Tired arms, back and heart

Tonight I let Archie cry himself to sleep.  Well, it was more like scream for 20 mins them whimper/cry for another 10 minds before finally selling down and eventually sleeping.  With Mike having the shingles he can spread the chickenpox virus. Since Archie has no immunity against the chickenpox, this means I won't let Mike help with Archie. Although the chances of Archie getting chickenpox from Mike are miniscule, I can't handle anything else being added to my plate, so Mike  gets shunned. Poor guy. :(
Mike had the day off today and we were able to get a lot of stuff done around the house. Since I was working on stuff most of the day my back really hurts (old injury). So tonight when Archie had been fussing for nearly two hours and nothing was soothing him (not even his favorite: nursing) I just had to buckle him in the swing, turn it on and walk away.  My arms had gone numb from holding him and bouncing him and rocking him and swaying him. My back was killing me and I just couldn't do it anymore.
Sometimes one of the hard parts of being a mother is not letting guilt get the best of you.  I did the best I could and I think it turned out okay. Here's hoping tomorrow goes better.

Shingles

Mike was diagnosed this week with shingles.  Yes, Mike has a sickness that typically affects people 60+ year old.  When a person gets chicken pox the virus that causes it camps out in their nervous system for the rest of their life.  Typically it just stays there with no problem.  Unfortunately sometimes when people are extremely stressed and have a weakened immune system the virus can manifest as shingles.  Shingles are a rash that manifest along the pathways of the nerves.  They can be extremely painful because the virus is in the nervous system.  Thankfully Mike identified the shingles immediately so he was able to get on anti-viral medication right away.  The medication doesn't get rid of the shingles but it should lessen the severity and length of the illness.
Needless to say, Mike has been extremely stressed lately.  He was asked to fill in for a fellow resident who was having some health issues and couldn't fulfill his responsibilities. Ironic, right?  Eventually Mike was asked to switch rotations with this resident.  We were expecting a relatively easy rotation for April with weekends off and people Mike enjoys working with.  Instead he is now on a very difficult rotation and he has been assigned to work with a person who is just not pleasant.  She is extremely demanding and micromanages everything Mike tries to do.  She is often rude and treats her co-workers (doctors and nurses) as incompetent.  Mike comes home every day feeling like he's been beaten down.
Thankfully he only has one more week working with this individual.  Unfortunately for us he's on surgery rotation next month which will be difficult.  We're hoping that Mike is assigned to work with a great, positive team. We're also hoping Mike doesn't pass out in the operating room (this happened multiple times in med school).
So if you could send positive vibes and lots of prayers Mike's way, that would be appreciated. :)

Diabetes

While I was pregnant with Archie I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Every pregnant mom has some insulin resistance due to some hormones the placenta puts out.  This resistance is good because it means if there is limited food for the mother, the body slows down processing food so that the baby can get the most nutrition out of whatever food goes in moms mouth.  For most women in a first world country, it's not an issue because there is plenty of food available.  Unfortunately for some women their placenta works overtime and builds up too strong of an insulin resistance resulting in gestational diabetes.  Many women with gestational diabetes can treat it by eating a low carb, high veg and protein diet.  Some women need diabetes medications to help level out their blood sugars.  My sugars were great with just diet, except for my morning fasting number.  So I took gluberide every night to help my morning sugars.  It gave me terrible stomach cramps the first week or so, but it worked.
I didn't tell very many people about being diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  Partly because I was embarrassed.  I (incorrectly) felt like it was my fault and I was hurting my baby with my health habits.  The reality was just that my placenta was being an overachiever.  :)
My third trimester went really well with Archie growing great and my blood sugars were fabulous.  I worked hard to eat right and avoided almost all sugar.  I did have a smidge of sugar around Christmas but I had plenty of protein with it so it didn't spike my sugars. ;)  I exercised everyday with either a neighborhood walk or a dance party with the family.
For most women with gestational diabetes it goes away after the baby is born.  Once the hormone producing placenta is gone, the woman's blood sugars level out.  We tested my blood sugars in the hospital and my doctor said everything looked great.  I checked my sugars sporadically over then next 6 weeks and they were all in healthy range.  I was working really hard to eat right and be as active as I could.  By my 6 week appointment I had lost all but 5lbs of the baby weight I had gained with Archie. After my 6 week appointment my ob had me to the 2 hour glucose tolerance test again.  Unfortunately it came back saying I had pre-diabetes.  This means I have a mild carb intolerance, but not severe enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.  I was obese when I got pregnant with Archie, and being so heavy makes me at greater risk for getting type 2 diabetes if I'm not careful. The treatment in my case is to eat right and exercise.  Hopefully I'll be able to lose enough weight to get my insulin working correctly again. I'm down 16 lbs since that 6 week appointment, so I'm on my way.

