I'm baaaaaack!

Well folks, I'm back. I had to take a break from the blogging world for a little while. Between Riley, Ryan, work, and being pregnant... there was NO time for anything.

Brief update on us... I'll do a month by month run down to bring ya up to speed.

April: Nothing too adventurous. A week after Easter, we found out we were having a little BOY! I was sooooooo shocked! In fact, I think I yelled a little bit in the u/s room. I may or may not have annoyed the u/s tech saying, "I can't believe it! I can't believe we're having a boy! I was so wrong!" I mean, I was so convinced that this baby was a girl that we'd barely discussed boy names and hadn't planned ANYTHING for a boy. Also, Riley transitioned in to a "big girl" bed... she is now in a twin bed! WEEEEEEE!

May: Went to visit Ryan's family in Ohio. We had a great time! Traveling w/ a toddler is HARD work. It is not nearly as easy as when she was a newborn and didn't need entertainment. OY.

June: School ended. Summer program began. What a whirlwind. U/S #6 for the little man (who still had no name at this point)... placenta had moved (whew, love those moving placentas) and all looked well. As of 31 weeks pg, he was measuring close to 4lbs. At which point, I started to panic. Did this mean he was going to be big? I can't be birthing any big babies. At least I can get some drugs.

July: U/S #7... at work one of my kids was taking off running and w/o thinking, I ran after him. This included hurdling a chair. This is ALWAYS a bad idea, but especially at 32/33 wks pregnant. I was having some VERY mild contractions the remainder of the day, so the dr did a quick scan. We also moved to a new house. Hallelujah. It has 3 bedrooms and is EXCELLENT.

August: CRAZY month! On the 5th a tree fell on my car and the house. That is right - a TREE. Not a limb or a branch, a TREE. I had gone home from work to eat lunch and noticed it was about to start storming. I turned around to get a cup of ice water when I heard a loud bang. I thought someone was trying to break in to the house and was scared as heck. I poke my head out and there is the tree. It had snapped and was laying across the hood of my car and the roof. Nice. Luckily, the damage was fairly minimal. We are still waiting for my car to get fixed. I'm getting impatient.

Our AC also went out at 38 weeks pregnant. I cried. It was soooooooo hot. The a/c guy was a complete jerk to us and alluded to the problem being something we had caused. It was not and we knew it. (peek in to the future. A/C went out again in early September... they had to replace the compressor.) I'm sorry that guy had to work on a Saturday, but dude... that is your JOB. If you don't want to work Saturdays in August, you should consider not working in HVAC during the summer. Just an FYI.

School started on August 24th. I went to the open house the week before and got told how huge I had gotten and how I would not make it to the first day of school. Well, I WANTED to be at the first day and preferrably the first WEEK of school for a bunch of reasons. First day was smooth sailing. We had divided the caseload I would have after maternity leave between myself and another girl until I went in to labor. 2nd day of school came and so did the baby! I worked until 3:15, went home w/ mild contractions - mild enough that I couldn't time them that well, but had one that I could not talk through, got a bath (a girl has to shave her legs before going to the hospital), finished/started packing my bag, and out the door we headed. Ryan called my parents while I was in the tub to tell them we thought it was time. Got everything in order. Arrived at the hospital at 4:20. Contractions were 4 minutes-ish apart and I could.not. talk through them. They were bringing tears to my eyes. Nurse checked me, 3 cm, she was going to start the process to admit me. She was in and out of the room. I asked for an epi - she said as soon as I was admitted and in a Labor and Delivery room, they'd have it ready. I couldn't lay in bed. I constantly had to go to the bathroom. Then I started puking my guts out. Nurse says she is trying to get me in a room and she'll finish the process of admitting me in there.

Finally a labor and delivery room is open at 5:30. I walk down the hall and tell Ryan that the contractions aren't stopping. As soon as one would taper off, the next would begin. I could not catch my breath. I went to the bathroom when we got in to the new room and said, "I just have sooooooo much pressure!" The nurse said if I'd get in bed, she'd get my IV in and get me stadol until the dr w/ the epi got there. I finally managed to get in the bed. She hooked up my IV, injected the stadol, checked me - 8 cm. WTH??? It was only 5:46! We'd only been there an hr and 26 minutes!! How was I already 8 cm!? She ran to the hall to call for the anesthisiologist and the other nurse informed her that it was too late - I was at 10 cm and his head was "right there". I was screaming (at the top of my lungs, tyvm) and holding on to the top of the bed. My water broke - filled with meconium. Special care team was called. I pushed, the nurses told me to come down. I started crying and told them I couldn't do it. I wanted my epidural and I didn't know how to do this w/ no drugs. Because of when the stadol was given, it had not taken effect. It takes 15 - 20 minutes to kick in. I didn't have that much time. And to be told I wouldn't get that glorious epi, I was a mess. I finally moved down the bed. Pushed 3 times and the baby was out! The dr missed the head, but he caught the rest of the body. They didn't have time to break down the bed even!

Asher Douglas arrived at 5:54 p.m. on August 25th... just 1 hr 34 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. LESS than 3 hrs after I left work. He weighed 6lbs 8oz and was 19 inches long. He is a great baby! No problems with nursing, latched right away. Riley is in love with "Ashooo" and has to check on him every morning when she gets up.

A sad note about August... Ryan's grandmother passed away on August 23rd after suffering a stroke the week prior. Her funeral was the same day Asher-boy was born (thank GOD Ryan didn't head up like we had originally thought he would since labor seemed far off!). She will definitely be missed. As we said bye to one family member, we also welcomed another.

We've gotten to relax a lot since I've been off of work. Myself and the kids went and visited my family for a week since Ryan had to work a lot of overtime last week. We had TONS of fun! Riley loves to play with Jack! We went to visit my grandparents and that is always a great time.

It's been a month since Asher flew in to our lives and it's been crazy. I love it. He's growing soooooo fast. Riley has turned from a baby to a little girl. I'm not sure I can handle them growing up so fast! The Rooster went to the dr for an upper respiratory infection on Wednesday - she weighs a whopping 22lbs now. So skinny! Asher-boy had his 1 month check up on Friday and he weighed in at 8lbs 9oz (gained 2lbs in a month! Looks like I'm doing a good job feeding him!) and was 20.5 inches! Pedi also gave Zantac to help with what we suspect is reflux. We can already tell a huge difference and it's only been 2 days!

Look for pictures this week!