Marriner's Blessing

We hurried and blessed Marriner this past weekend since my Mom is leaving to go back to Idaho this Sunday. We were nervous to take him to church so we just went for Sacrament Meeting and then headed home, no use taking chances with the Swine Flu! The blessing went really well. Jake did an amazing job. I can't ever remember hearing such a beautiful blessing before, and I'm not being biased. He was so nervous but he did great. I know other people thought the blessing was beautiful too because when I got up to bear my testimony right after I saw a few people crying. We came home after Sacrament Meeting and had a big Sunday dinner. It was so nice to have a member of our family here for the blessing.

Our first family picture. Marriner is even kind of smiling.
All the men who stood in the circle with Jake.

Marriner and Mama.

Marriner and Papa.

Grandma with Chels and Marriner.

Marriner in his blessing outfit from One Small Child and his blue afgan that his Great Grandma Landon made him.

Cute little argyle socks I found to match his blessing outfit.

More Pictures

I have been trying to take lots of pictures. Everytime I think to myself "He looks so cute" I try to remember to grab the camera. Here are some pics from the last couple days.

Waving "Hello" to everyone.
Big sister giving a cheeser smile.
He's ready for his close up.

Chels and Papa dancing.

Just chillin'.

So cute.

THE Story.

I need to write this out before I forget!!!

We got to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center at 8:00 am on Friday Sept. 28 for my social induction. We decided to induce since I live so far from the hospital. Also because my Dr. is awesome and understood about when my mom could be here and how we needed to get baby here as soon as possible since we're moving soon.

It was a very hot day already and the forcast was calling for record highs. I met my nurse, Jillian, and got changed into my gown. The nurse got us all settled and told us to hang out for a little while until she got directions from Dr. Goodrich. I got to eat breakfast and watch some TV before she came back in and told us that the Dr. told her to check me and then we'd see where to go from there. She checked and I was only dilated about 3 cm, which was disappointing. Dr. Goodrich told her to start me on Pitocin.

The nurse tried to put in my IV and my veins weren't cooperating, she said they were rolling around. She got a good vein on the second poke though and I started to get my Pitocin. The nurse came back every half hour to up the dose. For some strange reason I actually started having less contractions then I was having when I had first arrived. She kept upping my dose and nothing was happening. This went on for hours, and Jake and I were both getting very frusterated. We started to wonder if maybe we were trying to push him out too early and maybe he just didn't want to come out yet.

My Dr. came in at about 3:30 which surprised me since she had told me she wasn't working the weekend. She checked me and told me I was only dialated to a 4. She gave me 2 options at that point. She told us we could go home and wait a few days and then we'd try again or she could break my water. If she broke my water then we'd have a time limit. We'd basically have about 12 hours to get him out before they'd have to give me a c-section. I thought about going home still pregnant, coming back another day and getting the IV again...that didn't sound like fun. So I told her to go ahead and break my water. She did so and then she left.

I called my mom and gave her an update. Then I went to the bathroom and while I was in there I had my first STRONG contraction. I thought "Wow, that was weird" but I didn't think much about it. Well by the time I was able to get back to my bed I had had a couple more and they hurt! I had started getting Pitocin at 10:00 and they had been upping my dose every half hour. By this point it was 4:00 so I was getting a pretty high dose and it was making my contractions really intense. And I could tell!

Jake was on the phone with his Dad and I told him, jokingly, that I wanted my epidural now, looking back I realize that I really should have gotten it at that point. I waited about another half hour to an hour. I don't really know what I was waiting for, it's not like the pain was going to get any better, but I had said before that I wanted to try to do it naturally if I could so I was trying to be strong. At that point the pain was really unbearable though. I was having contractions exactly every 2 minutes.

I called my nurse and she could tell the second she walked in since every time she had walked into my room up to that point I had been all smiles. This time I was in tears and she asked me what I wanted to do. I told her to call the anesthisiologist. It took him about 45 mintues to get there and get all set up. By this point I thought I was going to die, seriously. I don't know how people have children naturally.

The anesthisiologist was really nice, he was trying to hurry for my sake but he could only go so fast. He poked me and tried to get the catheter in but it just wouldn't go. He played around with it for what seemed like forever. All this time I was contracting and it was so painful. I was literally dripping with sweat which made his job even harder because his little plastic wrap wouldn't stick to my back. He kept asking me if it felt like he was off to the left or right, he just couldn't get it in. So he pulled the needle out and told me he was going to try in a different spot. I was a little surprised because I thought an epidural had to be in a very specific one spot. He put it up a lot higher, almost to my bra strap line. I tried to hold so still because I didn't want to have to get poked again, and he got it in.

