The Birth Story

It already seems like an eternity since Grant entered our lives. It's hard to imagine life without this little sandy redheaded baby! Telling his birth story is really just for me - especially since it happened so fast and so unexpectedly, I have a hard time even now remembering all those precious details. :)

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I'd been terribly uncomfortable those last few weeks of the pregnancy. It didn't help that I was 38 weeks pregnant at Christmas time for sure! Nothing like trying to prepare for Christmas and feeling so miserable! It was a glorious day when Kc finished school for the semester and I could get some relief from caring for our incredibly active toddler.

On Christmas Eve, I started having some very painful contractions. I plugged ahead, finishing last minute shopping and getting our house ready for hosting Christmas with our good friends, the Shipps, and then preparing for them to spend the night. We headed to our Christmas Eve service and I was in such pain. I kept praying that I wouldn't go in to labor that night - I was NOT thrilled about having a Christmas baby! Everyone was on alert but thankfully, Baby decided to hold off and let us celebrate Christmas and our Lord's birth before making his own appearance.

Once Christmas was over, it seemed like it was time to begin physically preparing for a baby. We got down the car seat and bouncy seat on Tuesday, set up the pack 'n play, and I began slowly preparing a hospital bag. I was still having contractions, but they weren't as severe as they had been on Christmas Eve.

Wednesday morning came and we headed to the airport to pick up my mom from Love Field. When she had purchased her ticket, she selected the date with the hopes of spending a few days with us before the baby arrived. We got back to our house around lunch time and the afternoon passed fairly easily and quickly. It was GREAT to see her and visit for a bit. We started making cashew chicken for dinner and I was having some contractions while standing over the stove, but it was nothing different than any other day. Baby still had 9 more days until his due date (although I was 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced at my last ob's visit).

After dinner we proceeded with our normal bedtime routine for Bennett - bath, pj's, milk, Wheel of Fortune, and then bed. Nothing new to report. Feeling uncomfortable but that seemed fairly typical for me.

And then 8 pm arrived.

We started watching a movie and I was so uncomfortable I needed to sit on the exercise ball that a friend had loaned me. The contractions started coming, not regularly, but very painful and intense. Kc and Mom kept asking me if "this was it" but I honestly didn't know. Maybe I did and didn't want to admit that perhaps I was actually in labor! :) Who knows. All I do know is that I don't remember how far we got in the movie or really what it was because I was, all of a sudden, in such pain. I popped my earbuds in, started listening to my favorite Chris Tomlin cd, and moaned my way through each contraction.

When I could manage, I would get up and gather a few more hospital bag items before either dropping to the floor to moan or headed back to the exercise ball to breathe my way through the pain. I think it started to be real for me when I overheard my mom tell Kc that, "if she's unable to talk through her contractions, which she is, then it's the real deal"! I do remember them asking me questions and I honestly couldn't think until the contraction had ended.

By 9 pm, we decided to call Erin, who was going to be staying with Bennett so my mom could go with us to the hospital. Kc was keeping track of the contractions, but since they were so sporadic, he was hesitant to call the hospital to see when we should come in. Note to self: subsequent babies do NOT behave like your first!! So don't plan on that to happen!! :) I was in INTENSE pain at this point and really thought I was going to die. Finally by 10, Erin arrived and we flew out the door. My contractions were on top of each other (or so it seemed) and I felt every. single. bump. on the highway. I do remember snapping a few times and even through my pain, I felt sad about being ugly but it hurt so badly I really didn't care.

By 10:30 pm we were at the hospital. And came to fully realize how awful it is to not pre-admit oneself to the hospital! Call me stupid, but it had simply slipped my mind. All those weeks prior, and appointments with my OB, it hadn't come up and I had forgotten that I was supposed to do that ahead of time. Ugh.

