Garrison's Arrival...

December 28, 2008
6:15 pm

I was walking around the downstairs level of our home when I felt the need to head to the bathroom. I sat down but definitely was NOT peeing just constantly leaking fluid. I knew right away my water had broke. The was very exciting since my water never broke with any of my other kids which always meant waiting at home until I couldn't stand my contractions any longer. I knew this night would be different. Marc called Papa to come pick up the kids. We were on our way to the hospital by 6:30PM.

6:35PM

I was admitted and taken to Triage where they confirmed my water broke. Upon examination the nurse informed me I was still only about 1 1/2 CM dilated. She was able to push me to 2 CM. Since this is a newer hospital with limited Labor and Delivery rooms complete, we were waiting on the patients currently laboring to finish and housekeeping to clean the rooms for the next batch of labor moms to get a room (one of the moms being me)!

8:45PM

I was finally put into a labor and delivery room where they started my IV and Cytotec. Cytotec is a labor inducing medicine that is much milder than Pitocin. They had to give me some medicine to get the labor moving a bit faster. The cytotec was definitely moving me along in the contraction department.

December 29, 2008

12:45AM
First dose of cytotec began wearing off. The nurse examined me to inform me I was only 3 CM dilated! We had two options... take another dose of cytotec or get my epidural and get stronger medicine in my system (pitocin)! Considering I was barely handling the contractions from the first dose of cytotec I chose option 2!

1:00AM

Anesthesiologist gets me nice and comfy and pitocin drip hooked up through my IV!

2:00AM
Examined and making progress, 4CM dilated

4:00AM
Examined and still making progress, 6CM dilated

6:00AM

Examine 8CM dilated

6:30AM

Garrison's heart rate kept dropping! The nurse got the oxygen mask ready and for some reason I felt like she needed to check me again. Luckily she did and I was a full 10 and ready to push! I thankfully didn't need the oxygen mask (I got sick with the other pregnancies when they had to give me oxygen)

6:36AM

Pushed 3 times head began to crown

6:43AM

Pushed 3 more times and head was delivered

6:51AM

Pushed my last 3 pushes and Garrison had arrived!

He weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long! He had an APGAR score of 9. Looked healthy and had a GREAT set of lungs.

He was given his bath, first shot, and then nursed for a little while.

9:45AM

We were moved into a postpartum room where we would remain until discharged by the doctors. The day was spent watching movies, making phone calls, and spending some quality time with our newest member of the family!

2:22PM

Liliana, Grandma, and Uncle Jarrod made it to the hospital to visit. Dillon had zero interest in visiting for some strange reason so Papa kept Dillon and Ava (Ava fell asleep) home with him. It was a nice visit. Everyone, of course, wanted to hold the new little bundle of joy!

8:30PM

The day came and went, it was a reminder that the following morning we would be headed home. At 8:30PM a meeting was scheduled for all patients being discharged the following day. The meeting was held so that when it was time to be discharged the nurses wouldn't have to go over the 3 page packet all day long with each individual patient! It was about a 1/2 hour long and at the end we received our free formula and diaper bag. The meeting was quite boring since this is baby number 4 and even though things have changed over the last few years the main discharge info has stayed the same.

9:15PM

We were headed back to our room to try and get a good nights rest.

7:00AM (December 30, 2008)

We were up for the day. Bags were ready to be put in the car, doctors were knocking on the door to do final check ups. Marc headed home to take a shower and bring back the kids to pick up Garrison and I.

9:00AM

Garrison was taken for his circumcision and hearing test.

10:45AM

Garrison was brought back to my room and we were then just waiting for the last of our paperwork to be completed before heading home.

12:50PM

Finally all ready to go home! All 3 kids came with Marc to bring Garrison home! Dillon was still not so into his new little brother.

1:05PM
We arrived home, all 3 kids were fighting over who would hold Garrison first! Dillon finally started to open up. It took Dillon about 5 minutes and then he was talking in this kind subtle voice to Garrison as he kissed his forehead! This marked the start of a LONG afternoon of "Mommy/Daddy I want to hold him" "So and So has been holding him for a long time its my turn"!!

With all the activity that has been going on since Sunday evening I am understandably tired. So I am hoping tonight marks the start of some good nights to come as far as Garrison and sleep is concerned!

Video Games Anyone...