They started the medicince and he stayed in the room with me for a while to make sure it started working. Well it did, as much as it could. I still didn't get that awesome epidural that everyone always describes, where they couldn't feel a thing. I could still feel a lot of pain in my butt, which is weird. The anesthisiologist told me that if they baby was on my pelvic bone though that there wasn't much they could do about it, there wasn't any way he could manage that pain.

The epidural did definitely take the edge off though. I got the little button, and they told me I could push it to administer more medicine every 10 minutes. After they put in my catheter I could feel that so I was pushing it every 10 minutes on the dot. Well the stupid machine got mad at me and an alarm went off. I was mad, why did they tell me I could push it every 10 minutes if I couldn't? After that the machine locked and it didn't give me any more medicine for an hour, ugh.

After I got the epidural and got all settled the nurse checked me again and I was dialted 7-8 cm. I had dialated from a 4 to a 7-8 during all that pain, so at least it wasn't for nothing. I can't remember exactly but I think that was at about 6:30 or 7:00.

The pain kept getting worse and worse and then I started to feel the pressure. I called my nurse, who was a new girl by this point, Natalie. I told her I felt like I needed to push so she checked me and I was at a 9. She left and came back with the exciting stuff like the bassinet and the light for the Dr. The scissors and clamp for the cord. I knew it was getting close but I had a hard time feeling happy because I was in lots of pain. She checked me again after she got everything set up and I was very close to a 10, she said I just had a little flap left. I told her I didn't know how many more contractions I could hold back pushing so she went to get the Dr.

By the time my Dr. came in I was ready, the little flap was gone. Now the fun part, haha. I ended up pushing for about 40 minutes. I kept asking Jake if he could see his head, because I remember him telling me he could see Chels' head and it wasn't long after that that she came out. He kept having to tell me no which was hard to hear but I kept pushing. Finally I could feel him crowing and then there was no stopping me. Dr. Goodrich kept telling me "If you aren't feeling a contraction just rest and wait until the next one" but I was determined at that point.

Dean Marriner was born at 8:29 pm. He came out crying and white. They set him on my chest and I tried really hard to pay attention to what was happening since I didn't with Chels. I was so exhausted by the time Chels came out that I just collapsed. He cried for a long time, really loudly. He just kept crying and crying. It was the most pathetic, but the cutest cry I had ever heard. Jake cut his cord. They cleaned him up and weighed him. I thought he looked smaller then Chels had been but he was 6 oz bigger. He weighed in at 7 lb 5 oz and he was 20 in. tall.

We stayed in the room for a while they did all his checks. I got all stitched up and was able to rest a little. Jake left to go get us some dinner since we were both starving. When he came back they were ready to move me down a floor to the mother and baby unit. They packed up all our stuff and started moving us down. On the way my nurse told me, "We're going to a private room on floor 2" well when we got there the curtain was drawn and I could see another bassinet on the other side. I asked "Is there someone over there?" and the nurse just said "Yes, I'm sooo sorry, I thought you were getting a private room." Apparently everyone in a 50 mile radius of San Luis Obispo decided to have their babies last weekend and the hospital was packed. I had to share a room...grrr. It was Germany all over again. I was pretty upset. I didn't eat my dinner and they were telling Jake he could only stay for a few minutes. I was so mad, I was all pumped for him to get to stay with me and help me but they made him leave. There was nothing we could do about it.

That first night wasn't so bad. The nurse actually came and got the baby for a couple hours and I slept, it was nice. My roomate was a royal witch though. She was so mean to her husband and children when they came to visit. She had nothing good to say about anyone when her mom got there and they just sat there and gossiped the whole time. Why do I always get these weird roomates?!?!

The next day we couldn't decide what to do. I didn't know when they were letting me go home so we didn't know whether Jake should bring my mom and Chels that day or wait until Sunday. We decided to get them a hotel room in SLO and they came up with him. Well when they got to the hospital the on-call Dr. finally came to check on me and he cleared me to go home that day. So we didn't end up using the hotel and I got to go home less then 24 hours after I had the baby.

