My Baby #2

Alex Wagner
7lbs. 5 oz 20.5" long

Alex was born 23 months after Nick. He had a great pregnancy, very easy and I stayed EXTREMELY healthy as I was worried about high blood pressure again. For Nick I went to midwives at the hospital, for Alex I went to a birthing center with midwives at a separate facility. I was very excited about the labor there and couldn't wait to have it happen. I was a week overdue and went in for an appointment. They stripped my membranes per my request and I felt really good afterwards. I was "cramping" consistently every 7-8 minutes and went to get the doctor's office lunch. After that I drove home (30 minute drive) and ate with Nick and Jeff. I was still cramping and wanted labor to get going so we walked around the block. On the second round around the block I started timing the "cramps". They were about 3 minutes apart so I decided to call the doctor. They said it was "most likely" labor and so we decided to head in. Last time I was in labor for days so I really took my time. Jeff's mom came over to watch Nick and we got everything ready. I was in pain but not for very long and it wasn't that bad.

When we finally left at 3:45 I was in serious pain, probably from sitting in the car. I felt the same as with Nick when I was at 6 cm so I was really scared. I couldn't do this for hours without any medication. We finally made it to the highway through horrible traffic and the pain was really unbearable. Suddenly my water broke and Jeff wanted to pull over. I told him, no just keep going and fast. Two seconds later I felt and the "head was crowning" (my exact words at the moment, I was very calm and clinical) I told Jeff to pull over. By the time we stopped the baby was out and on my lap. Jeff said he was calling 911 and I didn't stop him (although I wanted to continue on to the birthing center where there is only a 4-6 hour wait before going home, once you call 911 you go to the hospital and there is a 3 day wait to go home). So the baby was born at roughly 4:20 p.m., the time of the operator call, off of I-4 just East of the Dinosaur World Exit. The 911 operator was on the phone with Jeff and he couldn't find anything in my box of baby stuff. I had a blanket, a bulb syringe and towels. He finally found the blanket and syringe and the operator told him to tie off the umbilical cord with his shoe lace. The ambulance arrived (along with 5 men and my junk completely hanging out) They had me WALK 5 feet to the stretcher and one of the guys actually stepped on the shoe lace still hanging out of my hoo-hoo! They drove me to the nearest hospital. Yes, I MADE Jeff get the camera before I was put into the ambulance, the first few shots were miserable, I didn't realize he was so shook up. He had to follow us in the van.

At the hospital they tried every intervention known to man. Jeff was wonderful in making sure everything was as natural as possible. They wanted to start formula immediately and since I was adament that it not happen they had me nurse while being stitched up otherwise they were going to do an IV. Some nurses were nice but most were not. I followed that baby everywhere, and they made me stand every time I went. I was ready to go home at 8 that night but had to stay 24 hours due to the hospital policies.

I felt WONDERFUL going natural and the labor was really only 15 minutes of pain, after that it was fine. Pushing was easy and I only had a small tear due to the position I pushed in (if you want those details you will have to call:)

See Alex in my homemade wool pants. I accidentally washed these and they are now sized for a wood nymph.

Overall, Nick was a pain in the you know where and has been ever since, never slept through the night and nursed 24/7. Alex has been very good unless you make him wait to long. He sleeps like crazy, in his crib and nurses very efficiently and with a purpose. Like night and day!

Let me hear your stories!

My babies!

So I thought it would be fun to see how everyone's pregnancies and deliveries went with their kids. I only have two so it is easier for me.

Nick was our first baby and was born on December 18, 2004 at 7:43 p.m. He came in at 6.95 lbs. and 19.5" long.
His pregnancy was very easy going and I ate fairly well and didn't gain more than 35 lbs. He was supposed to be a girl and would have been named Ailyn.
Towards the end of the pregnancy I started swelling and just feeling kind of sick. I had signs of Pre-Eclampsia or high blood pressure and so they induced me. I went to the hospital and was admitted at about 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. All that night, the next day, and all day Friday was was "induced" unsucessfully, I had labor pains but no change in dilation or efacement. In case you didn't know, when they induce you, liquids, walking and food are all restricted. I had about 3 small meals and some crackers in three days. On Friday the baby's heart rate dropped when Jeff went home to take a shower, it came back up and Jeff rushed back to sit by my side. Eventually, on Saturday morning my water broke at 3 a.m. and labor was started. I was exhausted and finally went for an epidural as I had no improvement and couldn't handle the pain. By 7:45 p.m. that night my stubborn little man was born. We didn't know it was a boy until he came out but I was so happy.

He was pretty small and looked a lot like Jeff. I was so excited when he was coming out since I thought it was a girl and I was going to play with the hair and braid it and stuff. But, now I get to do a mohawk so it all balances out.

This is at about 1 month old. We are at the park with Shawnee, our only dog at the time.

The cute repairman!

Wouln't you love to have this good looking guy work on your car!

BBQ!

Memorial Day Weekend!

We had a great time on Monday going over to Joanne Carroll's house for some swimming and fun in the SUN.

Here is Alex with Uncle Mike after some time in the water.

Alex enjoyed the cool water but didn't love it. He was kind of tired and it was pretty hot out.

I found this huge tube at a yard sale but they wanted something like $15.00 for it. Being as cheap as I am I said NO WAY and walked off. Later that day I happened to drive by and saw that they didn't sell it and had it out on the corner as garbage. The bargain hunter I am I stopped and put it into the van for a later day. We don't have a boat to tow it behind but I thought going to a pool was the perfect thing. It would also be great at the beach! It had about a foot of water on the inside and wouldn't flip at all!

