A Little Bit of Life: March 2010

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Dedication

Sunday March 21st was Jaxten's first Sunday at church. We knew we wanted to bring him to the alter and pray for him and our family the same way we did with Caden when he was born. We mentioned it to the preacher earlier that week and they had an announcement in the church bulletin and everything! Before the preaching, our interim pastor Preacher Jon (as Caden likes to call him), called us up to the front and introduced Jaxten to everyone. He said we were going to have a little dedication and pray over the baby and our family.

He spoke for a few minutes about the blessings that a baby brings to a family and how we as parents have a duty to raise that child up in the ways of the Lord. The truth is that we are very blessed to have been given Caden and Jaxten. That God would trust me enough to give me such great kids just amazes me.

Our family of 4!

We knelt down and started praying.

Preacher Jon got down and prayed with us too.

We thanked God for allowing us to have beautiful, healthy children. We thanked him for all he has provided for our family. We prayed for his grace to get through hard times that will inevitably come. We thanked him for the day that he showed us the greatest mercy and saved our unworthy souls and prayed for the day that our children would come to know him as their personal savior too. We thanked him for allowing us to be parents and asked him to help us raise them in the right way. We know they are ours, but we told God that we wanted to give Jaxten back, meaning that we want him to grow to serve the Lord with all his heart and we want his life to be used in a way that pleases God. We prayed for God to keep his protecting hand on them both and to keep them safe and healthy.

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

(written by The Easter Brothers)

As the world looks upon me, as I struggle along

They say I have nothing, but they are so wrong.

In my heart I'm rejoicing, how I wish they could see

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

There's a roof up above me, I've a good place to sleep.

There's food on my table, and shoes on my feet.

You gave me your love Lord, and a fine family

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

Now I know that I'm not wealthy and these clothes are not new.

I don't have much money, but Lord I have you.

And to me that's all that matters, though the world may not see

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

There's a roof up above me, I've a good place to sleep.

There's food on my table, and shoes on my feet.

You gave me your love Lord, and a fine family

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Rub-a-dub-dub, First bath in the tub!

Jaxten's umbilical cord, (aka per Caden, belly button boo-boo) fell off today!! YAY!! That meant we got to do a real in the bathtub bath with soap! It was a day I have really been looking forward to. The whole "lay cold naked baby on a towel in the floor and sponge one body part at a time with used to be warm but now cold water" thing just wasn't working for us. He did not like sponge baths one bit and he sure did let us know too. He would be all tore up over it, Caden would start spazzing out, I would get all crazy and stressed which would make Scottie seriously wonder how he got stuck with a bunch of looney toons! I can't even blame him for it though because I don't like stepping out of a shower into a cold bathroom.

So today when that little rotten stump of skin fell off, we were clapping and YAYing all over the place! Here we ALL go into my ~~closet of a~~ little bathroom. And by all I mean me, Scottie, Jaxten, Caden and Pacey the 50lb dog. Honestly it was a sight to see. Nevertheless, we are all packed in like sardines and still excited about what was going to happen. We had turned the heat up a little so it would be nice and warm in there and filled his little tub with water. We had towels, wash cloths (because with a boy you definately need at least two: one to wash with and the other to place over the umm, you know, because as soon as he gets relaxed in the warm water he WILL shoot you!) soap, diaper, A&D ointment, yummy lavender lotion, baby gown, cameras, phones (to take pics that we could sent via message to all the grandparents and aunts), and I think that just about covers it. Anyway, we got him undressed and he was no doubt thinking "Oh great, here we go again with the freeze-my-butt-off sponge bath."

(What was I doing with my hand?)

Then, I gently put him in the little sling thingy that holds newborns off the bottom of the tub and................

Hmmm, this isn't so bad!

"Mom, why didn't we do this the whole time? This is pretty nice!"

(See the appropriately placed washcloth? It's necessary!)

Caden was being the "big helper" by handing me things I needed and talking to his brother.

"Aahhhh, this is the life!"

"The only thing that could make this any better would be some milk! But I'll just suck my thumb a little."

He really loved his first bath! That is, until we got him out..............