Most of you know that the biggest kid in this family is Marc! Well, of course, for Christmas he wanted Rock Band! For those of you not familiar with video games these days... rock band is a game in which you can sing, play lead guitar, play drums, or bass! So on Christmas morning while I cleaned up all the messes and got the kids things situated where was Marc?... in the theater room setting up his Rock Band game. Yes he can't play his xbox 360 on any of the normal tv's we have all throughout the house he has to play it in the movie room on the 94 inch projector screen! Can we say spoiled??

So in a matter of 15 minutes he had all his instruments out of the box, assembled, and set up to play! He cranked the volume and began playing his heart out! The walls were all vibrating and the kids were so interested in

watching Marc play this game that they dropped everything they were doing to take a peek! Liliana was only interested in watching for a few minutes before she wanted to get back to her Christmas toys, Ava was interested for a tad bit longer only because she was trying to get Marc's attention to let her play or sing, and Dillon... well Dillon is our most into music child, he was bopping his head and rocking out as best as his little body would let him! Remember the game is called rock band, meaning Rock Music!!

After the kids and I were no longer being distracted by Marc's game playing we continued our daily routine. Marc played that darn game for 2 hours! He only stopped because it was lunch time! After lunch he went right back in there! Soon Uncle Jarrod, Papa, and Grandma showed up! Once Uncle Jarrod showed up, it was all over... we all knew those two boys would be in there until dinner time! And guess what... they were so from 2pm until 5:30pm (dinner time) they played and played and played! I think the funniest part of the afternoon was when Ava wanted to sing. You really have to sing along with the song and it rates you on pitch! If you do bad, the game boos you off stage! Poor Ava couldn't sing loud enough or on key so the boys ended up giving her a fake microphone! She stayed in there for almost 45 minutes with her fake mic. singing her heart out!

Ever since Christmas Day, Marc has continued to enter the theater room to play his rock band, trying to unlock stages, and advance to higher levels in the game!

Now let me move onto the Wii. For those not familiar with the Wii... its the newest game system Nintendo came out with where you hold the remote in your hand and move it to move your Mii (a Mii is your character in the game)! So, for example, to play baseball you hold the remote like a bat and swing when the ball is pitched to you. To throw the ball you hold the remote and throw like there is a ball in your hand! Its pretty neat. Anyway, I wanted a Wii Fit for Christmas and my wonderful in laws got one for me! So being the gamers that Marc and his brother Jarrod are they opened it up and tried it out! The Wii Fit is an interactive game where it gives you quite the workout while playing games that assist you in improving your balance. There is yoga, balance games, strength training, and aerobics on it. When you first turn on the game, it has you do a couple balance techniques and then weighs you. When its done analyzing your info it gives you your BMI (body mass index) and rates your age! Now the boys of course wouldn't want me to put their info on here so I will use my big ol preggo self as an example... it said I am obese (gee ya think I am only almost 41 weeks pregnant and ready to pop any day now) and said I have a Wii age of 50 years old!! YIKES!! Good thing I am pregnant!! Thats all I will say! The boys ended up going into a couple different areas of the game and tried a few of them out. I think the funniest one was a hula hoop game... you stand on the Wii balance board and move your hips in a circular motion as if you are really hula hooping... then there are 2 Mii's that throw you extra hoops. Marc did the best by catching 6 hula hoops and maintaining his hula. Marc also did a game where you have to run at a certain pace along side another Mii character. If you run too fast and pass your the Mii character it makes your Mii fall and stumble before getting back up again. The whole time you are running you are earning points and being timed so you definitely don't want to fall down for going to fast. Marc did pretty good at that game as well! I guess all these years of game playing will do him good on the Wii Fit games! I can't wait to try it out after Garrison is born!

Garrison's Update...

So here I sit at 3AM in complete and utter discomfort and unable to sleep! This morning I went into the dr's office to be checked to see if I have progressed anymore. I have been stuck at 1cm dilated for over two weeks now!

This is no surprise to me though, this is how ALL my other labors started out! I have been very patient. I am in no "rush" to have him but lately (the last 2 weeks) I have been getting to the point where I want it all to be over and Garrison to be here as healthy as can be! This is the first pregnancy where besides the sleepless, restless nights I am having "other symptoms of labor getting closer. I have been so sick to my stomach (especially at night) that I end up getting physically sick and then unable to sleep the rest of the night! I have been cramping and contracting like a clock (they start around 4pm and end around 1am every single night), I pee every five seconds, have horrible backache (I mean no matter if I stand, sit or lay down my back THROBS, and for the sake of not disclosing to much info "fun bathroom times"!

