Victoria's Birth Story

Since this was my 5th pregnancy and Beckett came really fast I was a bit worried about how quickly Victoria would make her arrival. I was terrified of delivering her in the car or at home with no help. So Tim was on standby. For multiple days. I have a few pieces of paper with the timing of my contractions written down since I was having quite a few and never knew if it was real or not. I even called my doctor one of those days and he told me to head to the hospital. I did. And Tim and I sat around being bored for a couple of hours while I didn't progress at all in an evaluation room. Oh the joys.

I was seriously tired of timing contractions. I vowed I wouldn't time them again at all. That I would just wait until they really hurt. But on October 28 that went out the window. It seemed like they were coming fairly regularly so I started timing them around 3:00. I texted Tim and let him know that I was timing. Again. But I still wasn't sure. So he didn't rush home. Around 7:00pm they seemed to be about 6-8 minutes apart. So I called Becky to come grab the boys and Tim and I headed to the hospital. We got there around 8:30pm. Tim and Becky both thought this was it, but I still wasn't sure.

When we told the nursing staff that my contractions were 6-8 minutes apart they didn't bother with an evaluation room. We headed right to labor and delivery. (I must say this freaked me out a little.) They hooked me up to the monitors, had me rate my pain (it was very low), and we waited. I decided to give natural birth a try so I was walking around and trying to get things moving. At 10:30 I was checked and I was only at a 5. This was very disheartening. I felt like I had been laboring for a very long time already. My longest labor before now was 7 hours. And Beckett was a total of 4 1/2, with less than an hour of that being at the hospital.

At about midnight the midwife came in and broke my water since I still wasn't progressing a ton. And it took about 5 minutes for me to realize there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to go natural. So I promptly requested an epidural. Yay for modern medicine! At this point things got super boring. I wasn't feeling pain and since it was the middle of the night there wasn't a whole lot on TV. You can see the pic below of how Tim spent most of this time.

And I was even able to sneak in about 45 minutes of a nap. Thank goodness for my amazing sister Becky who stayed up way too late texting me. She helped with my sanity.

I was checked again at 4:00am and I was dilated to a 7 and 90% effaced. I was less than thrilled. But at least I was making some decent progress at this point. At 5:05am I was dilated to a 9+ and almost completely effaced. And at 6:05am I started pushing. My cute little baby girl finally made her arrival at 6:23am 13 days before her due date of November 11. So in total about 16 hours. Which is more than both Holden and Beckett combined.

She had a super short and fat umbilical cord. So they weren't able to put her up on my chest at first. She could only reach my stomach since it was so short. She also didn't cry at first. They took her over to the warmer to check her out and I couldn't hear anything. I was really scared for a minute or two. But they were able to get her lungs going and assured me that she was doing great.

She weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She scored an 8 and then a 9 on Apgar. And she was (and still is) perfection. She totally completes our family. And we all love her to pieces.

Halloween

This for Halloween Holden decided to dress up as Indiana Jones and Beckett was Iron Man. They both looked stinkin' adorable. Tim took them out trick or treating while I stayed home with the baby. They both got way too much candy and had a ton of fun. Overall, it was a very low key holiday and I loved it.

 

We had a lot more trick or treaters this year than in years past, but still not a ton. The boys loved answering the door to hand out candy before and after they went out to get their own. And I loved not having to get up every two seconds. 

 

Since I was very pregnant during the month of October I didn't have a ton of energy. Which means I had zero desire to carve pumpkins. Thankfully we were able to talk the boys into just using Mr. Potato head type decorations. Although this was after Holden spent all of two seconds cleaning his pumpkin out. He was dead set on carving it. Until he realized how much work it would be to clean it out. He HATES getting his hands dirty, so it didn't take long for him to realize it just wasn't worth it. And I love how they turned out. Especially because it was insanely easy to do. Pretty sure this is the new norm for my family.

September Soccer

Obviously I am a big blog slacker. (Let's blame it on the pregnancy.) So I'm going to play a little catch up.

September was a fun month. The boys were finishing up soccer. And I was anxiously awaiting the end of it. Holden had practice on Mondays and Wednesdays. Beckett had practice on Thursdays. And both of them had a game on Saturday morning. I was on soccer overload. But they love it. Holden is very good and really gets in there. He goes after the ball and isn't afraid to jump in front of other players to steal it. I have loved seeing him progress and get better and better. He is a very athletic kid.

Beckett, on the other hand isn't sure. Tim and I were sure he would start soccer this year and be a star player. He's been watching Holden play for a couple of years and practicing with him in the back yard. But that was definitely not the case. He wouldn't even play the first half of his first game. He just sat on my lap and hid his head in my shoulder. Thankfully, he got over that. But he still doesn't usually know where the ball is. He just kind of runs around with his other team mates and swings his arms around. Although he does enjoy it. And that's really all that matters.

All About Holden Age 7: Football Edition

I know I say it every year, but I can't believe I have a seven year old!!!

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A- A football player

2. What makes you happy?
A- My baby sister

3. What makes you sad?
A- Being yelled at

4. What makes you laugh?
A- Dad tickling me.

5. What is your favorite color?
A- Orange

6. What is your favorite toy?
A- My guns

7. How tall are you?
A- 4 feet

8. How much do you weigh?
A- 49.6 pounds (yes, he weighs himself often)

9. What’s your favorite thing to do?
A- Play football

10. Where is your favorite place to go?
A- To the baseball stadium

11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
A- To Denver

12. What are you really good at?
A- Football (are you seeing a theme?)

13. What are you not so good at?
A- Hockey

14. What is your favorite thing about school?
A- Recess

15. What is your favorite food?
A- All the meats

16. What food don't you like?
A- Veggies

17. Are you a morning person or a night person?
A- Morning

18. What makes you proud of yourself?
A- Winning a soccer game

19. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
A- Spongebob

20. What‘s your favorite TV show?
A- Football

21. What is your favorite movie?
A- Planes (he just chose the last one we saw in the theater)

22. What is your favorite book?
A- Record Breakers (it's all about football records)

23. Who are your friends?
A- Max and Cameron

24. Who is your best friend?
A- Max

25. What do you like most about your dad?
A- That he likes the Denver Broncos

26. What do you like most about your mom?
A- That she likes the Denver Broncos

27. What do you like most about Beckett?
A- That he likes the Denver Broncos (seriously!?)

28. What do you like most about Victoria?
A- That she's cute

28. What do you like most about yourself?
A- That I'm good at football.

Guess When Baby Victoria Will Arrive

 

Head over to ExpectNet and guess when baby Victoria will be arriving. You can guess date, time, weight, and length. We have done this with Holden and Beckett as well and love it. It's fun to see everyone's guesses.

Mutton Bustin'

Every year the rodeo comes to West Jordan. This year, we talked Holden and Beckett into doing mutton bustin'. If you don't know, this is where someone climbs onto a sheep and hangs on for as long as possible while the sheep runs away and tries to get them off. Both boys were really excited to try it and they did great! They were number 2 and 3 in line, which meant they didn't have to wait long for some fun.

Holden got a score of 80 and Beckett a score of 81. The 81 put Beckett in third place and qualified him for the finals on the next night. Holden was extremely upset that he didn't place and wouldn't let us take a picture. And Beckett didn't help with his excitement over his bigger trophy.

So the next night (Saturday) we headed back to the rodeo for Beckett to compete in the mutton bustin' finals. He was insanely excited to try again and to get another trophy. It was raining this night and the field was muddy and beyond filthy. Beckett was number 9 to compete so he had to wait a bit before he could get filthy. But he did get filthy. Although he fell off the sheep super fast this time and immediately started crying. He wasn't hurt or scared. He was mad that he didn't hang on as long as he wanted to. Which means he did not place this night and did not get another trophy. He did, however, get a belt buckle. 

We are so proud of both boys. They did amazing. They tried their hardest, showed no fear, and did something new and a bit scary. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Anxiety

Tomorrow (June 19) is my ultrasound with my doctor to see our little baby. I will be exactly 19 weeks and 2 days along in my pregnancy. And I have to say my anxiety is through the roof! I've talked to Tim about it a number of times, but could never quite figure out why I was feeling so anxious. But as the ultrasound gets nearer and nearer I'm pretty sure this is what the majority of it has been about.

On July 5, 2005 at exactly 19 weeks and 6 days we found out that our little Quentin's heartbeat was no longer beating. In my heart, I know things will be okay this time around. But I still can't help but worry. What if her heart has stopped? What if she isn't growing properly? What if something is wrong? So many what ifs! I don't know if I can handle another loss. I'm just not strong enough.

I know not many people read this blog anymore, but I needed to get my feelings out there. And Facebook is just a little too public. If you do read this, please say a little prayer for me tonight. And for this little girl growing inside of me.