Our Newborns

Someone suggested I just put pictures of Claire up, rather than pictures of Megan. Here is a picture of each of the babies.

A (long) Baby Story

So for anyone who wants the details of the story, here you go:

After my appointment on May 24th, I was feeling very discouraged. I'd spent the last week not sleeping well because I would have contractions during the night. But when my dr. checked me, I'd barely progressed to 3cm. So I called my mom, nearly in tears, because I thought surely that baby was never going to come, at least not until my mom had come for her visit and left. I was so frustrated!

That night I slept great.

Now, once or twice a week Chad goes to some of the smaller towns to see patients. The hospital charters a small jet and pays for a couple different doctors and their nurses to go to these smaller towns, knowing that if anyone has something serious and has to have any type of surgical procedure or in-patient care, they will get some kick-back. Its an investment for them. Chad usually leaves our house about 6:30 a.m. and gets home around 6:30 p.m.

Chad had told work that he didn't want to travel at all the last couple weeks before the baby was born. But that same Monday they asked him to PLEASE travel to Lander (its about a 2 1/2 hr drive from here) the next day, Tuesday, May 25th.

He woke me up at 6:30 that morning. "Should I go?" And I sleepily replied, "Yes, I just slept great... This baby isn't coming today. Just go." So he left.

I woke up at 7:30, rushed to get Caleb ready for school, loaded him and the girls in the 'burb and drove him to school (its about 20 minutes each direction). Throughout the drive I realized I was having contractions. At first I didn't think much about it, but then I thought, What the heck, I'll keep track. So I started keeping track. 8:36... 8:47... 9:02... Got home and started doing laundry and cleaning. Depending on my activity they continued to be between 5 and 10 minutes for about an hour. They were enough to get my attention but they didn't disrupt my activity level at all.

About 9:45 I told Chad. He was safely in Lander, but we have Instant Messenger and frequently chat throughout the day. I sent him the following message: "So want to know something funny... I've been having contractions every 5 to 10 mins for about an hour." To which he responded, "NOT FUNNY!!"

I kept tracking my contractions and doing laundry and cleaning and packing my bag and packing stuff for the kids in case they needed to stay some place that night. My contractions were getting harder and more frequent. Ok, who am I going to call to take care of the kids? When should I tell Chad to come home? Can I take myself to the hospital? Do I call my dr. first or do I just go straight to the hospital? All of these questions are going thru my head.

Meanwhile, Chad is in Lander, trying to work, but knowing I'm in labor. His nurse had called the pilots at the airport there and told them the situation. They were on standby. I wasn't being as communicative as I should have been (I didn't realize until I went back and read our conversation that I wasn't giving him any information; but in my defense I didn't want to alarm him unneccesarily.)

At 11:45, I told him if there was any way of cutting his day short it might be a good idea.

By noon contractions were 3 to 7 minutes apart. I decided I'd better call my dr, but they are closed for lunch from 12 to 1. I decided I'd call them after lunch.

Claire was basically oblivious to what was going on... She was just thrilled to get to watch all her favorite shows. But poor Natalie knew I was hurting. She wrote this note and it made me laugh so hard! I think she is scarred for life!


By 1 my contractions were really hurting. I told Chad "They are making me sweat and I can't walk through them any more." At 1:20 I told Chad to come home. I called my dr. office and they told me to go up to the hospital when they are less than 5 minutes apart. Well that was about an hour or so ago! So I called my awesome friend Amber and asked her to come get Natalie and Claire. Chad had already called her husband and told him I was totally in labor, and they were on standby when I called her. I was going to hang out at home until Chad got there, but by the time Amber got there to get the girls I realized I needed to go to the hospital.

Chad's plane took off at 2. He landed at 2:30. Those pilots flew REALLY fast.

At 2:10, I called my mom. She answered the phone, "Hi! Are you in labor?" "Um, yeah. I am on my way to the hospital... My friend is driving me. Chad is in Lander. I'll keep you posted."

Amber's husband met us at the hospital. He took their kids and our girls, and Amber took me up to L&D. Thank goodness for signs, because neither of us knew where to go. They put me in an exam room and checked me. I was dialated to a 6. As we were heading to the delivery room Chad showed up. Hallelujah!! After making sure I was settled, Amber took off. By now its about 2:45 or 3. The dr. came in and checked me and offered me an epidural. I really, really thought I wanted a "natural" labor, so I turned it down at that point. About 15 minutes later, after a really hard contraction, I decided "natural" labor is highly over-rated. "OKAY!" was all I had to say and Chad knew I was ready for some chemical intervention. The anesthesiologist was called in.

He gave me 2 sources of pain relief. The first was a shot between two vertebrae that provided immediate, although shorter-term relief. The second was the IV in your back type of epidural that you usually hear about. Its for longer-term pain relief. As it turned out, the first is all I needed.

