Hello again

I figured I'd actually write something again. It's only been about a year since my last post and boy howdy has a lot happened since then. I'm actually sitting here listening to Miles cry hoping and praying that it will soon end and that he will fall asleep. After rocking and feeding him to sleep 3 times and having him wake up 10 minutes later each time... I think he has finally driven himself to this option. I hate the "cry yourself to sleep" method, but I don't know what else to do. You would think that by the third child I would have this figured out. And why in the world have none of my babies liked the pacifier. Honestly... 3 out of 3... they all have hated it. Am I doing something wrong? I have really pushed for it this time and no dice.

I need to count my blessings though. Miles is sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches at night and going back to sleep pretty easily... so I am feeling a little more sane now. I feel like if I can get three straight hours without being waken up, then that is pretty good. And he takes good naps. We are just struggling with getting to sleep for the night. It seems that he wants to be awake between the hours of 7:00-11:00 at night. That's the only personal time I have without Ben and Chase... so we have to put an end to this.

Miles is the cutest thing I've ever seen though. He is smiles and coos all the time and I absolutely love it. I've decided that I make clone babies. I truly can't decide if he looks more like Ben or Chase did as a baby. But I think I can't decide because Ben and Chase looked a lot alike in their baby pictures.

We just had about a minute of quiet and I thought he had finally made the trip into slumber... but he's back at it now. What to do?

I've been wanting to write out the story of when he was born and it hasn't happened yet... so I will do it now. He's not even two months old and it seems like SO much has happened since then. Oh my goodness... I think he is calming down... I spoke too soon. Should I go feed him to sleep again? I'm going crazy... no wonder I make air headed comments all the time lately (I know some of you are thinking "Lately?").

I just went in and fed him to sleep... burped him, and he woke up as I laid him back down. But he's not crying and hopefully he blissfully goes back to sleep now... but I wouldn't be surprised if I hear him crying within the next five minutes. Anyways... back to my stories of the last couple months.

Miles' Birthday!!

Miles was Born on November 18th at about 1:30 in the morning, but it all started in the afternoon on the 17th... which was Boyd's birthday and my actual due date (pretty cool huh?). My mom had already flown in town and I had my Dad and my sister coming for Thanksgiving the next week so I was so hoping and praying that I would go into labor. Ben and Chase came two days before my due date, so I was sure it was bound to happen soon. I even picked up some rasberry leaf tea which I had heard helped to start contractions. So... I drank that tea... and I think it really did help because within the next couple hours I was having contractions. WOO HOO!!! We celebrated Boyd's birthday with the cake and candles, took Ben to get some new crocs (his were so disgusting and it was time... he wears them everyday), took a walk on the Pit street Pier, and made it to Chick Fil A for dinner. All this time I was having contractions and by the time we got to Chic Fil A my contractions were getting stronger and they were almost 3 minutes apart... time to head to the hospital!!!! We rushed home and threw some stuff in a bag (we hadn't packed the hospital bag yet... oops) and rushed to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitors (which I hate) to read my contractions. They wanted to make sure I was really in labor before they called the doctor to come in. The monitors weren't picking up my contractions and I could tell the nurse didn't believe me. Hello!! I've had two kids already... I know what a contraction feels like. Anyways... they weren't showing up on the screen and I was really annoyed with the nurse... so I got dressed back in my clothes, took off the monitors and walked out of the room ready to go back home. The nurses kind of freaked out and said I couldn't go until the doctor checked me out of the hospital... something like that. So I said... that's fine... I'm going to walk around until you get the doctor here. After about 30 minutes of walking around the nurse told me I had to get back on the monitors because the dr was going to be there within 30 minutes and we needed to have a record of what was going on... ok... fine. The doctor didn't show until about an hour and a half later... I was ticked. When she checked me I was dialated to a 4 and the head was down... even though the contractions weren't showing up on the screen. The dr said, "Do you just not feel pain or something?" Hello!! Yes I feel pain... I just don't sit here screaming about it. So finally they got me into my own Labor and delivery room (sorry to go into all that detail... I just want to remember all that stuff).

So once I got settled in my own room things seemed like they were progressing great and everything was normal. I wanted to go all natural this time because with Ben and Chase the epideral didn't work out so well and I ended up feeling all the pain of delivery anyways. So this time I thought why even bother with the anxiety of someone sticking a needle in my spine. I didn't even want an IV, but they told me I had to and Boyd convinced me that I should let them (I'm so glad Boyd was there).

So... more contractions... getting stronger... and then my water broke (crazy). After that happened the nurse checked to see how far dilated I was and then she said, "Uh... that's not the head." I thought she was an idiot and didn't know what she was talking about... apparently she did. She went to get the doctor and an ultra sound machine and they found that Miles had turned within the time I was there at the hospital. He was now laying sideways and had apparently stuck his arm/elbow through my cervix (sorry for the descriptive words). The Doctor (Dr. Joseph) turned to me and told me we were going to have to do a C-Section. I felt my heart rate and anxiety level sky rocket as I half yelled at her, "can't you move him back or something?!!" She explained there was no way... especially now that my water had broke and that there was no other option than to do a C section. I totally lost it and bawled to Boyd. I honestly don't remember another time in my life when I was more scared. I'm the person who has passed out multiple times because I had a needle stuck in my arm to draw a vial of blood. I've gotten over the passing out part, but I still have serious fears of needles and surgery. I even cried out to Boyd, "I can handle pushing a baby out, but I can't handle having someone slice me open."

Moments after that the Anesthesiologist came into the room and I said to him, "You are the best anesthesiologist around, right?" He reassured me about everything and next thing I know they were wheeling me into the OR (that anesthesiologist was awesome... he stayed by me the whole time and talked to me to keep my mind occupied). I had managed to stop crying. But I just closed my eyes and zoned out and did what they asked me to do.

If you've felt sick at all by what you've already read... then don't read on. They told me that they would have him out within the next 5 minutes. It took them more like 15 minutes. turns out he was really stuck and they had to make an extra "T-cut" incision to get him out. I could feel them pushing on me (I couldn't see what's going on because they had a curtain up... thank goodness) and I later realized I had fingerprint bruises on my belly. The Doctor told me that they rarely have to make the "T-cut." It was the only one that Dr. Joseph had done and supposedly an OBGYN will probably only do about 2 during their whole career. Sweet huh?

So... recovery after a C-section is a whole different ball game than regular delivery. I stayed in the hospital for the next 3 days. I loved having Ben and Chase come and meet Miles. And I'm so glad that my mom was there to take care of them while I was in the hospital. Also... I'm so grateful to Boyd for staying with me overnight and sleeping on that awful fold out chair. I don't know what I would have done without Boyd... or my mom.

But it was worth it. I am so in love with my sweet Miles. I wish I could box up those first few days/hours that I have with my brand new baby and go back and relive them whenever I want. I love how tiny they are (he's already so much bigger) and just how brand new they are to this world. It is a total miracle... I LOVE it. And... I'm so grateful we both made it out alive. I'm afraid that 100 years ago one of us or both of us would have died. As much as I hated the thought of C-section... I'm so grateful for it.

And I'm so grateful for my boys and my family. Even though it's crazy and everyday is a challenge and I'm tired almost all the time... I love it! And I love them. And Boyd is awesome.

I don't think I'd be a sane person right now without him. I love him.

Anyways... that's my story. Here's some pictures...

I love this pictures... This is when we were getting ready to leave the hospital.
Ben is still super excited and happy about Miles. He tells me all the time how cute Miles is... and I agree :)
sweet baby :)