Darren's Labor Story

Chelsea wanted me to write my side of the labor story so here it is:

At 35 weeks Chelsea and I had a date night planned, but the entire day she had been feeling sick. Around 2 o'clock she started getting really dizzy so she lied down on the coach, and after 2 hours she was still dizzy. We decided to go to the hospital because I was sure she was just dehydrated, so the baby sitter we had lined up for the date watched Kaiden for us so we could go. When we checked in at the hospital I was thinking we were only going to be there for a few hours but it turned out she was having contractions and they kept her there the whole night, the end result being a bad night sleep and a hurt neck for me, and no baby.
After that experience, she continued to have random contractions, they would come and go, some stronger than others but they would always fizzle out and go away. On Sunday the 17th Chelsea started having contractions around 6 O'clock pm, nothing new there, so we went on with our evening. We put Kaiden down for bed and started patching some jeans I had torn. The whole time she had contractions but nothing too strong or painful, I mean she was talking and smiling the whole time we were working on my jeans. After fixing my pants all up she was still having contractions about 6 minutes apart so we decided to sit on the coach and relax and try and get the contractions to fizzle out. Around midnight she was still having them so she wanted to go to the hospital. I told her I didn't think the hospital would let her check in because her contractions were too far apart and not strong enough but to call and see what they thought. So she called up to labor and delivery and told them what was going on and they told her to wait until the contractions got closer and stronger. Well she didn't like that answer because any body who knows Chelsea knows she hates waiting, but that's all we could do. I convinced her to come to bed and we could try and sleep and see if they got stronger during the night or if they would go away like they had for the past four weeks. Well we had only been in bed for 20 minutes when Chelsea announced she was going to the hospital because she couldn't sleep and at least they could give her something for the pain and to help her sleep. Since Kaiden was already asleep we decided I would just stay home and when she knew what was going on she would call me and we would decide what to do from there. So Chelsea got up grabbed her wallet and was off to the hospital (side note: we only live two blocks away from the hospital so I wasn't worried about her driving to the hospital by herself and she didn't act like the contractions were too painful.) So I went to sleep and at 2:30 am I got woke up by my phone ringing. I answered it half asleep, and really out of it, and I ask Chelsea how she's doing and what's going on and she says "they're giving me my epidural" and I think, what the heck I must be dreaming, "they're giving you an epidural" whats going on up there. So she tells me her contractions have gotten closer and stronger and she's in labor. So my mind set goes from thinking Chelsea is having some annoying contractions again to holy crap we're going to have a baby. So Chelsea calls a friend, the Toone's, to see if we can bring Kaiden over for the rest of the night and they say yes that would be fine. So I get up and put on the pants Chelsea had just fixed, get Kaiden's overnight bag ready, get his pack'n'play loaded in the car, throw the rest of the stuff we want for the hospital in the car, go back and get Kaiden, put him in the car and I'm off to the Toone's. I get there in pretty good time but I have go the speed limit and stop completely at every stop sign because it's Rexburg and the only people out at 2:30 am are the police, and I actually passed one the way there thank goodness I wasn't speeding. Any ways I get to the Toone's get the pack'n'play set up and get Kaiden back to sleep and I'm off to the hospital, making sure I don't speed. I get to the hospital and the doors are locked of course so I have to wait five minuets for some lady to come let me in. I use the stairs instead of the elevator and make it up to Chelsea's room at 3:00 am. When I get there she already has the epidural so she's feeling good and she's all excited cause after four weeks of contractions she's finally in labor. So at this point I'm still kind of asleep and not really sure how long this is going to take. Well at 5:00 am the Nurse comes and checks Chelsea and she's like at an 8 so I'm like "wow I've only been in this labor 2 hours and it's almost over." At 5:55 Chelsea does a little cough/sneeze that wouldn't have scared a mouse but it broke her water and after that it just got crazy. At 6 am there was a shift change so we had another nurse in our room and the overnight nurse was catching her up to whats going on. The new nurse checked Chelsea and noticed the baby was crowning and that Chelsea was ready to push. Right then Dr. Watson walks in and is trying to throw on his shoe booties and he gets both those on and only one glove. The nurses are telling Chelsea not to push, sneeze, or cough since this baby is coming out! I'm coaching Chelsea and she's doing great breathing and not pushing and I look down and Dr. Watson is catching Jaxton one gloved hand and all! Jaxton just slipped right out, it was crazy! Chelsea just breathed through the whole thing no pushing. It all happened so fast (I was only at the hospital for 3 hours!) I really didn't have time to mentally prepare for it but it was exciting and I was just glad Chelsea made it up to the hospital before things got too crazy.

