An Unexpected Surprise

SAYDI JO CARLSON

JUNE 20, 2009 5:44 PM

6 LBS. 1 OZ. 19 INCHES

So, here we are with a little bundle of joy three weeks earlier then we were expecting! Last Thursday night I got a little burst of nesting and I totally over did it. I swept and mopped, made

cookies, dusted the whole house, did a bunch of laundry and a whole bunch of other thi

ngs I probably shouldn't have. The next day my back was really hurting me but I just figured it was because I have such bad back problems from all the spinal taps I've had done. Mark and I went to the Rexburg temple and then later I had a baby shower that my sisters threw me. It was so much fun and I spent the whole night laughing harder then I have in a really long time. All the while feeling a lot of pressure and thinking how low she felt. But I've never carried low so I didn't think much of it.

I got home at and took my shot of blood thinners around 11 pm and I usually take it around 9. This is the reason they always schedule an induction, so that if I can go off my blood thinners that way my blood won't be too thin for an epidural or for other complications. Well, at about 1:40 Saturday morning I woke up because my bed was getting soaked. I woke up Mark with the lovely words, "Baby, my water just broke!" Mind you, I was only 36 weeks and 3 days pregnant so I was a little worried because that's not considered full term. Mark starts asking me, "are you sure you didn't just pee?" Ha! There's definitely a difference!! 

Well, I hadn't packed my hospital bag yet or anything so we frantically start doing that while I call my sister (that thankfully lives two blocks away) and she came over to stay with Weston while we went to the E.R. I had just pre-registered at the hospital about three days before so we were all set thank goodness! They checked me and I was at a 2. Just like with Weston. So my nurse told me if I can make it to the twelve hour mark my blood thinners will be out of my system and then if I want an epidural I can have one. So I'm thinking, how in the world can I make it to 10:30?? Well, my contractions never really got steady and sure enough, 10:30 rolled around and I was still at a 2! So at 11 they started the pitocin and then we were in business! My

contractions really kicked in and at 12:30 I was ready for my epidural. =) When she checked me again I was STILL at a 2. This is exactly what happened with Weston too. So after my epidural things started progressing but still slowly. At 4:45 she checked me and I was at a 5 and I was so upset! She found out though that I had a fore bag of water that Saydi hadn't broken so my doctor came and broke that around 5:00. At 5:30 I felt a lot of pressure and when she checked me I was ready to push! They called my doctor and got me all ready to go. He got there at about 5:40 and told me with the next contraction I could push so I did and out she came! I could hardly believe it was only one push! She did have the cord around her neck (also like Weston) but she started breathing with no problems so we were grateful for that.

She had to spend the first day in the NICU just because she was considered pre-term. She did have some problems with her blood sugar levels and her temperature but we got those taken care of and she did just fine. We've been home since Monday but unfortunately she has really bad jaundice, just like Weston did so things have been kind of crazy with feedings every two hours. And my milk came in yesterday and things have not been so pleasant! I'd rather have contractions then deal with the pain from the milk for crying out loud. =) Anyway, she's doing good and her BILI levels are finally dropping so just another day on the lights and she should be all better.

I feel fantastic. This one was SO much easier. It took me six weeks to recover with Weston and I have felt better then I did when I was pregnant pretty much ever since she came out. I only had to have one stitch and I am pretty much feeling healed up. If the exhaustion and pain from the milk would go away I'd be right back at square one! Weston is still adjusting but he has been nothing but loving towards Saydi. For the most part he ignores her until she starts to fuss! We were a little nervous being so unprepared but things have been going well and I'm so glad I have my little girl here to enjoy!

Only 3 More Weeks to Go!

Things are moving right along. At my appointment today my doctor said that I'm starting to soften and dilate but not quite at a one yet. She is down really low and ready to go so that's a good sign. We won't schedule the induction until I have one week to go so we still don't know the exact date yet but unless I start to dilate like crazy it will be sometime around July 8. Every day I am more and more excited for that moment when I get to see my little girl for the first time. It's an incredible feeling and I feel so blessed to be adding another child to our family.

Here is a picture of me at 36 weeks. I'm not sure if I'll take another one before she comes or not...I'm getting pretty big and awkward looking! 

I wanted to post this picture of when I was pregnant with Weston because it's from when I was exactly as far along as I am now. I've been convinced this whole time that I'm smaller then I was with Weston but now I'm not so sure! Oh well, maybe she'll be the perfect size when she's born like Wes was.

One thing I've been thinking about a lot is if I even remember how to take care of such a small fragile thing. I was working in the nursery the other day and looking at her diapers and I had to take a picture of the comparison of what I'm used to changing vs. what I'm going to be changing in a few short weeks.

Can you believe it! I'm not sure I'm going to know how to dress a baby with no assistance. And it wasn't all that long ago that Weston was a brand new baby! Maybe it's like riding a bike and you never forget. ???