So with this, what seems like, never ending list of "fun labor symptoms" I sit here anxious for it to be all over.

The dr today felt so bad that I had not progressed even just 1 more cm that she stripped my membranes. Another procedure I had done with all 3 other children. I honestly can say that after having so many complications during all 4 pregnancies that I sorta expected a not so easy labor. I say labor because once I am admitted, hooked up to all the hospital machines, and making my progress whether drug induced or not I can pop a kid out like nobodies business. At this point I look back and question whether having such an easy time "pushing" them out is worth 9 months plus of complications and discomfort! Too bad you can't pick and choose how you carry and labor a child cause I might be tempted to switch it so that I have 9 months of happiness and just long labors!

Sadly as most of you know stripping the membranes doesn't always put you into full on active labor so the dr's "backup plan" is to see me early this upcoming week, check progress again, and if I am not progressing anymore still than to schedule an induction for the following week. So worse case scenario I will have to wait 1 1/2 more weeks before our little bundle of joy will arrive! I can totally wait but as I have said 100 times now... I would rather not progress at all and just feel the discomfort of having such a big belly than have this "early totally uncomfortable first stage of NON-progressing labor"!

Now I am not blogging about this day and last two weeks to "complain" but just to bookmark/remember all I had to go through to get Garrison here!!

For those of you still wondering when on earth you will get that phone call/email of the new baby news... I promise its coming as I keep being reminded that this baby will NOT stay in the womb forever!

Fingers-crossed that he arrives very shortly and in good health!!

Merry Christmas...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE...

Our day started at 6:30AM, as I layed in bed I could hear lots of footsteps up and down the hallway. Soon I heard Ava making her "angry" grunting noises. I assumed that was one of her older siblings waking her up. She is a morning person as long as she wakes herself up! I soon heard similar grunts coming from Dillon... so I could then make the correct assumption that Liliana was the first one awake and obviously doing all in her power to get the younger two to get up! Soon I heard all 3 kids in the hallway whispering. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I am positive it was Dillon and Liliana trying to convince Ava to get Marc and I up! Sure enough 2 seconds after the whispering ended in came Ava. She went to Marc's side of the bed first saying "Daddy Santa brought me presents"... so he then said to her "Do you want to open them" She in her most excited voice ever said a big "yes"! So Marc told her to wake me up... she quietly comes over and taps me ever so gently on my hand and says "Mommy please get up Santa brought me presents, come downstairs"

As soon as I got out of bed all 3 kids rushed to the stairway gate, swung it open, and ran down the stairs as fast/safely as possible.
Under the tree were all their presents from Santa. Santa is so nice to wrap all their gifts with the same wrapping paper so there is no confusion on who's presents are who's. It took them all but 1 second to figure out who's pile was who's! As soon as Marc and I were ready with video and camera in hand we let them start tearing into all their gifts. They started opening at 7AM and finished at 7:50AM.

Nobody had any negative things to say about their gifts, well minus Dillon's sock comment! He got 2 pks of socks, 1 Disney Cars and the other Ironman. The Cars socks he liked except for the middle pair which is just a pair of white socks with stripes on them! He said "Oh man I don't like these socks cause of these in the middle"! I have a feeling he will still wear them and never remember saying he disliked them!

Marc and I didn't do anything too fancy with gifts this year. Marc received everything on his want list as did I (well minus Garrison's arrival by now)! All in all it was a fun Christmas morning.

After gifts were done being opened, we ate a nice breakfast and got ready for the day! Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Jarrod were going to come over later in the afternoon so we convinced the kids to put their toys in their rooms and only take a few things out at a time! So far it has worked (THANK GOODNESS I HATE MESSES)!!

This year is interesting since normally we ALWAYS get together with Marc's entire family for a nice holiday dinner but with so many things going on we shifted the big family meal to this coming Saturday! To be honest, it was quite nice to not rush this morning in order to be at someone's house (or like last year everyone heading over here) for the big holiday family meal!

I feel I never say this enough so hear goes again, I am VERY grateful for all that we have and that this was such a fun and enjoyable holiday with the family! I LOVE YOU ALL and THANK YOU for making this another holiday to remember!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Christmas Eve...

