Thursday, October 21, 2010

O Baby!

HOLY COW, someone please tell me that Jackson is not really already a month!!! I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT! I have loved this last month of my life more than anything and can't imagine my life without my baby boy! I seriously love him more than anything!!!

ONE WEEK- Sept. 28, 2010






ONE MONTH- Oct. 21, 2010






I LOVE my chunky monkey and I know you do to! AHHH, I just want to eat him up!!! It is seriously so hard for me to put him down for naps cause I miss him so much! He is the best baby ever!

LOVE YA!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Newborn Pictures by Blakelee

My cute cousin took these pictures for us over Conference Weekend when Jackson was almost 2 weeks old. She did such a good job and Jacks really did too. I LOVE MY BABY BOY!

Enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

















My baby boy is 3.5 weeks old and seriously where has the time gone? I CAN NOT believe he's almost a month! It makes me so sad, but excited to see him growing and can't wait til he can throw a ball around with Andrew and run around and stuff... Well, maybe I can wait cause he's just so precious!

LOVE YA!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Jackson's Birth Story Part 2

This is the longer part, and there are pictures! Yahoo!

Enjoy...

It really was so crazy! So I make it to the bathroom and sit there while my water just keeps breaking and breaking. I was kind of crying/ freaking out cause once your water breaks you are for sure having a baby! Em said, “Ali, it’s ok! What should I do?” And I said, “I need you to go get me some new undies cause these are all wet!” We both kinda laughed, but I was dead serious! Later I would find out that this was a dumb idea because your water breaks and breaks and breaks. Emily ran out to my car cause my hospital bag was out there with everything I needed. While she was doing that she called Andrew and told him to get ready! So, Angie- our studio owner finished my class and was so excited for me! My little girls were a little freaked out I think, but it was way exciting to them too. As me and Emily are going out to the car my water is breaking, breaking, breaking! She obviously drove my car home- not like a grandma- and our front seat was getting soaked. Luckily I had a blanket in my car so we grabbed that for me to sit on. As we were driving home I called my mom, dad, Andrew’s mom , my aunt Julee, both my grand parents and Meggie. I was SO freaking excited! We got to our house, Andrew ran out and we were off to the hospital.

I had called the hospital on our way home from ballet too so they were all ready for me to come! And, because of our prenatal classes they told us to request a corner room if we could cause they were bigger and I am so happy we did cause we got one! At this point I really was feeling fine still- I was having contractions, but again was too distracted to time them and they weren’t hurting or anything. When we got checked in, around 6:45pm, they checked me and I was still only dialated to a 1.5 and 70% effaced.


I was shocked cause I thought for sure I would be more, but o well. My mom was on her way, Emily met us at the hospital and Andrew’s mom was going to come when my mom got there. Emily was my personal stylist for this blessed event!


Emily and Andrew were hungry so Emily left and got them Taco Bell and me and Andrew just kinda hung out. We didn’t have a name picked out yet, and I really wasn’t that concerned about it, but Andrew really was so we talked about that while everyone was gone. A nurse came in then and gave me an IV. This was the first IV I’ve ever had in my life and it was the worst part of the whole delivery. The nurse did not do a very good job and I was not very happy cause it really did hurt. Then my mom got there and we called Andrew’s mom and she came over. My dad, Meggie, Chloe and Cole were on there way and were going to go and stay at our house. When Andrew’s mom Gay got there, Emily left and went to go let my family into my house and get Andrew’s backpack and homework and stuff.


When Emily came back she brought Chloe with her so she could see me and wish me luck.


At this point I was starting to feel the contractions getting stronger and stronger and was shaking again. Whenever I was shaking it looked more like I was freezing and was having the shivers.The nurses called them the Mommy Shakes. I didn’t want to get my epideral yet so they gave me some fentanyl so that it would take the edge off. The nurse said I would start to feel a little loopy and tired and I was like, “OK, that’s fine.” Within about 30 seconds I felt it kick in and got really dizzy and tired- I couldn’t believe how fast it worked! It made it so that I could not feel the contractions at all. I even fell asleep for a little bit of it which I didn’t think was possible to do while you were in labor, but I guess it is.


After about an hour the fentanyl wore off and I started feeling the contractions more and more. The nurse said I could get the epideral if I wanted, but I still wanted to wait. Call me crazy, but I really did want to feel labor pains for a little bit. Instead of the epideral I did a second round of fentanyl, but the nurse warned me that my contractions were stronger than before and that usually the second round of fentanyl doesn’t work so well. Well, she was right, it was not working hardly at all so I decided that it was time for the epideral. I was really nervous because I really hate needles, but o my goodness it was SOOO worth it! The anesthesiologist, Dr. Skablin came in and he was really nice. When he walked in I said, “I want to make this as easy as I can on you and I have a really flexible back so I will get in any position you want me to get in.” He kinda laughed and just told me to sit on the side of the bed and let my knees hang off. He had Andrew get in front of my like we were going to hug and hold me still. I was holding onto Andrew’s sides and was preparing for the worst. The Dr really did do so good and I promise you that getting the IV was way way way worse. I got the epideral at 00:52 (that’s what I had to write on the papers they had me sign) so now it is Tuesday, September 21. The epideral was great. I really did love it because I didn’t feel loopy or anything, I just felt the pain go away. I really feel like it made the whole experience enjoyable. The next few hours were pretty boring. We watched Enchanted, Andrew did some homework, me, my mom and Gay all just kinda sat there and tried to get some rest.





