First Christmas

Christmas was a little different in our house this year. It didn't really "feel" like Christmas to me or Daniel. I suppose it's because we have a totally different perspective of it now, we are looking at it as parents now not children. Don't get me wrong, everything about it was magical! We are truly blessed with the best family and friends ever! Love you all so, so much!!!

Life as I know it

Has changed dramatically. I have made some major changes in the last year that I never imagined myself doing. The biggest change of all is becoming a mother. I still wonder if this is real, it's hard to believe sometimes. As some of you know I have gone back to work part time. My first day back was on Nov. 4...my last day will be on Nov. 24. That's right, I'm quiting. It's hard to accept that I'm giving up all that I have known and built my life around but I have more important things to attend to now. Besides, how can I leave this face everyday?

I can't wait for all of the adventures awaiting us! I must say that I am one lucky girl! I love my family so so much and I'm so thankful everyday for them!

Pumpkin Walk

What were you expecting? Pictures of the amazing pumpkins? I think not!

Oscar's First Halloween

Daniel dressed up as Kyle Beckerman.  We already had a lion costume for Oscar, so I figured we might as well put on Oscar's Real jersey (even though it's for a 12 month old) so he can be Loe the Lion, Real's mascot. 

Here are some pics of the "real" Kyle Beckerman and Leo the Lion.

And here is my Kyle and Leo (Way cuter if you ask me!)

Like Father Like Son

Need I say more?

Blessing

On Oct. 17, Oscar was blessed. We had a double blessing with his cousin John.  Thank you to all who came and shared such a special day with us!

The many faces of Oscar

Here we are almost 12 weeks later and my little boy is still alive, so we must be doing something right! ;) This top pic is how he looks most of the time, very concerned about something...either that or he thinks his mom is a bit crazy!?!

He is getting so big. I have to go back to work on Nov. 4, but it's only part time. Nana and Poppy will be watching Oscar which makes going to work easier knowing he will be with family.

Here are some videos of Oscar (just for you Mimi! He is sort of camera shy and whenever I pull out the camera to get video of him, he always stops doing what he was doing and the minute I turn off the camera he's hamming it up again!)

Well there you have it.  My sweet little boy who has mom wrapped around his finger!

Update on our busy life

So you all need to forgive me...our internet at home has been acting up and not working EVER. We have had someone come out and try to fix it, but it doesn't seem like they can do anything about it. So I haven't been updating this like I should be...SO SORRY!
Oscar rolled over at 3 weeks. Yeah, I didn't believe it either when Daniel was watching him in the living room doing some tummy time with him and I was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Daniel says to me "Umm, he just rolled over." My first reaction was "no way, he's way too young." When we told Daniel's mom, she said the same thing. So we got some video of it for proof.

You have to be a little patient, he doesn't actually roll over until the end of the video.
Oscar is also starting to smile.  I happen to get the very first smile with a picture. This happened on Aug. 17 2010.

This smile is what I look forward to every day now! I just love being a mom and having such a cutie to care for!

Oscar's cousin John was welcomed to the world on Sept. 12. Cathy and Micah had a healthy big baby boy weighing in at 9 lbs. 1 oz. We went to visit them when they got home from the hospital. John and Oscar are the same size and Oscar is a month older than John.

(Oscar is on the left and John is on the right.)

And here is Dad and Oscar just chillin'

My Beautiful Family

Pics done by Memories by Sheena

You Are My Sunshine

The only lullaby I know is You Are My Sunshine and it's the only one I sing to Oscar. I think it's what my mom sung to me too. (Perfect pics done by Memories by Sheena)

NICU

Okay, I think I'm emotionally okay to talk about this now. (I say this as my eyes start to tear up)

The first night in the hospital was a really rough one for us, especially Oscar. We had decided that for the first night in the hospital we would have Oscar stay in the nursery so we could get some good rest. It's a good thing because at about 4am a nurse came in and told me that they had admitted him to the NICU because his oxygen level was low, he had fluid in his lungs and he was not eating. I didn't know what to think, I was so drugged up on pain meds from the surgery that I think I just went back to sleep with the news not really sinking in. When I finally woke up is when the news sunk in and I was so confused. They told us we could go see him whenever we wanted so we made the trip to the NICU. (Now remember I'm recovering from a c-section so it took a lot of energy just to get out of bed and into the wheelchair.) No one could prepare themselves for what we walked into...

We were not prepared to see him with all these tubes hooked up to him and coming from him. It broke our hearts. They wouldn't let us hold him, because they were not sure how long he was going to be in the NICU and hooked up to all the machines and they didn't want to have to train us on how to hold him with all of the tubes. Turns out he was in there for the entire 3 days that I was in the hospital so eventually they did let us hold him.

This was only the second time that I was able to hold my son. We were up in our room and I was having a really hard time dealing with the fact that I just had a baby and I couldn't hold, cuddle and love on him. So we went back to the NICU. We got there 10 minutes before shift change. They make everyone leave so that when they do have the shift change it goes smoothly. When we got to Oscar's room, the nurse could tell I was having a really hard time emotionally and that I needed my son in my arms. Without saying a word she went over and picked him up and placed him in my arms and I immediately felt complete. Needless to say they did not make us leave for the shift change.

For the next 3 days, they would come and get me every 4 hours to go to the NICU for Oscars feedings. This was so hard physically but I knew I had to do it and I have an amazing husband who helped me every time!

When they finally released him from the NICU (he was released the day I was able to leave the hospital) they brought him up to us just in time for him to go under the lights for his jaundice.

It was so bittersweet because I finally had my son with me in the room, but now I couldn't hold him. We had to rent a billibed from Intermountain Health Care to take home with us where he was under the lights for the next 2 days. We were so relieved when we were finally able to return the lights!