All in all it went pretty fast, if you don't count the time where nothing was happening. After the broke my water is only took 4 1/2 hours to get him here. It was so painful though, I was really hoping that it wouldn't be as painful as Chels' but it was, it was just shorter. I told Jake, "No more kids" but I guess we'll see. My recovery has been 100x better then with Chels. I'm getting around so much better and I'm not as sore as I was with her (I think it's because his head his smaller then her's was). My mom and Jake are being wonderful and I'm just getting to relax. I had two people at the grocery store ask me "When the baby is due" yesterday, so I guess I still look pregnant, oh well! Give me a couple weeks people!!!

Chels is being so good, she's very soft with him and she wants to hold him about 1000 times a day, but she only holds him for about 3 seconds, haha. Overall she's pretty indifferent about him, which I suspected she would be. We took her to the store with us yesterday and we were almost done and leaving before she said "Where's the baby?" (he was at home with my mom).

So far Marriner is doing great. We've had 2 tough nights and 1 good one. We love him so much, he is the cutest little guy I've ever seen. We have his first Dr.'s appt. today and then we should be able to get the referral for his circumcision, which will be so sad. We've taken some more pics that I will post soon, I need to remember to take lots more pictures then I have been taking though.

Thanks for all the well wishes and thoughts and prayers, I have the best family and friends!

Dean Marriner Davies has arrived!

Dean Marriner Davies was born on August 28 at 8:30 pm. He weighed 7 lbs and 5 oz and was 20 inches long. He is doing well, and so am I. I will post more of the "story" later. Here are some pictures.

Not so happy at this point :(

Our Dr. with the baby right after he was born.

Proud Papa.
The morning after, everyone was much happier!

Big sister.

First time in the carseat, he did really good.

Friday is our day!

We went to our last OB appt today, what a great feeling that was! Our Dr. came in and we started talking about an induction date. She told us that she is taking the weekend off because she has been on call the last 3 weekends, so she needs a break! So we decided on Monday. She went out to call the hospital to reserve me a bed, but when she came back she told us that the hospital is full until Thursday. Hmmm...that would have meant that my mom would be here for a whole week before anything even happened (unlesss I go into labor on my own). We told the Dr. we'd really like to go sooner if at all possible. So she gave us two other options, we could try to go to the other hospital on Monday or we could go into the hospital we had chosen on Friday, but she wouldn't be able to deliver us. She went out to call the other hospital to see if they were also full and while she was gone we discussed it and decided to go ahead with Friday. Just because I would really like Jacob to be able to stay with me at the hospital during the weekend and not have to go to work the next day after I deliver. And because it was at the hospital of our choice. And because it's 3 days earlier :). So when the Dr. came back in we told her our choice. I couldn't really tell how she felt about this, she seemed kind of upset that we would choose to deliver on a day when she couldn't be there, but oh well, that was our decision. She'll still be able to induce me and get things started, but unless I have the baby by noon, she won't be delivering me. But I'm OK with this since I also never met my Dr. that delivered Chels until I was in labor. A Dr. is a Dr. right? So that's the plan, we go in on Friday at 8 am. Wish me luck!!!

I've had many inqueries about what names we are thinking about. And to be honest, we haven't decided for sure yet. We know what his last name will be, hehe, and we know his first name will be Dean. We also know his middle name will start with an M. The reason for this is because my Dad and Jacob's Grandfather are both named Dean M. We thought that was a pretty big coincidence and since we love both of these men dearly we thought naming the baby after them would be a good tribute. But, we still haven't decided on a middle name. Depending on what we decide on the baby might go by his middle name, instead of his first name Dean. So it could be a very important middle name. We just can't agree on anything though. So I guess we'll all soon know what we decide. I'm hoping once I see him something will feel right, like it did with Chels. If not, then I guess I'm screwed!

My Dad.

Jacob's Grandpa.

Just a little update.

I had my 35 week appointment today. I had the Strep B swab so I asked my Dr. if she could just check me while she was there (totally forgot how bad it hurts to be checked). She said I am dialated a 1 or 2, I am 50% effaced, baby is at a -2 station, and he weighs about 5 to 5 1/2 lbs. So all in all things are looking good to deliver in 3-4 weeks. I know I have a long ways to go but hey, I'm closer then I've ever been! My mom is planning to buy her tickets today, that is one reason I wanted to be checked. Just to make sure baby isn't huge and I'm already dialated to a 4 or something. I just hope everything goes at least a little according to plan and my mom makes it here before Baby D does! Now I have graduated to Dr. appointments every week. I swear that hour long drive gets longer and longer everytime we make it!

I always wonder what people think when they look at me, now I guess I know, hehe.