Yes today is not only Christmas Eve but Garrison's arrival date! Nope still no baby yet though!

This morning we woke up, did our morning routine, waited for Marc to get home from work, and then headed to Grandma and Papa's house for an early lunch/dinner and present opening! Sadly Grandma has to work so we had to do everything earlier in the day so she could have enough time to get some sleep! The kids were VERY excited to give out gifts to everyone since this year Marc took them to the Dollar Store and let them shop completely on their own. The kids actually did quite well considering they had ZERO ideas for what they wanted to get everyone. Dillon was very funny, he picked out a flashlight for Papa... why.... because a week ago when Papa was at our house he dropped Papa's small flashlight behind his HEAVY bed which we do NOT ever move. So Papa ended up leaving out house minus his flashlight! So wahlah Papa now has a nice new one to replace the one still stuck under Dillon's bed!! Ava picked food items for everyone, thin mints for Papa and scooby doo gummies for Uncle Jarrod! Liliana picked out some nice books for everyone.

However, giving gifts wasn't the only reason the kids were excited though... Papa and Grandma's Christmas tree was FULL of presents and they knew most of the presents were theirs!

They ripped through all their gifts fairly quickly and then had a tough time deciding what would come home to our house and what would stay at Papa and Grandma's house!

All in all it was a fun Christmas Eve and the kids are now anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival this evening! We hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Ice Skating Again...

The kids decided to occupy the day going ice skating with Uncle Jarrod (Jarrod is in town for the holidays and the kids haven't seen him in almost a year)! Dillon, just like last time, decided he did NOT want to skate so he just hung out with me behind the glass and watched as the girls skated! Ava really enjoyed skating with her uncle. They ended up circling the rink a couple times, while Liliana skated quite a few times around. It was a fun and memorable afternoon!

Update on Reindeer Food...

So today was Dillon's "BIG DAY" to empty his bag of "reindeer food" onto our desert front yard. He didn't take long to do it but definitely had a HUGE smile on his face when finished! He finished this task off by saying "Now Santa will find out house tonight!"

Reindeer Food...

REINDEER FOOD

1/2 cup oats


1 TBS "special magic sprinkles"






Sprinkle on the lawn at night


The moon will make it sparkle bright


Santa's reindeer fly and roam


This will guide them to your home!





Dillon brought home some reindeer food which now sits on my kitchen island countertop. His exact words to us were "This is SPECIAL food for the reindeers... if I don't put this out on the front yard Christmas night (he meant eve) then the reindeers won't find our house!"


His facial expression was PRICELESS and it was super cute how serious he was with all he had to tell us about this "special food"!


Until Christmas Eve, however, I am stuck looking at this "special" food sitting in a baggy on my countertop!!

Dillon's Preschool Christmas Party...

Today was Dillon's preschool Christmas Party. It was super cute. They had the kids practice 3 special holiday songs to sing at the end of class! They were your traditional songs but with a "preschool twist". I was able to take a short video on my camera but for some reason Marc and I are having issues getting it uploaded onto the site. So sadly all I have to share are a few pictures! Better than nothing!!

Since preschool is only 2 1/2 hours long and 2 hours HAVE to be learning activities parents were only allowed to show up the last 45 minutes of class. So after singing to us they had a small snack and then were all ready to head home.

It was a very fun afternoon for Dillon and a great way to end the first half of the school year! He was beyond excited to have me in his class and sing all his well practiced songs!

Ava and The Potty...

