Sick Day

It's been a cloudy Sunday and we all had to stay home sick from church, so.... Bannock and I built a road in the kitchen with electrician's tape! We have a very small kitchen as you can see but there was still room for a parking lot. And no, he's not naked, just in his undies (still potty training)! We also cut out some bats, black cats, ghosts and spiders for Halloween decorations. Every time I ask Bannock what he wants to be he says "A Submarine!" so I need to get working on that ;) I get sad living in Hawaii this time of year when the seasons don't change. Fall is my favorite and I wish I could decorate for it and light a pumpkin spice candle (I don't light too many candles in this apartment because it's pretty much a wind tunnel in here and I don't want anything catching fire!) but I'll just wait until we're back on the mainland for all that. It's only temporary here so to me buying and making decorations for anything is merely just one more thing we'll have to ship, sell or toss in the free bin when we leave. I'm learning to be a minimalist, twine and clothespins are my go-to decor staples. I'll post a couple projects later. Also, before I end I must add that I can't believe we've been here a whole year already! It feels like we just got here but now we have another child and we're almost done with school! After this semester I'll be about 6 credits away from my bachelor's, and Sean will be done in Dec 2012. I feel like time flies so much faster when you have children. I try to enjoy everyday here because even though it's been tough financially I know I'll look back on this time with so much fondness, I'm going to live up the rest of our time here because it will fly by and we'll be back to California before we know it!

More brothers

Bannock has been very sweet to Brecken this week... Here he is "hiding" baby brother, and one of them napping together (I took it on my iPhone but if you click on the pic you can see it better) I decided today that as much as I'd like A girl (just one!), I would be more than happy if I wound up with four or five boys :)

Brothers

I love these boys so much. I can't wait for them to wrestle, build forts, shoot each other with squirt guns, play with bugs, climb trees and have amazing adventures together. I love being a mom. There is no other job on earth that is more rewarding.

Little Pudge

This is Brecken last week (6 weeks old) and he weighed 13 lbs 10 oz - the little Buddha has almost doubled his birthweight! (which we think he will probably do by two months) I love it :)

*brecken*

BRECKEN COVE OBORN
born 8.4.2011 at 8:58 pm
7 lbs 6 oz 20 inches

Its been a busy couple of months but I suppose its time to update you all on our new addition.

Here's the story, enjoy!

