RUB A DUB DUB THREE BOYS IN A TUB!!

Jace Riley Friel

7 lbs 1 oz 20 1/2 inches long Born 3/26 at 10:01 pm

Thursday: Quick summary of our special day...

Right after I posted my last post I started to have some strong contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. I decided to grab the kids and go to the hospital. I was hoping by the time I got there the contractions would be closer together. I was no longer worried that they would last for a few hours, or that they were labor contractions. The Dr. had mentioned that if I came in and showed 3-5 min contractions she would keep me. After an hour of being monitored the nurse informed my dr and they decided that I had progressed from the morning visit, therefore, they could keep me! I was so excited!!!! From 4 until 6 they gave me potocin to increase my contractions. After the contractions were about one minute apart I got the epidural. Around 7:45 the Dr. broke my water. We discussed how it took about 3 hrs with my other two kids after my water broke to deliver. At 8:45 I called the nurse in, informing her I felt a little strange...she checked and I was fully dilated and ready to delivery-in less than an hour! WOW! The Dr. was next door delivering another baby so I was suppose to "hang tight" for a few minutes. At 9:30 the Dr. came in and at 10:01 little Jace was born. Everything happened so fast I almost didn't know what was happening. The delivery went well and my mom was able to be right outside the door and join us quickly afterwards. It was excitng for Jared to call out..."It's a boy!" (my instincts were correct...)

Jace is doing great at nursing and sleeping. I know I'm back to getting up every few hours, but I love having quiet time with him and being able to snuggle with him without other little bodies. Logan and Cameron love him, they want to hold him and help change his diaper. When I nurse, they both are very intrigued about what the baby is drinking. Each time Logan watches, he trying to process "how the milk gets into my boobs and into the baby". Cameron just says, "Whats that? What is he doing?" Jared is helping soooooo much. He is playing Mr. Mom. He is entertaining the kids, cleaning, cooking, and letting me get some rest. I'm very lucky that he can stay home for the next week. He is an awesome husband.

Still A Chance

Dr. wouldn't break my water, but she stripped my membranes again. I just need to show up with 5 min or less contractions (this time they don't need to be causing me to dilate) for her to keep me at the hospital. She is on call tonight, so we are hoping that these pesky contractions start coming closer together. Usually my contractions have been about ten minutes apart & then in the middle of the night they pick up. So if you are a neighbor reading this, keep your phone on tonight b/c the minute I have 5 minutes contractions I'm headed to the hospital. It's time for this baby to join our family! :)

WHAT THE HECK

As I look at the window this morning, I'm stealing a line from Logan. "What the heck! SNOW!!!" Every year March weather teases us and taunts us. Today we had many activities planned. These activities did not include wearing jackets and building a snowman. It's good that our days are flexible and can include such a change :) Tomorrow I yet again will venture to the Dr. I'm desperately hoping she will break my water since I will be 38 weeks. Jared says we are not leaving the hospital, we are having this baby tomorrow! As we wait another day for the possibility of this little one arriving I think about the two little ones I have right now.

Logan: At 4 1/2 he still acts like a mini adult. Last Saturday he went fishing with Jared. When he pulled the fish into shore, he grabbed it without hesitating. Jared said he was laughing very hard as he tried to keep the fish in his hand. He told me that the fish was wiggly & slimy. He told me that he didn't think I would like touching it. He is probably right, but being a mom of two boys I will have to outgrown being grossed out! Jared did mention that they make fishing gloves...

Logan's favorite word right now is AWESOME. Usually the things he finds awesome are monster trucks smashing other cars, anything to do with fire, tiny gadgets, watching Man VS Wild and seeing the host eat bugs.

Cameron: His favorite word is treat. When he wakes up that is the first word he says to me, "treat..." as he gives me the cutest smile in the world. I then have to break his heart and tell him first we have to have breakfast first. He loves watching movies and will even lay down on the couch with his blanket and watch a full 2 hr movie. He counts to 11, and then will skip ahead to 43, 44, 45. He is into making "rows or lines" with his toys. If you disturb the line, your asking for it! At 2 he has mastered going poop in the toilet. Even when he was sick a few weeks ago he managed to tell me every time he needed to go. He loves dinosaurs. When we went to the dinosaur museum he kept growling and trying to talk to them. When he wants something he will repeat it over and over and over again. (Anyone with a 2year old knows what I mean.) Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes...