Archibald Ian Larson

It's been quite some time since I wrote on this blog, but I wanted to document Archie's birth story and facebook just wasn't the right medium.  ;)
Since my mom could only be here for a week for Archie's birth, my doctor agreed to schedule an induction on my due date.  That way my mom would be here for as much of his first week of life as possible.  I had a few contractions before my due date, but nothing consistent, unfortunately.
The morning of the 18th, Mike and I got up and ready and headed off to the hospital.  The kids were all up and playing with grandma, enjoying themselves since there was no school. They wished us luck and said they couldn't wait to meet Squishy (Archie's in-utero nickname).
We got to the hospital, checked in and waited for a few minutes before the nurse came out to lead us over to labor and delivery.  Our nurse was a gal named Tina who was on her first day back after being out for 13 weeks of maternity leave.  :)  She was young and sweet and a great fit for my personality.  We laughed and chatted a lot while she went over the necessary information and she got me set up on the IV.  At 8:30 I was hooked up to the IV and we started the pitocin.  Every half hour for the next 2 hours Tina would up the dose of pitocin for me. It took probably 20 mins before I started feeling anything, but they were just little contractions that were easily managed.  At about 9, my doctor, Dr. H, came in and checked me.  I was dilated to a 3 (after being barely at a 1 to start with) and Dr. H asked if I wanted her to break my water.  I quickly agreed, and she broke my water right then.  With my other kids, my water broke during the contractions right before their birth, so it was interesting to have her break my water so early on.

About an hour after Dr. H broke my water, she came back in to check on me.  I was doing well and she said we could have a lunchtime baby if we wanted.  I laughed, but she ended up being right!

After my water was broken, I got out of the bed and alternated between sitting on the birthing ball and dancing around with Mike.  As long as I kept moving I was good.  Mike and I were still laughing and joking around with each other.  This was actually a great strategy because each time he made me laugh more fluid would gush out, speeding things along.  We put on the piano guys playlist and it was nice being able to focus on the songs during contractions.  The music beats gave me something to move with too, which was helpful.

At about 10 o’clock the nursed upped my Pitocin dose again.  That’s when things changed.  It took more of my effort to get through the contractions and they were getting closer together.  They were about 2-3 minutes apart.  I started thinking that I might need an epidural.  At 10:30 she upped the Pitocin again.  The contractions became much more intense and I was having a hard time breathing through them.  They got closer together and felt like they were one right after another.  I asked for an epidural because I knew if I couldn’t breathe, I would be able to deliver the baby.  They checked me and I was at a 5.  I had the feeling that I was hitting transition labor.  The anesthesiologist came in and was very professional in doing his job.  He was quick and efficient while still being encouraging to me.  By this point I had the shakes pretty bad.  They raised the bed up tall and had me sitting on the edge of the bed.  Mike stood in front of me and I leaned my head on him to help keep me still.  The nurse helped hold me up because I just couldn’t do that anymore.  He got the epidural in me in about 15 mins.  The Cello STAR WARS song was playing while he did the epidural, which was fun because it made me think of Aiden.  The epidural helped take the edge of the contractions, but didn’t take the pain away.  That’s when I knew I was in transition labor.  They laid me back and Mike did a fabulous job of talking me through the contractions.  I was shaking uncontrollably but Mike was great about giving me comforting touch and soothing me.  At 11:15 I could feel the baby start to descend and I told everyone that he was going to be coming soon.  Tina was great and called Dr. H to tell her to come over (she was across the street at her Dr. office).  When Dr. H didn’t show up in 15 mins, Tina called again, but also got  things prepared and lined up in case Dr. H didn’t make it in time.  She had a PA or someone in there who could deliver the baby if needed.  They broke down the bed and got everything prepped.  By 11:45 I said the baby was going to be here soon because I started having the urge to push.  Dr. H still wasn’t there.  Tina called again and told the office staff to pull Dr. H out of the patient’s room if needed.  She also said “Tell her to run fast!”  A few minutes later Dr. H walked into the room, into the bunny suit the nurses were holding.  She sat down, checked me and then said “Ok, next contraction we’re pushing!” 

