Welcome Baby Belen!!!

What an amazing 24 hours we have had. I'll elaborate in a minute...first Belen (Bay-LYNN) Hale was born at 6:40 pm weighing 9lbs 4 oz and was 21 inches.

Okay, so most of you know Bryan has been REALLY sick all week...like I was thinking he had pneumonia sick. His cough was awful, he hurt really bad, blah blah blah. On Wednesday night he had a blessing that told him he would be able to get better. That night, however, was the worst night by far. The next morning, he went to work, and did okay, but wasn't feeling great still. During the day, I was really torn about what to do...go ahead and get induced, or no. There were so many factors besides Bryan's health that just really put the pressure on to figure out the "right" thing to do. For those that are lucky enough to go into labor...nature makes the decision for you so if bad stuff happens, you hold no guilt or responsibility for any of those events. Where I was making this decision, the weight of this decision was crushing. Bryan called me part way through the day, and it was the simplest thing, but he said, "I could be sick with this for several days, so even if you wait, we could be in the same situation as far as I go." That hadn't occurred to me, so the more I thought about it, the more peaceful I felt about going ahead with things the next day. I went to my dr. appointment that evening, and he indicated I hadn't done anything from the week before, but that he felt good about going ahead with things in the morning. So I went home, feeling very peaceful. In spite of my physical situation, I felt at complete and total peace about things, and fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. When I woke up this morning, Bryan was already awake, and was doing amazing...he didn't even act sick. In fact, I can't think of the last time I have seen him look that well in the morning. It was nothing short of a miracle, I almost started balling when it started hitting me what a tender mercy this was from my Heavenly Father.

So this morning, we made our way to the hospital at 7:30 am. I had to get some antibiotics for group B strep, so they didn't start my pitocin until 11 am. My contractions were hard before they even started me, and got much worse throughout the afternoon. By 2 pm, I was not able to talk through them anymore, even though I was only a 3+ so I asked for my epidural. At about 4:30, I was a 4+. I could feel the contractions pretty strong through my epidural which I thought was weird, but since I don't go fast at ALL I didn't think too much of it. At 6 they came to check me again, and I was 100% effaced and a 10 :) My doctor was performing a c-section at a nearby hospital, so they told me not to cough, move or barf so she wouldn't come....I even crossed my legs to be safe. He made it just in time, and in 4 or 5 pushes, Belen was here. His comment was "THAT is a big baby." Comforting words :) She wasn't breathing and was so so blue...ugh. They worked on her for about 15 minutes before she was breathing well. She finally pinked up and let out the prettiest cry I've ever heard. She has beautiful dark hair, giant cheeks, and the cutest thunder thighs (she got those from me) you've ever seen. I was pretty surprised she was as big as she was...I had a feeling she would be 8 something, but I never would have guessed over 9. It makes me so glad I didn't wait until next week...or longer like I was even contemplating. She is so sweet, and the kids are totally taken with her. They didn't want to leave tonight when they came to see her. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love for this sweet little girl, my wonderful husband, my other sweet kids, my family who keeps stepping in to take care of me and my kids, and my Heavenly Father who has given me everything I've ever wanted.

well...

I get to meet my newest daughter tomorrow, and I'm very excited :) I go in sometime tomorrow morning, so probably we'll have her tomorrow evening to late night some time. Yay! Don't feel bad if you don't hear anything for a while, it takes me a L O N G time, and then I don't know when we can get to a computer. Anyways...exciting stuff.

"Baseball is LIFE!" - Zerin

So Zerin's latest obsession is, you guessed it, baseball. It started out small... Bryan pulled out his old collection of baseball cards, which led to him sharing some of them with the kids, which led to favorite teams, which led to favorite players, which led to hours upon hours being spent organizing them in different ways, which led to baseball games and games of pepper, and the NEED for baseball outfits...you get the idea.

He will get home from school and play catch with Liah, or pitch to himself, or catch his own flies for as long as I'll let him. He will also now sit through an entire 3 hour game of baseball. I know this because he spent all week telling me his team (the Cardinals) would be playing on Saturday. He got his chores all done and watched the clock religiously all day. When the time came, he flew down the stairs and planted himself, looking like a soldier ready for battle. Now, Bryan isn't a yell-at-the-tv kind of guy when it comes to sports...he loves sports, but he rarely watches them. Zerin is apparently out of a different mold. He was yelling at the players, the ump, and nearly cried when his team lost in the final inning. During quiet moments of the game, I could hear him spouting off facts and tidbits about the different players. He even took notes! He wrote down all of the players that they highlighted, and tried to write down all of their stats...he then went to work at making his own baseball cards for them, because his stats were more accurate than ones on the backs of the cards he can buy at the store...but he still wants ones he can buy at the store. Such a funny kid.