Ava recently decided she wanted to use the potty like everyone else in this house. So one morning (this past Monday) she woke up took off her pj's and diaper and went digging in Liliana's drawer for some underwear!! She ended up in my room wearing nothing but a pair of Dora the Explorer panties that she found. It was very cute BUT all I could think of was those first few days back when Liliana and Dillon potty trained. (All the constant reminding of using the potty, wet underpants and pants every time they didn't make it, the constant cleaning of spots all over the house where they had the accidents, and all that extra effort to make sure the days were successful) Not to sound ungrateful that she was finally interested but considering I am very "lazy" and uncomfortable I couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed by her new interest in using the potty. But as all you moms out there know if you don't hop on the opportunity it quickly passes you by and then you are stuck with oodles of regrets! So on Monday, I let her wear a pull-up (not sure where I had it from since I don't use or buy them anymore). She made it all the way to lunch time before having a small accident. It was soon nap time so I put a diaper on her. She woke up and surprisingly enough she wanted her pull up back on. The only problem I had was that there were no more pull ups!! So off to the sewing machine to make her a princess pull up! It didn't take me long at all and she LOVES it! I was going to make more later that evening but Monday was the night I started getting really uncomfortable with contractions and other labor nonsense that I just couldn't pull myself over to the sewing machine! So after not having an accident the rest of the night we got Ava ready for bed and put her in a diaper. She woke up Tuesday morning once again all excited to wear her pull up! She once again made it to nap time with NO accidents. Wore a diaper for nap time and then woke back up to put her pull up back on. She did end up having a small accident after dinner and had to put a diaper on just before bedtime. Wednesday was a similar day to Monday and Tuesday. So by Wednesday night I was sorta excited by her recent interest for using the potty! This brings me to today, Thursday, she once again got up and wanted to use the potty. I decided to get out the underwear and cross my fingers (the pull up I made her had a little padding so if she peed it wouldn't leak like a pair of cotton panties would)! All morning long she continued her streak of going potty whenever she wanted and peeing a few times successfully! While eating lunch, I noticed a "facial expression" most moms know well when number two is getting ready to emerge! She looked at me and said she had to go potty. All I could think of was that she may have started to go in her pants and then realized she needed to go to the bathroom! I let her go to the bathroom to hear her call me 2 minutes later... "Mommy mommy I poopied on big potty" My father in law was over for the morning and quickly followed me to the bathroom... we both looked and surprisingly enough there was a nice size "you know what" floating in the toilet!! Her smile was PRICELESS. She was sooooo proud of herself as were both me and my father in law!

So after only a few days of not really pushing the potty use, I can say with a little bit of confidence that she may be transitioning into an underwearing toddler! Fingers are still crossed!

Garrison's Progress...

Ok so I just got home from the doctors. I have only progressed to about 1 cm but in my eyes 1 is better than none at this point in the game!! She did promise that if by next Friday (the day after Christmas) I haven't had him they will "help me along"! So in my eyes I just have to make it 1 more week worse case scenario! She thinks that I am going to have the baby before then. I hope she has some special baby arrival senses and is right because the last 3 nights have been HORRIBLE!!
Its to the point in the pregnancy where I can't sleep, sometimes want to eat sometimes don't, have to pee constantly, contracting ALOT (especially at night), sick to my stomach every evening. I was so bad last night that I actually took a phenergan pill (haven't taken any of those in a couple months now). Well I am so dang sensitive to medicine that I had a reaction just like when I take Ambien. My reaction... a weird red rash all over my face. Just my face though no where else. It doesn't hurt, itch, or look all that awful. It basically looks like one of the kids took a red fine tip marker and drew dots all over my face and completely covered my skin!! I guess now I can put that medicine down as an allergy as well!!
So for those of you thinking oh my gosh how is she pregnant with #4 when its always something... please take comfort in knowing WE ARE DONE after Garrison is born! I PROMISE that!!
I just hope he arrives soon and super duper healthy!!

Apron's for Great G-Ma Sim...

I am not sure if anyone else is noticing this but every year it seem to get more and more difficult to pick out gifts for relatives! With such a big family I usually stick with the normal photo calendars for the grandmas and maybe something comical if I come across something I just know they will like! Well and of course anything the kids end up making during the season! This year for Great Grandma Sim, I had an idea of getting a snugglewrap (ya know those warm blanket like wraps but fits like a big oversized robe) well of course time has gotten away from me and I never ordered it for her. There technically was still time but she called me a couple weeks ago talking about how after the new year she wants me to make her a couple aprons. This made me change my whole plan of attack for her gift this year. I decided I would bump up HER deadling from January to Christmas and make her 3 different aprons (1 from each of the kids). The kids and I went to the local fabric store and picked out some really nice fabrics last week. Apron's aren't all that hard to make just like all sewing projects... time consuming. I managed to finish two of the aprons in about an hour and the 3rd was finished on a different day! They call came out really nice. I made them so that the pattern of the fabric is not only on the front but the back as well! Two of them have adjustable neck straps and they all have 1-2 pockets! I even made a cute little tag that says "Made by Jillian" for them.

I just know she is really going to like them! I am actually really anxious for her to open them since she isn't planning on getting them until January!!