The contraction started and I started pushing and things got suddenly quiet.  I could hear the song “Linus and Lucy” playing on the play list.  With all my other kids they had me push for a little and then they’d say “Stop pushing” which was always hard.  So I pushed once, but wasn’t sure if I needed to keep pushing because no one was giving me verbal directions.  I asked “do I still need to push?”  Everyone said “yes!  Keep going!” Then Mike started giving me verbal cues “We’re going to hold your breath and push for 10 seconds. Ready, go! 1, 2, 3…” and I pushed two more times before Archie was born.  Once his head was out I heard several people say “Whoa, that’s a big head!” Not really what I wanted to hear when I still had to push the rest of him out, but we knew he had a big head. 

Once he was born they put him right on me.  He had a full head of hair!  His cry was so cute and as I was cleaning him off I noticed a dimple in his left cheek.  :)  I kept him on me while they delivered the placenta, which Dr.  H actually showed us.  I didn’t care too much about it, but it was interesting to see where Archie had been living.  :)  I had two tiny tears that they had to stitch up.  I tried nursing Archie a couple times in the delivery room, but he wasn’t too interested.  Everyone was curious to see what he weighed, so I eventually let them take him to find out his weight.  :)  He ended up being 8lbs 10.8oz, which was less than the ultrasound tech estimated (she was guessing 9.5 lbs). 

He was my perfect little man! And he was here after only 3.5 hours of labor!

A Very Merry Unbirthday!

Esther's birthday is just 3 days after Olivia was born and Aiden's is a month later.  Since we came home from the hospital with Olivia on Esther's birthday and I was still very sleep deprived on Aiden's birthday a month later, I felt like we didn't properly celebrate their birthdays.  I decided it would be fun to throw them an unbirthday party.  Esther and Aiden each invited 3 of their friends to the party. After talking with them we decided to go with a BRAVE (as in Merida) party.  I love planning parties and had so much fun putting it together.  I think the kids enjoyed it to. 

See?  Here's Esther before the party.  I think she's excited.  ;)  I found this dress at goodwill.  It's a pretty good Queen Elinor dress, eh?

I made these posters for decorations.  This was definitely a budget party.  :) 

 I made these mini blueberry cakes like the one that Merida gives to her mom to change her fate.

 I made this pinata that was very ghetto but fun.  It was Mordu (the evil bear from the movie).

 Here I am as Merida ready to host the party.  :)

 Ready, aime...

 Gotta have a little sass, right? ;)

 Here is Aiden with one of his little friends playing with the "will o' the wisps" we made.  In the movie the wisps guide you to your destiny.  Notice Aiden's kilt?  Ever since we saw the movie last year Aiden has been asking me to make him a kilt.  I found some fabric that closely resembles the McKinnon hunting tartan and made him a kilt. He didn't want his picture taken though.  :)

 We colored BRAVE coloring pages while we waited for everyone to get there.

 After everyone was there we went out to the backyard for an archery lesson.  Mike and I had made the bows and arrow for each kid. The kids shot their arrows through hula-hoops to make it easier.  Archery may have been a bit above the 3-5 year olds level, but they loved it anyway. It was fun making them and we watched Star Trek while making them, so it was actually more like a mini-date night.

 With the leftover pvc from the bows I made these marshmallow shooters.

 As you can see from this shot of our yard afterwards, we had lots of fun with the shooters.  :)

 Then we did the pinata.  Here's Aiden in his kilt again.

 Esther taking a swing at the pinata.

 After all the kids had several turns hitting the pinata, I took my turn and demolished it (enbiggin for a great shot of my concentration face).  

 Here we are eating our swedish fish from the pinata (the bears eat fish in the movie).

 Here we all are ready to watch the movie, BRAVE.

 Aiden and I (he had ditched the kilt when we came back inside).

 Esther and I (She had ditched her dress because she said it was too scratchy).