Here is Nick with Dane who is 5. They had a great time playing together!

Eat your WHEELS and BALLS!

Nick loves his veggies. We call them all fun names and he loves to dip them, in anything! We went to CiCi's Pizza last night and he ate a FULL plate of veggies before he realized they had pizza.

Here is a fun Wheel with an olive on it. (balls are peas)
Nick loves to be clean and make sure everything is in its place. A little OCD. . .maybe (but definitely not from me!)

After dinner Nick helped me mow and water some plants I am trying not to kill. They are already half dead, but maybe they will pull through.
This morning we spent nearly an hour putting together this puzzle train set. We do it almost every day but Jeff and I are obsessed with having the train track go in all the right directions and Nick just sits and puts it together, over and over and over again. If we don't play with him, he accidentally drops some and needs help putting it back. What a con artist!

Pancakes!!

Today I tried Hope's from scratch pancake recipe. It was WONDERFUL! I used the applesauce and half whole wheat flour and it was REALLY, REALLY good. I will never use a box again! (unless I'm out of eggs). Thank you Hope for such a great recipe, I will be looking for some more useful and healthy recipes to come:)

Nick got a cooking set from Cracker Barrel (where Jeff works and we get a 40% discount) so we decided to make handprints and footprints for keepsakes. He really loved it!

Alex is in my FAVORITE wool cover here. He is almost too big for it so I am using it as much as possible. I need to crochet some but don't seem to have the time with work lately. Perhaps I will before he grows out of this one. He looks like a little hippie from a commune here!

PICTURES!

My Whitey baby and my Chicano baby.

So we went to the Picture People in the mall today since we had a coupon. I like them because they use large format cameras and tend to do a pretty good job. Today was much better than the last few times but we had a different photographer. So here are the few we bought.

Such a happy little boy. Seriously, he never cries. I thought it was a myth that babies would actually sleep through the night and in their crib!

That is Corn in his pocket, it seemed to make him happy at the moment.

Me and my boys

My boys

Alex is starting to eat solids. We have tried a jar of baby food someone gave us of Squash and we also tried bananas. So far he seems to like it.

Nick snuck this in and tried to feed brother. He thought that was wonderful! Brother didn't seem to mind too much either.

Angel is always trying to put her nose in when there is food around. She LOVES the boys. They love her kisses too.
I took the boys outside for pictures on Sunday since we all looked so nice. The boys look like they are in GIANT-LAND in this chair.

A trip to Milton's house.

So we spent a few days in West Palm visiting Jeff's Great Uncle Milton. It was hot and muggy, not outside, no, inside the house where the A/C hasn't been used in months and some animal climbed into the attic and died! It stunk soooo BAD and we were more miserable than normal. Milton likes to complain a lot (not that I am much better right now) and he loves to talk politics, my least favorite subject. Regardless of how many times you tell him you don't keep up with politics and hate the subject, he will continually ask your opinion. Should your opinion be wrong - Watch Out! But we love him and continue to visit him through a tortured trip. He thoroughly enjoys it and since he has no friends or family left, he really does appreciate the company.

(notice the plaid wallpaper in the background)

Celebrity Look Alike

My Knight in . . . murky waters?

So I had a wonderful mother's day. No throw up and Nick was in a great mood. Jeff worked while the boys and I slept in. We started the day with a milk shake of fruit, milk, OJ and yummy Tofu (Nick's favorite food) and then just hung out and played. Alex ended up cutting his FIRST tooth! Although he wasn't happy about that, I was pretty happy and nostalgic.



When Jeff got home we went over to his Mom's house with his two brothers and had barbeque from the Best barbeque place - Al's (so it is in a gas station parking lot, that does not lessen the greatness of this barbeque!)

The boys all played Tetrus, reaching level 5! (Yes, that is a Super Nintendo, we play Old Skool around here)

Uncle Jason

Uncle Mike

My Knight, he had to wash up after touching these waters!

It rained all day and thundered a lot, should help the smoke situation. I loved it and can't get enough of the storms. But while we were hanging out at Grandma's house, a little girl dropped her bike in the ditch which is usually dry but after a 30 minute hurricane, was full of a couple of feet of water. So Jeff went to help her get her bike and she started crying she had also lost her shoe. I thought she should have just left it and went home but apparently she was worried about getting in trouble (I don't know why, the lack of supervision wasn't her fault!).

So Jeff, being the wonderful guy that he is, took off his shoes and rolled up his shorts to get the poor girl her shoe. Then, he told her to just say she stepped in a puddle so her mom wouldn't be mad. What a great guy, goes out of his way to help a poor little girl lie to her neglecting parents. Eddi said the girl is a big problem and talks back, cusses and just acts out, perhaps Jeff gave her the attention she needs to be a good girl:) Yeah right, but at least she won't get in trouble and she will have matching shoes.

What a great mother's day. I love most the cuddling and kisses that only I get. I love nursing babies and being the only one who can help kiss a boo boo. I can't wait for all of the next stages and hope I am always loved as much as I love them!

Too much!

So Nick has been sick the last couple of days but he was feeling much better yesterday. Good enough to go to the corner (but aren't his panties, I mean undies, adorable!)

We had enough time for a photo shoot. . .

(Smile)

A bike ride once Jeff got home from work. . .

A walk with the girls after that (I WILL burn off the baby fat!). . .

But alas, it was too much. Nick was VERY sick today and couldn't keep much food down. I gave in and let him watch TV, our arch nemesis. But he was feeling better after his nap and will hopefully be much better tomorrow. Hopefully he won't vomit on me anymore during this week, 3 times is a few too many!