Logan's 1st Field Trip!

We headed to the pumpkin farm today with Logan's preschool, first of many field trips I am sure. I have to say it was a little weird not going to our usual pumpkin farm, but we still had a blast and Logan totally was into all the little rides they had, which was a huge step for him since just last summer he screamed bloody murder on the carousal at the zoo. Logan had preschool this morning and then we had to meet over at the farm at 12:30, so Ava had an early lunch and I packed snacks for her and Logan and I ate in the car on the way. The pumpkin farm happen to be right over by Matt's work so he took a half day and met us over there, which I am glad he did because Ava was a handful on the hay ride LOL! I was worried Logan would freak out a little with the hay ride, but he got right on like a big boy, he was little nervous when he first heard the tractor but I think seeing all the other kids get on made it ok. We went on a nice hayride through the corn fields and then we did all the fun rides and corn mazes (Ava and I got lost in the big corn maze it was tricky) and then we played around by the pumpkins and then Logan picked out his pumpkin and gave it a good wash (the rest of us will be getting pumpkins from Shop & Save where they are $1.99 LOL!) Then we made sure to pick up some yummy apple cider and apple cider doughnuts and then we headed home. Ava passed out cold about 3o seconds into the ride home, Logan was too busy eating his lollipop to sleep. I am exhausted now! I'll sleep good tonight!

Someone Had An Awsome B-Day!

Happy 4th Birthday Logan!

Happy 4th Birthday my big boy! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you know!

My how you have grown...



Here is Logan's Birth Story as I posted it on the mommy board that I am still apart in fact. Still very hard to read this, and this is the first time I have looked at it in a couple of years, but this is his story and it was worth it all.


We use abbreviations on the board so DH=Darling Husband, Pit=Pitocin, Contrxs-Contractions, ETA=Edited to Add

This was written & posted October 17, 2006:

Our surprise was a……BOY!!!!!

Logan Alexander

10/12/06 40 weeks and 1 day

9:43 p.m.

Unplanned C-Section after 14 hours of labor

7lbs 6 oz

20 ½ inches

I woke up on the 12th to very intense cramps that felt better after using the bathroom, I felt them 3 times and figured that it was just my body starting to get ready for the big day, I kind of felt like something was off but I told DH to go to work and I went back to bed. I heard kind of like a pop when I was lying down but didn't think much of it (thought it was a bone cracking) and a few minutes later my water broke and I was running to the bathroom! I couldn't believe my water broke! I called DH and he turned around (a u-turn in the middle of the road haha), called the doctor and he said get to the hospital and then we headed to the hospital once DH got home and we got all our stuff. I had some minor contrxs on the way to the hospital nothing big but it was all in my back, got settled into the hospital room around 9am and then started the pit to get me going I was 1 cm and 80% effaced . I labored for about 6 hours without pain meds and when I was ready for my epidural I was checked and was still only 1 to 2 but my doctor let me have the epidural (thank god!) I felt so much better and hoped that would help me relax and get some progress. I was checked in a few more hours and I was 3 to 4 so Doc was happy, but he did say he was still very concerned that the baby had not dropped and was "sky high" still. Doc said he would be back to check me in a few and when he came back in 4 hours and after a pit increase I had made no progress and he said to me, "wanna have this baby?" and that was that I was off to have a c-section. I was so disappointed but ready to finally meet our little guy.



The c-section was quite painful for me they kept dosing up my epidural but they were having a very hard time getting him out and the pressure and tugging was painful. I was given a sedative even though I did not want one and I got really sleepy. Doc had to use a vacuum to help get him out and then we finally heard IT'S A BOY! My mommy instincts were right! When they finally got him out he was a bit "stunned" and I didn't hear him cry right away and I couldn't see him right away since the doc had to hand him off to have him worked on, but then I finally heard him and it was the best sound in the world! The rest of the c-section was uneventful, DH brought Logan over to me and I was in love! We tried breastfeeding in recovery but my DH had to hold him since I was so out of it and it just wasn't going good. After recovery I was transferred to my room, they took the baby out for his look over and warming up which takes about 2 ½ hours to do and then they would bring him in so we could feed. I was kind of out of it and the nurses were in and out and each time I was hoping the nursery was coming with my baby, eventually a doctor came in and said that the baby was breathing kind of fast so they were going to watch him a little longer (the first thought that went through my head was that he wasn't coming home with us). The next morning when they brought him into us he had an NG tube in him for feeding since his respiration's were fast he couldn't handle a breast or bottle feed and breath at the same time (so they were feeding him formula over night without even telling me). They told us that he probably swallowed some fluid during the section and he was just taking longer to transition to the world. We got to spend the next day with him, but I was on magnesium for my BP still so I was out of it and didn't really get to spend a lot of time with him since they had to take him out for NG feedings. He was breathing really fast though and it was making me so nervous. They gave him 24 hours to show improvement and when he didn't they did an x-ray and found spots on his right lung, they drew blood and did lots of tests and they came to the conclusion that he had developed pneumonia.