Baby Jaxton is Here!!!

I like to think he has Darren's scowl! lol

Curly hair! This was an adorable surprise!

I like to think Jaxton is imagining himself jamming out on a guitar! Rock on!

Darren's Mini Me!

My little Moon Baby!

Birth Announcement:

Name: Jaxton Tripp

DOB: April 18th

TOB: 6:09 am

Height: 18 inches

Weight: 6 lbs 14 oz.

Gestational age: 38 weeks and 6 days, or 8 days early!

So as you all know at 35 weeks I was admitted to the hospital for pre-term labor. It was March 19th and a full moon, so I had a feeling the full moon in April would put me into labor. And I was right!!! Since I was induced with Kaiden I wasn't sure what to expect this time around! It also didnt help that since 35 weeks I've had constant contractions, some coming 3-5 minutes apart for several hours only to fizzle out. We had scheduled an induction for tuesday but our lil man just couldn't wait! So Sunday evening at about 6 pm I started getting contractions that were 6 mins apart. Nothing unusual there, but I was hoping!! They weren't that strong yet so I thought I'd help them out, or at least try to. I ran around the house chasing Kaiden and when he went to bed, I busted out the sewing machine and mended 2 pairs of Darren's pants through contractions, lol! After all that, my contractions were still coming every 6 mins so I decided to jump in the shower. (So glad I shaved!!) They stayed 6 minutes apart but were the strongest contractions I had felt yet, but still bareable. At 12 am (6 hours of 6 min apart contractions!) I called the L&D unit to see what they'd suggest since I'd never had consistent contractions last this long. Of course they told me that 6 mins was too far apart and that I should wait, especially since I could talk through the contractions, but seriously they were starting to get uncomfortable! I hung up the phone a little discouraged and Darren and I hopped into bed hoping that things would either progress or fizzle out while I slept. After timing 4 of them, at this point they were starting to get painful, I told Darren I was going to the hospital so that I could at least get some pain meds and sleeping meds cause there was no way I was sleeping through these! lol. (I really didnt think I was in labor. haha. I must have been in denial!) As soon as I got to the hospital and was strapped to a computer to monitor my contractions, my contractions picked up to every 5 mins, then every 3 mins, and finally at 2:30 am I called Darren and told him he better get Kaiden off to our good friends the Toone's (a BIG shout out thank you by the way!) because this was it and I was getting the epidural right then. Darren got to the hospital around 3 am and I was so happy to have him there. He is the BEST labor coach ever! The epidural was amazing and I felt nothing! At this point Darren and I weren't sure how long this event was going to be so we TRIED to get some sleep. I of course was running on excitement and adrenaline and didn't get much. =) Around 5:55 am, I sneezed and my water broke! Haha. And thats when I started to feel the pressure to push. My nurse just happened to be in the room at that time and immediatley called my Doctor. She instructed me not to sneeze, cough, move, sit up anything because this baby was crowning and FAST! Well, its a good thing we live in a small town because my Dr barely had time to drive the 10 mins across town, walk in the door, throw only ONE glove on, and catch him at 6:09 am (only 14 minutes after my water broke!) I was so shocked it all happened so fast I didnt even have to push! He just slid right on out with no tearing what so ever! I feel so great! We are so in love with our new addition and to be a family of 4! Jaxton is so mellow and took to breastfeeding right away! At 20 minutes old, he ate for a solid hour! He is so beautiful I cant stop looking at him! =D I am sooo in love!! <3 I always imagined he would look like Kaiden's twin, but Jaxton looks just like his handsome daddy with lots of beautiful curly hair!

