Tragon Zechariah has arrived...

...weighing in at a whopping 7 lbs 12 oz. So far, he's been the biggest baby...well, only by an ounce, but still. I'll post the pictures first and then the story after.Welcome to the world Tragon!
His hair does look curly, but it's deceiving, as soon as it dries, it's nice and straight, just like the rest of my boys...maybe if I have a girl, the curls will stay. :)



Mommy and Tragon with the eye drops that he was not very fond of.

He's a really good sleeper...when you hold him. He's actually a really peaceful and calming baby.
This was after his first bath, his hair is still so soft and fluffy.
Getting ready to go home. He did really well in the carseat.
Daddy and Tragon. Aren't they so cute!
Damon has been handling things really well and has loved his little brother.
I think it's really helped the transition that Grandma has been here to give him some extra attention too. :)
Damon's foot on the left, Tragon's foot on the right....and I thought Damon was still so small and still my baby, but not anymore I guess. I'm positive that he grew at least 2 feet and gained at least 30 lbs while I was in the hospital.
Logan thought it was really neat to hold the baby, he wanted to carry Tragon to me, but when he tried to lift him up, he sighed and said, he's so heavy.
Mommy and Tray relaxing.
He loves to snuggle and so far hasn't required a lot of bouncing or walking around, he likes to just be still and sleeps most peacefully when it's noisy, good thing for him, he was born into a noisy home :)
Mommy and Logan cuddling.

So, for the birthing story so I don't forget, and just because it was quite at fun?...interesting?...unique?....story.

We woke up early on the 19th and called into the hospital and they said come right up we have a bed for you. I was so happy, I was worrying the night before that it was going to be really busy and we'd have to wait for him to come another day.

We got things started, I needed to have some antibiotics in my system for about 4 hours, so things started off pretty slow since I was already dilated to a 4. After a couple hours, they started the pitocin. I had a really long really hard contraction that was lasting longer than 3 minutes...usually they are anywhere from about 30 seconds to a minute for the real intense part. Anyway, I could tell something was wrong after about 2 minutes and had Morgan go get the nurse who had stepped out to grab more antibiotics. The baby's heart rate was starting to get really low and I was getting worried. Another nurse came in and they rolled me onto my side and had to give me a shot of something that would counter balance the pitocin so my contraction would stop. They gave me a little oxygen and at this point I think Morgan was really worried and feeling a little helpless, somehow through it all though, I still felt calm and that everything was going to be okay.

After things settled down, the baby's heart rate went back up and stabilized and I was okay, but they decided to wait for a couple hours before starting the pitocin again to let me and the baby rest. A couple hours later we decided to break my water and see if my contractions would regulate themselves. The dr. came in to break my water and the baby had moved and turned sideways...that little stinker. So, now we had a couple options. We could turn the baby manually, which I've heard is really painful, or elect to have a C-section (not an option), or go home and see if the baby would get head down on his own again. We talked to the dr. on the phone and we wanted to try and turn him since that little stinker had been head down and ready for the past 6 weeks of dr. appointments. While we were waiting for him to get there I was up walking around pushing on my tummy and harassing the baby trying to get him to turn. I even did a little jig in the hospital room (oh to be a fly on the wall that day). By the time the dr got there, he was almost back to head down position.

The dr. didn't have to do much to get his head down and just as he reached over to grab the water-breaking hook thing, the baby moved again...oiy! So, the nurse had to push on my stomach to keep the baby down and the dr. broke my water. We knew there would be some risks, if the umbilical cord were to slip down before the head, we'd have to do an emergency C-section, or if a hand or something other than head got down there first, it would be a C-section and once we broke the water, there was no turning back...at this point we still could since I hadn't gotten the epidural yet.

We felt good about going ahead. We broke my water and the dr was trying to let as much water out as possible so the head would stay in place...that's when we found out why my baby was so bouncy and squirmy, he had a LOT of water to swim in. After we had soaked up about 5 towels, the water starting spilling of the table on the floor, Morgan was helping mop it up. Even the dr. was surprised by how much water was coming out (don't worry, nothing was wrong with the baby or me, it just sometimes happens). Well, after I was drained, the head was there, but so was a hand...we had a little time to see if he would move his hand, but if it started coming out on top of the head, we'd have to do a C-section.

So we waited and prayed and waited and prayed and after about and hour the nurse came in to check me and the hand was gone, now it was just head. Whew, what an answer to our prayers! We got the pitocin going a little more and really started to kick things into gear now. I got my epidural and after that Morgan was so much more relaxed...he did all the worrying this labor. :) For the next few hours, it was just kind of boring. We were really hoping that we would have the baby by 7:00pm so our nurse would get a chance to see him after everything we had been through all morning and day, but at 6:15 when I was still stuck at about a 6 after 3 checks, it wasn't looking very hopeful.

