Oregon Trip

 

At the beginning of this month Mom, Matthew, Mallory, Wesley and I all hopped on a plan and flew up to Portland to visit Jeff and Lindsay and meet Connor William Reitz!  It was such a wonderful trip. It was just a 4 day trip, but it was perfect! It was amazing to meet Connor, and great to see my brother and sister-in-law as parents. They are doing such a great job with him. He is happy, handsome and as snuggly as can be! Connor is adorable; he looks like a little boy trapped in a 23 inch long body! I kept thinking that he was going to get up and start kicking the soccer ball around. When you got the two little boys next to each other it looked like Wesley could have eaten him and that Connor stole all Wesley’s hair! They couldn’t look more different. Connor is long and thin, with long black hair and dark soulful eyes and the sweetest smile. Wesley is a chunky happy man with blue eyes, red/blond hair and has the body of rugby player. With only being 13 days apart we are all hoping that they will be good friends (and not get into all the trouble that Mallory will inevitably try and get them into). It was a great trip and only made better by the fact that we got to see Joel, Melissa and Brayden Boothe (with whom Mallory is shamelessly in love with). We miss both families so much, but were reminded why we don’t move to Oregon when on just ONE day it rained, snowed, hailed and was sunny… talk about bipolar weather!

Thanks for housing us Jeff and Lindsay. Thanks for driving us everywhere Joel and Melissa. Love and miss you all!!!!!!

New Job (again)

Ok, here’s the new job story. I had all intentions of returning to my current (I guess former) job… it wasn’t perfect, but it was nice, I loved the people I worked with and I did get to learn cool things about exotic animals… but I knew I wasn’t going to stay there forever. Then, about 3 ½ weeks into my maternity leave I got a call out of the blue from Windsor Animal Hospital (this amazing, new, state of the art, 5 doctor practice) that I had given my resume to prior to even starting at the Santa Rosa job. I was really interested in this practice, and was kind of bummed when they didn’t need a vet back when I needed a job. (But Gods got His perfect timing when it comes to life… and it just wasn’t meant to be… then).
Any way, they called me saying that there was going to be an opening for a new vet at the beginning of May (which just so happened to be when I was thinking of going back to work, post baby). They were looking for someone to work 2-3 days a week… which would be great. But the bummer was that it was every sat/sun with a random weekday here or there. Then I started thinking about how perfect that schedule might be… it would mean that I could be home with the kids all week! No daycare needed (talk about a money saver). Then Matthew would have them on the weekends, and both Matthew and I would have Mondays off to be our family day. Plus the weekend schedule would only be temporary (so they think). I was really working on not being too excited, since they said that there were 8 other vets that were interested in the position. Plus I had a job.
They called me back a few days later saying that they really liked my personality and it is now down to 6 people. So they had me come in for an interview. It went well. I was just myself and really relaxed (since I felt like I DO have a job and this would just be nice if it worked out… but it wasn’t a necessity).  Post interview they kept talking about how much they really like me, my personality, my humor and how I handle myself… but were a little worried about my lack of copious years of emergency work (since that’s pretty much what the weekend shifts are all about). Regardless of their slight worry they asked me back for a working interview. Now it was down to me and one other person (who apparently had more experience). So a few days later I left the kids with mom and went in for the working interview. It was fun. I just hung out, helped out, chatted to everyone about all sorts of thing, open drawers and cupboards and scrubbed in on surgeries.  Once again I was pretty laid back about it all… I kept telling myself, I have a job and if God wants this to happen, it will. At the end of my time there, they told me that they would get back to me within 4-5 days.
The very next morning they called! Apparently when I left the entire staff pow-wowed and told the owners that they wanted to work with me! And the owners agreed. They loved my personality, skill and bedside manner and felt that even though I didn’t have as much experience as others, it will come with time… but you can’t teach personality (their words, not mine). So I had the job!!!!!!!!! J I was stoked. The best past is, that even if I only work 2 days a week they are offering my just about what I was making working 4 ½ days a week in Santa Rosa!!!!
God defiantly had his hand in this every step of the way. I start on May 1^st… I’m a little nervous, but really excited about all that I am about to do and the adventure I’m about to embark on!!!!