They put me in a room, but wouldn't check me or give me the epidural until I had been fully admitted. Which would've been fine except I was in active labor and couldn't talk and/or think when having a contraction. The nurses would only accept my answers and wouldn't allow Kc to finish the admission process for me. It was awful. I couldn't remember my SS# and Kc didn't know it and I didn't have it written down anywhere! Through my pain I thought my number was similar to my sister's, so I had my mom call Shannon to see. Nope. Didn't trigger my memory for my number! Finally, Erin was able to locate my card in our personal filing cabinet at home and we were able to start the process. My poor L&D nurse was so patient to fill out the form, waiting for me with each contraction to answer who in my family has diabetes and heart disease and did we want to donate the cord blood, yada yada yada. It was awful. I was in terrible pain (did I mention this yet?!? I don't remember it hurting this badly with Bennett - man, those contractions were a doozie!) and just wanted the epidural to get started. They were also trying to put in an IV during all this as well. It took them 3 tries, 2 different nurses, and 1 blown vein to finally get in the stinking IV. My arm was bruised from the blown vein for a good 10 days afterwards!

After what seemed like an eternity, I got checked - yeah for being 6+ cm! - and the epidural was administered. I didn't realize it, but the anesthesiologist also had a difficult time getting the epidural correct. Mom and Kc told me about it later. I finally started to relax a bit and get some relief from the contractions. Although, I remember shaking uncontrollably and being absolutely freezing from the epidural and stress!

I very quickly got to 10 cm but my water hadn't broken yet and they were waiting for my OB to arrive so she could break it. However, the baby's heart rate was dropping because of this so I went on oxygen to help with his heart rate.

By midnight I was ready to deliver except for the fact that my OB wasn't there yet, so we just waited. She finally got there, broke my water and we got set to push. She told me it would probably go faster this time around and told Kc to guess how many pushes it would be. He guessed 8 pushes ... and was correct!!!

Baby was born at 1:06 am on Thursday, December 29 - after just about 5 hours of labor!

I was in shock for a while that he came so quickly and 8 days early and my mom had just arrived and oh my word, I just had a baby!! :)

We were able to keep him for about an hour and a half in the room with us, which was SO wonderful! I got to nurse a bit and hold him while he was so alert and awake. Kc and I settled on his name and called a few family members who didn't mind being awakened in the middle of the night.

I got to my room about 3:30 and Kc headed home to take my mom so she could sleep and then came back to be with me for the remainder of the night/morning.

NOT having a good time this time around!
Getting oxygen for the wee babe
My wonderful OB who happened to be on-call that night and could actually deliver my baby!
Getting ready to start pushing - I love that I still have all my make-up on :)
Baby Grant arrives in record time!
Daddy is the first to hold Grant
Mommy gets to snuggle with her baby before he gets taken to the nursery
Yeah! We did it!
Sweet baby boy
Grant getting weighed by my ever so patient L&D nurse

Grant Alfred - 7 lbs, 7 oz, 19 3/4" long - a perfect blessing from God!

The way it was in the beginning ...

A friend from our China days recently reminded Kc of this video ... and I just had to share it. And in doing so, remind me of those blissful times.



In the midst of sleepless nights, changing a gazillion diapers, enforcing time-outs and discipline measures, making dinners, fixing home maintenance issues, seminary studies, wiping runny noses, etc, it's good to remember what it used to be like.

We were fun at one point in our lives. We did kick back and laugh and enjoy each others company. Life was silly and exciting.

It's good to watch this and think back to those early days of our relationship. :)

I still get a kick out of you, babe. Happy Valentine's Day! I love you.

Song time

I'm continually amazed how much B is learning right now! It's a little overwhelming at times to think of how best to help him with this explosion of understanding and comprehension that he's going through. Especially when I'm so sleep deprived - my brain just can't seem to keep up with him! Or actually to be one step ahead of him to think of new things for him to learn. I need to begin Scripture memory and poems. Any one have some suggestions on lists so I don't have to research ideas?? :)

Learning to count

People told me how big Bennett would seem once we brought the baby home from the hospital.

Uhh, they were TOTALLY right! Especially when his language exploded while I was in the hospital. I'm not even kidding. Having a dad home for 2 weeks and then a grandma around for 2 weeks, B learned to count to 10, recognizes a majority of his letters and can "read" several books.



