Am I tired, part deux

Last week in the shower, put conditioner in my hair, set down the conditioner bottle, got the loofa, picked the conditioner back up, put it on the loofa, set the conditioner down, turned around, realized my mistake, washed off the loofa, turned around, picked up the conditioner and put more in my hair. . . aaaagggghhhh. What is wrong with me?

That's it. I think about things to blog about but right now I can't remember any of it.

The end.

Am I tired?

Yes, yes I am. ;-)

But, it's really not that bad. Ethan is one great eater and sleeper and farter and pooper. His farts are so loud that Adam and I daily question where said fart comes from: Hans, Emma, Ethan, ourselves??? lol

I didn't think I was tired until Emma walked by while I was sitting on the couch and I picked her up because I was ready to nurse Ethan. I laid her down on the pillow and went "whoops, wrong baby!" She sure thought mommy was funny. :-)

Ethan was 9 lbs 5 oz at his two week appointment. That's more than an ounce a day of weight gain. Go buddy!

Having Adam home has been wonderful. We got the great idea that we wanted our living room changed RIGHT NOW. lol. The last week, our living room has been off limits during the day so that our contractor guy, Travis, can move around the surround sound system in the ceiling, texture the ceiling, paint the ceiling, run all the wiring for the entertainment center behind the chimney and hang the tv above the mantle.

Needless to say, the Christmas decorations did not get put up this year. ::sigh:: That's okay. Next year will be fabulous ;-) We are moving one of the sofa's into the playroom and one sofa will remain in front of the fireplace/tv area. The rest of the living room will have a dining table in it. It's a really massive room that we just need to use more functionally so ta-da that's what we decided. We got tired of playing the highchair-shuffle game everyday in the kitchen. It's pretty exciting.

I'm ready for the next project which will be one of the following:

New fence. Shed in backyard. New flooring for the patio. Patio furniture. Designated spot for grill. Get new grill.

Kitchen remodel. Take down brick wall facade (I know Erin, you're upset, but this will open it up so much more.) New cabinets, new countertops, a few new appliances to replace old-most-likely-from-1979 appliances.

Exciting times at the Hedgpeth household! Stay tuned.

The Birth

We had Ethan on Friday, November 25th at 5:43 PM. I went into labor that morning around 6 AM, I think. I kept thinking my cramps and pains were because I had a full bladder. (Happens a lot when pregnant. Everything's pushing on each other and hurts because your bladder is full.) So I kept getting up to the restroom but would come back to bed and the pain would come back. Around 7 I thought, "oh maybe these are contractions." I began timing them. They were a little inconsistent but otherwise were about seven minutes apart. I didn't know when to stop timing them. There was a lot of what I would call residual pain. There would be the intense peak of the contraction but then it would linger for a long time. So some of the contractions I would time would be 2 minutes long. That didn't sound right to me so I thought it could be false labor. I laid in bed until 8 (Thanks Emma for sleeping in!) and woke up Adam and let him know that today might be the day. He just smiled and we discussed it further. There was no bolt out of bed "rage" reaction. :-)

Around 9:30, I took a bath. Erin told me that she had heard that if you take a bath and still have contractions after that then it's labor, else the contractions would go away with the relaxing hot water. I tried to relax in the bath but I continued to contract and started getting emotional because I couldn't believe this day was here. What the crap am I going to do now? This is my last day with Emma alone? No, it can't be. :-/

Around 11, I accepted my fate and called my mom to come out and watch Emma. My contractions were five minutes apart but didn't last long, maybe 30-45 seconds. I kind of did the opposite. My contractions lasted longer in the beginning and got shorter for a while. I thought that meant maybe my contractions were floundering and it could still be false labor. Eh. Called the doctor and let him know we'd be on our way soon.

After a bumpy, uncomfortable ride in the challenger to the hospital, we got to our room and settled around 1:30. I was so bummed when they checked and I was only 5 cm. Almost 8 hours of contractions and I only progressed 1 cm? Dang. I labored a while longer without epidural. When I was ready for it, I told the guy I wanted only a partial dose. I was completely numb with Emma and I wanted this time to be different and be able to still know when a contraction was starting. My anesthesiologist rocked and gave me exactly what I wanted. I felt a lot of the birth. Probably 50-60% I'm guessing. I think that's kind of ideal.

Got the epidural around 3, I think. Soon after, they broke my water and things progressed quickly. Had the baby at 5:43. We took a few days to decide on the name, much to the social worker's chagrin. She had to come in on her day off on Sunday. Who doesn't need to name a baby on a Sunday?? lol. Why is there no social worker that day? Anywho. He looked a lot like an Ethan. While my favorite name is still Andrew, I think it fits him the best. Ethan Andrew Hedgpeth was 8 pounds, 11 ounces. (Holy crap! Good thing this happened a week and a half early or I would have been pushing out almost ten pounds!)

What's funny is I have told my doctor this entire pregnancy that I was thinking he'd be a Thanksgiving/turkey-induced baby. I didn't quite believe myself but apparently I knew what I was talking about ;-)

Here's a few more pictures. We used a birth photographer this time around. It was nice to have these moments captured and not have to worry about getting all those "firsts" pictures.

I know these pictures are a little invasive but I really like them :-)

Oh right. Emma came up that night. She didn't stay long since it was close to bed time. I would describe her as stoic that night. She just didn't know what to make of it all. She didn't want to be in the bed with me, so Adam held her.

Now, she's super cute with him. She pats his head and gives him kisses. She has her moments of wanting to be held by momma when I'm holding the baby but overall, it's been a good transition.

Love you all. I'll try to write again soon.