Little peeper...

Sweet little Piper

While mom nurses...

I am going to have to keep a close eye on things when I sit down to nurse. You really forget how time consuming nursing a baby can be. Every 2-2 1/2 hours for 20 minutes or so really adds up. It is the prefect time for little people to find trouble. 

I had been washing a few dishes this particular evening. Laine loves to pull up a chair and "help" me. It was time to feed Piper. So I left Laine to do the dishes and I sat on the couch to feed Piper. Laine told me she wanted to take a bath. I told her no, that is was to early and we would take a bath before bed. She tells me, "No mom! I taken a bath!!". I turn around and there she is, buck naked, sitting in the sink, eating apples. Geeze. I had to laugh. I better have something for her to do while I nurse.

Speaking of nursing... I am normally really not a fan of it. I do it because I know it is healthy and the better choice for the baby. My milk never really cooperates with me and I dry out around 4-5 months. Then we switch to formula. I really wanted to nurse Laine longer but again no milk same story with Bode. Plus I was always frustrated being the sole food provider for the baby. That feeling started from the beginning with both Bode and Laine. I feel different this time. I really enjoy sitting down and feeding Piper. She has been a great nurser from the get go. She just latched on with no trouble on both sides and never had any problems. That was so nice. I think we are enjoying it for a few different reasons she could be my last and I want to enjoy the moments because they go by to fast, I like the time it takes to slow down and just focus on her and not everything else going on. I also think the whole skin to skin bonding hour I had with her when she was born was really beneficial. I with that had been the case with Bode and Laine as well. Who know how long this will last. I guess if my milk sticks around and satisfies Piper I might be able to nurse her longer. No matter the case I am enjoying nursing her.

Delaine Jo...

A few days after Piper was born I had a friend come over and take some pictures of her. I was looking on our family picture wall at where I would put them. We need new family pictures taken, in about 15 pounds, Bode has his new school picture and Piper would have cute newborn ones to fill her frame. But Laine's picture is old. It really doesn't even look like her. So I texted Jessica if she wouldn't mind just snapping a few of Laine for me the morning before she was coming to take Piper's pictures. I am glad she didn't mind and I am very pleased with how her little pictures came out. These are just from my back yard. 

Laine has turned into such a sweet girl these days. She loves her "siser" "hiper". She likes to make sure she is warm and even shares her blanket with her. She always tells me "no blankies on her face mom". She asks to hold her every evening, rubs her cheek against hers and gives her kisses. She hasn't been as jealous as I thought she would be, so far... She has already caught onto the whole nursing thing and nurses her babies.

Laine keeps telling me "you feel better mom" or "mom you happy". Poor thing. She will be 3 in January. I think it is safe to assume that she doesn't remember her first year and a half of life. So the things she does remember are probably the last year or so. So for the majority of her little life she has had a pregnant mommy. As much as I try, pregnancy really wears on me and I am pretty grumpy. She notices that an unpregnant mommy is a much nicer mommy. It is true. It has only been 3 weeks and it has been wonderful. I can hold all the kids with out a huge belly in the way, bend over and clean, play on the floor with the kids and play with them outside and actually play not just watch them. I am glad to be back to "happy mom".

Halloween and Month of Thanksgiving...

Laine as Cinderella

Bode as a Ghost Pirate

Piper in a Mommy's Little Pumpkin Halloween outfit.

I think the more kids you add to a picture you just have to be happy you got them all in one spot. Even though no one is smiling, looking at the camera and Bode insisted on making what he called a "creepy pirate face".

After all the chaos around here it was nice to have a normal activity. The original plan was to have Laine go up to my mom's for the week. Bode would have been at school all day and I would have had a week to just relax. But things change. After the weekend we had Jeremiah and I didn't want her to leave us. Plus the kids missed out on the ward trunk or treat so we wanted to take them trick or treating on Monday. It was fun to get my little Cinderella all dressed up with make up and curl her hair. Bode wanted to be a Ghost Pirate and Piper had a cute little Halloween outfit to wear as well.

It was so fun to watch them run from house to house getting candy. All the stress from the last little bit went away as we watched them enjoy the evening. We just walked our neighborhood and came back home. I think the kids had just as much fun handing out candy as they did getting the candy.

