Grandma & Grandpa Time

Grandma & Grandpa Lamb were so great and took Andrew and Josh for a few days when Connor was born...

Connor's Eviction

Connor Joseph Lamb

August 30, 2010, 8:59 pm
8 lbs. 5 oz., 21 in.

Connor's Birth Story...
I say that Connor was evicted because I have my doubts this child would have come on his own. Either my body didn't know how to get with the program or Connor was just too comfy in there! On August 30, five days past his due date, I went in for a prenatal visit. Randy stayed home with the boys and told me that I wasn't allowed to come home without an induction date! We were both worried that he would be too big if we waited much longer (Andrew and Josh were induced at 39 weeks and were both over 8 lbs.).

At the prenatal visit, my blood pressure was high. It hadn't been high during the entire pregnancy. My midwife took it again 15 minutes later, and it was higher. So...she said I needed to head upstairs to labor & delivery to induce labor! I called Randy's mom so she could come pick up the boys and I called Randy to get their bags packed because we were going to have a baby tonight!

At 6:15 pm, the pitocin was started to get my contractions going. The nurse increased it every half hour until it got to a 7. The monitor wasn't picking up the contractions very well, but I was feeling them pretty soon after the pitocin was started. At first it was tolerable, but then they got evil. I'm sure the nurses thought I was a pansy because the monitor wasn't picking them up! The midwives had a shift change at 7 pm, and I didn't meet the new one until around 7:45 pm. I told her the contractions were pretty strong, but she didn't check me because it was still early. We talked about getting an epidural and some other pain management options. We also talked about turning the pitocin off to see if my body would do the rest. She said that I should eat something and brought me a sandwich. She had other patients having babies, so she left for a little bit. At this point, the contractions were getting worse. I couldn't eat the sandwich or really concentrate on anything else. The only thing I wanted to do was go to the bathroom! By the third bathroom trip, Randy said I'd better get that epidural, so he called the nurse.

The anesthesiologist came in at 8:51 pm (this was documented on the computer). I told him that I didn't know how on earth he was going to give me the epidural because by that time I was in a lot of pain and the contractions were close together (still not showing up very well on the computer, so I think everyone still thought I was being a pansy). My midwife came in and said, "Are you ready to take a little rest now?" I told her I was, but I didn't know how we were going to do this! She got me through the next contraction by doing counter pressure (she pressed on my knees, Randy pressed on my back while I was lying on my side). This felt so good! After the contraction, my midwife got paged and I told her to not leave me! I wanted her to keep doing the counter pressure with me. She said she'd get me through the next contraction and then she needed to take the call. I sat up on the bed to get in position for the epidural, then the next contraction came. They did counter pressure again, but in the middle of the contraction I yelled, "I'm pushing!" My body just took over from there. This baby was coming out, ready or not!

My midwife hurried and checked my progression. I was complete and the baby was crowning. She looked over at the anesthesiologist and said we wouldn't be needing him. There were many people in the room at that point and everyone was scrambling to get the party started. I was terrified and screaming (I'm sure I convinced many undecided mothers on the floor to go ahead and get that epidural!), it was so hard for me to surrender my body. The nurses, especially my midwife were great. I just did my best to listen to them and do what they asked. It was crazy and insane, but 8 minutes later (from the time the anesthesiologist came into the room), Connor was here. I had an unplanned pitocin-induced, med-free labor. I am woman, hear me roar. Connor's apgar scores were 8 then 9. We have been so blessed.

And this little guy was so worth the wait.

1st Day of School

Movie in the Park

Each year, student housing invites its residents to a movie in the park, which is just a hop, skip & jump from our place - they also provide the popcorn, cotton candy, and soda. This year it was "How to Train Your Dragon."

Distractions....

We got together with some friends at the Gateway to play in the fountains today....

I'm listening to a great book....

And tomorrow I'm off to the fabric store because sewing makes me happy...

Nine days until my due date. He'd better not be late.

Andrew's Secret

Andrew: "I'll tell you a secret about Josh." "He's naughty."

More Goodbyes

Living in student housing, we've met and said goodbye to many many friends. This year was definitely the roughest. I have special memories and experiences with each of these ladies - each one of them has taught me so much by their example. It's been a lonely summer not having them around.

Julie Randall, Jennifer Sunseri, Me, Jenny Martin

(Pictures taken the end of May)
Back row: Jenny Martin, Julie Randall, Mandy Halverson, Me, Kristl Nelson, Rachel Holman, Sherrie Crawford, Claire Hogue
Front row: Maggie Minson, Danica Loveridge, Annette Brown, Shellie Wilson, Jessica Lowe

Going Green

Our little patch of grass was looking pretty pitiful the beginning of April:
So we planted some new grass seed, and this was the result 6 weeks later:
The boys like to eat their lunch on this little patch on most days. I wish that I could say that our lawn looks this lush now, but 90 degree weather and pregnancy have made it suffer a little. It's amazing what water will do for living things.

Andrew's First Tooth!

Andrew lost his first tooth yesterday! It was hanging by a thread and I finally convinced him to let me give it a good yank.

Grandma Mary made him this cute pillow for the Tooth Fairy. It took him awhile to fall asleep becasue he was too excited. The Tooth Fairy left him a gold dollar.

Getting Ready for Baby

At my 37 week appointment this week I was dialated 2 cm, 60% effaced, and the baby is at the -2 station. Progress! I'm Braxton Hicksing and cramping when I'm up and active, but nothing that a rest on the sofa with a drink of ice water can't stop. I'm fat and swollen, but otherwise feeling good. We've got 20 dinners in the deep freezer, the house is as clean as it's going to get, the baby's clothes are washed and put away, and we are stocked in all the supplies we need (I hope at least!)

Here are some pictures of the baby's room and the things I made. I'm a novice sewer, so I'm pretty proud of the projects I completed. I'm taking a hiatus from any new sewing projects until after I update my blog.

(Nevermind the toy rats you see in the room. And yep, that's the hospital bag on top of the changing table.)
The brown thing behind the swing is a fabric book sling to hold the little guy's little books.



I couldn't resist the pink and flowery print of this fabric, so I made a nursing cover with it!

And I didn't want the boys to feel left out, so I made them these blanket bags (a.k.a. quillows):

Downtown Fire Station Tour

We were able to take a tour of the downtown fire station (around 10th South and 9th East). It was awesome! They did a really good job. We learned the difference between a "fire truck" and a "fire engine." They had both at the station. A fire truck is huge with a big ladder attached - it takes two drivers to steer the thing (one to drive in front, and one to steer the back end). Even though fire trucks are huge, they're actually easier to maneuver in tight spaces. A fire engine is smaller and has a water reserve. It was blasting hot that day (I don't venture out beyond my 68 degree townhouse or from under a shaded tree, so I was dying!), but the fireman let each kid operate the water hose and the kids got soaked!

.....and too short.

Randy's Aunt Lisa has this quote in her email signature and I love it!

"Life is too short for negative drama & petty things. So laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly! From one unstable person to another... I hope everyone is happy in your head - we're all doing pretty good in mine!"

Sometimes I find myself being too judgemental or offended by another person, but when I take the time to get to know someone, I find out that we all have our stuff we have to deal with in this life. Most of us grew up with some sort of dysfunction in our family, and most of us have scars from past heartache. All of us have trials and insecurities.

I was talking to a good friend today about my own personal heartache over one of my family members. She said to accept love wherever you can receive it, and you will find that the Lord will always overcompensate. How true is that! I have been so blessed. I married a good man that loves me and puts up with me. His parents treat me like I'm one of their own, although I'm sure they've wondered a time or two why the heck Randy married me in the first place. I have friends that I am bonded to for life. I have children that are so dang cute and love their mama. And my family loves me.

This Is How We Roll

This picture represents our summer well. Josh in his jammies. PBS Kids on the TV and Facebook on the computer. Very lazy days.

Life is Crazy

We walked away relatively unharmed. Randy and I were coming back from a temple trip to pick up our boys. We were headed East on 800 South. The other driver was headed North on 700 East. We had the green light and were fully in the middle of the intersection when the other driver hit us - our light was green for a few seconds so the other driver must have been distracted by something and didn't even see that she had a red light (texting maybe?). Randy tried his best to hit the brakes, but everything happened so fast. Thankfully she didn't hit my side - I may have had a different story to tell today.

I was taken by ambulance to University of Utah hospital and was kept there overnight to monitor the baby. He was a champ through it all - kicking and somersaulting like nothing ever happened. The boys stayed that night with our friends who were watching them. We're a little bruised and sore today, and pretty shaken up, but it could have been a lot lot worse. We're heartbroken about our car, it was paid for and we really loved it. But as one of the witnesses of the accident said, "Life is crazy sometimes."

Randy had the week off and we were a able to relax and enjoy each other - we had a low stress agenda of getting some things done around the house, taking the boys up the canyon for tin-foil dinners and roasted marshmallows, going to This Is The Place park; Randy went on a day hike, I slept in every morning and took naps with Joshy every afternoon. We even fit in a long overdue trip to the temple. I'm glad we had that lovely time together because I'm sure we're going to be dealing with some stress trying to replace our car and getting everything situated with our insurance.

I am also grateful for an article I read a few weeks prior that I got in my email inbox. It talked about how to protect the baby in the event of a car accident and how to wear your seatbelt. After reading that article, I made sure I followed its advice (keeping your seat as far as it can from the airbags, wearing the seatbelt under the belly, etc.). There was also an accident Thursday morning on 700 East involving a pregnant woman who was 7 1/2 months along and her baby didn't make it. I've been thinking about her ever since I read about the story and my heart aches for her. To lose a baby when you're so close would be devastating. I thought about how random her accident was - and when we were driving to and from the temple I was very aware of the other drivers and hoping the same thing wouldn't happen to us - it just goes to show you that these things sometimes can't be prevented no matter how cautious you are.

When I was in the temple yesterday, there was a brief moment when I was thinking about the baby and visualizing his delivery and our first meeting, I felt reassurance that that day would soon come - that experience was a comfort to me on the way to the hospital when we weren't sure how the baby was yet. Life is crazy and sometimes out of control, but we are given many tender mercies. Thank goodness for that.

**Update: We were able to replace our van and received a settlement from our insurance company in 5 days! We feel so blessed that we didn't have to focus on this with the baby coming so soon**

Short Horned Lizard

Randy found this on one of his runs up the canyon. We think it's a "Short Horned Lizard." The boys loved it! It was kind of a dumb little thing, though. We kept it in a bowl, and never once did it try to escape. It let the boys carry it around all over the place. We even left it outside overnight and it didn't budge, it was still there in the bowl the next morning. We drove up to the canyon for tin-foil dinners & roasted marshmallows and let it go there. I'm always afraid that when we catch things that we'll kill them, so we try to let them go soon after we catch them. I have a bad track record for keeping pets alive.

Little Miss Meg

Cousin Megan (& Aunt Maranda) at 7 months...