It was the Super Moon!

So its been over a week now but I wanted to remember the day! lol. There was alot of hype about the full moon that was coming on March 19th. Supposedly the moon was suppose to be extremley close to earth, the closest it would be in at least 20 years. I saw this on a random news article the night before and looked at Darren and asked if he was ready to have a baby the next day. I was joking of course! On saturday I woke up feeling fine but super excited because I had scheduled a babysitter for that night so the honey and I could go out on a date night. The sitter was scheduled at 4 30, but at 2 30 I became extremley dizzy. I know it sounds so silly but I'm talking "room spinning a hundred miles per hour" kind of dizzy. It was awful. I just laid down and waited for it to go away but after an hour and a half without it getting better I decided to call L&D since my Drs office was closed. As I assumed they would say, the nurse told me to just come in becuase no one can make a diagnosis over the phone. I thought I'd wait it ot another 30 minutes before deciding on what to do, but as soon as I started throwing up from all the dizziness, it took me no time to get ready and jet out the door. lol. At that time it was 4 30 so we just took Kaiden to the babysitters and explained our change of plans. Darren and I were thinking I was just dehydrated and would need a quick IV to solve the issue. Boy, were we wrong! We got to L&D and got checked in and they had Darren fil out the paperwork while I, still extremley dizzy, had to change into a hospital gown, which was pretty funny since all the furniture in a hospital has wheels! The nurses asked me tons of questions and hooked me up to a fetal heartrate monitor and a contraction monitor. The babe's heartrate was great and I wasnt having contractions but my dizziness hadnt gone away. The nurse claimed she had a funny feeling and after and hour choose to keep me a little longer for observation. Well, an hour later my contractions showed up out of nowhere! Most of them I couldnt even feel but a few of them made me pretty uncomfortable. They were really close too, 3-5 minutes apart! So the nurse called my Dr who was in Idaho Falls at the movie on his date night, lol, and he confirmed I get a shot of Trebutaline to stop the contractions. And so I did and we waited 30 minutes.... and they didnt stop. So the nurse called and asked my Dr if she could give me another shot, which he said yes..... and we waited another 30 minutes. Welllllllllll, that didnt work so I had one more shot, 3 is the limit, and we waited. And the contractions still didn't stop! Now, this whole time we were in an observation room aka a room with a really uncomfortable bed, no windows and no t.v. and since Darren and I hadn't prepared to be there for hours, it was extremley boring! Our nurse thought we were hilarious though, she even told us she'd rather be with us all night than making her rounds. lol. Anyways after the 3rd shot didn't work, my Dr ordered a pill (I forget the name) which I took and had to wait an hour. Annnnnnnnnd the contractions were still coming! By this time my Drs movie was over and he stopped by the hospital to check on me, which he totally didnt have to do, and which is why we love him! He had me checked into a REAL L&D room (so nice!) and explained that they would no longer try to stop labor from coming. He also explained that even though our lil man may have a bit of a stay in the NICU, he'd be fine. I got hooked up to an IV with antibiotics since I was preparing for a preemie and they gave me some pain medication and since by this time it was really late, they gave me a sleeping pill, which knocked me out! The next morning we woke up and our new nurse checked me. Turns out I hadnt progressed at ALL, all night!!!, even though my contractions still hadnt stopped! Well, since I wasnt progressing they had no choice but to send me home with pills to take every 8 hours to help control the contractions and orders for strict bed rest. Our nurse who loved us and said she wanted to deliver the lil guy when the time was ready, said she didnt think I'd make it 2 more weeks! This got me pretty excited becuase I've beeen waiting so long to meet this lil guy already! But alas, it has been over a week and even though Im getting pretty consistent contractions, still no baby. The excitement is killing me! And with all the contractions I wonder if I will know when exactly I am in labor. lol. Oh well, I guess I just have to keep busy and be patient....... haha which if you know me is next to impossible! lol. Darren keeps telling me to wait to 38 weeks (when his finals are over) but thats another 2 weeks from now. I'm sure its easy for him to say since he's not the one in such uncomfort, lol. Thankfully my Dr mentioned inducing at 37 weeks since that is techncially considered full term and he knows how torturous constant contractions can be after 2 weeks. lol. I'll be keeping everyone updated!!!! We are looking forward to meeting you baby boy!!!!! =D

