More Owen

Owen is growing like a weed!  He is still mellow as can be and I love that.  Here he is right after being assaulted by Beckah's not so gentle kisses.  

He loves having faces to look at and was very fascinated with the big black thing mommy was waving around. 

I'm in love with his newly developed double chin. 

 

And he really does smile now, but...well...the big black thing doesn't smile at him so he just kind of glares at it.

 

Her really is the sweetest thing. 

First day of First Grade

We have a first grader!  How did this happen??

Newborn pictures...

There are so many things that I don't want to forget about this time in our lives.  I am the busiest I have ever been in my life.  Things seem to snowball into crazy so fast with four young kids, one day bleeding into another until you forget what day it is entirely.  Case in point? My baby is a month old already and I am just now putting up his newborn pictures. 

It was a struggle just to find quiet moments just to take these pictures.  I remember it being so much easier with the girls to find moments of peace to take pictures.  I remember there actually being moments of peace to find.  

Owen is pretty easy.  He eats, sleeps, and poops.  He poops a lot. 

I want to remember that though.  That he pooped a lot.  That he has the saddest little high pitched girlie cry.  His cry makes me smile, though I probably shouldn't find it amusing that my only son has a girlie squeal of a cry.  But I do.   

I want remember his crazy long feet and toes. His wicked long fingers.  

I really hope he grows into these suckers.

I love the faces he makes. 

And how he looks like the girls...but still like a boy. 

I want to remember how noisy he is when he eats.  And sleeps.

And how much he loves to cuddle with me at night.

I want to remember how much my girls love him.  How they have adapted better than Brady and I to having him around all the time.  Like he has been here all along. 

I want to remember how much he reminds me of his sister Rory.  She too was little and long.  She still is and probably always will be.

I want to remember how good Cadence is with her siblings. 

How ready she is to help me when I need it.  And how she is way to grown up.

I want to remember how silly Rory is. How much she loves us all. 

How excited she is to have a little brother. 

I want to remember how fun 16 month olds are.  How sweet and crazy Beckah is.

How she has accepted her little brother with no jealousy, only love.  How quickly she learned to say his name.  Almost as quickly as she learned to say cookie.  How curious she is about everything. How she loves to be rocked to sleep. 

These are Beckah's huge feet next to a three week old Owen...

Owen you have changed us. When I first found out you were coming to our home I was overwhelmed.  Scared.  With your arrival you have brought chaos, yes, but you have also given our home a sense of completeness that we didn't know we wanted.  That we didn't know we needed.  I feel a wholeness to our home now that wasn't here before.  I am so grateful. For you.  I love you.  We all do.  

We can't wait to watch you grow up. 

Why we stayed...

I really wanted to go home after 24 hours at the hospital when Owen was born.  Not only do I not sleep well in the hospital bed (does anyone??) but I had three other kids at home and my mom had to leave on the 13th and I was really hoping that we would be home to see her off.  As it was we were "allowed" to leave by noon on the 13th so I did get to see my mom for an hour before she had to go home.

For the record they "had" us stay because Owen had some risk factors that put him in danger of having severe jaundice.  This is mostly my fault.  You see my blood type is O negative. Brady is A positive.  Because of this I have to get Rhogam shots to prevent my body from developing antibodies to Brady's positive blood type that could cause me to miscarry future pregnancies.  I have one shot during pregnancy and then I receive one after birth if the child is born with positive blood.  So I have had 8 of these shots total now.  :o)    All this I knew about.  What I didn't know was that my O blood could also develop antibodies to Brady's A type (regardless of our positive or negative status).  That is what had happened and Owen (poor kids) has A positive blood and some how MY antibodies against A blood had made their way over to Owen.  Nice.  This puts him at a higher risk for jaundice that can become extreme rather quickly.  Sigh.

So they wanted us to stay for at least 48 hours to keep an eye on him and do bili level checks off and on.

At this point I need to say that ALL of my kids have been jaundiced.  Rory was by far the worst and had to be checked at least 6 or 7 times (that lovely heel poke...7 freaking times...so fun).   All three girls turned yellow/orange before leaving the hospital.  None of the girls needed to have light treatments or hospital stays because of being jaundiced.  In an effort to help prevent Owen from having jaundice I did quite a bit of research and had asked the doctors if we could leave him attached to the umbilical cord until it stopped pulsing.  They told me as long he was fine and I was fine that they could do that for us, no problem.  I asked for this because I wanted Owen to start life on the outside with all his stuff from the placenta.  It has been known to help with infant anemia (they start with all their own blood volume and the iron stores from the cord and placenta) and despite there being no link with helping with jaundice I figured it couldn't hurt.  My Doctors were all for it and because everything went well with his rather fast delivery he got to cuddle with me and they waited until his extremely long cord stopped pulsing to have Brady do the cutting.

