Julia Turns 3!

Can you believe it? My other baby turned 3 on Saturday. Let me tell you, I thought Jules was so little until Bailey came along. My dad said it perfectly, "Jules grew up a whole year just right now." I feel like that - like I somehow missed something - like I missed a lot. Somehow she is a little girl and I didn't realize it. Ugh, I'm so sad. Why are my babies growing???? Can anyone make it stop?

So, we had a party for Jules on Saturday. Luckily her daddy had a change in schedule and was able to be there for the whole party. I cheated and just bought some pizzas from Walmart. I wasn't up to making something for a crowd quite yet. I did, however, make her cake. Although the Grandmothers both suggested I buy one, I couldn't help it. I would have felt guilty had I not made her one. As my sister said, I would have blamed any future problems Jules had with me not making her 3rd birthday cake. (Jess knows my irrational side well.) My icing was somehow slightly runny for decorating, but I managed and the cake part was very tasty.

We had a nice day with Aunt Jess (who got to see Bailey for the first time), Aunt Sue, Uncle Matt, Ryan, Max, Spank, and both sets of grandparents. Jules loved all her presents and gave everyone kisses and hugs. She especially loved a little baby doll her cousin Spanky got her. She hugged it while it was still in it's box! She didn't get "Happy Birthday" sung to her 4 times this year (like last year), but she really did enjoy having everyone sing to her. She was running around telling everyone it was her birthday and when asked "who's the birthday girl," she emphatically answered "me!"

After present and cake time, we also gave each girl a special item that they've been working hard to earn. Jules' job has been to go pee on the potty well (we're not all there yet), and Nat's job has been to sleep in her bed all night (she's made 100% improvement). What did they earn? "Camp bags!!!" (sleeping bags). They are both so excited to go camping in the back yard this summer, to roast marshmallows and hot dogs, and to look at the stars with daddy. Now they have the gear to do it. =)

The boys (big and little) spent the rest of the afternoon outside, on the four wheeler, walking the woods and playing in the creek. While the big boys were "supervising," the little boys somehow ended up soaking wet from head to toe. They were practically swimming in the creek. Yes, it was in the low 60's and the water temp was probably in the 30's. It's a wonder they didn't have hypothermia. Boys will be boys, I guess. I'm positive God knows what he's doing when he gives one family 3 girls ;)

Anyway, we had a nice day celebrating my little Julie baby. I love that little stubborn, sweet, sour, silly, love-bug.

Bailey's Story - The Opening Act

Let's start where my facebook post left off: April 6, 4 cm, 80% effaced and contracting. Sounded good, but …. Well, it fooled me, the doctor, and John, who was even prompted to finally set up the crib. (I’m not sure if the procrastination was because he was busy, complacent with #3, or he knew it was driving my mom batty.)
After 2 more visits with the doctor, an afternoon of helping John outside (trying to get something going) and still NO progress, I was starting to feel like this baby was never coming. However, we scheduled induction for Friday. Then L&D moved it to Thursday evening. Instead, I received a call at 7:30am Thursday asking if we could come in ... now? I told the nurse it would take me a couple hours to get everyone ready, but okay (let's get this over with!)
I got up, showered, and got the kids dressed. After no movement from my room, yet trying to be patient, I finally said to my narcoleptic husband, "Tob, are you trying to make me mad right before I go in to deliver a baby ooorrr..." Whatever, he got ready (mixing a shake for breakfast, knowing better than to ask for eggs) and finally got going. Then, he drove 40 mph on our road. FORTY! It took all I had to keep my mouth shut and try to be rational. Maybe I was a teeny bit anxious.
After meeting my mom to hand over our big girls, we waited unnecessarily in Registration, where John informed he did NOT want anyone yelling “It’s a ____!” He wanted to see it for himself first. (I was sure to put all staff on notice =) I was just praying no one in the waiting area was contagious. Finally we got upstairs and settled in the room with our lovely nurse, Trish who was super nice and is into fitness, so small talk was no problem.