Why I Like...and Dislike Summer

1. Boys can play outside. HOWEVER, boys get hurt outside. So we started a trade with Jakob and Melissa. They bring the boys (all five of them) to our house on Friday afternoon (Mark and Jakob have Fridays off) and we watch them all while they go to the temple. Then they come and get them all and take Weston and Mark and I can go to the temple. So this Friday we started that. The boys were all playing outside and I was resting in my room since I knew I wouldn't be able to stay awake if I didn't. I was getting up to iron my skirt because Jakob and Melissa were going to be back soon when I heard a boy crying hysterically. So I leave my bedroom and find Mark leading Paxton (Melissa's boy) into the house. I see blood on his leg and he's leaving a little trail on my kitchen floor. So Mark takes him into the bathroom and sits him on the toilet while I start to go get the Clorox wipes to clean up. He tells me to go take care of Paxton instead which I do. I go in the bathroom and kneel down and find myself looking right at Paxton's knee cap! So I go right back out and tell Mark "you gotta go!". So Mark takes Paxton to Urgent Care while I call Jakob and leave the message you never want to get. Long story short - 24 stitches later they came back!! I couldn't believe it. I felt guilty because they were climbing behind the shed in our back yard and I knew there were nails that were sticking out and stuff so I wouldn't have let them do that but Mark didn't realize that so he was okay with them crawling around back there. Well, he slipped and his knee caught a nail and that was the end result. Needless to say, Mark and I didn't get to make our temple trip! 

2. Feeding the ducks. We took Weston and he was running around all over. He loved it. HOWEVER, all the running and not paying attention led to this:

He just hopped right back up after landing in a huge puddle of mud but then he saw how dirty his hands were and he was trying to wipe them off. Luckily I had some wipes but he spent the rest of the time in his muddy clothes until we got to the car! He didn't realize what the purpose of feeding the ducks was but once Mark showed him he had a blast. He was doing this little fake laugh every time he'd throw a piece of bread. It was so cute. I got some video footage but it's not as good as what he had been doing. He had lots of fun though.

3. Our yard. 

Mark mowed the lawn this morning and I finally went out and did some serious weeding. We had a terrible storm come through when we were away camping so there are still tons of leaves in my flower beds that I can't rake up yet because all the rain is keeping them green! But I love seeing my garden coming in, 

the clematis climbing my house, 

and all the pretty flowers and greenery. HOWEVER, it's a lot of work!! =)

Camping Trip and Catch Up

We went camping last weekend and had such a great time. Being the great mom I am...I brought my camera but took no pictures! Weston had the time of his life. We went to Riverdale which is about 5 miles outside of Preston. They had a natural pool there with the warmest water. It felt great. But since it's natural, there was lots of algae on the bottom. Not my favorite. =) Weston loved swimming though and was splashing all the boys. He has been a fish since the day he was born. He loved just being outside and walking around picking up rocks. It's challenging to keep an eye on a toddler but it was fun and we had a really good time. We only got rain on the last day and we took Marlene's RV so we were able to go inside for a while until it went away.

I'll post another belly picture some time soon since it has been a while. I've probably tripled in size since the last one! I'm still feeling good but just achey and ready for this baby to come! She stays so close to the front of my tummy that by the end of the day my skin hurts to touch (not to mention when she kicks!) and I'm really starting to feel how big she's getting. At my appointment today my doctor said she's really low and it looks like things will start progressing soon so we'll see how that goes. I'm going every week now so that helps to make the time go more quickly! 

Other then that life is pretty run of the mill right now. I'm SO thankful for the rain. I'm having a really hard time keeping up with all the house work AND the yard work. It's nice to not have to worry about watering. Our garden is coming in great too and I'm excited for the corn and cucumbers! Weston is such a good boy and is really not making life too much more difficult for me which I appreciate. He loves to throw away his diapers and other garbage we give him and he goes around making sure doors are closed. He can play with toys for hours if I need him to and I'm so thankful that he's so obedient. I have been so blessed with him and I know I will be with this little one too!

...Eyes, Ears, Mouth and Nose

He usually does better then this but I guess he was distracted. His teeth are my favorite. =)

A Week in Review

Holy smokes we have been so busy lately! I feel like my life is flying by. And it's exhausting! =) We've done so many different things lately so rather then try to remember the details of it all I thought I'd just sum it all up as good as I can. I apologize right now for the long post. We try to use our blog as our family journal though so I don't want to forget anything!

My sister Becky came home from Boise for a visit last week. We all went to the park for lunch and Weston pushed his stroller around the whole time. It's his favorite thing to do and he does it almost every day at home too. While she was here she stayed with us for a few nights and it was so fun. She makes jewelry and we stayed up late making necklaces which was great for me! I didn't have to spend any money and I got new jewelry. =) One night while she was here Sarah came over too and they were helping to bath Weston. Well, he pooped in the tub! And not just a little either. Weston has never done this yet

and I was a little overwhelmed at where to begin. Luckily they helped me out. And I say luckily because the other night he did it again! Mark comes out of the bathroom to find me loading the dishwasher and says, "I'll do that, your son needs you." So I go into the bathroom and guess what I find? Dad won't always get away with shirking from that duty! This time I was prepared though. Let's just hope it was the last!

