muthrs day

This morning while feeding the baby in bed, I was greeted by my little troops filing in one by one. Finn was carefully carrying a plate, with an egg mcmuffin and strawberries, so that I could have breakfast in bed. Calvin handed me a hand-crafted "Muthrs Day" card,

that contained some cash(John knows me too well) and a Jamba Juice card. I'm thinking of putting the money towards a coat rack for my purses or some photo enlargements.

John was carrying Ollie and they handed me a vase of white iceberg roses from our front yard. 

It was all so sweet.

My main goals for the day were to feed the baby and take a shower. 

I got my shower...

and even did my hair in honor of this day! Major accomplishment, I tell you.

But that was about as far as I got. I did not even bother getting dressed, because we weren't quite up for going back to church yet. 

So here we are, in our grubbies. I would have LOVED to get a Mother's Day photo of me and the boys all dressed up in our Sunday best,

but let's be real. That probably won't happen for a little while. And yes, Ollie is looking pretty rum:(

Finn is SOOOO proud holding Twain. Big stuff.

As an added bonus, I even got to take a nap today. Wishing you all a lovely day!

And if you are reading this mom, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! You are the best mom ever!

Tweetle Beetle Comes Home

Our 48 hour stay at the hospital felt like a total time warp. I would doze off for 5 minutes and when I awoke it felt like 5 hours--apparently one of the side effects of the morphine.

My entire first day I was starving but surgery guidelines prohibited eating anything the first day in case it caused you to vomit and tear or something. Can you imagine not eating anything after having a baby? Well, I whined and complained like a baby until my nurses finally smuggled in some broth and jello.

The first day was also filled with lovely visitors, who all came and went in their own special way. Lorie started a fun little trend. She did not want to hear the news of the gender until she was at the hospital. (One of the few shots John managed to get that day.)

And Olive Oyl, Coco and Jenn all followed suit as well. It was so fun and special to be able to share the news in person. I highly recommend this practice!

Mom brought the boys to see us later that evening. Mom rushed off to get some El Pollo Loco for the kids and in the madness we did not manage to get any photos of her at the hospital:( Twain and I were soooooo excited to give the boys each a little gift, as is tradition 'round these parts.

Twain gave Finn and Calvin some Cars dishes and he got Ollie some teddy grahams. Mom and I also bought the boys some cars, which were a big hit. Finn drew a picture of these cars to spruce up the hospital walls.

When Ollie first saw me laying in the hospital bed, he burst into tears and would have nothing to do with me unless I bribed him with teddy grahams. It was very upsetting and made me cry because I missed him so much.

Calvin's eyes were as big as saucers, as he took in the new baby. I gave him my yucky hospital milk.

Finn had a million questions about every single hospital contraption in sight. He was absolutely fascinated by his baby brother Twain.

The 2nd day my morphine wore off and my incision felt like it was on fire from all that snipping. I could barely breath or move it hurt so bad at times. So, as much as I hate staying at the hospital, it was kind of nice to just rest there with unlimited room service and sandwiches.

Somewhere along our stay, John started calling Twain by the nickname Tweetle Beetle, and it kind of stuck. Saturday rolled around and it was time to take our dear Tweetle Beetle home.

But not before snapping some photos of Twain in his hospital shirt stamped "SOUTHWEST" because it matched with the adorable blanky Lorie brought him.

Get it? Planes...Southwest airlines? I thought it was pretty cool.





Gosh I look awful here. Focus on the baby.


John trying an Ann Geddes pose.


And we are off!

me + csection = very bad photos.

The short drive home was bizarre. There was a whole world out there funtioning much to my oblivion the last 48 hours. A world that was equally oblivous to my feeding schedules and diaper charts.

Back home, there have been many ups and downs. Thankfully, mom was here to help hold the fort down and to console little Ollie.

On the one hand, I was thrilled to be back at home with my pile of boys and clean bed.