This brings me to my Month of Thanksgiving. I have done this in the past, where you take time daily to write down something you are thankful for. I am not promising daily here. Hopefully I will post twice a week. Today I am thankful for little memories. I guess that is the best way to put it. The little memories I have of my children. Like last night them running from house to house, when Bode started walking, how each one of my babies look around while they were/are nursing, Laine's sweet side when she notices someone is upset. I could go on and on but I am thankful for those moments.

Normal would be nice...

So... one week after Piper was born we were back in the hospital.

Last Thursday night Bode got up around 3 in the morning because he said he had a headache. He didn't have a fever but I gave him tylonal and he went back to sleep. He slept in a bit but was ready and happy to go to school when he did wake up.

I got a call from the school around 2:45. I picked him up and he looked pretty sick. He didn't even move when I walked into the nurses office. When we got home it all went down hill pretty fast. I gave him more tylenol  because his fever was right around 101. Then he started to have some labored breathing. We have a nebulizer because just about every time he gets a cold he gets wheezy. So I gave him a treatment and when I went to take it off he started to panic. Like scary chest heaving breathing. So I just left it on and thankfully Jeremiah came home right then. He had been in court all day. He rushed Bode to the urgent care and they told him to go to the ER.

They got him kind of calmed down and decided to admit him into the hospital. Since the hospital closes to us doesn't have a pediatric unit he got transferred to Thunderbird later in the evening. Bode's breathing was really bad, his oxygen levels were low and his heart rate was high.

Seeing as I had literally had a baby 7 days before I wasn't able to go with him. That broke my heart. I felt so helpless sitting around waiting for Jeremiah's updates. Jer was super tired because he had been up late with Piper so I could get a few hours of sleep and then he had court all day. Laine couldn't figure out what was going on. I called Rena and asked if she could come over and spend the night. I was already so physically tired and the stress of Bode's situation I just knew I wouldn't be able to handle taking care of Laine. 

He was transferred to the other hospital to continue breathing treatments. The doctors diagnosed him with a double pneumonia.  After a long night he was seen by a respiratory therapist. He talked with me on the phone and after getting his history and looking at the charts the doctor diagnosed him with asthma. 

This makes so much sense! We had always kind of thought that he might have asthma. Whenever he gets a cold it almost always turns into at least an upper respiratory infection. Any cold he would get I would automatically pull out the nebulozer and do some breathing treatments. They diagnosed him with exercise asthma with one of his biggest triggers a cold. He doesn't get winded when he runs around or plays really just when he gets sick. 

He ended up staying in the hospital for 2 nights and came home Sunday afternoon. I was able to go see him Saturday morning. He was looking much better and was enjoying the attention of the nurses at the hospital. Jeremiah was so tired. I felt awful that I couldn't give him a break. I got to visit with Bode for about and hour while Jer sat in the car with Piper. Bode was excited to see me. He showed me his iv, the pulse monitor. He told me all about the tests they ran on him and that he liked this hospital better than the other one because in the other one they made him wear a gown with pink in it. At this one he got awesome ones that were blue. I hated to leave him there but he was in good hands.

He was sent home with a plethora of medicines and asthma treatments. We are going to do a follow up appointment and get set up with a respiratory therapist to learn more and keep it under control.

I am so grateful for great family, friends and our ward for all the help gave us the last week. We have had meals brought in, my house was all cleaned by ward members and Laine was watched over so I didn't have to worry about her at all.

Now we are on the way back to normal. It was an emotional week and I am glad it is over. 

Heaven sent...

Piper Jane Joncas

October 21, 2011

8:48am

8 pounds 20 1/2 inches

On to the story...

It is no secret that the last few weeks of pregnancy are hard. I hadn't made any progress in the last 3 weekly appointments and was feeling discouraged. Along with some dissatisfaction with my Dr I was pretty beat. I went in on Thursday afternoon to an appointment and met with another doctor in the same office because mine was gone for 2 weeks. He was great and was on board with me wanting to get induced asap. I was 39 weeks 2 days and ready for a baby. He suggested stripping my membranes to see if that would help, I said sure. I have had some friends who had suggested doing it and had success so I was willing to try. When he went to do it he said I was already very soft and dilated to a 3. Yay! That was nice to hear. He said if that didn't work then he would see me bright and early Sunday morning.

