and brought it inside. We put down towels and Luke had a great time flinging the snow around the kitchen. It was pretty funny. After he was done playing with it, we had a very clean kitchen floor!

That afternoon, we rented a van (since our little Contour wouldn’t hold 4 adults and two children) and decided to make a trip to Ramstein Air force Base. We ate at Chili’s (the only American Restaurant in our area) and went to the BX to look around.






Tuesday – We had an appointment at Landstuhl, so we all loaded in the van and went to the appointment. After that we decided to go to Volgeweh and look around the BX and BXtra. Chris got his birthday present from his parents there (an iPod docking radio.)



Wednesday – We had originally decided to go to Belgium – but later decided to go to Trier to check out the shops. The weather started out great – but when we got there, it was raining – and oh so cold! We ducked into a quaint little German restaurant and had a meal. By the time we had finished, the rain had thankfully stopped, so we walked around the town and checked out the cathedral and local shops.









Big Foot?



This picture is for Bobby - Lord of the Rings is big here too! =)


Thursday – Will had his 2 week appointment, so we had already decided we wouldn’t go anywhere. We had to return the van anyway. Chris and I took Will for his appointment. He weighed in at a whopping 12.8 pounds! The doctor said she couldn’t believe he had gained that much weight in such a short amount of time. She said the scales between here and Landstuhl weren’t calibrated the same. Regardless, he’s a sturdy boy – and I wouldn’t be that surprised if he really is 12 pounds. The check up went well. He’s still a bit jaundiced – but the doctor didn’t seem concerned. If the sun would shine here, we may be able to get that jaundice out of his system. =) After his appointment, we had to go to the lab for his 2 wk lab work. We waited fooooooorever there. That’s the Army for you though. The lab tech was like 19 years old…and that made me feel very old. =)

That evening, Keith, Monica, Mary Katherine, Elizabeth Ann and Will came over to dedicate Will. We had a great time of fellowship together. Luke LOVES playing with the girls, and we enjoyed catching back up again over supper. Following a great meal (thanks to Mom and Dad Scott) Keith led us in a wonderful dedication service for Will. It was incredibly meaningful to us and a great joy that we were able to have Chris’s parents there and to have our friends Keith and Monica and their children there to perform and be a part of the dedication.

"Will, meet Will..."


Too cute!





The dedication prayer.


Keith, Monica, Chris, me and Will





Will's dedication outfit. The onesie underneath was Luke's dedication outfit.


Friday – Since we had turned the van back in, we couldn’t travel far – so we decided to walk the cozy town of Baumholder. I think we covered most of the town. Chris and I even covered new ground. The weather was actually nice too! That evening, we celebrated Chris’s 30th birthday (though his real birthday is on Monday.) We had a steak dinner and Jello cake for dessert.






Chris's 30th B-day dinner...


Luke and Chris were blinded by the candles...



Jello Cake!



Saturday – The sad day of departure had arrived. Gu-kaa and Me-mee had to catch a plane back to the states, so we all said a sad goodbye to them and Chris took them to the airport. The house has definitely seemed empty since they left. Luke and Will kept me hopping all morning though. It’ll take some time to adjust to a new schedule and groove. We’ll get it down eventually, but it may take a few weeks. Chris has most of this next week off, so he’ll be able to help…after that I’m on my own – yikes! =)

Luke is 20 months old! Can you believe it?! It doesn’t seem like that long ago he was as tiny as Will. He’s growing like a weed. I don’t know if I notice it more now that Will has arrived or if he’s just growing and developing at a rapid rate right now. He’ll try to pronounce any word you give him now – and he’s starting to recognize letters. He can point out the S and A on Chris’s US ARMY and name tag on his uniform. His playtime is also developing. He’ll sit and figure things out now – or build something. Chris has taught him how to throw a ball – and he’s got a good arm for a 20 month old. Of course, now we have to show him what is appropriate to throw and what is not…and that he can’t chuck a ball at Will! =)

He’s doing remarkably well with Will. In fact, he loves to take Will’s hands and kiss them – or give him kisses on his head. This is amazing because Luke isn’t the affectionate type – he’s not even big on giving us kisses – though he’s gotten a little more affectionate with us since Will has arrived. Luke loves to help get things for Will – a sleeper, diaper, the paci – he’ll try to cover Will up with a blanket or turn his Papasan chair music/vibrator on. He’ll call him “brodur” “Wheel” or “beebee.” Too cute! He’s only gotten jealous a few times – and that was when Chris or Dad Scott was holding Will. He seems to understand as much as a 20 month old can. It’s such a blessing that he didn’t flip out when we brought Will home – I know that would have made this transitional time really rough. I’m so proud of our Lukey!

