Getting unpacked- The Boys' Rooms

Calvin's nursery; Before:

After:

Wes' room; Before:

After:

We brainwash them young around here.

Mr. Baby

Calvin is my Mr. Baby.  He has been my easiest child so far.  He is so patient and so content and calm.  Everyone asks "does he ever cry?"  Of course the answer is yes, but I think the set point for his tolerance is much higher than the average baby.

I'm convinced Calvin's personality has a bit to do with being the 3rd child- in line behind some pretty demanding siblings.  So either I've ignored him into complacency, or I just lucked out with a super calm kid that can handle the kind of neglect going on around here the last 5 months.  It seems like I am constantly busy with the other two- stopping fights, cleaning messes, making food, disciplining, chasing my runner.  Calvin is content to sit in his bouncer/car seat/swing and take it all in.

Wow, I'm making myself sound like a real winner of a mom.

But really, he is just a sweetheart.

Calvin seems to be on target with my other two developmentally.  He began rolling in February- right around 3 months.  He enjoys standing with support, and tries to take steps on our laps.  He's in the bouncer a lot and enjoys the sounds and lights, but hasn't yet started the frantic jumping that is sure to come.  He loves tummy time and currently loves getting up on his knees, dragging his face forward on the ground.  I'd bet in the next month he'll be rocking on his hands and knees.

Calvin is a good sleeper.  But I wouldn't say great like the other two.  He usually sleeps all night, but lately he's been waking up for a bottle or two at ungodly hours.  It's hard for me to decide if giving him the food is reinforcing bad behavior, or simply being a good mom since my other two didn't have night feeds anymore past 3 months.  All those bottles also mean that he usually pees through everything by morning. ::Sigh::   I've basically decided to wait and see how he does with solids, since I'll be loading him up with heavy foods right before bedtime.  There will be no way he'd be hungry at 2am once I start that.

Because of my sheer laziness and his unpredictable sleeping, I've let him stay in the bedside bassinet.  I know, I know.  It's terrible.  Marshall is more than ready to have him evicted from our room.  And we moved, so we have the space!  The nursery is totally set up.  I have no excuse.  I just really REALLY don't want to trek through the house 2 or 3 times each night to give bottles or replace binkies.  I've been spoiled by the other two, and I just need my sleep, dangit!

Calvin has the best belly laugh.  He's quick to smile and easy to laugh.  He's very ticklish under the chin, and on his tummy.  When we make eye contact, or walk over to him to pick him up, he has near convulsions of happiness.  He also loves to talk.  He and I can just sit and coo at each other for hours.

Me and breastfeeding.  We are not friends.  Well, I like breastfeeding.  I want to be friends.  I secretly admire like some weird stalker.  But Breastfeeding- she's mean.  And she doesn't like me much.

I find breasfeeding to be really easy and second nature.  Never get sore, never have trouble latching.  But always around 4 months I lose my milk.  With Wes I went all Rambo with my efforts to keep breastfeeding around.  The pumping, the medications and supplements, the oatmeal, the lactation consultants and doctors.  I still was completely dry by 6 months.

So this time, I decided to not stress about it.  When my milk goes, it goes.  And that's that.  No guilt.  No sleepless nights.  No medications.  So Calvin is now on formula full time.  And I'm a little sad about it.  But there really isn't much I can do about it.

Calvin is a little on the small side so far.  At birth, he was measured at 8lbs 6oz.  I'm pretty sure the scale was off.  Because later that night, he was weighed at 7lbs 14oz.  Umm, that's a big difference.  And he stayed in the high 7's/low 8's for a few weeks.  But even after gaining weight, his curve is about the 25th-30th percentile for everything.  So he's just a little guy like Wes was.

Calvin was born with darker hair than the other kids, and he still has his darker hair.  It has lightened up a little, but it's still definitely not blond.  And we thought he'd end up with brown eyes, but so far they've stayed blue.  He also looks a whole lot like Marshall, at least in my opinion.  And a little like Carly as a baby.  But I don't see much resemblance between him and Wes.

