Grammy and Papa!

I was so lucky to get to have both of my parents here right when Landon was born, and also lucky to have my mom here for 8 days, and my dad for 5!  That is the longest time they have ever apent with us up here in Minnesota, and I was thrilled...I just wish it could have been longer!

My mom had made airline reservations a few weeks before Landon was due, and without knowing exactly when he would make his arrival, she scheduled a flight for the 17th (he was due the 18th), with the thought that since I went a week early with Miley that Landon probably would have been here by then.  Little did we know, she timed it perfectly, and flew in 4 hours after he was born!

We were so lucky the timing worked out like that, because she was able to stay home with Miley and Cameron could spend the time at the hospital with Landon and me.  Miley loved having Grammy there...I don't think she even cared/noticed that Cameron and I weren't around, and this was the first time that we had both spent the night away from her.  Grammy took great care of her while we were in the hospital.  :)

We came home on Saturday morning, the 19th, and spent the day settling in.  That evening, Cameron graciously offered to keep both the kids at home, so my mom and I could run to Target and just browse.  When I still hadn't had Landon on the 16th, before my contractions started, my mom and I were laughing about it, and just saying that we would have a couple days to have some fun and shop before I had the baby.  Well, I guess Landon was having none of that, and came the next day.  As we were on our way to the hospital, I was telling Cameron how sad I was that I wouldn't have a couple days where I was a little more "free" to spend with my mom.  Well, I guess he felt bad enough, so that is why he offered to take on the 2 1/2 year old and the three-day-old at the same time so we could get a little bit of that time in...no easy feat for him, I am sure.  :)

My dad flew in on Sunday morning, and barely made it, as there was a huge snowstorm that day.  He kept having his flight cancelled out of Denver, and finally got on a later one...we could never quite figure out why the earlier ones were cancelled, because it hadn't started snowing at that point, but we were just glad he made it!  I was so glad he got to meet Landon so shortly after his birth...he didn't get to meet Miley till she was about 6 weeks old, and they change so much in that short period of time!

We mostly spent the week relaxing and getting rest and just enjoying each other's company.  We squeezed in a little shopping, and house hunting as well.  My poor mom, started feeling sick on Saturday or Sunday, and was battling a sickess the rest of the time we were there, and I could tell she was just exhausted and feeling lousy.  My mom is amazing though, and still cooked every night (we did pizza and PF Changs in there too, to give her a little bit of a break!), and gave in to all of Miley's demands for attention and play time.  I didn't get any pictures of her while she was feeling crummy, and I am wishing I had gotten more while she was playing with Miley.  My dad was wonderful with Miley too...she was their little shadow the whole week.  I think it was probably really good to have my folks around this first week, because it eased Miley into life with another little baby around, while she was still getting a lot of attention.  I was SOOO grateful to have them to help with her!

I am always so sad to see my parents go, and I know Miley was too.  She is STILL asking about them, and calling the guest room "Grammy and Papa's Room."  I really think my parents are the best, and I am so excited for them to make their next trip out here for Landon's baby blessing!   

Hospital Stay

The day Landon was born was a little crazy...of course, mostly due to the fact that I had just had a baby, but we also got to pick my mom up at the airport that day!  Well, Cameron did, not me obviously.

I had Landon at 12:35 pm, and we were in our postpartum room by about 2:30.  My mom's flight got in at about 4:00, so Cameron had about an hour to hang out after we moved rooms before he got to go pick up my mom.  I am so glad I had Landon as fast as I did, because we weren't really sure how we were going to get my mom picked up if it had taken any longer, but fortunately, he gave us plenty of time.  I was so excited that my mom got to be there the day that Landon was born, and it was pretty good timing because Don and Cindy were heading out of town for a couple of days to go skiing, so it was nice to have my mom there to watch Miley for us (and Miley thought it was totally AWESOME to have her Grammy there with her for a couple of days!).

Cameron got back with my mom around 5:30...

...then around 6:30 Don and Cindy and their family came down and brought Miley in to meet her baby brother for the first time.  At first, Miley didn't even want to come into the hospital room - she has a major fear of doctors, hospitals, doctors offices, you name it.  But once she realized that she wasn't there to see a doctor, she warmed right up.  She LOVED Landon, and seemed to think the whole thing was pretty neat.