Why did he have to grow up so fast?!!? Sheesh. :)

Last few pregnancy pictures

When you go into labor 9 days early, your "final" pregnancy pictures are a hit and miss. :)

These pictures were taken on Dec. 22, one week before labor begins! Erin came over to hang out for the evening and we ended up taking some wacky pictures together.
37.5 weeks pregnant!!
So, so, so ready for this baby to come out!!!

Christmas Eve - only 5 days before Grant arrived! Christmas Day 2011 - our baby boy almost made it to celebrate with us. I was having tons of contractions on Christmas Eve and was praying like crazy that the baby would stay put until after Christmas. I was so afraid that we'd have a Christmas baby!!! :)

Introducing ... Grant Alfred!!

I'm only 4 weeks late in posting this, but we'd like to introduce our 2nd born son ...

Grant Alfred Myers
born Thursday, December 29, 2011
at 1:06 a.m.
weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz and 19 3/4" long

We chose the name Grant because it means "great" and Alfred was my maternal grandfather's given name. Alfred means "wise counselor" and we pray that our little boy will be just that - a great and wise counselor. I loved my grandpa immensely and he played a huge role in my life as a young girl. I would LOVE for him to meet my children and am so honored to give my little boy his name. He hated his name, but I know he would be touched and humbled to have his 4th great-grandson bear his name. If Grant is anything like him, he'll be a wonderful little boy and man.

No wonder I'm so tired ...

I don't remember being this tired or sore or worn out last pregnancy. My OB keeps reminding me that being pregnant with your 1st is MUCH different than being pregnant with a toddler.

Can I hear a hearty "amen"?!?!?!

With your first child, you just sit around and think about how wonderful it will be to be a mom. With your second child, you don't really think about that child, other than how they are making it cumbersome to get down on the floor and chase after your first born.

Well, this was my morning. I watch this and think, "Ah. THIS is why I'm tired at night and can't WAIT for Daddy to come home and rescue me!!" :-)

Family names

B has been figuring out who we all are in our family ... and it's precious. He repeats this over and over and over.



We'll be driving in our car and this little voice from the back seat will be practicing, "Daddy. Mommy. ME!!!!!"

So, so cute!

My cute toddler

Since none of the family gets to see us for Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post a video I took this morning of my sweet, cute, funny little boy. :)

Incessant chatter

This is just a sampling of how much Bennett is "talking" these days. Seriously. There are days Kc will come home from school and will ask how was our time here at home and my response, "Well, Bennett talked non-stop all. day. long." I'm not kidding.




I even cut this video down from 4 1/2 minutes to what is here. He just kept going and going and going. He makes me laugh.

We are currently working on finishing our words - especially words that end in a hard "p" sound. Like, stop, help, soap, cup, jump, nope, yep, etc. When he's trying to get out that final consonant, he throws his head downward, as if that would help him spit out that sound. :)

Love him. A lot.

A post of pictures

I was recently informed by one of Bennett's grandmothers, that she could no longer remember what her grandson looked like and would I ever so kindly please put up some new pictures of her grandbaby. Sheesh.

Well, for that grandmother, here you go. He's REALLY hard to capture these days, as the child never stops moving. :)

He's discovered fingers up the nose. It's disgusting and adorable, all rolled into one.
Playing this fun game where I try to take his picture and then he runs up to me to get tickled. It's so cool. :)
He's becoming more and more "silly" and he knows it too and wants to get the laugh.
Haven't got the foggiest where he could've EVER gotten that trait from ...
My beautiful blue-eyed boy
He seems so long and gangly in this picture. Why is he growing up so quickly?!?!?

On Tuesdays, our dear friend, Erin, comes to have dinner with us and hang out with me while Kc heads downtown to seminary for a class. Last week, I had to run and get Kc from school and left Bennett with Erin for the 40 minutes it takes to make the trek. This is what happened as soon as I left. Many, many tears. :)
(LOVE the snot dripping from the nose! And not even his blanky could provide solace!)

