Merry Christmas

From my family to yours we pray that you all have a Merry, blessed Christmas!

One Month

Can you believe that it's been a MONTH since Tristan graced us with his perfect little face? I can't believe it. It's been a blur of days and nights and I'm shocked that it's been a month since we added the newest blessing to our family.

A LOT has gone on in this last month. Here's the run-down:

1. Tristan now weighs 9 pounds 1 ounce and is 21 inches long. That's a 2 inch growth and almost 3 pounds added!

2. Tristan has found his voice. Here's a video to prove it:

3. Tristan has also learned to roll from his tummy to his back. I know, I know....hard to believe, but I swear it's the truth! He mastered this skill just a few days ago and I even caught it on video! Here is the proof:

4. Here are some recent pics of Tristan:

Well, that's all I have for now. Tristan is waking up and fussing for my attention!

Update: Prayers Needed-and answered

WONDERFUL UPDATE:

a very ecstatic Alisa updated with the news that MAKINLEE DOES NOT HAVE CANCER! It is a benign tumor called hemangioma. NO CHEMO for Makinlee! She still will need treatment (with steroids) to shrink the tumor & then have surgery to remove it, but this is such wonderful news...prayers answered! Keep praying :)

God heard all the prayers for this precious baby girl and answered them!! Pray that this nightmare is completely over soon so this family can move on with a healthy baby girl!!

Update:

Makinlee has surgery tomorrow. Have her tumor biopsied and a central line put in for her future chemotherapy treatments. They need to shrink the tumor before they can remove it. It is in a bad spot near lots of major arteries and bile ducts. She will have 3 months of chemo in Bangor to shrink the tumor & then try to remove it in Portland. Doctors in Portland are optimistic, but they still have a long road ahead. Please keep praying!!

Original post: I'm posting asking for prayers for a good friend of mine.

Alisa is a friend of mine that had a beautiful baby girl 3 weeks ago (on September 25th). On October 7th that precious baby girl, Makinlee Faith, was hospitalized with an enlarged and failing liver. She was losing a lot of weight and the doctors were very worried. The did tons of tests on this tiny little baby and found a large cancerous tumor in her liver and found that the bile ducts in her liver were not functioning properly (either from not forming correcting in-utero or from the tumor). She is now extremely jaundiced and getting sicker.

Makinlee was scheduled for surgery early this morning, but the surgery team could not get a PICC line started so they abandoned the surgery and planned on transferring her to Boston, but that got changed to her being transferred to Portland and surgery tomorrow sometime.

This is so heartbreaking, especially with us just having Tristan! I can just imagine what this family is going through!

Please pray hard for this family!

And if you are on Facebook, there is a prayer page for this precious little baby. Please stop by there and show your support for the family. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prayers-for-Makinlee-Faith/147559671954383

Update: Prayers Needed

Update:

Makinlee has surgery tomorrow. Have her tumor biopsied and a central line put in for her future chemotherapy treatments. They need to shrink the tumor before they can remove it. It is in a bad spot near lots of major arteries and bile ducts. She will have 3 months of chemo in Bangor to shrink the tumor & then try to remove it in Portland. Doctors in Portland are optimistic, but they still have a long road ahead. Please keep praying!!

Original post: I'm posting asking for prayers for a good friend of mine.

Alisa is a friend of mine that had a beautiful baby girl 3 weeks ago (on September 25th). On October 7th that precious baby girl, Makinlee Faith, was hospitalized with an enlarged and failing liver. She was losing a lot of weight and the doctors were very worried. The did tons of tests on this tiny little baby and found a large cancerous tumor in her liver and found that the bile ducts in her liver were not functioning properly (either from not forming correcting in-utero or from the tumor). She is now extremely jaundiced and getting sicker.

Makinlee was scheduled for surgery early this morning, but the surgery team could not get a PICC line started so they abandoned the surgery and planned on transferring her to Boston, but that got changed to her being transferred to Portland and surgery tomorrow sometime.

This is so heartbreaking, especially with us just having Tristan! I can just imagine what this family is going through!

Please pray hard for this family!

And if you are on Facebook, there is a prayer page for this precious little baby. Please stop by there and show your support for the family. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prayers-for-Makinlee-Faith/147559671954383

Prayers Needed

I'm posting asking for prayers for a good friend of mine.

