Birth Announcement

(Click on me to make me bigger)

Here is the birth announcement I made for Douglas. The yellow strip on the blue is a ribbon that says "bundle of joy". We had fun making them.

Douglas' 2 week appointment was Monday and he weighs 9 lbs now. He's my big boy! Also, this boy can stink up a room. I was feeding him this morning and he pooped and WOW it stunk. I tried to get Travis to come over to smell it b/c I was soooo surprised that that smell came from a little baby and not a grown man. Travis wanted no part in it! :-) Also, I knew boys were tricky to change b/c of the risk of getting sprayed but holy moly! I dread changing him every time for that reason. We've gone through lots of rags b/c he's peed on them. Laundry never ends!! Despite all that I still find millions of reasons to adore him!

Putting on the moves

My friend Sarah had her baby girl, Hannah, 3 days before I had Douglas. We've been teasing that they'll get married. Here's photos to mark the beginning of their courtship. :-)

Here is Douglas putting on the moves. First the big stretch then a hand on her shoulder.

For the finale, side by side. What a sly little guy. Aren't they cute??

Thanksgiving

Things I'm thankful for:

1. My religion

2. Travis and Douglas

3. All other family (Trav and Doug get their own special category!)

4. My families health

5. All God's creations (nature and mans' inventions)

6. Friends

7. Living in the U.S.

8. Travis' job

9. Our house

10. all other external blessings (cars, computer, etc)

What a good daddy!

Travis is such a great dad! He basically does all the diaper changes for me and loves doing tummy time with Douglas. He takes the MAJOR task of waking Douglas up between breasts! He is a stubborn little guy and once asleep, it's hard to wake him up to feed on the other breast.

Douglas is a strong little baby. He is beginning to roll to his side. He gets a swingin one leg until he swings it over and he's on his side. He hasn't made it to his tummy and I hope he doesn't for a little bit. He also has strong neck/head muscles. I guess that's what happens when they come big.

Perfect as can be & birth story

I'm getting back some energy (don't know how) and wanted to post some new pictures of Douglas. Let's just say this week has been something else. Everytime I look at Douglas I think of how blessed Travis and I are. He is such a good baby. He's a vigorous eater, even tempered, and as cute as can be. Yesterday he had an hour plus of awake time where he just stared and was content. We took him outside in the back yard in the sun, played with him and took some pictures. Here are the latest.

Following is the delivery story: We went in at 7:15, got situated, etc. The doctor came in and I was 3 to 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced, so a good start to be induced. The nurse started me on a low dose of pitocin (this is suppose to make you have contractions). At 8:30 the doctor broke my water and had the nurse up my pitocin (said it was too low). It wasn't 3 to 4 minutes later that I felt my first contraction. People have always said its a more intense menstural cramp. I don't get menstural cramps really so I was curious to see what a contraction felt like. Boy did I quickly find that I don't like them. It was only in my left inner thigh and I now understand why people say that they just wanted their leg cut off. I spent most of my labor and delivery on my side b/c I got nauseous on my back. Travis was holding my hand with one hand and pressing my thighs together with the other because during each contraction my legs went shaking like crazy! I hated them shaking like that and told him to hold them so they weren't balistic. Around my 4th contraction I was asking for an epidural. The nurse checked me and I was 5 cm dialted. They weren't keen on giving me an epi. that soon so they gave me a pain medicine called Newbane (not sure on spelling). It was supposed to just take the edge off but I couldn't tell anything. So a little later I asked for the epi. and the nurse checked me and I was 7 cm 100% dilated so I got an epi. Oh my gosh, it is heaven! I didn't hurt when they did it and I can't imagine delivery without it. The pain was gone just an intense pressure. Finally I got the okay to push. I pushed 1 1/2 hours of my 4 hour labor. They said the labor would have been shorter if Douglas was turned the right way. He was face up instead of face down. Overall I'd say it was good labor. I'm surprise at how well I've recovered in suck a quick time. I'm just glad my beautiful baby is here!!!

Douglas Alan Hill has arrived

Well, Douglas came late, but he is well worth the wait. He was born Monday, November 13 2006, just after noon at 12:38 pm. He looked a little funny when he came out but I understand all babies do after being squished through the birth canal. He came out face up and rather large so Crystal was cut first (episiotomy) to prepare her; however, Douglas still tore her a little more on his way out.

Douglas weighs 8 lbs and 14 ozs and he is 21 inches long.
Crystal really did a good job pushing such a large baby turned the wrong way out of her. Overall it was a relatively short labor, 4 hrs. Everyone is healthy and happy except a little soreness for Crystal.


In these two pictures he is getting his temperature taken. His toes look funny as he was spreading them in this picture, but no need to be alarmed. In real life they are normal.


Here is the family. We are all happy, but Douglas and Crystal are both so tired at this point (about two hours after delivery).


And just as a final reference back to pre delivery, here is our last family picture with Crystal still pregnant. The night before we left life without children behind forever.

40 weeks and 5 days

I went to the doctor on Tuesday and she said I was only 70% effaced and 1 to 2 cm dilated. She wanted me to come back Thursday to see if there were any changes because if there was NOT then I'd go into the hospital Sunday night for a cervical ripener and possible inducement Monday morning. Well, I went in yesterday and in only two days I went from 70 to 80% and am about 3 cm dilated. So, because there was enough change I'm skipping the cervical ripener and go into the hospital at 7 am Monday morning to be induced. I'm hoping my body changes more so I'll be more ready for inducement on Monday or even better have the baby myself before Monday! Either way, there is an end in sight. If I have the baby on Monday I will be 40 weeks and 5 days. It was so weird passing the due date on Wednesday. I went to the hospital yesterday to finish registering and the lady asked "When are you due?" My response was simple, "Yesterday." It sounded funny. Travis is taking his lap top to the hospital to help entertain us so I'll have him upload pictures and post a blog when Douglas arrives. I'm so excited!!

No baby yet

I went Tuesday and am still only 1 cm dilated (been that way for 3 weeks) but she said I'm 70% effaced. Still no good without dilation. My due date is the 8th and I go in the 7th. If I haven't had the baby we'll talk about inducing. I don't want that at all b/c I've heard there is a higher risk of c-section. I'm just worried I won't progress fast enough and they'll wind up doing a c-section or something. I'm thinking of giving him until the 14th because that was my orginial due date but I kind of don't want to because the sonogram on Tuesday said he's about 8 lbs 4 oz and 20 in long. It worries me that he'll be quite a bit bigger if I wait until the 14th. I asked how accurate that is and she said she takes several measurements and averages them to get that. So I don't know what I should do, do you??