My Beautiful Girls

Addy had her 2-week check up yesterday morning with Dr. Tinguely. She is doing great and he gave her an A+. She is now up to 11 pounds and 21 inches. She is still sleeping really well and is more alert everyday! Her BIG blue eyes just make me melt.

Jordyn has been spending a lot of time at the pool and on the softball field. This is her first time playing softball and she is learning a lot, having fun, and making new friends. All important ingredients for a great summer activity.

I am feeling fantastic and enjoying my time at home so much. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to stay home for the summer.

I have been taking a lot of pictures of my girls and I can't pick just one to share... so I'm sharing lots. (I love black & white photography in case you are wondering.)

Thanks for checking in with us... leave a comment - we'd love to hear from you!

Family, Friends, and Gas?

This past Friday, Kevin's mom, sister, and niece came to Dilworth for a visit. They made it in time to catch Jordyn's soccer game in Glyndon. It was a beautiful morning and we got tan lines on our feet! Jaycee was finally able to hold Addy which made her very happy (see picture on the left). She is such a proud cousin and just loves Addyson.

Barb, Sarah, and Jaycee spent the night in Dilworth and headed back home on Saturday morning. Shortly after they left, Kevin and I packed up the minivan to go to Barrett, MN. When I say we packed up the minivan - I am not kidding. We had to take the 3rd row seat out of the van so we could fit everything. The sad thing is that it was only Kevin, Addyson, and I. Jordyn was with her dad for the weekend and we had a neighbor taking care of the dog. We are going to need a trailer when we go out of town with all 4 of us and the dog. Babies are so little but have so much stuff... WOW!

Anyway, we went to Barrett to see our friends Jason and Elissa who are spending a week at the lake in Barrett. We haven't seen them since this past winter so we had a great time visiting with them and their two boys - Will and Caleb. Barrett was the place to be this weekend. There were many people from Kevin's hometown area in Barrett... including our friends Paul and Amanda who also spent the day at Jason and Elissa's cabin. There was a parade in Barrett that we all went to and the boys had fun. Addyson slept through most of her first parade and even got an 'air kiss' from a politician. Will left with a lot of candy with all the "big kids" helping him pick it up.

Sunday was a rough day at our house. Addyson had a tummy ache that she just couldn't shake. She didn't sleep for more than 20-30 minutes without being woke up by that mean old belly. Things got worse as they day went on. At 11:30pm last night, I ran to Walmart for 'anti-gas' medicine. This was the first of many late night runs, I'm sure. Within 10 minutes of giving her the drops, she was sleeping and peaceful finally. I was kicking myself for not going earlier. Live and Learn!

Few More Pictures

Pictures of Addyson

Addyson Joanne

6-12-06

5:09 pm

10 pounds 9.5 ounces

Proud Big Sister Jordyn

What a face!

Jaycee, Jordyn, Addyson, and mom
Dad is bringing his new pride and joy to the nursery.

Birth Story

I will attempt to keep this as G rated as possible as I don't want to share TOO much information. The following is from the journal that I started in the morning and Kevin took over around 11:00 am.

On June 12, 2006, we arrived at the hospital at 7:05 am for a scheduled induction.

7:30 am: I was dilated to 4 cm and the doctor breaks my water.

7:40 am: Nurse begins to administed pitocin.

8:30 am: Contractions begin to be painful.

10:50 am: Brook is dilated to 6 cm and tells nurse, "I'm ready for any pain meds now." She is given Stadol which makes her feel loopy.

11:55 am: Brook is still dilated to 6 cm and the pain meds have worn off.

1:00 pm: Brook is still dilated to 6 cm. Contractions have come "blazing". Nurse tells us the epidural 'guys' are next door and if Brook wants one, now would be a good time to tell her because once they leave it could take awhile to get them back.

*Note - I was scared to have an epidural because of the side effects that are often reported: not being able to feel my legs, a painful backache, a spinal headache, to name a few. I went into the hospital determined to not have an epidural as I didn't have one with Jordyn and figured I could do it again.*

1:55 pm: Brook is asked if she has decided about the epidural. She asks the nurse to check her progress. Brook remains at 6 cm. Due to the pain and the lack of progress, Brook has decided to go with the epidural.

3:30 pm: Brook is dilated to 9 cm. She now proceeds to (be sick). *less graphic than what is really written

3:50 pm: Brook exclaims "she's trying to come out". Nurses are getting things ready. Birth is imminent.

4:05 pm: Brook is completed effaced and dilated. Baby's head is pushing down. Brook says, "I'm done!" (I was very excited to be fully dilated. On a side note - it was very surreal to be ready to push and to have very little pain. My experience with the epidural was very positive and I am happy with my decision to move forward with it.)

4:15 pm: Brook begins to push.

4:30 pm: Baby's head has appeared.

5:09 pm: Baby is born!

There are a lot more details some good, some bad, that I won't share here - but if you ever want to know - just ask Kevin. I'm sure he'd be happy to relay his experience from the day. He did a great job coaching me through the pushing. I only got mad at him one time because I thought he was counting to slow while I was pushing! (I still think he was).

