Sweet Pea turns 1

One year ago (yesterday), our Sweet Pea was born. And thus, my labor story:

The day before she was born, I had an appointment with my midwife. I think she must have stripped my membranes. I had more painful than usual contractions sporadically throughout the day.

That night BA and I took the children to the school skate night. I told BA on the way that I was in the first stages of labor.

That night I had 2 hours of 7-8 contractions an hour and then 3-4 every hour until morning. I slept on the couch, tried to sleep, watched a little TV, and timed my contractions.

BA got up at 6:30 to get ready to go to a final. I ventured off the couch at 6:50. And my regular contractions started. We took the kids to some friends and went to the hospital.

My first words upon entering my room were, "I would like an epidural ASAP." I was told they had to get 1 1/2 liters of fluid in my IV so my blood pressure wouldn't get too low. The first IV they tried burst as I was throwing up. So they put it in my left hand. I was actually pretty dehydrated so it took much longer to get fluid in me than it should have.

At 9:00 I finally got an epidural. Relief. For an hour. Then I started feeling pain. Slight at first. But it got more and more intense. "We have our anesthesiologists put the epidurals in in a different spot so our patients can feel more and help out in the delivery process more," I was told.

REALLY?!?!?!? I've done it both ways. I wanted to feel NO pain!!! Note to self- never have a baby in that hospital again. By the end, the pain was the same intensity as if I'd never got an epidural. My theory: the epidural didn't work.

After a LONG time pushing (ok, not for you it wasn't long. But I'm used to 2 pushes for the whole baby to come out) the midwife realized the baby was sunny-side-up. And thus ensued all sorts of methods to turn her. They hurt. And she didn't turn. I was later told that if I'd had one of the OB doctors he would have done an emergency c-section. Thank goodness I had a midwife.

By the end, however, I was pleading and even demanding them to just take this baby out! Sweet Pea was born at 11:27 am. My longest active labor. 4 1/2 hours.

I got to hold my precious baby for only a few minutes before they checked her out and found her breathing to be to fast. After a few hours her breathing was still too fast. So we allowed some blood work to be done. It showed an infection. A friend came to the hospital and helped BA give Sweet Pea a blessing. Then within 5 hours of being born, our beautiful baby was taken to a different floor to the NICU.


I felt calm during the whole ordeal. I knew something was going to be wrong when she was born. No, I wasn't just paranoid. But I knew. I had been praying for almost 9 months that this baby would somehow know whatever challenges would face her at birth and be extra strengthened for them. And she was. And there were angels with her. Both seen and unseen. The NICU nurses were some of the most amazing, kind, loving women I've ever met in my life.

My recovery was the quickest of them all. Since Sweet Pea was in the NICU, I tried sleeping there, but couldn't. So I slept at home. All night. I would wake up at 3 am to pump. And sleep peacefully the rest of the time. Now I'm not advocating babies to stay in the NICU. All I'm sayin' is- look on the bright side.

I do have to insert about her name. Many of you know. But some of you don't. I have ancestors who were in the Willie handcart company. Daved, Robert(17?), and daughter/sister (15?). They met up with the wagon train where another daughter, her husband and children were. David gave up his food each day for his grandchildren because they were starving. He died of malnutrition. 8 days later when the teenage daughter went out to gather sagebrush for the fire, she was found unconscious and later died. (We come through Robert.) She gave up all she had to come to Zion. This was the legacy we wanted our little girl to have.


So yesterday our sweet little girl turned one. She has been such a joy in our lives. She is patient as she gets her arm and leg pulled over who gets to hold her. She laughs and plays. She is so happy. Yesterday afternoon, some friends stopped by to give her a present and she backed away from Janel to come closer to me. She's just learning that everyone is not her mom or dad.


Her newest trick is to play peek-a-boo. I got it recorded. She'll hold up whatever she can find in front of her face and then lower it and laugh.

She's starting to not like baby food that we feed her. She'd rather feed herself. She's a great traveler.

She sleeps all night. She slept through by 3 months. Then around 5 months started getting up. After a few months of that, she got to spend a few nights in a room in the basement. She had really long morning naps for 3 days. But now she sleeps through.

If Boo's Polly Pockets are out and I let Sweet Pea play in the basement, she goes straight to them. She puts everything in her mouth, but doesn't swallow things that she shouldn't. At least I don't think she does. I let her explore a lot.


She can hold her own. Countless times she has fought for something she wants (usually it's something I don't want her to have).