He was transferred to the NICU on Saturday and was put on antibiotics and when he was still not improving they put him on an IV which was the final co-bash on him coming home with me. He is doing much better now, his NG tube is gone and he is drinking my breast milk through a bottle, and basically are just letting him get his antibiotics and then he will be home. We are going to start to try and put him to the breast in a day or so and see how he does in the mean time I am a pumping fool. He has to have blood drawn to check on his liver everyday I believe it is, because the antibiotics can affect the liver. I feel so bad for him he keeps getting poked and prodded. The Docs said this won't affect him later in life or anything and that it is a common occurrence with c-section babies. It was hard to leave him yesterday, I was in the wheel chair sitting by the door waiting for DH to pull the car up and another mom was leaving with her baby and I just lost it, there I was holding one the baskets of flowers with a big it's a boy balloon on it and I wanted to be holding my baby (we got a lot of looks on our way out with all these flowers and balloons but no baby) but we go back every day and spend time with him, leaving him at night just rips my heart apart though. My delivery went nothing like we planned but none of that matters anymore we just want to get him well and get him home. He is the most beautiful baby and we can't imagine life without our little man now that he is here!



ETA: Logan was released on Saturday, but that morning during rounds the doctor heard an "extra" sound in his heart, a cardiologist did an echo cardiogram and ultrasound and it was found that he has a hole in his heart (newborn hole) that probably didn't get squeezed shut since he did not come through the birth canal. We have to do a follow up at 6 months to check on it and told us not to worry (yea right!). I was so frustrated he had been in the hospital for 9 days and on a heart monitor for 7 of those days and they are just finding it now??? Anyway, our baby is home now and we couldn't be more happy or relieved!

Ava's Official 1st B-Day Pictures

We had a small party yesterday with the grandparents for Ava's real birthday, just pizza and our first fondant cake. We learned that while fondant looks cool on a cake, it tastes...well gross, good thing we had regular icing on too so we just pealed the fondant layer off. Ava was very neat once again eating her cake, too funny. The hit of the night was her new baby stroller from Grandpa.

We can't believe she is one, and now it's time to gear up for another birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Ava!

Happy 1st Birthday Ava Sophia! Mommy, Daddy & Logan love you more than you know!

In honor of Ava's1st Birthday here is her birth story as written on our family blog last year.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

It's A Girl!!!!!

The wait is over, our little bundle is finally here and as you all know by now it's a girl!!!! Surprising isn't it? After an 18 year girl dry spell on all three sides of my family we finally have another girl in the family, and Matt' s immediate family is also light on girls. It was about time, break out the pink and bows!

Unfortunately we didn't get to have our VBAC, but at 41 weeks and 1 day I was ready to be done and so was my body. We went in for the repeat c-section and my blood pressure was up so they ran labs on me again as they had done when I was monitored in L&D at 40 weeks for pre-eclampsia but this time they came back positive. I would have to be put on magnesium sulfate again which we really wanted to avoid because of the terrible side effects for both me and the baby. We also found out because they had 4 unplanned c-sections already that day, they were running very late and my doctor had to be on a plane at a certain time, so we also didn't get to have my doctor deliver, but the doctor that did deliver just happen to be the one other doctor we have seen in the practice so that worked out well. Since I was now high risk because of the pre-e I would be in one of the intensive care rooms on the old post-partum floor and wouldn't get to stay in the new state of the art "tower" rooms...everything that could go wrong right off the bat did, but once she was here, it didn't matter.