After the news of Owen having my antibodies to his own blood type we waited for him to turn yellow.  Figured there was no way to avoid it at that point.  I was annoyed that I had to stay in the hospital for another day, that I was probably going to miss my mom going home, and all because Owen might get bad jaundice.  But I am all for using caution.

So imagine my surprise when Owen didn't turn yellow.  At 24 hours after birth he was a lovely rosy color and his bili levels were on the very low (and normal) side.  Still couldn't go home. Just to be safe you know.  Of course the next day was Friday the 13th and by 4am the maternity ward was PACKED.  My nurse came and woke me up and explained that they might need to move me to a different floor because they were going to need my room.  Nice.  Can't I just go home instead??  I pushed hard (and with help from my awesome nurses who recognized that I was more than capable of recognizing if there was a problem and bringing Owen back if I thought he had jaundice) they decided I could leave by noon.  Yay!

Owen didn't start turning yellow until his third day of life.  It didn't reach the whites of his eyes until his fifth day of life. He got his heel poked at his first appointment and had "elevated" levels which went down two days later.  And that was the extent of his experience with jaundice.

Because I am who I am (read easily amused), I find it all very amusing now.

Owen is doing very well.  He is a little gassy here and there, most annoyingly late at night.  He eats like a champ and prefers to sleep in my arms, but will sleep in his swing too.  It's looking like he will be a blond in the way Cadence was.  I have some newborn photos I need to get up on the blog so you can all ogle his cuteness. His sisters love him so much!  Beckah loves him a little too aggressively at times.  She loves when I will lay on the floor with him so she can lay there and "ooooo!" at him for a while.  Been working on her ability to be soft and gentle.  So far she (and I) are doing well and she hasn't injured him or made him cry.  Cadence is super helpful and is always willing to cuddle him for me when I need my hands and Rory is becoming a pro at holding him and is learning from her big sister how to be helpful.

I am loving on him as much as I can.  Our home, while very crazy at the moment, feels full and complete. It is a feeling I can't really describe and, while I will be very happy never to be pregnant again, there is a little corner of my heart that is sad to know he will be my last baby.  So I am trying to drink in every moment I can.  He reminds me so much of the girls when they were small, and at the same time he is very much a little boy.  I can tell he is growing and changing already, as he should, but he still looks crazy small to me when Brady holds him or Beckah lays down next to him.  The time is already passing to quickly.

My girls are doing wonderful.  Cadence is so grown up!  She reads so very well now and enjoys books.  She is slowly figuring out writing and is constantly drawing books and writing stories for us.  I love nothing better than a little note from her on the fridge or my bedroom door. She is sweet, helpful, and kind.  I see a lot of myself in her and I have to try and remember not to put to much responsibility on her shoulders.  It is harder than it sounds because she is insanely capable and willing to help.  Brady made the observation that she is going to make a ton of money babysitting one day.  Kids just flock to her and she has a calming effect on most of them that is very nice in our home.

Rory is coming into her own.  Potty training seems to finally be mastered much to my relief.  Rory is my little firecracker.  She loves to play and hates to pick up when she is done. She loves to cuddle and is my very emotional girl.  She often forgets that she can ask for help and instead will burst into tears.  We have been working on asking for what we need before we throw a fit.  I can always count on Rory to tell my a silly joke and to laugh at just about anything.  She is also very willing to help when I need her too and loves help me with "big girl" chores.  She is very much my girlie girl and is currently in love with She-Ra.

Beckah is every bit 16 months old.  She is into everything, never stops moving, and has no internal caution meter.  She is also running now.  I know.  It's totally awesome.  Want to know if you successfully baby proofed?  Invite us over!  Beckah will find anything you wouldn't want a baby to have in about 5 minutes flat.    Lost something?  Invite us over!  Beckah will find anything that was deemed lost forever in about 10 minutes.  You think I am joking...but I'm not.  She will climb anything, put anything in her mouth, can run faster than most people twice her height and has a never ending supply of energy.  I don't remember Cadence and Rory being this bad...oh yeah...that's because they weren't this bad.  She is growing up to fast too.  Her vocabulary is exploding right now.  She repeats everything and surprises me with new words, sentences, and games all the time.  If Cadence and Rory can do it, she figures she can too (and 90% of the time she can do it).  When I went to the hospital to have Owen I left behind a little baby girl that seemed so small to me still. I came home to a giant toddler who could now scream no at everyone.