Oh, and I told you about finding his cardinals baseball shirt at my friend's garage sale? Awesome. But as he has studied baseball players, their habits, their manner of dress...he realized that all baseball players wear necklaces (he found one in the garage and now refuses to take it off...for anything), and they spit a lot, which yay, he now does....grrr.

He even asked his teacher to show him how to write his name in cursive so he could "autograph" his own baseball cards. He won't practice his regular handwriting without an act of congress, but he will practice that autograph for hours when it's time for bed. He asked Bryan to take these pictures for his baseball pre-rookie card. He wanted him to make them look old because they'll be worth more, faster.

Here's the equation that basically sums up my son...

Donald Trump + Rudy + Albert Puholtz = Zerin

Thursday morning...

My post titles are pretty lame these days ;) So for those of you who haven't heard (who are interested) CINDY IS OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!! I'm seriously dumbfounded she is doing as well as she is. I had never heard of someone being as bad as she was even recovering, so this is just over the top. She's on oxygen still at home, but she's no longer contagious, and Jonathan and Cody are healthy, so it's a green light on people coming around them now, which is awesome, seeing as how I won't be able to much of anything for the next while. My mom has been able to be there most of the time helping, which she has been so glad to do, but it will be good for her to have some other people pick up some of the slack over the next few days.

As for me, I still have no idea what I am going to do tomorrow. Bryan was worse yesterday than he has been. I am confident now for sure it isn't swine flu, just bronchitis...maybe bordering on pneumonia..maybe. But he finally caved last night and let me grab our home teachers to give him a blessing. Blessings are always somewhat ambiguous, but this is the first one he's had in two years that didn't tell him it was his time to suffer...it actually said he should be able to get better (it just didn't say when) from this little illness, so that's something :) He went to the dr. day before yesterday, and the doc wasn't worried at all about the baby, just said to wear a mask, but I don't know. He also said Bryan was fine and laughed when Bryan asked if it could be swine flu. Stupid instacare doctors. They get your panties all in a knot, telling you to be careful and isolate yourselves when it comes to this disease, but when you actually have a pretty good chance that you've contracted it, they treat you like a hypochondriac. Whatever. If they knew how many teeth I had to pull to even get him to go in...grrr.... We'll see how he's doing this morning.

I have a dr. appointment this afternoon I refused to cancel out of sheer rebellion (he told me I would have the baby by now, no question) so I'm going to see if I can squeeze an opinion out of him.

The biggest factor at this point in NOT waiting, is this stupid house. We were supposed to close in March...yes, you heard right, March. But through a series of highly unfortunate events, including but not limited to one of the banks we were getting financing through going bankrupt and being investigated for fraud, we still haven't closed. So, here we are, at the end of September. We have to close by the 30th, or new rules go into play which could cause us even more problems potentially, plus a lot more blah blah blah, AND we got a cancellation on our homeowners' insurance because the bank told them we were closing by the first part of September. We didn't obviously, so if we don't close by the 1st, no insurance. With my luck, we'll have an earthquake on the 2nd, so that would kinda stink to lose a house that's technically not even ours yet. So right now, the bank wants to close Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday (they like keeping their options open) so if I have the baby after Friday, I won't be home.

AND...Bryan, so far, has already missed 3 days of work because of this sickness he has. I was stressed about him taking 1 day off for the baby, which now looks like is inevitable, and here he's already missed 3...plus whenever we close, PLUS the baby. He has the time, but it seriously gives me and him major gas whenever he has to miss. At least if we went in tomorrow to have the baby, it would maybe hopefully only be one day for that, and a half a day for the closing or less. I just don't know...stupid stupidness anyway. Are your lives this complicated??? Not that I'd wish this on anyone, but I kind of hope so because I'm starting to feel a little picked on here ;)

For now, I'm going to try to get my house back in order. Jonathan goes home this morning, so I should be able to get a better handle on things after that. He is such a sweetie, but him and Asher are...wow. I thought I had to watch my other kids close. Those two have a knack for trouble :) My favorite moment was yesterday during lunch. They were all eating having a great old time...I stepped into the kitchen which, hello...it's right there, when I realized it had been about 30 seconds of quiet. I scooted back into the dining room to find Asher pouring Shadeau's water into her food, and Jonathan squishing it all over the floor with his fingers...leaving me with a soggy dog food mess that looked more like something a giant animal left behind. Ugh. Good times :)

Thanks for all the kind well wishes by the way. We really are fine...and this time in a month (none of this could go on more than a month, right???), it will all be a happy memory. I can do anything for another month, right ;)

More good news...

