We're home

Well, I don't feel much like blogging the details yet, but I thought I'd post some pics. and the main info. people are looking for.

5:30 AM on 7/27/09:
(we thought we'd get a better picture inside the hospital, but it never happened...)

Walter James Brasfield
weight at birth: 7 lbs. 8 oz.
length: 20 1/2 in.

He has super blond hair and loooong fingers and toes. There was a slight scare that he had strep, so he had an IV in the whole time at the hospital and we only found out today that he could come home with us today without staying longer for antibiotics. The antibiotics in the IV gave him a little jaundice, but I think he'll be just fine soon enough. He's a super chill baby so far and really has not cried much at all. Let's hope it stays that way!

This c-section was MUCH better than the last. It was nice not to have to go through 18 hours of labor in addition to major surgery. I didn't have the shakes afterward, and my recovery has felt better all around. I'm pretty tired, though, so this is going to have to suffice for a little bit.

Dean's been pretty good about it all, though I know I'm going to have to be REALLY careful about leaving them in the same room without an adult for any length of time. Not because he's malicious, but because he's a very curious and helpful not yet 2 year old!

Be Back Shortly

No picture update (our camera battery's being charged for the hospital). Our c-section is scheduled for 7:30 tomorrow morning. I'll probably be in the hospital until Thursday, so there will most likely be no pictures or updates till then. See you when I have a new baby!

As reality sets in

Last night I shed a few tears thinking about what will happen next week. It's hard to think of being away from Dean for more than 3 whole days. Sure I'll see him in the hospital a couple times, but that's a big change from being with him nearly every waking hour for the past 21 months. Heck, I'm tearing up just writing this. Matt thought I was being a bit over the top, but when you don't leave your kid with anyone (including your husband) for more than a couple hours every 4-5 months (I guess now once a week with nursery), you get kind of attached. And then you worry about their attachment and adjustment as well. And then to top it all off, Dean woke up sick this morning. Fever over 100*, hasn't eaten a thing. At least he's drunk some milk, gatorade, and a little soda. Once the Tylenol kicked in, he acted fairly normal, but as it wears off each time, his fever returns and he gets lethargic and cranky (for good reason). I really, really hope that he'll get over this quickly. It would be so much worse leaving a little sick boy for 3 days for others to care for him...

I'm not worried about loving Dean less or the new baby not enough or too much, but the unknown is still a bit scary. How do you divide your time when you're used to giving yourself exclusively to one little being?? Will the new guy be as fussy/colicky as Dean was? How will I get through the day when I don't get to take naps like I did when Dean was a baby? Oh, I know we'll figure it out, but I do anticipate a rocky adjustment. Hopefully I really am being over the top and it will all come more easily than I expect. But I've found that life rarely is easy than you expect.

woohoo!

Well, I just got back from my last pre-baby doctor's visit. I'm throwing Dean off schedule again; he's late going down for his nap. Ah well. Learning flexibility...right?

Well, I have NO GESTATIONAL DIABETES!! Hooray! She said my glucose level was 62 which means that if anything, it's low! Still sugar in my urine. Just an odd thing I guess. That makes me so happy since it's kind of stressed me out this past week. Probably contributed to my cold.

My last set of stats 5 days before I have my baby:
Weight: 155 still, so 24 lbs. total so far
Blood pressure: 110/60, so that's better today too
Dilated between a 1 and 2

The questions I had answered:
What happens if I or Matt still has a cold? Well, nothing, really. We still have the c-section and Matt can still be in the OR with a mask on.

How long does the c-section take? Well, the baby will be out within a few minutes of cutting and with stitch up and everything, it will all be done in about 1/2 hour.

How long will I be in the hospital after? It depends on me and how well I'm feeling and how quickly I want to leave. I could leave as early as Wed. or as late as Friday, but most Monday c-sections generally go home on Thursday.

Pain management? I only asked this because my sister said to make sure they didn't give me demamorph in my IV. The doc. said she usually won't use that. She said something else, but I didn't pay that close of attention. Oops.

-------------------------

This baby is feeling sooo much bigger this week! He's kicking out in places he hasn't before. Lots of side action, which is unusual. I really hope having him a week before his due date isn't going to affect him poorly for respiratory issues or jaundice or anything else.

