Going in to be Induced

This was the morning of. Ella was excited that the baby would finally be here.

We couldn't decide on a name so we asked a bunch of people and here were the results...

I need to do an update because that is only about half of the votes.

Daddy shaving and getting ready to meet his new little guy

When they had me walking for an hour or so I stopped to take a picture

Wow. I was big.

New York - By Kaiya

One of the last papers Kaiya wrote as a 4th grader.

Father's Day Gifts

 What Ella made Cirdan at Preschool

Here are the questionnaires that the girls filled out about Cirdan. Some of their answers are pretty amusing.

And each drew a picture of him on the back...

Love Ella's answers...

Ella's Mom and Dad

Today as I was cleaning out the office/spare room I came across a pile of stuff that I wanted to scan and add to my blog. The last few months I haven't really wanted to deal with the blog but I must be feeling a little more like myself again because I am blogging like a crazy lady!

I ran across a packet from Ella's preschool graduation. This one in one of the books that she made and I decided it needed its own blog.

March 2012 - oh cute, a picture she drew of herself...is she mad? ha ha

April 2012 - Noodles are one of her favorites. The pictures is cute, her eating some noodles (with no face...or arms). Oh, what a cute book! I thought...

Until I came to this page.

May 2012 -

This is my mom. She likes to watch TV.

Thanks Ella. Very VERY funny. Is that really what she thinks of me?!? I was hurt but not really THAT hurt until I saw....

This.

June 2012 -

This is my dad. He likes to read books with me.

WOW. That is all I can say. WOW. She is such a daddy's girl. Grrrrrr. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

As always...

Of course while Ava was here we HAD to go to Chuck E Cheese.

Recital After Show Pictures

Meema and Papa came to watch and support the girls. Greg and Staci also came to support them. I think Greg and Staci has been to most of the shows. They are wonderful friends!

Stacey was going to watch Jett but Casey had to go to urgent care. Jett ended up going with us to the recital. I was very nervous but he did great!! Didn't have to go out once! It isn't a short show. About 3 hours...at least. He even fell asleep at the very end. He is such a good little boy.

Kaiya and her dance friend Elizabeth

Ella...our sassy one

The Story of Canon's Birth

Lots of things changed since my last posting! I went into a doctor appointment on Tuesday morning at 9:00am before my scheduled c-section. I was supposed to go the the hospital by 10:00 and the c-section was scheduled for 12:00. I was very nervous the day before about the c-section but by Tuesday morning I was excited and ready. I was convinced that a c-section was the best thing on earth. Ha ha. At my doctor appointment my doctor came in and I signed paperwork for the c-section. She then did a quick ultrasound and guess what.....THE BABY WAS HEAD DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. That little stinker was doing flips....saturday down...monday up...tuesday down. The doctor said that she was going to go call the hospital to find out if they could get me in that day for a induction before he decided to turn again. Cirdan and I went home and waited for a call from the hospital. If we didn't hear from them by 11 then I was supposed to call them. Everything was already prepared and my mom was with the kids. We got home and waited....and waited....and waited...and waited....That day turned out to be a very busy baby birth day! They didn't have any rooms opened up. I even knew 2 people who were due around the same time as me and they both went into labor that day.   A nurse told us that someone gave birth in the hallway on a wheelchair....yes, you read that right.  In the hall!  I ended up not going to get induced on Tuesday. The hospital said if anything opened up during the night they would call me, but no call.  I woke up early on Wednesday, took a shower and called the hospital around 7:00. The lady said that they should have a room open and that a couple nurses would be coming in at 11:00AM so she would call me or I should call her back if I don't hear by 11:00. After hearing nothing, I made the call and she said to go ahead and come in. Yay!!! We gathered our stuff and took the kids to my parents house. I was so excited the time was finally here!