So Cindy is out of the ICU!!! On Sunday, we thought we were losing her, and here she is, out of the ICU!!! So exciting. They are starting to take her off her pain meds, so she feels pretty yucky still, but even that's good news in it's own way. She has another week or two still at the hospital depending on how she does, but holy cow, it's just awesome!

Jonathan got here this morning, and it's just funny watching all the kids chase each other around all day. I know he misses his parents, but I feel good knowing he is having fun during the day and has some good distractions (aka. Zerin, Liah, Aeden, Asher, and Shadeau) to keep him occupied while he's away from them. He's such a cutie!

So thanks for all of the advice on the last post, everyone :) I had pretty much decided to hold off on getting induced, and then...(da-da-da-DA! *mysterious music*)...

...I found out the medicine won't hurt Belen if I'm nursing....good news.
...Our bank called and wants to close at the beginning to middle of next week...not such good news.
...My cold is all but gone...great news.
...Bryan is still sick (today was his 2nd day home)...cruddy news.

So...I'm basically winging it, and hoping I make the right decision when the moment comes. I'm not canceling anything, but I'm not counting on having her this week either. As cruddy as I feel, I really wouldn't mind waiting until next week (past that may do me in, however). Not to be dramatic, but the last week has been way worse than any of my labors WHILE I was being induced.

Last night, my contractions were so bad, I was wondering if I should go to the hospital or not. I started getting mad at Bryan..."Just tell me what I'm supposed to do!" I yelled at him. "I don't know...it's your body, just do what you think you should." he retorted, as he changed the channel, not lifting his gaze from the TV. "If I KNEW what I was supposed to do I wouldn't be asking you, so just TELL me!!!" I was a little animated to say the least. When he wouldn't give me any more direction, I finally was like, "Fine, give me a blessing then." Aren't I so spiritual...not! ;) The neat thing about all of it was after the blessing, I just felt calm, and quit second guessing myself and was able to fall asleep. I only woke up a couple of times with contractions, but by morning, the contractions had all but stopped, and I knew I had done the right thing. It may come down to the wire like this Thursday night, but I feel like when the time comes, we'll know what to do...hopefully ;) Seriously, I'm missing the boat on why people think this whole surprise thing is fun. I love those of you all who can do it, and wow, am I impressed because it's definitely not something that comes easily or naturally to me, that's for sure :) Kudos to all of my hard-core-die-hard-wait-and-see-natural-all-the-way buddies out there. You're awesome!!!

My dilemma...

As you can tell from previous posts, it's been a crazy few days around here. The dust seems to be settling, so happy day.

Cindy is improving, and if she continues at this pace, she will be out of ICU in a couple of days, and then in the hospital for another 1-2 weeks. Incredible. Jonathan (her little boy) will come stay for a couple days tomorrow barring any unforseen births at our house.

Now for my dilemma. My doctor has scheduled me to be induced on Friday, but I'm on Tamiflu for another week, and everything that I have read says you really shouldn't nurse while you're on it. Plus, Bryan and I both have colds (we had them before all the craziness, so we're hoping it's nothing), so now I'm just thinking I'll cancel Friday and just let her come when she's ready and just take my chances that my doctor will be around (he goes out of town next Thursday). Other side note, at my last visit, she was measuring 7 lbs 6 oz (you never know how right that is), but with Aeden he estimated 1 lb 1/2 under, and Asher he estimated 1/2 lb over, so who knows what we'll get.

AND, I've been having pretty timely contractions today, but they are still between 10-15 minutes apart, and they aren't getting any harder, so it probably doesn't mean anything.

So in other words, all signs are pointing to the fact that I shouldn't get induced this week, but *sigh*.

Just tell me what I should do, "k?"

Sunday evening update...good news!

Bryan just left seeing Cindy at the hospital. Her team of doctors decided to do one more test before intubating her, and apparently the results were good enough they decided to hold off for now. Her stats improved enough by evening they took her off the mask and put her on the regular nose oxygen which is amazing considering where we were this morning. Her pain seems to be under control.

When Bryan went in to see her, she was awake and alert and was able to talk to them for a bit. They gave her another blessing, and he said the mood from it was very upbeat. She was even asking for pizza :)

They are still anticipating a 2-3 week hospital stay, and she has a ways to go, but it feels like nothing short of a miracle to hear she's doing as well as she is tonight.