Another really...memorable...thing about Calvin are his stinky poops.  TMI, I know.  But the kid smells like sulfur.  No matter what he eats- regular formula, gentle formula, my milk- it doesn't matter.  He smells like super acidic rotten eggs every time he needs a change.  I hope that is something he outgrows some time soon. I'm sad that I never got the reprieve of non-smelly newborn poops.

Anyway, I think he's pretty cute.  And we all love him around here (even Wes, who went through a period of poking/hitting).  He's just the perfect fit for our family, and has certainly been a big blessing.  Although his timing was not our plan, I can definitely see the Lord's hand and divine intervention in our lives by his timely arrival.  There have been so many blessings because of this little guy.  We needed him, even if we didn't know it on our own.

First trip to firehouse- 5 days old

I have 3 kids! 1 week old.

Sleeping all stretched out- 2 months old

Hanging with dad- 2.5 months old

Meeting Great Grammie- 3.5 months old

Meeting Grandpapa- 3.5 months old

Happy kid- 4 months old

Big Smiles! 4.5 months old

Bumbo time! 5 months old

Bath time 5 months old

Welcome Calvin!

Calvin Steve Andrews. 11/9/11 @ 3:31pm. 8lbs 6oz. 19 inches long.  Welcome to our #3!

If you want the full story, keep reading!

I am usually induced.  We had an induction scheduled for this pregnancy too.  Living so far from family, I like being able to plan when grandmas will be here to help with childcare, not have to worry about Marshall rushing home from work, etc.  So we scheduled this newest addition to join our family right at 39 weeks.

Occasionally when considering my birth plan, I feel regret that I don't have enough nerve to let labor start on its own.  That I would never have that moment of "Grab the bags; let's go!"  Such a romantic vision of the traditional experience that women have gone through for ages.  But I'm too much of a control freak to set aside convenience for experience.

7pm on Tuesday my contractions started about 10 minutes apart.  Not painful, just noticeable. I start timing.

9pm- Still consistently spaced after 2 hours, starting to feel a little crampy.  Maybe 8 mins apart.  I call Marshall at work, and tell him that he doesn't need to come home or anything- just that I might possibly maybe be starting labor.

11pm- I call Marshall and let him know that they are still consistent and now more painful.  He tells me to lay down and not do anything else for a while and see if they slow down or go away.

12pm- I call Marsh and let him know that after laying down, they are now 7 or so minutes apart, and still painful.  For a 3rd birth, doctors like you to come to the hospital when you are 4-5 mins apart.  But Marshall was up in Salt Lake, and had to get approval to leave.  And then drive an hour home.  And we weren't sure how far I'd be by then.  So started getting ready to leave, and I called Russ to see if he could come over and stay with the kids.

1am- Marshall and I meet at the hospital.  He went to the hospital straight from work, and I drove myself there to meet him.  The contractions weren't so painful yet that I couldn't drive or talk through them.  The nurses hook me up to the monitors for an hour.

2am- Sure enough, my contractions are 7 minutes apart, but after an hour I'm still at 3cm with no change.  The contractions have changed though.  They are painful!  The kinda painful where you have to stop walking and bend over and hold onto the wall for a minute and concentrate in order to get through them in dignity.  But the nurses send me home.  Come back when they are 4-5 minutes apart, they tell me.  We walk out to the parking lot, me stopping every few minutes to concentrate, and we decide that I'm in no condition to drive myself home.  So we leave one car and head home.  Russ decides to stay over on our couch because who knows if/when we'll need to go back in.

I sleep the whole night in 7 minute blocks.  In the morning, the contractions are sooo painful!  Painful enough that I squirm in agony and have to moan through them.  But they're still only 7 minutes apart.

10am- After a while they are painful enough that I have to get up and walk, move, crawl, anything during them to try to find relief.

11am- Once I'm up and on my feet, they shoot to 4 minutes apart.  I tell Marshall that we're going back to the hospital.