We got to the hospital at noon. By 1:00 I was already in the hospital bed with the Sydatek (sp) working its magic. After the doctor put the gel in I was to lay in bed for 2 hours. The contractions really started going. After the 2 hours I asked to get up and walk around. I knew with Jett as soon as I got up and walked things really started to progress. After walking/standing for an hour they checked and I was dilated at a 2. Things were progressing! Since the contractions were going on their own they decided not to give me any pitocin and just see what my body would do. I laid for another couple hours to be monitored then got back up and walked around a bit. They then checked me again at 6:45 and I was still at a 2!  Crap. I was bummed, especially since my contractions were getting so strong and painful. The doctor didn't want me to have an epidural till at least I was at a 3 so they gave me some pain meds in my IV. Those were great, let me tell you. The room started to spin and I had to close my eyes for a good 5 minutes but they helped in a big way! At about 11:30 the doctor decided to break my water even though I was still at a 2. Things were just not progressing. I asked if I could first get an epidural and he said I could. At 11:40 I got an epidural and at 11:55pm was when the doc came in to break my water.  My contractions really started to pick up and my blood pressure was going down so they gave me some turbulent and ephedrine to slow my contractions and increase my blood pressure.  They wanted to ensure that Cannon was relaxed and getting the oxygen and blood he needed.  The contractions being strong needed to be slowed to give him a break.
Since they were slowing down the contractions, things really stopped. At 2:00am (was dilated 4 1/2) they gave me some potocin to get things going again. I was glad that they stopped the contractions when they saw the baby's heart rate go down but it also set me back a couple of hours. When I was induced with Jett his heart rate was really down from the contractions and they ended up having to get him out fast and had to use a vacuum. At 5:30 I was dilated to a 5 1/2-6. That is when things started to pick up. 7:00am I was at an 8 and 7:30 I was at a 9.
The same thing happened with Jett.  Canon and Jett were both came right as shift changes were happening. Jett was born at 8:04 am. Shift changes happen at 7:30, AM and PM. My doctor was on vacation so all night I had another one of the doctors that work at the clinic checking on me. I have heard really good things about about the doctor who took over so I felt like I was in good hands...even though my doctor wasn't with me. Since his shift got done at 7:30 a new doctor was taking over. Her name is Dr. Kristine King. It kind of stressed me out thinking a new doctor was coming in to take over...another one that I had never met. She came in to meet me and then left saying she would be back for the birth.
The nurse was really laid back...almost too much. When I found out I was at a 9 I started freaking out inside. I wanted everyone ready to go. Where was the doc? What if the baby just decided to come out and no one was there? She checked me at 7:30 and I was at a 9 and the nurse told me she would come back at 8:00 to check me again. Why a whole 30 minutes?! Ahhhh! At 8:00 she said I was about ready to push but I wasn't quite ready. Then she changed her mind and told me to push. I did...but not a true strong push. Why would I push when the doc wasn't there?!?! I did a half push (pretending to do a full blown push) and she said she was going to go get the doctor.
This was the most relaxed setting I could have imagined for giving birth. The TV was on. I was laying there watching some program that happened to be about professional photographers taking pictures while women give birth. Ironic...I thought. Between pushes, the doctor, nurse, Cirdan and I were all chit chatting. Just talking like it was nothing and I wasn't about to be giving birth. I had about 5 sets of contractions (3 pushes per contraction) and my little man was entering into the world.
At 8:33am Canon was born. 7 pounds 14 ounces - 19 inches long
Cirdan cut the cord and they took Canon to get cleaned up. I looked over at him and he was absolutely perfect!


Some odd and end things...
The nurse that I had from 7pm to 7am was one of the nicest people I have ever met. She was phenomenal. She made me feel good and special. She helped with things that Cirdan usually helps with. She even held my hand when I was getting an epidural (ha ha) and made sure the whole time that I was comfortable. I was bummed that she wasn't there when Canon was born.


Dr. King was very informative - almost too much information. Ha ha. I didn't need to know what happened to my body during birth...just fix it and let me be on my way. 


The nurse that was there when Canon was born was the same nurse that was in Triage on the Saturday before when they turned the baby. Kinda funny.