Other than my cold I'm feeling pretty good, really. A little tired and hot, but Dean and I were still able to take advantage of the cooler morning (low 80's with a breeze!) and take a walk (1.2 miles round trip) to the park and play for 2 hours. I can still get up and down from sitting on the ground while holding Dean if I have to! I've slept on the couch the past couple days since I don't want to get Matt sick and I'm cooler under the living room fan. Less puffing and water retention than last time. I'll post one more picture on Sunday probably.

So much for a good schedule

Well, our schedule has been thrown way off track and we can't seem to get back on! Poor little Dean has been going to bed 1-2 hours later than normal the past week, mainly due to church activities and recommend interviews. Unfortunately this doesn't equal an extra "sleep in" hour in the morning. He's actually been waking up a little earlier than normal! Ugh. The few days I've tried putting him down on time he's talked for nearly 30-45 min. before falling asleep.

We didn't put him in bed until 8:20 (normal is 7) tonight because of temple recommend interviews. He didn't talk too terribly long, but it was pretty funny to hear him yelling "lawn mower" as he was going to sleep. He often talks about lawn mowers during the day. It's usually followed by "daddy, hat" since that's the only time Dean sees Matt in a hat. Other words that frequently accompany "lawn mower" are garage (where we keep ours), truck (lawn care companies), and Susie (she has a toy lawn mower he LOVES).

He's really started putting concepts and words together on his own and has had a huge boom in 2 word sentences. He's getting easier and easier to understand. It's fun.

Anyway, I hope we can get back on track with sleep soon. Luckily he's not been too terribly grouchy because of it.

One week

One week left people. One week. Just enough time to get over this cold I have. Hopefully.

The last 10 years

I missed my 10 year reunion today. Unlike my 5 year (which I didn't attend), I really wanted to go to this reunion. It's hard for me to believe that it's been 10 years since I graduated from High School.



Since I couldn't be there in person to share my past 10 years, I thought I'd do a little recap here.


Fall 1999

• Took the 1/2 tuition scholarship at BYU over the full scholarship at BYU-Hawaii so I could hang with my sister Julie.
• Worked at the Education LRC 20 hrs/week and took lots of credits.
  

2000

• Started dating Matt (my now husband). We met in our freshman ward and had Sharing the Gospel class together. I pursued him.

• Lost my scholarship with a 3.52 GPA. Darned biology and Psych 111!!
• Participated in Miss Navajo County Pageant for the second time. Was totally bummed I didn't make as much money as the year before.
• Sent Matt off on a mission to PA
  
• Lived with the best set of roommates ever. Was crazy busy with school and work (TA for Child Dev. 210).
  

2001

• Went through the Temple and received my endowments.
  
• Lived in China 6 months teaching English & wrote Matt weekly. Can I say AWESOME???

• TA'd for Child Development again. Lots and lots of reading and grading papers.

• Lived with my friend Lisa in her family's basement and traded part of my rent for teaching piano to two of her sisters.

2002

• Tried going to TX to sell energy for the summer and was thwarted by Enron. Ended up in VA with my sister Julie and her family. Waitressed and made pretty decent money.
• Went to England for a week to visit my sister Amanda and her family while her husband attended Oxford.

• Matt came home from his mission. We dated. I bought my wedding dress (without him knowing it) 2 months before he asked me to marry him!

• TA'd for Child Dev. again. Took lots of credits.
• Received 2 different scholarships that covered almost all of my tutition!! Woot!

2003

• Got engaged very end of Feb.

• Got married very beginning of May. (Yep. 2 months later! I NEEDED a short engagement!)

• Sold Dish Network in Reno with Matt. We made decent money though we both stink at sales.
• TA'd for Child Dev. and Moral Foundations of the Family (with Dr. Olson.)
• Took lots of Spanish classes for my minor.
• Kept my 2 scholarships.

2004

• Took an unpaid internship as staff at New Haven, a residential treatment center for teenage girls. Worked about 30 hours a week (including commute). Was totally stressed.
• Graduated BYU! Majored in Marriage Family and Human Development and minored in Spanish.
  