My oldest niece, Hannah, had her dance 

recital last week too and it was so fun to go to! Weston was sitting in the auditorium chairs making them bounce up and down and pretty much yelling "awwww"! He loved it and loved watching the kids dance. Hannah is one of his very favorite people in the world so when she was done of course he wanted to see her. It was cute and we had a good time. I don't have any pictures of her in her costume though and she was so adorable. 

We had a good Memorial Day weekend too. We went to my mom and dad's in the morning and

Weston wouldn't be good to get a picture with Grandma Anderson but I still thought this one

was cute. My mom's having open heart surgery in a week so we went to spend time with her while she could still pick Weston up and play somewhat. After that we had a nap and then headed to Cherice and Brett's (Hanson) house for a BBQ with some friends. It was good to see them and we had such a good time. Weston had fun running around their yard and kept trying to escape. I think he got fed about a dozen cookies

 so I'm sure he'll always be excited to go to their house! When we got home Mark and I made an impromptu decision to pack Weston up and go the the drive-in where we watched Terminator and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Weston was having SO much fun in the back of the van. We had a hard time getting him to go to sleep and it was almost 10:30 before he finally crashed! We decided we'll get a babysitter next time. =) 

On top of all these fun things normal life has been progressing as well. These are a few pictures I wanted to post. Mark lets Weston eat yogurt with no help. The other morning he came and got me out of bed to show me this. Weston was proud of himself too! 

On Sunday I was getting ready for church 

while Mark and Weston were playing on our bed. I came in to get dressed and found them out cold! I love how Weston has his feet crossed. He does that all the time but it was pretty funny to me. He's so huge and this picture makes me sad because it used to look like this when Daddy and Wes fell asleep together. 

Weston has officially become a little boy. His legs are full of scratches, bruises and cuts. His head has a few too. He's so busy and can't seem to stay out of trouble. The good/bad thing is that he's so tough we never find the scratches and cuts until we're bathing him or changing him or something. He never cries about it - just gets up and keeps going!  I'm counting down the weeks until our little girl is here (six more!) and if one more stranger tells me I look like I'm about to pop I think I'll cry. I feel great except at night when my skin feels so tight and she decides she ready to try to punch her way out through my belly button. By this point with Weston though I was already losing sleep because of the discomfort so I'm grateful to feel as well as I do! We got callings in our new ward last week. Mark is the New Scout Leader and I am the Assistant Webelos Leader. I know nothing about scouts and Mark remembers very little so this will be a challenge for us and we are very excited. We are loving having a yard and even though it's lots of work we've been spending lots of time outside and couldn't be happier!

Latest Project

I just finished this today and I'm so proud of myself that I have to show off these receiving blankets and burp cloths I made. My mother-in-law bought a bunch of material to make baby blankets a while ago (before I was even pregnant again) and I was going to help her with them. Well, they sat and sat and then I got pregnant and found out it was a girl and I didn't have any girly blankets or burp cloths! So, being the nice person she is she said I could make them and keep them. Mark and I really appreciate it because it helps us out so much. I still have some boy ones to make but I'm glad I finished these ones. They have a lot more imperfections then I wanted but I've never claimed to be much of a seamstress. It takes practice I suppose. =) I need to put them away now because I keep looking at them and picturing my sweet little baby girl all bundled up in them and it's making me anxious!

Weston and baby Audrey

Well this weekend Weston met his cousin Audrey for the first time. Mark's brother Sean had his first baby and she is adorable! We were fortunate enough to get to have them stay at our house so we had lots of time holding her and feeding her. Our best friends had a baby just a little while ago too and I've been kind of worried to see how Weston would do around a baby but he loves them! He was so sweet with Audrey and would get the biggest grin on his face whenever he saw her. Mark had her on his lap and Weston was sitting next to him staring at her. He decided that wasn't close enough so next thing we know he's standing up trying to straddle Audrey and daddy! It's cute how smitten he is and it makes me not so nervous about having a baby. Although, he does get a little over zealous when he tries to help. He was trying to "rock" Audrey when she was in her car seat. Let's just say, it's a good thing she was strapped in! We had lots of fun this weekend and ate TONS of food. We stayed up late with Sean and Crystal playing Settlers of Catan. We played twice this weekend and both times I won. I never win so I was pretty excited about that. Of course we spent lots of time playing the Carlson classic, rummy. Weston either has allergies or some kind of bug but his nose has been running out of control all weekend but it didn't stop him from playing outside with all the cousins all weekend. I think he would live outside if I would let him! The only down side to Sean and Crystal coming is that now I've spent a lot of time holding a newborn and I can hardly wait to see my own little girl! I forgot how sweet they are and how tiny! I'm trying to remember that it's easier to take care of her where she's at but it's not helping very much. =) 

This weekend I also got together with all my sisters and our best friend from high school Jillyn (Searle) Nelson. Her little boy Noah is so precious and holding him made me want to see my baby too! It was so good to see her and we all had a great time and some seriously good laughs. It was one of those weekends that doesn't necessarily leave you feeling refreshed and ready for a new week but is totally worth it anyway. We had a lot of fun and we're looking forward to holding the next little baby - our own!!