New Life

If you're wondering why we haven't posted anything since Monday November 8th... Its may have something to do with going into labor late that night, having a baby arrive the next afternoon, and adjusting to parenthood.... So this is whatchyou missed in our lives...And this is going to be a very long catch up post of the past 5 weeks...

Al's Labor & Delivery Story:
All day Monday, I was having small contractions nearly every 15 minutes. They weren't very painful, just crampy, tight, and recognizable. I started doing things to naturally induce labor, like raspberry herbal tea, a long walk, and going up and down the stairs to the basement. I went to an appoinment with my OB at 4:30, and he told me I was at about 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. He stripped my membranes to help with getting labor going. For the rest of the evening, my contractions were 5 minutes apart and I was really getting anxious. I knew it was going to happen soon. Being me, I was up late gettin what ever I could done, I took a good long bath and then went to put the laundry from the washer to the dryer. It was about 12:30am. As I was doing that, a small contraction came on and I felt a little pop and some wetness. I went to the bathroom and my water started gushing! It was time! Micah and I spent about an hour gettin ready to go to the hospital and the contractions were now very strong and about 3 minutes apart. We got to the hospital at 1:30am. We thought for sure things were moving quickly with how close my contractions were. Even the first nurse we had thought she would be there to see the baby before her shift ended at 6am. Well needless to say, that didnt happen! At 2am, I was at 3cm, and 90% effaced, a little progress but not much. By 5am, I was at 5cm and 100% effaced. During those 3 hours I tried different positions, I tried the birthing ball, the jacuzzi, and I used Micah's strength alot, to put counter pressure on my back. If things had continued at that rate I would have been good to keep going naturally, but unfortunately, my body had a different plan, and I was getting too fatigued. from 5am - 9am, I still had contractions every 2 minutes, and they were getting very strong, but I was not dilating beyond the 5cm. I decided my body couldn't keep going on that way, so I asked for a pain killer to take the edge off, to see if I could continue. I labored for another hour with the pain med helping me relax a little between contractions, but the contractions were even harder. So at 10am, I asked for the epidural that the doctor had suggested I get. By 10:30am, I had the epidural and was able to relax. Within an hour I had progressed to 8cm, and then to 9cm by 12:30pm. At that time, the nurse noticed that the baby's heart was doing unusual things, and so they put my on extra amniotic fluid and oxygen with an internal monitor for baby. Then at 1pm, the doc decided if the baby's heart did not stop dropping right after my contractions, I would have to go in immediately for a C-section. They put another internal monitor on his head, and watched his heart for 5 more contractions. Apparently he would not be able to handle pushing if he was still distressed like that. Fortunately, they noticed they had moved me to a different side and decided to put me back on the other side. And with that change, he stabilized, I had to stay on that side and relax alot the rest of the time. At 2:00, I started pushing, and most of the epidural had worn off, so i did get t experience feeling alot of that process. Wow, was it hard! But, so worth it too, cuz he finally came out at 2:39pm, weighing a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz, and 19.5 inches long!!! I got to hold him for a few seconds before they had to whisk him away to get some oxygen and fluids going in him cuz he was a little pale. So thats my story...and Dallin is finally here to be part of our family...

Dallin's First Week:
He eats, poops, pees, burps, farts, and sleeps!
Some how he skipped the black stools and went straight to the yellow stinky stuff. He ate about 9 times a day, and was seriously a natural at the breastfeeding thing. He had no trouble latching or suck. In fact, he sucked so hard mommy had a hard time with cracked bleeding nipples. But we got it all worked out, and figured out how to get just the right amounts of milk to come in, not an easy task for my body. He lost a few ounces and then gained them back quickly.
Some of our favorite things about his first week...
His little noises while sleeping, all sorts of little squeeks and squeals, (daddy said he sounded like a little hyenna.)
His great hair and daddy's hair line
His chubby kissable cheeks
His long bow legs and giant feet
And how easy going and content he was from day one