11:30am- Since we only had one car, we had to take Russ and the kids with us to the hospital so they could have a car with car seats to get around for the day.  I am thoroughly traumatizing my kids by moaning loudly through my contractions.  THIS conversation ensues.  Love my kids!

12pm- at the hospital again.  They check me, and I'm at a 5!  They'll keep me!  Woohoo!!  I immediately ask for my epidural, thankyouverymuch, but I'm informed that I have to get an IV first, and then wait for my midwife to get there and check me herself, and then a couple bags of fluid in through the IV before they can call the anesthesiologist.

12:30pm- my IV is in, but the fluid is not emptying very fast out of that bag.  My contractions are too much to manage at this point.  I am sobbing through each one.  The nurse is trying to get me to breath through them, but I never took breathing classes!  I just get induced and get my epidural first before I feel any of the contractions!  The midwife isn't there yet, but they call her and she can probably hear me in the background, and she gives them the go-ahead to just do the epidural already.

1pm- anesthesiologist is present.  1 bag of fluid is in.

1:30pm- He places the epidural 3 times before he gets it in right.  I don't even care though as soon as I feel that warm dulling in my legs.  So happy!  I'm such a better patient when I'm not in pain.  I apologize to everyone present for the sobbing display they all just witnessed.  Everyone else is worried though, because my blood pressure is something ridiculous like 50 something over 30 something.  Obviously not correct, because I'm still conscious.  But they keep taking the blood pressure over and over again, make me roll to different sides, and keep asking me very seriously "you don't feel light headed??"  It rises slowly and finally gets to 85/60, and they call it good.  Apparently that's why you need 2 bags of fluid first.  Who knew?

2pm- Jennifer, our midwife arrives.  She comes in and checks me and I'm at 6cm, and my contractions have spaced back out to 6 minutes.  She breaks my water, and offers to give me some pitocin if I just want to get the show on the road.  I love me some pitocin, so I jump at the offer.

2:30pm- Pitocin is started.  Jennifer and I sit and chat for a while.

2:50pm- Jennifer talks to us about our birth plan, and Marshall starts getting prepped to help deliver the baby.  I love that she is so cool with letting Marshall be hands on with the medical stuff.  Some of the nurses have already scolded him to stop looking through cabinets, stop giving suggestions, and stop reading monitors.  Jennifer actually asks Marsh if he's ever checked cervical dilation and teaches him how!  Marshall gets to check and determine that I am now 9cm!

3:10pm- I can tell from the pressure that I'm complete and ready to push.  They start getting the room ready for delivery.

3:20pm- I'm told to start pushing when I feel ready, and so I do.  Only the midwife and the delivery nurse are present.  The team for the baby hasn't arrived yet.  I take a practice push, and he crowns!  Jennifer has me do a couple very small pushes and keep telling me to slow down and not push so hard.  She delivers the head and then lets Marshall step in and deliver the rest of baby Calvin.  I hear the nurse on the phone telling the pediatric team "the head is out!  Come in now!"

3:31pm- Calvin is born!  Marshall puts the baby up on my chest, where we rub him off, say hi, and Marshall cuts the cord!

Calvin is so cute!  He reminds me a lot of how Carly looked.  I think they have the same nose.

Russell brings the kids by to visit.  Wes easily recognizes that this is the baby we've been talking about for so long.  He can identify him by name and gives kisses if we ask him too.  But he's not all that impressed.  Carly, on the other hand, is just smitten.  She crawls up next to me on the bed and just stares at him.  She is so quiet and so gentle, and wants nothing more than to hold him.  She pays attention to every move he makes, every noise, and wants to know everything about him.

Marshall goes home with Carly and Wes for the night, while I get to snuggle Calvin all night in the hospital.

Today Londa, Kiernan and Kalen arrived from California and came by to meet the newest Andrews.

Friday afternoon we get discharged and should be home!