Will is growing fast too. I can’t believe he’s already over 2 weeks old! He’s getting more and more alert. He loves to look up in our faces when we’re holding him. If he’s in his Papasan, he loves to look up at his bunny. He’s eating well. Thankfully we’ve finally got a good latch, so nursing has become much easier. Now we just got to get the hang of public feeding again – right now I’m not a very modest nurser because he still needs help latching. This may be entering in the TMI zone for some of you, so I’ll stop before I tell more details then you want to hear (though I’m sure I already have.) =) Annnnyway – his cord fell off finally. It’s much easier to change his diaper now that that's gone. His circumcision has healed nicely. He’s started to get a few spots of baby acne. So far he’s been such a good baby. He only cries when he’s hungry, has a dirty diaper or has a stomach pain. He makes all kinds of funny noises. He snorts and grunts ALL the time which is so funny!

Recovery is going pretty well. Some days are really good – other days I’m still sore and feeling the after effect of pregnancy and labor. I’m bone-weary-exhausted of course – but that’s to be expected. My hormones are starting to equalize, so that’s really nice. =) I’ve lost quite a bit of weight (about 30 lbs), but there’s still a long way to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. I put on quite a bit of weight this time (a little over 50 lbs), so it’ll take awhile for it to all come off. With Luke, it took about 11 months to get close to where I wanted to be. I have to keep reminding myself that it’ll take time.

Chris is doing well. Like I said before, he’ll be turning 30 on Monday, so you’ll have to give him a hard time. =) Things will be getting really busy for him as they gear up to go downrange soon. It’s a bummer to think about, but we know how blessed we are that things worked out the way they did. We know that God is in control of all things and we place this next deployment in His hands. Alrighty – this is already incredibly long, and I’m uber tired. So off to bed I go.

Luke loves his daddy!


Luke helping Chris change Will's diaper...


Luke watching Veggie Tales on the computer...


Mommy and Will!


Will's first bath at home...


Elmo!


Cuddle time with Me-mee..

Luke loves wearing everyone's boots...

Playing with his food...wish he'd eat as much as he played!

Luke and Me-mee building a tower...

"Do I have to open my eyes?"

Luke's lovely hair after wearing his hat...


Christop the Great!

Will cuddle time!

Bed time stories with Elmo...

Luke being a sweet big brother...

Version 2...

Ok – so here is Version 2. This is the version with most of the gory details of Will’s birth. I’ve still chosen to leave the goriest of gory details out– with childbirth comes lots of blood and guck, but I won’t go into all that – I’ll spare you. =) I will however be as open about it all as is appropriate to blog about…so here is the long, detailed version…and if this proves to be to long to read - don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings. It's pretty long.

Version 2:

A week overdue – and still no sign of labor. I was pretty bummed. We went to our 41 week appointment here at the clinic in Baumholder at 1:30pm on Wednesday, January 23rd. We checked in and sat down in a waiting room full of sick people – I don’t like the set-up here…pregnant women and infants share the triage waiting room…doesn’t make sense. Anyway – I went through my pre-checks: Step on the scales…which at this point I am so huge, my belly hits the height indicator on the scales…and yes, somehow I’ve gained weight. They take my blood pressure and it’s right on target. We wait with the sick people for a little while longer, and then it’s time to see Dr. Holland. He decides to check me and see if my cervix is dilating any – and then he strips my membranes (separating the cervix from the bag of water) again – uh – OUCH!!! This is a very painful process. Luckily Chris was there to hold my hand. While the procedure is underway – Dr. Holland asks what our plans are for the rest of the week – I manage (through the pain) to say – “have a baby?” Then he asks what we’re doing tomorrow (Thursday.) At this point I’m in so much pain I can’t talk so Chris says, “We’ll do whatever you tell us to do.” During this whole procedure, the doctor tells you to tell them when you can’t take the pain anymore…which is kinda funny because at some point it just hurts too much to talk…thus not being able to say “stop please.” He informs me that he’s trying to get something going (i.e. labor) – and finally stops – then says if he had something sharp, he could have broken my water. Then he says I’m a good 3 cms and very viable for an induction. So he calls Labor and Delivery. Here is his side of the conversation…

“What do we have on the books for tomorrow….pause…what about Friday? (my stomach was dropping as I was dreading him to move on to Monday) pause…would you rather have 3 inductions on Thursday or 2 inductions and a C-Section on Friday?...pause…ok, put her down for Thursday.” Hangs up.

