December Part 2

Christmas Eve pajamas from Grandma Sherri:

 

Abby likes to color on herself:

 

Ready for church:

 

Christmas party at Abby’s daycare:

 

Liam!

 

 

Church:

 

 

Just like daddy:

December, Part 1

We started the month by getting photos for Christmas cards. Later than we expected, but then Liam arrived later than expected. Here are some photos we took of the kids, although not the one on the actual Christmas card, you’ll have to wait to see that one.

  

December also brought snow – and freezing temperatures:

 

Abby loves to wear her pajamas! The first thing she does when we get home – even if it is noon, is change into her pajamas. But it has been too cold to wear just pajamas, so she’s started wearing pajamas under her clothes. Silly girl!

Isn’t he cute?

 

Liam has pectal excavatum, which means that there is a depression in his rib cage. His pediatrician said it looks like a mild case and she thought it might be come less noticeable as he grows.

Here’s a video. You can see it as he breathes in and out – it’s really noticeable when he has hiccups!!

http://youtu.be/PfTUXb7i_d8

 

 

We went to the grand opening of the Sugarhouse Trolley. They had food and giveaways at the various stops.

 

We also went to Scheels in Sandy. It’s a store, I’d never been, but it turns out they have a ferris wheel in the middle of the store:

They also have a cool aquarium. I’m adding this to my list of rainy/snowy day activities!

Santa was wandering around the store, and we stopped to say hi and snap pictures:

 

The girls drew pictures. Sandy drew this beautiful picture of her and Abby visiting the ocean:

 

And Abby drew this picture of her pet shark biting Sandy:

Abby loves her brother. In a “hug him, and squeeze him and LOVE him” sort of way, but we’re working on that.

November, Part 2

Here are some pictures from the end of November.

 

Liam, 1 day old, on my bed:

 

Our first family picture:

 

 

The girls were excited to meet their baby brother:

 

 

Wide eyed and alert:

 

 

My parents were in town for 2 weeks. It was great to see them – and I’m glad that they got to meet Liam before they had to leave:

 

 

Proud daddy:

 

While Bill was getting his picture taken with Liam, Abby decided she wanted in on the picture:

 

3 days old and 7 lbs 6 ounces:

 

Here he is right after eating. The picture doesn’t really capture the moment – he had milk dripping down his chin and was in a milk-induced stupor.

 

 

Sandy missed school the day Liam was born (Friday). The kids had gotten turkey pictures with the instructions to bring them back on Monday for a contest. They were supposed to decorate the pictures with something other than markers or crayons. Sandy was devastated Monday when she got to school and didn’t have a turkey for the contest. So, when she came home, we quickly did one – she wanted to decorate it in sprinkles – and ran it back to the school in time for the judging.

 

She won a prize for best use of color. All three kindergarten classes participated and there were some amazing entries with feathers and elaborate designs. I think they gave every one that entered a prize.

 

 

5 days old:

 

Thanksgiving morning – love these kids!!

 

 

Liam is 1 week old!

   

 

Abby loves this blanket!!

 

8 days old and already 8 pounds 5 ounces:

 

Liam is a sweet, calm baby and his sisters love him! The adjustment to 3 kids has generally been easier than I expected – although there have been moments when all three kids needed something RIGHT NOW. Sandy and Abby are both old enough to be really helpful. I think I needed a helpful 5 year old around to help with every one of my babies!! Abby sometimes needs direction in knowing how to be helpful – for example, asking her to go pick out an outfit for him to get her to stop mauling him. :)

Welcome, Liam!

 

Douglas William Buhler, Jr.

Born November 22, 2013 at 4:04 p.m.

7 lbs 8 oz, 21 inches long

We are calling him Liam. I like it, it fits him.
(His dad goes by Bill, his grandpa goes by Doug
so we struggled a bit to figure out what to call him.)

 

Things didn’t quite go as planned, but I was really happy with how they turned out.

On Thursday, my midwife became concerned. I went in for an ultrasound and his amniotic fluid was extremely low. We spent Thursday night trying to get labor started – and my midwife stayed all night and monitored his heart rate every 1/2 hour.

Friday at noon we went to the University Hospital to be induced. There is a group of nurse midwives that deliver at the hospital. I’d heard great things about them – and even considered going with them back when we decided to transfer to a midwife. They were amazing! If I were to have another baby, I would go with the nurse midwives at the U as long as I could come home after the birth and use the home birth midwife for post partum care.

The nurse midwives decided he needed to be turned (his head was forward instead of head back). So they did something one of them had learned from a midwife in Mexico – they put a sheet underneath me and each stood on one side. Then they pulled on the sheet to tilt me from right to left to right several times quickly. As soon as they finished that, I had my first hard contraction as they started a low dose of pitocin.

59 minutes later we had a baby.

 

 

Despite having no amniotic fluid (when they broke my water, no fluid at all came out), Liam was doing really well until the very end. Also, my placenta didn’t detach at all. So, after an hour of trying a lot of different things, they called in one of the doctors to dig it out. That was not pleasant. Luckily they gave me some pain medication through my IV which helped some. They offered me an epidural, but after making it all the way through the birth without one, I wasn’t about to get it then. And I have to say, I really think not having the epidural has made for a better recovery for me and I think it factored into breastfeeding going better for Liam as well.

 

Here I am holding him for the first time:

 

We pushed really hard to go home 4 to 6 hours after the birth. It took a bit of convincing, but they did let us go home that night. Sleeping in my own bed was wonderful. If I’d thought I could have done it that way, I would have planned it that way. To have the baby in the hospital, but not have to sleep there was the best of both worlds for me.

Here’s Liam in his carseat at the hospital:

 

The nurse snapped a picture of the three of us before we left:

Here’s Liam on my bed the next morning:

My midwife came 24 hours after he was born to check us both out. She also came a couple of days after that and did the hearing screening, PKU, and everything they would have done in the hospital if we had stayed.

I have to say this has been my best birth experience. It’s also been my best recovery. And although breastfeeding has been challenging, it’s been so much better than with the girls. Liam was down to 7 lbs 5 ounces 24 hours after his birth. 3 days after he was born, he was 7 lbs 6 ounces. 8 days after he was born, he was 8 lbs 5 ounces. Both of my girls lost 10% of their birth weight and were barely back to their birth weight by 2 weeks.

November, Part 1

We spent most of the month waiting for a baby….but he gets his own post.

 

Here’s a picture of Sandy wearing this cute scarf my mom sent her. She wears it everywhere!

 

 

I was in charge of a restaurant night fundraiser for Sandy’s school. We got 20% of what was spent by those that ate at Zupas and said they were with the school. One day I unexpectedly needed to stay and make copies – someone else had said they’d do them and then didn’t. I’d changed cell phones recently and panicked when I realized I didn’t have any kids apps on my phone and I couldn’t get a signal in the school. So, Abby entertained herself by taking about a hundred selfies:

 

Bill’s birthday breakfast:

 

 

We really thought Bill was going to get a baby for his birthday. I had contractions – about 6 minutes apart -- but not progressing. If you look closely, you can see me in the top right corner of the picture below in the polar bear position. The idea was that the position would help him turn if he needed to. But nothing happened. Our original plan was to have him at home – thus the pool in the middle of the room.

 

It was a really stressful month and it was hard on the girls. We didn’t know when the baby was coming, and I kept having contractions that didn’t progress.

 

I took the girls to get their nails done and I got a pedicure:

 

The girls met Ronald McDonald one day: