Mommy caught daddy

Have you ever seen someone in love? I thought I had...until I saw the way that Matt looks at Scott. Matt loves his little "bean" and I see it every time he looks at him. My two boys have a great connection, and so I thought I would share some highlights.

This is how I found Matt the day we came home from the hospital. It is just so sweet seeing him mesmerized by Scottie.

Here are my boys, gazing into each others' eyes...a very common picture around here. It just melts my heart every time.
Nap time! Scott loves to fall asleep with daddy.
Matt is already teaching Scott how to play the Wii.
This is after daddy combed Scott's hair. Nice hair-do bubs!
Like father like son.
Aunt Valerie gave Scott this cool chair to sit in, and so daddy felt like Scott was big enough to sit in it...at 2 weeks old. Actually, Scott did pretty well...he has very strong neck and back muscles!
And finally, mommy caught daddy trying to eat baby Scott's hand! He is so cute, we just want to eat him up! YUM!
Now, these are some of my favorite pictures so far that we have of Scott:

The day we came home from the hospital.
The day after he was born...he already wanted to give mommy a hug!
Two pictures proving why we call him our little "bean."
And just for an update, Scott's latest stats are:
9 lbs 15 oz
21.5 inches long

Scott's birth story

Hi everyone!

Thank you Matt for putting up the previous post. It sure is nice to have access to a computer and the internet while we are in the hospital!!

If I had to sum up my whole experience in one word it would be: INTENSE

But luckily I get more than one word to tell my story. :)

Matt and I got to the hospital at 9:00am on Saturday. We walked right up to labor and delivery and into our room. We got ourselves situated and then the process began. Up until this point I hadn't noticed any contractions, but once the nurse put the monitor on me she said that I was already having contractions. My response was "THAT is a contraction???" HA! Obviously, this was just the beginning! The IV was started and we were on our way!

I think I did pretty well, we took things nice and slow. After about 10 hours I asked for some pain medication. I wasn't quite ready for an epidural, so we just did some pain killers. It was really funny! I started acting a little, well...drugged. Although I was fully aware of what was going on, I somehow found everything to be a little more interesting then it actually was. I think I kept Matt entertained for awhile.

I made it to 1 am, and was having such a hard time staying in relaxed. I did a lot of breathing, a lot of visualization, and a lot of squeezing Matt's hand! So, it was finally time to get the epidural. The epidural was really easy, it wasn't bad at all, except for trying to breathe through contractions while it was happening. The only problem we had was that the anesthesiologist was not exactly a super friendly person. She walked in and started just barking orders to the nurse and didn't even try to talk to me, other than telling me what she was doing and what to expect. Oh well, I guess no one really wants to be working at 1 am.

So, the epidural took effect and all was well! We tried to get some sleep after that. I actually had a tough time sleeping because every sound I heard made me think that someone was coming into the room to check on me. Matt had a hard time sleeping because he was freezing cold! So, needless to say we didn't have a very restful evening, even though I wasn't feeling any pain.

The next morning I got checked and I was still only about 7 cm dilated. Finally around 24 hours of labor the doctors started talking C-section. It certainly wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, but things just weren't progressing very well. They were willing to wait and see if I could dilate all the way...so we waited. After being stuck at 9 cm for a few hours we just decided to go for the C-section. There was also suspicion that the baby might be too big. At this point my body was so exhausted I didn't really care how the baby came out, just as long as he came out!

They wheeled me into the operating room and I was practically asleep from being so tired. They prepped me for surgery and brought Matt in. Matt was allowed to watch, but he didn't really want to see me being cut open so he just sat by my side and waited with me to finally meet our little boy. The surgery went very quickly, and Scott was born at 12:26pm (after about 27 hours of labor). The only part of it that I felt was when the doctor had to push the baby out of my pelvis, which caused gas to move up through my chest into my shoulders. It was like a Charlie Horse for my shoulders.

They brought out the baby and the two things that they noticed first was 1. his size, and 2. his red hair! They held up my boy for me to see, and I got to kind of watch while Matt cut the umbilical cord. When they brought Scott over for me to meet him I just was so happy. All the exhaustion didn't matter. I gave my son a kiss and they took their time letting me see him.

While they finished stitching me up Matt went with the baby. They came back and announced his weight, 9 lbs 10 oz! WOW! That wasn't expected, no wonder he wasn't coming out! At this point I started sleeping again. I couldn't keep my eyes open at all. But it was over, and our family had grown from 2 to 3.