Everyone got their turn to hold our new little man, and then around 7:30 Don and Cindy had to leave to head out of town, and Cameron took my mom and Miley back to our apartment to get Miley settled down for the night.  Since he was going to be gone anyway, I told Cameron to go play his church basketball game at 10:00 that night...church basketball is like, the highlight of Cameron's week, and he also gets a little stir crazy just hanging around the hospital, so I figured it would be good for both of our sanity if he got out for a litte bit!  He made it back around 11:30 that night, and we sent Landon down to hang out with the nurses in the nursery and we got some sleep.

Friday was a very low-key day.  We FINALLY got Landon his first bath...

We had some beautiful flowers delivered from Cameron's work...

We had the normal hustle and bustle of people coming in and out of our room (nurses, doctors, lactation consultants, photographer, meal delivery, birth certificate, etc.).  My mom and Miley also came down to visit us again.  When I heard Miley coming down the hall, I stuck my head out the door, and expected Miley to act somewhat excited to see me.  Instead, she brushed right past me into the room asking for "baby Landon."  Oh well...at least she was excited to see her baby brother, right?  We all got to have lunch together, and then my mom took Miley back home to get her down for a nap.

We spent the rest of the day just kind of resting when we could, and holding Landon without too many distractions (besides all the millions of distractions I listed above!).  Our friends, Alan and Kimberly, brought their kids and came down to visit us that night.  It was so nice of them to come, because by that evening I think Cameron and I both were starting to get a little stir crazy, so it was great to see some familiar faces.  :)  We settled in for the night, and enjoyed one last night of sending Landon to the nursery.  :)

On Saturday morning, I was definitely feeling ready to get back home and see Miley and get to hang out with my mom, although I don't think I am ever ready to leave the nurses behind.  We got all of the discharge forms and were ready to head home at about noon.

Our experience at the hospital was really pretty good.  Our nurses were awesome and were so helpful with anything we needed. 

Now, it was just on to the next step...learning how to be a parent of two!  

Landon's Birth Story - Part 2

Picking up from where we left off...

At around 9:00 I decided that I wanted something to help me with the pain of my contractions.  I didn't think that I would be able to get an epidural yet, since the last time I was checked I was only at a 2, but my nurse had offered me something to "take the edge off".  I had this with Miley, and I remember it just making me really loopy for a couple of hours, and then I just wanted my epidural.  I went in this time thinking I would just get the epidural, but at this point I figured if I couldn't have the epidural, I may as well get this again.  So I asked my nurse about it, and she said she could even just give me a half dose, but before I went for it, I decided to ask her when I could get my epidural.  She told me I could get it at anytime, but that it may take about a half hour or so for them to get to me.  I said that was fine, and I would wait, drug-free, until they could get to me.  My nurse also said that once I was good and numb from the epi, they would check me again, and then if it was OK with my doctor, they would try to break my water. 

The anesthesiologist finally got to me around 10:00 and everything was placed and I was feeling good by about 10:15.  Cameron had to leave the room during this whole process because the whole epidural thing makes him kind of queasy.  He doesn't mind anything else about the whole birth process, but for some reason he can't stomach that huge needle going into my back.  :)  The nurse checked me, and I had gotten to a 3 1/2.  I figured at this point I would have a few hours to catch up on some missed sleep from the previous night, watch some shows with Cameron and generally just "relax."  So I was pretty happy that I would have some time to kill (or at least, that's what I thought!).

Pretty excited that the epidural was coming...excuse the severe look of exhaustion in these pics...no sleep in a 28 hour period can do that to ya...

Last shot of the pregnant belly...and yes, like I said, I was as tired as I look...scary!

The nurses, and a resident then tried to break my water.  They couldn't ever really do it, and they never really knew if it had already broken, or if I had slowly been leaking the whole time.  Either way, there was not anything to break, and I am not sure that anyone ever really figured out what had happened...kind of weird.

A little while later, (maybe around 10:45?) the nurses put an internal monitor on Landon's head.  I thought that they were doing this because the belt monitor wasn't taking good readings at this point.  It took about 3 different nurses, and probably half an hour of them trying over and over to finally get it placed.  While they were doing this, I had progressed to a 6.  I think this is when I realized that the nap I was planning on wasn't going to happen.  After getting the monitor placed was when things started getting a little scary...

