The Story of Malcolm's Arrival

If you aren't into birth stories, go ahead and skip this one (or skip to the bottom if you want to see the video take right after his birth where they clean him off and weigh him).  But I will tell you it isn't gross or crazy like some you might hear.  I didn't write Kaylee's birth story because I was so devastated that I had to have a c-section.  I knew that it wasn't a bad thing or any less than a vaginal birth, but my recovery was really painful even without complications.  Plus at the hospital I was treated like a wimp and I could only think it was because I had a c-section.  Which is ridiculous because it is MUCH harder to go through a c-section recovery.  Unless you have some very big complications otherwise.  This time, I want to share my story of Malcolm being born.  In preparation for his birth I read and studied Hypnobirthing suggested by my wonderful sister in law Britany who was able to have a completely pain med free birth with their son Cam.  I knew that trying to have a completely natural birth was my best chance on having a VBAC.  That being said here it is:

I started having contractions about 2 min apart at like 5:45am so we had breakfast and got everything together and headed for the hospital. Kevin's mom was already there so Kaylee stayed home with her. We weren't in triage very long when they decided to admit me.  My mom was already on her way to the airport and called me while in triage and when Kevin called her back that is when the nurse came in and gave us the news.  I was already 5cm when I got there. So I get to the room and eventually they let me walk. Later Dr. Nett broke my water and then the real contractions really set in but I was able to focus and handle them very well. But the monitors were constantly acting up so I couldn't use the birth ball like I wanted and even walking was hard to get a good reading. So I ended up back in bed, which wasn’t what I wanted but we did what we could. Kevin was really good at helping me remain calm and relaxed.  They then told me that he wasn't handling the contractions well and that the cord was probably around his neck. I then no longer could focus.  I was really worried about my baby and I wasn’t prepared for complications like that.  So the contractions were actually unbearable and I decided on getting the epidural.  The nurses said that I was in transition by that point and almost 8 cm.  Honestly at that point I knew that I was going to be having a c-section even though they hadn’t told me that.  Because his heart rate was going down with every contraction they had me on oxygen. My blood pressure went really low and there was a whole room full of nurses trying to get it back up.  My IV started leaking so the meds weren’t fully getting into my body so they had to re stick me a few times.  One time my vein blew.  Gross.  Finally Dr. Nett turned to me and told me what I already knew. We had to get him out. Off to the OR we went and Malcolm was here :-)

I was able to stay positive about everything throughout the process.  Once I knew that we were probably going to end up in the OR I started telling myself that it was ok and that this will make us both safe and healthy, basically reaffirming to myself that this is how it is meant to be.  My main concern was for a healthy baby, and of course he would love a healthy mommy.  I felt good about how far I made it before I asked for any drugs.  I am proud of myself.  The best thing (besides the baby of course) is that Kevin told me that I was brave and that he was proud of me.  That is all I wanted.  I wanted to hear those words.  Everyone was so helpful and encouraging to me and I was grateful for all the effort given to try for a natural VBAC.  I feel like I have gotten enough of that experience, I know what it is like to be in labor, that I am satisfied with my experience.  I will definitely just do a repeat c-section next time though.   And by next time I mean after both kids are potty trained and possibly Kaylee in school.  We will see.  

My recovery this time has been really good compared to last time.  For one the nurses at the hospital were really nice to me this time.  One thing that helped is that I never had to have staples.  She just put steri strips on my incision and that was it.  It freaked me out at first, but I'm pretty sure that is why I have felt so much better.  Those staples are a PAIN!  I also had been through this before so I knew that I NEEDED colace.  Haha I needed to be on top of taking my meds.  I knew that walking was a good thing and so is rest.  A good balance of the two helps.  The only thing that sucks is that I can't pick up Kaylee.  So luckily most days I have had help so far, but I have to use a chair and have her climb into her crib by herself and when I try to sit and sing to her before she has both times decided that hitting me in the face was the appropriate response.  So she ends up crawling in the crib and then she gets no songs.  Which just makes me sad because I love to sing to her and get Kaylee cuddles.  But hitting mom in the face is not a cuddle.  Anyway, thank you for reading!!



Above is the video taken by Kevin of Malcolm strait out of my belly.  Unlike his sister he cried a lot and didn't hold his breath.  