And let's not forget the countless hours gazing at my new baby's face




and laughing at this silly photo.

and I will never get over the new baby smell.






That being said, this has been the toughest c-section recovery yet, rendering me completely useless much of the time. And dear little Twain can be quite the fuss-bucket. He is definitley not easy and mellow. The first 2 nights he screamed all night unless we held him. He HATES his bassinett. He often wakes up just 1.5 hours after eating with awful gas pains...screaming and squirming...and then ready for more food. I'm so sore. 

Check out these feeding logs I've accumulated in just one short week!

I'm obsessed with the feeding logs. 

We are certainly in over our heads over here...but each day gets a little better.

Arrival of Twain Part 2

I breathed a huge sigh of relief and smiled when I heard my baby squawking like a little barnyard animal. It was precious. Thank you Lord!

And the next moment is the part I'd waited 9 months for. The gender. If I could stop time and bottle that feeling of anticipation, I'd be a millionaire. There is nothing like it and I didn't want it to ever end. It's the only thing that got me through this sterile and unnatural c-section.

The suspense was killing me.

I wanted to know.

I didn't want to know.

I wanted to know.

I took a deep breath.

They showed our baby to John, who chuckled and said "no big surprise here!" as they made the announcement "It's a Boy!"

I heard the doctors and techs all snickering,"Four boys...Just like Dr. T!"

And for the record, I allegedly said,

"Lord have mercy on us all!"

Holy Cow. Four boys.

Hi. My name is Davi and I have 4 sons.

My mind could not even begin to wrap itself around this new reality.You'd think I would be used to hearing this by now! I always suspected that John's girl swimmers were blanks and now I knew for sure. Though in all reality, I should not be so hard on them, considering that we never actually tried the recipe for a girl.

Now most girls I know might not have taken this news so well. But keep in mind, as a kid, I'd always wanted to run a home for little orphan boys. Though, I must admit, it would have been fun to dress a girl Pippi-style:)

I craned my neck to peek at my baby as they leaned him in toward me. Along with the aforementioned chubby cheeks, he had a shocking mane of dark hair. Our little dark horse. I could not wait to get my hands on that fun and wild hair.

I kissed his worried little face and wished I could console his furrowed brow, but they whisked him away with John, leaving me all alone.

I looked pleadingly at my anesthesiologist, who then administered my long awaited happy drug. The next hour is a complete blur.

Back in triage, I slowly gained more awareness.

Awareness to the fact that I could NOT wiggle my toes for the life of me, no matter how hard I tried.

And awareness of the fact that I could not stop shaking, no matter how hard I tried.

Like before, I was so hot and so cold. The nurse kept putting warm blankets on me, which made me feel even worse.

I vaguely remember asking how my baby was doing.

They called NICU, and I spoke to the nurse.

"Is he ok?", I asked.

The nurse said, "His breathing is a little off. We don't think he's quite full term yet. We are going to be monitoring him for a while."

I was so bummed, but understood. This was the price I had to pay for doing an early c-section. The only reason we did it early was because I had a history of my water breaking early, and we did not want me to rupture.

My shaking continued and after 3 hours, I still could not feel my toes at all. I started to panic. Was I paralyzed? The logical side of my brain reminded me that I would be ok, but I still thought I was going to lose my mind.

The door opened, and much to my surprise, a nurse appeared, holding my baby. I heard her asking if the mother wanted to feed her baby.

I was still a shaking mess. Could I handle this?

"I want to try feeding him", I bravely declared.

I inquired again on his breathing. And they said in the nicest way possible, "he's breathing like a wimpy white boy, but if he latches on to eat, we think he'll be ok".

With my arms shaking, I reached out to feed my boy.

He instantly latched on like a barracuda. This boy could suck, no doubt about that.

And I was thrilled beyond belief.

And all of a sudden, my whole body stopped shaking and I could wiggle my toes.