Chop-chop

I’m not sure what it is about having a baby that makes women want to cut their hair off… but just about every lady I know goes for a new/drastic cut soon after having a baby. Maybe it’s the need to reinvent yourself (again), maybe it’s the need to feel different, pretty, sexy, non-I sit at home and breast feed all day-like, maybe it’s that it takes too much time to worry about/style long hair, maybe it’s great excuse to get out of the house for a few hours without your kids… maybe it’s all the above. Whatever the reason, I got the itch and yesterday I had my hair CHOPPED, highlighted (for the first time ever), had an hour long facial (once again my first) and a foot soak with reflexology and pedicure! It was an afternoon of self pampering (while my dad and brother dealt with the kids). For a few hours my life felt quiet, normal, sane… until too many hours had past and my breasts started getting too full and I almost leaked all over the stylist.  ANY WAY, I love my new hair. It’s easy to do, sassy and fun yet professional… perfect for starting my new job…. Which I have yet to write about.

2 Months

Our little Buck-a-roo turned 2 months today! Once again I am reminded how time flies and drags on all at the same time. He is cooing (some) and giving the ever coveted smiles on his own time, which is almost never and just about only ever to his momma (I don’t mind that).

He had his 2 month doctor appointment today, which meant he got his first round of shots. Remember when Mallory would get shots… she wouldn’t even cry (granted she had more thigh on her then most thanksgiving turkeys)… Little Wesley was the complete opposite. He turned beat red and wailed! I mean, he really was not happy about it! And now, 7 hours later, he can’t be put down, he has a little fever, and if he wiggles his legs (or God forbid you touch them) he screams bloody murder. So much for our laid back little man. On the bright side he did sleep almost 8 hours straight last night!!!!!
On to his stats: He is 11 pounds 3.2 ounces (39%), 22 ¾ inches long (45%) and his head in a whopping 37.3 cm (6%). He is growing great and the Dr was supper happy about our little mans progress (and quite impressed with his weight gain when he found out it was all on MY milk… pretty sure it’s more like cream, or Brie cheese based on his weight).

My Child Has WHAT????

Yesterday Mallory work up and crumbled to the floor as she tried to stand. It was as if her left leg just stopped working. It was heartbreaking. I had no idea what was wrong with her. She hadn’t had any falls, crashes or injuries… just a little runny nose and cough. So there my little girl was on the floor arms raised telling me “Up mamma. Carry you.” (By ‘you’ she actually means herself). She ended up having a very low grade fever so I called the doctor who said to give her some Motrin and if it isn’t better in 2 hours (or gets worse) to bring her in. Sadly after 2 hours Mallory still could not bear any weight on it and would fall if she tried to walk (thankfully she was still happy and didn’t seem to be in any pain, or even seem to mind the fact that she literally couldn’t walk). I of coarse am thinking of every terrible cause for lameness and fever that I see in my profession and am really starting to freak myself out, so I called my mom, who set the prayer chain into motion and off to the doctor’s office we went. Turns out she has Toxic Synovitis!!!!! Sounds scary I know… but it’s just a fancy way of saying a viral induced arthritis… yeah that still sounds a little frightening.  Basicly what happened is that the cold virus that she has also set up camp in her left hip joint (not causing a septic joint though), just pain. It occurs in about 3% of children and usually seen in boys ages 4-6… so it’s a little strange that Mallory Rose, my 20 month old girl has it. But after spending the day resting and taking Motrin ever 6 hours she WALKED herself bed by the end of the day and today is running around like nothing ever happened (all that remains is a very slight limp). Praise God that is was nothing more serious and that she is such a trooper!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We had a blast… especially Mallory, who pretty much ran around for two days with her mouth wide open, screeching for joy when she found an egg. The Easter bunny came THREE times (apparently he’s stocking her).Saturday we had a nice dinner at Roberts’s house, complete with an egg hunt. Then Sunday we had a low key morning and did a little egg hunt here then went over to my parent’s house (along with Joyce, John, Russell and Rachel) and Mallory found even more eggs. Can you say sugar high???? Pretty sure she has never had that much sugar….Ever! But it was really nice. The Easter bunny even gave me a gift. It was the gift of sleeping children (despite ALL the sugar). Last night Mallory slept like a rock (not unusually for her), but after Wesley had been asleep 6 hours I woke up in a small panic and very full milk-bags (he has never slept that long). But he was fine, just all tuckered out and snoozing away. So I pumped for a few seconds to relieve the pressure and went back to bed. Of course he work up 20 minutes later… sigh. But it's progress!