• Took a full time job cooking (instead of staffing) at New Haven. Really upped my cooking abilities!! Cooked (and shopped, and planned, etc.) about 7-8 hours/day for about 25-30 people 5 days a week.

Summer 2004 - Summer 2006

• Continued cooking at New Haven while Matt finished up school.
• Went to Guatemala for one of our anniversaries.

2006

• Moved to TX and bought a house
  
• Had a hard time finding a full time job. Took some random part time jobs.
• Met some friends and had some fun.

2007 - Present

• Had Dean and have loved being a stay at home mom the last (almost) 2 years!

• I'm 10 days away from having another little boy.

Some people just have issues: Part 2

Read here for part 1.

Our fence is up, stained, and beautiful. I need to get a picture so you can see the amazing difference of our new and old fences.

Well, the guy came to stain it today. I didn't think I needed to inform my neighbor he was coming (you know, the one who insists the fence is no responsibility of hers) since the fence is ours and paid for by us alone. I honestly didn't do it out of spite. I just didn't think I needed to inform.

Anyway, I was gone to my dr.'s apt. while he did the bulk of the staining. He was nearly done when I got home. Shortly after, I heard our outside water going and figured he was cleaning out his canister or nozzle or something. But then it kept going for, oh, I don't know, maybe a 1/2 hour. I peeked out to see if he was still there, and he'd left without turning off my water! So I went outside to check it out. We have a dual head on the faucet so you can have two hoses hooked up. He'd turned the stopper for the side he'd been using, but he left it on nearly full blast and our garden was flooded by the other head by the time I turned it off! Annoying, but not a huge deal.

As I was out looking at the fence, our neighbor came home. She stopped in her driveway and I could tell she was not happy as she got out.

She came over and told me that the stainer had used her water and failed to put her hose back properly (though it was not running like mine! I could only imagine how irate she would have been.).

Odd, I said. I know he used mine too. I mean, what am I supposed to say? Sorry the guy was inconsiderate?

She complained more about that and then she started going off on how she was unhappy that the grass by the fence got stain on it.

What I thought: Lady, you just got a $2000 fence for free and you're complaining about stain on your grass and your water being used?????

What I said: I think it's pretty inevitable since the fence goes clear down to the ground. The good thing is that it's grass and the stain will be cut off the next time you mow.

She said she wished she would have known that they were coming so she could have put something down to protect the ground.

I told her I was sorry I didn't think about the fact that the grass would be stained in the process.

She asked for a number of someone she could call (maybe the waaaaaambulance??). The number is very clearly posted on the fence, but I went and got her the name and number of the contractor. I don't know what she thinks she'll accomplish by calling. Maybe she just wants a good venting session? Sheesh. Some people are hard to please.

Gestational Diabetes at 37 weeks???

I'm not sure yet if I actually have gestational diabetes, but today at my apt. my doctor said that last week (met with the midwife since my doc was gone) and this week I've had sugar in my urine. It could mean diabetes, but they took some blood today to confirm if it is or not. Ack. She said at my 28 week diabetes test my sugar count was 78 and anything under 140 is normal, so I wasn't even borderline. She only sees a patient develop diabetes this late in pregnancy once every couple of years, so it's pretty rare. I REALLY hope that the blood work comes back normal, but if not at least it's only 11 days of having to really watch what I eat. I don't even know where to begin with that, so I'll probably have to do a little web searching.

As for my other stats:
I'm now at 155, so I've gained a total of 24 lbs. since my first visit.
My blood pressure was 98/60, so it's in the low normal range.
Dilated to 1 cm.

Hello Heartburn

I have been having horrible heartburn the last few days. I never really had it with Dean, so this is new for me. I've gotten it after eating anything, really. I had oatmeal for breakfast this morning followed by a good dose of heartburn. Apples for a snack. Heartburn. A large glass of water. Heartburn.

I am grateful that my "pregnancy suffering" is quite minimal compared to a lot of people I know. At least it wasn't like this the whole pregnancy. And even this is quite low on the scale of suffering.

The name game.

Well, we've had a lot of people recently ask if we have a name picked out for our little guy yet. My most common answer is that we're still not 100% sure, and I leave it at that. I've been more hesitant giving out our name ideas this time around, though I'm not positive why. Maybe it's because we'll probably not be 100% sure of his name until we're at the hospital.