Grandpa's in Town!

Grandpa Mark came to see us this past weekend! We felt so honored to have him in little ol' Rexburg. The weather was even decent meaning at least it didn't snow! lol. It was so much fun to have him. Kaiden especially enjoyed the extra attention. These 2 were best buds! I was amazed that within the first day, anytime Kaiden wanted something or needed something open or tripped he would run to Grandpa over his mom and dad. It was actually pretty cute!








We got our Boppy (and other things) out of storage for the new baby's arrival and Kaiden decided it was his! lol. This is his favorite way to relax for 5 minutes and drink his milk!


Goofy Boys!


My dad bought some new shoes while he was here and Kaiden decided it was a wagon/ sled! He had Grandpa pulling him all around.


Happy Boys!!!




Just so ya know Kaiden doesn't cuddle like this with us, like, ever! lol


Also my dad saw the things I've been sewing by hand and decided to buy me a sewing machine! I was so excited I about peed my pants! lol. It was really unexpected and totally made my day! He said its an early Mother's Day/ Birthday present. lol.


Brother CP6500


And with all the depressing weather Rexburg has been having lately Darren decided we needed some Spring Spirit, so he came home one day with this beautiful bouquet!!! I've felt like the luckiest girl ever this week!

Love Is In the Air!

So Valentines Day was a few days ago and I've been meaning to post about it! To start the lovely holiday off right, Darren took us to Winger's for lunch! Yummmm! Although Kaiden is a handful at restaurants I love having him with us and lunch time worked out perfectly! Let me just add this was a few days before the actual V-day. On the real Valentines Day Kaiden and I did a little shopping and alot of dipping things in chocolate! I made Darren's favorite, Cake Bites, or as he calls them "those frickin awesome cake bites!" lol (I like to call them "those delicious cake bites that take 4 hours to make!) He even requests these over cake for his birthday! Also I dipped cinnamon bears and some strawberries! Yum!! The best part of the day was when Darren got home. Kaiden and I can hear his truck pulling up so we always run to the window to see him. It's Kaiden's favorite! Well, we heard his truck but couldnt see it, and then I see Darren running towards our door with a bag and a balloon! (I figured he was trying to be sneaky so Kaiden and I turned away before he saw us! He left the goodies on the door step. lol) Then he pulls up to his normal parking spot and waves really big at us in the window. And "surprisingly" walks in with all his goodies! I guess we should have been on the same page cause his bag was full of bags of candy (including Midnight Milky Ways! Yum) and even some Ben and Jerry's ice cream!!!! Needless to say we were on a sugar overload for the next few days! Kaiden has also loved playing with the balloon his daddy got and eating some candy! (see pics below!) We were planning on an at home steak dinner, and since we always have steak in the freezer I assumed we were all set. Well when I went to grab it out to de-thaw, it turns out what I assumed was steak, was just hamburger. lol. So instead we had bar.b.que chicken on the grill! And I won't lie, it was delicious! And since our amazing boy goes to bed at 6 pm we had the whole evening to ourselves! We recently bought a few Disney movies including Tarzan a few weeks ago and even though Kaiden and I had watched it about 5 times in those few weeks, Darren had NEVER seen it (still cant believe it) so I watched it with him. It was a GREAT day!

The morning of! Our "Handsome Devil!" lol


Lovin the chocolate face! =)

Also a quick update: We had an ultrasound the other day! We were expecting the 3D/4D machine to be up and working but it was still down, so our amazing Dr offers us another freebie ultrasound next time! Even though it was another 2D ultrasound it was so great to see our lil boy! His head has turned so he's not sunnyside up anymore and he has switched to laying on my left side! Our Dr also mentioned the cord is around his neck, but that its nothing to worry about since 1/2 of all babies have a cord somehow around their necks when they're delivered. Our lil guy is measuring small not that I was expecting a big baby, since Kaiden was so small. haha. We are so excited for April! I'm hoping to talk our DR into inducing 2 weeks early again so he'll be delivered during Darren's 2 week break! His extra help would be supa fantastic!

30 Weeks Preggo!

Nursery Time!

Today we dropped Kaiden off in the nursery! It was so great! His teachers said he did really well. He colored a picture today and it was super cute because, he only scribbled in the bottom corner leaving the rest of the picture blank. Haha. He also got to play with Play-doh for the first time today, which I thought he'd love but he only liked to eat it. Darren and I had forgot how enjoyable church could be. We're usually so busy keeping Kaiden entertained we can't soak up any of the lessons. Darren also has a super cool calling we'll tell everyone about next week once he's sustained! I'm really excited for him!

In other news, Darren finished building the co-sleeper/ bassinett yesterday!! It looks great! It still needs to be painted or stained, but here are the pics! Darren is supa proud!

Pooh Bear was added for sizing emphasis. lol

Side View

Darren's "Supa Proud But Really Exhausted After All That Work" face!

Once it's stained or painted I'll add more pics and once it has it's custom bedding I'll add pics of that too! Can't wait for lil man to arrive!!!

And the Results Are.......

The nurse called me today to say I passed the Gestational Diabetes Test! I didn't believe her at fisrt and had to ask her to make sure she called the right person. Haha. And I just need to add I had a cupcake for breakfast! lol

Also I thought I'd update about Kaiden! He has learned so much these past few weeks its amazing! As far as potty training he knows he cleans up his messes, he began saying "uh oh" when he starts to pee, he knows what the potty is and how to do the sign for it. He learned to say and sign the word "shoes." He learned to say and sign the word "book." He picked up on saying words like "bite," "more," "juice," and finally "hi." He loves saying the word "uh oh", its his favorite. He says it when he drops something or while pulling everything out of his daddy's bag. He thinks ALL food is "hot" and he will tell you its "hawwwt" and blow on it before he takes a bite. Sometimes he will even spit the food out for emphasis! He made up his own sign for "lovey." Its super cute! He's also learned to open doors, which I'm not to happy about. lol . And what was really fun was watching him say "Grandma" to Dena over Skype. He's only called my mom this, so it was great!

So I posted awhile ago that Darren is working on a crib like co-sleeper. Well we went to Idaho Falls last week and he picked out the wood! And last saturday Darren started working on it! Gotta say, it's looking amazing! It will probably be finished in 2 more saturdays!!! I can't believe in just 12 (more likely less) weeks we'll have another little boy wrapped around our fingers! I can't wait! Kaiden has been practicing how to be a great big brother with his stuffed Winnie the Pooh. He does everything for that bear! I saw him hand Pooh the remote, offer him food, drinks, candy, blankets, bottles, pacifiers, toys, books, toothbrushes, spatulas, and even cell phones! He also gives him lots of hugs and kisses. He doesn't know how much fun it will be with a real little brother! =)

Also here's an update to Potty Training with Kaiden- http://lilromriellfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/potty-training.html