Welcome, Baby Beckham!

After a long day on Sunday, Beckham was finally born at 11:19pm. 7lbs, 4 oz. 20 inches. I'll post more pics and details later on the blog, but to see many more pics, go to my Facebook page. I'm too tired to post them here right now. I think I'll go take a nap!

Mother Daughter activity

Bailee gets to go to activity days twice a month. Last month they had a mother-daughter activity, where I got to join her and make a little craft, and we had an activity where we answered questions about each other.

I kept the papers, but I'm sure they'll just get lost somewhere, so I thought I would document it here instead, since this blog is really the only "journal" I have:

Questions about Bailee that I answered:

Bailee's Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Meal I Cook: Baked Ziti
Favorite Activity with me: Hiking or Swimming
A place Bailee wants to travel to: California (actual: Where the penguins live)
The temple Bailee wants to get married in: Salt Lake (actual: Oquirrh)
Favorite place to shop: Wal Mart
Something she likes to or would like to collect: Earrings (actual: rocks)
The name of her favorite teacher this year: Ms. Moore
A talent or skill she would like to develop: Dancing (actual: Gymnastics)
What she wore to school yesterday: Pink striped shirt, braids
Favorite Music or Musical Artist: Rock & Roll
Favorite Movie: Despicable Me (actual: Spongebob or Tangled)
What her ideal day off from school would include: riding her bike, cooking, going swimming, movies
Her favorite subject in school: Math (actual: Art)

I guess I was pretty close on most of her answers.

But her answers for my questions were pretty funny:

Mom's shoe size: 24 (actual: 7)
Year she was born: 1998 (actual: 1977)
Name of her high school: Cougar High School (actual: Hunter High School)
Where she met your dad: School
All-Time favorite snack food: Candy (actual: I don't really know, but I'd take cookies, cake, or pie over candy)
How many states in the USA has she lived in? Can you name them? Utah
Which foreign countries has she visited or lived in? None (actual: Mexico, Canada, Belize)
How many children did he say she was going to have when she grew up? 6 (actual: 4 or 5)
If she had one day all to herself, what would she do? sleep (actual: probably sleep, but get some other things done as well! I'd probably go on a hike.)
Her dream car: red (actual: anything that gets good gas mileage!)
Her favorite book: The Hiding Place (actual: The Host, although I was impressed that Bailee knew I was reading The Hiding Place at the time.)
Her favorite season: Summer
Her favorite color: Green
Her favorite temple: Oaker (loved how she spelled it! And I don't really have a favorite, but we were married in Timpanogos.)
Her favorite scripture verse or story: Nephi

It was a fun activity, and I enjoyed getting to know Bailee better!

Look what he can do!

He's not even 4 yet, and today he rode his bike with no training wheels! He wanted his training wheels off a couple of weeks ago, so his bike could be a "motorcycle". He saw his cousin Jack ride without training wheels, and has been just pushing himself around for the last couple of weeks keeping his feet on the ground.

Well today he did it, with help from a neighbor, just giving him a little push. That's all it took. And he has been outside for hours wanting to ride around. He's already good at getting himself going with no help. He can also pedal backwards in order to stop.

All 3 of my kids learned to ride a bike with training wheels in the same year! That's crazy to me. Bailee was 8 when she started, Trinidee 6 1/2, and Ryker almost 4.

Baby Update

Sooo, I had my doctors appointment on Monday morning. She said she was surprised she didn't see me come back to the hospital over the weekend. She did the regular measurements and listened for the heartbeat.

As she was feeling around, she said it's possible the baby could be breach. She said the position where she was hearing the heart, and the feel of the bumps made it seem that his bum was down and head was up. She wanted to send me in for an ultrasound to confirm. (Why they don't have an ultrasound in her office is beyond me). She said if he is breach, they can try to turn him. I can also do certain "moves" or "positions" at home to try to get him to flip back on his own. If he was still breach by next Monday, (7/18), they could just admit me to the hospital, flip him, then induce me.

I was really worried at this point because I knew about the possibility of getting a c-section. I really didn't want to have one. I know it's not the worst thing in the world, but the thought of it just terrified me.

So I went in yesterday afternoon for my ultrasound, and she said the baby was head down. I was so relieved! She did some other measurements, and gave me some pictures. It's crazy how much bigger this baby is now, compared to the last ultrasound I had at 20 weeks. At 20 weeks, the baby's body filled the screen. Now, just the giant head fills the screen!

So my doctor called me a couple of hours later, and she apologized for making me worry. She said they also measured the amount of fluid in the ultrasound, and I have a lot of it. She said when there's that much fluid, it can make it hard for the baby to "engage" or "drop". Which could explain why none of my other 3 babies ever dropped, and I always have to be induced.

