Happy Birthday Jack Earl Roberts

This is when we got into our room. At this point, I'm having contractions but it wasn't too bad. My dad and Wendi were able to come right away. My mom and Ellie were at home -Ellie was sick :(
We all hung out for a couple hours just waiting for my Dr. to come.

Me and my dad

Daddy, Mama and baby Jack!

I still don't believe this big baby was in my tummy!

Just out of the oven!

I am so drugged here it's not even funny.

Dr. Raman (the best dr ever)

Grandma and baby Jack

Grandpa and Jake Earl Roberts

Jack Earl Roberts

Okay, so I lied. It was only 1 day away. Jack Earl Roberts decided to come Tuesday, August 23, 2011 instead of Friday, Aug. 26th. It was always up to him anyways. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like I normally have - tired, drained and big. Ellie has been sick, so we were watching some japanese cartoons. After about 30 minutes, I decided to get up. It was really hard to sit up. I could barely do it. I felt crampy and really achy. I went downstairs to sit on the couch and kept changing positions, walking around, but it didn't help. I didn't think they were contractions because it was constant pain and pressure. After about an hour and a half, Nick called the nurse and told them what was going on. She called back and said to go to the hospital and to go to admitting. Once I got there they monitored me and checked my cervix. Sure enough, it was contractions, I was 1-2 dilated and she felt the head. YIKES! I was a little freaked out then, because feeling the baby's head is kind of a big sign that he is ready to come out. From then on they prepped me, set me up in a room and we waited for Dr. Raman.

It was all going pretty well until the anesthesiologist poked me with the spinal shot. He poked several times, twice where I thought my right leg would be paralyzed. It hurt more than anything, but at least it only lasted a few seconds (nothing compared to labor, I'm sure).

It was only 15-20 minutes until Jack was born. They were taking awhile to clean him up before they brought him over to me, right before this one of the nurses came and told me that Jack had a small birth mark on his right temple. I wasn't concerned or really didn't think it was a big deal.  After talking to the pediatrician we learned that it is a small birth mark called congenital nevus.  Jack's is about 1.5 cm and pretty dark. It looks almost like someone took a black marker and marked it.  We've done a lot of research and will be meeting with a cosmetic surgeon at Children's to get a consultation. Most likely it will be surgically removed, not only because of cosmetic reasons, but because of the risk of developing melanoma cancer. It isn't something that will go away on it's own or fade like some small birth marks, it will only grow with him. Right now it's kind of fuzzy and cute, but I don't think Jack will want it! I will post some pictures of it as soon as I download the pictures off my camera. Below is a picture of Jack right after his sponge bath in the hospital. I think I wrote enough for now, but I have a lot more to catch up on... it's almost been a week!

4 days

Today was my last doctor's appointment before my sceduled c-section. She said everything looked great and that I was still closed but 85% thinned out. She also said I was measuring at 40 weeks and the baby is big and it was a good thing I'm having a c-section. The recovery time is longer and it is major surgery, but I know what to expect! So.... I am scheduled for Friday morning.
I can't believe Friday we'll have a new baby. It hasn't really hit me yet. I feel like I have a lot to do before he arrives. I haven't even packed my bag. I'm dreading staying in the hospital, it's so not relaxing. I'm also not looking forward to dealing with the whole breastfeeding thing. I really want to do it, but I almost feel like I will go into depression if I do. I did it with Ellie a little over a month and it was horrible. I had major issues and my milk never really came in. I just remember crying about it all the time. I hope a miracle happens and I change my mind. Maybe one of the nurses will talk me into trying it again. I know that it can't hurt to try it again and I know I'm in the wrong with this whole thing. I've read a lot on nursing and there is NO negatives about it, except if the mother can't do it or emotionally can't handle it. I guess I'm just emotionally unstable, but maybe it will change on Friday! Ok. enough.

I'm pretty excited to get some energy back though! I know I'll still be sleep deprived, but my body will start healing. I'm planning on taking 3 months off. I get 8 weeks for my c-section and the rest is unpaid. We are also going to Vegas in November with Nick's family to celebrate his parent's 40th anniversary! I look forward to that, but not leaving Ellie and the baby. It will be a quick trip, but still.

Ellie has had a fever the last couple of days and has been feeling sluggish. I hope she returns to her normal self by the end of the week, because she'll have a new baby brother!

Here is a picture of Ellie (with her pirate patch) at breakfast the other day. She LOVES breakfast!

7 more............

