Savannah's birth story

So, Savannah is almost 3 months old, but I wanted to get this on here. I'm going to change the date on it, so it fits on the blog more chronologically. Anyway, here's the delivery story. I started having contractions around 7 or 8 AM and they were pretty consistent-every 5-8 minutes or so and they lasted about 30 seconds. Well, they kept going like that for a while without getting much closer together or longer. It depended a lot on what I was doing. If I were laying down, they would be less frequent. Anyway, Dan and Lise left around 9 to go to the airport to fly home. Then Jason went to work around 10 and said to call him when I needed to go to the hospital. Well, I did a few things--gave William a bath, took Jennis to get some piano music, packed a hospital bag, called the hospital and pre-registered (I know I'm a procrastinator)--and then around 12:30, I sent Jason a text saying that we should probably head to the hospital around 1. He got home around that time and he packed a bag and we left. But before we went to the hospital we went to Carl's Jr. because I was starving and I knew they wouldn't let me eat once we got there. So, yeah, I was having pretty painful contractions at this point, but we ate our hamburgers and then headed over to the hospital. 

We went up to Labor & Delivery (one of the hospital staff offered to get me a wheelchair on our way in when I stopped walking for a contraction) and got checked in and taken to a room. The nurse got me hooked up to the heartbeat monitor and the contraction monitor and checked me and I was dilated to a 4. She said, "Well, I'll check on you in about a half hour and if you've made progress we can admit you." Well, after a half hour I hadn't made much progress, but she said, "I can tell you are in pain with these contractions, so I hate to send you home. Let me check with the Doctor and I will ask him." About ten minutes later I saw a note pop up on the monitor where they record everything that is going on and it said something about how the Dr. said to admit me. Well, sure enough, the doctor came in a few minutes later and said, "Yeah, we're going to admit you, so you can get an epidural. Then, after that I'll come and break your water and that should help you make progress." So, I got an IV and then about a half hour later, around 5, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. It was different this time because he had me sit up on the bed while he gave it to me. With William, I got to lay on my side while I got the epidural. Anyway, about a half hour after I got the epidural (5:30ish), the Dr. came back to break my water and I was already dilated to a 7, so that was good news. The Dr. broke my water and there was a little meconium in the amniotic fluid, so they said they would have a team on hand to make sure the baby hadn't gotten any in her lungs or anything. I was still feeling a little pain from the contractions, but it was so much better than before the epidural. The doctors changed shifts at 6, so the new Dr. came and checked on me around 6:30 and she said I was at a 10 and ready to start pushing. They got everything set up and I started pushing with contractions around 6:45. For some reason it was a little harder for me to tell when I was having a contraction with my legs up ready to push, but I pushed when I wanted and when they told me to andSavannah was born at 7:02 PM. Jason got to cut the cord right after she was born and they took her to the baby bassinet thingy so they could make sure she was doing okay. I didn't get to hold her for a little while because of that and I was a little worried because they weren't saying anything. But she was fine. 

She weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 21 inches long. Everyone had been telling me that she was going to be smaller than William-probably 6 lbs. Even the doctors said that. But then when the Dr. saw her head, she said, "I think you have an 8 lb baby here!" So, yeah, that was a surprise. But I didn't tear too much. I am healing much faster than I did with William (I had an episiotomy with him). 

It happened...

You know those things that you hope your child never does? Those things you hear other mothers tell you that just make you cringe? Well, one of those happened this morning. I was lying on the floor in William's room while he played with some toys nearby. He gets up before 6 every day, so I try to feed him some food and then take a little nap while he plays until it is a more reasonable hour (like 6:30 :) ). Anyway, in my half-asleep state I hear him start spitting. He has started to spit when he doesn't like something or when I tell him something is yucky. So, I get up and go try to figure out what he is spitting out. No, it wasn't dirt. He has eaten that many times already (including twice yesterday). It had this orange-brown color to it and it didn't take me long to figure out what it was once I smelled it. He had somehow gotten some of his poop from the back of his diaper that he had just filled to overflowing. I said loudly "Oh no!" and that brought Jason from the other room to help clean up the little stinker. We changed the diaper, gave him a bath and got him back to our nice-smelling little boy, but I still just cringe when I think about it. I don't know if I'll feel okay sharing a spoon with him for the next little while. Good thing it was yesterday that he used my toothbrush and not later today!

Christmas-Lots of Pictures to catch up

Sorry for the overload of pictures, but I figured this was the easiest way to do a quick update. 

11 months old!

Christmas Eve!

We got to spend Christmas and New Year's in California with Jason's family. It was lots of fun!

Despite having never opened a present before,
William seemed to know exactly what to do.

Cousins! These boys are just 3 weeks apart.

Best present ever!

Christmas Day!

Cousins waiting on the stairs to go down and see their presents

I have to open more presents?

Enjoying the warm California Christmas

I got to talk to my sister Rebekah who was actually about 45 minutes away from where we were.