Having now actually gone into labor on my own, I have to say that the romantic idea is overrated.  Seriously, contractions are no fun.  And I suck at pain.  Getting sent home is no fun when you are in so much pain.  I'm glad I have had the 2 experiences to compare.  But I have to say that the excitement of surprise labor is so not worth it!  I think I'll stick to my controlled, calm inductions in the future if I can help it!

Catching up: Pregnancy

Some fun stuff this pregnancy-

While in California in August, Kiernan threw me a beautiful baby shower at my parents' house.  Big thanks to Kier for the shower, and to my parents for all their hard work getting ready and setting up for the shower.  It was a lot of work!

Kiernan's amazing cake! 

Also while in California, Emily offered to do some maternity photos for me.  We went out into the preserve for like 40 minutes, and these were some of the amazing shots she got. (I was huge at 28 weeks!)

She is so talented!  Thank you so much Emily!!

So this pregnancy has been like my others in many ways, and has been different in many ways.

- First, like my others, it has been pretty easy on me.  I don't get a ton of morning sickness, and don't really throw up at all.  I have some cravings and aversions, but nothing terrible.  For the first half of the pregnancy, I could totally be one of those chicks on "I didn't know I was pregnant."

- But unlike my last pregnancies, I have been SOOOO exhausted this pregnancy.  From beginning to end, I have just become more and more tired.  2nd trimester 2nd wind- What's that?

- I have also been sick more this pregnancy.  Not morning sick, because generally it is comes along with my kids being sick too.  Unless that's a new style of contagious morning sickness where the whole house gets the sympathy pukes.  I think it may have to do with being so run down this pregnancy.  My immune system must have checked out.

- I haven't gained much weight this pregnancy.  Or really any.  Maybe like 5lbs on a bloated day, and then it goes away a day or two later.  But I'm HUGE!  All belly out front.  I feel like I look way bigger this time around than I did with either of my other two.

Never mind the costumes- just check out that belly!

- This kid is super strong.  I felt him even earlier than my last pregnancies, and he kicks a lot harder.  It's hard not to notice him.  Sometimes, if I'm typing on the computer and kinda hunched over on him, he'll kick me so hard that it takes my breath away or leaves bruises!

- So yes, New Baby is another BOY!!  Marshall and I were so sure this one was a girl.  So we were in for a big surprise when we went in for our gender ultrasound on July 1st and found out that he is definitely not a girl.  Not that we should have been surprised.  I mean, the pattern in our families is one girl with a bunch of brothers.  So, for now, that pattern continues on.

When we picked up the kids after the ultrasound, Carly raced to the door and asked excitedly what gender the baby was.  We told her she was going to have a new brother, and oh my gosh....the tears!  She was so sad.  Luckily she got over it in about a month.  lol.

On a side note, Carly has been really big into questions this pregnancy.  She understands that the baby is in my tummy and will come out soon.  She loves to feel him kick.  She loves to make up names for him.  She loves to put pillows under her shirt and be "pregnant too."  She loves to sort through baby clothes with me and do the token "awww cute!" squeal.

We have also been talking a lot about how when we're good, the Spirit can live in our hearts, and when we make bad choices, we can't have the Spirit stay with us until we repent.  Carly has somehow entwined this with the pregnancy.  The other day as we were getting into the car, Wes was throwing a fit.  She sternly looked at him and said "Wes! You need to be good or Jesus can't live in your belly anymore!"

- As for names- We have had a very hard time deciding on a name this pregnancy.  That's another way this pregnancy has just been so different.  Usually we just know the name, and it feels absolutely right.  This time around, though, we've wrestled and wrestled because even though we have a list a mile long of names we like, none felt right.

Finally, one day we were going through the baby name book AGAIN just throwing out anything we didn't hate.  And we both mentioned one name that had been on our minds lately.  A kind of variation on one of the original front runner that never felt quite right.  And this name felt right, but it was one we'd never considered.  And not everyone loves it.  So we'll just leave it at that, and you can all find out on Friday!

- Oh yeah, I'm being induced on Friday!!  3 more days!!