Bath Time and Helpers

So Chase is finding his lungs. He hates getting his diaper changed, and makes it known loud and clear. We learned today that he also hates baths.

Before his bath. Look at that long hair over his ears.

His hair is long in the back, too.

Of course everyone wanted to help and watch.

All done.

After his bath, his hair dried into one big puff.

One would think that since this is my 4th baby nursing would be second nature. Unfortunately, things have been a bit rocky. Here is Kailyn helping feed Chase.

Jordan reading a story to Chase.

Well Child Checks

So last Thursday Caden and Jordan had their well child checks. We had problems with our last pediatrician always billing us wrong (and insurance refusing to cover the bills since they weren't billed correctly), so I decided to change offices. The new doctor seems OK. We did learn that the last pediatrician had messed up on both Caden's and Jordan's shots (Caden's were really bad). So they both got shots and have to go back in 6 months for more.


CADEN

Caden is in the 50th percentile for height and 75th for weight. Everything else looked great. Caden has a funny little quirk, every time something is stuck in is right ear he starts coughing.

When it came time for his shots he got really excited.
Caden: "Mommy, I'm getting a shot, huh?" (with a cheerful happy little face)
Me: "Yes. They might hurt a little cause they will poke you." (trying to get him ready 'cuz he obviously has no idea what is coming)
Doctor gives him his first shot and Caden gets a look of shock on his face.
Caden: "I'm going to get a shot." (still happy but not quite so chipper)
Doctor gives second shot. Caden begins to cry.
No more happy Caden. He cries through the next 2 shots.
I tell him he is all done.
Caden stops crying, wipes his tears away (LOOVE watching him wipe his tears--so deliberate, so cute) and happily states, "I'm all done."


JORDAN

Jordan was in the 97th percentile for both height and weight (I was a bit surprised 'cuz she has never been this high before).

She was very afraid for her shots, I think mostly because of a little pep talk from Kailyn (the girl that is deathly afraid of shots--yeah not the person that one should talk to before getting shots. "It's going to hurt a little, but you can be brave and . . ."). Jordan hid behind me the whole time Caden was getting his shots, and even before the shots began she was asking "Caden will get his shots and then we will go home and eat lunch, right?" Nice try (notice how she doesn't mention anything about getting her shots). It was really a struggle to get her arm ready, she was quite hysterical. She seemed a bit surprised after the shot. Not as bad as she was expecting.

Chase Dean Bassett

Yup, he now has a name. I wanted to name him Jason. Shelly wanted to name him Tyler (Shelly didn't want anyone to think we had established a pattern, ie, alternating "K" and "J" sounds. She also wanted to get away from the "n" sound at the end of all the names). Anyway, in the end, Shelly made the final decision and I agreed. Enter, "Chase." "Dean" is after my grandpa Walker, a great man we're proud to name our child after. "Bassett," well, it just seemed right to have the same last name as the rest of us.

As with most newborns, Chase has been pretty tired and sleeping a lot. When he does wake up, he likes to look around. He doesn't like the undressing or diaper changes, and his cry is very high-pitched, kind of funny sounding. He is definitely getting more umph behind his cries, too.

Anyway, the kids have mixed feelings about their new little brother. Kailyn adores Chase and would hold him all day if she could. She's excited to read to him and play the piano for him. Jordan, she seems to tolerate Chase. She likes to hold him for a few minutes at a time, but not much longer. Caden. He's not sure what to think. He's been pretty cranky (he's also been sleep-deprived). I suspect he's going to miss the attention of being the youngest. Following are some cute pictures from the past 2 days.

Chase's trip home, first trip in the carseat.

Our best pacifier baby yet. Here he's holding it in.

The motherly Kailyn

It's a Boy!

In short: Our as-yet nameless newest little guy was born 1/23/09 at 23:42. He was 6 lbs 5 oz, 20 1/4 inches in length, and, of course, cute. He has a full head of hair, just like his siblings. Also, just like his older siblings, he had the cord wrapped around his neck (twice). He looks great! Here are some pictures.

These 2 pictures are just before the baby was born.

Umm, what are we waiting for?

Right after delivery

6 lbs, 5 oz

The rest is mostly for scrap-booking purposes, but you can still read if you want.

So, I went to the doctor's office on 1/23 for my regular twice-weekly ultrasound, non stress test and doctor's visit. No great improvements on baby movement or size, so my doctor sent me in to be induced, stating that this time it was not an elective induction. She basically said that with 2 abnormal ultrasounds, it would just be better to have the baby out so we could all see for sure what he was doing. So, after arranging places for my kids to stay and someone to pick up Kailyn (huge thanks to Stewarts and Marks!), I went in to a very busy OB floor and waited and waited for the Pitocin to start. They started slow and titrated up. I was not having any contractions on my own, so it took awhile for a good effect. I got a half-working epidural (my left side just wouldn't get numb--scar tissue maybe?), and held off on having them break my water until the anesthesiologist came and pushed a little more pain medicine into my epidural. By that time, it was just after 11:00 p.m., and Ken said, "I still think this baby will be born on 1/23," to which the anesthesiologist, the nurse, and I all said, "nah, he's not coming out until 1/24." About 10 minutes later with everyone still in the room, I suddenly felt a lot of pressure. Sure enough, he had dropped and I was complete. For the next 20 minutes, I did everything but cough/sneeze/push and waited until my doctor made it into the room. After only 3 pushes, the little guy made his appearance.

Classic moments

"5 minutes ?!?!" This is what I yelled after I had been complete and did everything I could to NOT deliver the baby for 15 minutes waiting for my doctor, only to have her finally call and say she was about 5 minutes out still.