His latest "sentences" are Be Right Back, Daddy Home, Where is Logan? Ready for Bed, and Go downstairs.

Jared is gearing up for spring. He is always excited about planting a garden, going fishing, and the possibility of going camping. In just a few weeks he will end his 13 season at Deer Valley!

I'm enjoying a day where the kids are playing nicely on their own-for over an hour now. What a treat! Last night I was thinking about what I could clean, that I haven't yet, to jump start me into labor. A few minutes ago I was enjoying little baby kicks, wondering what body part just went across my stomach. As I write this post, I'm realizing that this could be the last day that I will have a predictable schedule, be able to eat anything and blame it on being pregnant and not pick up the floor because I can't bend over!

Poked and Prodded

No baby yet...at 9 this morning the Dr. strip my membranes hoping to cause harder and more productive contractions. Almost 8 hours later I have cramps & contractions. But the contractions are ten or more minutes apart. I'm waiting impatiently for harder and closer ones to come. Dr. said that it will bring on labor contractions if my body is ready for labor. She said it could take a few hours to a few days. I just think it's funny that nothing that exciting is happening. After months of being worried that the baby was coming early, he or she doesn't want to come at all. I'm going to try to relax and enjoy the rest of the first day of spring. The baby will eventually come out, just on it's on clock not mine. :)

36 & 5 Days

36 and 5 days just isn't 37 weeks...Deep down I knew that my Dr. wouldn't help my irregular contractions until Friday, but it was worth a try. Friday I will be 37 and 1 day and she agreed to strip my membranes. I remember doing this with Logan, but they also broke my water and I had a epidural quickly afterwards. I remember walking up to the hospital check in and thinking "These contractions are more painful." But I don't remember hours of being miserable. Every one keeps telling me how painful stripping your members can be...yikes.
Today would of been a great spring day to have a baby, but now Cameron has the cough and cold and needs me. I'd rather have him feeling better by Friday then worrying about him and bringing a new baby home to kids with colds. I'm trying to see the big picture...there is a reason this baby hasn't been born yet. I would love for the zoning of my foot to work it's magic and go into labor within the next few days on my own. I'm not really looking forward to having my membranes stripped. After having the procedure done I'll just come home and wait for the contractions to become really intense-doesn't sound that fun. But the last few weeks of endless contractions haven't been that fun either. I just think my uterus doesn't know what it should be doing!
What has been fun is being able to go outside without a coat! Today is such a pretty day. I'm looking forward to spring and saying goodbye to winter. I just hope mother nature doesn't trick us again and throw us a late March snow storm! Anyways, I'll keep every one updated!!!

St. Patty's Day Baby???

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's day, will I be lucky enough to have this little baby? I HOPE SO!!!! I thought about sparing every one from another blog about my endless battle with contractions, but I'm venting not complaining :) Plus you are choosing to read it, I'm not forcing you to. Now that I'm off the medicine, my contractions come in waves from a few minutes to hours. Last Wednesday, Saturday, and last night I had hours of medium to hard 4 min contractions apart. But they didn't continue & they weren't causing pain, so technically they aren't true labor contractions. Tomorrow I see my Dr. I hope she will help them be more productive and start turning into "real" labor contractions. I'm slowly dilating so they are doing something...just not that quickly. That's the problem with contractions, you don't know what they are actually doing. If you have them early on in pregnancy everyone panics b/c you don't know if they are going to cause you to progress or not. Clearly, my contractions, though frequent and annoying are just that. They are like the tortoise in the Tortoise & the Hare story, slow and steady!!!

Today a friend (Brendy) is going to rub my feet. It's a method called zoning (reflexology). My sister inlaw had her foot zoned and went into labor about two days later. If it doesn't "help" the baby come, at least I'll have a great time visiting with a friend as she rubs my foot. HA HA I have the best friends in the world.