Welcome to the world

Well, as you all probably know, baby Oscar made his appearance 3 weeks early. He just couldn't wait any longer! So after days and days of holding my brand new baby boy Oscar and loving him, I finally decided to lay him down and update you all on his birth.

 Now for the story of my labor. On Tues. Aug 10, I went into work feeling pretty good. About the moment I got to work is when my contractions started and (sorry for all the details) I had my bloody show. I called my doctor and they told me not to worry about anything, just to keep track and time the contractions, once they are 5 minutes apart lasting 1 minute each then I needed to go to the hospital. I timed them at work and they were about 20 minutes apart. I was really uncomfortable at work, so I decided to leave half a day early. I went home around noon and passed out on the couch for about 3 hours. (Later I was SO glad I did that!) That night was our last Preparing for Childbirth class so we decided to go (even though I was having some pretty intense contractions). It was really hard to pay attention in class. Me and Daniel just timed my contractions the entire time, they were 9 minutes apart and lasting about 30-40 seconds. After class we went to meet our cousin Mark (who was visiting from NM) for dinner. I didn't have much of an appetite, so my last meal before becoming a mom was a chef salad. I had a feeling that I was going to be having the baby really soon, I just didn't think it would be so soon. We had Mark help us install the base of the car seat after dinner because we made it out to be a LOT harder than it really is! We headed home and I could tell that my contractions were getting more and more intense and closer together. So around 11pm we started timing them again. By midnight they were at 5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute each and the pain was getting worse.  So I decided to call Labor and Delivery because I think I was in a bit of denial, and I had not been checked at the doctors yet. That appointment was scheduled for the next day, Aug 11. They told me I could come in and they would check to see how far I was dilated and keep me for an hour, than check again, if I hadn't progressed they would send me home. So we got to the hospital at 12:30am and they checked me and I was at 2cm and almost 100% effaced, so they decided to keep me!

My contractions kept getting stronger and stronger and I was completely pooped so by about 3:30am I asked for my epidural so I could get some sleep. After I received it (I wished I would have asked for it earlier!) I was able to get a little rest and sleep through the contractions. Poor Daniel slept on a hard couch (that was more like a bench) that he couldn't even stretch his legs out on. A little later they came in and broke my water. By 1:30pm I was ready to push. So I pushed, and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed! About an hour after pushing my Doctor came in to check my progress and I was the same as when I first started pushing. He said that Oscar was laying a little transverse and that it was a little like trying to push a square through a circle. So he gave us two options. He said that we could either try pushing for another hour and if he hadn't been born by then we would have to do a c-section or we could skip the hour of pushing and go right in for the c-section. They left and let me and Daniel talk it over and we both decided that the c-section would be the best for everyone. (Especially me, I was so exhausted!)

So at 3:37pm we welcomed our little prince to the world!

Oscar Daniel Spillman

6lbs 15 oz

19 inches

And just for proof that I did push and push and really did try...check out his cone head!

Poor kid!

36 weeks

So here we are, another 2 weeks have passed. Time seems to be holding still now, I'm starting to get anxious to meet Oscar! We've been attending our Preparing for Childbirth classes (only one more to go) which have been ok. The instructor gets on our nerves...she's very opinionated about natural childbirth and nursing and I think in a class like that she should keep it to herself because there are people in there who have already made up their minds about how they want to raise their children. Anyway, we did get a tour of the labor and delivery in the hospital the other day.  I think that's going to be very helpful just knowing where I'm going when the big day finally arrives!
We should be finding out on Aug. 11 the date of when I will be induced! That's less than 1 week away!! Here's what mom and baby are up to this week.

Your Pregnancy: Week 36

Baby should soon descend into your pelvis, which will give your lungs a little room to breathe (literally). The bad news: This puts the brunt of baby's weight on your hips and pelvis, and will make them pretty sore. Add in your ever-loosening ligaments, and you may soon be taking on that oh-so-adorable pregnancy waddle.

  Baby's still the size of a honeydew!

Baby's skin is getting smooth and soft, her gums are rigid, her liver and kidneys are in working order, and her circulation and immune system are basically good to go. Her lungs are the only organs that still need to fully mature, but every day she gets a little closer to breathing on her own.

I can't believe I'm still posting these pictures of me as I get bigger and BIGGER! But here I am.

And this is just for fun...

When I saw these 2 pictures side by side, I couldn't believe how much of a difference 2 weeks made...and I still have 4 more to go.........AAAHHH!!

It is SOOO worth it!

Our precious baby boy! This is at 35 weeks (07/29/10).  I had a doctors appointment on 07/28/10, just for a regular check up.  Everything was just fine, blood pressure was perfect, weight gain right on track...then Dr. Horsley measured me. He then felt where Oscar's head is, and he says "well he feels a bit big, I want you to go in and get ultrasound testing, then we can figure out if we will need to schedule a c-section or if we will be scheduling you to be induced." He also ordered more blood testing to see where my platelet count is. That is the reason to schedule me to be induced, so they can keep track of my count in case they need to give me steroids so I can have the epidural.  So the following morning we went in for the ultrasound and Oscar is just fine.  He measures average and he even got "extra credit points" for practicing his breathing so well!  So come Aug. 11 (my next doctors appt.) I will be checked to see if I'm progressing and looks like we will be setting a date to have the baby!
I am so thankful we got these pictures when we did.  I am starting to have a really hard time moving around and with my swollen feet and ankles, they just hurt all the time now.  But every time I start feeling down, I just look at the pics of my baby boy and just think to myself, "he is soooo worth all this and more!"  I can't believe how much I love him already, I can't imagine the feelings I'll be having when he is actually in my arms...my heart already feels like it's going to burst.