 

Cat in the Hat

Last week The Cat in the Hat came to the mall! Mallory was sooooo excited that we were going to see him. She wanted to dress up and put her hair in piggies so she could show him. When Mr. In The Hat came walking up to the HUGE group of kids Mallory raised her arms over her head and showed "Yeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh......" (as she was screaming with joy she turned to face the group of kids [arms still raised, and with an ear to ear smile on her face]. She looked around at all the kids with a look on her face as if she was asking 'Who's with me....?' All she got in response was blank and slightly frightened stares back at her. Not to be detoured by the less than enthusiastic group, she kept her arms up and took one more look around this time asking 'Anyone? Anyone?') I think she finally realized that she was more excited than anyone else there and decided to take advantage of it, so she turned back towards the Cat and did her patented 'Full
Body Mallory Run' right into his legs (head right into the crotch.... I'm hoping it was a girl in the suit because if it was a guy, that would have hurt). We had to practically pry her off his legs when it was time to go. Needless to say it made her day... actually she's still talking about it so it made her week!

Too Fast

A week and a half ago (on March 18th) Wesley rolled over! I know what you are thinking… that he was only 4 ½ weeks old, that I am crazy, that I am making it up… but it’s true! The first time he rolled over was actually two days before that, but I had just chalked it up to it being a fluke
accident (he was on his tummy and was a little fussy and I figured sheer momentum must have caused it). But then the next day he rolled onto his side (while not being fussy) and then on the 18th he was on his belly for some tummy time and he lifted his head, arched his back, rotated his arm and rolled over like he’d been doing it his entire life. Matthew was even there to see it all (which means I’m not crazy)! Granted he hasn’t done it since… but maybe he’ll be like Mallory and just do something once (or twice) to prove he can and then not do it again for a while. Looks like we may have another little over achiever on our hands. I’m not totally sure I’m happy about that… He’s already getting so big, I do not want to rush into him growing up even faster or being mobile
just yet.

Beenas Visit

Sweet Beena left this morning after a week long visit with us! Her main reason for the trip was to meet little Wesley Man, but she was also missing Mallory (oh and the rest of us too). I think that this was my favorite trips of hers as of yet. We really hit it off (we have always gotten along wonderfully, but sometimes butt heads due to our personalities). But this trip was wonderful! She fell madly in love with Wesley and really bonded with Mallory (and Mallory to her. In fact Mallory woke up this morning and pretended to call Beena on her fake cell phone). Benna would sit for hours with Wesley sound asleep on her chest telling me stories of the trips overseas that she and Boppa took (stories I had never heard!!!) and talking about the differences/similarities of child rearing now v.s. 65 years ago. She (and mom) even baby sat the kids a few times while I ran errands or went to appointments. It was a total blessing to have her here and the week went way too quickly. I'm hoping that she'll come again before July.... but we'll see.

Buck-a-Roo

Mallory has been cracking me up... when Wesley crys(which thankfully isn't too offten), she runs up to him and says "No cry Buck-a-roo, no cry" it's so cute. She's such a good big sister.

I know that I have been bad about blogging about Mallory, Wesley and all of our lifes goings-ons, I have LOADS to catch you all up on... this week I want to be better about blogging... so stay tuned. :)

Should I Worry????

'Ahhhh how sweet', is what you are thinking, right? Mallory looks so happy...sweet...loving... like she would never let anything happen to her Tickle-Me-Elmo... right?
WRONG!

This is the scene that I walked into. Mallory had Elmo on her work bench and was putting him through the ringer! Drilling his body and trying to saw off his arm! I didn't know if I should laugh or be very frightened... (so I took pictures instead). But really, I don't want her to end up like 'Sid'... you remember that crazy neighbor kid from Toy Story (the one that dissembled the toys and created monster-like toys).

So Far Elmo is still intact, so I'm hoping that we are in the clear. :)

1 Month!

Yesterday Wesley Robert Klein turned ONE month old! (I can’t even begin to tell you how fast this month went) and its nuts to think that he is 1/12 of the way to being a year old. Man, time flies. I copied this picture idea from Michelle (cute idea, huh? Thanks Michelle).