At the end of the party, each kid went home with their bow and arrow, marshmallow shooters and coloring pages.  I had so much fun planning and putting together the party and I think the kids enjoyed it.  :) Let me know if you ever want help planning a party.  :)

 Mike and I after the party was over.  :)  I'm not going to lie, I was glad to get out of that hot wig and dress (it's July, remember?).

July 2014

On the night of July 3rd, all 5 members of our family slept through the night.  It was magnificent!  And it meant we had the energy for all our festivities.

We started off our forth of July celebrations with our city parade.  :)  It was so fun and such a beautiful day (in the 70's).  Everyone had so much fun!

  

Livvy even slept for about an hour, despite the fire truck and police car sirens going off.  She was tired.  :) 

 Esther and Aiden were so excited to see the bagpipers wearing kilts (Can you spot them?).

 "Daaad!"

 This camel was a part of a chiropractor's advertisement.  The sign said "Don't let your back look like mine."  It was funny and clever.  :)

 After the parade we went to Fred's for some swimming, food and hanging out with friends.  Livvy loved floating in the pool, but by the time I got the camera out, she was ready for a nap.

 Mike wrote Esther a note in a leaf.  It was so cute and creative. :)

 I found Mike one Sunday morning multitasking. :)

 Here's poor Livvy getting a little too much love from her big sister.

 Esther is definitely intense in everything she does.

 One day out of the blue Esther decided she was going to make lunch for everyone.  It was so cute!  She's done it several times since then, and I am so appreciative each time!

 Aiden decided one day he was just going to help himself to a spoonful of peanut butter.  I caught him red handed (and he knew it!  Look at that face!).  

June 2014

We started June off by potty training Aiden.  We had tried last September, but he wasn't interested.  He started showing interest again in November, but by then my sciatica was so terrible, I wasn't hardly sleeping and I didn't want him to regress when Olivia was born, so we decided to wait.  But then once Olivia was born I decided we should wait until I was sleeping better.  So here we are in June finally potty training Aiden.  But I'm glad I waited because he was a champ and caught on super fast.  He earned ice cream the first day because he didn't have any accidents and he went 1 and 2 in the potty.  Super kid!  He had it totally down by the end of the week.  

 Here's Olivia and Mike on a beautiful June morning when we took a morning walk before church.  :)

 Here's a pic with Mike and the kids.  

 Family picture.  :)  I love how it shows the kids personalities.  Olivia sweet as can be, Aiden distracted by something, but just happy and Esther so happy to be in nature with her family.  :)

 Esther saw these pretty flowers and wanted her picture with them.

 Here's Esther on her last day of school.  Needless to say, she was excited.  

 Look how much she's grown!

 Here's a flashback to the first day of school:

She loved her teacher.  He was awesome!

 Aiden wanted his picture taken too.  :)

 Aiden loves to collect rocks.

 Esther loves to collect sticks.

 We went to Greek Fest here at a local church.  The food was delicious and I enjoyed watching the traditional dancing.  :)

 I did sleep training with Livvy in June and weaned her from her night feedings.  It helped SOOOO much and we're all sleeping much better because of it.  :)

 She fell asleep in my lap and I had to set her down to capture a picture of how adorable she is!

 Aiden wanted to hold Olivia one day and I had to laugh at how big she was on his lap.  :)

During the last couple days of June I took a quick trip with Olivia to Utah.  Mike had been on 2 months of surgery rotation and hadn't seen the kids much, so he took Esther and Aiden camping while I went to visit my family.  Several family members were able to come down to see us. :)  It was great!

Here I am with my sister!  :)

 One of my best friends: Grandma Cole.  :)

 Some of my nieces and nephews with Olivia.  :)

My brother and his family came down to see us as well, so we got a few shots of the three siblings (there's 3 missing, but they were in other states).

 I left out the bloopers but they mostly consist of me laughing my head off and funny faces from all of us.  :)

 My sister and I with our girls.  :)

 Papa with his youngest princess (for now).

 Livvy hanging out with her Papa.  :)

 Papa Sampson with some of his princesses.  I'm not sure why Livvy looks so terrified, but it makes me laugh!

 Some of my nieces.  :)

I was also able to meet up with some of Mike's family, although all the pictures from that outing are on their cameras and phones, so they'll have to email them to me.  :)

I love family!