Bailey's Story - The Main Event

So, here's how it all went down. By noon, I was hooked up to the monitors, done with paper work and had the IV port stuck in my stinkin' wrist. About that time, my Dr. came in to say "hi" and break my water. I was expecting something right away. I think we all were. With my other pregnancies, I was on pitocin so I felt contractions almost immediately. This time there was nothing. I remember looking at the clock at 2:00 pm and saying, “well, this is officially the longest labor I’ve ever had.” Still, I was feeling good at that time and only had some minor discomfort from time to time.

Quickly, that all changed. When hearing the sound of John and the nurse talking made me irritated, I knew I needed to sit down. I worked through a couple decent contractions where I had relief in between. Then that quickly changed. John said he knew it was serious when I requested a wet paper towel for my forehead. It was “on.” At one point my arms and legs even went numb. Then the nurse reminded me to actually BREATHE. =)

Shortly after, the doctor entered the room. John said he looked like Kramer, practically sliding in. He immediately put his gloves on and said, “okay, on the next one, we’re going to push!” At some point I completely straightened out my arms and legs and just about pushed John and the nurse over. I heard her say “she’s strong!” and I remember thinking, “what did I just grab? Oh, thank goodness, it’s too hard to be her chest. =)” Apparently, the baby was almost out and I said, “I can’t.” Someone said, “You have to” and I thought, “you’re right, the only relief will be when I get this kid out.” Next thing you know, she came out in one push. As requested, the doctor held her bum up to John who said, “number 3.” I thought, “I think that means a girl. Does that mean a girl?” It meant a girl. She officially arrived at 2:39 pm weighing 6 lbs, 3 oz. and measuring 18 inches long. The doctor figures actual labor was about a half hour. (1/2 hour of #10 level of pain mind you.)




I wasn’t aware, but Bailey quickly turned purple. I DID notice that the nurses with the baby were quiet and then I heard someone say the alarm was going off. We later speculated that such a fast and furious labor probably shocked her little system. There really was very little warning for her. She was in one minute and out the next. Bailey had to be “ambu-ed” and given chest compressions. After she was improving in color, John felt he could let me know what was going on, but I was very calm. I knew everything would be just fine. They held her up so I could see her and I immediately saw Jules. However, instead of bringing her to me, they took her over to the nursery to give her O2 and make sure she was stable. (John accompanied her.) The nurses were very worried that she hadn’t cried, but knowing my other two, I again, was not worried. Very quickly everyone was gone from the room and I was hanging out there alone and freezing. Luckily a nurse came back and gave me one of those blankets from the warmer. mmmm. That and the ice pack are my 2 favorite things in L&D.

Finally, they brought Bailey back to me even before they bathed her because she was rooting so hard and had already found her thumb. Her blood sugar had been really low, but she latched on right away and once she ate, her sugar popped right back up. One weirdo flippy nurse was such a Negative Nancy, but luckily Tob and I are old hats at this and didn’t let her worry us. We knew everything would be just fine. After delivery, I got up, brushed my teeth, replaced my missing hair tie and we called the family.

Bailey's Story - The End Credits or "Who's Who"

So, I had a plan, a simple plan, I thought - to let my girls see the baby first and then they would introduce the baby to their grandparents. I wanted them to feel that it was THEIR baby too and I wanted them to feel important. Unfortunately, things did not go as I had wished. The baby was in the nursery when the girls arrived and they saw her with just their daddy. (I was now hooked up to an IV to help the uterus contract.) Then, while the baby was still in the nursery, my in-laws stopped in and saw her, so the girls did not have the opportunity to introduce them at all. I was disappointed. Both Nat and Jules were also a little stand-offish with me as well. I think all the people and the hospital bed flipped them out a bit. Let’s just say, it was not the peaceful family bonding time that it was when we introduced Natalie to Julia. They were quickly ready to go back to Nana’s for movies and Cheetos. Oh well.
Anyway, apparently, when Jules saw baby she said, “him a noisy seeper.” =) We decided Bailey has my unfortunate thumbs and long fingers, but also got our family’s nice pointy lips. Oh, and her feet were pretty purple for quite a few hours.
Bailey continued to improve, regardless of Negative Nancy’s warnings. She and her daddy slept well during the night. I, however, did not. My bed broke and would not lay flat. I called the nurse’s station, but they were super busy with “babies flying everywhere” all night. So for the first 4 hours of the night, I was curled up on the lower 3.5 ft of the bed like a cat. Finally someone came in randomly to check on me and I had them fix the bed. That crinkled/crimped sleeping situation turned out to be the best rest I got all night. From 2 am on, I had someone coming in, poking me, asking me questions, checking the baby, etc. every few minutes, I swear. By the time the phlebotomist came in at 7am, turning on all the lights and poking my veins, I had had it. Right then I decided I would go home that day, if possible. I could not spend another night like that. Luckily, they agreed to let me go and I left about 30 hours after I got there. We could have left earlier, but we didn’t have a name =) Although this was the first hospital that would have LET us go, John (rightly) insisted we stay until we had a name. Otherwise, she would probably have been "Baby Girl O'Day" forever.