So she said, "Do you want to just wait it out and see what happens, or go ahead and schedule an induction for next week?" I didn't even have to think twice. I said, "Let's schedule the induction!" I just figure that if I did wait around, I'd end up waiting around until 41 weeks (again), and I'd end up being induced anyway. Originally, I planned to wait until up to 41 weeks with this pregnancy so I could try to go into labor on my own, since I'd never experienced that before. After what happened this weekend, with the whole "unknown" factor, being sent home, feeling the contractions, and worrying about what to do with the other 3 kids at the last minute, I feel like I've experienced enough, and I just want this baby out! I really don't know if he would come on his own before 41 weeks.

This way I can get the kids babysitters worked out, I won't be up all night wondering if I'm in Labor for real or not, and we can just get the ball rolling!

So the doctor checked with the hospital for next Monday, 7/18. She called me back and said there were already 5 inductions scheduled for that day, so I probably wouldn't get in. There were 4 for Tuesday, so I might get in Tuesday, but maybe not. But those inductions are all for medical reasons, and mine is not, so I'm not the priority. But Sunday was wide open, so we scheduled it for this Sunday, 7/17/11!

I'm so excited! :)

False Alarm

So it's been a long weekend around here. Kevin and the kids headed up to Wyoming for the Garrett Reunion on Friday morning. I didn't go since I'm 2 weeks from my due date, and I just had a feeling that I better stay close to home.

Well, Saturday morning at 4:00 am, I went to use the restroom, and thought that my water had broken. There was just extra trickling. (Sorry if this is TMI.) I had finished "going", then more water would trickle out with a contraction.

Anywhoo, my adrenaline immediately started going, and I called Kevin saying I think my water had broken, but I wasn't sure. He was a 3 1/2-4 hour drive away. I didn't know if it was the real thing, so I told him to wait until I talked to the Dr, or went into the hospital, then we would decide what to do.

So I called my Doctor, who said to just to go straight to the hospital if I think my water had broken. I called my mom, she came over, and drove me to the hospital. We got there around 5:00am. They checked me in, got the monitors on my belly, and I was contracting every 2 minutes consistently. The contractions were pretty strong, but they didn't really hurt.

I called Kevin and he said he was already on his way. I asked why he decided to leave before I found out if it was really labor, and he just said he'd rather just get here as soon as he could. He took the kids from the tent to his brother's trailer, and they offered to watch the kids for us. By this time I was sure I was in Labor because of the consistent contractions, so I thought it was a good idea that he came home.

They checked my cervix, and I was only dilated to a 1, and she said my cervix was still pretty thick. They tested the fluid with one of those test strips, and said it was negative. It was not amniotic fluid. So they did another test with a cotton swab, and we waited for the results.

I was so excited and nervous. I thought, this is it! His birthday will be July 9, 2011. He'll be lying in that little baby bed later tonight. I looked around the hospital room and imagined what it would be like in a few hours when I'd be pushing him out.

I've never gone into Labor on my own before, so I was excited and happy that my body was finally doing it! I was induced at 41 weeks with Bailee, 42 weeks with Trinidee, and 39 weeks (because I was tired of going over), with Ryker. I'm only 38 weeks with this one, so I was pleasantly surprised that this was happening early!

Well, the test results for the swab also came back negative. I was completely shocked! I swear there was extra "leakage" happening with every contraction, but it wasn't amniotic fluid!? But I thought, okay, well, I'm still in Labor even though my water hasn't broken, because I'm having consistent contractions every 2 minutes.

They checked me again after I had been there for over an hour, and I was still only dilated to a 1+. So the nurse said she would call my Doctor and let me know what she wants to do. The nurse came back and told me the doctor wanted to send me home. I was shocked and SO disappointed. I asked, "what about the regular contractions?" The nurse said that you can be having regular contractions, but if they aren't strong enough to progress you, or make you dilate, then they don't keep you. She said it's possible they can get stronger if I go home and walk around, and that maybe I'd be back at the hospital later that day or the next. I was just bummed.

So I called Kevin, who was near Echo reservoir by then. We had a hard time deciding whether or not he should turn back around, get the kids and all of our stuff packed up and head home, or if he should just continue on his way home. I was still concerned, so he just kept heading toward SLC.

They checked me out of the hospital, and my mom drove me home. I just laid down in my bed, feeling totally defeated, frustrated & confused. Kevin got home soon after, right around 8am. He plopped on the bed, and we both fell asleep. (He had gone to bed around 1am, and I called him at 4, so he was going on only 3 hours of sleep). I didn't sleep well, since I was still having contractions, and from the excitement of hoping maybe I was still in Labor.

I tried reading, sleeping, watching TV, sleeping some more, but I just couldn't. I was so tired. The contractions eventually stopped. Finally after a little nap, we decided that since I wasn't contracting anymore, it would be a good time for Kevin to head back up to Wyoming to get the kids and our stuff. I would talk to him as soon as he got there, and if anything was happening with me, he would come straight home. If not, he would stay at the reunion until Sunday and just come home Sunday morning, rather than making that drive 3 times in one day.