Introducing Malcolm Brent Sproul

Yes!  He is finally here!  Malcolm Brent Sproul was born May 7th 2012 at 8:15pm.  He was 7 lbs 2 oz and 19 in long.  He is an AMAZING baby!  He sleeps a lot.  I have to wake him up to eat most of the time and he rarely cries.  Kaylee makes more noise than this little man.  I think he would love for us to let him sleep through the night but seeing that he is a week and a half old....yea too little.  :-)  But hopefully this makes for a promising future in the sleep department.  Kaylee is in love.  When he does cry Kaylee immediately says, "Malco! Malco!" and searches for a blanket or paci to give to him.  She loves to shower him with kisses and hugs.  She is pretty good about being gentle but we still have to remind her.  Kevin and I are in love with our family of 4.

Above is some hospital pictures I took while we were there.  He sleeps a lot.  He looks good doing it!  Below is my mom and Malcolm doing skin to skin!  The nurse said it is good for grandma's to do it too so we told my mom she could and they had a cute little nap!!

 

 

Our first photo as a family.  I made sure to get one this time as no one took a picture of us with Kaylee.  I love it!

Meeting her little brother for the first time.  The kisses begin!  Grandma got her this cute outfit too and brought a gift for Malcolm!  So cute and awesome!

Going home.  The outfit is way big on him.  It is hilarious.

I love my babies!!

Birth Story and other posts to come.  I thought I would go ahead and get pictures and stuff out there.  Because I love showing off my babies.  :-)

The Waiting Game

38 weeks 3 days

So I will be 39 weeks tomorrow.  Tomorrow is also the first day in May.  From what I can tell at this moment, I feel like I will definitely have a May baby.  :-)  Contractions have increased in both frequency and intensity.  But they taper off now and then telling me, "Now is not the time."  I try not to be disappointed and tell myself over and over that he will come on his own and at a good time for us both.  It is helping, along with Kevin reassuring me that all is fine and that I am progressing.  Which is true.  At my doctors appointment on Friday I was 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced (Kevin told me he heard her say 60% I didn't hear it so I didn't know that until last night).  She said that I am "more favorable" and that she hopes that she will see me before my next appointment. (Which is next Friday).  Time will tell.  No matter what I will have a beautiful baby boy in my arms in a week-ish time.  FOR SURE before mother's day.  There is still so much to do, but I also can't wait to meet his face.  I also can't wait to see my mom! We are definitely keeping our minds in the positive and pushing all fear aside.  In the meantime, let me tell you what we have been up to the last few weeks.

So I have been doing all sorts of things to try to help me progress.  I have made a bunch of spicy food.  I have made some "Labor Inducing" recipes found online such as general taos chicken and Labor cookies.  Both were tasty...except let me tell you.  The cookies were yummy like ginger bread cookies, but it contains Cayenne pepper which gives you a huge kick in the mouth afterwards.  I've eaten an entire batch (not at once).  I've had contractions, but no baby.  I also love my birth ball which is just a fitness ball that I call my birth ball.  Same thing really.  It is awesome.  Not only does it help relieve pregnancy discomforts when they arise, it is fun to sit Kaylee on top and bounce and roll her around.  HAHA  She also likes to roll it across the living room which I find entertaining.  We also have been taking walks.

Kaylee studying nature

Kaylee and I like to go to the apartment park sometimes which is both a blessing and a curse!  I have to REALLY watch what she picks up and make sure she doesn't stick it in her mouth.  Like for some reason, there are Popsicle sticks everywhere!  At least around the actual playground stuff.  I usually take her to the more grassy area and let her walk around or climb on and off the bench for 40 minutes.  Yea she wanted to do that once.  She took a great nap afterward.  Kevin and I also like to take nightly walks with Kaylee in the stroller so I can REALLY get moving.

Kaylee trying to touch my belly

Kaylee loves to sit on the "chairs"

We had a WONDERFUL weekend this last weekend.  We went to the zoo with our friends Josh and Kinsey.  They were already planning on going so we just asked if they wanted to come with us too.  It was great I got in a lot of walking and then we had lunch where Kevin had to park on the opposite side of the mall from Red Robin.  So more walking YAY!  Then a wondrous long nap for all 3 of us.  I like to get the naps in as I know they will be far too few very soon. 

Love my Kaylee hugs!

At JC Penny, Can you tell it is Derby Season?

Kaylee, where's your head?!

Kaylee has been so loving and funny lately.  Some loving stories, we decided to just go ahead and bring her to our appointment last Friday, and when Dr. Nett went to measure my belly and listen to the heartbeat Kaylee flipped out.  Dr. Nett said they are always so protective of their mamas.  :-)  Another sweet story was I think Saturday she tried to brush my hair.  I had done my hair with twisties as I call them and if she brushed them I would have to re-do it so I ducked and Kevin said, "Careful!" So she thought she had hurt me.  I told her I was fine that I was not hurt but her heart was already broken and she came to me crying with lots of hugs, kisses, and cuddles.  I just held her said that everything was ok, she did nothing wrong and that I was fine.  It is so sweet that she cares so much about me being in no pain.  I love her heart!

