The Great Pumpkin

Trick or Treat?

Today Alexis' preschool class went trick or treating through the high school where her preschool is held. This means that I had to get up in time to dress her up and get Jake and I ready as well. I took a few pictures before we left, thought I would put them up to give you a preview of Halloween night!

Sleepless in Spokane

This morning Alexis came into my room with a very serious look on her face and her nostrils flared a bit and said "Mom, I think that Jacob is nocturnal." Keeping as straight as a face as I could I asked her why she thought this. "Because on my 'Goodnight Shows' Nina says that things that stay awake all night are called nocturnal." I could not argue with her, in a way she is right. Jake is definitely a fan of the wee hours. So I just answered, " You might be right and you are very smart to recognize the similarities between wild animals and your brother." To that she turned and walked to the living room for her morning cartoons.

These nocturnal nights however, have become my norm and I find myself pacing the living room with a very wide awake 16 day old boy while the rest of the house-and my brain-are quiet and fast asleep. While it is frustrating to be so damn tired it is also blissful to share those private moments looking into his curious eyes.

My body is adjusting to the lack of sleep and other physical demands this new little critter has placed upon me. I am healing well from the C-Section, still not back to my old self, but getting there. In another three weeks I will be able to drive my self around again.

It is now eleven p.m. and Jacob has woken up right on cue. Time to go punch in for another sleepless night.

What's new with the princess?

It is nearing Halloween and Alexis still has not fully decided on what she wants to be this year. We have bounced between Princess Peach (from Super Mario Bros.), a witch, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, a Magician, and maybe just a fairy. This girl cannot make up her mind for anything!

She started pre-school last Tuesday and LOVES it! Unfortunatley school is the same time as dance, so she decided to quit dance and stick to school. She has a friend, Alexis Willis, that also goes to the school, so it was easy for her to do something new with a familiar face. On her first day she took right off into class with out even saying good-bye to Gene and I. She is a social butterfly.

She has also started to take a liking to Jacob finally. She wasn't too sure the first couple of days, but now wants to be involved with everything he does. There isn't a feeding or a diaper changed that she isn't looming over asking to help. She wakes him with a kiss and tucks him back in with an even bigger one.

We are so lucky to have such an amazing daughter!

Rough 10

Well, it happened just like I thought it would. I told a few people my predictions for Jacob Allen's birthday. I predicted that I would be out at my parents house, about 2 hours away from Spokane, that it would happen on the 10th of October a month early and the day my best good friend was expecting her BAR results, and that Gene's company would be here.

That's exactly how it all happened. We were just about to serve up a yummy dinner of salad and pasta right around 7:30 p.m. Gene and my dad had just gotten back from hunting and were stringing a deer up in the tree. I was standing at the kitchen stove, plate in hand, when my water broke. Needless to say I had to skip dinner as we jumped into the car and started praying that we could make it all the way to Spokane before my labor progressed any more.

When we finally made it to the hospital it was about 10:45 p.m It seemed like checking in took forever, you know all the questions they have to ask you about your medical history and on and on. It was about 11:30 when it was finally decided that I wasn't just peeing my pants and that my water truly had broken.

I was taken to a delivery room and told to rest. At this point things were pretty boring. I wasn't having contractions and the whole process was becoming eerily similar to my delivery with Alexis. But without warning my contractions came on with fists of fury. I went from 1cm to 4 in about two hours. During this time I had gotten an epidural to help with the pain, which it didn't, you think that would be an indicator that something wasn't quite right. Not so. A couple times I asked Gene to come over and hold my hand, thinking it would help me cope with the pain only to get an answer of "Okay, I will be there in just a minute." followed by some heavy snoring. That's right! While I was miserable with pain he was sleeping like a baby on the couch bed next to me.

I was examined a couple more times in the next hour. When I got to 6 cm the nurse that was with me all night was changing shifts and thus gave me one more exam telling me that Jake's head was a little swollen, but not to worry as it was pretty normal because of the pushing and the pressure on the baby.

Okay, so she left, and actually she was a he, but that's a whole other story!! Fate must have been on my side this morning because my OB just sorta happened to be in the area of my room and was stopping in before going over to his office and decided to do an exam on me, a little concerned that the epidural wasn't working. The OB doesn't usually come in until the last couple of minutes of pushing, so him being in the area was rare. Anyway, as soon as he got his hand in there he said "This baby is breach and we are going to do an emergency cesarean right now!"

Imagine my shock when I heard those words. Magically Gene woke up from his slumber just in time to get bombarded with information from three or four different docs. My room went from dark, relaxing enviorment to a bright and bustling place of business. I was signing release forms left and right, more doctors and nurses introduced themselves to me than I could count, and next thing you know Gene is dressed in scrubs and I am being wheeled down a bright hallway and into a freezing cold room.

Before I knew it I had a blue curtain hung right in front of my face and Gene was seated behind my head. A few minutes later, after some very uncomfortable and strange pulling and tugging of my insides I heard the first cries of Jacob! I was so relieved and loaded with emotions that I started to cry. I will never forget turning my head to see the nurses carrying his little body across the room to give him his initial check up. We would have pictures of this, but because everything happened so quickly neither Gene nor I remembered to grab the camera out of our bag. Sad.

When all was deemed okay Gene and little Jake were escorted to the nursery for some additional tests while I was being cleaned out and sewn up. After another hour or so we were all reunited and I was finally able to meet my son. I was blown away at how much he looked like Alexis.

For the next two days things went well and we were discharged on Sunday, just in time for Jacob and dad to watch their first Seahawks game together.

However, we had to be checked back into the hospital a few days later to treat Jake's jaundice. He was pretty much the color of a fall pumpkin by the time we were admitted. Not to worry though, two days under some Billi lights and many tears cried by me-they made me glue Velcro to his head where I had to attach opaque goggles-and he is feeling better, eating plenty, and growing at lightening speed.

Here's to hoping that the next 10 days will be easier than the first.