So he took me to my parents & headed back up to Wyoming. About 15 minutes after he left, I started having contractions again, and this time they were painful. I immediately started crying out of frustration, and I called him telling him to turn around and come back. He came back and took me home. That's when the painful, in-the-back contractions started. And they were consistent again. Every 3-4 minutes, sometimes every 2 minutes, sometimes less than 1 minute between each one. I could hardly breathe through them. I felt like my ribs would break!

So after about an hour of those, I called my doctor again. I told her I didn't want to go back to the hospital if they were just going to send me home again, and asked what I should do. She said to take a hot shower for 20 minutes. If that sped up my contractions, I was probably in Labor. If it slowed them down, then I probably wasn't. So I did that. My contractions were consistent until a few minutes after the shower, then they slowed down. So I just waited some more. They never picked back up.

Kevin and I went for a walk around 9pm, then went to Chili's at 10:00pm to eat. I was exhausted, so I went to bed and slept really good. Today we've been just relaxing, waiting to see if anything is going to happen, which it hasn't.

I have an appointment tomorrow morning, and I'm curious to see if those painful contractions progressed me at all. I just really hope I don't go a week overdue again. That would mean I still have 3 more weeks to go. It's just harder when you have your hopes up, thinking it was going to happen, only to have them shot down.

I'm just confused! But I'm still thankful that I'm able to carry a healthy baby to full term. He's still moving around in there, letting me know he's okay. It's probably just my body's way of getting ready for the real thing.

I thank all of the family up in Wyoming that took care of our other kids. I feel bad and kind of dumb for making Kevin come home, although I wouldn't want to have to go through this all alone! I'm so glad he was here by my side. He's such a good husband! I'm glad my mom & family was here to help & support me too.

Baby's just being a little tease I guess. ;)

July 4th weekend....(and beyond)....

So the July 4th weekend was packed with lots of fun and activities! The girls had their last day of school on July 1. Here is Bailee with her 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Moore. And Trinidee with her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Kingsford. Both of these teachers were WONDERFUL, and I can't say enough about them. The girls have greatly enjoyed school, and they both told me that they were sad they wouldn't have their teachers anymore. They will miss them a lot!

Also, on July 1, we made our LAST car payment on our Tahoe! I thought that would be blog worthy. :) It's going to be so nice to have that extra money each month. Now hopefully it doesn't break down so we have to fix it or buy a new car!

On that same Friday evening, we went to the Western Stampede Rodeo in West Jordan.

I *heart* Lone Peak! I just zoomed in and got a shot of it while waiting for the rodeo to start. It's hard to believe that just 10 short months ago, I was on the top of that mountain. Now I wouldn't even be able to go a mile up that steep trail. :P

My nephews, Toby & Jack competed in the Muttin' Bustin'. Last year Toby actually won it and got a huge trophy! This year he wasn't so lucky. They each stayed on for only a couple of seconds. But all of the competitors got a trophy! Now all 3 of my kids want to try it.

Here's Jack's attempt:

Toby getting lowered down by Brianne:

And Toby's attempt:

Friday night, the kids asked if they could sleep out on the deck, and we agreed. It was the first time we've let them do it, and they did fine. They even slept in! The only problem was that they woke up with mosquito bites all over their faces.

Saturday, July 2, we worked on some painting projects. I am determined to get them done before this baby comes!! (only 2 more weeks until the due date.)

We are painting the crib and changing table for the baby, a nightstand and desk for Trinidee, and a vanity for each of the girls dressers.

Saturday night Kevin went to a "guys night out", so I went with my dad & kids up Little Cottonwood Canyon. We went as far as the road was open, which was just past Alta, right before the road changes from asphalt to dirt road, where the gate was closed. Here's the Albion Basin area, with still a ton of snow!

Then we went to the White Pine trailhead and walked up the trail a ways.

There were so many waterfalls running. We stopped to take a few shots of them:

Monday, July 4, we finished up the painting projects:

Relaxed,

And then had friends over for a yummy BBQ and a fun fireworks display with our circle neighbors. This year they legalized aerial fireworks, so we bought some of those too.

Trin picked her outfit....interesting choice, no?

Tuesday, July 5, I took the kids to the neighborhood playgroup at the splash park. (No pictures though.)

Wednesday, July 6, we hung out at my mom's since my sister is in town from Idaho with her boys, and my brother & his family from Wyoming. Grandma just bought this cool slip n' slide. The kids loved it!

And Thursday, July 7, we took them all to the Living Planet Aquarium. Again, I didn't have my camera, but the kids loved it. Especially being able to pet the sting rays.

Isn't summer the best?