One funny story with Kaylee recently is about a week ago she unnecessarily woke up at like 6am.  So I got up and took her to our dark living room hoping she will sleep on my belly/shoulder until she was supposed to wake up.  Well right when I thought she might be a sleep baby Malcolm goes kicking away.  Kaylee lifts her head, looks at my belly with a concerned look and says, "Baby!!"  She then tries again to sleep and then he starts kicking her again, and she looks a little more annoyed and exclaims, "Baby!"  I knew that sleep would not be in our future until nap time.  It was funny how she reacted especially since she never reacted before when he kicked her. 

Never forget Pooh!

So we went down to Lexington the weekend of Thuder of Louisville because lets face it, Louisville is crazy with traffic and such around that time.  We wanted far away from it.  If you don't know what Thunder over Louisville is, let me tell you.  Thunder over Louisville is basically the kick off to Kentucky Derby season.  It involves an air show, lots of food stands, and then that night basically the biggest firework show ever.  Sounds fun right?  Yes it is pretty dang fun if you go in the early morn to reserve a spot, make a day out of it, maybe have some friends with you eat yummy food and don't mind driving over an hour to your home that would normally be like 15 min.  I've done it WAY back when before I moved here and I had a great time.  But between Kaylee and me being big and pregnant we weren't going to go and our only other options is to stay inside all weekend or go to Lexington.  So we planned a fun trip to the Lex. 

Anyway, so we had a great time and Sunday we packed up all our stuff checking and double checking all the rooms we had been in for our stuff.  Then we were off.  Back to Louisville we went.  We were almost home before we realized that neither one of us remembered packing Pooh Bear!  Now to you Pooh Bear may be just your average silly ol bear, but to Kaylee this was her one and only true love of a bear.  Her Aunt Claudia had given this bear to her as a baby in the womb.  We tried to trick her into holding her dolly at night and falling asleep seemed to be a breeze...until she woke up without him!!

 Yea this picture was taken after one of her naps.  When she woke up she kept exclaiming. "Uh Oh!!  Pooh!" and she would frantically look around thinking she had dropped him somewhere!  Poor girl!  When I got her up she cried on me for about 45 min. strait.  Then off and on for a bit after that.  Pooh HAD to be recovered.  Well when we had realized that we left him we called up "Nama and Campa" Sproul and they sent Pooh along with her jacket which we also left to the mission home with some missionaries on transfer.  So I was able to pick him up on Wednesday. 

What a change right?  I immediately had that song stuck in my head, "Reunited and it feels so good!"  I am so happy he is back in our home and in her arms!

Grandma Genie

Some of you probably know that I recently lost my grandma Genie about a week and a half ago.  We have known for awhile that this was going to happen.  I think it was about 2 years ago the doctors gave her a year to live.  She had some major issues with her lungs.  Well, she beat that but in the process of everything, she started having serious dementia.  This was really hard on all of us.  A lot of the time, I was Sally (my mom) and I think sometimes my aunt was Marcia (her sister who had passed away years back) and she just wasn't Grandma anymore.  We would see glimpses her and there.  I wasn't around when it got to it's worst.  But I still remember her as the happy grandma she was.  This time I am too pregnant to attend the services.  So it has been pretty hard on me.  It is nice that I also have Malcolm to look forward to.  He's keeping me happy.  But there are so many times that I randomly cry because I remember how she used to do high kicks in the front yard to wish us good bye, or how she would always give me a big hug when we arrived at their house.  She loved hearing me play piano.  She just loved having us around I think.  Now it is weird because she is not going to be there anymore.  Well, here are some pictures.

 This is my grandma is a little girl. 

 This is my grandma ready to go to California to be with my grandpa :-)

 My grandparents eloped in Yuma, AZ.  Their families were very excited.

 My grandma hadn't had children yet when this picture was taken.  She made these dolls for the neighborhood children.  It goes to show you were her heart was.  In the right place.  :-)

 She made this doll along with 2 other dolls for Kaylee when she was born.  She also made one for me when I was a little girl and I'm sure she made them for her kids.  :-)

 Above is my grandma with her daughters, my mom on the left and my Aunt Ruthie on the right.

 Grandma made me and Kaylee blankets.  Well she made mine in 1999 that would be 8th/9th grade.  She made Kaylee's when I was pregnant with Kaylee.  Mine is the red one and the blue one is Kaylee's.  Kaylee's is really big so that she can basically use it forever.