When I had a contraction the baby’s heart rate would go down a little bit, so they were a little nervous, but said that it was pretty common, I just needed to be on a little bit of oxygen. Because we were there for so long we went through 3 nurses, but my second nurse said that when she checked me she was a little curious what position the baby was in. Holy Cow did that make me nervous- then, I got mad because I told Andrew that the first nurse that we had acted a little funny about where the baby was and I could tell, but no one else said anything. So, they did an ultrasound and found out that he was face up! I freaked out just a tiny bit, but the nurse said that she’s 99% positive that he will flip by the time I am ready to deliver. As soon as the nurses left the room I made Andrew say a prayer that the baby would turn- if anyone could get the baby to turn it would be the Lord so I thought it was a good idea.

The epideral was still pretty good, I couldn’t feel hardly anything, but it was a lot stronger on my left side. I could still feel my right leg, wiggle my toes and move my knee. It made me nervous that by the time I was ready to push I would regret not having the anesthesiologist come fix it so he did. He just put a little something extra in there, I felt a cold rush go down my back through the tubes and then I was fine. I got checked again and this time the nurse said that she felt another little bag of water that never broke and that they’d get Dr. Horsley in here to check it. When he came in I couldn’t have been happier to see his face. He was going to be out of town from Set. 24- 29 and I was freaking out that I wouldn’t be able to have him delivery the baby. He broke that extra little bag and said he’d see my hopefully soon. Around 8:00 my third nurse said that I was ready to push and that she’d get the Dr as soon as she could see the baby’s head about the size of a silver dollar. She said that I would probably push for a few hours so that I didn’t need to worry that Dr. Horsley was in assisting Dr. Olson in a C-section. Well, that nurse was wrong and pushed for less than an hour.


Honestly, the hardest part of pushing was when I had to hold my breath for 10 seconds. When I told the nurse that I think that she thought that I was crazy but really I am not good at holding my breath and I never have been. So when it was time Dr. Horsley came in, got his new gear on and the baby’s heart rate dramatically dropped down to around 30. A baby’s heart rate needs to be around 120-170, so 30 is SCARY! I don’t think I realized how bad it was, but it was because my placenta tore away from my uterus the last minute of my delivery. It was seriously a blessing that Dr. Horsley was there just in time. After the Dr was all ready the nurse had me push one more time and then said, “Stop, now watch your baby come out!” I had a mirror there and it was beyond cool to watch the baby come out. Dr. Horsley then suctioned a bunch of fluid out of the baby’s mouth and then put him on my tummy. While he was laying on me I just wanted to pick him up and kiss him, but he was pretty messy. Andrew and a nurse wiped him off and then they took him over to get some shots and check everything else. Because my placenta tore away from my uterus the baby swallowed a little bit of blood, but they were so good and got it out as fast as they could. I didn’t get to see most of what happened next because I was being stitched up and was crying cause I was so excited.




The baby was 19 ½ inches long and 6 lbs. 12 oz. They whole time I was pushing they told me that he’d come out with a cone head, but that it would go pretty much go away after about 48 hours, so he might really only be 19 inches, but whatever. The baby was crying quiet a bit, but they said that that was a good thing. Then I fed him and he didn’t make a peep for about the next two hours! Meggie, Emily and Chloe’ then came walking through the door and it made me so happy to see them. Meggie was crying the most so I said, “Meggie’s crying the hardest- she loves baby the most so she gets to hold him first!” We had to then move to the 3rd floor, the Mother Baby Unit, and when we did we had lots of visitors. It really was such an awesome experience and I honestly can’t wait to do it again. I feel so blessed with how everything worked out and how everything was such a great experience. I hope that everyone gets to experience childbirth!




My AWESOME cousin just took newborn pictures of Jacks, but I will post those another day- they turned out SO SO SO cute!

LOVE YA!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Birth Story Part 1

So, I have been wanting to post the birth story since baby Jackson came along, but man alive have I been busy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom and can not believe how rewarding it is. Seriously Jackson is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I hope and pray that everyone can enjoy being a mother as much as I am right now.

Anyways, so I have been typing up the birth story now for a week or so and it is already 4.5 pages, size 11 font, single spaced. Details. Detail. Details. I seriously want to remember everything about everything! I know that it is probably over the top, and Andrew thinks that no one will want to read it, but he has no idea what goes on on these blogs. Ha Ha! I am goingto post half now and half later cause it seriously is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long!

Enjoy Part 1 of Jackson's Birth...

