The story of Easton Jax

Easton Jax finally made his grand entrance into this world, on Sunday January 2, 2011 I had actually been having a few contractions starting late Friday night, on New Years Eve. On New Years Day, I had them on and off most of the day, ranging anywhere from 20 minutes between to an hour between.

We went to dinner at La Frontera for the 60th anniversary of Bryce's grandma and grandpa Jarrad at 7, and I was shocked to get to see Mikell and Trent Terry there. (seeing as they live in St George) I didn't get to talk to Mikell very long, but it was nice to be able to see her for a minute. During dinner, the contractions started coming on more often, about a constant 20 minutes between. I figured we would be heading to the hospital sometime in the middle of the night. I was scheduled to go in on Tuesday the 4th to be induced, because I was worried about just that, having to wake Jordan up in the middle of the night and find somewhere to take her.

I couldn't sleep at all first thing Saturday night, so I decided to go into the kitchen/family room so I wouldn't bother Bryce. I did fall asleep for about an hour, until just before 1:00 am, but I woke up with pretty intense contractions. I started timing them, and between 2:00 and 6:00 am, they got to where they were consistently 4-5 minutes apart for over an hour. Then, after 6, they pretty much cut back to the 20 minutes again. I was a little frustrated, as I was hoping this was finally it. I had been pretty miserable with reflux the last couple weeks.

After talking to both my Mom and my mother-in-law Diana, I decided to call in to the hospital and see what the nurses thought, since they were still painful, just not as close together. They told me to call the on call Doctor for my doctor, because they weren't allowed to give advice over the phone, understandably. When he called me back, he told me to at least come in and be checked to see if I had progressed from my last Dr appointment.

We took Jordan to Diana and headed over to Riverton Hospital. They took us into the triage room in Labor and Delivery and got me all hooked up to the moniters to watch the babys heartbeat and my contractions. When the nurse came in to check me, I was sure she was going to say I was the same, almost a 2, and send me home. I was a bit shocked when she told me I was dilated to 5cm, and completely effaced. HOLY COW, those contractions did some major progression. Since my contractions weren't being consistent, they kept me hooked up for about a half hour to watch them, and then came in and asked me to walk around for another half hour, and they would check me again, to see if I was still progressing. Sure enough, when they checked again, I was at a 6 so they went ahead and got me into a labor room.

Of course, I was very eager to get my epidural. I don't know about everyone else, but the way I see it, they offer them for a reason, and I planned on utilizing it from day 1 for both of my deliveries. I DO NOT like the pain. When the anesthesiologist (wow, I probably spelled that wrong) came in, he was wearing a BYU shirt, and I just had to give him a hard time, since I am a Utah fan, then he threatened to leave, and I changed my mind, because I wanted that epidural. He was a good sport, and it makes for a funny memory of my delivery. I really am grateful I got the epidural, however this time it was so much stronger than with Jordan. I felt pressure and could control and move my legs the first time, but this time, my right leg was completely DEAD, and I felt NOTHING. Which was a little annoying.

Around 3:45, my nurse Crystal, who was awesome by the way, came in and told me she would check on me again in about 40 minutes, unless I felt pressure like I needed to push, and to call if I did. Like I said, I felt NOTHING so that wasn't going to happen. They watched the moniters from the desk, and saw the heart rate of the baby changing, and came back in about 15 minutes later. She checked me, and said I was ready. I sure didn't feel ready, and was prepared for a little bit of pushing. They started breaking down the bed, and got the Doctor in my room. When they were all ready, they waited until I had a contraction, and told me to push. I took a breath, pushed, another breath, pushed again, and a third time, until he told me to stop pushing. I mentioned that I was so numb, it didn't even feel like I was pushing, and my Mom immediately said, "His head is out!" HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!! I wasn't ready to have it over with so quick. I pushed one last time, and it was over.

They took him to the warmer to do all their tests and weigh and measure. He was officially born at 16:18 (or 4:18 pm) weighing in at 7 pounds 14 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. Diana and Jordan had come into the room less than 5 minutes before I actually delivered, so Jordan may not remember it as she gets older, but she was there when her baby brother was born, which I feel is a really neat thing.

He is such a good baby so far, he sleeps most of the time, and even when he is awake, he is just as happy and content as can be. I have only heard him really cry maybe 3 times. He slept right through his circumcision. The only complaint I have so far is that he doesn't want to nurse. He isn't patient enough to wait for the let down and the milk to come. So, I started giving him formula, and I now have a pump, and my goal is to get enough milk pumped that I can solely feed him milk that I have pumped, and completely stop the formula. I really enjoyed the bonding that I had with Jordan while nursing, and was looking forward to that with Easton. Maybe eventually he will start to nurse directly from me, and the pumping can just be at work.

Jordan has been better than I expected. First thing every morning, she asks to see Baby Easton. She is so helpful in the mornings, and wants to be involved in everything I do with the baby, but then as the day progresses, she gets a little less interested, and wants my attention more, and is frustrated that she isn't the sole focus of everything I do. I know it will get better with time.