 Grandma even sewed on a note and the date.  Looks like it was 9th grade.  I love that blanket!  And yes that is my pregnant belly at the bottom of the picture.

This picture was taken in August 2011.  Grandma just LOVED Kaylee.  Who doesn't but it was nice that we were able to go over and take some pictures with her and Grandpa.  They build that gate for Kaylee too.  So that she could walk around and not fall off the cliff.  Isn't that sweet?  The funeral was this morning.  My family made sure to have it video taped for me.  I wrote an arrangement of the song, "He" for the services.  I actually just arranged the vocal parts.  I kept the accompaniment that came with the song my mom had.  I'm sure the services were just as beautiful as my grandpa's.  I got a text from my friend Joey telling me that my brother was so cute talking and my mom was hilarious.  That is true.  My mom is very funny and I'm sure has many funny stories of grandma.  I can tell that she is so sad about her mom.  I would be.  I love my parents SO much I told Kevin that they aren't allowed to die until they are like 100 years old and it should be peacefully in their sleep.  No one else die in 2012 ok?  This is too heartbreaking. 

(I wrote the above yesterday) I heard the services were beautiful and everyone had a great time considering the circumstances.  HERE is a link to her obituary with pictures and a video slide show of her life.  The slide show is VERY good and I highly recommend you watch it.  It is on the right hand side of the page.

Full Term

Can you believe it?  The end has come.  Well, almost.  I am 37 weeks 3 days pregnant.  I feel....very comfortable.  I am excited to see my boy, but there is room for him to grow.  I had a doctors appointment today, I have gained 2 pounds so 2 more pounds until I get to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I know, I'm lucky.  I am 2 cm dilated, and 60% effaced and so probably not in the next week.  But hopefully soon.  I talked to her today about how long I can keep him in before something has to be done to get him out (whether that is breaking my water and crossing our fingers or a repeat c-section) and she said that I can't go too far over due because of the increased risk of my uterus rupturing (ow!).  So we know it will be at most not long after May8th.  I'm ok with and April or May baby.  I think a May 5th baby would be awesome because of cinco de Mayo.  But I'm a nerd like that.  I've decided that if he is born in May at all he will be getting a cinco de Mayo first birthday party.  We make pretty dang good mexican food with homemade tortillas.  Anyway....

This is me taken yesterday at 37 weeks.  We went out and had Kaylee play outside.  Mainly walking around and picking up nature.  I feel the best while walking.  I could walk all day I think.  Well, I will keep you all updated.  This is a crazy time.  We still have so much to do and clean!

Something I haven't talked about

 I wrote this post probably about 2 1/2 years ago.  It was so hard to talk about that I never actually posted it.  I was thinking of my lost baby yesterday during a conversation at a baby shower and I wanted to make sure baby sproul made it to my blog.  Baby Sproul is always in my heart and he/she has made me appreciate my Kaylee and little Malcolm that much more.  I think that because of this experience in life, I have gained a better appreciation for what I have.  I complain less, and I get through tough times better.  With Kaylee I had the baby blues for at least the first month.  Losing baby sproul helped me remember that babies are miracles and to figure out what I needed to do to get rid of it.  I didn't have anything but the above picture to remember him/her by. (I always felt like it was a boy) Anyway, you can read on.  Like I said I wrote this a long time ago:


This post is dedicated to our Baby Sproul. That is what we call him or her. Kevin and I lost a baby by miscarriage on November 21, 2009. Although it is a hard thing to go through, and it will never leave our hearts, I wanted to share the good memories we have of the only time we had bonding the baby we never really got to meet.

When I found out I was pregnant I was SO excited! I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember. Knowing that Kevin was the daddy was even more special. Kevin and I didn't want to tell everyone too soon, but we knew that if something went wrong, we didn't want to go through it alone. So I made the appointment for the next Monday and spent some time making pretty cute cards for Kevin's and my parents on Friday. When we gave my parents and Kevin's parents the card there was so much excitement in the room. I remember my Dad in law mentioned this would be the third grandchild, and although that seems like a fact, it was an exciting fact. I got to then stay up with my family and talk about how I was doing and everything. I knew before I got the test results that this was going to be the month. I felt it. I didn't just feel a little pregnant but I just had that feeling like this was it. I started bonding with that little fetus before I even knew for sure it was there. I just remember smiling all the time. I loved Baby Sproul so much. I still do, and even though I don't know everything about what happens after the baby is gone, Baby Sproul is still in my heart and always will be .

These are thoughts that make me happy. Even if it is sad. These make me happy.