Alisa is a friend of mine that had a beautiful baby girl 3 weeks ago (on September 25th). On October 7th that precious baby girl, Makinlee Faith, was hospitalized with an enlarged and failing liver. She was losing a lot of weight and the doctors were very worried. The did tons of tests on this tiny little baby and found a large cancerous tumor in her liver and found that the bile ducts in her liver were not functioning properly (either from not forming correcting in-utero or from the tumor). She is now extremely jaundiced and getting sicker.

Makinlee was scheduled for surgery early this morning, but the surgery team could not get a PICC line started so they abandoned the surgery and planned on transferring her to Boston, but that got changed to her being transferred to Portland and surgery tomorrow sometime.

This is so heartbreaking, especially with us just having Tristan! I can just imagine what this family is going through!

Please pray hard for this family!

And if you are on Facebook, there is a prayer page for this precious little baby. Please stop by there and show your support for the family. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prayers-for-Makinlee-Faith/147559671954383

Tristan's Birth Story

Here is my birth story! Forgive any typos....I'm typing with one hand while feeding Tristan!

I had been having contractions all night Wednesday night. They were strong, but not close together so I slept as much as I could in between. Around 5:30 am I woke hubby and told him that we were having a baby today because the contractions had increased in intensity and were anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes apart. They got a lot closer together and were no more than 4 minutes apart so we called my mother in law to come and wait with the other kids until their bus got here. In the mean time i called my mother to come up since she was going to be with me and hubby while we were laboring and delivering.

We got to the hospital around 7:30 am and got checked in and went up to L&D. They, of course, hooked me up to the monitors and checked me....dilated only to a 3 at that time. The nurse that was assigned to me was a real bitch and wouldn't listen to me that she had the monitor on my belly wrong because it wasn't picking up all of my contractions. I mean, this is not my first baby...I know what REAL contractions feel like. The nurse came in and said they were sending me home because I had been there an hour and had no progress and the contractions weren't close enough (we were timing them still.....they were 3 minutes and less apart while I was walking around but slowed once they made me lay flat on my back to "monitor" me). The real deal was that they had no rooms available and i wasn't progressing fast enough for them. We left and got lunch and went home. That was around noon.

I labored at home all afternoon with contractions still around 3 minutes apart. At about 5:15, the contractions got super intense so hubby took the older kids across the alley to mother in law's house and we got back in the van and headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital with contractions only 1 minute apart and super intense. I could not even get from the van to the door so my mom went in and got a nurse to come out with a wheelchair. Hubby went inside and got me checked back in. We waited for 5 minutes for the nurse from L&D to come down and get us and the pressure got so intense that the check-in lady got nervous and called L&D again to tell them to hurry! lol.

We got up to L&D and into the observation room. The nurse told me to get undressed quickly so she could check me really quickly. She did and I was dilated to a 7 and having contractions on top of each other. I was also having TERRIBLE back labor (had been all afternoon). Decided that an epidural was for me. I could take the contraction pain, but the back labor for hours on end was just too much. They rushed me into a room where they are getting everything ready for delivery. They hook me up to the monitors while I stand and sway through the contractions, since that was the only thing that helped with the back labor.

Once the monitors were on, they saw that baby's heartrate went up to the 200s when I had a contraction so they had me get in the bed on my side. As soon as I did I had a HUGE urge to push, told the nurse and just as she went to check me, my water broke. She went ahead and checked and I was at a 10 and baby was starting to crown. They called the doc, who rushed in. She told me quickly that they will have to take the baby to the warmer and take care of him as soon as he came out because there was meconium in my water. I, of course, start to worry, but don't have much time to dwell on that. The nurse asked if I wanted pain meds and I, of course, said yes (I was hurting bad!). She gave me a tiny bit in the IV that they put in (since I had said I wanted an epi, they put the IV in....never got an epi, though). As soon as the doc got sat down at the end of my bed I HAD to push.

I pushed 2 times and my little man came FLYING out! (and OMG, I totally forgot about the ring of fire you get when they are coming out!! lol.) It took him a second, but he started crying on his own. He was born at 6:41 pm. We were only in the labor and delivery room for 11 minutes before he came! I had a tiny tear that didn't even require stitches.