They had placed the internal monitor to get a better reading of Landon's heart rate, because for some reason it was hovering around the 70 range, and was not getting back to the 115-120 range where it should have been.  They had me lay on my left side, roll over to the right, put on oxygen, and then finally get on my hands and knees to get his heartrate somewhat stablized.  However, it kept having slight decelerations.  I assumed everything was fine though, and then out of the blue my nurse said, "Just so you know, if his heart doesn't get back up to where it needs to be, we will be putting you under and going in for an emergency c-section."  Obviously after hearing this, I started freaking out a little bit, and then ever more when the OB-GYN on call came running into my room after being paged (the one who would do the c-section if need be), to check out the sheet with Landon's heartrate on it.  She said we would probably be fine for at least another 20 minutes and to keep checking on it.

My doctor finally arrived around 11:30, checked me, (I was at an 8).  She also reviewed what had been going on with Landon's heart, and determined that we would be OK to try a normal delivery, since I seemed to be going quickly enough, but she also said that we would have to have the NICU team in the room to check on baby Landon immediately after he was born, because they weren't sure if he would be breathing, or if he would have a cord around his neck, or what.  They weren't really sure what was going on.  She left to go get her scrubs on and get prepped for delivery.  Within the next 30 minutes I was complete, and ready to push.

I started pushing at noon, and was doing all I could to get this kid out fast (they said I would have to get him out quick in order to avoid a c-section).  My doctor though, to speed things up, told me I would probably need a small episiotomy, in order to get him out just a little quicker.  After that, he came out with the next set of pushing at 12:35 pm.

I didn't get to hold him on my chest right away, because the NICU team had to check him out first.  Fortunately, he was totally fine, and even had an APGAR score of 9.9.  They weren't really sure what caused the stress on him, but they told me that they think it was because I went so quickly (from a 3 1/2 to a 10 in about an hour and half) and that can stress a baby out.

Finally getting to hold him after he was checked out by the NICU...and wow...those double chins that I am rocking are AWESOME!!  ;)

We were so grateful that everything went as well as it did, and looked forward to bonding with sweet little Landon! 

Landon's Birth Story - Part 1

This post is mostly for my own journaling purposes, so I know some people may not be interested in reading all the details of Landon's birth, but I never did this when I had Miley, and I am now kicking myself.  So I am making myself blog this before I forget too many of the details...

I had been feeling what I thought were "real" contractions" starting on Tuesday night, the 15th of February.  They were more painful than BH contractions, but they were not really consistent, and would last for a couple hours and then kind of burn out.  On Wednesday, I had a totally normal day, but around 7:00 pm, I started feeling contractions again.  Cameron and I kept waiting around for them to fade out, as they had done previously, but they kept coming, although ranging from about 5 minutes to 15 minutes apart.  We decided to just wait it out, and see what happened. 

We both went to bed, to try to get some rest, and I realized there was no way I was going to be able to sleep through the contractions, so I got up and did some stuff around the house, and watched some TV.  Cameron started getting a little antsy, and telling me that we were going to have a baby, but I still didn't quite think it was the real thing.  But, we packed our stuff anyway for the hospital.  This was around 1 in the morning, and I told Cameron I at least wanted to wait until it was closer to "morning" so that we didn't have to wake anyone up to take Miley, in the off chance that this wasn't the real thing.  So I told him that we would wait it out until 5 or 6 in the morning, and then if I was still having contractions, we would call up our sister-in-law, Cindy, and bring Miley there and head to the hospital to get checked out. 

I still didn't sleep the rest of the night.  I tried to kill some time, and ease the pain of the contractions by taking a bath (Cameron was fortunately getting a couple hours of sleep at this point...), and I TRIED to get some sleep, but with contractions coming every 5-10 minutes (still pretty irregular) it just wasn't going to happen. 

Finally at 5, I gave Cameron the go ahead to start loading up the car, and to call Cindy to tell her we would be bringing Miley by.  When he started doing all this, I had a total freak-out moment.  I just started bawling thinking about how much Miley's life was going to change, and how she couldn't quite really understand what was happening, plus I was freaking out about the thought of delivering a baby!  I pulled myself together enough for the time being, and we got Miley up and headed out.

We got to the hospital around 6:30 am and they put me in a room to monitor me for an hour to see if my contractions were consistent enough, and to see if I would make enough change in dialation to admit me.  When they first checked me, I was around a 2.  My nurse that would end up being the one to help deliver Landon came in around 7:30, and said that I seemed uncomfortable enough to justify admitting me, but they would wait a little while to check me again.  They said I could get up and walk around for a while, or stay in bed, so Cameron and I thought we would walk to see if we could get some progression out of it.  We walked for probably about an hour, and then I just felt too uncomfortable to keep doing it so we went back to our room to wait it out for a little bit and hopefully get the epidural...

