Isaac at 2.5 weeks

Behind on pictures

I think we only got two pictures of Isaac and my mom. :(






First bath at home. His umbilical cord took FOREVER to fall off - and I don't like doing a bath until it falls off.






All done - whew!

You can't make this stuff up

Our van needs some work done on it, so Roy called the repair shop to set up an appointment. He told them that there's a grinding noise when you turn the steering wheel and it sounds like it is coming from the rear of the vehicle. The repair guy said "okay, so you have a grinding in the rear".
Man oh man - good stuff.

By the way, does anyone know what is causing our van to have a grinding noise when we turn the steering wheel? It's getting worse and worse. I'd like to be a little prepared before we take it in on Wednesday.

Happy Birthday Liam!

I am so sad that I've seen this little guy once in his year of life, but we'll see him again this summer!
Happy Birthday little guy!

Granny's visit

We sure enjoyed having granny here to play with us! On Monday the weather was finally nice enough to take a little outing to the lake. I think the pictures are self explanatory... Blaise loved having granny push him on the swings, both kids got muddy, and Isaac slept the whole time.

Tornado

So, most of you have probably already heard, but a tornado hit Kirksville Wednesday night (the 13th). I was still in the hospital. I was having a horrible time. About 36 hours after every childbirth I suddenly get super emotional and cry and cry and cry. Well, it was hitting me that night. Roy, granny and the kids had visited earlier in the day and when they left Rae was having a hard time holding back tears when she said goodbye to me. So that set it off. Roy came back later in the afternoon by himself to help me hold it together. I really wanted to go home. I knew it was good to keep Isaac longer to keep an eye on him, but I really, really wanted to go home. I was crying when a nurse came in and when she asked me if I was okay of course that made it worse! Roy finally got me distracted and calmed down and when he left I was feeling much better. But then over the intercom I hear "attention staff and patients, we are under a tornado warning. staff, please follow protocol." I turned on the TV and all of the channels were flashing warnings. A nurse came in and checked if my blinds were closed. She came back about 2 minutes later and told me that they were moving everyone to a safer part of the building (we were on the top floor) They took us to the surgical part of the floor. At this point all the emotions came back!! I sat in a chair in the cold surgical room and just cried to myself. You know when you try to hold back tears and it just makes it worse? So I just let it all out and then I felt better. I called Roy and he was at Walmart. I told him to be careful and pay attention to the warnings. I knew he wouldn't do anything I told him to do. After a while they moved us into a tiny storage closet. There were about 20 of us smooshed into the room. The moms got to sit and everyone else had to stand. (there was a teenage mom there who had about 6 visitors that were extremely annoying and smelled like smoke) There was one lady in labor, but she was just in the beginning stages. I kept calling Roy and checking on what they were doing. It was hard for me to not be there and be in control of my family!

We sat in the room for about an hour. The first 30 minutes were fine - everyone chatted and everyone was getting news updates from their phones. The next 30 minutes almost everyone started complaining that we couldn't go back to our rooms. I was fine with being in the closet - they brought my dinner and I didn't mind being extra careful and staying until the warning was cleared. We finally got to go back to our rooms and I turned on the news to see what areas got hit. Roy came a little later to talk to me and help me get some of the excitement/fear out of my system.

We are about 2 miles away from the part of town that got hit. We drove over there today to see some of the damage. Wow, it was like the stuff you've only seen on TV and I can't believe it happened in my town! Two families in our ward had their houses destroyed. I am so grateful that my home and family were safe! And I'm grateful for the great care I received in the hospital during the whole thing. And I'm praying that I never experience a tornado ever again!

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Just pictures

Too much:
Whining and hyperness from the kids
Milk
Nursing (which is just for comfort and doesn't relieve the milk problem)

Not enough:
Sleep
Patience
Brain power to write a blog

Rae took this picture and I told her I'd put it on my blog.


We went on campus yesterday - Isaac's first outing.


Playing with Granny.


Check out those skinny legs! I feel like I'm going to break them when I'm changing his diaper. I don't know where 9lbs is hiding on him!