We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday. I had great nurses taking care of me. I got up and started walking the next day. We had plenty of visitors. Our families and a few friends came. Our little Scott, in spite of the red hair, has a very mild temperament. We had one very bad night where the baby just wouldn't sleep. All he wanted to do was suck. I figured he was just so hungry so I kept nursing him. Finally it dawned on me that this little boy just enjoyed suckling, so my wonderful sister went out for us to get us a variety of pacifiers, and they have really been a life (and nipple) saver!

The rest of our stay at the hospital was as enjoyable as a stay at a hospital could be. We worked on nursing, swaddling, rocking, walking (for me), and counting poopie and wet diapers. There were two times Matt and I accidentally set off the alarms as I walked the halls with the baby. I got a little too close to the exits and the baby's ankle bracelet set off the alarms. It was a little embarrassing, especially since the hospital security had to come and check out the situation both times. Naughty me!

My labor and delivery ended up being such a different experience than what I had thought it could have been. But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat for my son! He is so perfect to me. I sit with him all throughout the day and just marvel at his beautiful face. It is so amazing to think that not too long ago his sweet spirit was with our Heavenly Father, and now here he is! He is my everything! I LOVE to see the way his daddy looks at him. There is such a different love felt in our home now. He makes us so happy in every way, and words cannot describe how much we love him. He truly is our joy, especially at this time of year. At a time when we have to really reflect on our blessings, he will always be our most cherished blessing.

I have a lot future posting to do now! Hopefully I will be able to keep up as an excited first time parent. For example, he got his first bath today! It was sooo cute! Sorry, no pictures...I had to keep my hands on the baby. :)

Thank you all for all your nice comments for the pictures previously posted. I hope I can post many more.

Scott James W.
Born December 14th at 12:26pm
9 lbs, 10 oz
20 inches long
And the love of his parents' hearts!

Please Welcome Scott James Worley

Born: Dec 14, 2008

Weight: 9 pounds 10oz 

Length: 20 inches

Hair: (currently) Red

Eyes: (currently) Blue

Now for some pictures

More to come once Katie feels up to it.

Matt

Update from the doctor

I am convinced that the only other type of doctor besides a dentist that is truly hated by their patients has got to be the obstetrician.

Taking what I know about how much dentists are hated I can see a lot of parallels here, and it was just something I started to observe over the last couple of visits.

From the obstetricians point of view what he/she gets to hear all day, every day, is about how their super hormonal women (lets face it, women are already super hormonal without adding pregnancy!) patients that are in some kind of constant discomfort, or pain, or have some other kind of ailment. Almost always, there is nothing the doctor can do, except for tell the patient that whatever they are experiencing is "normal."

My first experience with this was in one of my very first appointments with my doctor. I told him I was having sciatic pain, and his response was "I'm sorry." And that was the end of the discussion. What could he do? Did I expect him to give me some kind of miracle therapy that hundreds of thousands of people haven't already tried?

I also go onto online pregnancy forums and read what other pregnant women have to say about their doctors. The majority of them HATE their doctors and they all seem to think that the doctor has some kind of grudge against them.

And so, to obstetricians everywhere, I am sorry. I am sorry your patients hate you. I am sorry you have to go to work every day and face an angry mob of pregnant women. I am sorry that you have to listen to women complain all day, and you having no solution to give. Apparently the only cure for pregnancy is actually having the baby. Go figure.

So, having said all of that... :) Let me tell ya about my doctor's appointment today. I am 40 weeks and 1 day along. My doctor checked me, and I was only 1 & 1/2 cm dilated (he didn't mention effacement or anything else). So he decided to stretch my cervix! OUCH! He said that this could usually stimulate labor within 48 hours...but if not, how about Saturday? Meaning, let's induce labor on Saturday.

I have to tell you that I have always been a little torn on the issue of inducing. There is the old fashioned side of me that feels like I should just wait for labor to begin on its own, and allow me the opportunity as a woman for my body to do what it is supposed to do naturally. On the other hand, I have been super uncomfortable, and if the baby has to come out, then lets get him out! My sister was induced with her labor...and ended up having an emergency c-section (and if I am not mistaken, my sister-in-law, Aracely had the same experience).

So just to be sure, I wanted to ask him if inducing at this point was medically necessary. Well, my doctor must have been in a hurry to get to his next abusive patient, because he was practically out the door when I started to ask him my question. I believe I said something like "Is there a reason we are going to induce instead of waiting?" Oh boy, now I did it! He turned and looked at me with this confused/frustrated look, I suppose I really caught him off guard.
He then went on to go into a small little lecture about how for the last 2 appointments all that he has heard from me was that I wanted the baby out, and he was just giving me what I wanted! It was like, "How dare you ask me that question!" So then, I clarified by saying that I didn't mind inducing, but I was just curious as to why we should induce instead of waiting. Is there a medical reason, or is it just to get me to shut up?

