Big Sister

Among the many changes that have occurred in this past week, the one that can still bring tears to my eyes is that of Mckaley becoming a big sister. There really are no words to express the joy she shows when she looks at her little brother. It is so sweet to watch the two of them interact. I know that this always wont be the case, but for now I'm enjoying every second watching their brother-sister bond. It's unconditional love.

Labor and Delivery

(If you do not want to know all the details, just skip below to the pictures)

Thursday, February 11th started as pretty much any other morning. I got up at 1 am to go to the bathroom and then couldn't fall back asleep. Only this time, it wasn't because I was wide awake it was because I was getting pretty bad back aches. Now, keep in mind I had been having mild contractions for two weeks by this point, so this wasn't spectacular news. I wasn't jumping out of bed or screaming "grab the bags I'm in labor!" At least not yet.

Sometime in the middle of the night the back aches, turned to contractions and then around 2:30am I started asking Tyler to time them. They were around 5-8 minutes apart, but I wasn't in dire pain. We decided to call our family because we had no idea how quickly or slowly things would progress. Marcia (Tyler's mom) came over to watch M, and my mom booked a flight out to AZ. At around 4:30am we decided it was time to head to the hospital. My contractions were about 5 minutes apart and pretty painful as far as I was concerned.

When we got there, we got admitted, and headed to triage. I was told that I was 3.5cm dilated and 85% efaced so they wanted me to walk around for about an hour. Well, about 45 minutes later I had enough walking so we headed back to get checked. This is when the nurse dropped the bomb shell - she was sending me home. WHAT!? I was shocked. I didn't think that would ever happen to me. When it comes to pain, I have always thought I was tough and had a pretty high tolerance, but guess I was wrong. I was in a TON of pain during contractions and the nurse pretty much told me, "Nope your not in pain yet. Go home and maybe we will see you today or maybe not until tomorrow" Tomorrow!!?? That was certainly not music to my ears. But, either way Tyler and I took our bags and did the walk of shame down the long hallway and out of the hospital :(

Well that morning I happened to have an OB apt scheduled so I called my doctor and se told me to come in as usual. I couldn't take the contractions much longer so I left the house early and headed there. The hospital is on the way to my doctors office, so every time I had a contraction I would tell Tyler to drive to the hospital, then the contraction would stop and I would tell him to go to the doctors. I must have changed my mind about five times and Tyler was about to kill me. Anyhow, we got to the doctors office and she gave me an exam to see where I stood in terms of labor. She looked at me and said, "Oh honey, you wanted an epidural didn't you? You are at a 6 and def progressing so head back to the hospital and I'll be following you shortly". So, the hospital is where we went.

The second trip to the hospital is all kind of a blur. To keep it simple, I got into the delivery room at 10:15am and Michael Caden Herr was born at 12:09pm. I went from being 6cm dilated to holding my baby in under 2 hours. There wasn't much time for anything. I didn't get enough fluids, no blood was drawn, no epidural, no penicillin, BUT I did get a beautiful, healthy baby boy. I really couldn't ask for anything more than that :-)

Here he is. . .

Michael Caden Herr

Proud Daddy

Our little guy

Happy mommy

First picture together

Bring on the Blue!!

Welcome the new addition to our Family of Four:

Michael Caden Herr

2/11/10, 12:09 pm

7lbs 14 oz

21 inches long

Pictures coming soon!

We Bake!

What do we do when we are waiting for baby brother to arrive and dad is sick???

We bake!!!

Baby Boy Nursery

Here are some pics of the nursery. Now we just need baby brother! Marcia painted the stripes and did an awesome job! She is also making letters for the babys name that will go above the crib. They are very cute, but because we are going back and forth on the name, we haven't put them up yet. I think they will complete the room :)

I've never been pregnant this long in my life!

Mckaley was born a little before 38 weeks, so now that I'm approaching 39 weeks (from my original due date) I've now never been pregnant this long in my life! Everyone keeps telling me that he is going to be early (US tech, OB, friends family) but no such signs! I'm not believing anything I hear from now on!!! The worst part about it is the anticipation. I'm not incredibly uncomfortable and I'm a firm believer that he will come when he is ready, but I just can't wait to see what life is going to be like with a little guy around. I'm getting very excited to have another one :) I go in tomorrow for another exam so I'll keep you posted. . .

Yes, I'm tired and my face is swollen. Def thought about not even posting pics, but you gotta have it on record right!? Oh the joys of being pregnant!A view from above. My girlfriend Karen took a picture like this when she was pregnant and I thought it was such a good idea. Her pic was much better, but you get the idea. Notice the bag all packed and ready to go on the right. Guess I haven't needed that. haha

Jekyll and Hyde

I swear that these days Mckaley has a split personality. Its driving me crazy! She will be the innocent, darling, happy, relaxed girl that I love so much and then BAM! she takes the crazy juice and becomes Mr. Hyde battling every move I make and seemingly doesn't appear to have a conscience at all. I have all these excuses in my head for her: new baby coming, new preschool, being three, etc, etc. but in reality I don't care what the reason is I JUST WANT IT TO STOP! I swear that she alone will put me into labor.

Speaking of labor, many of you have asked so here are the details for Baby Brother: his original due date was Feb 20th which would put me at about 38 weeks. The 20 week ultrasound moved his date up to Feb 14th (Valentines baby). I've gotten two exams from my OB. The first at 37 weeks I was only 1 cm dilated so basically delivering early was not looking promising. At my next apt I was 1.5 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and baby was at a very low station in my pelvis. So, I thought maybe I would go into labor this week- no such luck. I'm not dying to get him out yet though so I'm okay with it. I figure whenever he is ready he will come. He probably is hearing the crazy antics of Jekyll and Hyde (Mckaley) outside of the womb and is like, "Hell no-I'm not going out there. That sister is C-R-A-Z-Y!" haha Anyhow, tomorrow I go back again for another exam so I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and as for a name. Tyler and I decided on Caden. Then two days later I had major anxiety over the popularity/trendiness of it and wanted traditional Michael. So, basically we still don't know. It's looking like Caden, but if he pops out screaming Michael in my ear, I may make a game time decision to pull a switcheroo. We will see :)