3rd Trimester Begins

Well. I'm officially in my 3rd trimester with Baby #2! Craziness!! I'll be 30 weeks on Friday and can't believe how fast time is flying. It seemed like it was taking forever to progress with this pregnancy and all of a sudden, I can't hold on to time!

I'm starting to feel fat and pregnant and clumsy and pregnant and blah and just pregnant. This pregnancy is so different compared to the first - having a toddler changes everything! :)

Actually, a couple of weeks ago I had my first rude encounter with a stranger! I was at an outing with MOPS friends and we were just getting desserts that night. I was ordering my dessert (a very large cinnamon roll) at the bakery counter and some older woman standing next to me asked me, "Oh! You are getting that, huh?!?!? How much longer do you have to go??", totally implying that I was so large already and why ever would I be ordering such a large sweet treat when I still had months left to go! I didn't even know how to respond. :)

I passed my glucose test last appointment, which I was certain I was going to fail, seeing how I was "so large" and all. I was a little low on iron, so my OB wants me to take some supplements for the end of the pregnancy.

I'm still gaining weight. [sigh] I have 8 more lbs to go and then I'll pass Kc up in weight. That will be a fun day! [sigh] I've been discouraged this time around with my weight gain. With Bennett, I was proud of how slowly I gained and really how quickly I was able to take it off. This time, sigh, it's been a struggle. I even have maternity clothes (mainly tops) that I'm not even able to wear because I'm too large for them. Talk about frustrating!!! I'm just praying (and planning on) that I'll lose weight quickly this time post-baby.

He's still nameless. If he came tomorrow, I would have NO clue what he'd be called. There's not even a short list to go off of. We aren't even debating between 2 or 3 names. It's still a huge, long list of possibilities. Nothing sounds right to me. I'm praying that God will give us his name and give it soon. I'd like to start calling him, even if we keep it quiet from others, his name very soon.

Bennett has been pointing to my stomach when asked where is his brother. Sometimes he points to my boobs, but honestly, I can't fault him for that - I do have 2 rather large humps to my abdomen!! :) On a few occasions, he's even pointed to his own belly button when asked where is baby brother.

Fingers are starting to swell. I'm sore. Having Braxton-Hicks. And other than that, I'm doing all right. I just can't believe that our new baby will be here in 10 weeks!

Belly pictures are SO much more fun to take with a whiny toddler :)
And it's more fun to have a 25 lb kiddo sitting on your fat stomach too!
I'm getting to the point where I can't really see Bennett when he stands right under me. :)
My little roundy-moundy of a belly!
Me and my boy

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Last weekend, we went with our good friends, the Shipps, to visit the pumpkin patch again. We went last year with them (Hi traditions!) and our little man was just that, little. And clueless. This year, he was still a bit little, but more aware and super cute.

It was fun to go with them, although it felt like anything but fall that day - I think temps got up to 90 and we just pretended that it was cold and blustery and fall-like. :) I'm grateful for good friends and for yearly traditions!

Nora, Bennett and Isaiah
Climbing up the stairs to go down the slide - he's so EXCITED!
He's ready!!
Whhhheeeee!!!!!!!
He really did love it. He wanted to go again as soon as he finished. (I could eat up those fat feet!)
NOT loving the bounce house - at least once all the other kids got in. He cried and had to be rescued by Joseph!
Playing in the Pumpkin House and stealing all the pumpkins.
He kept trying to throw them to his daddy. :)
Munching on some kettle corn
Daddy is ready to go! Such wonderful fake excitement! :)
I'm SO grateful for a fun daddy who takes little boys on wagon rides! :)
Chasing his friends
Bennett has decided that he LOVES Joseph and wants to be with him all. the. time. Joseph (4) is so sweet to Bennett and I'm grateful for Joseph's kindness to my son. :)
The 4 little Rascals
I love how none of the children are looking at the camera(s)! :)
Silly time
Pregnant friends - we are due exactly a month apart and both having another boy! :)
Demonstrating how large we actually feel right now
Dude. Stay ON your pumpkin! :)
Isaiah and Bennett
See what I mean? He LOVES Joseph!!!