Jackson's First Photo Shoot

I think we should just rename this blog Jackson's blog. :o)  He is just so dang cute, I can't get enough of him.  Here are a few pictures from his first photo shoot today.  Of course I will always be adding more photos, but so far here are the first of them.

Jackson's Big Entrance Into The World

Many people have asked me in the last week why Jackson ended up being a C-section baby.  So instead of replying to many e-mails with the same story I will just post about it and if you are interested you can read it. :o)

On Monday, January 11th I started going into early labor.  That night Don had a soccer game at 9pm.  Before he left I mentioned I thought I was having contractions, but I have never experienced them so I wasn't sure if they were true contractions or false labor pains.  I told him to go to his soccer game since it was only an hour long and if I absolutely had to go to the hospital I would call his Mom who was just up the street.  I ended up calling the hospital and talked to a nurse to see if I should go to the hospital.  As we were talking she seemed concerned I was bleeding so she told me to come in.  I called Gina and she came over right away and took me to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital they took me to triage to see if they would admit me.  They hooked me up to all these machines and monitored me for about an hour.  The on call Dr. came in and said my blood pressure was very high and was not going down.  Every Dr. appointment I have had while I was pregnant, I never had high blood pressure.  The nurses would always comment how good it was.   The Dr. also said the baby's heart rate was really high.  She said I was only dilated to one, but I was in the early stages of labor and they wanted to admit me because of my high blood pressure and the baby's heart rate.  We called Don and I asked him to take a shower before coming.  I know that sounds silly, but I was feeling so nauseous  and since he just finished playing a soccer game I knew he wouldn't be smelling the freshest and I wanted him near me.  :)

So off I went to labor and delivery to be hooked up to more machines.  They decided to let me go into labor naturally and if I didn't make any progress by 4am they would induce me.  So by 4am I didn't progress as much as they hoped so they gave me some pitocin.  Boy did that kick start those contractions in high gear.  By 10 or 11 am I was dilated to a 4 and a half and my effacement was paper thin.  The on call Dr. came in and said they were probably going to break my water for me.  I had been holding out on any drugs at this point.  The contractions were getting pretty bad with the pitocin and I knew once my water broke those contractions would even get worse.  If I don't HAVE to feel pain I sure wasn't going to.  So they came up and gave me my epidural.  Boy did that feel great.  Instant relief!  It was amazing!  I could still feel some of it since I didn't want to be completely numb, but it was just enough to make it all better.  After they did that my water broke on it's own.  Yay!!!

Around 3pm the Dr. came in and said the baby was showing signs of distress and my blood pressure was still not coming down.  They also said my cervix was starting to swell up.  Basically I was going backwards is how I understood it!  They wanted to monitor me for an hour and if nothing improved they were going to need to do a C-Section.  The Dr. than walked off.  My nurse was great.  She looks at me and said "he doesn't have the best bedside manners, ask me any questions you have."  I was a little taken aback because I was not wanting a C-section.  My whole pregnancy I was preparing for a natural birth so I wasn't sure what to expect.  So I asked her all my questions and we sat tight waiting to see what would happen.

Finally around 3:30 they came back in and said it was not getting any better and they needed to do the C-section.  Don had run out to get something to eat so we called him to get back right away.  He made it just in time.  They got me all prepared and sent me to the OR.  The anesthesia  they gave me made me shake uncontrollably.  It was the weirdest feeling not having that control.  Don held my hand the whole time and it seemed to give me some control at least on that side.  Everything went so quickly.  I kept feeling all this pressure which I think was safe to assume they were cutting me open.  Next thing I know they popped Jackson over the curtain and told me it was a boy.  It was one of the best moments of my life.  I heard him crying in the distance and I knew he was ok.  After that I pretty much blacked out.  Later I was told I lost a lot of blood and they were trying to get it to stop.  In the end everything was ok.  I woke up in the recovery ward and I was still shaking uncontrollably.  They put lots of warm blankets around me to help the shaking and it felt so nice.  Don was sitting next to me with Jackson the whole time.  I was so happy to see them.  Don and I feel so lucky to be Jackson's parents.  He is truly our pride and joy.

On Monday we had his first pediatric appointment and they said he is healthy as can be.  His skin color looks great (no jaundice,) his neck muscles are really strong, his heart rate is really good and his breathing sounds great.  All in all he is perfect as can be.  Yesterday we got him circumcised and I about fell apart. I hate seeing my son in pain.  I was a wimp and waited in the waiting room while they did the procedure.  Don stayed with him and Jackson's nurse is a family friend so I felt like he was in good hands.  In the end I was told Jackson did great.  He took it like a champ!