I will try to keep better updates about both Jordan and Easton, but as everyone knows, it will be a little harder now, with a newborn to care for. Here are some of the pictures they took at the hospital of my beautiful baby boy Easton Jax.

35 Week picture....

I am so ready for the next 4 weeks to hurry on by. January 4th, unless something happens all on it own before that date.

My Dr appointment.....

went well. She measured me again, and this time said that I am measuring right on track. So, we decided he was lying vertex at my last appointment, kind of messing up the measurements. We talked about a date to induce me, which makes me feel a little better. I am just worried about what it going to happen with Jordan because I don't want to wake her up in the middle of the night if I happen to start labor then, and try to find someone who can watch her because everyone works. It looks like we will be doing the inducing on the 4th of January assuming I don't actually go into labor before that on my own, and there aren't any other problems that would cause us to have to do it any sooner. It is scary how close it really is. I can't believe I am about to be a Mom of 2. I will try to keep a better update going these last couple weeks of my pregnancy.

A post long overdue.......

Obviously my plan to keep better updated with this blog has gone to the dogs. This pregnancy has been so much harder than my first. I really didn't think of myself as old, but my body seems to think otherwise. I have had so many pains that I am sure I didn't have with Jordan, and it is something I have to suffer through on a daily basis. I have dizzy spells, where I feel like I am going to faint and can't seem to catch my breath. My doctor tested my thyroid and went through a whole bunch of other scenarios, and it seems like it is just something that I have to deal with, because there really is no explanation.

My last appointment was a scary one for me, it was the day of the supposed "Blizzard" we were going to have, and they had called all their appointments to come in early so they could have all the patients home before the storm. So the nurse and tech came in and did the measurements, and listened to the heartbeat before the doctor came in to keep everything moving. When the doctor did come in, she wanted to measure me again, because she thought they had measured me smaller. She told me that I have to start coming in weekly to moniter his growth. At the time, she wasn't sure if it was because he is possibly lying sideways or he is just smaller. So, tomorrow I will go back, and hopefully get something more clear as to whether he is lying different, or really smaller than he should be.

Here is a 33 week picture to get you by until I post again.

Baby BOY Stanley

As a very impatient person, and Bryce being impatient too, we decided that as soon as we could try to find out what we are having, we wanted to find out. I have held on to so many clothes and "items" from Jordan, that it would be nice to find out, so I can either hang on to them if it was a girl or get rid of them if we are having a boy.

Saturday July 17, we went to Fetal Fotos. And, if I don't say so myself, they were so professional and nice. With Jordan we went to Fetal Studios in South Towne Mall, and while they were nice, it was so impersonal. This time, it felt so comfortable, and a lot like a Dr's office. I wasn't sitting on some tiny hard table/chair, they have large comfortable couch like tables to lay on. The tech got everything set up, and started doing the ultrasound. As she was doing everything, she was showing us what we were looking at and describing what everything was.

She got to the point where she was looking for the gender, and was having a bit of a hard time finding it, because the umbilical cord was positioned right between the legs, and making it harder to tell. After trying for a few minutes, she had me lay on my left side, and went out to get the tech who does the 3D portion. She tried for about another 45 seconds and was able to get the money shot before we moved on to 3D. Hopefully the pictures speak for themselves.

The whole family is "EXTREMELY" excited. On the Stanley side this will make 3 grandsons to the 7 granddaughters. The other grandsons are now 19 and 17, so it has been a long stretch. But we are finally here.

Finally

Here are Jordan's 2 year pictures. They are in a slide, and there are quite a few of them, so if you have a little bit of extra time, stop a while and check them out. As I said before, Rach and Kris really did an awesome job, and they were so good with Jordan. They really went all out to make sure that she was comfortable with them, and could be herself for the session.


Enjoy them!

Pictures

Jordan will turn 2 on the 20th, which just happens to be Father's Day this year. I took her to have her pictures taken on Tuesday, by a great couple who recently did some pictures for my sister. They were so cute with Jordan, they got right down on the ground and crawled around playing with her, so she would be comfortable with them. Here is a little sneek-peak of the session, and of course I will post more of them once I get the disc.

Her website is http://rach-smiles.blogspot.com

They also took some pictures of my gorgeous niece Linsey, and I must say, I don't think they could have done a better job. It was a mixture of great photographer, and beautiful girl.

I went to my first Dr appointment on Tuesday morning as well. They just took some blood, gave me my goody bag and I had an ultrasound done to make sure everything was looking good. The ultrasound measured me at 10 weeks and 3 days, which is just a couple days off of measuring off my cycle. I will be going back in July, but I was lucky enough to get myself some good medicine to help fight off the yuckies and nausea that I can't seem to get rid of.

Tuesday was a busy day, we also had to take Diva over to the Vet because she was walking a little sideways, with her head tilted. We knew something was in her ear, and after an overnight stay with the vet, and being sedated to remove them, they found 10, yes that is right, TEN foxtails in her ear canal. She is doing better, but they kind of tore up the inside of her canal, so we have to flush it, put drops in it and give her antibiotics for 10 days. She doesn't like her ear to be touched, and whines whenever I do, so I have to pin her down to take care of business.