Other items of note:
-The older ladies running the café downstairs LOVED John, made him fresh coffee, got him a paper, etc.
-Julsie ran to her Pop-pop when he arrived, yelling “My have a new dister.”
-We found out later that the reason we were supposed to come in on Thursday evening was because one of the girls that set John and I up on our blind date was working in L&D Thursday evening and wanted to be our delivery nurse. She was upset that signals were crossed and we were then told to come in during the day, but we all agreed that it worked out for the best in the end since they were swamped that evening. She told all the nurses to try to persuade us into naming the baby after her and her cousin (the other girl that set us up.)
-Natalie had wanted to call a girl "Sara." She did NOT like the name Bailey and even told her Sunday school teacher (3 days after Bailey arrived) that her name was Sara. =)

After we got home and got our girls all back together, things were much better for me. The older two really took to Bailey and were so excited to hold her. They love it when she opens her eyes and love to hold her. Natalie says, "how's my cutie pie." She picks out Bailey's outfits, brings me diapers and wipes and is just a great helper. Julia says, "Bailey Lyn" in just the cutest voice ever and she calls her "him," i.e. "him's so cute" or "did him poop?" I just love my little trio. =)

Easter 2010

I'm not feeling particularly witty at the moment, but figured I'd better get some pictures and updates on the blog before baby #3 comes. I think this action could be categorized as "nesting," although it may be too new of a fad to be listed in the parenting/pregnancy books as one of the common nesting activities



For all of you face-bookers, this next quote is a repeat. Sorry to bore you, but I need it here on the blog for posterity:
At lunch on Palm Sunday, daddy asked Nat what she learned in church that morning. Nat replied, "My teacher told us how Jesus died on the cross. I told her how Tudor died on the road."
It was all we could do to keep from laughing hysterically. =)

On Saturday, the girls and I went to Nana and Pop-pop's. I wasn't feeling very chipper so they watched the girls while I did my last minute shopping. I went back to their house and made my "Mom Rauch's Carrot Cake" with help from mom and sis.
The entire time I was gone Nat was chomping at the bit to get started coloring eggs. She was ready to go the second I hit the door but in true kid-torturing fashion, the eggs weren't. =) There were 12, yes TWELVE different egg colors in the Paas pack and we didn't even get the fancy pack! Jess and I think we had about 5 colors back in the day. 12! Good thing my mom has saved every little wire egg dipper we've gotten over the past 20 years so we still were able to manage one dipper for every color. (pheeeww. Crisis averted.)
Pop-pop was a great help in assisting Jules with the dipping and instructing Nat on the finer points of egg-coloring, like using the wax crayon and egg holders. They were tickled with their results.
Easter Sunday was a nice time. We made it to church and actually got some pics of the girls before we left. Nat was all about squeezing Jules to pieces for those shots. Later, we went to my mom's, had dinner, and an Easter egg hunt. The girls loved running around in the sunshine (and I'm sure Nat loved not having to fight 1000 little kids and their pushy parents for eggs at the Hershey outlets. At Nana's house you're a winner every time.)
We cajoled my prego sis to get a belly shot with me since she is finally showing a little bit. We played the "this is a once in a life-time photo for us" card. Unfortunately, we couldn't get her to show her real belly, just her clothed belly, but I'll take it!

I Cor. 15:17