Addyson Joanne came somewhat unwillingly into the world at 10 pounds 9.5 ounces and 20-3/4 inches long. She is a great baby already... very content, sleeping well, and nursing like a champ. Her big sister is SO proud and ready to help with anything. I think Addy may be a daddy's girl. He is so good with her and can already calm her down very quickly. I love seeing them together. Kevin hasn't stopped smiling and is taking a nap with her as I write this. She opens her eyes when she hears mom or dad talking so I know she recognizes us. I could probably keep going and going, but I need to go see if she is ready to eat. I am going to put several pictures below. (Please check back for more pictures - there seems to be a problem uploading them. I'll work on it tonight or tomorrow.)

You can check out her picture on MeritCare's Bassinet as well.
http://www.meritcare.com/specialties/birthcenter/BassiNet

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, thoughts, calls, and emails. We are very blessed to be surrounded by so much love. We keep looking at each other in amazement for everyone and everything that we have in our life.

Thursday Fun: Doctor, Ribfest, and Jordyn

I had my LAST doctor appointment this morning. I have only gained 1 pound since last week but over 60 pounds with this pregnancy - so I was happy to have a small number this week. Hopefully a lot of that weight can be blamed on water retention. I continue to remain at 3 cm dilated but I am very thin and my bag of waters is bulging. My apologies if that is too much information for anyone!

Jordyn and I spent the day at Ribfest and had a blast! Jordyn made a friend and ran around with her on the 'Games to Go' games for hours. Luckily I had a book with me so I found a spot to sit and I got cozy. I even got a little bit of color today as it was sunny and in the 70s - a perfect day to spend outside.

I have attached a couple new pics of Jordyn, including one of her and her new favorite activity... email and Instant Messenger! YIKES!

We have a busy final pre-baby weekend planned. We are going to Chokio for the day on Saturday to participate in some of the Chokio Community Days activities - an annual event that we haven't missed in years. Sunday we are going to attend our church's dedication and will spend the rest of the day cleaning house so we are ready for Monday morning. We go in for induction at 7 am (unless there are no beds available.) Unless something BIG happens this weekend, this will probably be the last the update before baby announcement.

Please pray for an uneventful labor and delivery and also that I have the strength to get through labor without an epidural (because they scare me a little bit).

6 Days

The stripping of my membranes was unsuccessful so we continue to wait. I am officially more pregnant with this baby (39 weeks 1 day) than I ever was with Jordyn, who was born at 39 weeks. I am having contractions this evening, but I won't get my hopes up as this has happened before. We are assuming that we won't meet our new baby until sometime on June 12th - Induction Day!

We are having a great week! Jordyn has started daily softball practice and tomorrow is the first day of soccer and the reading club that she is in, plus the Dilworth pool opens tomorrow. Yeah! These activities keep us busy and entertained during the week.

We are possibly heading to Chokio on Saturday for Community Picnic (depending on baby status of course).

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful summer weather that we have been so blessed with lately!

Swollen Feet and Maggie Moos

My feet have been very swollen for the last couple months and they seem to be getting worse as I get closer to my due date. (Check out the ankle roll.) I had a special treat tonight when my friend Tanya took me for a pedicure. It was great - not only did I get a foot massage, but they also painted my toes. I haven't been able to reach them in a while so they were pretty rough looking. After our pedicures and a quick shoe shopping stop where Tanya bought some cute new sandals, we ran to Maggie Moos and had an ice cream. Mmmmm! Jordyn went to the lake with a friend to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend so BIG Thanks to Tanya for keeping me busy tonight.

Pregnancy Update

I had my 38-1/2 week appointment with Dr. Rondeau today. I have now been dilated to 3 cm for 2 weeks. The doctor stripped my membranes today which may get things moving more quickly. If that doesn't work, we will continue to wait. I am scheduled for induction on Monday, June 12th - my due date. I really hope I don't have to be induced so keep cheering for baby Spaulding to make her grand entrance before that time.

We had a very quiet Memorial Day weekend. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend and very hot out, so I was bummed out that we weren't at the lake but we didn't want to stray too far from home. We did have a BBQ with our friends Tanya and Paul on Saturday night which was a ton of fun. Paul grills a mean chicken breast!

Tomorrow is June 2nd and Jordyn's last day of 3rd grade. I cannot believe that she is going to be a 4th grader. It seems like just yesterday she was starting Kindergarten. We are looking forward to a fun-filled summer. She is playing soccer, softball, basketball, and volleyball in a variety of camps and summer rec leagues. That will keep her and I busy through most of June and July. Give us a call if you ever want to come watch a game!

In the meantime, I'll continue to update on our pregnancy progress. Who knows... maybe the next update will include a baby picture and a birth story.

Weltschmerz, Tmesis, Izzat, Kundalini and Ursprache

weltschmerz, tmesis, izzat, kundalini, and ursprache... What? What?

I am watching the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee and these are the words that the kids are spelling. WOW! A girl named Carrie Close just won on the word ursprache. I cannot even pronounce it... and I thought I was a good speller. Hee-hee!