More to come later!

There's Someone We'd Like You To Meet...

Landon Edward Clark

Born Thursday, February 17th, 12:35 p.m.

8 pounds 3 ounces

21 inches

More pictures and story to follow soon!

Trying To Be Optimistic

So most of you know how incredibly ready I am to be done being pregnant.  I am now THREE days away from my due date...which to me, feels overdue since I had Miley a week early.  I told myself that I wouldn't get myself into the mindset that this one would be early as well, but let's be honest...it's always at the back of your mind, right??  So, needless to say, this last week has felt extremely long.  I am ready to get labor and delivery over with and meet our son.

With that being said, I decided to write down some of the postives about still being pregnant.  Just to make me feel a little bit better.  :)


*I am getting to enjoy even more "last days" with Miley.  This one makes me kind of sad every day.  I know  Miley is going to love having a sibling, but she has been my little person, my daily companion, just her and me, for the last 2 years and 8 months.  So I am enjoying every. last. second. of our limited time with just us.

*I still have a pretty good excuse to get pretty regular backrubs from Cameron.  :)

*My mom is getting here on Thursday, and my dad on Sunday...*YAY*!!!  I have been a little bummed about the timing of this as well, because since I haven't had the baby yet, I am obviously going to be spending some time in the hospital while they are here.  But the pros??  They will be here to watch Miley, and I figure if I haven't had the baby for the first few days they are here, it just gives us some time to get out and do some fun stuff while it is easier!

*Obviously, Cameron hasn't had to use any of his two-week paid paternity leave yet...which means I still have that to look forward to.  Between him and my parents, it means that I get to have someone around for a little over three weeks!  And I love that all of that is ahead of me, and not behind me.  :) 

*I have been sleeping pretty dang well for a girl who is 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant.  Sure, I have to get up and use the bathroom about 3 times in the night, and sometimes I have a hard time falling asleep at the beginning of the night, but I know that I am going to get so much less sleep in just a few short days.  Plus, I am still almost always getting a daily nap while Miley is napping, and I know that will be disrupted, at least temporarily.

*As hard as it is to shop with Miley right now, because she just wants to run around EVERYWHERE, it is still only one kid.  So I have been trying to get out and run to Target, Old Navy, etc. and enjoy the "ease" of getting one kid around, without lugging an infant seat as well.

*We are right *SMACK* in the middle of sick season.  Miley is getting over a little cold and runny nose, as am I.  Nothing horrible, but I figure every day he stays in is another day we can recover, and we get one day closer to being out of sick season.  :)

*Every day is one more day of getting to enjoy the comfort of our "normal" before we get thrust into a new "normal."  We are still doing our daily routine, and keeping up with cooking, cleaning, and all of that kind of good stuff.  Hopefully I can get motivated to make all these daily things keep happening after the baby arrives!  I'll admit....I am not the best with change, and it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things, so for  now, I am just loving that life is pretty routine.


I am going to have to check back on this list, oh, about 50 times twice a day in order to appreciate the point I am at right now.

But seriously.  Still hoping this kid makes his debut anytime now.

Happy Heart Day...

....from our little sweetheart, to you!

Boy Oh Boy!

This weekend, my wonderful SIL, Cindy, and my good friend, Cecia, threw me a little shower for Baby Boy Clark.  It was so nice of them to think of me, and our new addition.  It was a nice, low-key shower.  We did it in the late morning, and had some brunch-type food (fruit, muffins, juice) which really hit the spot.  Cecia made all of the adorable decorations...I wish I had a creative bone in my body!  Oh and yes, I have officially reached "beached whale, I need to be moved with a crane" status.  Not pretty.

Everyone was so nice, and got us all the sorts of little boy things that we need...clothes, shoes, pajamas, bibs, etc.  I am starting to get very excited for all these little boy things!

We are so lucky to have such great friends up here, and are so grateful for everything everyone does for us.  It was such a fun morning, and a great way to get my mind off of how uncomfortable I have been.

OK Baby Boy...we pretty much have everything we need for you now, so feel free to make your debut anytime (as in now...that would be great).