Maybe I am ready to be done

OK, so after today, I'm thinking early delivery might not be that bad--for no other reason than I am tired of doctor's visits.

An update. During the time of my hospital visit I had lost quite a bit of weight due to nausea and loss of appetite. I then began to measure a little small, so they decided to due an ultrasound. They found out the baby was measuring a little small, especially his abdomen (which I am beginning to wonder about since this measurement was taken by a new ultrasound tech who has made other mistakes). So for the last month I have had appointments 2 times a week to do non-stress tests and ultrasounds. These visits are insanely long (especially when the kids are with me) because the new ultrasound tech and doctor get behind, and the non-stress tests and ultrasound just take forever.

Today's visit was actually not bad at 2 1/2 hours. During the ultrasound, the baby was not very active (it had been a long time since I had eaten). Luckily, after the ultrasound and just before the non-stress test, I ate some crackers that I found in my purse. When they hooked me up, the kid was going crazy. He was very active for 5-10 minutes and then calmed down. They tried to get him to move, but he would just kick once and then do nothing else. I was supposed to see the midwife today (whom I had not met), but she popped her head in saying she was trying to get ahold of the doctor on call. After a long wait she finally came in and said that my doctor was in for a surgery and that I could either wait and figure things out, or go home and they would call me.
"Wait, figure what out?"
"Oh, nobody's told you?"
"Umm, no."
"Oh, uhh, we didn't like the results of your ultrasound and non-stress test. The doctor will probably want you to either do a long test at the hospital or come back tomorrow to redo everything. "
"Are you kidding?! OK, I guess I will go home and wait to hear" (I needed to pick up my kids, and from experience knew it might be a looooong time before the doctor made it in).

I went home and fed the kids. Ken got home from an overnight shift and early morning lectures. Then the call came. The doctor wanted me to go straight to the hospital. Sorry Ken, I know you've had only 3 hours of sleep in the last 32 hours, but gotta go.

I went to the hospital and the monitoring started. They did another ultrasound and everything looked fantastic (except they never saw any big movement from his arms). More monitoring. Finally, the resident came in and said that everything looked good and they just needed to talk to the doctor, but I would certainly be going home. "Thank goodness," I thought to myself, "this bed is so uncomfortable." And then the worst thing ever happened. The resident looked at the monitor and saw a huge mountain on the monitor tracings (I had just had a monumental contraction) and asked, "Wait, are you having contractions?"
"Yeah, but only an hour and a half of only 15 minutes apart and they are now only 1 every hour."
"That last one looks like a big one, did it hurt?"
"Yeah, it hurt."
The resident left the room for a couple minutes before coming back. "Change of plans," she said. "You are staying overnight for observation."
"What?!?! Are you kidding? You can't be serious. Really this is normal. I am 38 weeks along. This is my 4th and trust me I am not in labor. Please, don't make me stay I will come back if it turns into real labor. "
So I didn't say all this to the resident other than the "What?!?!" and "Are you serious?" Well, she left and ended up talking to my doctor and came back about 45 minutes later.
"Good news, you get to go. . ."
"Thank goodness!" I thought to myself.
". . . It is your 4th, and I am sure you will know when to come in. "
Hooray! So, after only 5 1/2 hours at the hospital I got to go home. All told - 8+ hours waiting for doctors--it's like a trip to the ER or something (sorry, Ken)!

So back to the title of this post. Maybe I'm ready to be done. These twice-a-week visits plus the unexpected trips to the hospital are getting REALLY old. I had really wanted to go to my due date (why rush the sleepless nights), but now I am beginning to think I want this baby out so I don't have to spend my life at the doctor's.

PS Can you believe only 2 weeks left? It seems really close . . . until I think of all of the doctor's visits I have between now and then.

Caden

When we got home the other day Caden saw three squirrels running around on the tree in our front yard. I tried to get him to come inside, it was freezing outside, but he didn't even notice me. I was finally able to talk him into coming into where it was warmer and watch them from the kitchen table. He was quite fascinated by them.

Caden has really been into drawing lately, especially if it involves pens and/or markers. The other day he got his hands on a marker his sister left out and decided to use it to decorate his pillowcase. I can't complain too much this is his first incident and hopefully (but probably not) his last.

Sledding

We got A LOT of snow this last week. We were overjoyed to finally be able to go sledding. The kids all had so much fun.
PS Can you believe we actually found a hill to sled on? (it is very flat around here)

Me, Caden, Kailyn and Jordan making a sledding train.

Here comes the train.

Ken and Caden. Caden kept calling the sled a boat. He had so much fun sledding.

Jordan and Ken.

Jordan and Caden

Surprisingly our only crash and there weren't even any tears.

Jordan

Caden and Kailyn

More Birthday Pictures

Here are some pictures from Jordan's birthday celebration. We just did a small family party at home.

The Cake. Jordan loves her baby and loves the stroller she got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Jones, thus the reason for the baby stroller cake. We let her pick out what type of cake she wanted (white with sprinkles) and her only other request was for it to have "M.L.M.s" (aka M&Ms).

Blowing out the candles.

Jordan picked Neapolitan ice cream. Here she is taking a peek at her striped ice cream.

Jordan over joyed with her M&M cake and striped ice cream.

Jordan opening presents.

Necklace from Grandma and Grandpa Jones.

Jordan was so cute. She told Kailyn and Caden they could help her open her presents, which they happily obliged to.

At times we wondered whose birthday it was. Kailyn would quickly grab the opened present to check it out (before Jordan even had a chance to look at it). I was amazed Jordan never got upset by this.

Pictures of the party guest.
Mom and Dad (picture taken by Kailyn)

Kailyn and Caden