Brady and I are coping better than I thought.  Things are settling into a good little pattern.  My house is loud, crazy, stressful and happy.  Most days are good and every now and then we have a bad one.  I am grateful for good friends who remind me how capable I am and help me out when I need it.  I am healing well and I am getting good sleep most nights as well.  Mostly I think Brady and I have accepted that it is going to be crazy for a while.  It makes it easier to appreciate the non crazy days if you expect insanity from the start.  :o)

We hope that you are doing well and enjoying your summer.  We are looking forward to a visit from Grandma Suzi next week and then summer break will be over and Cadence will start first grade!  I can't believe how quickly this year has gone already!

At little story about Owen...

Owen Brady Lantz was born on July 11th, 2012 at 3:39pm weighing 7lbs 1oz and was 21.5 inches long. 

Starting about 2 weeks before I was due my feet started itching. My hands had been itching pretty much my whole pregnancy.  Itching happens when you are pregnant and I didn't think much of it really.  My doctor new about it but it was pretty much annoying more than anything. When my feet started to itch I was very annoyed but it wasn't anything I thought much of at the time.  Then 4 days before my due date it got crazy.  My feet itched so bad I couldn't sleep.  So I looked up things I could do to help with the itching and discovered that it was a common symptom of Cholestasis of Pregnancy.  Turns out that I had more than one of the symptoms.  I had all but two of the symptoms actually.  So I called my Doctor.  

While I waited to hear back my mom and I took care of getting some documents notarized for the house in Vegas and tying up some loose ends at the house.  We made plans for what needed to be done the next day.  I was concerned about what this meant for little boy blue but since it was my due date I wasn't sure what they were going to do about any of it.  I had an induction date for the 17th set up (it's hard to get into the Medical Center we wanted to deliver at on short notice) and I figured unless this was really going to be dangerous my doctors would just leave things until then.  

My Doctor surprised me by sending me to the Medical Center to have a work up done since I had so many symptoms so fast.  My initial blood work looked good but the test specifically for Cholestasis took at least two days to come back.  The head doctor decided that my symptoms were severe enough to move my induction date since the only way to make everything go away and to protect the baby is to have the baby. They moved my induction up to the next morning and gave me a script to help with the itching in my feet so that I could get some much needed sleep that night.  

The prescription worked and I was well rested the next morning when Brady and I arrived at the Medical Center and checked into the Maternity Ward. We arrived at 7am and they tried to get my IV started.  IVs are hit and miss for me.  My veins are small, roll and are prone to rupture which I am very open about with the nurses.  My nurse blew one in my hand and decided to call for another nurse who was known for getting hard veins to cooperate. Nurse #2 blew one in the other hand and side of my wrist and during her third attempt I got nauseated and then almost passed out.  That was a new experience for me and not one I want to have again.  So they sent for the anesthesiologist.  He blew one more, couldn't find another and finally gave me a little bit of local in my upper arm and finally got one in!  It was crazy.   

As you can imagine that all took a little bit of time.  So my pit didn't get started until 9am.  I was at a 3/4 and 50% and they decided to let me labor through to a full 4 before breaking my water.  I warned them that I don't move to fast until they break my water, but once it's broken I go quickly.  So from 9am to 1pm I had little to no change.  So they decided to break my water.  I had decided a while a go that I was going to try and do this delivery with out pain medications, specifically an epidural.  I have had an epi with all three of the girls, though the one with Rory only worked a little bit and the one with Beckah only worked on one side.  I figured with how quickly I went when my water breaks I could do it. 

So they break my water.  There was so much water!  I even my Doctor and nurse were saying, "Really? more?"  No wonder this boy thought he could just spread right out in there!  I had close to an Olympic swimming pool in there! 

Then we got down to business.  It was impossible to talk through the contractions. I was hurting.  A lot.  But I was proud of myself because I was breathing through them well.  I got to a 6 in half an hour.  I got up for a bit and then asked for a birthing ball.  That's when the shaking started. I had hit transition. My nurse was awesome.  She kept reminding me that I was doing so well, to keep breathing.  Brady was there doing what I asked when I needed it.  At one point I knew that I needed to get back in the bed.  My body was starting to shake so bad that I couldn't be stable on my feet and my hands had started to tingle and go numb.  I got in the bed and I remember thinking that I knew that this was it and I was nearing the end.  My mind was still working and I honestly was trying to do what people were asking of me, but my body was screaming that it was either baby time or I was going to die.  I kept breathing, mostly because it was the only thing that I could get my body and mind to agree on.  I remember telling them that there wasn't any pressure to push and then with the next contraction I HAD to push.  The doctor said I was only at a 9 with a lip and not to push.  I tried not to but my body finally won.  My feet were tingly and going numb too at that point.  They put an oxygen mask on and everyone was all over the place getting the bed torn down and gowns on and tools out.  They tell me to push when I feel like it and I gave it my all.  Everyone is telling me I am doing fantastic and all I can think is I needed to push the kid OUT NOW!  

