A Baby Story

The following is the story of Grant's birth.

This labor and delivery was very different than with Abby and Carter. I woke in the early morning hours on Tuesday, the 16th with crazy painful contractions. I am usually pretty good about managing my pain but these contractions came so fast and so hard that I thought I was going to have the baby on my bathroom floor.

I woke Dean and told him we needed to go to the hospital NOW.

By the time I got settled in a bed in triage and the nurse checked me I was dilated to a seven. I told her I wanted my epidural.

I was admitted immediately and got my epidural pretty so thereafter. Soon after getting my epidural my contractions slowed. My nurse told me she was going to have to give me medication to get the contractions going again.

The medication was unnecessary because I turned on my side and I went from an eight to a ten in fifteen minutes. I told the nurse I was not ready to push and that I wanted to labor down for a while.

In the meantime I turned to the other side and the baby's heart rate dropped. The nurse called in some more help in case there was something wrong.

By the time I started pushing I only pushed a couple of times. I delivered Grant's head and the cord was wrapped around his neck. The doctor had to cut it off. Luckily, as soon as the cord was off and Grant was out he started crying right away and he was perfectly fine.

Grant was born Tuesday, June 16th at 12:36p.m. He was 19 3/4 inches long and 7 pounds 8 ounces.

37 Weeks

So here I am. The picture is a little blurry. (Abby took it, not too bad for a 5 year old)

Anyhow, at my 37 week appointment I was dilated to a one and the baby has dropped. So far I have gained 22 pounds. The baby is growing and very active. The doctor said he can come anytime so I should have my hospital bag ready.

The only question now, will Baby Grant be another Dean clone like Carter? Take the poll if you want to make a guess.

Carter's Birthday

May 20th Carter turned 2 years old. Abby's preschool graduation was the evening of Carter's birthday so we gave him his gift the night before.

On Sunday we did birthday cake with our family, first at my mom's house then at Grandma Wendy's house. I think we could sing Happy Birthday to Carter every day and he would never get tired of it.



Carter also had his well child check up. He is 36 1/4 inches tall (90th percentile), he weighs 27 pounds 10 ounces (50th percentile) and his head circumference was 48 cm (25th percentile). The doctor said he is doing well. His vocabulary is doing better. Although, he is not forming two word sentences yet. The doctor said not to worry about it, boys are usually a little delayed in their speech because they are more focused on physical development. (He said this as Carter was hanging from the sink in the exam room.)

Trouble

When I drop Abby off at school the kids have free play time. I usually stay for a couple of minutes to let Carter play. Today, Abby sat at a table next to a little boy named Tomas to color and cut out pictures and Carter sat down next to them. I stood behind Abby and heard the following conversation:

Tomas: Abby we are going to go out to dinner tonight.
Abby: Okay.
Tomas: Just the two of us.
Abby: We can't do that.
Tomas: It's okay, I have my hot rod.
Abby: I am not old enough.

Mommy to Tomas: Abby can't date until she is 16.
Tomas: Dirty look to Mommy

If Dean was upset by the other little boy in her class telling her she was pretty, he is not going to be happy about this one. (I thought it was hilarious.)

Build-a-Bear

Abby had her first experience at Build-A-Bear last week. She had so much fun. My sister Sami went with us to help out. Abby decided that Build-a-Bear was an acceptable substitute for a birthday party. (We have had a crazy busy month.) She said her favorite part was picking out the clothes and dressing the bear.

Train

Abby's preschool went on a field trip to Hanford on April 30th. We got on the school bus bright and early, we rode from Sanger to the train station in downtown Fresno. Once there we boarded the train. Abby was a little nervous at first but once we got on the train and she was able to walk around she loved it.
Once we were in Hanford we walked to the park where the kids got to ride on a carousel a couple of times. After that we had a picnic lunch then ice cream from Superior Dairy. All in all a super fun day for Abby!

Yummy. . .

The best thing about strawberry season is, STRAWBERRY PIZZA

Crust
Combine:
2 cups flour
2 cups butter
4 tablespoons sugar

Press into jellyroll pan and bake at 375º for 15 minutes (until golden brown.) If your oven bakes on the warm side I would bake at 350º

Filling
Blend
16 ounces of cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups cool whip

Spread over cooled crust

Top with sliced strawberries and one jar of strawberry glaze.