By the time the anesthesiologist was done, I was ready to push. The nurse got the dr, I pushed for about 10 minutes, and SHAZAAM! Out she came. (Well, it wasn't quite that easy.)

Introducing...

Megan Elizabeth Sundquist

born May 25, 2010 at 4:10 p.m.

6 lbs 9 oz, 19 3/4 inches

(details to follow, but for how here's some pictures.)

I know, I know...

I haven't posted in FOREVER. But a lot has been going on. Plus I'm pregnant, and some times you have to let less-than-important-things go in order to make room for important things. And for me blogging is less-than-important. But my sister reminded me via her blog, that it can be a way of keeping things for posterity. So I'll try to be better, especially as we get ready to welcome our new little addition (who is still nameless).

So I will say a couple of things today:

1. I love being a mom. Even though its hard and so much work and I am far from the mother I want to be, I am glad that I get to BE THERE for my kids. I am so thankful for a husband who works so hard and does so much to make it possible for me to stay home.

2. It is snowing. In May. And I AM SO TIRED OF SNOW! This baby that is about to come to our house is supposed to be a SPRING baby, not a WINTER baby. So why is it snowing?

3. I am glad I have great friends. I was really nervous to move to Wyoming because its away from my family. But I have made some wonderful friends on whom I can call whenever I need to. They have been such a blessing. And I am also glad sometimes they let me do things for them.

4. I am glad school is almost out. It really is almost summer, despite the snow. And even though summer is going to be insane because I'll have 4 kids home with me all day, every day, I am glad to be able to not spend so much time in the car.

Ok, I have to go to the doctor to find out if this baby is going to be here soon!

Still Pregnant

In case anyone is wondering, I am still pregnant. I was 39 weeks on Saturday. This is the most pregnant I have ever been. You see, I sort-of cheat. I have been induced with all 3 of my previous babies. I went the longest with Claire, and she was born at one-day-before-39 weeks. Plus I have gained more weight this time, and even though I look smaller than many other women at 39 weeks, I FEEL very pregnant. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be able to share some different news, but for now here is a glimpse of what I look like at 38 weeks pregnant.



And just for the record, most of the time I don't look like this. I actually have my hair fixed and makeup on, and occaisionally cute clothes (although the number of things that fit is diminishing).

By the Numbers

Here is an over-view of what we've been doing lately.

4 dentist appointments.
0 cavities.

3 well-child visits.
3 healthy children.

2 rounds of anti-biotics for strep throat.

1 visit to Urgent Care when Chad messed up his back--still not sure what happened--and couldn't move his neck. He had to actually be seen by someone to get prescriptions for heavy pain killers.

105 deg. temperature (really weird... it wasn't that high the whole time, but Claire ran a fever for 24 hours and it spiked at 105 before going down).
4:00 a.m.--the time at which Claire came out of her fever-induced-stupor, with a "Mommy, a read read books?"

1 visit from Aunt Heather--Hooray!! Thanks for coming H!

2 visits to the Aquatic Center.

1 Piano Recital--Caleb played Eine Kliene Nachmusik by Mozart, his favorite composer.

3 fondue dinners--YUMMY!!

1 week off of school for Spring Break.

1 trip to Denver.

2 rides on the Denver Light rail (Caleb wants to ride a train, and we thought this would take care of that, but apparently an electric train doesn't qualify as a real train).

5 tickets to see Mary Poppins at the Denver Center for Performing Arts.

1 trip to Cheyenne to visit Nick and Em and family. It was so great to see them!!

2 OB appointments for Teri--baby is healthy and just the right size to be here the end of May.

Lots of piano and violin practicing.

Countless hours spent in the car, running here, there, and everywhere.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Its a Girl

(Songsty and the kids in their penguin jammies)

We went to Pocatello for Christmas and it was SO FUN! It was great to see so much of my family (but we missed those who weren't there!!) and hang out and talk and eat and stay up too late and put puzzles together and just have a great time. The kids had fun playing with their cousins. But it was also good to come home.

For New Year's Eve we went to Cheyenne to visit Nick and Em, Chad's brother and his family. Also, so fun to see them and visit and eat yummy food.

I mentioned briefly once that we are expecting #4 in May. We had an ultrasound the beginning of the month and it looks like we're having another girl! Surprisingly, Natalie was the one who wanted a brother, and Caleb the sister. I think Nat just doesn't want anymore competition for her stuff around here. Claire doesn't get it, but she's going to have an adjustment when the baby is born because right now she thinks she runs this household. (Okay, maybe she does... but she's just so dog-gone cute!) So now we are playing the name game. At the appt. the dr. said the baby was too small for what we thought was my due date, so she changed it by 10 days, so now I'm due May 29th instead of May 19th. I feel BIGGER than I have with my other 3 pregnancies, so that she moved it to LONGER is annoying! But I guess I want a healthy baby, so I'll deal.
(Me at 19 weeks. Terrible picture, but you can see my baby!)

P.S. I am terrible at remembering to take pictures.