It's hard coming up with names we both agree on. We do, however, both prefer masculine, traditional names for boys that are not over used. Matt's very anti-made-up-sounding names, especially if they're really trendy at the moment. For a long time Matt really liked the name Edward. It took him 4 years to convince me that I could name one of my sons Edward, but during this pregnancy he told me he's over that name now. Fine with me, especially with the whole Twilight craze. I've trended toward somewhat British sounding names like Calvin, Ivan, Gavin, Simon, etc, but Matt wasn't super fond of any of those, and I wasn't feeling all that strongly about them for this baby anyway.

My dad suggested Luke since my father-in-law's name is Mark and my husband's name is Matthew. We both found it pretty funny, and we honestly think that Luke is a pretty decent name, but not this baby's name.

About half way through we happened upon a name that we both liked enough to put on our "consider" list. I've stood by it since then, but Matt's gone back and forth. He did feel better about it after finding out that we do have at least one ancestor with the name.

Anyway, I looked it up on the social security site for the popularity, and in 2008 it was ranked #393. Awesome. Dean was ranked #353 the year he was born. That got me curious about my name.

I love my name. Honestly. I feel like I have probably the best girl's name ever. It's common enough that I don't get weird looks but uncommon enough that I've only ever met 1 other Celia in my entire life! I'm entirely grateful that my parents didn't name me Cecilia, though people (usually older people) have been known to call me that. The year I was born it was ranked #616. Last year it was #757. I love it.

A budding sense of humor

Dean is starting to understand that when he does certain things he elicits laughter. Some examples of his budding sense of humor are:

• While reading his "Jobs" book, he will point to the woman doctor and say, "Daddy!" then he'll look at me with a sly look and laugh.
• Any time he sees a sheep in a book, he'll point and say "Moo!" and crack up while saying "No. No."
• If we're watching a video of him (something he LOVES to do) that we laugh at, he will mimic his behavior and words displayed on the video.

These are just a few examples on the top of my head. He's a funny little guy.

The count down.

I changed my due date count down widget to reflect my c-section date. 20 days left...

Firework fun

I didn't get any pictures, but I wanted to give an update on how our little family firework show went. We drove out to Melissa to a spot near where we set them off 2 years ago. We knew it was pretty close to the city/county line, but we risked it. We didn't have many fireworks so we thought maybe we could get through them.

Well, about half way through our stash, a very nice policeman came and informed us that we were within city limits. He said a gentleman called saying we were setting off fireworks. If that's true...crochety old man!! Lame. But the officer was nice and we just collected the remainder of our fireworks and went about 3 miles south and set them off on the side of a road.

Dean was super good! He was slightly confused about being awakened after having gone to bed for the night, but he didn't cry at all. He was very intrigued and excited by all the head lights driving out there. It's funny to think he goes to bed before it's actually dark, so he never sees them! He loved the fireworks and kept asking for more. We had some mortars, fountains, roman candles, morning glories, and firecrackers. He didn't even get scared at the firecrackers. We had a lot of fun.

He went to bed really easily when we got home (though we had to leave the closet light on because he was a little scared at the dark room...like I said he goes to bed before it's dark outside!). He was also quite good at church the next day. I'm happy it worked out so well.

Belly Beautiful: 36 weeks

It's a little hard to believe, but 3 weeks from today I'll have a new little baby outside of my belly. People tell me almost daily that I look like I'm about to pop. I'm feeling pretty well, though. Sleeping has been extra hot. I end up on the couch pretty frequently at night so I can sleep under a fan.

I started the "nesting" phase finally. I think I'd been in denial for awhile that his arrival was close. He has a few new outfits and I put all of Dean's 12 mo. clothes away today so I could make closet space for the old "new baby" clothes. I'm also starting to sell some of our bulky stuff that's taking up unnecessary room. I just sold my single jogger for $5 less than I bought it last year. Not bad since I used it almost 5 days a week for a year. I'm still TOTALLY kicking myself for not buying that BOB stroller off of craigslist. I had no idea how well they held their value. I could have bought it for $350 and sold it for more on ebay if I wanted! It still makes me sick to think about missing out on that deal because I was too cheap. I've never had worse non-buyer's remorse. Since then I've been looking on craigslist and ebay at the BOB duallie and Phil and Ted's double. I've yet to see one close for less than $400.