She loves baths. Which is good because she gets about 2 a day. Yep. Two. I know I'm a mom. And I should "enjoy" slober and food all over in her hair. And snot. But I don't. And the best way to clean her all the way up is a bath. So she bathes. Lots.
I love my Sweet Pea so much!

Ubby- K-K

I've been thinking lately that Ubby's name should be changed to K-K. That's the name he goes by in the Wii and he likes it better. So, now the story of K-K's birth (two days late): And, as with Doe's birth story, this is long.

We moved from Kansas to Colorado in January 2003. I was 7 1/2 mo. pregnant. Thank goodness for the moving company.

I felt no sense of disdain of being pregnant. No heartburn. Not too uncomfortable.

On Sunday February 16 (3 days before due date) I woke up at 6:05 with a contraction. I can sleep through all false contractions. I had to with child #2. So I knew this was the real thing. I laid there and almost all my hopes were dashed when I didn't have anymore for a while. 6:18 was my next contraction. And then 6:31.

I got up to shower, thinking this would be a while. THREE contractions in my 10 minute shower.

Chaos when I came out and told BA Baracas I'd had 3 in the shower.

We couldn't get hold of his cousin to watch the older children, so while he was showering, I walked down 4 houses to ask the neighbors in our ward to watch the kids.

We left the house at 7:30. It took 30 minutes to get to the hospital.

The emergency room admittance lady was taking things much slower than I thought necessary. In fact, everyone was much more relaxed than I thought necessary. Got to my room, changed into my beautiful prom dress...I mean the usual garb. Waited another 20 minutes (It's now about 8:40.)

Urgency in the nurses voice as she realized the doctor wasn't there and the baby almost was.

9:25- I insist on an epidural. I was going to try it natural. But it just hurt too much.
9:26- please give me an epidural
9:27- I really would like an epidural
9:28- NOW!!!

9:35 doctor gets there at the same time as the anesthesiologist. Says something like- Why don't we try breaking your water to see if that helps the baby come.

9:36- breaks my water. While he is turning around putting the crochet hook on the tray, I push K-K's head out. I'm in too much pain to wait for the doctor. And I did NOT want him to tell me to wait.

I say something like- "I think the head is out" to BA. He informs the doctor. Chaos again. The head is indeed half way out. No baby bed in the room. None of the other "stuff" that is supposed to be there. Urgency in the nurses voices as the entire floor comes to a halt to get my room ready for this baby.

9:36- the rest of the baby is born. I have gone to the edge of my pain threshold. I am changed forever. And we have our beautiful K-K.

He doesn't cry (none of our kids did). He looks around. Gets looked at by the pediatric doctor. He has fast breathing and a few other things. I hold him for a few minutes and then he's down to the nurses station so they can monitor his body temperature, breathing problems, and a few other things.

We get to go home 3 days later.

K-K is a very passionate boy. Around the age of 3 I had a really hard time with him. For a few years. He had melt downs regularly. Three to four times a day. I learned a lot. Preschool saved us both. I had half a day, 2 days a week without having to deal with his melt downs. And then I went to PTC. His teachers LOVED him. I was surprised, to say the least. And then I felt like a bad mom. Those two women had more good things to say about him than I could. And then I changed my attitude. I embraced all that is good about him. And I tried to help him grow out of the bad things. And the things that couldn't be grown out of, we just deal with.
He loves stuffed animals. He always has. He is my only child who has no natural fear of real animals. He is a people pleaser, most of the time.

From about the ages of 4-recently, he was more obedient to Sarah than he was to me. And she wasn't as nice to him as I was. Go figure. He loves his brother and sisters a lot.

He loves getting things done on lists. We have chores on little cards that the kids do. He does his in order and finds great pride in moving his to the "done" peg. When it's time to go to the store, he wants to make a list. Even if I'm only getting one or two things.He loves Pokemon. He hates to be embarrassed. You cannot discipline him by doing it in front of anyone else. He will not respond. He gets excited about things. Really excited. He is a great swimmer. He has no fear of water.

He is an amazing singer. He loves to sing and although at first he felt a little bad that Boo would always tell him to stop singing in the van, now he sings just to bug her.

He is incredibly bright. He remembers almost everything. Every teacher he has had has told me this. His memory is amazing.

He loves to cuddle. With me. He loves when I go on and on talking about anything that has to do with him. He would stay put for hours if I went on that long about him.

About a year ago he stuck his tongue out and said, "Look, I can do the hula with my tongue!" He is often funny without meaning to be.

