Samuel Douglas Whitney

Introducing Samuel Douglas Whitney!!  Born August 6th, 2012 at 9:04 pm.  He was a healthy 8 pounds 5.6 ounces and 21 inches long.  He is the most content and happy little baby ever!  We are so excited for the new addition to our family and look forward to the many many good times we will have with him!

About his birth - We had a scheduled induction and went into the hospital at 6 am on Monday, August 6th to get induced.  We got set up in our room and they had me on a pitocin drip by 8 am.  I went in dilated to a two and only 50-60% effaced.  It was a slow process but I had lots of company to keep me entertained!  Me, Joe, my mom, Aunt Cindy, Alicia, Donna and Doug (Joe's parents) were all there waiting with me while I began laboring.  Around 10:00 am they put in the epideral but did not hook it up to medicine, it's called an "early placement" - meaning they put it into your back but you don't actually get the medicine until you ask for it to begin.  I had mine in around 10:00 am and by 5:00 pm or so I started getting the medicine.  It takes about 20-40 minutes to kick in once it starts and I was really glad I got it when I did because by the time the medicine kicked in my contractions were full force and I was in a lot of pain! 

Once the medicine kicked in I was able to laugh and joke with my family and friends and visit a while longer.  Around 7:00 I got really tired and fell asleep.  I woke up at 8:00 for a few minutes and they checked me, I was now dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced.  Woo hoo that was progress!!  I was still tired so I fell back asleep.  I woke up around 8:45 pm with a great pressure and asked to be checked again.  When the nurse went to check me she took one look at me and said "I can see his head!"  She left mentioning that she was going to call the doctor and get him in and see if he wanted her to do any pushing with me.  She came back in a few moments later saying the doctor would be right in and she was told "do not have her push" and I explained to her that I push quickly!  All of my kids took 12 minutes or less to push and no more than 6 pushes!!  I'm a baby making machine!

The doctor came in and got set up while I waited to be told to start pushing.  FINALLY it was time to push!  As the first contraction came I got two good pushes in, the next contraction came and I got two more good pushes in - well REALLY good pushed because with that my sweet little baby boy was here!  4 pushes and he was in my arms!  He was perfect and beautiful.  I had flashbacks of both Kaleb and Cameron being placed in my arms for the first time as well - it was an amazing experience and I couldn't help but to look at him and cry with joy as I clutched to him and Joe.  After a moment I passed him off to Joe who then after a bit let everyone who was still at the hospital hold him.  I texted my dad and sister right away and they got my kids up and brought them to the hospital to meet their new little brother.  They loved him!

It has been nine weeks since he was born and he is still perfect and sweet as can be.  The kids love him to death and they are such big helpers.  They are constantly helping me with Sam!  We all love him so much and are so excited to have him be apart of our little family!

Better Late Than Never!!

 So I realized as I was looking over my blog that I forgot to blog about a very special and important day - Cameron's 4th birthday!!  We had a great day celebrating our big 4 year old!  Joe and I woke early and decorated the house - we put a princess banner up, decorated a very special princess chair, had balloons, streamers, etc.  When Cameron woke up the living room was transformed into a palace fit for a princess!!  We had delicious cake and then opened presents - we did presents early in the day because Joe and I got her a great big blow up pool that we knew she would be dying to play in by the afternoon!  Once presents were opened we set up the pool in the backyard and swam the whole rest of the day.  Because June was so busy for us we decided to go ahead and do Cameron's birthday on the actual day of her birth with just the family.  We were going to do a party with friends but everyone was either out of town or otherwise unavailable - I was really bummed out about it but it turned out to be a great family day.  We made all of Cameron's favorite meals, she helped me cook (which she LOVES to do), and we did our best to make it a day all about her and our little family!!

The Final Stage

I thought I'd better hurry up and get some belly pictures done as I am 37 weeks along now!  I didn't want to have the baby before I got my pics done!!  I did the pictures at home - Aunt Katie took them and then we edited them online using picmonkey.  I think they turned out great and I am really happy with them!

Also - just a little baby update: as of last Monday (July 16th) I was dilated to 1 cm and 50% effaced.  I had a few contractions on Saturday and went down to the hospital to be monitored but the contractions stopped and I headed home babyless :(   I have another doctors appointment tomorrow (July 24th) and will hopefully learn that I have dilated and effaced more!  I am looking forward to meeting this little man!! 

Independence Day

What a day! We had a wonderful fourth of July - we went down to my parents house and stayed the night while Joe and dad prepped their drive way for a future concrete pour. While they did that Katie and I cleaned out the boat and prepped it for the river! My mom filled the kids pool up with water and they played and played! Once the guys got done, Katie and I had just about finished up with the boat and we headed down to the river! We went for a long boat ride up the snake river and then found a beach to pull the boat up to. We laid out on the beach and took turns intertubing while soaking up the sun!! I loved it! Afterwards we got back home and had a delicious chicken bbq! After dinner we all hopped into our cars and headed over the the Lewiston side of the river to park and watch the fireworks. The firework show was awesome, they had a ton of new fireworks that did all sorts of neat spirals and shapes high in they sky. Overall I LOVED IT!! The kids did too!! Afterwards we headed home quickly as I hate being on the road late on fourth of July - just a little too risky for my liking. Unfortunately I was too busy having fun to take a lot of pictures but I did manage to get a few of us watching fireworks - I will do my best to remember to take pictures next time!! :P

ME! Birthday + Baby Shower

June 19th was my birthday - I woke up to a beautiful flower arrangement of orange roses and carnations to start my day off!  Then (unfortunately) I went to work all day!!  When I got home we went to Walmart where my hubby spoiled me rotten and got me a Kindle Fire.  I'm still learning how to use it and all the things I can do with it but really love it.  My dad surprised me at work with a wad of cash for my birthday (and who doesn't love that!!) and Katie took me out to dinner and a movie a couple weeks later (in fact we finally got around to it just last night 7/11/12 and it was super fun)!!  My mom got me a coral colored Kindle case that is also awesome!!  I spent my birthday weekend with my family, playing in the water, staying cool, and enjoying my favorite people!!  Overall, we did my favorite things - good food, spending time with my family, playing in the water, and having everyone celebrate me!! haha....

The weekend after my birthday was my baby shower.  Alicia and my mom threw it for me.  It was small and at my house but my besties were there and we enjoyed some good food and fun games.  Alicia spent hours (literally) make poofy things for the ceiling, my mom made the cutest fruit baby ever, Alicia made a bubble bath fruit punch bowl, and I got a ton of really awesome gifts!  We got lots of clothes, a swing, a bouncer, scrapbooking kit, and more!  We played the cotton ball game that had us all laughing so hard and the dirty diaper game that was both disgusting and delicious at the same time!!  It was a wonderful day, I enjoyed it very much, and appreciate my friends and family who made it all come together!!