Our Baby Shower

Our Baby Shower was on Tuesday, and it was really fun. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to it. I mean you only get one, maybe two baby showers in your whole life right? So anyways, it was pretty cloudy and the marine layer was really thick at first (as you can see in the first picture) but the sun soon came out and it was a beautiful day. And I, of course, got sunburned to a crisp. I'm still feeling the pain today. My lucky little one Chels isn't even pink though, ugh. She is a blessed child, she never sunburns!

***Disclaimer: I am looking huge a swollen these days. Don't judge me! Only about 5 more weeks now.

My table with some of my friends.

Our Bishop's wife was so thoughtful and brought a little present for Chels. She was delighted!

Opening presents. I told them all I didn't want to sit next to Shannon, because she's still so skinny and she's due 3 weeks before me, but they made us :(

Me with Shannon (in red) and Ellowyn, our amazing friend who hosted the Shower and put everything together.

The diaper cakes that Ellowyn made us, so cute!

Me and Shannon after the festivities.

All in all it was so much fun and I'm so thankful to everyone who came and all the gifts we recieved. I'm starting to get a little sad to leave CA and all the friends I've made. It's all part of life though. I'm just trying to look forward to the next part of our journey.

33 wks

My friend here in Lompoc is throwing me, and another friend who is due 3 weeks before me, a baby shower. I just had to share the invite because it's so cute! The girls on the card actually look like me and Shannon, hehe, adorable!
We went out to dinner this weekend and while we were out the marine layer came inland and it got really cold, really fast. Chels thought she was going to freeze to death so we put her in the only jacket in our car. She looked like such a raggamuffin!

And my belly today at 33 weeks. I'm starting to get the not-so-welcome comments like "you look like you're going to explode" or "there is no way you're going to make it another 7 weeks!!!!" and "you are SO full of baby" (all actual comments I've recieved). There's just not much room to store a baby on a 5' 3" frame people! But, to be fair, I don't blame them. I am HUGE and it's just so unbelievable that I still have 7 weeks and that there is only one baby in there. I am now officially the same size, belly circumference wise, as I was right before I had Chels. I have also now gained the same amount of weight as I did with Chels so I'm hoping not to gain much more. I wasn't going to take anymore belly shots but I figured there will definitely be pictures taken at my baby shower, so I might as well. Just ignore my hair, it all natural today!

31 Weeks 2 Days

We had a Dr.'s appointment today. The first one in over 6 weeks, it feels like it's been forever since I was there! But now the appointments are every 2 weeks so I'm sure I'll make it up. We actually spend the whole day in San Luis Obispo because I had a regular OB appointment in the morning, and then I had a follow up ultrasound after that, and then we went and toured one of the hospitals (Sierra Vista). It was nice, especially compared to the Krankenhaus! We just need to look at one more hospital before making our decision. All in all everything went good, and I took along my camera today!

This is a picture of the Diagnostic Center where I have my ultrasounds done. I didn't get a picture of it because the parking garage is under the building so to get far enough away to actually snap a pic I would've had to cross the intersection which I didn't feel like doing. The ultrasound went good though. It was a follow-up because during my big ultrasound at 20 weeks they found that I have placenta previa (where the placenta is too close, or over, the cervix). They remeasured today and I should be getting my results tomorrow on whether it's still too close to attempt a natural delivery. If it is still too close then I will have to have a c-section, yuck!

This is my Dr.'s office. It's actually a pretty cool building built on a hill so there are offices on an upper and lower level.

Chels' FAVORITE part about going to the Dr. is crossing the "bridge" to get to the door. Silly child. This is Jacob giving me the "stop taking pictures" look, hehe.

I thought I'd include some pictures from the ultrasound today even though baby was not being very cooperative. He was nestled low in my pelvis and the tech. had a really hard time getting a picture of his face. This pic is probably the best one we got though. If you look in the upper right you can see a perfect little picture of his lips and nose. Pretty crazy! The circly looking things below that are the curls in his umbilical cord and then you can see a leg in the lower left part.

A typical profile shot.

This is the best 3D image she could get, like I said he was being a stinker and was not being photogenic at all! All his measurements looked good. She typed them into the program on the computer and it estimated his weight at 4 lbs. 2 oz. right now. I was in shock when I heard that, I can't believe he's that big already! She couldn't get a look at his "parts" so we're hoping that he's still a HE, haha. I'm anxious to hear my results tomorrow, wish me luck!