Sunday update

Cody just called and they are getting ready to intubate Cindy. Please keep them in your prayers.

Updates...

So yesterday was a little scary as far as Cindy went, but today, she has stabilized, so we are very happy about that.

Yesterday, her stats were dropping really low (in the low 70's...they should be mid to upper 90's) even with being on oxygen, so they transported her by ambulance to McKay-Dee in Ogden. Her pain was really intense, and they had her on morphine to get that under control. They had to take her off of it because it was making her really sick, which was making her stats even worse. When they got her to McKay-Dee, they got the results of the tests back and found out she does for sure have Swine Flu. Yay! (not!) Cody texted me today and said she is not getting any worse, so that's great news. No one is saying for sure how long she'll have to be in...we've heard anything from a minimum of 5 days to a week depending on how she does.

So for now, we're just hoping for the best, and enjoying our time with Jonathan...he is so cute :) The kids have loved playing with him, and it's been good practice for 5 kids.

I went to the doctor Thursday, and surprise surprise, I haven't done a thing...still sitting at a solid 3. But after all this happening, I am SO glad. For right now, he has me scheduled to be induced on Friday, but I may change that depending on what's going on with Cindy, so we're just playing everything by ear right now. Makes it more exciting, don't ya think???

Cindy...

For those of you who know my brother Cody's wife, Cindy, please keep her in your prayers. She was admitted to the hospital Wednesday with pneumonia, and her condition has worsened over the last two days. They are now transporting her to McKay-Dee because her lungs are filling up so fast. They told Cody today she tested positive for Influenza-A which from what he understood means it is possible it is H1N1, but they won't know if that's what it even is for a day or two.

Cody's pretty overwhelmed right now, so any prayers you have would help a lot I am sure. Thanks.

Famous Quotes from a Wednesday Afternoon...

Zerin: "MOM! Baseball is LIFE!"

Liah: "I was playing on the playground and the playlady (recess duty) said I looked SOOOO cute! I did look so cute today, Mom."

Aeden: "Thanks so much for the Wittle Ceaser's Pizza! It's the nummiest stuff in the hoe univewse!"

Asher: "Tem-poo (temple)." "Zsee-Zsee (Jesus)" "Ba (everything else)."

Belen: "I'm staying in here FOR-EV-ER!!!!"

My Magnet Board

Am I the only Mom out there who can't keep track what day PE, Library, Red Ribbon Day, etc. all fall on??? I was floating by with just one kid in school, but I'm just a scrambled mess trying to keep up with two. So I stumbled upon this idea on Controlling My Chaos and I knew it was the answer to ALL my problems :)

She gives an amazing tutorial that's way better than anything I could do. The magnet boards that were as big as what I needed were WELL over $50 and there was no way I was spending that, so I just went to Lowe's and got a piece of 24" x 36" sheet metal (by the way, be smarter than me and bring a magnet with you if you go this route...all sheet metal is not created equal...I bought aluminum on my first attempt). I then just used some scrap wood we had around from the remodel to finish it off. That was kind of a pain, so if you can get a ready made board, that's definitely easier.



I am way excited to use it! I love how it looks on my little black wall :)

No baby...everyone relax ;)

I should know better than to get my hopes up things would happen quickly...after all, I've done this before, and if there's one thing my body doesn't do when it comes to having children, it's "quickly."

The funny thing is how psychological this whole thing is. I'm not due until October 1st. But as soon as my doctor says those magic words "It could happen..." all reason shuts off, and the countdown begins. After Thursday, my internal clock started shrieking, "OVERDUE! OVERDUE!" Too bad that internal clock can't trigger labor ;) I really can't and shouldn't complain, I know that. This last little bit turns into a giant whine-fest, and I'm trying like crazy to keep that all to a minimum...at least what I vocalize.

But there's some good that's come with this possibility of unpredictability. I got motivated again! I got all of our papers filed (this has been needing to be done since April), my craft room cleaned out (ahhhh!), and today, I'm planning on finishing our giant family magnet board...it's awesome, at least in my head it's awesome, we'll see how it turns out.

For now I'm enjoying the peace and quiet that accompany 3 am postings, laundry and contractions strong enough to keep you awake, but too wussy to actually do any good.

Some funny stats and preggo rants...

So, two weeks ago at my appointment, my doctor estimated that the baby was weighing around 6 1/2 lbs. Last week, he said she was weighing about 5 lbs 15 oz. Today, he guessed 7+ lbs. It's obviously not an exact science, but it will be interesting to see how big she ends up being.