Of course he gave me the medical response: higher risks in delivery, more complications, blah blah blah. But if you ask me...it was pretty obvious that he just wants to put me out of my misery.

I have to admit I was really annoyed with him for responding like I was hurting his feelings. Believe me, I have been a really good patient! I have always been on time, I never complain, and I don't ever ask him a million questions. I go in, get my check up, and I leave. I asked more questions when I was buying our mattress than I have at all of my appointments! So, when I have a legitimate question I get 'tude from the doc! Oh well.

And so... for those of you that didn't catch the details in my crazy rantings:

I am going in to be induced this Saturday at 9:00am, unless I go into labor before then. So, it looks like I will be a mommy by Sunday! :) Induced or not...that is pretty awesome!

Today is (should be) the day!

Here we are, December 10th, my due date, and guess what... The baby has decided to take an extended stay in my belly. True, the day isn't over yet...he could surprise me, but it is unlikely. I have heard that only 5-10% of women deliver on their actual due date. That doesn't give me much hope for today.

The hard part for me now will be the complete lack of knowing. I've always had today to look forward to. Back in October I needed something to keep me looking forward so I created one of those silly countdown chains, and of course I had the pregnancy ticker here on my blog. It just gave me a daily reminder that I was in fact making progress in my pregnancy, day by day nearing the finish line. So, pulling off the final piece of my chain today was bittersweet. I made it to my due date! Hooray!! Now, I just get to wait day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute for my little boy to make his grand entrance into this world.

Well, he will come when the time is right, and I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so he may have his own idea about how long we wait until taking matters into his own hands (I will keep you posted).

I've been thinking a lot lately about the special task of raising a child. Some of those thoughts have scared me, others excite me. I have been moved to tears more in this week than I have throughout my entire pregnancy. (I really haven't been too overemotional, just now at the end). I guess to sum up my thought processes and the one solution that has given me comfort over all the scary things I am about to experience is to just say: rely on prayer.

I have now rededicated myself to truly understanding my Heavenly Father's hand in my life. I know He blesses me and my family constantly, and He will continue to do so, and it is my job to continue working for Him and thanking Him for those blessings. I can find comfort in knowing who I am, and who my son is, and where he came from. I love that I can turn to my Heavenly Father at any time of the day, with any concern I have, and that He will hear me and answer my prayer.

I am so blessed that my mom will be coming to stay with us (either as soon as the baby decides to come, but definitely by this Saturday) to help me. She is a fantastic woman that has already raised six children. She has a soft and gentle touch with children, she has a gift, and I hope that she passes her gift on to me! It will be great having her here. I can't wait!

Well, I don't want to go on forever, luckily I have a journal that I have been keeping for me to rant to. But I just wanted to give the update for today. Hopefully my next post will be about me going into labor!

The return of Socks

Do you remember my post about the neighbor's cat, "Socks?" Well yesterday we had a funny little incident with him.

We were outside cleaning out our cars and we weren't paying attention. Apparently we had left our front door open. Later, we came inside and we were just hanging out. I was on the phone with Candace and I looked down the hall by chance, and there he was! He had sneaked into the house and had spent some time in the baby's room and was on his way into our bedroom when I saw him.

"Matt! Socks is in the house!" So Matt went down and walked Socks to the front door. We let him out and that was the end of it. But I just thought it was the funniest situation. Could you imagine if I hadn't seen Socks previously trying to sneak in? I would have freaked out seeing a random cat in the house! But luckily we know our little Socks, and he has finally successfully made it into the house! Bad kitty, and bad us for leaving the door open.

39 weeks 1 day and counting

75% effaced, 1 cm dilated, and kind of grumpy.

Australia

Hooray! I have one week left until my due date! I am so thrilled. But, I will probably make a separate post tomorrow after my doctor's visit.

I thought I would review the movie "Australia" as requested in the comments section of my last post by Cristin.

First of all, I am a big Baz Luhrmann fan! I have the 3-movie set of "Strictly Ballroom," "Romeo & Juliet," and "Moulin Rouge." This is his 4th film. He his an Australian director and certainly has his own style. I have talked to people who were very disturbed by the flashing colors and quick camera movements. I have noticed that with each of his movies that the first ~20 minutes are very fast paced and border on silly. But soon after the story and tone settles in and the movies are in fact FANTASTIC.

I love that they filmed "Australia" in Australia, with Australian actors and actresses (even though Nicole Kidman played a Bristish woman). Hugh Jackman (was super hot) used his original accent.