Tristan weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and was 19.25 inches long. He was perfectly fine, no issues at all because of the meconium in my water (doc says that labor was so fast that he didn't have enough time to inhale too much of it to cause problems). He's an angel and taking to breast feeding like a pro after a little issue with not latching correctly for the first 12 hours (used a nipple shield to get him started, now he doesn't need it!).

He had his first appointment yesterday and has gained 3 ounces since we were discharged from the hospital on Friday. I'm doing great. Don't even feel like I just had a baby 5 days ago!! I did have a tiny bit of pain meds during delivery, but they didn't take effect until after baby was born, so I DID have a natural birth after all!! I didn't get a midwife either, because there was no midwife on call that day! But the doc I had was great!

Here is a link to all the pics we have loaded so far of Tristan. We didn't get ANY pics of the delivery because it was just so darn fast!

http://picasaweb.google.com/prettywoman030981/Tristan?feat=directlink

Introducing.....

Tristan Kent!!!!

Tristan was born Thursday night at 6:41 pm. He weighed 6 lbs. 4oz. And is 19.25 inches long! He has a head full of brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. He came REALLY fast. We took the other kids to my inlaws at 5:30 Thursday night and headed to the hospital with contractions 3 minutes apart. By the time we got to the hospital (only a 10 minute drive) the contractions were a minute apart. Got up to observation and I was dilated to a 7 and had an insane amount of pressure. They rushed me to a room and 11 minutes after we walked into that room, Tristan was here! I only had to push twice!

There is more to this story and I will update that when I've had a chance to rest some more! We are all so happy he's finally here! He is precious and we already love him so much!

Updates

Still no baby here. He's still hanging out snug and warm. We are making some progress on the dilation front, so I'm optimistic it will be soon! I'm getting anxious to meet him as the days tick by (BTW, we are down to just 5 days to due date!). I'm ready to meet him face to face and cuddle and kiss him! I want to see who he looks like, to see whether he has hair or not, what color his eyes are, just EVERYTHING!! I'm just ready to meet our little miracle baby!

I spent the afternoon in the ER with Little J. I got a call at lunch from his school that he fell off the monkey bars and his arm was hurting him pretty bad. Brilliant B. had to go get him from school since he had my van and I was car-less today. Once they got home I took one look at his arm and said we were going to the ER. Little J. decided to try and jump to the 3rd bar out on the monkey bars, missed, superman'd it and landed with his arm straight out (caught himself with his right arm straight out). His arm right around his elbow is swollen and was starting to bruise up (and it had been less than an hour since his fall). He got x-rays and sure enough, he fractured his arm about an inch or so above his elbow. It's not really bad, but he'll need a cast. He has a splint on for now and will get his cast on in a few days when the swelling goes down. I'm going to ask for a copy of his x-rays when we go see ortho in a few days. I'm really surprised that he's made it almost 7 years without breaking anything! He's such a dare devil and risk taker that I've been expecting this to happen since he started walking!! I'm sure this is not the last time we end up in the ER with a broken bone! lol.

Big J. has decided that he is going to stay here with us instead of moving with his mom at Christmas break. He's considering still moving there, but waiting until after this school year is over. We'll see how that goes. He is still having arguments with her when they talk on the phone. It's rare that they talk and don't argue. He's been doing ok at school. He did get suspended off the bus for a week for mouthing off to the bus driver, but from what Diva D. says (she rides the same bus he does) the bus driver is a jerk and tends to pick on kids. He has mostly As with a C and D thrown in there but he is working hard to bring those grades up. Still having a few outbursts at home, but they haven't been horrible so we are counting our blessings there.

Diva D. is finally adjusting well to middle school. She's getting the hang of things and starting to have fun. She's in band and marched in the fair parade yesterday! I was so proud of her! She's doing excellent with her grades. She's even made new friends at school!

Smarty-pants C. is also doing well. He's also adjusting well to middle school and he is also in band. He's having his first concert soon and I'm so sad that we won't be able to be there to see it! (since he lives thousands of miles away with his mom)

Well, that's all I have for now! Hoping that my next update will be loaded with pics of our little baby and a birth story!

Growing belly: 37 weeks 1 days

Here I am at 37 weeks 1 day. ANXIOUSLY awaiting Tristan's arrival.