Maternity Session

I did something this week I thought I'd never do. I scheduled a maternity photo session with my incredibly talented SIL who is a photographer. I mainly just wanted to remember what I looked like while I was preggo and let's face it, the snapshots I'm taking of myself in my bathroom aren't doing me any justice! The session was really fun and even though it was near the end of the day and I was already swollen, somehow Kayla managed to snap some awesome pictures. Here is her blog if anyone wants to look at the rest of the shots.

http://sagemeadowstudio.com/


In other news, I am now in my 3rd trimester (YAYYYY). Less then 3 months to go now! I am headed home to CA tonight and I'm really excited to just get home and relax and see Jacob and wait for the baby to come. I have tons of pictures I've taken while I've been here so I will get around to posting those soon.

22 Weeks...and counting!

First of all, I cannot believe it is May! April just seemed to fly right by for me. May, in all likihood, will too because it is a super busy month for us. Jacob is finishing up his last class he needs for his AF Degree (CCAF). He is also in charge of a lot of things at church for May, the soonest of which is a Priesthood Commemoration Campout this weekend. I try to help him with all of his responsibilities but sometimes I'm no help at all. Besides I have my own stuff to worry about on Sundays with the primary! We are also getting a much anticipated visit from his parents towards the end of the month, we are very excited! After May is over we will be so bored we won't know what to do with ourselves, haha.

I have had a few inquiries as to what I have boughten so far for the baby so I thought I'd take pictures to show everyone. I have a whole rubbermaid full of clothes already, hehe. Oh well, I have only bought things that were either on sale or at the outlet mall so I'm proud of myself! But I thought I'd only bore you with things I have in newborn and 0-3 months...for this post. These are the one pieces in newborn size that I have.

A close up of the socks and shoes I have so far, because they are adorable!

Onsies I have in newborn size.

One pieces in 0-3 months.

Shirts, onsies, and pants in 0-3 months.

This is one of my favs. It's just so retro and cute!

Another of my favs. It seems we have a theme developing with all the clothes I've boughten. They are all either football or puppies (Jake love football and Chels loves puppies).

My fav in newborn size. If I don't find anything I like better this is what little baby will be coming home in...although it looks huge, so we'll see.

And last but not least I am appeasing Leah! Here is a belly shot. I am getting huge (this shirt does nothing for making me look small though)! Jake was able to feel the baby moving a couple nights ago, that was exciting. I am 22 weeks and 1 day. Only 4 more months to go, yikes!

Everyday Tidbits...

Our Central Coast CA weather has been SO crazy! Last week it was so cold and windy we could barely stand to be outside. I was searching all the stores high and low to find some long sleeved maternity shirts because I was freezing! My mom was nice enough to go to the Motherhood store in Idaho Falls for me and buy me a couple long sleeve T's and I just got them on Saturday. Well guess what? Saturday starting a warming trend for us and now I'm dying of heat! It's only 10:00 am here and it's already 90 degrees outside. I hate being hot and preggo because my hands and feet swell up like little balloons, not attractive! I just have to hold out and remember that I am blessed to live in one of the best places in CA and our temperatures will soon return to our normal 65 degrees!

Here are a few pictures from the last week. This one was Chels' being a princess. I was happy to see her dress up as a princess because lately she has been all about pirates and puppies so princess was a nice change of pace!

When Jacob is at class in the evenings Chels really, really misses him. I feel bad for her so I let her do things I would never let her do if he were here, like fall asleep in our bed. She just goes into our room and curls up in our bed while I'm still out in the Living Room then when I go to find her and see what she's up to I find this. She's so cute!

Chels got a Click Start from her Grandma Shelley for Christmas and being the mean mom I am I saved it until now. It's just that she got SOOO many presents for Christmas and I didn't know if she'd be able to play the Click Start yet so I set it aside. We finally let her open a couple weeks ago and she has been hooked ever since! We are now having to set time limits and I'm setting the timer so when the buzzer rings she has to stop playing. How sad! She's only 3 and I'm already setting time limits on her video games, haha. She loves it though, and she's actually very good at it. Now I'm just trying to decide which game to buy her since she's already mastered all the ones it came with.

You can see the game in the background on the TV, I think the main reason she loves it is because it has a puppy on it, she calls it her "Puppy Puter" (Puppy Computer).

In other news, I am 20 weeks today! YAY half way done, officially!!! I have been feeling the baby kick a ton lately, and not just little flutterings anymore, real hard kicks, but only once in a while. I love it! My belly hasn't grown much in the last week or so but it's just so much higher then my belly ever was with Chels that it all feels so much different then last time. It's all very exciting!!!