A long time coming

Here and there, over the past year, I've had people ask me if I have updated the blog. Umm....nope! In July I just started feeling so big and hot with my pregnancy that the last thing on my mind, to be honest, was updating the blog. A pregnancy is different the 2nd time around, especially when you have an (almost) 3 year-old!

Calder's 3rd birthday came and went (I promise I will post pics of his 4th birthday this year) and September arrived - and with it, my due date. I was due September 29, 2009. To make a long story short, I woke up feeling just fine on September 15th...Calder and I went about our morning 'thing' - breakfast, checking email, some TV..it was a beautiful day. Around 8 am or so I started feeling little twinges...I didn't get too excited about it, but...I kept an eye on it. :) Fast forward a few hours later and I was going into triage to get checked out. Even though I was barely dilated at 3:30 - like 1-2 cm? - they kept me there because I was going to attempt to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesearean). Still, at 8:30 at night I was 2 cm. Not much change. Omigod, you would think that with that much pain, there would be some progress!! Gary drove Calder and my mother-in-law home, because we were told he would have enough time (we were told the same thing at Calder's birth and then had to have an 'urgent' c-section) - and I was told to walk around. Well, that session of walking around did it. By 9:15 pm, I was back at my room, buzzing my nurse...I just couldn't take the pain anymore!! She ordered me some morphine, Gary arrived, and the morphine didn't seem to do too much. So an epidural was ordered, and between 9:15 and 11 pm (when I got the epidural) let me tell you, was the longest time on the history of the planet (or so it seemed to me). When I finally got the epidural, they checked me and I was 9 cm...wow!!!! I did it!!! Well, almost. :) We waited and waited for me to get to 10, but it wasn't happening...my Dr. on duty - Dr. Rory Windrim (I loved that man, he was so pro-VBAC) decided to give me a LITTLE bit of oxytocin to push me over the edge. But he gave me just 15 minutes to do it in. Otherwise....I would have to have another dreaded c-section. Lo and behold, 15 minutes later...Iw as at 10!! After well over an hour of pushing (omigod, what a job THAT is!) little Easton Gabriel was born at 4:29 am, weighing 7 lbs 3 oz and 18 inches long. Unfortunately Easton had a rough time of delivery, and he didn't score well on his APGAR...he was rushed to the NICU, and there he stayed for 4 days, with some help from oxygen. Other than that, he was the picture of perfect health. 4 days after his birth, we were allowed to leave the hospital, together. A family of 3 became 4!

Ok, so that wasn't a long story short, but it could have been a lot longer!! ;)

Since then, it's been a whirlwind of sleepless nights for me, diaper changes, managing a very rough-lovin' 3 year old brother - and a lot of stress. Easton has been a joy, but he is also very different from his brother - and so he should be!! He is a much needier baby, he loves his Mama, that's for sure!!

But here I sit, with Easton and Calder - Easton is 8 1/2 months of age and crawling and pulling to a stand, and Calder is coming up on his 4th birthday - a big boy, full of wonderment, excitement, and his share of crabbiness. :)

Here are just a few of the thousands of photos I have taken over the last 8 months (I also just noticed that they uploaded in a strange order, so they're not completely chronological). I hereby promise to be more diligent in posting photos and info about what's going on in our life. Hmmm...I guess we better change the blog name - Life with Calder AND Easton.