I can't believe how exhausted I am lately. Seriously, so tired. Of course I wake up several times during the night to pee. I actually woke up Nick (which I do once and awhile, because I think he should experience this pregnancy too - I know, very thoughtful of me), he had to help me up. I felt like I was having contractions or something, but I think I just tried to use my stomach muscles (which no longer exist).  I'm actually awake most of the time though because I have insomnia or something. I guess my body is preparing for when I have to be up all night for the baby, which is lame because I don't need practice. I don't get why it works that way. I can't believe I will have a newborn in a week from today (or maybe sooner). I'm excited to see what he looks like and to do baby things. Ellie seems so grown up lately, so it will be nice to have a little baby around.

Below are some pictures from the Hartford Balloon rally, which was a total dud because of the storms. Ellie had fun though!

My pretty little girl!

Nick and Nick performing. lol!

Ellie and Wendi

Ellie and Daddy

New Stroller!

Back in March, I was talking about buying a double stroller. Well, we finally got one. We decided on the Baby Jogger City Select double stroller. I put it together and really like it. Ellie helped me too. She loves it! Not sure how she'll feel when there is a baby in it too. I ended up getting it at buybuyBaby and got a 10% discount because I filled out a registration there.  You can't get this thing for cheaper or on sale anywhere, believe me I looked.

Ellie really likes playing with boxes!

Here is Ellie in her seat. You can see the infant car seat adapter behind her. We are reusing Ellie's infant car seat, I just don't have it out yet. (I better get on that since we will need it next week)  Once the baby gets bigger he can sit in the other seat that I have that connects.

Just keep swinging............

Ellie is in love with a couple different things lately:

her blanket (of course)
applesauce
popsicles
swinging

Nick, Ellie and I went to the park the other night and let her run around crazy and swing, swing, swing!

Ellie's 2 Year Pictures

I love how Ellie's 2 year pictures turned out. I know I'm pregnant and about to pop, but I'm not so crazy about the ones I'm in. I don't know how women do maternity ones. I guess I'm just self conscious and would prefer not to be in photos, but I know it will be nice to look back in 20 years and laugh.  I seriously LOVE all the ones with Ellie. The second and last one are my favorites. There are other ones, but they are so similar that I posted the ones that looked the best. These are done by the same photographer we've used since Ellie was born. I was looking at her 1year old pictures and it's amazing how much older she looks. I think she could probably pass for a 1st grader. I mean this, first one she looks like she's 5 and the 5th one down, she looks like she's 10.

18 days

Being off of work is kinda weird. I don't even know what day it is.  The weekend didn't start out all that great. Our air conditioner broke again! The guy came out Friday afternoon and found that it was the compressor again - they just replaced that and a new fan 2 weeks ago. I was annoyed because they charged us a service fee. Anyways... it's been working and the house is now cool and not sticky. I like summer, but I am definitly a fall/winter girl. I can't wait until fall comes! My mom's cousin's daughter from Japan is visiting for a couple of days. She is an exchange student in San Diego and is going to college there.  Yesterday we spent the day at Nick's parents house. Ellie was so tired by dinner time and fell asleep in Nick's lap. That was a first! She was so cute sleeping there and I got a kick out of it because Nick had to go to the bathroom. I told him that that was a just a itsy bitsy small feeling of how it feels to be pregnant. He couldn't pass her off because we didn't want to wake her. He had to hold her and suck it up.  I'm counting the days now (18) and visited the doctor on Friday. She said I was thinning out and it could be any day now. I'm further along then I was when Ellie was born and I'm also bigger! I seriously don't know how women have multiples, like my mom did or babies that are bigger than 5 1/2 lbs. Nick is already talking about our third. He's crazy and his timing is off.

Ellie's new swing set!

Ellie finally got her new swingset. We bought it from our neighbors who have outgrown it. It took about 3 hours or so to take it apart and move the 3 big pieces. We already bought a baby bucket swing for Ellie and need to replace the ropes and some other parts on it. It's a Rainbow Play System, but I think we'll shop around too. They are pretty pricey.
This is the before picture in our neighbors yard. Nick and Ron are standing there and Nick (wendi's bf) is driving the bobcat. It was scary to watch them do this!!

 

This is the big middle part being moved into our backyard.















Here they are carring the swing part over.

Ellie was busy drinking ice water.

Here she is with my dad in our backyard.  I'm by the house, water the plants :)

Here we are watching in the back by our neighbors. We were excellant supervisors.

Ellie is checking it out.

It looks like it was easy, but it wasn't!

Ellie is testing out the new picnic table.