My due date was August 12 and since Bannock only came two days before his due date I figured I'd go all the way with this one. But I didn't want to. So I spent the weekend before his arrival walking all over town, to the grocery store, the school, climbing the stairs with laundry all day, anything I could do get something going! And to avoid giving a talk in church (unfortunately he didn't come early enough to avoid that!) I had contractions consistently for two hours Sat night but they went away, the same thing again on Monday but nothing lasting. On Wednesday the 3 I was told at my dr's appt that I was 3 cm and about 80-90% effaced. I was excited because I technically had almost two weeks to go and I hadn't progressed early when I was pregnant with Bannock. The ObGyn told me I could come in and have my membranes stripped on Friday if I wanted but my mom was due to come into town on the following Tuesday so I thought I'd try to hold out. HA. Looking back, I distinctly remember the doctor doing something funny up in there, a little swipe, that at the time I didn't think about but I started having some harder contractions on the way home from the check-up, nothing to bad though. The next day I tried to clean around the house a bit and around 2:30 I noticed my contractions getting a little bit closer and a little more uncomfortable. I thought I'd try laying down when Sean got home from work at 3, but out bed turned into an impromptu wrestling ring between Sean and Bannock, which, at some point resulted in Bannock hitting his head (not very hard I might add) on the edge of the dresser. He didn't cry too hard so we didn't think anything of it until Sean picked Bannock up off my pillow and there was blood ALL over Bannock's head, his back, and my pillow. Needless to say, I sorta freaked out, I mean the blood was matted to his head and it made it look like Bannock had a huge gash. Sean quickly put him in the tub and poured cold water over his head (which he hated of course). I saw blood all over Sean and Bannock's clothes and immediately thought "he needs to go to the ER, he's going to need stitches" so I frantically called my friend Amy to borrow her car (ours was out of commission) and ran to get her keys from her. When I returned Bannock was somewhat subdued and Sean had cleaned up his head enough to see that he had a teeny little nick in his scalp, barely the size of a nail head. So the ER was called off and I just sat with Bannock, all the while I could tell my contractions were getting a little more painful. Sean decided to help out at ward farm (yes our ward has a farm) at five and I just stayed home. I called my mom to let her know the day's events and mentioned my contractions had been about 6-7 min apart for almost 3 hours and getting more painful. I was convinced it wasn't the real thing and it would pass because it was just too early. A few minutes later my dad called and convinced me to go get checked out at the hospital, I gave in, called the nurse and she said to come in but keep calm, take a shower, get a bite to eat etc.
By this point it was getting hard to talk through my contractions so I knew I needed to hurry. And for those who don't know, we live on the North shore which is far from civilization (and about an hour from the hospital). I text Sean to come home, text him again and finally called and told him to get home NOW because this was the real thing! We took Bannock to our friend's house and were on our way by 6:30. The drive to the hospital will forever be ingrained in my memory. It was straight out of a movie. A winding, two-lane highway with a speed limit of 35 mph was not ideal for a woman who was in active labor! My contractions were coming very hard and very close together, lasting a minute each and the turns in that road were relentless. Sean was flying down the highway, honking his horn, flashing his headlights, swerving in and out of traffic to avoid slow cars, running red lights - the whole deal. It was the one time we were actually hoping to get pulled over so we could get a police escort!
As we ran a red light near the hospital, honking our way through the intersection, it turns out a nurse who had just gotten off work saw us and followed us out of concern. When we pulled up to the door (I might have let a few choice words slip when Sean suggested finding a parking spot :) I tried to scramble out and the off-duty nurse ran and got me a wheelchair. I was quickly ushered inside ( I can't imagine the spectacle I was to people in the waiting room, if I had been more coherent I probably would have spouted off some lines from Baby Mama) and met by my nurse who just so happened to be a woman from my ward! When I got on the bed they told me I was at 7 cm, and fully effaced. It was about 7:30 pm. I declined drugs because I didn't want to risk prolonging labor (like before) and I am SO glad I did it natural because it happened so fast and I was awake and alert the whole time. I started pushing at 8:30 and Brecken arrived about twenty minutes later :)
He weighed 7.6 lbs and the first measurement they gave us was 18 inches (hecka short!) but a week later he measured 21 inches so we decided he was born somewhere in the middle ;) The first feeling I had when he was put on my chest was absolute utter relief! I was so glad he was here and I was DONE. Then I noticed his dark hair and his long fingers (just like Bannock's) and his lips which are Neely lips and I was struck by what an awesome privilege it is to bring life into this world.
I am so glad we made it to the hospital in time because as we drove I could feel the baby getting lower and I felt pressure like I needed to push. I'm also so glad I did it naturally because afterward I wasn't tired and drugged up, just happy and alert. I felt so good. I can recall every moment and every feeling. Yes, it hurt tremendously (let's say, the absolute worst case of constipation ever and no matter how bad it hurts or tears that baby just HAS to come out!) but it was over so quickly and recovery was so much faster I would suggest it to anyone. I'm thankful for this beautiful little boy and I'm thankful my labor was fast and technically easy. Bannock is still getting used to a brother, he calls him "sweetie" all the time and likes to share his toys with him to make him feel better (but of course on occasion he has also dumped a cup of water on him and scratched him but we won't focus on that). Sean completely adores Brecken and the latter has a favorite sleeping place in the arms of the former. I love all my boys and I can't wait (figuratively) to have more!

Firstborn updates

OK, I really am excited for a new little baby but this boy will always be my baby too and I just wanted to share couple (more) tidbits about him :)

This past week we've introduced Big Boy Undies, and Bannock couldn't be happier! I told him if he did well going on his potty he could get Cars undies and since he's been pretty good I gave in. And I must admit his reaction was fully worth it. He wanted to wear every pair the first day. The moment we put them on he went to the mirror, put his hands on his hips and just smiled ecstatically. We went to visit Sean for lunch and he tried to pull his pants down and show him saying "Daddy I'm a big boy!" So far not too many accidents but I will admit he loves his undies so much he got pretty mad at first when he found out that he had to take them off in order to even use the potty, he got over this when he remembered he gets a sticker and a special treat for using his potty :)

The second pic is Bannock winking, which he is very proficient at doing. We call it his pirate face to which he responds with "yaarrgh". It's pretty awesome. We think he inherited this ability from his Nahnah Charlynn who can successfully close one eye without using any face muscles and the result is somewhat creepy :)

And it was also requested that I add that the whole Oborn family (all three of us) woke up around 5 AM the morning of the space shuttle launch to watch the Atlantis take its final flight into space. It was neat to watch a shuttle launch and experience that for the first and last time.

27 Days to go...

I am now in the final month, thank goodness! I wake up every morning feeling like I ran a marathon the day before... it's about time to be done. This little guy is actually painful when he moves now, which he does more frequently than a 36 wk baby probably is supposed to. One more week and I'll be full term - then it's time to run up the stairs, clean like crazy, and pretty much do all the (safer) things I can to induce labor. I'm so ready to meet this little boy! Yet at the same time I feel so less prepared for this one (uh we have a couple onesies, a bouncer and a moses basket... seriously, that's it right now) I'm not sure if we'll ever be "ready" for him to come. And on top of that we have no clue what to name him! I feel so neglectful this time around... it's not as exciting and momentous as the first, and I feel guilty admitting that, but it is still exciting to bring a little person into the world, no matter the circumstances. I'm so thankful this guy is strong and healthy and I truly am happy to be bringing another boy into our family, I just hope he comes out with a name tag!