Dr. Holland tells us to call L&D at 5am Thursday morning to see if they have a bed open. While he’s talking, his phone rings again. Dr. Holland answers then looks at us and asks, “What about today?” We nod our heads and smile very enthusiastically. “They’ll be in after they get their bags at their house – about an hour. They may have to go through the emergency room first because Melinda broke her leg jumping up and down!” He hangs up, gives me my chart – and sends us on our way.

Chris drops me off at home while he goes to get gas in the car and drop in at work. I burst in and ask Mom Scott if she had been praying, because we were going to get induced today! We hug and praise the Lord and I finish packing and post a quick blog. It was a little weird saying goodbye to Luke as we knew life would never be the same after we came home with a new baby. We tried to explain to him what was going on, but who knows how much he actually understood. We bid Luke and Mom Scott farewell and off we went to Landstuhl.

On the way, we were both a bit in shock. We knew we were looking at a probable induction, but we weren’t expecting it to be today – we were excited though – and ready. Of course, we got behind every slow moving vehicle on the road, but we eventually made it there. We even found a parking space (if you know Landstuhl parking, you know this is an act of God.)

We grab our bags, go through security and head up to Labor and Delivery. I’m a little nervous that a mass of pregnant women have gone into labor over the last hour and we’ll be turned away. We go to the desk, check in and they say they’re getting our room ready and we can wait in the waiting room – YES! We really are going to get induced today!!!

We get to the waiting room a little after 3pm and wait for about 45 or so minutes to get into our room. The nurse brings us in and tells us to get comfy. They hook me up to monitors, get my IV started, ask a million questions, have me fill out a ton of paperwork and finally they started the Pitocin at around 5pm. They started it low as I was at 3cm and already having some inconsistent contractions. The contractions started getting regular almost right away. They were bareable, so I encouraged Chris to go and quickly get himself something to eat. He came back up with Subway…I was so hungry and he snuck a bite of sandwich and 2 bites of cookie to me.

I progressed pretty slowly, even though my contractions were pretty regular. They checked me and I was still only a 3-4 with baby’s head very high…and in an odd position. So, at around 8pm, they upped my Pitocin. The contractions became more intense. I was still able to breathe through them, but when the nurse came and told me that the anesthesiologist was on the floor and was wondering if I’d like my Epidural yet, I went ahead and decided to take it. I knew the contractions would only get more intense, and I was having the hardest time getting comfortable in the hospital bed with all the monitors, lines and IV. I figured I could at least get some rest if I went ahead and got it.

A few minutes after agreeing to get the Epidural, my body starts shaking uncontrollably (this happened with Luke as well – I think it’s just how my body reacts to being in labor.) The anesthesiologist comes in with his cart. I sit up on the edge of the bed and the change in position causes Baby Bee’s heart rate to disappear from the monitor. So the anesthesiologist is behind me getting set up, the nurse is in front of me moving the monitor around my stomach and my entire body is shaking uncontrollably. Finally the anesthesiologist starts by sterilizing my back – I grab Chris and lean on him. The nurse is still trying to find the heart rate unsuccessfully. The doctor comes in because Baby Bee’s heart beat isn’t showing up on the monitor. The anesthesiologist tells me to curl up and gives me a shot of numbing meds in my back, which stings. At this point, I’m not only shaking, I’m nauseated and have broken out in a cold sweat. I feel like I’m going to pass out. The nurse is still trying to find the heart beat. Finally when the anesthesiologist is ready to put the epidural needle and catheter in, the nurse does stop pressing the monitor all over my belly – I attempt to stay very still (even though I’m shaking like crazy) hold tight to Chris and breathe. As he's putting the needle/ catheter in, I can feel a bizarre pressure and a weird pain in my back and legs. Then all of a sudden I feel this horrible ‘POP’ – which is so bizarre and uncomfortable and unexpected that I jump a mile and kick my legs out. Luckily my jumping didn’t cause the needle/catheter to shift. Finally, the epidural catheter is in and gets taped to my back – all the while I keep feeling worse and worse. Finally, they find the baby’s heart rate – and after a very very low blood pressure reading on me, they lay me down and things start to equalize again. With Luke, I had the best epidural experience ever – but I think a lot has to do with the anesthesiologist and where the epidural is placed. Of course when I got one with Luke, I was having contractions so bad, I couldn’t feel anything but the contraction…that may have had something to do with not feeling much of the epidural that time around. Anyway, back to the birth story…

The epidural meds are administered (a test dose at first) – and about 10-15 minutes later, I start to feel the blessed numbness. It takes better on my right side, but still numbs my contractions. Of course with an epidural comes a bladder catheter. Fun times! Luckily, they wait to put that in until you’re numb from the epi. So once that was in, they left us and let us rest.

At around midnight, Dr. Flinn comes in and checks me again…still 4cm and still high. Bummer. So, she breaks my water. It’s clear – which is good. They leave us once again to rest.

At around 1:30am I begin to feel really really strange. Like my skin is crawling off my body. Every time I had a contraction, I felt out of control somehow. I couldn’t feel the contraction, but I just got this really weird feeling that coursed through my body. Chris was sleeping, so I woke him up, hoping he could distract me and help me through this odd sensation. The nurse and doctor came in and I tried to explain what I was feeling, but couldn’t really put it into words. They checked me and I was only at 6cm. I had been turning from side to side periodically so the epi would flow to both sides, so they decided to turn me again and that seemed to help. Chris and I try to get more sleep. At some point the nurse comes in and turns the Pit down - since my contractions are so strong - thankfully I had that epi!

As I’m trying to sleep, I can start to feel my contractions again. The anesthesiologist’s assistant had warned me that as my labor progressed the initial dose of epi may not cover as well at the end. I went back and forth in my mind – “man, this means I’ll feel the pain of pushing – the ring of fire – yikes!” Finally I told the nurse, who told the anesthesiologist, who came in and put some sort of pain meds into my IV (which I didn’t realize he did) and also gave me a higher dose of the epidural. Sweet numbness! Now I was REALLY numb! And whatever he had put in my IV, made me sleepy. So we tried to rest some more.

Towards the end of my cat nap. I kept feeling like the baby’s head was moving down – I could feel the pressure of it with each contraction. I told myself that things were going so slow, that it probably wasn’t anything. I decided to wait awhile before calling the nurse to see if it got more intense. It did. So at about 3:30am, I wake up Chris and tell him I feel pressure. I start shaking uncontrollably again and get nauseous. He calls for the nurse and she comes in to check me. When she first checked, the look on her face told me I hadn’t progressed any (though she didn’t say that.) I started to feel discouraged. She then said, “let me check with this next contraction –contraction comes- “I don’t feel any cervix, but you’re still high” she says while checking me and pressing on my belly. While she’s checking me, my nausea overcomes me and I upchuck the one bite of sandwich and two bites of cookies I sneaked earlier. The nurse apologizes and says, “Why don’t we try a few practice pushes.” Finally I was able to control the vomiting (after a few minutes.) Chris was a sweetheart and held the bucket for me – but it got to be too much and after my episode was over, he had to leave the room for a quick glass of water and fresh air. After that he was fine.

I did a few practice pushes (grab legs (which the nurse and Chris were helping me hold up), curl up, deep breath in – bare down as long as I can – repeat twice – rest until next contraction) which brought the head right down. So the nurse calls for the doctor and they set up all the fun birthing things. They break down the bed and have me push with the contractions. It gets to be so much pressure I just want to push and push and push, but they tell me to only push with the contractions. After a few more pushes, I feel intense overwhelming pressure – then the head comes out – and they tell me to stop pushing – so hard to do! So I breathe out – and then the moment we’ve been waiting for – with another push, out came Baby Bee at 4:05am on Thursday, January 24th! It was a beautiful amazing moment to look down and see this precious baby! We were both overcome with joy and emotion. They laid him on my belly and he cried and told us how unhappy he was that we pushed him out of his comfy little home. They took him to the warmer to clean him up and get his apgar (8/9.) He still had quite a bit of vernix on him…which means he probably wasn’t completely ready to come on his own. At 9 pounds – I was glad he came when he did! Who knows how long I would have waited without the induction!

So we’re watching Baby Bee get cleaned and monitored. I have a second degree tear which the doctor is repairing. When it’s time to deliver the placenta, the doctor has me push a few times. Then she tells me that she’s going to have to deliver it manually because the cord is detaching from the placenta. I was SO happy I was still numb from my epidural. She had to go in and get the placenta – and then check and make sure there were no pieces left behind. All I could feel was pressure – but had I not had the epidural, I can only imagine how bad that would have hurt. Thankfully, it appeared that the placenta had not broken up inside – but that the cord had started to detach was a bit odd (and concerning in my eyes.) Finally they were done with all the repairs and Baby Bee was ours to cuddle and get to know. We officially decided to name him William Stephen, after my Grandpa Shotts and our fathers. We held him and just fell head over heels in love with him.