Finally home

I got home yesterday afternoon - this was my longest hospital stay and I was so ready to leave!! Since I tested positive for Group B Strep and I didn't have time for the antibiotics before Isaac was born (see story below) they had to keep Isaac for 48 hours to watch him closely. But we are home now, and enjoying it!

Here's the short story, I'll go into more details another day:

I woke up at 1:38am Tuesday morning and thought I felt my water break. But it was just a little tiny gush and I wasn't sure. I got up and went to the bathroom and still wasn't sure. So I laid back down for a while. Then I got up and used the computer for a few minutes. I stood up at 1:55 and felt a bigger gush and knew it was my water! I woke Roy up and he hopped in the shower and I called our friend who was going to watch our kids. I got dressed and got everything together and we left our house around 2:35. At this point I was starting to feel a lot of contractions and was starting to worry that we weren't going get there quick enough. We took the kids to our friend's house and headed to the hospital. I was checked in around 3am. The nurse checked to make sure my water had broken and then checked me and said I was at 7cm. I knew I was already going through transition. I felt nauseous and just couldn't get into a good position to deal with the contractions. It was constant pain, no breaks at all. After 15 minutes or so I said I was feeling a lot of pressure and wondered if it was time to push. The nurse checked me again and said I was at 9cm. I decided to stand up and see if that helped, and my nurse said I could push just a little bit to relieve some of the pressure. So I stood up and wrapped my arms around Roy's neck and leaned on him and that offered a lot of relief. I would push every so often and then all of a sudden I felt like Isaac was going to just fall out! I got back into bed and the nurse checked me and said I was ready to push. I didn't even get into the typical "pushing position" with my legs up, I just started pushing! My doctor just barely had his gloves on in time to start catching Isaac! And we almost forgot to get the camera out! He was out in about 3 pushes - officially born at 3:46am. It was amazing!! (BTW, a little TMI, but I didn't tear AT ALL - which has made recovery a breeze!) Unfortunately he didn't get enough antibiotics, but since my water was only ruptured for 2 hours before he was born, there was less of a risk for him getting GBS.

Anyway, it's taken me a really long time just to write this much. Here are some pictures, and more stories to come soon (including the tornado that hit Kirksville).

I had to post this one because Roy spent so much time touching up my blemishes :)

Getting ready to leave!

Waiting for daddy to bring the car to the front of the hospital.

Excited to see his brother!

Rae holding Isaac for the first time.

Isaac Wright

Introducing Isaac Maxwell (AKA I-Max):


Born May 12, 2009 at 3:46 AM. He was 9 lbs., 4 oz.

UPDATE: To be fair, the picture above was taken at 7:30. Here's one taken about 5 minutes after he was born:

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Hope you have a great day today! Man, you sure are getting old - what does that make me? Yikes.

Eight things I love about my mom

(I don't want this to overshadow Roy's post from earlier - make sure you scroll down to see his)

8. She gave birth to EIGHT children...all natural births. One of 'em was the day before Mother's Day - I was trying to be like her. :)

7. She was able to stay at home with us kids and it meant a lot to me. Even when she did have to take odd jobs here and there for some extra income, she was still available before/after school for us and I always knew we were her top priority.

6. She taught us to do chores. I was pretty young when I started helping out with laundry and was in charge of my own when I turned 14 and I'm sure I started dishes when I was tall enough to reach the sink! :) She taught us that everyone in the family takes care of the house, not just mama!

5. She let us have pets (which I'm sure she did a lot of the taking care of), she made it possible for our family to go camping all the time (I'm sure that was NOT very relaxing), she always let us have friends over to play, and she let us be in dance classes and sports. She probably could have saved herself some work and said no to these things, but she didn't.

4. She always volunteered for stuff that we were involved in. She'd help out at school events, church events, everything. I loved that my mom was always a part of my activities.

3. She is a fantastic granny. She tries to know her grand kids individually and not just make assumptions about them. I can't wait for her to come visit and see my kids!

2. She makes me feel like a good mother. She compliments my efforts and makes advice when needed. She recognizes my strengths and weaknesses.

1. She has always been an example to me of someone who has faith in Jesus Christ. More than anything she has given me or done for me, I am so grateful for the testimony she helped me gain at a young age.

I love you mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day 2009

Happy Mother's Day, pumpkin!


Rae helped me pick out a little fountain for you, and she either kept it a secret or just forgot about it. Either way, I hope you like it.

39 weeks

I don't have very many pictures of myself pregnant with the other two kids, so I wanted to document this pregnancy a little better. Here I am at 39 weeks. Gonna have a lot of weight to lose this summer!



Roy was out with the kids yesterday afternoon, so he decided to take the opportunity to get my Mother's Day cake a little early. I told him the exact brand of cheesecake I wanted, and told him I wanted it before Sunday (so that the weight gain from it could be blamed on pregnancy). It was delicious.

I went to the doctor yesterday and I didn't progress much from last week. I'm at 5cm now. But I'm pretty comfortable and although all I think about is having this baby, it's not bugging me too much. Roy's proctoring his last final right now and then I'm free to go into labor :) He doesn't have to have grades in till next Friday, so things are pretty relaxed around here. I just have to find something to keep us busy today!

Reading time

Ashley was going to post this tomorrow, but I just can't wait. According to Ashley, Rae had never read this book before, though to me she seems to be reading slightly faster than usual. It's interesting that she slows down well before she gets to the word she can't figure out; it seems like she's reading ahead. I didn't know kids did that.

Rae's been reading like this for several weeks now, but it still amazes me. Her speech still isn't too great, which probably comes from me, genetically or otherwise. Actually, Ashley and I both have mild speech defects, so maybe Rae got a bad mix of genes. She's still working on it.

By the way, don't overlook Ashley's post from earlier today. We're getting prolific.

Slightly obsessed

Sometimes my need to be organized and prepared makes me a bit self-conscious. I tend to worry about things that don't need to be worried about, but I can't help it. My hospital suitcase has been packed for far too long and the carseat has been in the van for 2 weeks. I refuse to go to bed without the house completely clean (I cleaned the toilet at 10 last night) because I don't want to come home from the hospital to a dirty house and I don't want someone coming over to watch the kids in a dirty house. But being prepared is what makes me feel good. I can't know the exact date I'll have this baby, but I can be ready no matter what. And I still don't know for sure if we are moving this summer (most likely we aren't) but I can still be as prepared as possible by getting rid of junk now instead of when it comes time to pack. Some people are more relaxed if they just wait till it's time and then handle all the organizing, but I am not one of those people. Sometimes it makes me stressed, but in the end I'm always happy that I took the time to prepare myself. Each time that I have needed a spare outfit for a kid and I had one, each time that we needed that towel in the car, each time I'm prepared with activities when the kids get antsy waiting for something, each time I remember to grab a quarter to shop at Aldi and remember to put my bags back in the van ..... those are the times that make me feel good about being slightly obsessed.

Gotta speed it up a bit

We've always said we want 7-9 kids. I'm not sure if that is still the case, but I decided to crunch some numbers today. So far our kids are roughly 900 days apart in age. If we keep at that rate and want 5-6 more, we are talking another 12-15 years! So which scenario do I like more: 2 1/2 years between kids and not being done till I'm in my late 30s? Or closer together so I can be done a little sooner? My youngest kid could be an aunt or uncle by the time they are 5! Hmmm, maybe the easiest solution is to go with less kids. :)

But seriously, I always thought I wanted my kids closer in age. But, when it comes to the point where it's time to think about having the next kid the thought just exhausts me, and I'm not as fertile as my mother! Hmmm, we'll see how things go this time around! But I might need another 900 days before I'm ready to be in the last week of pregnancy again!

Progress of Spring

Last Saturday:

This Saturday (today):

In Kirksville, I think spring is Ashley's favorite 3 weeks.

Ain't gonna happen

I've tried writing Rae's birth story, but it's a hard thing to do when you are in the middle of another birth story. I'm grumpy and don't feel like thinking about anything involving labor. Hopefully I'll get all three written down in the next few weeks. But thanks for those of you who wrote birth stories - especially my cousin Lyric! Oh, and finish yours Katie!