I was rolling over to my other side to even out the epidural and they had to adjust the heart monitors on the baby, so the nurse came back in, it was about 6:30 and that's when I felt like the baby was on his way out with or without the dr. She checked my and I was ready to go. We called the dr. and he hurried over. Tragon was out in 1 1/2 pushes (I think the most I ever had to push was like 10 minutes and 3-4 times with Logan). He was born at 6:55pm and was perfect and beautiful. So far this has been the best recovery. I only tore just a tiny bit I think the dr. said like 2-3 stitches was all.

At one point I did ask myself, was it really the right thing to do to induce early, and is that why we're having these complications and should we just walk away and come another day? But I really felt/feel that it was the right time for him to come and even if we had waited a week for his "official" due date we would probably have still had the same thing happen as far as him being able to float around in the water so much. I think because of our little scare in the morning though that the dr. and nurse were a little more aware and cautious and that we were able to be prepared and possibly prevent a C-section with the whole crazy water thing, but who really knows, eh? I guess that's what faith is all about.

I spent the next couple days in the hospital just staring at that miracle and so full of gratitude of the whole process and responsibility of bringing life into this world. I think Morgan and I both have a renewed sense of faith in prayers and that they truly are answered and the power of the priesthood. We are both in awe at how much the Lord loves us. We had to put ourselves in His hands and have faith that things will turn out okay. Our prayers were answered in so many ways that day. What a miracle and what an extension of Heaven we now have in our home. I love my three little boys so much!

Update

We actually haven't had a whole lot going on as far as activities, unless you count cars needing repairs at very inconvenient times and still fighting sickness...oiy.

Good news though is that we will have our baby on July 19th at the latest. I'm still hoping for a spontaneous labor before then, but I'm not counting on it. We do have the date set for induction though. I'm just getting ready for that by making freezer meals, and easy to put together snacks for when we come home. I can hardly wait! I'm trying to keep myself busy to pass the time, but also trying to take it easy so I can finish getting better before I have the baby.

Probably the next post we do will be after the baby gets here, so until next time.....

Wonderful Summertime

Most of these pictures are really from the last post, but I just don't want to go in and edit it.This is Logan's poor Igor eye when he got his eye infections.
He was really good about the eye, except for the eyedrops part. I hope we don't have to do that for a long long time.
I can't remember if I mentioned that we went up the canyon one weekend. AF Canyon is really close, so we usually get a year round pass. This time was fun because both boys were old enough to walk on their own and enjoy it.
It took them a little while to warm up to the scene, it was pretty crowded, but as soon as we started throwing rocks in the water, they loved it.
The wanted to go in the water really bad, but as soon as we took their shoes off and tried to get them in, they got cold feet...hehe.
Logan preferred just throwing rocks, but he really liked the big rocks the best.
Damon loved the bridge. It would really make Morgan nervous, but he would get right up to the edge and he could stick his head through the bars. Luckily it never got stuck. He did almost run right off the edge though where some of the concrete had been broken.
He's got a little more balance than I give him credit for, but he just has no fear, so it makes me nervous too.
This is one of my favorite things about my husband, he loves to read stories with the kids and they love to sit on his lap and read with him.
I have the greatest husband in the whole world! And the best boys too!
This was at our Hadlock family reunion. They were eating some rolls and Damon insisted on sitting by Logan, even though he had been clinging to me the previous 10-15 minutes. I just love how close they are becoming. Logan is really starting to catch on to the whole big brother thing and most days does really well with it. Damon really looks up to Logan and wants to do everything just like him. And for the most part Logan is okay with it right now.

So, moving on to this recent week...still sick and trying to get better, but I think I am getting better, but we keep passing things around. I just hope that we are all healthy before the baby gets here, which can't come fast enough. We are so ready to have this baby out of my tummy! We're hanging in there though, I know just about everyone hates being pregnant in the summer when it's so hot, but this summer has been quite mild so far, so it's not actually the weather that's killing me, it's my lack of motion, energy, and stamina....and the fact that I wake up every two hours to go to the bathroom in the night since my baby insists on resting/kicking my bladder all night long. :)

We had a great 4th of July weekend. We got a lot done and Morgan had an extra day off work. We had a little BBQ with his family that turned out really nice and relaxing, and we even watched the neighbors fireworks a little bit. Even though my kids were terrified of fireworks earlier, they sort of figured out they wouldn't get hurt and liked them in the end. I guess we'll have to start incorporating some fireworks in our traditions next year. It's about time now that Logan is understanding holidays more and Morgan and I are wanting to make sure we have some fun traditions that we do each year. Some things just fall into place, but others we want to start new with our little family.

This year has really got us both thinking about our freedoms and our blessings and now that Morgan doesn't have to study every night we've been reading some books together. Right now we're reading The 5000 year leap it's really good if you haven't read it. There are so many things that we have taken for granted that I hope we can show more gratitude for. We are truly blessed to live in this nation regardless of current circumstances. There will always be trials and challenges and things will happen that we may not agree with, but as long as we keep our faith and are diligent in doing what's right and good, we have been blessed to live in the promised land and pray that it will remain so. Until next time...