As for his nick names we call him Peanut...  When we had his first sonogram I thought he looked like a little peanut and it has stuck.  Marza (my sister) and myself like the nickname Jak Jak from The Incredibles and someone in the family started Jacks "on" Jacks "off."  Ya, not sure how I feel about that one... :o)  Anyways, there you have it.  Hopefully this week I will get to Jackson's first photo shoot.  Those pictures will be used for the birth announcement.  I have some cute ideas to try with him so I can't wait.  I just need Don's help.  I am not as mobile as I would like to be yet, but I am recovering quickly.  I am still trying to take it easy with the bending over and picking things up.  So hopefully I will have some new pictures soon.  In the mean time, here a few new pictures when we were at the hospital.

Here are some pictures of Jackson's first Chargers football game in his first Chargers outfit.

Jackson with his Daddy watching the game.

Jackson with Uncle Jon

Welcome To The Family

Our newest member of the family was welcomed into this world at 4:12pm on January 12, 2010. He weighed in at 8lbs 10 ounces measuring 21.5 inches in length. He is our little chunky monkey! Since the battery in my lap top is just about to die I am going to make this post quick. I will go back later and add some more, but for now here are a few pictures.

Baby update II

Hello friends and family!

Don and I have had several people contact us in the last few days wondering what is going on since the baby is turning out to be fashionably late like it's Mother... :o) So I decided to post something on our blog to let everyone know. I saw my Dr. today and he measured the baby at 6 ½ lbs so the Dr. wants to let it grow a little more. He said the baby is very healthy, so no need to rush things especially since I am not dilated yet and most first time Mom’s are late. He wants to see me next Wednesday to check on how I am progressing and than he will schedule me to be induced some time next weekend. So the baby could be here the 15th, 16th or 17th of January depending on when he schedules it. I am going to try and push for the 17th since the 15th is Daddy Don’s birthday and the 16th is my brother in law Mike’s birthday party, but we will see what the Dr. says. So needless to say that will be a busy weekend for the family. This little kid just had to push it out far enough to make it inconvenient! The Dr. mentioned not wanting to wait longer than next weekend since I will be about 2 weeks over due at that point and the baby will start getting pretty large, not good for Mom, no thank you! I personally think 6 ½ lbs is perfect… no need to let it grow!!! :o) But the Dr. knows best I guess.


Now for those of you hopeful people out there that think I could have the baby before than with out being induced… I first thank you for the well wishes and positive thinking, but the Dr. did not seem hopeful. So I am not holding my breath, but at least there is an end in sight!!!

Oh and I apologize to the family for adding another birthday to the already overly bloated birthday month we have. Believe me, we are not excited about that either, but how long has everyone waited for us to start a family!?!?! Beggars can’t be choosers right!?!?! :o) Anyways we are excited for the baby to come and I thank everyone who has helped us and supported us along the way. We will be sure to let everyone know once the baby is here.

Baby Update

So today, January 3rd was the expected due date for our baby. Expected being the key operative word. As you can tell I am still pregnant and for all I know I could be pregnant for another week. :( I am very much ready for this baby to be born. We have waited 9 long months for it and not to mention waited to find out if it's a boy or girl. I know we have driven everyone else crazy with making them wait to find that out too. For that I am sorry, but honestly it is kind of fun. You have to admit that. The suspense of finding out what it is can't be beat. In the past few days we have had several people call us asking if the baby was born yet. So in case you were wondering, (but didn't want to ask,) the baby is quite comfy in Mom's womb and doesn't want to leave quite yet. We will be sure to let everyone know once it decides to make it's debut into the world. For family members we have people assigned to call our family members and let them know. Don also said he would post something onto Facebook for all you Facebookers out there. I may too if I find a moment between contractions. :) I think he plans on sending a text out to people who have texting capabilities as well.

But I find myself getting impatient these last few days waiting and wondering when it will happen. I know Don is too. Every morning and through out the day he is asking if I had any contractions yet or if my water broke yet. I think he thinks I won't tell him. Hehehe... and I always tell him he would be the first to know. Than he is giving the baby pep talks trying to get it to come out, so far it is not working, but we keep trying. My Dr. did say most babies are late especially if it is your first baby. So I know it's not abnormal, but I just want to hold our little baby in our arms and finally have it meet it's family.

