JD's arrival

So, if you haven't heard, JD is here! We were taken completely off guard by his arrival, I didn't think he'd come so early (ok, so it wasn't really that early, only two weeks). As many of you know, I wanted a May baby, and I had everything planned out, I was going to go see my doctor on Monday May 3rd and have him strip my membranes which has always caused me to go into labor the next day. Obviously Heavenly Father and JD had different plans! Friday April 23rd my back was killing me all day, and then I'm pretty sure thinking back now that I was actually contracting that night around 9, but it didn't really hurt it was just uncomfortable. It just felt like he was stretching and putting pressure on my stomach like he was prone to do. Randy and I went to bed about 11, I woke up because my stomach kind of hurt and I figured it was just because I needed to go to the bathroom. So I got up (thinking it was 5 like every other morning) and looked at the clock, it was midnight, I remember thinking Oh my heck, it's only midnight?! Tonight is going to take forever! So I went to the bathroom came back and laid down, I didn't sleep very good because my stomach hurt. Sometime between 12 and 2:30 Zoe woke up, Randy went and got her and she came in with us for a little bit. Then at 2:30 I got up again to go to the bathroom, when I came back Randy took Zoe back to her bed. I laid down but I couldn't go back to sleep, so I turned on the lamp and looked up in my What to Expect When You're Expecting book to read about Braxton Hicks contractions. In the book it said if you changed position and they were braxton hicks they would go away. So I got up and started walking. To make a long story short, I tried to get the "braxton hicks" contractions to go away until 4 in the morning. Finally I told Randy I thought we should go to the hospital because I knew if I called them they would just tell me to come get checked out anyway. So I called my neighbor Virginia to have her listen for the girls. I told her I was hoping they would just send me home, but that we were going to go get checked out. I still didn't think it was real. When we got to the hospital it took about 20 minutes to even make it up to Labor and Delivery, then we had to ring the bell for service, they had another pregnant lady there that was going to be going in for a C-section so they were a little busy. When they finally got me in the bed and checked me the nurse said, ok there's a bulging sac, and lets see about an 8 or 9. I was like, say again?? I made sure to ask her if I could still have an epidural, yes, that's right, I still got an epidural!! The nurse really wasn't sure what I was dilated to because of the bulging sac so she had another nurse come in and check me. She said she probably had the same thing so they called my doctor. When my doctor got there, he said if we had waited another half an hour to call he wouldn't have been able to deliver me because he was going to be taking his daughter to the airport. Anyway, so he went and changed and got ready. When he came back he said "Ok lets break her sac and get started." I asked him if I'd be able to get an epidural, he told me he didn't think we could. Then the nurse informed him that the anesthesiologist was on his way so my doctor said we could wait a few more minutes for him. Just at that moment the anesthesiologist walked in, oh hallelujah! So he gave me my epidural, then the nurses got everything ready and we started to push, according to me doctor he came in one push, but it was three. I think it was all in one contraction though, so that's probably why he says one push. I took two breathing breaks and kept pushing, so I guess technically maybe it was just one push. Anyway, so he came, all on his own and earlier then I wanted but there's no way I was going to put him back. We are very glad to have him here and be a part of our family, and he shares a birthday with his aunt Weslie who thinks that's just awesome!

(The very end part was written on July 8th, so if it seems a little disconnected that's why)

We're getting ready for our little arrival here at the Grimes house. We finally got the crib set up and I bought a bumper set at Walmart. I decided to post some pictures up so I could share. We are all excited to welcome little JD into our home, only a couple more weeks and he'll be here. I can't WAIT!! I think I'm more excited then miserable, which is nice, I will admit though, at times being pregnant seems unbearable! The girls are so cute, and I can't wait for them to see him for the first time, they give my belly hugs and kisses, it's very cute. I wish I knew if they understood what this really means, there's no way to really know though. Hailey might understand, but I'm not sure if she even does. Here are pictures of his crib:

It's so weird to have blue colored stuff, I'm so used to the pink girly things. In other news, things here are going ok, Hailey is still doing really well in school. She's really good at math and I hope that continues as she progresses. Katie is doing well, I think she'll love going to school next year (preschool) it will be a good distraction for her when Hailey is in school all day. She's so cute when we drop Hailey off, she always yells that she loves her then when we drive away a lot of times she'll say to me "I'm really going to miss Hailey!" They sure can be pretty cute together sometimes, they can also be really awful to each other, I guess that's just what happens with sisters. Then there's Zoe, oh my goodness, what a character she is. She can be the cutest little thing one minute and the next you're ready to shove her in a box and ship her off to the gypsies!! But we sure do love her, she has been so much fun. I don't think we've ever really been able to enjoy this stage because we've always had another baby by this time. It's been a lot of fun to really be able to enjoy it. It feels like it's been forever since we've had a baby, this is number 4 and yet I feel like it's the first. Maybe it's because it's a boy and I know it will be different, but it shouldn't feel like it's been forever since we've had a baby, it's only been 2 1/2 years. Anyway, I don't really have much else to say right now. Hopefully I'll post again soon! Until next time.

Update

So I realize it's been awhile, I really should try to be better at this blogging thing. Oh well, I guess there's worse. Things here are going well, we're ready for Spring, we didn't really go outside at all this week due to the weather, which is really sad because it was Spring Break. I'm down to weekly doctor visits now, which should help the time go by faster, I'm a dork and I made a baby chain. Like the ones you make for Christmas, only this is for our baby. I know, I'm kind of dorky, but I thought it would be fun for the girls (and me) to be able to see how many days are left. Not that you can really know, but it's color coded so they'll know when he can come. He can't come until May, I don't want an April birthday. I know it's odd to hear a pregnant woman wishing her baby will stay in a little longer, most are wishing they'd come as soon as they can survive. Not me, I really REALLY want my May baby!! Everything is going good though, baby seems fine, I'm fine. I'm getting more and more uncomfortable as time goes on, but I'm doing good. Nights are beginning to not be so much fun, I have a bit of a hard time falling asleep which is a really new thing for me. All my life, I have never had a hard time falling asleep. I don't enjoy it at all!! Then of course, I always have to get up at least once to go to the bathroom, and if I eat too late I wake up coughing on stuff that comes up from my stomach. That was probably too much information, but it's my blog so I can write it if I want, right? Anyway, the kids are doing well, Hailey is excited to go back to school tomorrow, I'm really glad she likes school, it makes me happy. At the end of March we put all three girls in the same room, so far it's been ok. It takes them a little longer to go to sleep and they wake up earlier, but it's been good. It will be nice to have the baby in a room all by himself. Our friend is going to let us borrow a crib so Zoe will be staying in a crib for longer which is really good. I wasn't looking forward to having her in a toddler bed. I'm just fine keeping her in a crib as long as she'll stay!!

So I've decided to potty train Zoe, I'm probably crazy because I've heard they backslide when a new baby comes in to the family, but we'll see and hope for the best. My friend let me borrow a little training potty, and Zoe seems to like it. Now I don't need to constantly listen for her to pee, I can let her sit on the potty and I'll be able to see if she goes. Today was the first day and so far we've only had one accident, it was a poopy/wet accident, not fun to clean up but thank heavens for latex gloves!! I don't think I could have taken care of the panties if I didn't have them. We use cloth training pants so it's not fun to clean up accidents. Then I put her back in a diaper for her nap time and that was a little wet when I got her out of bed but not much. We'll see how this goes, like I said maybe I'm crazy, but if I don't train her now it's going to be a while before I do because I can't train her with a nursing baby, I tried that with Katie and it didn't work! Well, I don't have much else to say, I'll keep you updated on the training and the baby. If you want to give guesses as to when JD will come and his size and weight and all that jazz, you might want to do it now :0) He'll be here soon!