Wesley is such a good little man. Very happy and mellow. He loves to snuggle, but is almost just as happy in his swing or on his tummy for a little tummy time. His sleeping pattern is getting better too; it’s like 3 ½ to 4 hours at a time for the past 3 nights. He is getting over his first cold (apparently he’s a great sharer, because now we are all now passing around the little cold-bug). He’s working through it like a champ though. Today he smiled at me for the first time! It wasn’t a gas smile or a sleeping/dreaming smile either. It was a eyes open looking right at me smile… and it happened THREE times! It melted me heart. I think I actually squealed, I was so excited! I am so in love with this little man, and feel blessed to be his mom.



Photo Shoots

Ok, so I feel a little naive in saying this, but I honestly didn’t realize how little time I was going to have with two kids. I’m sure that all you moms are probably shaking your head and laughing at me, but I really thought that I would at least have a second or two every day to get out to the garage and work on my blog or my photo album. Yeah right! But if Mallory doesn’t need me, Wesley does. I don’t know how people with two or more do it…. What’s the trick?

Anyway, I have been trying to write about Wesley’s photo shoots for the past few weeks, but just haven’t gotten around to it. So better late, then never, right?

I’m pretty sure that Wesley thinks that he is royalty or famous and is being stocked by the paparazzi the way that cameras appear and flashes go off when ever he’s around! Between, me, my mom, Joyce and the two photo shoots he’s been in, it’s no big surprise that flashes don’t seem to bother him anymore.

When Janie came to visit, she graciously took a trillion newborn photos of both him and of our entire family. And let me tell you, it is NO small feat to get a picture of Mallory holding still… but she did it! It was such a fun shoot, lots of different settings, hats and outfits! We had a ball and she has such a great eye. I can’t thank her enough (and I will very soon have a handful of her photos hanging on our wall).

The second photo shoot was done by Michelle Demoss (who works with my mom). Apparently mom knits a bunch of things for her, so Michelle wanted to thank her but doing a photo shoot of Wesley. This shoot was great too! We went to her house and she had the whole nine yards (in terms of gear/props/equipment/editing software). She spent two hours shooting Wesley and got some incredible shots. I feel like he’s now the poster child for cuteness! I have a handful of her pictures ordered too… I’m telling you Wesley is just too cute not to order a ton of them.

So thank you to all that were involved in capturing the cuteness Wesley’s first few weeks of life.

 

 

 

Random Info

 

Wonders of wonders, I am alive! Sorry I have been a little overwhelmed lately, and somehow the 24 hours we are allotted each day is not nearly enough to do everything that I am wanting to get done… so needless to say I am doing the more important things like feeding the family and animals, exercising, cleaning, playing, changing diapers and napping when possible. Things that I may WANT to do like Blogging, bubble baths, painting my toes and full night’s sleep have been moved to the do when/if I can list (or possibly the never again list in the case of the night’s sleep). Wesley seems to have gotten into a ‘habit’ of waking up ever 1 ½ to 2 hours a night and wants to nurse. I had thought that it was just to up my milk, but now that it has been going on for a week and a half I am thinking it’s just him, not the milk. Yesterday I went to see a lactation consultant just to make sure all is fine with his nursing/my milk (I think I’m a little gun-shy after all the issues with our Little Miss). But Wes and I are totally ‘normal.’ And the consultant gave me a few really great things to try (to see if we can get him to go a little longer between night time feedings...this translates to me getting to sleep a little longer). We did them yesterday/last night and Wesley slept for 3 to 3 ½ hour stents all night! Heaven! Hopefully it continues. Oh, he did get weighed yesterday and he is now 7 pounds, 14 oz (up an entire pound since birth).

Ok, now to brag on Mallory for a second. She is such a riot, she knows her colors so well, and walks around telling you “this is the_______ (insert any color here) one” to just about anything. She knows red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, black, brown and (the dreaded) pink. She also knows the names of all 7 dwarfs (she has these little plastic Disney dwarf dolls), and she is working on the numbers 1-10. It was so funny, the other night I was helping her say her prayers (me say the words and she repeats them) and this is how our conversation to God went:

Jessica: Dear…

Mallory: Dear

J: Lord

M: Lord

J: Thank you

M: Naake you

J: For

M: Five

J: no, for

M: Five

J: ok, never mind… the day.

M: K, mind, da day.

It was cracking me up… after all the work on numbers, of course FIVE comes after FOR.

I’m telling you, in a matter of years she is going to be the smartest on in this house.