The storyline was semi-complex (the movie's official website describes 8 themes of Australia), but I felt as though each plot line was dealt with individually so as to not leave anything unresolved. The story follows a historical look at WWII and its effects on Australia, aboriginal-white mixed children were being taken away, and then there is the personal story of Nicole Kidman's character discovering that her husband's cattle ranch was being "devoured" by thieves and the competing cattle ranch. Hugh Jackman plays a "drover."

"drover" n. One that drives cattle or sheep

He helps our British lady save her deceased-husband's ranch. On her ranch lives an aborignee family that works on the ranch, which includes a mixed aboriginal-white child that is supposed to be taken to live in a government-run community for these children (basically to "civilize" them, and eventually breed the black out of them).

See? Semi-complex...but I was very captivated. Now, the movie is 165 min (2 hours 45 min.) long and about 2 hours into the movie a major plot line had been resolved. Matt and I both thought that the movie could have ended at this point. It isn't that we were ready for the movie to be over, it just seemed like the movie had come to a point that things seemed to be resolved and it seemed like a good time to end the movie. But, not so. The movie took some time divulging all the details of this final plot line, but once it got into it it became very intense.

My dad said that one review described the movie as "tedious." I think that this might have something to do with this awkward transition in the movie, as well as the theme of music in the movie. The child in the movie uses music in his life...but he only sings two songs 1. a traditional aboriginal song, and 2. "Over the Rainbow." But it was all very touching to me.

Ok, so before I narrate the whole movie to you, let me give you my opinion and final review. The movie is great, the look of the movie and the scenery of Australia was beautiful, the history of Austalia during WWII was very interesting, and in the end Baz Lurhmann did not let me down. There was a lot of emotion in this movie and very important issues discussed. I will give this movie an A-/B+. Go in with some patience to get past the fast-paced beginning, and again to get through the transition from major plot line to final resolution, and there you go...a great movie!

Nesting=tick tock tick tock

Ok, so I have found the true cause of nesting this late into my pregnancy. It is to keep myself and my mind preoccupied so I don't sit here and twiddle my thumbs for hours wondering if I am going to start feeling contractions THIS minute or not.

Truly, I have found that the more I do, the less I think about it. I am sure that if my own thinking power could start labor, this baby would have been out a week ago! But, seeing as how there is no proven way to start labor, besides an IV drip, I plan on just trying to live my life as busily as I can until...

I officially quit work two Friday's ago, and I still have a week and a half until my due date. There was no way I could keep working up until my due date. Besides the

1. complete exhaustion I felt half-way through the day, and
2. having to go pee in between patients, and
3. starving until lunch time, and then again until the end of the day (no time for snacking), and
   
4. my swollen and puffy hands would go numb (kind of a problem when you are working with sharp metal instruments in someone's mouth)

I just couldn't fit in the operatory anymore. My enormous body would take up so much room, that my stomach would actually be touching the patient's head. Tell me that that isn't awkward! I kept pulling hair with my stomach as I rolled my chair around. Yeah, it was definitely time to stop working.

I guess the good thing about not working any more is that I don't have to answer the same 3 questions over and over all day long with each patient:

1. Its a boy
2. He's due December 10th
3. Yes, I am excited. (I will NEVER ask a pregnant woman if she is excited ever again!)

I digress,
This weekend, to keep ourselves busy, Matt and I went to see "Australia" (a 3 hour movie), we took naps, I went out to Babies R Us the day after Thanksgiving to finish up our shopping, and we have almost finished the baby's room.

So far this morning I have made banana bread, I have scheduled an appointment with the sanitation department for them to come pick up a bunch of junk, I have washed my bedsheets, ironed Matt's work clothes, had Matt pull down the Christmas decorations, and I caught up on The Amazing Race.

Plans for this week are:

• Try to make a delicious ham dinner :)
• Scrub my bathroom
• Clean the kitchen
• Fold all the laundry
• Finish reading one of my baby books
• Recheck and repack my hospital bag
• Clean out my van and install the 2nd car seat base
• Decorate for Christmas
• Clean out the extra bedroom where my mom will be sleeping when she comes
• Bake some more
• Vacuum each room like 3 times
• Pay all our bills so I don't sit in the hospital room wondering if there is a bill due that day
• Shave my legs
• Write thank you cards
  

Ok, not an all inclusive list...I don't want you all to know how messy my house is. :) Oh, then of course I will probably stop every couple of hours to check my favorite blogs...so I need everyone to be on their best "updating" behavior, because I am going to need some stuff to read! Thanks for your help!

Now it is off to Kmart to buy some blankets for the dogs before it gets really cold.