He was pretty upset when we took him out. But, overall it was a great success! There is nothing better than the smell of a clean baby! Add some Johnson's lavender lotion and it's like the smell of heaven!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Jaxten's Birth

It all began at 3:30am (which could have been my first clue because I went into labor at 3:30am with Caden also). I woke up and had to pee (shocker, I know), and then I had the most awful pain. I kind of blew it off, but it happened again 20 minutes later. I woke up my husband and told him I had had two really bad contractions but it was probably nothing. He said "I guess I'll go plug up the video camera so it can charge for a while just in case". The next one was 11 minutes later. Then.....BAM! Every 3 minutes! Back to back, non-stop! I said "Uh, Scottie, maybe you should pack that video camera up and just plan on plugging it up at the hospital, cause' WE NEED TO LEAVE NOOOOOWW!!!!!!" We were out the door! Scottie was calling his mom, my mom, Heather, and my granny all while I was writhing in pain and agony in the front seat. His foot mashed harder on the gas pedal during every contraction. I told him I'd rather not wreck and die on the way and he would slow down a little for just a moment. We made the 25-30 minute drive to the hospital in about 15 minutes!

We pulled up to the hospital just after 4:30am. Last time we parked and we walked in and I was happy and excited and not in too much pain. This time I made Scottie pull right up to the door and turn the emergency lights on. There would be no leisurely walking for me. So on went the flashers and he ran inside and grabbed a wheelchair and came flying back out. Some poor little guy who was working at the desk came following behind I guess to see what was going on. We came wheeling back in and once he saw my belly and the look on my face, you should have seen the look on his face! He led us to the elevator and stepped inside long enough to push the 4th Floor button then bolted out of the closing doors and shouted "Good Luck". I think he was thinking he did not want to deliver a baby in the elevator!

So we get out of the elevator and rolled up to the check-in desk where a nurse was taking her dear sweet time checking in another pregnant lady, who in my opinion did not appear to be in active labor. So we waited ~~FOREVER~~ a few minutes and she looked at us and said "Oh, is she in labor?"

DUH (Excuse me, but I always double over and squeal while clinching my fists so hard they almost bleed every 2-3 minutes, that's just normal) Whatever

We FINALLY get to a room (this is only about 4:50, but it seemed like eternity) and they check me and discover that I'm a good 6cm dilated and fully effaced. BRING ME DRUGS NOW!!!! They had to get me in a room first and then I had to wait because the anesthesiologist was busy. It was around 6:00am when I got my epideral. Relief, at last. The dr came in and broke my water at 6:15am and I was 8cm dilated by then.

Sometime after that, the epideral started wearing off a little and then it wore off a lot. I told my nurse they had better fix it before I was ready to push, so in came the drug man again. He really socked it to me this time. I was absolutely useless from the waist down. Couldn't even move a toe. During all of this, the baby's heartrate was starting to drop every once in a while. First there was one nurse checking the monitors, then there were 2, then they started flooding in the room which scared the fool out of me. They put an oxygen mask on me and kept rolling me from one side to another. They asked if I could get up on my hands and knees in the bed to try to re-position the baby so I tried.....and utterly failed. I was so numb I couldn't even roll myself over much less get on my knees. I kept asking what was going on and looking at Scottie and Kathy(Scottie's mom) and my mom, but nobody would say anything to me. Kathy finally came over beside my bed and held my hand. I knew she knew what was going on because she used to work there on the mother/baby floor. I think everyone just didn't want to scare me. They said they needed to hook up a heartrate monitor directly to the baby because the one wrapped around my waist was not picking up very well. (Which I later found out was a little probe that they stuck in the top of his head.) (OUCH). They said I was ready to push but they were still waiting on the doctor to get back. The nurses started mentioning the word "c-section" and had me totally terrified. Just then the doctor came in and so calmly stated "hey girl, let's get started, we need to get this baby out of there!"

At 7:50am I started pushing. Scottie was on one side and the nurse was on the other side. After about 10 minutes, I had only pushed about 6-8 times. Heather came bursting in the door (after standing in the elevator for several minutes because she got in and forgot to push a floor button) afraid she had missed it and Dr Lindel and Scottie started joking with her. One of them (we won't name names here, but I have proof on video) totally dropped my leg and I almost slid right off the end of the table!

I pushed once or twice more.......

-----And at 8:05am-----