I feel like the “birth story” really started a few days before the actual birth of baby Jackson. I feel like there were a few things that needed to be done and put in place before he came into our lives. On Saturday, September 18 I threw a bridal shower with Cassidy Fitt for Becca Lesher down in Sandy. I was really happy that I was able to do that for her and even happier that Andrew was able to go down with me because at our Dr. appointment earlier that week Dr. Horsley stripped my membranes so I really didn’t want Andrew more than 5 minutes away from me at all! The shower went great, I got to see all my friends and nothing went wrong. After the shower we were planning on going home to Logan because I wanted to stay close to Dr. Horsley in case something happened. As we were saying goodbye to my family I was giving my dad a hug goodbye and said, “Love Ya- this is probably the last time I’ll see you pregnant!” Then it hit me that I remembered that I really wanted Andrew and my dad to give me a blessing before I had the baby and I knew that this would probably be the last time we were all going to be together before the baby would come. I immediately started crying because I felt the Spirit so strong. Andrew and my dad seriously gave me the best blessing. I really felt so comforted after and like everything really was going to be just perfect.

That night I started having contractions every 5 minutes apart. At our prenatal classes they said to come to the hospital when your contractions were regularly 5 minutes apart or closer. So, after an hour of contractions I started crying and freaking out. I was just crying because of the emotions of it all and being so excited and just overwhelmed. I called my sister Emily to come over and help Andrew calm me down and to most importantly, curl my hair. The whole time I was pregnant we joked that she was going to have to hurry and curl my hair as soon as I went into labor so that I would look fabulous in all of the millions of pictures we were going to be taking. So, she comes over around 1:00 AM and sat with me and Andrew while I was uncontrollably shaking and having my contractions. Then we started doing my hair and as soon as we were about half way done my contractions stopped. So, nothing exciting happened after that, I went to bed looking fabulous and Emily went home. I had the worst night sleep EVER because I was so freaked out that the contractions would come back or that my water would break and I would just sleep through it. All night I tried to keep myself awake, but nothing happened.

Then, Sunday morning I got up and no way was I going to church- I felt like it would have been way too much so I just stayed home and made Andrew stay home with me. Then, again that Sunday night contractions every 5 minutes came back. I was so annoyed with them because the same thing happened- after about an hour and a half of them they just stopped. I was so mad because I really wanted the baby to be born on a “teen” date- like 17, 18 or 19. So, I started crying because the baby was going to have a “twenty” birthday and I was so mad he’d have a stupid birthday. I know that it seriously doesn’t matter, but it really does to me. Andrew was trying to be so sweet to me while I was crying, but I know he secretly thought that I was absolutely nuts.

On Monday, September 20 I really didn’t have anything going on. I cleaned my house a little bit and didn’t do much. A few days ago I had a really really cool experience about the blessings of paying tithing and ever since it happened I felt like I really needed to write it down. I felt like I really needed to do it because if I didn’t I wiould forget it and after the baby would be here I would be too busy to write it down. So, I wrote in my journal and Emily brought me Old Grist Meal for lunch and we sat here together and ate until we had to go teach ballet. It is also very ironic that we ate Old Grist Meal for lunch because I said a few months ago that I wanted to eat something light like a sandwich before I had the baby because I didn’t want to get sick from something too heavy because of all of the medication that I knew I would be on.

Lately, every time that me and Emily were together I made her drive because I told her after I have the baby I was going to have to drive us everywhere because of the car seat, but I drove to ballet today because Emily’s license got suspended and now she drives like a grandma and I really hate it. She was fine with me driving as long as we could end our last class 10 minutes early and I would drop her at the Ellen Eccles Theatre so she could go to a play for her Creative Arts class. I told her that was fine. We got to ballet, I felt great, nothing was different. First class- great, maybe a few contractions. Second class- I realized that I hadn’t felt the baby for a little bit so I made Emily warm our girls up alone so that I could drink some water, eat some sugar and lay on my side to get the baby to move. As soon as I felt him moving I was fine and got up and helped her finish class. Third class, our last class was great. I was having contractions, but was too distracted to count them, time them or even worry about them. And, because what had happened the two nights before I was mad at my contractions for playing tricks on me so I didn’t care at all. Emily was teaching most of the class and I was kind of assisting so that she can be more used to it for when I go on maternity leave. I knew we were going to have leave early so I kinda let Emily just take over and I started cleaning our stuff up, putting our elastabands away, writing on our time cards and putting our poster of ballet vocab words all away so that we could leave early. At 6:15 Emily needed to go change into her real clothes so that I could drop her at her play. So, I started teaching a new grande battement combination while Emily got her clothes to go change. After teaching for about 30 second MY WATER BROKE!!! It was so weird. So, I screamed, “Emily!” , but she just kept walking cause she couldn’t hear me. I started running towards her and told my girls to hold on (like I would be coming back to class or something…) So I screamed louder, “Emily!!!” and she turned around and I was running to her and I screamed, “MY WATER BROKE!!!”

Next Up.. Jackson's Birth Story Part 2... Love Ya!

Fine, I will put just 1 picture up because HOLY FREAKING COW is Jacks the cutest or what!!!

This was after bath time on Sunday, September 26...


Love Ya!