It was like magic. All I needed was my baby to snap me out of it.

As John and I gazed at our son, we called him by name.(photo by Lorie)

Welcome to our crazy little world, Twain Orion.

more pictures to come.

The Arrival Of Twain

First of all, a HUGE thanks for all of your sweet thoughts and words of encouragment...and your amazing patience with me.

Thursday, April 30th. My big day. Our big day.

Even though I was not due at the birth center til 5:30AM, my day began at 1:00AM when Finn woke up crying. By the time I got him settled back in bed, I was wide awake. And then, as I started to nod off, my neighbor's dog started barking and woke Finn up again at 3:00AM. Finn rarely wakes me up, so this was unsettling.

So, pretty much no sleep for me that night. Being a mom can be hard.

Around 5AM I started getting ready and before I knew it, John and I were heading out the door to the birth center. It was pitch black outside. I prayed that Finn would stay asleep for my mom. I always hated this part of having a baby: leaving my boys. I wanted to cry. At the same time, I was a ball of nervous excitement for the arrival of our baby.

I cannot describe how bizarre it was, walking into the birth center, with my caboodle from high school clutched in one hand. We walked up to the nurses' station.

"Hi guys. Um, we'd like to have our baby now please, if it's not too much trouble..." Like we are ordering a pizza. 

I was having a few contractions. I'd been having them nonstop for the past few days. Step. Step. Contraction. Step. Step. Contraction. I couldn't even go to Target anymore.

A very friendly and efficient blond nurse was in charge of my dreaded IV. My veins stink. This was not going to be easy. Thankfully, my nurse believed in litacaine first, so I lucked out. Or so I thought.

Left arm. Sting of litacaine...IV attempt 1...failed. Rats.

She turned on the tv to distract me.

Swine flu here, swine flu there, swine flu everwhere. Hm. This was relaxing.

More contractions.

Left arm. Sting of litacaine...IV attempt 2...another failure. By now I am getting uneasy. My left arm is throbbing and my contractions are worsening. I know, I'm such a big baby.

And by now I HATE the swine flu. Is there nothing else on tv?

Right arm. Litacaine. Awful stinging. Major contractions. The nurse looks uneasy. Lots of wiggling of the needle into my arm.

There was lots of praying on my part. Time stood still. At this point, she had been patiently working on my IV for 45 minutes. My contractions are now painful.

And then, finally, the IV goes in. "Your right arm is waaaay better than your left arm, for future reference", my nurse tells me as she wraps me in tape.

Dr. T(that is what I will be calling my OB) arrives. Normally very friendly and laid back, she begins barking orders right and left. She seems irritated with the staff."Where is the decadron? Why isn't daddy suited up?" etc...

By the time they wheeled my throbbing arms into the freezing OR, I am a mess. I can't stop shaking. My contractions have no start or stop points, it seems.

Enters anesthesiologist. Spinal attempt 1...Ouch!..failed...what the heck is wrong with me today??? My nurse is hugging me and and trying to make me feel better. This never happened before and was kind of scary.

"Lean waaay forward", my anesthesiologist instructs.

Spinal attempt 2. Double ouch. but...SUCCESS! It's in. Praise the Lord. And then I start to go numb, starting at my toes. I HATE the feeling. How does numb hurt? I am so cold and so hot. And I cannot stop shaking. And contracting. I am numb, yet feel everything. Hopefully not the cutting though.

"Whose crazy idea was it to have another baby?" I wondered. And "Why do people have babies at all?" And I think of 1st-time-mommy-to-be, C. Sherm, who is next in line. I prayed she would not have to endure a c-section--I know, I am soo sweet to think of someone else;)

"I want my happy drug NOW", I tell my anesthesiologist. (We had previously discussed injecting something to warm me up and stop the shaking. I just wanted to zone out.)

"No", he says calmly, "Not just yet, we have to wait til they pull the baby out so the drugs don't interfere with the baby's breathing".