Since I thought that they were doing a c-section on Tuesday they told me to wake up at 3:00 am and eat a little bit because it would be the last time to eat until after the baby was born. I continued to not eat much after finding out that I would be induced instead. I had a couple little snacks but that was all. By the time I had Canon on Thursday morning I was starving to death. The popsicles and ice were not cutting it. My first hospital meal was delish!!! French toast...yum.

Organizing and Gifts

In preparation for a new little boy we had to do some switching around. Since Ella had the biggest room we moved her to Jett's old room and Jett and Canon will share her old room. When we moved in we left the paint not knowing if we would have to change it to a boys room. We moved furniture and I took some pictures of what the walls looked like - pre paint.

(don't look at the mess....I was pregnant and....yeah....that's my excuse) 

Here are the after pictures. The blue is really nice but the picture doesn't do justice. We (as in we, I mean the professional painters) painted one accent wall a darker shade and the others a lighter blue.

(once again excuse the clutter)

We have also been adding organizers to the closets...and once again when I say 'we' I mean Cirdan's friend who remodels houses for a profession. Here is a picture of the shelves in Kaiya's room. We will need more for all her trophies/plaques! I have since then organized and made it look a little better...

Here is a picture of Kaiya's closet. David added shoe racks and another layer of hanging bars for clothes.

In our closet we just had the one bar to hang clothes. Have you seen all my clothes? Definitely not enough. Much more space now.

Cirdan's corner

Center

Other side. There are also shoe racks that are on the far right and left sides that weren't in the picture.

Here is a closer up picture of what the kids gave Cirdan for Father's day. It says...

With Every step, I try so hard to walk in Your Shoes. The kids are all wearing his shoes. Thank you pinterest for the fun idea. Cirdan loved it and I think I even saw him shed a tear...:)

Amy made this for me...very cute idea. The diaper cakes were really popular but I have never seen a diaper motorcycle. Fun and creative! I didn't want to take it apart.

Happy Birthday Ava! #7!

Sue and Richard were able to come visit for a day while Ava was here. We celebrated that Saturday night with some pad thai dinner and an ice cream cake. 

On Monday for her actual birthday we took her to Starbucks for breakfast (a favorite for the kids).  The kids played and Cirdan went to work. Since it was picture day at dance that afternoon it was a crazy night. We had planned on us waiting at the studio for Kaiya to get done with her first set of pictures then go to Red Robin during her break. Everything was running later than planned (of course) so after Ella's pictures we waited around for a while then decided to go eat without Kaiya.  We didn't have any better luck at Red Robin. We had the slowest/worst server in Washington. It took forever to get our food and we had to ask multiple times for things (like kids menus). We told the girl that it was Ava's birthday so they would come sing to her. We waited and waited. The waitress finally brought out an ice cream dessert for her and said they would come sing to her soon. We waited some more and nothing was happening. She finished her ice cream and the kids were getting super restless. I was getting very annoyed and irritated so we decided to just leave. We had been there for about 2 hours. I felt bad for Ava....

On our way out I asked to talk to a manager. I NEVER do that. This had pushed me over the edge though. The manager gave us a gift card...she said next time Ava is in town come back and say its her birthday so they can sing. She was very apologetic. We ended the night with Ava, Ella and I going to the mall to get her a couple shirts.

I can't believe Ava is 7! I remember the day Cirdan found out that she was born. So many things have happened these past 7 years and I am really glad that she is now able to be a part of our family. She has grown so much in these past 3 years since we have known her. 

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to one of the best dads around!! It was awesome to have Ava was here on Father's day. Kaiya went to her dad's house, which is always a bummer, but we had the other kids here to celebrate. We went to Sacrament meeting at church then came home to say goodbye to Sue and Richard who were going to be driving back to Spokane. It was also fun to be able to tell Richard happy fathers day in person!

Cirdan opening his gifts from the kids.

They had filled out a survey about Cirdan. I need to scan them to post. Some of the answers were pretty funny. They also drew a picture of him on the back.

I put these pictures together of the kids wearing Cirdan's shoes with a cute saying. I need to post a closer picture but the pictures are on my other computer so I will have to do it in another blog entry.

Grandma and Grandpa!