2 Week Check Up

Yes, that is a manly blue package covering Wesley’s ‘package’. It was too cute of a picture not to share… but I didn’t think everyone on the web needed/wanted to see what he’s ‘packin’.
Anyway, today Wes had his 2 week doctor checkup. It went great! He has grown an inch, his head has grown an ½ inch and he has gained 8 ounces. So he is now 20 inches long, his head is 13.58 and he weighs a whooping 7 pounds 6.3 oz! He is nice and strong and is starting to push up with his legs when you stand in upright. He loves tummy-time and will lift and turn his head on his own. He is still way mellow, and is an all-around happy man. The past two days he has been trying to up my milk supply, so he’s wanting to eat every 2 hours (almost on the dot) even at night (Not nearly as fun as the 4 hour sleeping stents he was doing)… but at least he goes right back to sleep when he is full.
Mallory is still being wonderful with him, though she is too helpful at times and we constantly have to remind her to be gentle, or not to cover him with blankets, not to steal his blankets from him, not to drop books on him and not to shove his pacifier in his mouth! But at least there has yet to be any resentment or mean play (fingers crossed).

Our Little Bruiser

Please note her black eyes (that's right, plural… the has had 2 black eyes on the left eye in the past 3 weeks)… plus one heck of a bloody nose.
I’m telling you, Mallory is the most rough and tumble kid around! She is not what you would call ‘dainty’… not by any stretch of the imagination. It is both fun and nerve-wracking to have a child that thinks falling, jumping off or banging into things is how you have the best time ever. She is a constant sores of amusement for us, as we watch her bounce around the house (sort of like a pin-ball meets a bull in a china shop) banging of this wall, falling off that chair, hitting her head/eye/face/leg/arm/bootie on this or that. Most of the time she bounces up and is no worse for the wear… other times she has to cry for a few seconds before continuing on her path of mass destruction. She is so much fun, and we are looking forward to watching her play sports (and probably tear through the opponent without blinking an eye). We are already thinking about what sort of signing bonus to ask for.
Another fun little thing about our ‘little’ Mallory Rose is that lately she has been really into people’s names. She can remember all sorts of names and then will tell you a story about what that person did when she saw them. With all the guests that we have had over she has picked up a few funny little quirks; like the other day I walked into her room and she looked up and with a big grin said “Jesssssssiiiiiieeeeee!” I have to now keep reminding her to call me Momma, not Jessie. Also, she and I were talking about her Daddy the other night (he was at Rugby practice), when she blurted out “Matthew, Big, Strong Man!” She even made the flexed muscle arm gesture… don’t ask me where she learned this, but I was dying! Don’t get me wrong, it’s true, he is a big, strong man, but why would she know that? Too cute.

Pregnancy Differences

All during this pregnancy I kept thinking how very different
it was then the first… so I thought that maybe it was because it was a
different gender, but I never really documented all the differences because I
was afraid to jinx it. Now that our little man is here I can write about all
the differences (not that anyone else really cares, but I want to remember).

Mallory: 3 weeks of morning sickness
Wesley: 10 weeks of ALL the time sickness, especially when
it came to meat
M: Heart burn
W: Liquid fire-like heart burn from everything I ate
(lettuce, bananas, pasta, butter, water)
M: Never had to shave
W: Had to shave ever 2-3 days
M: Gained 35 pounds all in the first 2 trimesters (including
a J-lo like bootie/hips/thighs). Carried her wide
W: Gained 28 pounds throughout the entire pregnancy (and
lost 2 pounds in the last week), never really got the dreaded ‘bootie.’ Carried
him like a soccer ball under my shirt, all out front.
M: NEVER wanted sweets but always wanted peanut butter and
veggies.
W: ALWAYS wanted sweets (still do) and pasta.
M: Only had 2 emotional/hormonal breakdowns.
W: Seemed to breakdown once a month… at ‘nothing’ in
particular.
M: Didn’t mind many smells.
W: Would gag at just the thought of smelling alcohol
(especially beer), meat, or anal glands.
M: REALLY sleepy… practically comatose.
W: Just tired.
M: Developed the Linia Nigra (the line down the tummy)
W: The line never showed up.
M: Clear completion
W: Totally broke out during first trimester.
M: Water broke but no contractions
W: Contractions but no breakage of water (prior to it being
done for me/him)

It seems like the only similarities were that there was a
baby inside me, and I ALWAYS had to pee.

Little Man

I know that all parents must think that their offspring are the best… but in my case, it’s true! Wesley is such a wonderful little man. He is mellow, relaxed, and all around content with life. He is only getting up 1-2 times a night to feed and goes immediately back to bed! He is happy just swinging/hanging out as we play and read with Mallory and doesn’t ever cry when she ‘pats’ him a little too hard. He is such a joy and blessing to our family. I am amazed at the depth of the love that I feel for him, while at the same time still constantly increasing my love for Mallory, it’s like I am going to over flow with bubbly, squishy, lovey-dovey-ness.
Mallory has been AMAZING with her little brother. No animosity or resentment towards him at all. It’s been ‘my baby’ this and ‘my brover Wessssleeeey’ that. It’s too cute. The one thing that has been a little challenging is that for a week (+) our house has been like a revolving door of visitors. Every day we have tons of people stopping by, bringing gifts, love, cards and food… what a blessing. But it has made things tough for Mallory (who needs a little more structure and discipline) then she had been getting from all the playmates that have stopped by. So needless to say we are working on getting her back on track and reminding her that we are in charge… not her (despite what she thinks). But all in all I can’t complain, our family has transitioned from a threesome to a foursome relatively seamlessly!
Here’s the Garage Photo Collage… ok, how silly would it have been if Wesley was a little girl… good thing we all knew he was a boy! (I think we lucked out on that one).

Birthing Humor

I know that what you all really want are more cute pictures of our newest addition and I promise they are coming (because he really is getting cuter and cuter my the second)… but I wanted to write down one more part of the birth story, before I forget about the humor of birth!
Matthew is an amazing partner/coach. Really! If there ever was a supportive husband of the year award he would get it. He was great at letting me lean, hold, squeeze, hang, breath on/with him through all of labor. He could tell when a contraction was coming on and was totally flexible to whatever it was that I wanted or needed for those eternal seconds. But there was one point towards the end of my whorl-wind labor/ delivery that I was totally zeroed in on the mirror and all my focus and motivation was watching and touching the baby’s head as it move down. Matthew, being the ever level headed and supportive guy that he is knew that I should be breathing more and doing the short, burst-like pushes that I was asked to do by the midwife (not doing the long, hard powerful pushing that my body was screaming at me to do). So he was leaning over the edge of the bed in my ear/on my cheek ‘demonstrating’ how I should be breathing. All I could feel though were these hot bursts of warm sticky air hitting my face, TOTALLY distracting me. For some ‘odd’ reason I couldn’t think of the words “please stop breathing on my face,” so in the heat of the moment my only form of communicating my displeasure which what he was doing was to turn to him, look him straight in the eyes and zurburt (or Raspberry) they air, spraying spit all over him in the process!
Needless to say I got my point across and he stopped! Much to his credit he didn’t even retaliate (which would be considered typical Matthew fashion).
Thanks My Love, you were wonderful!
Sorry!!!!!

Wesley Robert Klein

Ok so here it is; Wesley’s birth story… I know a few of you have already heard it, so feel free to skip ahead to way cute pictures. I just want to get this recorded for memory sake (since it seems that with each kid I am losing my mind more and more).
I had a baby doctor appointment on Monday at 11:30am, so I left work for a early lunch and met Matthew and Mallory at Kaiser. The midwife (Loren) listened to the baby, measured my tummy and then checked me. I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. She did ‘muck’ around a little and then gave me intrusions to go home, have sex, take a brisk walk and maybe a hot shower. I only had one appointment booked for the afternoon, so I thought that I’d just take the rest of the day off (since Matthew had the day off too and we wanted to obey the doctors orders). We went home gave Mallory lunch and put her to bed…then listened to the doctor’s orders. After or romp, I took Sonny out for the brisk walk and contractions immediately started! They were about 6-7 minutes apart and not that exciting, but contractions nonetheless. I called mom (who was about the leave for work) and she agreed to stop by the house and ‘check’ me again. I was now 3 ½ cm, so making progress, but not enough to head into the hospital. Over the next hour I tracked my contractions they were now 4-6 minutes apart but only lasting for 20-30 seconds and still not supper exciting. The thing is, with Mallory my water broke, so I KNEW to go to the hospital. This time I was left wondering, ‘when do I go in, at what point are contractions ‘real’ and ‘strong’ enough to warrant a hospital?’ (Since heaven forbid I deliver the baby on the newly shampooed carpet). I called mom… again, who told me to keep waiting, because they didn’t sound strong enough or long enough. So over the next 2 hours I tracked them until they were coming every 2-6 minute, but still only 35-45 seconds… though getting more intense with each one. At 7pm I told Matthew that I thought we should just go in. His Mom and John were at the house already so they stayed with Mallory until Thomas showed up to watch her.
When we got to the hospital Mom had just gotten rid of her last patient so she ‘took’ us!!!!! What a blessing that was. I mean to have your own mom caring for you in this very personal and intimate time is like a dream come true! She once again checked me, and I was now 4cm… not dilated enough to officially admit me (5 is the magic number they wanted me at). Sad. MY midwife was actually on that night (how perfect was that), so she said for us to hang out, walk around and I’d be checked again in 2 hours. So mom asked us all the official hospital questions (basically all but admitted us except for putting in an IV catheter and running the labs). Then we walked. Mom gave us the tour, stopping to let me lean into Matthew as I would breathe through each contraction.
At 9pm I was checked again… fingers crossed that I was now 5… but nope, I was only 4 1/2. Once again the midwife said lets check in 2 hours, so I still wasn’t admitted because the labor hadn’t actually started. Sigh! But the contractions were strong enough that I really didn’t want to go home. So we walked some more, talked, contracted and waited for those 2 hours to pass. Just before 10:30 Matthew went down to the car to get my slippers, when all of a sudden my contractions changed, my breathing changed, my whole body changed! Mom recognized it right away and started placing my catheter and got the labs sent out. Just as Matthew was showing back up (and heading straight for the bathroom to pee, totally oblivious as the the change that was taking place), Loren (the midwife) was checking me. I was now 6 cm, 100% effaced and my water bag was bulging. I was NOW finally considered in labor! Loren popped my water bag as Matthew come out of the bathroom. She told him that she thought that I would deliver within an hour and to call his mom (who I had invited to be part of the delivery). Matthew was pretty funny about it though, because he kept feeling like the whole time we were riding the fence as to if we were even going to be admitted into the hospital and now, all of a sudden we are going to have a baby… in and HOUR??? He called his mom, who said she would come down right away.
The next part all happened SOOOO fast that I don’t even remember it all. It was time for moms shift change, so she got to transition from my wonderful nurse into ‘grandma’ mode in the nick of time. In a mater of minutes (literally) my contractions changed again and people were moving all about. Moving in trays, putting on gowns, I was now on the bed breathing…breathing and getting pretty close to feeling like I was needing to push. The mirror was brought in so that I could see my little baby, the bed legs dropped, and Joyce came in (just in time)… because now I NEEDED to push! 8 minutes later a perfect head was out and Loren told me to reach down and pull my baby out (which I had asked her to let me do! With one more push the shoulders were out and I was lifting this wet, warm, slippery body onto my chest! I kept waiting to hear Matthews voice telling me if it was a little boy or girl that I was holding in my arms… but apparently he (once again) couldn’t tell… but this time it was because of all the hands and the cord that was in the way. So impatient me, reached down, hiked up a wiggly wet leg and saw I was holding a SON! We had a SON!
So after only 57 minutes of true labor and 8 minutes of pushing we had a baby boy! What an awesome labor! On our own we could not have created a more perfect day, with all the different players and all the perfect timing. It was all planed perfectly by God.
We got to snuggle our little man for about 2 hours before they bathed, measured and weighed him. And though we didn’t have a name yet, we now knew that he was born at 11:35 pm on February 13, 2012 was 6 pounds 14 ounces, 19 inches long, had a 13 inch BLOND head and absolutely perfect! He has large hands, feet and toes and long thin limbs. Despite being 19 days early he is PERFECTLY healthy, latched to the breast like a pro, and kept shocking all the doctors with his strength, weight, input and output!
We named him the next day. After reading through the ‘bazillion and one’ baby name book we had narrowed it down to three names. We liked them all so we did the most logical next thing, looked them up online in terms of popularity (not wanting to chose a name that lots of other little boys have). One of the names was #9, one was #22 and one was #244 (and that one just so happened to be my all time favorite, since it is my Dads and Thomas’ middle name). The middle name is Matthews’s middle name and his fathers’ first name.
Wesley Robert Klein. Our perfect little son.