"Oh yah". I forgot about the baby.

Finn, Calvin and Ollie were all out within 5 minutes of the c-section. I could wait 5 more minutes for my drugs. Omigosh! I'm gonna meet my new baby in just minutes!

"I smell those darn doritos again", I say, as they cauterize my skin. But then I heard something different.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

and

Snip. Snip. Snip.

5 minutes go by.

Snip. Snip.

What is going on? Where is my baby?

Snip. Snip. What is up with all this snipping?

10 minutes have gone by. And no one is talking.

I'm nervous. And miserable. I want to talk, but for some reason, I don't. Or can't.

15 minutes have gone by.

"What is going on?", I finally managed to squeak out. My voice could barely work. The anesthesiologist says "Oh, they are just removing all the scar tissue on your abdonminal muscles."

Goodness. I guess that's what happens with 4 c-sections. John later said the 2 docs working on me were like a well-oiled machine, snipping together very efficiently.

20 minutes of eternity have gone by.

WHERE IS MY BABY?????

And then they start tugging. And tugging,

"Here's the head", Dr. T says.

And finally we heard the most blessed sound in the world.

The sound of our little baby squealing.

to be continued.

Introducing...

The newest band member Twain Orion!



Weighing in at exactly 7 pounds and measuring 19 inches. We think he looks just like Calvin Jack with his chubby cheeks.

The C-Section was traumatizing and horrifying. But as soon as I held my little Twain, all the problems magically disappeared.



Sorry for the delay in blogging but there wasn't any internet connection at the hospital. We should be home in a couple of days so hopefully these pictures will tide you over until then.



We are quite smitten with our baby Twain and think he is the perfect encore to our little band of brothers.

posted by a very proud "Auntie" Lorie.

hoodlems

here are the boys


all snuggled up on the couch together

with their kitties

watching a heavy metal drummer from the 6-hour Modern Drum Festival DVD that Mr. Canaan lent us.

He advised us to skip the heavy metal drummers for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately, the boys LOVE the heavy metal drummers and think they are hysterical because of all the "shouting".

What a bunch of hoodlems.

banished no more

After 6 years of exile, my dresser has finally come out of banishment!

This dresser project was so quick and easy, I almost feel guilty...

Kind of like I cheated or something.

It did help that I had the primer, aqua paint and sealer all in my garage.

The only thing I had to buy were the silver knobs.

I originally planned to have orange knobs but I had a change of heart. There was already enough action going on with the aqua paint and the brown wood. I think orange knobs might have been over-kill. Like it belonged in a kid's room. Who knows. I just think that the silver knobs looked very clean and authentic on this particular dresser.

And this is the first time in 6 years that I can open my drawers with actual knobs. I no longer have to cry to the heavens "why me??" everytime I try to fight these drawers open. 

I painted this dresser with my bedding in mind. John and I bought this comforter set for each other last month as our anniversary gift to each other. 

And here is the view of my dresser from my bed.

As you can see, I still need to accessorize the dresser.

 

Our room is still a work-in-progress, but is slowly getting better. It will just take time. Ever since I can remember, our room has looked like a ghetto bachelor pad. Especially when John's office moved in, after the boys were born. 

Seriously. 

Oh you don't believe me?

Get a load of this.

bulletin board from our college days

mismatched file cabinet

lamp also from college days

decapitated imac

Just please don't make me give up my snow white bedding that my sister got me in college!

It seemed so hopeless to try to decorate my room with all the ugly office stuff. But I think with a little effort, we can make it look cozy and cute. John just painted a bookshelf and is getting rid of the file cabinet. He recently demolished his old particle board desk(you had to bang your hip into the door at just the right angle so it would open) and got a new desk on craig's list. So things are looking up. I used to die of humiliation anytime someone walked into my bedroom. I always wished for a lovely room like my sister had. 

Now I feel so fancy having new bedding and a matching dresser:)