Overcooked

 I was starting to get pretty miserable in my never-ending pregnancy. This family pic was taken on September 1st at Nick's wedding at the Portland temple. I was enormous and ready to be done.

My "magical" due date, September 19th, came and went uneventfully and left me still prego and even more miserable. I couldn't sleep, my back was hurting, and then I started getting weird twinges in my knees when I bent them. Ugh!

At 3:30 am on September 25th (Sunday), I woke up and moved slightly and felt a leak. So I woke Randy up and told him to get me a towel. I knew if I moved it would leak everywhere. So I gracefully walked to the bathroom with a towel between my legs and sat on the toilet where more amniotic fluid came out. I decided to wait to go to the hospital until I had regular contractions.... but they never came. So sweet aunt Carol Marie took my kiddos to church and enlisted the help of Grandma Afton, Jordan, and Maraina during sacrament meeting (Yes, that is one adult per crazy boy). And Randy and I headed to the hospital at 1 pm. Good thing my contractions weren't close together cuz the normally 5 minute drive to the hospital took about 25 minutes since a semi had flipped and closed a lane on the freeway.

Carol had to play the organ during sacrament meeting and Raidon went up with her. During one of the talks, he sat on the foot pedal and a loud deep note went off for awhile before she got him off it. Oh boy! 

This was the only time I had ever written a "birth plan" and nothing on it went the way I had planned. So much for that! When I got there I told them I wanted to walk to get the contractions going. I walked and watched the Seahawks game for a couple hours with no luck. At 4:50 pm I consented to receiving pitocin -which I hate! I only had pitocin for 20 minutes where I went from a 3 to a 10 with super strong, close together contractions. I was so exhausted from being awake for so long that I got the epidural. Then 20 minutes after the epidural he was born at 5:29 pm! I had no energy and could barely push him out, so I also had an episiotomy -which was one more thing that I didn't want. I told Randy afterwards that I don't think I was even pushing part of the time, just holding my breath -that's how deliriously tired I was.

 The hospital has a new policy that the newborn will be placed on the mother's chest, skin-to-skin, for the first hour after birth. My little porker nursed almost that whole hour. It was getting tough for me to hold him that long cuz I was so weak and exhausted. It also drove Randy crazy. He said I was hogging him :) When they finally weighed him, he was 9 lbs 2 oz and 21.5 inches long. My little beastie!

 We were so grateful to have an amazing nurse this time. Last time, when Baine was born, we had a nurse from H who was just rude. But our nurse during this stay was super helpful and a great support. Thank Heavens!

Here is Finnik Daniel Fuller ready to go home!

 I love all of his hair. None of my other babies have had this much hair

I completely forgot how exhausting a newborn can be. I am so worn out, but so happy he is finally here. Randy's mom, Carol, watched our kids while we were in the hospital and it was so nice walking in to a clean home with all the laundry done and dinner in the fridge. She also left us a bottle of sparkling cider and a decadent dessert. We were definitely spoiled! 

We were also super grateful for all of our sweet ward members who prepared meals for us. I always feel so pampered after having a baby. It is a nice break from cooking :)                                                           
                                                         We love this little chubbo!