I'm starting to feel a little nervous about having 2 children under 2! I'm also feeling a little nervous that Matt will be traveling 1-2 of the next 3 weeks! Pray that I don't go into labor early people.

36 weeks in 2007

36 weeks in 2009

Sweet Land of Liberty

Happy 4th everyone! Dean and I graced the ward breakfast/bike parade/flag ceremony this morning while we let daddy sleep in. Dean enjoyed driving his friend's motorized car, though he couldn't steer properly. After that we did some productive discounted fabric and baby shopping. It was the first baby shopping I've done this time around. I bought 6 outfits for the new little guy, and that's just about all I plan on buying since I can reuse most of Dean's stuff.

This afternoon Matt put together the child sized wooden chair and table set we got at Ikea yesterday. So cute.

For dinner Matt grilled up some polish sausages that we ate on hoagie buns topped with coleslaw. A winning combo! Dean liked the sausage and buns, but decided the coleslaw was too spicy. (His new descriptive word.) He got a little soda (for probably the 3rd time in his life) with dinner. He described that as cold and spicy, but I guess it wasn't too spicy for him since he asked for more when his little cup ran dry!

Tonight we plan on getting Dean out of bed after dark to go set off some of our own fireworks. (I hope he doesn't get too scared tonight or too grumpy tomorrow!) We got some of the cool big fireworks. We just have to find a good county road since it's not allowed within city limits here. Matt's family always shot off their own fireworks on the beach in CA, so he has some fond memories of the 4th.

My appreciation for personal freedoms really took shape as I lived in Communist China in 2001. "You don't know what you got till it's gone." I am grateful for this sweet land of liberty and for the men and women who have given their lives and time to make that liberty possible!

How to Make Rabbit Stew

First: Live in the part of town that has about a billion rabbits hopping about the neighborhood.

Second: Plant a garden to attract the fuzzy bunnies.

Third: Now here's where people are often thrown...put up a buried fence around the garden. Fences not only keep things out, but they keep things in as well.

Fourth: Allow the little tiny baby rabbits to squeeze through the fence links and live there undisturbed for a couple weeks to get a little meat on its bones.

Fifth: Once the rabbit is too big to escape through the fence links, catch the rabbit. They're quick little buggers and can hide quite adeptly in the bushy vines and plants, so it might take you about 45 min. in crazy hot weather like it did us...Our tips: high pressured water sprayer to direct it to the corner. Hope that it tries to get out of the fence but instead gets its head stuck in the fence.

Sixth: Boil it up and strip the meat...Ok, ok. We didn't boil it up this time. But the next time it makes its way into our garden...watch out bunny!

It was so little, I did feel bad to be chasing it around and terrorizing it. He kept getting smarter and smarter with his hiding and by the end it was hard to scare him out of the thick vines. Matt nearly got a gun to shoot it when we were unsuccessfully trying to catch it. Sad, but we couldn't let it continue to live in our garden. Our cantaloupes, watermelons, and cucumbers are looking too good to be eaten by a little bunny.

Work! Tools!

Dean is in love with tools. Last week I bought him his own real looking tool set. His favorite to use is his "hmar", but his favorite to admire is the new edger we got. We've gone through 3 hand held edgers with our large yard since we moved in. So last week Matt bought a heavy duty rolling edger. So far it has proven to be much better than the others. Dean seems to think it is the ultimate tool. He will ask to go to the "grage" to look at the "tool". He'll sit on the hot garage floor and just admire it.

Today as I was cooking and cleaning up the kitchen I kept finding one of our kitchen chairs on it's side. Every time I tried picking it up, Dean would protest and say "Work!", grab his hammer and start pounding on it. Matt had to fix one of our chairs last week and I guess he now thinks it's his duty to keep up the maintenence on it. Haha.

Also, we got him a little stroller last week off Craigslist since he kept getting frustrated trying to push his strollers around the house. He really has enjoyed it. The first day he had it, he tried sitting in it. I told him it was just for toys. He went and grabbed his tools, piled them in the seat, and pushed them around the house! haha. I wanted to take a picture, but my battery was dead.