Not Today

I had my weekly exam today and I'm dilated to a 3-which apparently isn't that big of deal to my dr. She wants me to be between a 4 or 5 before she admits me to the hospital! At first I was thrown off by this, I was only a 3 when I went into labor with Logan but with Cameron I was a 4 1/2. I guess her point is the baby isn't just going to "fall" out without some warning (water breaking, spotting, etc) I am only 35 and 5 days today, so it is good to still be cautious and not running to the delivery room. I'm trying to not get caught up with all the contractions I'm having, even though they are irregular they are still causing me to progress. I'm constantly thinking "What are these doing? How far apart are they? Do they hurt more than yesterday?" I'm really not "done" with being pregnant. I'm just done with having contractions and worrying all the time. My Dr. keeps saying, "You are a pro. When the contractions feel different, come in..." I'm very interested in seeing if her statement will be true. I guess I'll just go with my gut feeling, if I truly feel I'm in labor, I will go. So far I've been correct b/c I haven't had the baby yet :)

Yesterday I had a great day with my boys. We went to Ikea where Logan played in their free babysitting area and Cameron and I had breakfast together. It's funny that you can go to a furniture store to play and eat breakfast :) Tomorrow we plan on going to Thanksgiving Point to see the dinosaurs. I'm trying to get some "fun" time in before the real work of having a new baby starts. The anticipation is killing me, but a few more days in my belly won't bother me a bit.

False Labor/ Real Labor

On Friday, I was contracting every 5 minutes. I went to the Dr. and I had dilated more than Tuesday's appt but not enough to go to labor and delivery (dilated to almost a 3). At this point they will not stop labor, but they will not help it either. My Dr. said she will not break my water until I'm a 4. Dr. felt that I could stop taking the medicine b/c it doesn't seem to be working anymore. I still choose to take it Friday night because it might not stop labor, but maybe slow it down. The medicine did slow things down to 10 minutes apart. I'm trying to get to at least Monday to have this little one. The closer to 36 weeks the better. On Saturday and Sunday I still was having contractions all day...however they would start up for a few hours and just when we were about to hop into the car, they would go away. I stopped taking the medicine yesterday. Now the question is when do I go the hospital? I have a very irritable uterus. Basically any movement causes my uterus to contract. If I bend down to pick something up, contractions. If I lay on the couch and move side to side, contraction. If I'm sleep peacefully in the night, I will wake up to a huge contraction. I even called my Dr. on Sunday...her reply was, "Liz you are a pro at this, you've had two kids." Well yes, but both babies I went randomly to the Dr. visit and was told to go to hospital b/c I was in true labor. The contractions didn't hurt nor did I have any spotting. The dr. broke my water with both kids. (That is when the contractions started to hurt!) It's funny being on the "safe" side of labor. No longer am I hoping that the contractions go away and aren't progressing me, I'm WISHING for it! I thought I was in true labor yesterday when my contractions were 4 minutes apart for two hours, but then they magically went away???? Hmm, why can't your belly button just turn a different color when the baby is done growing & it was time to delivery:) That would be awesome.

Today I'm just going to relax about the contractions & just continue through my day. Hopefully history will repeat itself in a good way, tomorrow I'll go to my appt. and the Dr. will say, "Today is a great day to have a baby."

*side note: Yesterday I was changing and Logan came in right as I was putting on my shirt. He looked right at my belly and as he was laughing said , "Oh my gosh, your tummy is so big!" Then he went running to Dad, "Dad mommy's tummy is huge. Have you seen it?" This made us all laugh very hard!

BED REST IS OVER

Dr. gave me the green light to have the baby. I'm 35 weeks and she said that at this point they do not stop the labor. I know many people would be doing just about anything to start labor but I'm going to wait it out a few more days. I feel that when I go off the medicine, the baby will come (at least I'm hoping). However, Jared & my mom got a cold this week. I would like both of them to be healthy before this little one is born. (Hubby also mentioned under his breath something about fishing on Saturday. Hmm, should I let him go...) Plus, 35 weeks still seems to early for me. I would like to be 36 weeks (which is when I had Cameron). Last night I slept a lot better knowing that it would be ok if this little one decided to come. I've been VERY stressed out about he/she being delivered any sooner. Dr. took me off bed rest and Grandma Laura went home today. It's bitter sweet having her leave. I adore her and appreciate all the help she gave me. For two weeks I've been able to "sit" around, sleep in, and not have to do any chores. When in my life will I ever have that opportunity again??? Unless I'm on vacation, never. Yet I do feel good about getting up and "taking back" my role in the family. I'll keep every one posted on when I actually go into labor!! I'm finally excited about this little one coming!!!!