That night Lee came over to watch the kids and I went out on a looong walk. I had a few contractions while I was walking but nothing huge. Jer was so sweet. He kept calling and texting me to see how I was. I kept telling him I was fine and we would probably be going in on Sunday so not to worry. After Lee left I took a relaxing dip in the tub and then went to bed.

Jeremiah came home from work around 1:30 and brought me some jalapeno poppers. My guilty pleasure. He brought them home a week or two ago and it made her go crazy inside of me. He gave them to me and told me he thought they would make me go into labor cause she would go crazy again. I laugh and said no I felt fine but would eat them anyway. We went to sleep and I started getting contractions around 2:30. I started timing them around 3:30 and they were consistently 10-12 min apart. Laine had a bad dream and I went into tuck her back in and went to the restroom. I pasted a huge mucus plug, fyi I will spare none of the dirty details here. I was so glad to be on the potty for that. I got up and laid down intending to wake up Jer and get things going but the contractions stopped. I was disappointed. They were gone for about 30 min until Laine had another bad dream and Jer took care of her. I sat up and they came back full force. Jer came in I told him I didn't think he would be going to work that today. He insisted on calling Lee and getting her down here as soon as she could come. I didn't want to rush things but he called her and I took a shower. The hot shower relaxed my body which was nice but it also brought my contractions harder and faster. Needless to say I was really glad he had called Lee and she was nearly there.

By the time we got in the car they were getting really hard. We stopped at a light during one and all I could do was breath through it and at the end I wiped my eyes and realized that I just had tears running down my face because of the pain. We made it up to the OB triage and they started to get me all check in. Finally the nurse realised that I wasn't even answering her questions because my contractions where so painful and coming so fast. She checked me and her eyes got all wide and she says you are at an 8. She hollered out the curtain to page the anesthetist, doctor and to get the room ready quick. Then she rolled me on my side and said not to move so my water wouldn't break. I turned and looked at Jer and not going to lie, I was feeling pretty panicky. An 8 is pretty far along and I was so not prepared to deal with the pain I was feeling. He looked concerned and looked about as anxious as I felt. 

They wheeled me into a labor room and it became a buzz with people getting things ready as fast as possible so I could get and epidural. I honestly don't remember too much of this time. I was just trying to get through the contractions. Jer was worried I might rip someones head off, I am sure that from his perspective it seemed like a valid point. Finally they got every thing in order for the epidural to be put in. I was worried with the amount of pain I was in that I would move or they would have problems putting it in and I would be out of luck. So I put my head down and starting to breath really deep and concentrated on not moving. I must have done a good job because soon the nurses were wondering if I had passed out. Thank goodness for the epidural doctor. He was awesome and got it in really quick and gave me a huge dose of medicine. It took about 5 minutes for some relief to come. They checked me again and said I was just about a 10 but that since my water hadn't broke I could wait for the epidural to take full affect before I started pushing.

We waited about 20 minutes for it to work and then I felt like I wanted to push. I pushed for about 20 minuets and she was so very close to coming but in between every contraction she would go back in a bit. So rather than tear she made a small cut and she all but flew out of me. She came out crying and beautiful. We had 4 names we were tossing around but right when I saw her I knew she was a Piper.

They put her straight on me skin to skin and there she stayed for about an hour. She nursed on both sides and latched on so well. She is a nursing pro, hopefully that trend continues. That was such a neat hour for me. Both Bode and Laine were cleaned up and weighed before I really got to look them over. It was so sweet to have that time with her.

The rest of our hospital stay was pretty routine. The rooms where nice and I like all my nurses. We had friends and family come and visit in the evening and the consensuses was the she looks just like a "Joncas Baby". Rather than rush home the next morning I asked if I could stay a bit longer and ended up coming home around 7 last night. It was just so nice to spend undivided attention on her and test a bit.