Since my doctor was aware of our very difficult c-section with Logan and all the things I felt left out of because of it, he ordered that they not start my magnesium until after delivery, which really made a huge difference and I was awake and able to enjoy this delivery. I went back about an hour later than planned, and they got me ready to go, I got a spinal block rather than the epidural this time, and while it hurt a lot more and took a lot more time than my epidural did to be placed, I had much better pain relief during this section. Once the spinal was in they let Matt in and got down to business. The c-section took longer than my first because of scar tissue from the last one and I also had another problem they had to fix that was a result of my last section, so getting to the baby took longer than it would have other wise, which was nerve racking. Once they got her out they dropped the drape so I could see her as I had requested (with Logan I didn't get to see him until much later and he was all wrapped up already) and Matt got a picture. Seeing her right away was amazing and my first thoughts were that I could see Logan in her, and that she looked huge! She didn't cry until they go her under the warmer, it's always nerve wracking until you here the first cry, but boy once she started she sounded loud and healthy. They had Matt come over and he got to cut the remainder of the cord which is something else we didn't get to do with Logan, but since my doctor is so awesome he made sure all these things happened for us this time. Once Matt was done he came over by me and showed me some pictures he took on the camera. They weighed her and she came in at a whopping 8lbs 4.5oz (almost a pound bigger than Logan) and 20.25 inches (a little shorter than Logan). Her apgars were awesome at 8/9. She did have the umbilical cord wrapped around her body, which might have been the reason she never fully engaged and started labor, and in the long run was probably a good thing. If I had gone into labor the cord would have been compressed at some point during labor and delivery which would have effected her heart rate which happens to to be the number one indicator of scar rupture in VBAC births and I would have been hauled off for an emergency c-section. I believe that God was watching over us and this really was the safest way for her to get here and that's why I never went into labor. Once they got her all wrapped up the nurse brought her over to me and I actually got to hold her (with help) while still laying on the operating table, and it was awesome. Matt took her while they finished up with me and we took some more pictures before heading to recovery.

They started my magnesium once we were in recovery, I tried to feed her but she didn't want to eat and then Matt went and got the family to come see her. I think everyone except for my Mom who thought she was a girl along, was pleasantly surprised to meet Ava! Everyone got a chance to hold her, and eventually I started to feel the effects of the magnesium and by then it was time to move over to the post-partum floor, so we said our goodbyes and we moved over to our room. Ava was taken up to the nursery for her bath and look over and I was given another boost of magnesium which I really reacted too, luckily my Mom was still with us and she kept me cooled off with towels during the 20 minutes of magnesium hell. Eventually I started to feel a little better and Ava was brought back to us and I was able to feed her. I did much better overall this time around and was even able to leave a day early which was great because I missed Logan so much and just wanted to be home with him.

All in all this birth experience was like night and day compared to Logan's birth. It was very healing in a way. Having Ava with us the whole time and knowing she was healthy was a prayer answered, and when we all went home together this time, another answered prayer. It was such a long road to get her here and now that she is here we can't imagine life with out her. She is so beautiful and we are so thankful for our new bundle.

We thank you all for your well wishes, we are all doing well and just getting adjusted to being a family of four now!

Rodeo Night!

Tonight was Rodeo night also known as Dad's Day at preschool. It's a night where the kids bring dad, grandpa, uncle etc to preschool and they have fun activities planned around the Cowboy theme. Logan was not happy about having to go back to preschool after being there once already today and he was even more upset when I tried to dress him like a cowboy, after one huge tantrum later he was off with daddy and at least their cowboy hats for some fun.


Logan was fine once he got there and had fun showing Daddy all the neat stuff in his classroom. They made a tree together as well and had lot's of fun in the bike room.

They ended the night with a sing a long and square dance (Logan was not amused LOL) and some yummy treats.

Logan came home with a smile on his face and said he wanted Daddy to come to preschool with his again.

Moms day isn't until spring, but I am excited already!

Ava's 1st Birthday Party!

Ava's 1st Birthday Party was today and everything turned out great! We had plenty of time to get set up, almost everyone came that was invited, cakes looked awesome, food was scrumptious, kids loved that there was an awesome park right outside from the park district building we were in, Ava was a doll as usual...it was perfect! Big thank you to my Mom, MIL, and BFF for all their help getting set up and making food and keeping the coffee and food stocked since I was so busy! Of course thank you to my wonderful hubby for putting up with me when I am in party planning mode and for all your help with cookies and cake!

Thank you to all our family and friends for celebrating with us and for your generous gifts, Ava is going to be one styling girl this fall and winter!

Here are some pics of all the fun!