"my resolve is weakening"

In my opinion, it all started on Friday with the patio chair at Liz's house: I went to sit down, and the seat of the chair collapsed completely - not the frame of the chair, just the seat. I told Adam if I went early with this baby it would be because of the chair. On Sunday my contractions were kind of close but who wants to keep track? I wanted to get things ready just in case, so I packed my hospital bag, packed a bag for Lily, cleaned the kitchen and started the laundry. We went to church, whereupon I sat in Relief Society timing my contractions (it's easy when there's a clock right there), which were about 5-7 minutes apart. I didn't think that was too close, but I was really sweaty and hot and started looking around wondering if it was just me. We went home and I finished up with tidying the house: I still didn't completely believe I was in labor, but then my contractions started being super intense, and I said "whatever, let's go to the hospital." So we checked in about 3:30 p.m., and after 30 minutes with an inexperienced CNA who was more concerned about getting my blood pressure than getting a nurse to check me so if I was in labor I could start the IV with the antibiotics for strep B, and also condescendingly letting me know that they needed to monitor the fetus so I should 'slip' this teensy tiny elastic band over my stomach that made it impossible to breathe through contractions no matter how painful it was; FINALLY, after 30 minutes, a nurse came in and checked me and said I was dilated to 8 cm. By this point I couldn't relax, and that's when the pain really started coming, and I would look pleadingly at Adam and say "my resolve is weakening, can't I have any pain medication?" It seemed like I repeated this a few times, but each time he just kind of chuckled and said I was doing a really good job and he was very proud of me. I also remember repeatedly asking "how far away is he?" "what is the longest period of time before he's born?" "am I past transition?" So unfortunately, if anyone was passing by my room and knew I went natural, I'm afraid to say I didn't do Hypnobirthing justice. But oh well. It's over and this moment was so worth it all.

Baby #2

Jackson Lewis Bird

~

born august 24, 2008

5:28 p.m.

9 lbs 6 oz

20 in

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Baby Nay

Amanda's baby shower was last weekend at Liz's house - I do feel like it was a success, although Mom, Liz and Amanda did most of the work that day!

"they'd better be beautiful, they cost enough"

That was Adam's reply to my exclamation of how beautiful the roses were he brought home for my birthday. What a great surprise! It's pretty rare he gets me flowers, which makes for a special occasion when he does. We also took advantage of some gift certificates to a restaurant and some neighbors that didn't mind us dropping off Lily with only 15 minutes notice. It was a very nice evening.

Lily's present to me was that she slept in until 10:00 a.m. Wow! That was a nice little break for me. We then headed up to Logan to have lunch with Erin and her kids Ethan and Lucy (Lily was born about 2 weeks after Lucy - it was really cute to see them together). When we got home Britt called and we talked until Adam got home - no downtime for me to start worrying about cooking or cleaning.

So my 26th birthday was a wonderful day.

no practice needed

Congratulations to Adam! He won a pizza eating contest at work yesterday. He said he basically destroyed the competition and the closest person still had 3 pieces left when he finished. If people had known how much Little Caesars Pizza I demanded during my first pregnancy I doubt anyone would have gone up against him. The winnings were free lunch + $2.50 - and apparently free dinner too, because Adam couldn't eat anything the rest of the day.

walking

So now that I am not lounging around in bed or on the couch for most of the day due to low iron levels, I am trying to take advantage of these cool mornings and go for walks on the Ogden River Parkway at the mouth of the canyon. It has been pretty windy when I've been there, keeping the heat down, and Lily seems to enjoy herself. Although in this picture the wind was blowing super hard so she was a bit worried.
This is a wonderful trail - it follows right along side the river, with tons of trees for shade and with the water level really high, the sounds are so relaxing. And the mountains are so beautiful!

plums and purrs

taking in the bounty thanks to our non-tree-trimming neighbors while making a feline friend since dad wasn't around to scare her away.

35 week belly

My sister-in-law Mindy took this picture while we were in Lava. I've wanted some documentation of this belly, and thought this photo did it justice.

As a side note, yesterday at work my shoelaces came untied and I couldn't tie them! It took some serious effort with stretching and breathing out in order to reach those things.

wicked

We babysat a little girl in the ward who wanted to watch Cinderella. During the scene where the stepmother orders Cinderella to clean the house and do a lot of chores, Adam turned to me and said "That's what it's like living with you!"

in the kitchen

My mom visited this week - it was so nice to have her here. Lily warmed up to her very fast and was excited to have someone else besides me to play with. On Thursday Mom pickled some squash, and on Friday we spent the day preparing for a birthday party for Dad, who turned 65 last Tuesday, July 29th! Liz, Jared and the kids came up too - it's always so fun to have a lot of family around.