He is very sensitive to the Spirit. In fact, yesterday as we were driving home from Walmart, "I Feel my Savior's Love" was playing in the van. He said to me, "Mom, I feel the Spirit right now." He tells me whenever he feels the spirit.

I love him. Through him I have learned a lot about myself. I'm sure he'll continue to teach me a lot. I wouldn't be complete without him in my life.

Happy birthday, Doe

(I realize this is long. I'm not sure if I'm normal, but I love to hear other woman's labor and delivery stories. Maybe just hearing a story of how a child was brought into this life brings me a little closer to my own sweet memories of having my children.)

Eight years ago tonight I was the most uncomfortable and miserable I ever was as a pregnant woman.

Eight years and 8 weeks ago I was put on bed rest after going into labor early. And after some further tests, I was in labor.

And so I waited and laid down for weeks. Only getting up to go to the bathroom (and to stay sane, but don't tell the doctor:)

And at 36 weeks along, I had done every ounce of scrapbooking I could possibly do, being restrained to my bed, and I had read every book I could focus on, and I was done with bed rest.

And so within a day or so of getting up and around, I was in the hospital. I was checked in. My wrist band was on. No one was telling me to go home. I signed all the papers. This baby was coming.

But not really.

After getting my wrist band on (which was the ultimate symbol that I was indeed going to have my baby in the next 24 hours at least), we waited. And I fell asleep. And my contractions stopped. They didn't start back up. And so the next morning the nurses asked if I just wanted them to get some pitocin going and they could start me back up.

Are you crazy?!!

I just spent a horrible night in the hospital getting checked on every 1/2 hour. I was sleep deprived. One thing you don't want me to be, is sleep deprived. So I opted to go home and sleep. I was pretty sure I'd be back by the next afternoon.

Two weeks later I was starting to rethink the decision I had made. I went through all stages of false labor on a daily basis. So when I woke up with contractions on that beautiful Tuesday morning, I got up and watched TV. My OB appointment was at 8:30 am and I was determined to make it until then. BA Baracas asked if I wanted him to stay home from work and take me. No way. I was good.

And after stronger and stronger contractions, I decided to go to my appointment early. I got there at 8:00. When the doctor checked me, he said, "Well, we'd better get you down to the labor department. You probably ought to hurry. You are at a 7."

And when I called BA Baracas from the office phone, I lost it. I blubbered something about him coming quickly.

Life got really good after I got an epidural. I love epidurals. But not for the reasons one might think. I've had children all 3 ways. Yes, there are 3 ways: 1- natural 2- get an epidural 3- get an epidural and feel all the pain anyway.

The reason I like epidurals is because I wasn't in pain and because I was able to enjoy the process so much more.

With my epidural, I was ready to deliver but they asked me to wait for an hour or so for the doctor to be on lunch break. I didn't care, so I agreed. This gave BA Baracas and I an opportunity to bask in this great outpouring, where the veil was so thin. And I knew this child was a special child. Not special like everyone's child is special. OK, special like that, only more special because he was coming to me.

When the doctor came in, three things happened pretty much at the same time: I threw up, my water broke, and a baby started coming out. Doe Doe was born at 12:07 and was 8 pounds 2 ounces.

I love Doe. He is a special kid. He is our peacemaker, although I try not to say that because then the others think they can be the warmongers.


One time when Doe was 2 or 3, I lost him in Walmart. And the first thing I thought was, "How can I go back to Heavenly Father and tell Him I lost one of his most precious spirit sons?"

When we lived in Kansas, Doe was 18 months. Our neighbors had a 4 year old. They couldn't have more children. They would look at Doe longingly and say, if only we could have another little boy like him, our family would be complete.

Doe doesn't look at people and judge them according to what they have, or how they look. He has the most kind heart of anyone I know. He can't handle people to be mad at him. He never cries. So on those rare times that he does cry, it takes all the restraint in me to not decapitate whomever it was that made him cry.


He loves Pokemon. I hate Pokemon. He hates sweater vests. I think he looks good in them. We have to frisk him every Sunday before going to church. Sometimes we forget.

He is very smart. On his report card last week, he got lots of "E"'s (E=exceeds). His teacher wrote a note that he got 100% on his quarterly math test. He got a "2" on "Uses common sense"(The citizenship grades go from a 1-3). When he gets with other kids- boys especially, I'm not sure where his brain goes. I guess it's true: One boy, whole boy. Two boys, half boy. Three boys, no boy at all.

I am so thankful for Doe. He is a special gift in my life.