Dallin's 2nd Week:
He got his first bath! And loved it...
He liked to pee on mommy and started spitting up more after eating.
He grew 2 inches, and measured now at 21.5 inches, tall boy!
He absolutely loves daddy, and "daddy time" in the evenings, doing homework together, reading scriptures, and just chattin. He is the most content baby in the world, when daddy's holdin him...
He loved t0 fall asleep on mommy's belly after eating.
And we snuck in to church for just sacrament meeting in the foyer. (Dallin loves wearing his sunday clothes and even having a tie like Daddy)

Dallin's 3rd week:
Mommy and Daddy both get sick and Dallin doesn't, must have a really good immune system!
He gets to meet lots of family at Thanksgiving, with all of Micah's side.
We get some christmas shopping done and he does great on those little outings to different stores.
He got his first haircut, cuz he looked like a little bald man with a mullet. Mommy did a terrible job at first and then had to fix it with the clippers...But it looks much better now, no more mullet!
Dallin went through a little "projectile spit-up" phase. And made his marks on all the floors, beds, chairs, and blankets we own. I still can't believe how much can come out of such a little body...
Funny story: I like to give Dallin kisses and sometimes on the mouth, he usually just kinda opens his mouth like babies do. Well this time when I went to give him kisses while he was on the changing table and gettin his diaper changed by daddy. I said kisses, Dallin, kisses and went to get kisses and as I had my mouth open and gave him kisses, he spit up right in my mouth. Yuck! Thats not what you're supposed to do when i say kisses. I tease Micah, that he was already teaching Dallin how to fend off the ladies before he goes on a mission...Just throw up in their mouth when they try to kiss you... hehe... ;) Funny times!
The next time Dallin was on the changing table and Daddy was changing his diaper, he decided to take a little pee, and guess where it went, right on mommy as she was casually walking by. I swear they are teamed up to get me... :) Not fair! :)

Dallin's 4th Week:
He got to meet Baba & Papa, mom and dad Thompson visited for several days...and what a great time we had together. Dallin even made his mark on Papa's suit pants.
He also got to be blessed and be given a name at church on the 5th of December, that was also our first time to stay through all of sacrament meeting, not in the foyer...He was perfectly content and happy the whole way through, and Micah even said that during the blessing he was smiling.
Dallin sleeps really well, usually about 3-4 hour stretches, and every now and then I am super lucky and he sleeps for 5 or 6 hours!
This week was a little tough, cuz I was still sick, and there were alot of things to get done..but luckily Mom, Dad, and Micah came to the rescue when I needed it.
Dallin likes to smile, though I only caught it once on camera. He also likes mommy singing him primary songs to fall asleep to. He loves being swaddled up tight and cuddled and rocked to sleep.
Baba decided we should introduce a pacifier during this week, and now he loves suckin on that thing. We also introduced a bottle, which Micah was able to do one night when I was too sick and tired to get up to feed Dallin. Thank you, honey! And Dallin did just fine with it, and didn't decide it was better than the nipple either, Yeah!
Dallin is one of the most content, happy, and easygoing babies I have ever seen, What a blessing he is in our lives!!!

Dallin's 5th Week:
He likes to smile and have mommy take his picture.
He is not spitting up as much anymore, probably because he burps and farts really well!!!
He loves to fall alseep in the car seat, during all our outings. He even loved being in the baby carrier and visiting daddy on BYU campus for lunch and shopping at the BYU bookstore.
He also likes to hang out with daddy at his office when we go visit and bring daddy drinks and smoothies.
Dallin also holds his neck up really well already, not perfect yet, but we're workin on it.
He is growin like a weed too. He is now at about 23 inches and about 10.5 lbs!!!
I think he is going to be a basketballer, with his great hands and his tall body...but who knows right ;)

WE LOVE OUR LITTLE BOY SO MUCH! He is so sweet and close to the spirit, what joy and solitude he brings to our home...we couldn't ask for any greater blessing at this time in our lives...

Thats all for now, I'll try to be more regular about posting updates...And I'm sure you're all wondering where the pictures are...and good job for making it through that long post... all the pics will come in a separate post and alot of them...So keep checking in... :)