Little Riley's Arrival

It is all the same towards the end of a pregnancy, the day you never thought would get here finally comes and soon your beautiful baby is in your arms.
Our special delivery came on January 30th 2012 at 11:07pm. 
We started our journey a few weeks before.  I have had a history with pre-eclampsia so the doctor monitored me very closely with my blood pressure and protein levels. we had just finished our second round of 24 hour urine tests and was in the labor and delivery department doing our twice weekly fetal stress test when the news came that we were staying and going to have a baby.  We had made it to 38 weeks so technically full term. 
The train got rolling about 11:00am.  I had the feeling the day before that today would be the day and low and behold I was right.  They took me slowly at first because for the first time I came back Strep B positive which meant they needed to get 2 doses of the medicine into me 4 hours apart from each other.  Well, by the end the had managed to get 3 doses into me.  Yes is was that long of a delivery. 
About 4pm I asked for my epidural.  That's right no natural stuff for this girl! I had asked them at that time if there was anything they could do about my IV because my hand was starting to swell and it hurt more then the labor pains.  They decided they would try to put in a new on on the other hand.  Yup they did it, blew right through the vein!  So that nurse went and got another nurse to try again and she blew through the next vein!  After that no more trying to replace the IV.  I will suffer with what is working.  Once we got that settled it was time to get the epidural done.  The anaesthesiologist gets me sitting up on the bed crossed legged and hunched over to get me in the right position for the medication.  She injects the numbing agent which is the most unpleasant of stuff because of the stinging sensation it gives you as it numbs you.  Once that is done she is ready to insert the epi.  Of course my body decides to not cooperate, my spine is to curved at that spot and so she had to start over again up a little higher.  Which means more unpleasant numbing medicine and another poke with a needle.  I felt like the human pin cushion at this point.  45 minutes later the epidural is in!  Then the icing on the cake, my IV decided not to run anymore and in order to get it to work we had to keep twisting the needle and pulling the tubing and positioning my hand just right and try to hold it still once we found the right spot to keep it running.  Now this is about 6pm when we figure all this out so I still have to baby this IV for the worst part of labor which at this point is not going to end for what seems like forever!
At this time I am dilated to a 7.  And there we stayed for the next 3 hours.  All the time getting told by the nurses that they think it should be only another hour or so until the baby is here.  That talk started about 4 in the afternoon.  Little did they know that Riley had other plans. 
About 9 o'clock I am checked to see what is taking me so long and they discover that the baby is facing face up instead of face down.  In order to try to get the baby to turn they position me on my side with my far leg flipped over my body and held up in the stirrup.  Tom described it as forcing me into a pretzel position.  While in this position the epidural wears off.  They have to call the anaesthesiologist back in to give me a direct injection of more medication.  Right after the second dose takes effect they decide it is a great time to switch sides since the baby is not turning.  Now trying to turn when you are numb from the waist down is great fun!  Let alone trying to get a dead leg up into a stirrup. 
Finally we are dilated to a 9!  About a half hour after that it is time to start pushing!  The baby still hasn't turned so she is coming face up.  And at this point she still hasn't dropped all the way into the birth canal.  I am pushing and pushing and she is not moving!  The doctor uses the vacuum to get her out.  Turns out there was a good reason for her not moving on her own.  Apparently the little stinker was doing somersaults inside me because she had managed to get the cord wrapped around her little body and neck about 3 times.  The nurses where amazed at how tangled she was.  Luckily she was never in any trouble with it though.

So after 12 hours of labor our little Riley arrived into the world weighing in at 6lbs 8oz. and 18 inches long and has been a little angel ever since.

The big 5 for Jaycie

I don't think anyone looks more forward to their birthday then my Jaycie!  She is so excited to turn that one year older.  This year she even tried to skip over being 5 and told people she was now 6!  We managed to convince her that 5 is old enough for this year.
The one thing that she was the most excited to get was her balloon bouquet with the Tangled balloon as the main attraction!

The Holidays

There is nothing better then the holiday season!  Even with all the nonstop shopping, stressing over what to get everyone, and hoping like crazy that your kids don't change their mind on what they are going to ask the "big man" for.  I love the holiday season!

This year we got to add the Elementary School Sing In on our list of to-do's.  Chesney was so excited!  I wish I could remember the song they sang but for the life of me I can't.  I know I was so distracted by trying to figure out how the new camera takes video and if it was working (which I totally didn't do right) to even really pay attention to what they were singing.  She spotted Jaycie and me in the audience fairly quickly.  When she walked in she looked like she was in panic mode trying to find us.  Then when she was done she spotted her daddy in the back who made it just in time to hear her class sing.  That made her whole day!

Next came the party the kids look forward to the most.  Santa's visit at Grandma and Grandpa Simmons' house!  Oh how they love sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what they want for Christmas!  Oh how nervous mom gets that they are going to change their mind from what they have told her they were asking for.  So far that hasn't happened but one day....

This year Santa gave the kids all the cutest/coolest hats!  I wish I had been smart mommy and got a picture of them in them but alas. 

We took our family tradition of taking the kids to Thanksgiving Point to ride the horse carriage through the Christmas Light display.  Chesney and Jaycie were all excited until we got started and sat right behind the horses and low and behold allergies took effect!  Both kids with runny nose and eyes and coughing and sneezing.  They were miserable.  We finished the ride and got in the car where I could see to give them an allergy pill but by that time both were one the verge of tears.  It was so sad.  We were going to take them to their favorite restaurant for dinner but since they were so miserable we picked something up and went straight home.  Note to self, next year dose kids with medicine before the ride and try not to sit so close to the horses.

Then the big night was upon us.  Earlier that day Chesney, Jaycie and I made the cookies for Santa.  Many fun colorful cookies with lots of sugar sprinkles!  And that night we set some out for the big man himself.  We had no problem getting the little stinkers to bed and they even got up no earlier then 7am so that made for happy parents.  And spoiled they were!  For a change this year we had time to open our Christmas at home first.  Then we got dressed and took off for Grandma Dunn's where the biggest gift was finding out my sister, Angela is expecting a little girl!!!  After a while off we were to Grandma and Grandpa Simmons' for dinner and gifts.  It was a GREAT Christmas!