Thanks so much for looking!

xokt

** WARNING **

You may not want to read this if you:

Are squeamish

Don’t like babies

Have had a difficult labor

Have had a long labor

Have had a bad epidural

Have had to push for a long time

Have a baby who doesn’t eat

Have a baby who doesn’t sleep

Have a toddler who doesn’t like their new sibling

We checked in at St. John’s Hospital here in Jackson around 6:30 AM on Wednesday, 1/4. We had originally been scheduled to induce on the fifth but when Dr. G gave me the option of going in a day early, I went for it. Of course the message didn’t quite get to the hospital staff, but after a few phone calls it was all straightened out and I was comfortably ensconced in the same room I had delivered Milo in with the same nurse (go Kristin!). They got me all hooked up to the IV and started Pitocin around 8 am.

I was getting a little worried as time passed and I didn’t feel any contractions yet, but around 8:30 I felt my first little twinge and knew we were on our way. I was already about a 4 or 5 before the drugs even started, so we were hoping for my own hormones to take over once the Pitocin gave me a little jump start.

The contractions gradually got worse, although there wasn’t really a point where they were so bad that I couldn’t talk through them. Around 10 AM one of the other OBs from Dr. G’s office came in to break my water and check up on things – she asked if I was considering an epidural and when I said that I was, suggested I get it now because otherwise it may be too late. And who am I to ignore a doctor’s advice? So about 10 minutes later my favorite doctor EVER, Dr. T the anaesthesiologist (that is not spelled correctly at all) came in and got the party started.

I told Dr. T that I wanted a light dose – something to take the edge off but not render me completely numb from the waist down. He nailed it with just the right amount – the contractions faded away but I was still able to move around and get comfortable and participate in things, which was nice.

Well…the contractions faded away until transition labor, that is. All of a sudden – CONTRACTION! OOOOOO!!! But again, not so bad that I couldn’t talk through it. Six or seven of those and it was time to push – just needed an OB and we were off to the races. Dr. A got there and gowned up and about 11:15 I started pushing. And then at 11:21 Jasper was born, weighing 7 lbs, 5 oz and 19.5″ long.  That’s right, approximately five or six minutes of pushing (or three pushes, if you’d rather) and we had a brand new baby boy!!

I am under no illusions that this is how the birth process works for most people – I know I’m lucky! I was able to walk around on my own within two or three hours of delivering and had our lovely candlelight (well, LED light. safety first!) dinner at the hospital that evening. We were cleared and discharged by 2 PM the next day and have been getting the hang of this two kid thing ever since. Milo adores his baby brother, loves being a big brother and is really annoyed with us for not giving him all the attention, all of the time.  :P  Overall he’s doing really really well and we’re very proud of how he’s handling it all.

Following are some photos that Nate took at the hospital – enjoy and thank you for looking!

xokt

OK, that’s not true at all, I have thousands of day to day photos on my computer. BUT – the beauty of the iPhone photos is that you shoot and you’re done – no post-processing, no downloading to the computer, no fiddling around with book layouts, nada. The downside is that sometimes they just sit on my phone and never get looked at again.

So I thought I’d let my favorites from this year have their own little (HA! This thing is huge) blog post.

Thanks so much for looking – happy holidays and have a great New Year!!

xokt

Stay tuned for portrait & wedding favorites – happy holidays!!!

xoxokt

We started out the day with a fancy pancake man, courtesy of Nate. Milo wasn’t too sure about it though….

Followed by presents, of course. One of the gifts he got was a Lego Star Wars advent calendar – it’s the gift that keeps on giving! Since his birthday was on the third we got to open three days at once and have been doing one a night since then. I think he’s going to be pretty sad when we’re all out of robots to put together. Hopefully the Christmas presents will keep him distracted.

After presents we headed over to our local hill with some of Milo’s friends for a sledding party.

He had such a great time and went down all by himself every time. Such a big boy!

And then we finished up in the best way we could – with cupcakes! And sprinkles! And cream cheese frosting!!

Happy birthday buddy, I hope you had the best day ever!!

xoxokt

Milo’s best buddy Aundra and her little brother, Owen.

Isn’t he just the cutest little duck?

Milo got the hang of the whole trick or treating thing pretty quickly – he knew if the porch light was on, it was fair game. He never quite got the ‘trick or treat’ verbiage nailed, but he was very polite and good about saying ‘thank you’ to everyone.

Back at home with the loot. Not a bad haul for one block, eh?

Thanks so much for looking, I hope you all had a happy Halloween!

xokt

Here’s a few of my favorites from the trip -

I love these dinosaurs!

We sat out on the back porch and watched the rain for a while (photos by Nate).

Thanks for looking and don’t forget to comment!!!

xoxokt

Might be my new favorite.

Anyone know what kind of tree this is? Its flowers were huge and super pretty.

Testing the echoes.

Thanks for looking!!