Dropping Babies!

NOT literally. I'm not over here dropping babies, but my belly has dropped!

I wish I had a "before" pic to show, but just imagine it: the top of my belly was a shelf for my boobs just yesterday morning.

And this is what my belly looked like yesterday evening (at 35 weeks 3 days):

We have a dropping baby!!!

Update galore!

I've been slacking a little on updating here. A lot has been going on. We have about 8 weeks left to go and it is just FLYING by! I can't wait for Tristan to be here and am so excited to be able to hold and love on my little man in a few short weeks!!

Here is my bump at 30 weeks 5 days:

We had an appointment last week that went well. I had to have an ultrasound to check placenta placement because at my 20 week ultrasound the placenta was really low. It has moved and is in a good place now! (WHEW) We only got 2 pics from the ultrasound, though because Tristan was moving around a LOT and was not in a good position. The ultrasound tech TRIED to get 3D pics of Tristan's face, but he had his face smashed into the side of my uterus and she couldn't get a good shot. We did get a peak at his nose and he is going to have a tiny little nose! They estimate that he was weighing 3 lbs. 10 ozs, so he is growing right on track! I go back next week for my next appointment.

Only issue we have right now is that Tristan is laying transverse, or sideways. He hasn't flipped to head down yet. We have time for that, but I REALLY hope he flips soon and stays that way! I DON'T want a c-section!

Here's the ultrasound pics we got:

We had Smarty-pants C. for a month this summer and had a lot of fun. Brilliant B. took all the boys camping while Diva D. and I had some mommy-daughter time with shopping! And I managed to remember to get a pic of all 4 kids together! This will be the last pic of JUST the 4 of them....the next pic they'll have, there will be 5 in it!

Here they all are:

School started this week for the kids. So far they are doing good. Little J. is having a fun time in 1st grade. He likes his teacher and has almost all the same kids in his class that he did last year. Diva D. is having a bit of a rough start of her first year of middle school (tear...my baby is in middle school :( ), but is starting to get used to it. She is signing up for band and want to play the flute (like her momma did in school). We will know soon if she got in or not. Big J. has started 10th grade at a small high school here and we are hoping the smaller size will help him not get into as much trouble. He's also playing football for another school since his school doesn't have athletics and is going to be a starter on the JV team. No clue what position, but we know he'll be a starter.

Here's Big J. on the first day of school:
Here's Diva D. on her first day of school (in the uniform she HAS to wear):
Here's Little J. on his first day of school (he picked his clothes out that he wanted to wear!):

Well, that's it for now. Still trying to get prepared for Tristan's arrival and have a lot to do!

Growing belly: 26 weeks 5 days

Here's my growing belly at 26 weeks 5 days!! Just one week left in the second trimester now!!

Happy 4th!!!

Just a few shots of the fireworks we got to see tonight!

Hope everyone had a safe and FUN 4th!

Oh, and we had a pretty good day today too. Smarty-pants C. flew in today and will be here for a month! Missed the little turd!

Time is flying!

Well, this pregnancy is flying right on by. Our days left have now gone from triple digit numbers down to double digit.

We have 99 days left and I'm blown away that in around 3 short months we will get to meet our precious baby face-to-face! We still have a lot to get ready. Guess we should get on the ball with it all!

And I'm selfishly hoping for a baby shower so we can get the rest of the baby things we need! We will see, though. There is still time, though no one has shown any interest in throwing one. We just really need one, since we have NOTHING left from Little J.'s baby days.

Patiently awaiting the arrival of our little miracle,

Baby Stuff!!!!

We got some baby stuff shipped over the past two days! I'm getting so excited to be getting ready for Tristan's arrival!! We got a bassinet and carseat brand new. We bought a used crib at a garage sale (for only $45!!). And we have received a playpen, bouncy seat and high chair/booster seat as gifts! We have almost all the BIG things we need for Tristan!

Here are pics of the bassinet and carseat. I'll get pics of the other stuff later on.

He's such a proud big brother. He's almost as excited as I am to be getting baby stuff!!!

Growing belly: 22 weeks 4 days

Here's my bump at 22 weeks 4 days! (growing with NO weight gain!)

Belly button hasn't popped out yet!
My view: