The story of a birth

So lets begin with me being 9 days late for delivery. That as prolly the most un-fun part of the whole process. The weather up here in Fresno was not being kind, and I had gained about 38 pounds so I was a bit uncomfortable as it was. Then it happened...

( the day before giving birth )



It was about ten minutes to five in the morning and I hadn't been sleeping very well. I got up to go to the bathroom and BAM! My water broke. At first I wasnt sure that it had really happened, so I waited about 10 minutes before waking up John. We had had so many false alarms and gone to the hospital so many times that I didnt want to wake him just in case it wasnt "time." Besides, we were getting induced that night anyways. So the ten minutes went by and I was sure that it was "time."



John woke up so quickly and calmly that I was really surprised. He has always been great under pressure. He said "ok" and walked into the bathroom and got dressed. I should have taken the chance to eat breakfast, but I was too excited/nervous to do much of anything but stand at the bathroom door and stare at the door till he was done. We double checked the bags, fed the cats, walked around the apartment to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything, and we were out the door.



We arrived at the hospital in short time, and were taken into a room to make sure I was in labor. I could have told them I was, but they wanted to hook me up to a machine and do a couple of tests anyways. As usual, I was right and we were taken to a private room.



Robin arrived shortly after with a big cup of coffee for John, and a much needed sense of humor for both of us. It was going to be a long day and the fact that she was there to talk with us and give us support is something John and I will never forget. It was a true blessing and we are so lucky to have such a great friend! She even helped John coach me through labor!



By 11:30am I was still only at 4cm so they decided to start the pitocen(sp?) and give me an epidural because the contractions were coming very fast and hard. The only part of it that hurt was the numbing stuff they inject, the rest of it just felt like pressure. It was a little difficult because I have 2 messed up disks at L5 and L3 and thats the area they needed to set it up at.



So with in an hour I couldnt feel my legs. It was awesome. and by 4:15 ish I was fully dilated. The whole pushing part only took me an hour and 2 minutes. The staff thought that I was a little crazy because I would joke and laugh between pushes. We were all on tender hooks. Our little girl was almost here! But wait, what?

( Just getting ready to push)


They told me I only had to push one more time and Aly would be here, so I pushed and John said "Its a boy!" I remember clearly saying "What?" and Robin laughing and saying "No its not." and John looking at both of us with the most shocked expression I have ever seen on his face and saying very seriously "I'm not joking, its a BOY!"




And then it was dead silent. And then my little boy cried and everyone started laughing.



The nurse asked us what his name was and I looked at John and we both said James. We had picked out first names for a boy and a girl before we found out what we were having, but hadnt picked out a middle name for a boy. We ended up settling on James as a nod to our middle school band teacher Mr. Boyer. He has been a mentor to John and has been a huge part of both of our lives.John said he was speechless when he called to tell him. We picked Samuel in honor of John's grandpa who sadly passed away two years ago.

( Laughing and crying )


We ended up staying in the hospital for only 24 hours after his birth. Both sets of parents made a mad dash up to Fresno from Lake Elsinore. A five hour drive. My parents werent able to stay very long due to my dads health but they both got to hold their grandson. John's parents stayed for an additional day and a half to help John exchange all the pink stuff that they could.

( Johns dad, Scott, holding James with us )


( John's mom, Lisa, holding James )





So now we are all at home. James is great. He is sitting on my lap at this very moment, chewing on me, and grunting in approval of the telling of his birth. One thing is for sure, he will have a great story to tell! He is the most precious thing in the world. John and I are already wrapped around his little finger. This kid will have a dog and a motorcycle by the time he is 2! We love him so much!

Life with a baby

The last time I posted a blog I was still pregnant, so it is beyond time to update. James Samuel Thornton was born on September 30, 2010 at 5:30pm. He was quiet a surprise for us because James was supposed to be Alyson. Yes, thats right, they had told us that we were having a girl. We even had an ultrasound one week to the day before we had him (three days after he was due) and they double checked and said "yup, its still a girl!" Imagine my surprise when John said "Its a boy!" I said, "No, its a girl." and John looked at me and said "No, seriously, Its a BOY!!!"

He is the most perfect little angel. I might be a little biased though. He was 8lbs 5oz and 21 3/4" long at birth. And it looks like he is going to be a very big boy. He had already gained a pound and 4 ounces by his 3 week appointment. He makes John and I laugh constantly, and we even have nick names for him. Monster baby, or pig pig. He snorts when he is happy, and growls like a little monster when he gets upset. He is just a little bundle of fun. He even started smiling the week before last.




We feel truly blessed to have been given such a beautiful son! I feel so luck every morning to wake up next to my wonderful husband and my cute little boy. Oh, and my two foot warmers, Blue and Sneezy. We cant forget the cats. Everyone knows they are really the ones that run the house! I will post the story of the birth right after this. Its a great story and I laugh a little more every time I read it!

Baby update

Hi everyone! It's time for a baby update. I'm currently at 30wks, 4 days and getting bigger by the moment it seems. The doctor has put me on bed rest due to the fact that I started having contractions at 27 weeks. Baby Alyson is looking great though! They estimate that she is around 3lbs and about 15 1/2" long at this point. She moves around constantly, and one of our favorite past times has become watching her move. This does lead to a bit of a problem when the nursing staff at the hospital try to hook me up for the NST (non-stress test). They have started calling her Houdini baby! By the look of things I will be on bed rest until I hit 36wks. At that point they are confident that she will be developed enough to be born. John and I are so excited for her to get here already! We cant wait to welcome this little addition to our family!

Pregnancy

For some of you this is old news at this point, but for the rest this will be all shiny and new! We found out on January 13th that we are expecting our first child. John and I are both very excited and cant wait to start this new leg of our journey together! Here are some photos from the last two weeks. Both taken on Fridays. One set is of me at 12, 4 days and the second set is of me at 13 weeks, 4 days. I hope you all like them!

How terrible am I?

While reading through my big cousin Amber's blog (love you Ambee!) I thought that it would be a good time to update everyone on whats been going on up here in Fresno. For starters, since my last post on August 30th, I have returned to the wonderful world of Home Depot. My back isnt 100%, but it is getting better every day, and I'm so thankful for that. John really helped out while I was going through the bad parts. He even did the laundry for me. I was so shocked that I had to laugh through tears. That is his most hated chore.

Hooray for great husbands!

Also while I was off work we helped John's mom do an audition video for The Amazing Race. Her and John's Aunt Vikki are hoping to make it on to the next season.
Good luck to Lisa and Aunt Vikki!


As of right now we are just getting ready for the holidays. I especially love this time of the year. There is just something about the cold weather and peoples attitudes that makes this time worth waiting for. We were lucky enough to be able to go down south for Thanksgiving. We had dinner at both the Groves and Thornton's houses. Needless to say, we were stuffed!





















The center piece John's dad made out of plants and flowers from their back yard.


























Scott(John's Dad) Carving the turkey.



The awesome cheese cake I made the night before. I love to bake!


I'll update again (hopefully) before Christmas. If not, God bless, Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you all!

-Mist

If its not one thing....

While working a closing shift on Thursday night I came up against a situation that unfortunately happens on a regular basis. A customer needed to have three 50lb bags of cement loaded into their car for them. The customers were a very sweet elderly couple. The husband had recently had knee surgery and his wife looked as if she would break in half if she tried to lift more then 10 lbs. My cashiers did everything they could to find someone to load. They called for building and lumber, but as always they were no where to be found. They paged over head and on the radio for anyone that was available to help but no one answered. When I walked up to the register my cashier Emmanual looked at me with a very distressed look on his face and said that he couldnt find anyone to help. I offered to load the customers my self.

I have loaded 50lb bags thousands of times in the three and a half years that I have worked for Home Depot. I didnt think much of it and assured the customers that it wasnt a problem. We got out to the parking lot and I got the first bag into the truck with out incident. On the second bag, however, I started to loose my balance and the bag started to fall. As I started to try to get everything back together, it happened. I felt a "pop" and then my lower back started tingling the way your foot does when it falls asleep. Then it "popped" again and thats when the pain started.

I managed to make it back inside and get a hold of the manager on duty. Next thing I know Im sitting in the emergency room at St. Agnes Medical Center. The doctor had to give me three full syringes of pain killers before they could take me to x-ray to see if I had fractured my spine. The x-rays look good she said, but she thinks I may have one or more slipped or herniated disks. As it stands right now I'm not allowed to drive, I can not walk on my own, sitting or standing is a challenge and I can only sleep on my left side. I never realized how much I loved sleeping on my stomach!

When all this went down I was by my self. John had left earlier in the day to go to Long Beach to pick up a shipment for work, and our nearest friends live at least an hour away. I ended up having to go through the emergency situation alone, but I had two wonderful nurses that stayed with me until John's uncle could get there from O' Neals to take me back to their house so I would have help until John could get back.

I'll be going to an occupational therapist on Monday to find out if I will be able to return to work. I'm really hoping its soon. I'm already going stir crazy not being able to do anything.

John has been wonderful. He has been taking care of all the things I normally do like dishes, laundry, moping and cleaning the bathroom and kitchen and so forth. He checks on me every few minutes to make sure Im comfortable and that I have enough apple juice or chocolate milk :)

I'll keep you all posted on what happens on Monday and how things are progressing. Wish us luck!

Quitting

John and I sat down today and decided that we are both going to quit smoking. WE saved our receipts from the last month and tallied up how much we were spending on cigarettes. It was almost $600! between the two of us. I was going at just over a pack a day, and John was at almost 2 packs per day. Our day to start quitting is next Friday. I plan to use the patch/gum approach and he is going to try using just gum while doing this. The last time I tried quitting I got very moody and tried killing everyone around me so I'm hoping for a better outcome this time. John has already managed to get down to less then a pack per day, and I am so proud of him! It takes a lot of will power to be able to to this. My goal is to be smoke free by my birthday. 10/10/2009. Im going to need a lot of support and I know I have John backing me 100% of the way. If you guys find any information that may be helpful in this endeavor feel free to send me an email. mdgroves1@yahoo.com. I could use all the help I can get. Wish us luck!

Misty