I started breastfeeding him as soon as I could. He latched on right away. Since then, we had some latch issues. Let’s just say that breastfeeding is EXTREMLY painful if you can’t get them to latch right. I think we’ve finally gotten the latch down fairly good, but there was a lot of ummmm….destruction from the last week of trying to get there. I was VERY sore and had to start pumping every other feeding for a few days, just so I could heal. The last few days have been MUCH better though…I think we may be in sync finally.

Recovery has been up and down. The uterine contractions (you get these as your uterus shrinks) were very painful this time. The doctor told me that usually they’re more painful with the second baby because your body already knows what it’s doing. I could literally feel it shrinking – weird and painful!

The tear is healing VERY nicely. With Luke, I had a bad repair job and hurt for months. This time, I hurt a few days and then it was fine. Now – another side affect of recovery is the dreaded hemorrhoids. Boy howdy do those hurt! I may be going into the TMI (to much information) zone here, so I’ll stop at that. =)

It’s worth it all though. =) All the pain and discomfort is totally worth the end result. I have to say – God’s mighty Hand was at work the whole time. I can see Him working in every aspect of the pregnancy and delivery. Had I gone longer, there could have been cord/placenta issues – or I could have gone too fast to get to the hospital had my water broke at home – or I could have gone into labor during the ice storm we had the other day. I was miserable going a week over my due date, but I know that it was just meant to be. God is so good!

Ok, back to the story. =) At around 6am, they came in and gave Will his first bath. After that, we held and cuddled him some more. My legs were still really numb at this point. Chris needed to get home (we had decided it would be best for him to be at home when Luke woke up the next morning) to freshen up, check in at work and bring Mom Scott and Luke to the hospital. After he left, I held Will and drifted off to sleep here and there. Not long after, the floor was swarming – a ton of ladies had been admitted, and they needed to get me out of the room and down to the postpartum rooms. I was once again thankful that God had provided a way for me to be induced on Wednesday evening. Had we called Thursday morning, they would have told us that there were no beds free. Who would have known how many days we would have had to wait! Once again, God is good!

My legs are still to numb to walk, so they wheel me and Will down to a postpartum room (which is a shared room – with no bathroom – the bathroom was down he hall!!!) Anyway, I got admitted there and settled into the room. It was empty, so that was nice.

Chris, Mom Scott and Luke arrived around lunch time. Luke did really well meeting “Wheel.” We had a gift there to give to Luke from Will, so that was a hit. The doctor came in a while later to check Will out, and as he was examining him, Will threw up a horrible amount of awfulness. It was really scary because he couldn’t breathe at all. Thank God it happened while the doctor was there – I’m not sure we could have handled it quite as calmly. The doctor quickly and efficiently suctioned everything out, and then took Will out to suction out his stomach…just to make sure everything was ok. Thankfully he didn’t aspirate any of the vomit and it turns out he had swallowed a lot of blood on his way out of the birth canal. The doctor came back and said everything was ok and then said it was a good thing that he was there when it happened. It was a scary moment, but God was there.

Luke wasn’t really in to staying in the little hospital room all day, so Chris took him home and Mom Scott and I suffered through a very uncomfortable night. Mom Scott had to sleep in a very uncomfortable recliner – and hospital beds stink. So we were both ready to be out of there. Will stayed up pretty much all night – so we didn’t sleep well either. They had told me when I checked in that I was not allowed to sleep with the baby in my bed…but in the wee hours of morning – when we were all so exhausted, he fell asleep in my arms and I fell asleep too. So we broke the rules…but I don’t care. =)

Thankfully, they allowed me to have an early discharge. So Friday morning, we were packed and ready to go. Unfortunately it took awhile for everyone to get us checked out, so we ended up leaving after lunch. It was GREAT to get home!

I won’t go into a ton more details – I know this is the longest blog ever and if you’ve actually made it to this point, I salute you! =)

Gu-kaa got here Friday morning – and we’re planning to do lots over this next week. We are really enjoying having family here – it’s been so good!

Alrighty, I’ll stop for now. Hope all is going well for you all!