September and October Update

Last year I did this same thing. Procrastinated my September post until we were over halfway done with October haha. So here’s a combination of what’s been going on in the last two months!

Adam and Ashley: we’ve just been keeping on and trying to get into a family of four swing. Adam has his student employees back which has helped decrease quite a bit of stress. Also he is officially blood clot free! I am honestly still struggling to balance two kids during the day. I get burnt out super easy and have been down more often recently. Hopefully it’ll get better.

Eli: has been super into creative play. He’s always wanting to play pretend and it is adorable to see his imagination at work. He loves to learn all sorts of new things and has a wonderful memory. He also loves to play with Wesley and make him laugh.

Wesley: is now four and a half months old! He can roll from tummy to back and has great head control. He LOVES his family and the three of us gets his biggest smiles. He is ticklish and laughs super hard when I kiss his cheeks and neck. He has found his voice and likes to squeal and scream SUPER loud haha. And more often than not it’s because he’s happy! He is a complete drool monster and is constantly drenched. He also sucks on his hands all the time. No teeth yet and no sleeping through the night. He’s about 15 pounds now and still growing! We love our little guy!

Highlights!

my nephew loving on Wesley

Utah Trip #1: For Labor Day weekend, we took a quick trip to Utah! We stayed with my sister and also went to a big get together with my Packard relatives because it was my great-aunt’s 100th birthday 😊

My birthday: The Saturday before my birthday, we got to go to the Eastern Idaho State Fair! My aunt and uncle came too and they were so sweet to watch the boys so Adam and I could indulge on rides. We had a ton of fun seeing animals, eating fried food, and taking Eli on some rides! Then on my actual birthday, we got a babysitter and went to Adam’s yearly employee banquet 😊

at the Eastern Idaho State Fair

second trip to UT

Utah Trip #2: The first weekend of October, we went back to Utah! We gave ourselves a couple more days to see more people. This time we stayed with Adam’s brother who is pretty much the coolest person in Eli’s eyes haha. We were able to visit campus and meet up with the office that we worked at as students. We also visited the mental health clinic that I worked at since they moved to a brand new building. My sister and husband were in Russia but my mom and aunt were watching my nephew so we were able to spend time with them and watch General Conference. The main reason for coming to Utah however was  that Adam’s mission president was holding a mission reunion and it was ten years since Adam had left for his church mission to Manchester England.

at the pumpkin patch

Visitors: My best friend Kayla was able to visit and spend a day in October with us which was so fun! Her little boy is 9 months younger than Eli and they love each other. We went to the zoo and to a pumpkin patch and the boys had a blast! Later that month, we were able to see Adam’s mom a couple times. Once on her birthday to have lunch and go get cookie dough at Soda Barn. Then again when she stayed a night with us before heading back to Colorado.

Halloween: Eli said that he wanted to be a superhero for Halloween but of course once we actually got the costume in the mail, he changed his mind. So he ended up being a lion again this year. Wesley was a cute chubby turtle. We went again to the building Adam works in at BYU-Idaho to go trick or treating. It’s the perfect amount for Eli and mostly indoors so we didn’t go out in our neighborhood. Eli did have fun handing out candy though :)

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August Update

Now that September is half over, I thought it was about time for me to do a quick update on our August haha

Adam and Ashley: nothing too new with us just getting more used to having to deal with two kids and less sleep haha. Adam has been quite busy at work to meet deadlines for the coming semester as well as BYU-Idaho’s big transition to a new Learning Management System. He has definitely gained a stronger appreciation for student employees as both of his left for summer break. As for me, I’ve mostly been trying to survive without too much TV for Eli (not always successful with that xP)

Eli: turned 3 this month!! Adam took the day off so we could do some fun things. We went to the zoo which Eli LOVED and we decided to get a membership so we can go more often. That evening we had a little party with some family and friends. Eli loves running around with his friends. As he requested, I made red monster truck cupcakes which he still mentions from time to time. I can’t believe how big he is! This month he’s been super excited to learn his letters! He can sing the song and identify most capital letters on sight. He can be a little scamp most of the time but he’s cute too :)

Wesley: turned two months old mid-month. At the very beginning of the month, he got his tongue and lip tie clipped so that was not fun. He had quite a rough time of it but I think it’s helped a little. I’m a little worried that it reattached a little but he still seems to be getting better at catching my fast flow. He is a happy smiley baby especially when he has people paying attention to him haha. His head control is getting less wobbly and he weighed in at 12.5 pounds at his two month appointment!

 

July Update

Here is how this past month went!

Adam: turned 29 this month!! We celebrated by having a get together with some family in the afternoon and then that evening we went to find a spot to watch the local fireworks show (while trying to avoid parking and traffic). The day after he got a special visit from his brother Seth and his family. That was probably his favorite birthday gift because we had someone to play games with haha. He also went back to work and has been amazing at balancing his work stresses, home stresses, and lack of sleep. He is a HUGE support for me breastfeeding as well. We kinda gave up on him taking a feeding since I'd have to wake up to pump anyways but he always gets Wesley and brings him to me and also settles him down if he needs it. He is the best husband and father.

Ashley: I spent the first half of the month trying to find a new normal with Adam at work while trying to prepare for family visiting. The second half of the month, I had to find a NEW new normal because my mom had left after staying with us for a month from when Wesley was born. It was kind of intimidating being home all day with the boys by myself at first but we're getting used to it haha. I am SOOOOO grateful that my mom could come and help for such a long time. It was such a sacrifice of her energy and time but made a huge difference in how my postpartum time went.

Eli: has LOVED having family visit. He enjoyed my mom being here and was ecstatic when all of his grandparents were here along with his aunts, uncles, and cousin on my side and two uncles and aunts and a cousin on Adam's side all came to visit this month. Honestly, I was expecting a full on meltdown when everyone left after the blessing but he did so well saying goodbye. He's definitely growing up in a lot of ways! He's especially gotten more into creative pretend play recently. He will often give me cars and have conversations between them and his cars haha. I love seeing his imagination grow and process things. He loves Wesley and hasn't been too jealous of him. More often than not, he gets mad because he wants to do things like hold and feed him but he can't. It will be fun to see if they'll play well once Wesley can actually play haha.

Wesley: turned 1 month old this month! His head control is getting better but still quite wobbly. He also started smiling this month! That of course is my favorite :) He's a good eater except when my milk comes out too fast. Then he unlatches and gets sprayed in the face haha. We're still troubleshooting how to help his perpetual gassiness but we're pretty sure its my overactive letdown. He has started balding on top and looks like an old man. His favorite thing is to sit on my lap with his back leaning against my thighs as I sit with my knees up. He loves to see our faces and that is how we get the most smiles. He still wakes up quite a few times at night but occasionally will go a 3 or 4 hour stretch! He is a super sweet baby and is now over 11 lbs already so he's quickly becoming a chunk!

Special Events This Month
Fourth of July and Adam's birthday as mentioned above :)
We had Wesley's baby blessing! We were so happy that so many family were able to travel to share it with us. We definitely had a packed house that weekend! It was also the first time my whole family had been together now that Jessica is married (and of course Wesley joining us). So we had to get a family photo which was interesting with a kindergartner and a toddler to try and contain haha. It was a fun, crazy, happy weekend!

Wesley's Birth Story

After a month, it’s probably about time for me to write Wesley’s birth story before I forget haha. So here it is!

I had been having inconsistent contractions for days so it was hard to tell if I was close to labor at all. The night of the 15th, my mom, Adam, and I watched a movie and I was feeling really crampy. Not like contractions but like really bad period cramps. My due date was the next day and I was feeling discouraged that I may go late. So we went to bed. Then at about 4:30 am, I woke up with pretty bad contractions. I realized pretty quickly that they were consistent so I woke up Adam to help me through them and time them. I also had to go to the bathroom a ton xP. One of the times I went, there was bright blood when I wiped almost like starting a period which worried me. We called my doula to let her know what was going on and then labor and delivery to check if we should be worried about the blood. They said not to worry unless it was a ton and that I could just come in when my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. I debated taking a bath to help me cope but my contractions were pretty close together so we decided to just go to the hospital. At this point, I started feeling anxiety about going through labor again. Adam was busy gathering the last of our things so I went upstairs and woke up my mom. She helped me through a few contractions until we were ready to head out.

We got to the hospital about 6 or 6:30 and got settled into our room. My doula Meagan then met us there. They gave me a hep lock (basically a catheter in your vein so they don't have to find one in an emergency but its not connected to anything) and thankfully I didn't need an IV the whole labor. They checked me at 7 and I prepared myself that I wasn’t going to be much but I was at 5 cm! 3 hours and I was already halfway there! For those who don’t know, I was in labor for nearly two days with Eli and I got stuck at 6 cm. Unluckily, I was having back labor again. This worried me but I tried to stay focused on my hypnobirthing. I spent a lot of time either on the birth ball or standing, always leaning on Adam and Meagan giving counter pressure on my back and hips. The nurses and my OB were super supportive of my birth plan and didn’t bother us too much. I did wireless monitoring so I could move around but it kept flipping out of place and then beeping at me which was annoying.

At around 8:50, I started to feel downward pressure and I thought I might be starting to feel pushy but I wasn’t sure. They checked me again and originally I didn’t want them to tell me the result. I said out loud “I’m only at a 5 or 6 aren’t I” again preparing myself for no progress. But I was at a 9! Two hours going from a 5 to a 9 was just the encouragement I needed to believe I could do this. Only problem now was I couldn’t go in the tub anymore :(

So I kept going and worked on breathing Wesley down with each contraction. At this point I did a lot of moaning and standing while leaning on Adam. The contractions were getting more and more intense and I was having more trouble focusing through them. They checked me again at 10:10 and I was mostly 10 cm but I still had a lip of cervix that hadn’t dilated fully due to Wesley being posterior. They offered to break my water to help move things along but I decided against it. So I got to lay on my side with a peanut ball between my legs. This was definitely not as comfortable as being able to move and I was starting to feel out of control. Adam worked hard to keep me calm but I struggled. 

At 11:20, they checked me again and I still had a little bit of cervix left. However this is about the time when my body took control and everything went super fast. I pretty much lost focus completely and started screaming with each contraction. They kept telling me to breathe but I was having a hard time focusing to take a breath so I asked for the oxygen mask to help me. Then my body started pushing without me really trying haha. I could feel him moving so I told them he was coming and at this point, the nurses told me to not push so my doctor could get there. That was pretty much the worst because I couldn’t stop it or hold back so I was just laying on the bed kinda writhing. Meagan came hurrying back from the bathroom when she saw everyone frantically going into our room. My OB barely had time to get a gown on and almost forgot her gloves before she had to catch the baby. I started full on pushing at 11:30 and my water wasn’t broken or bulging. He almost was born en caul (still in the amniotic sack) because the bag was tight around his head but as soon as he started crowning, it broke. Then he was born at 11:34 am.

They placed him in my chest and I got to do a ton of skin to skin. I noticed that his head wasn’t cone shaped and they said that was because he didn’t spend much time in the birth canal since he came so fast. He also had a ton of dark brown hair haha. My OB delayed the cord clamping and even showed me the cord before cutting it just like I wanted. At 11:40, I gave a slight push and delivered the placenta which she also showed me (I think it’s so crazy and cool that my body created an organ to sustain a baby). I only had a small tear enough for one stitch. I mostly just tried to focus on Wesley while they numbed me to stitch it.

I have to say that the hospital (Mountain View in Idaho Falls) and my OB (Dr. Huggins) were AMAZING at following my birth plan. Pretty much everything I wanted they did and never pushed on anything. I had the natural birth that I was wanting and the after birth care that I didn’t get with Eli. They didn’t do any checks or anything until at least an hour after he came out so he just stayed on my chest. He didn’t cry but just was breathing calmly. After his checks (weighing 6 lb 10 oz and measuring at 19 inches), I was super sore so they suggested I take a warm bath which felt amazing! Then they moved me to a postpartum room where we spent a couple days. Here's a post about my recovery.

Overall, I am so glad I got to have a natural unmedicated birth. Was it crazy hard? Yes. Especially the last part where I lost control of my body. Thankfully that was one of the shortest periods. But the recovery was SO much easier than with Eli. No episiotomy, no spinal headache from the epidural, and no trying to shower with a big bandage on my back. Even though a part of it was luck of a smooth circumstance, I am so proud of myself for accomplishing my goal of doing this. And thank goodness the labor was only 7 hours rather than 40!! Thank you Wesley for coming faster than your big brother haha :)

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