I must say I am nervous about the prospect of going into labor and birthing this child, but the funny thing is I am also excited for it. I must be crazy for saying that, but I know it will be worth it in the end to bring this beautiful child into this world. And for that reason alone gives me the strength and courage to endure it, (of course with some good drugs too!) I feel as though I know my child already. I feel so connected to it and I know that connection and love will even be stronger once I hold it in my arms. If there is one thing for sure, this baby will be loved by many people. I think Motherhood and Fatherhood is one of the greatest things a person can do in their life time. It requires self sacrificing and the ability to love unconditionally. Don and I are blessed to have parents that taught us well. I know we will draw from their knowledge and incorporate what they taught us in raising this child. I am sure we will make lots of mistakes, but above all, we will love this child.

I look back on our 6 years of marriage and a lot of people find it odd that we waited so long to have kids. I personally don't and wouldn't have changed that decision for anything. Marriage is hard enough, but throw a kid in there and it gets harder. I think for Don and I we needed that time to be together as just Don and Mandi. I remember that first year of marriage was tough. There was a lot of things to get use to. Especially with our personalities. I knew who I married, but things change when you move in with someone. I realized how strong willed we both were and how different we were. When you date you are so blind, you accept each other's flaws more easily I think. Its new and you are in love. We spent those first few years learning to give and take... Learning to agree to disagree and be ok with that. Sometimes we just won't see eye to eye on things and we have to compromise. We spent a few years learning to deal with that and I feel we are much better at it now than we were 5 years ago. I also feel that we had a lot of time to be selfish and do what we wanted to do with out worrying about a child. We had so much fun together and I plan on still having fun, but now we have to actually plan for it. I feel like we got to know each other on another level before we become parents. I think people and relationships change when that happens. It seems like it is inevitable. But I hope to hold onto those first six years to help remember who we are and strive to be that fun young couple still, but with a baby now. It's a bittersweet ending to that chapter in our lives, but I know this new one will be even more exciting I am sure. We are ready for it.

Today I found myself in a frenzy of cleaning. Not sure if that is "nesting" or just wanting to get our Christmas stuff packed away. Both Don and I just wanted to be done with Christmas and on to the new year. Plus we knew we would have many visitors stopping by soon once the baby is here so we wanted our house to be ready for that and for the baby. So we spent most of the day cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. We went through all our Christmas stuff, got rid of stuff and packed everything else away. Than we did a deep clean in most of our house. Don scrubbed our floors and made them sparkly clean. We dusted, cleaned our bathroom, cleaned our kitchen, organized, did many, many loads of laundry. I was washing anything and everything today. I just wanted everything to be clean. There are still some things I want to do, but my back was killing me so I took a break and started updating our blog. Part of me thinks I was trying to put myself into labor with all my cleaning today. :) It didn't work... I still have more stuff to do so I am not giving up hope yet! But rest assured friends and family, we will let you know once the baby is here.

So last but not least, I will leave you with some pictures that were taken by a photographer friend of mine back in October. Deann did a maternity photo shoot of me when I was about 7 months along. Hopefully I won't look like this for much longer!!! But I was glad she was able to capture my little baby growing in my belly.

Christmas12/25/09

On Christmas we went back to Daddy Don's house in the morning and had breakfast there. He made us biscuits and gravy with sausages and eggs. It was AMAZING!!! He made a pregnant woman very happy! After we had breakfast we opened presents.

The chef himself resting...



I never make it into the pictures so I had to add this in. Yes, I know I look like I am ready to pop!



Jon and Nicole



I love this picture of Don. He is so dramatic with unwrapping his present.



After we left Daddy Don's house we went to my sister's house and spent a few hours there with her family.





We got Kaylie a New Moon bed set from the Twilight series. She is in love with Edward as most girls are.



After that we headed over to Don's Aunt Shadie's house and spent some time with the Horn side there. And of course we watched a little of the Chargers game. Ok so I fell asleep, but everyone else watched it.



Than after that we headed over to Grandma Krafft's house and had Christmas dinner there with Don's Mom's side of the family. As you can see I was too busy eating to take pictures. :) But I did manage to scrounge this one up. I love that Uncle Frank is the only one on que ready to take the picture.

Christmas Eve 12/24/09

On Christmas Eve we went up to Don's Dad's house and celebrated it with his family there. This year we did something different with all the adults. Instead of buying for all the adults we just bought one present and did a white elephant gift exchange. It was so much fun. I think we all enjoyed doing it and I hope it becomes a tradition every year. Here are a few pictures from that night.

Don and Grandma Horn



Daddy Don singing to Kylie





Daddy Don making his famous Brazilian coffee.





And the family...