William's 1st Birthday!

Poor kid was sick, so he felt pretty miserable all day.

Trying to enjoy the beach, but still feeling sick

I think he just wanted to sleep

Attempt at a family picture. William wasn't happy about stopping.

Happy Birthday song!

He did feel a little better that night after a long afternoon nap

New Year's!

We got to see some of the floats for the Rose Parade

I think this is a funny picture. William was trying to climb up me to look at the float behind us.

Fall Update

Well, here's a quick update with lots of pictures. We had a great summer filled with trips to Arizona, California, and Texas as well as family reunions and lots of fun. Fall brought us back to real life with busy schedules. Jason got a job as an autism aide at a preschool, so he gets to help autistic 3-5 year olds learn behavioral training and lots of other fun stuff. He also got another job working with BYU catering again which means he is super busy now. Sometimes several days go by that he doesn't even see William awake because he leaves early and comes home late. But we feel very blessed that he is able to work and save up some money for the dearth ahead that will be medical school.

Here are some picture updates on William:

3 months! William loves to smile and laugh. If you catch his eye and smile and laugh, he will too.
He does this cute sleep laugh where he smiles and his body shakes from sleep giggles.
When he sees you smiling at him he puts his hands to his face like he is being shy.

4 months! William is a very happy and content baby. He loves to smile!

5 months! Forgot the shirt though. Oops! At 5 months, William learned to sit up by himself!

6 months!
During this month William started army crawling! He also got his first tooth!

7 months!
William started pulling himself up to a standing position.
He learned how to crawl on his hands and knees and how to go from crawling to sitting.

8 Months!
At month 8, William had his other bottom front tooth pop through.
He also started sleeping for 12 straight hours most nights, which I loved!

9 months! He pulls himself up to a standing position and cruises all over holding onto the edge of the couch or whatever else is close. He has also become quite a speedy crawler. When he hears loud noises (vacuum, blender, hair dryer), he starts to cry and crawls quickly to me. He has never been a very cuddly baby, so I love that he comes to me for comfort.

In September, we went to Chalk the Block at the Riverwoods. It was really neat to see how talented people are. I was very impressed especially since I have no skills in the art department.

My friend who is 7 months pregnant did this one with her husband!

A few weeks ago we drove the Alpine Loop for Family Home Evening. Jason and I have wanted to do that for a while since he had never done it and it had been a while for me. It was so beautiful.

That's us for now! Happy Fall!

Lately...

William was blessed on February 3rd. We had it at my parents' house and lots of family and friends came. It was a beautiful blessing and made me realize even more what a responsibility and blessing it is to have this little guy in our lives. 

With his Anderson grandparents and cousins

William is just 3 weeks younger than Jake

The one decent family picture from the day. Still not my favorite though. Should have taken more. Oh well.

Sleeping on Grandma Andelin's lap

Grandma Andelin got him to crack a smile.

A few weeks later we said goodbye to Rebekah as she headed off on her mission to Long Beach, CA. I will definitely miss talking and having fun with her, but she will be a great missionary. 

William also got to meet his great grandparents on my dad's side.
Cousin Jonathan was there too.

We got to go to Karen, Kathy, and Jennis' last basketball game for the tournament championship. They had a slow first half, but ran away with it in the second half. Jason had fun taking action shots with our camera. 

William hung out with Aunt Anna 

He was a little upset about all the loud clapping and cheering.

Jason has been busy with school and work, so William and I hang out here at home or go visit my family during the days. I've also started tutoring a student from Korea, so that has been nice to give me something to do and also earn a few dollars a week. William definitely keeps me busy though. It's so fun to see him grow and learn new things. A few milestones...

He smiled and laughed in his sleep since he was a few days old, but around 4 weeks he started smiling back and at 2 months he started laughing when we would laugh. It's so fun to talk to him and see his face just light up with a cute little smile. He also babbles a lot now, so that is fun to hear all the sounds he makes. 

We're always being surprised with how strong he is. He's been holding his head up while we hold him since he was about 1 month and he can also support his own weight on his legs. He has rolled over from his tummy to his back twice and when I lay him down he will squirm and rotate himself around a bit just by kicking his legs back and forth.

He is still learning to control his muscles and sometimes moves his arms up and down in these jerky movements that actually become quite violent when he accidentally hits himself in the face. I have to be careful to keep his hands in mittens and keep his nails trimmed or else he scratches himself. He got quite a rude awakening last night when he scratched his face while sleeping. 

For a week or two he was completely fascinated with his left hand. He would hold it out in front of him and just stare and stare at it. 

He is getting better at entertaining himself, so that has been nice not to have to hold him all day. He will lay on the floor and kick his legs, rock a little, try to stuff both hands in his mouth, and make some noises. He does seem to be very attracted to the TV though. When it is on he will just stare at it. It sort of worries me that he likes it so much, but hopefully it is just the colors and lights that fascinate him. :) 

Anyway, that's us for now!