The baby's heart dropped and then they lost it completely.  The head doctor tells me that he can let me have two more tries and then he will have to use the little vacuum to help me get him out since they can't find him on the monitor. I tell the Doctor to just do what they need to do.  So I pushed with everything I had and the Doctor pulled.  Next thing I know Owen was up on my chest and I was suddenly back in control of myself again.  I was worried about Owen since he was a bit blue, but after some rubbing he gained color quickly.  It was amazing!  

I took my time with him and then let them clean him up while they finished up with me.  He was so LONG! The baby nurse even held out his legs and made everyone look at how long they were!  

I remember commenting to Brady that I couldn't believe that I had just done that.  I mean, I know I had done it three times before, but Owen's birth was...something else entirely.  I still look back and wonder if it really happened.  

He is a good boy.  Eats on his own time table and has the saddest sounding little cry.  His sisters love him to death and I am so glad that my mom got to meet him before going home.  

We are home now. I will type up more about why we had to stay later.  For now we are enjoying our perfectly sweet new addition and look forward to adjusting to our new family of six.  

Little Boy Blue

So a few months back we found out that we are having our first boy but he did not want to show us his face. The ultrasound tech that we had at the beginning was good at her job, but not very good at remembering that there were parents in the room who might want to see the baby.  lol I did get to see him, but he refused to cooperate on the showing his face thing.  Period.  

I was told I could try and come back and try and get some better pictures later that week, but trying to get a sitter for the other kids and all that isn't easy so I just let it go. 

At about 25 weeks I was measuring big on the outside, something I had never done before.  I usually start measuring small by that point.  My excitement over that was short lived.  By 30 weeks I was measuring right on target but by 32 I was still measuring 30.  I am currently 37 and measuring just shy of 33 weeks.  This has happened with every one of my babies.  Despite the fact that it is normal for me to measure small they always order an ultrasound to check that baby is growing.  

So today I went in to let them measure the boy child.

I was pleasantly surprised by getting the same girl I had last time.  She was very friendly this time and made sure that I could see the screen and was comfortable.  She pointed out all the parts and showed me that he was still very much a boy.  It was a whole different experience and I was very happy about that.  

Despite how cramped things were in there I was finally able to see this baby's face.  Just his profile (she tried to get some 3D/4D stuff, but he was way to wiggly lol) but it was wonderful to see him.  She also got us a picture of his foot. It's crazy because he is so big!  His foot looks like he has a decent amount of fat already!

And speaking of size...they measured twice to make sure that they were getting the right numbers but it looks like baby is already 6lbs 12ozs.  The look on my face made the tech laugh.  6lbs 12ozs at 37weeks??? Shoot he could very well be my biggest baby in the 8 to 9 pound range! Yikes.  Rory was 6lbs 10ozs at birth (40 weeks) and Beckah was 6lbs 13ozs (also 40 weeks).  Cadence has been my biggest at 7lbs 6 ozs (again at 40 weeks! lol). 

And so much for the idea that smaller pregnant bellies mean smaller babies! lol  I am really interested to see what my Dr has to say on Friday.

This just leads me believe that my initial dates were correct, which would put my due date on July 4th instead of the 10th and me at 38 weeks at this point.  I will have to see if they will change them back or not. 

As of now my plan is to just wait him out and see if I will go on my own.  They will induce about a week overdue, which with my current dates would put him getting here sometime after July 17th (which seems a LONG ways away).  Part of me is hoping that I am right and he will come "early" because my dates are right. lol I am already miserable and I can't image lugging around Beckah and 8lbs of baby in belly around in the heat and humidity. Yuck.

Good news is that my mom is coming up next week!  We are very excited for her to come and stay with us a while and hope that she can be here when the boy child is born.  It would be awesome for her to be here and very helpful not to have to round up babysitters last minute, though we do have many friends here who are willing to help.  :o) 

So that is the baby news.  I am tired, sore and feel pretty yucky most days.  The girls have all had colds this past week, and Brady and I celebrated our 8 year Anniversary this past Monday.  We went out over a week ago, knowing that it would be hard to find a sitter close to our actual Anniversary (all the girls at church were going to girls camp :o).  Father's Day was pretty darn good and we were able to give Brady some gifts he wasn't expecting (which is hard to do with him sometimes).  We also got a VAN not to long ago!  I will have to dig up pictures.  And the girls got a much anticipated trampoline for the back yard!  They love it!

And I think that about wraps things up on this end.  Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer!  

Drama Llama

I'm really not sure what I want to say here.  I have been thinking on/stewing on some things for a few days and I still have no idea what I want to say specifically.  I don't want to sound dramatic either, though I'm sure some think that of me no matter what, so bear with me.


With a new baby on the way I have been cleaning house.  Purging lots of things that we don't need.  Donating things that are just taking up space and we have no use for anymore.  It feels so good when I drop off a load of things to Goodwill or other such donation sites.  I have also been trying to get a bit more organized.  Call it summer cleaning/nesting or whatever, it is feeling good.  


I have also been trying to minimize my stress.  We have more than our fair share here with little kids, babies coming back to back, new cars to buy, old houses to try and unload, church callings, work related issues, cats...I know so many of you can relate.  There are stresses that I can't avoid and are necessary.  I am doing my best to embrace and accept those stresses and learn and grow with them.  And at the same time I am coming to realize that there are many stresses that I don't have to have in my life at all.  That I am allowing them a level of importance out of fear.  Fear of hurting other people's feelings because I tend to be blunt.  Fear of how it will look to other people if I were to just say enough and cut the crap. 


A few nights ago while I was folding clothing I was stewing about something I had to deal with on Facebook.  I was irritated that it should even be an issue and this particular person was someone I didn't much care for anyway.  So why on EARTH was I still friends with this person??  Why was the thought of "unfriending" someone, whose very name showing up on my page makes me irritated, making me feel guilty?  It's MY PAGE right??  I don't have to have ANYONE as a friend that I don't want, right?   


I love Facebook.  I very much do.  I feel connected to other people during the day.  All you wonderful people that I miss so much from "home" I can "see" and chat with and keep up with.  I have developed wonderful friendships with people that I otherwise would not have been able to connect with and I am beyond thankful for that.  I have been able to get to know new friends here in NE better than I ever could have with out FB.  I love reading little bits of your family and children's struggles and funnies.  I love seeing my nieces and nephews grow and the silly things they say and do! I love chatting with siblings, parents and cousins. I love that so many of you share not only the good and happy things, but the hard, sad, and frustrating things as well.  It is good to feel connected to others, to know that I am not a lone in my struggles, and hear what worked for you and why.  I am so thankful that we have this technology that keeps me in touch with so many of you wonderful people. 


That said, I won't be posting as much for the next little bit while I get my friends list under control.  I will still be on and probably comment on all your stuff (because I need that connection) but there are some people in my life right now that seem to have a problem with my posting anything that isn't rainbows, glitter and sunshine.  Not only do they have a problem with it, they feel the need to bug me and others about it.  So instead of second guessing EVERYTHING I post, wondering if people will understand and see the humor like I do, wondering if I really am just a dramatic crazy and if am raising a houseful of dramatic crazies, and wondering if we will be getting texts and phone calls about my poor, emotionally difficult and sensitive self...well, I will just cut back on everything until I feel that my friends list is a "safe" place again.  


I am done keeping certain people on my "friends" list because I "should" or because it "looks right."  I have decided that my Facebook friends should be people that I enjoy.  Why on EARTH am I friends with people that I have to hide from my page (and there are more than a few of these people!!)?  I shouldn't even NEED to use a Restricted List.  If you need to be restricted then you shouldn't be my friend.  Period.  I was shocked by how many people I have had to "hide" from my wall and who I have on restricted access because their lifestyles and mine just don't jive AT ALL.  Maybe it sounds harsh.  Maybe it is but like all the useless stuff in my house all these people who add nothing but stress that I don't need are going too. At least on my facebook page!  


So I am taking back my Facebook.  It should be about my preferences and I am going to make it about me! Selfish I know, but as many other parent's know it isn't often that we can be selfish and have it be "okay." I should have somewhere that I can share good and bad things with people who are going through the same things without having to worry about how things "look" to everyone else.  I should be surrounding myself with support, fun, and understanding.  I should be surrounding myself with people who can agree to disagree and we can ENJOY the disagreeing because we are intelligent adults who enjoy hearing both sides.  I should have a bunch of friends.  


I know that I am very close to having a baby too and I didn't want my lack of sharing on FB to worry anyone.  Brady and I have many wonderful family members and friends who we share much with on FB (well me more than him lol) and I don't want anyone to worry about us on that front.  


So here I go!  Time to purge!