I'm at what he termed a 3+...I was a 3 for a good 3 weeks with Asher, so that number didn't mean much to me today. But then he said she has dropped way down, and he didn't expect me to make it to next week's appointment. He took a long time checking me (I wasn't feeling good, so I was thinking Are you done yet???) Turns out, he's like, she's ready to come so I just stripped your membranes. Oh! I've never had that done before...one out of fear, and two I just didn't want to force my kids to come before they were ready, which is kind of ironic because I've been induced with all 4 kids. But I trust him totally, and I'm secretly glad he did it because if she really is that big, I really don't want to go another 3 weeks, I just don't want to cause her problems by making her come early, that really makes me nervous. As it is right now, I'm feeling pretty crappy, but not what I would classify as full-on labor...I just don't know. It's like it's my first baby, and it's all new territory for me. I'm a little nervous because my hospital is 40 minutes away, without traffic, so, yeah.

As it is, I'm trying to file all our papers so that if I die from the stress of not being able to plan this whole thing, Bryan can at least pay our electric bill :)

Why I loathe teething...

So my sister-in-law and I are convinced teething stinks! She is just starting it with her son...we're on the tail end with Asher. Asher is pretty good-natured when he teethes, but he gets colds/ear infections, which then cause him to get diarrhea, which then cause him to get those nasty bad rashes, which then cause him to not sleep...ever. His naps (with the exception of yesterday) have been averaging maybe 20 minutes for the last month, which is down from his 2 1/2 hour afternoon nap, how I miss it!

Yesterday, he fell asleep just before 4 and we had to wake him up at 6. The reason I am writing this at 5 am is because at 2am, I thought I heard the dog out of her kennel, so I went to check it out...nope, it was Asher in Liah's room trying on necklaces. So I put him back to bed. About an hour later, I had a feeling to go check on him, and I got to his room, and no Asher. I panicked and flew down the stairs calling for him (the house is completely dark mind you). I get to the family room stairs where I find him laying down sucking his finger, wide awake. So I took him to my room and rocked him to sleep. I put him in my bed with Bryan because after my little adrenaline rush down the stairs, the thought of carrying him up there again was a bit more than I could bear. So now I'm awake. But that little nap yesterday, as awesome as it was to have him sleep, was probably another reason he didn't sleep well last night/this morning.

He and Zerin are a lot the same, by day, you wouldn't know they are sick or in pain unless it's really bad...you really have to watch for their "tells." It's go-go-go from sun up (or earlier) to sundown (or later) without a pause...unless the TV's on...they'll pause for TV.

Back to the teething, so I noticed a couple of days ago, that one of his eye teeth was barely peeking through out of his gums. It doesn't look much different now which is why I think eye teeth are one of the worst along with molars...they take F-O-R-E-V-E-R to come in!!! I'm just hoping 'n' praying that he decides naps and sleeping at night are good once more...and soon. Hope with me... :)

Scott's Sealing...

Yesterday, one of our good friends was sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to his cute wife, and 3 kids. What a sweet experience that was to be able to be there. They are some of my favorite people, and to see them being joined as a forever family was powerful. I have now had the blessing of witnessing 4 families being sealed for time and all eternity. There is nothing that compares to seeing sweet little innocent children dressed in white along with their parents in the House of the Lord. Those are some of the most cherished memories that I have.

The good that can come from sitting...

Yesterday was one of those "I can't get much done" days, as I spent a lot of the day sitting while my Mom came and plowed through my mountain of laundry (in my defense there wasn't that much, but then both little boys had accidents overnight, so the bedding made the pile BIG). Thanks, Mom :)

As I found random places to plop myself throughout the day, I watched. Here is some of what I saw....

• An impromptu dance party with all 4 kids to Alvin and the Chipmunks "Witch Doctor" ... classic.
• Asher trying on about 5 different headbands...at once.
• Aeden, who anytime I am in anything resembling a sitting position, asking "Can I sit on your wap?" His cuteness overrode my misery...most of the time ;)
• Liah, with her big-eyed, animated 13-year old expression, informing me that she got to go to MUSIC SCHOOL and that after Christmas, her teacher will let her use the instruments. I have never seen a child so excited for music in my whole life :)
• Zerin, bringing me a small, baseball card-sized paper with a very carefully copied cursive "Zerin" written on it. He informed me that since he has gotten so good at baseball, he is going to start autographing his own baseball cards. So he asked his teacher to write his name in cursive, and he spent a good part of the afternoon practicing his autograph so his cards could look "professional." Liah was quite excited to get his rookie card ;)

It's amazing what you can see from this angle ;)