It was so fun when Jer brought Bode and Laine into see Piper.  I heard them out in the hall and I got so excited to have my whole family in the same room for the first time.  Laine and Bode we genuinely excited to meet her. Laine wanted to hold her right away. Bode was more of a look don't touch kind of visitor. That evening after the kids got home my little sister stayed overnight to watch them. She tuck Bode in and she said "Bode, you have 2 sisters!" He rolled over and said "yeah, wish I had 100 brothers". Sorry bud, two sisters might be it. He really likes her though. He likes to be close to her and call her Piper Jane.

She has been such a sweet, content little baby so far. She caught on to nursing very fast. She looks just like a "Joncas Baby" but still her own little person. I thought Laine had hair but I was wrong. Piper has SO much hair! All over her head. I love having a fresh new baby to snuggle. We all love having her here and are ready to get to know her.

38 weeks 6 days...

That tittle sounds like I have been trapped on a desert island... like it has been 38 weeks and 6 days since the plane went down. I have successfully made shelter and my fire starting skills are top notch. Wilson and I are in a fight...

But no, it has been 38 weeks and 6 days worth of pregnancy. This is officially the longest I have ever been pregnant.  I would be lying if I said I was taking it well. The last weeks are hard. You are just so sick of being pregnant and so ready to move on from the miserable pregnant part onto the labor, no sleep, huge milk boobs, newborn part. Lucky for me I have a sweet husband who as the days drag on get more and more sympathetic to my needs. He has been a huge help with grocery shopping, watching kids and being a shoulder to lean on. I have a loud symptom always in my last few weeks of pregnancy of snoring. Loud, loud snoring. He is so sweet to give up the bed, sleep on the extra twin in Laine's room, and let me have the bed. I however feel horribly guilty waking up alone knowing that I was so loud he had to leave the room. 

This is a picture from one of my many walks in the past weeks. Lee was down and we pushed the little girls in the strollers. Laine would get a bit bored and want to walk. She thought it was really fun to hold Daisy's hand while we walked. I think Daisy was a bit unsure about the whole situation.

I have been trying all those natural remedies to try to induce labor. Raspberry leaf tea, black licorice, eating fresh pineapple, spicy food,walking, walking, and walking among other things ;) but to no avail. She is really quite content to stay in there. I guess she will come when she is ready. I have an appointment on Thursday and will discuss getting induced. I have said the whole time I do not want to be induced, still don't, but maybe just having a day to look forward to will make me relax enough to get labor going.

Jer is interviewing this week to change positions in the department. Still doing police work just a different type of squad. He is low on the totem poll so it might be a stretch to actually get it. He is pretty hopeful though. So am I.  His area is testing  a new work schedule program. They would for work 3, 13 hour shifts for 6 months to test the program. He would probably get the night shift. It would be 3 really long days, a day to recover and then 3 days off. I guess it won't be the worst thing in the world, just not looking forward to making that change. If he gets the new position then he would work the same hours and still have 3 days off. Either way we are grateful to have a steady job.

Bode had fall break last week. He came to the conclusion that he likes school. He likes being with people and being kept busy. He did have fun playing with Laine everyday and she enjoyed his company as well. One day we decided to kill some time by going to McDonalds to play and then walk around Target for the afternoon. When we came home it was quiet time so the kids headed to their rooms. Bode wanted to play with the cushions on the couch to make a fort in his room. I told him to go ahead. He later yelled down to me that there was a spooky spider on the couch and that he would take care of it. I didn't think anything of it at all. He had been making Halloween decorations and playing with fake spiders and ghosts all week. So awhile later he comes running down the stairs with a cup and told me to look inside. And sure enough there was a huge spider in there! A real spider! That sure got me off the couch quick. Freaked me out. I asked him why he didn't have me come kill it. He said,"Well I know your face and you don't like spiders. So I took care of it for you." Sweet little boy, protecting me.

Laine, Laine, Laine. What to say about that girl? She has been my sweet little buddy that last few weeks. She has been very cuddly and helpful. Her little vocabulary has grown so much. She can say just about anything she wants but gets talking so fast that it can be hard to understand.

Hopefully my new post will showcase our newest addition. 8 days until the due date...