Tristan is 9 Months!

Tristan has started pulling himself up to standing. He is a super busy baby and gets into EVERYTHING! He loves watching Baby Einstein, playing with his siblings, nursing, eating, and will eat anything you give him. He is still a pretty small baby in sz 6-9 month clothes. We all love him so much!

First Day of School

Lyla is now officially a 2nd grader! She is super excited of course but is already complaining about doing her math homework. I walked the girls to school and Lyla ran to her line without any hesitation. Lacee is in the AM kindergarten(how did that happen?). She is also in the extended kindergarten program which means she will be at school all day just like the big kids and she is SO EXCITED! As am I!

3 Months Old.

Why does time have to go by sooo fast? My baby boy is already 3 months old!

Here are his stats-
Wt-10lbs 15oz
Spits up a lot
Rolls from tummy to back
Smiles
Likes to snuggle
Doesn't like his car seat, getting wet or loud noises.
Sleeps in HIS BED for 7 HOURS at night!(NEVER have my other kids done this at such a young age!)

I LOVE HIM!

Birth Story of Tristan

I am apologizing ahead of time for bad grammar and misspelled words. I am still on pain meds haha.

So as I said in my previous posts I thought this baby would be here sooner then his due date and I was right! He was born at 38 weeks and 1 day.

I had been having contractions for a couple weeks and they kept getting harder and harder to deal with. I ended up in Labor and Delivery when I was about 36 weeks from contractions. I was monitored for a while then given a morphine shot and something else to slow my contractions.(Can't remember what it's called?) I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. I will never get a morphine shot again unless absolutely necessary. I was completely out of it for at least 24 hours, and here I am 3 weeks later and the whole side of my thigh HURTS and is partially numb(Wow, that was a lot of and's). Anyways, a few days had passed and I went in to the Dr's at 37w 6d and was dilated 3cm and about 60% effaced. She stripped my membranes and said if the baby doesn't come by March 11th then she would induce me on March 12th which was a week away. I was a little disappointed that I had to wait another week when I was miserable from contractions, not to mention my sciatic nerve pain which made it almost impossible to walk. 

I had contractions that night but then they stopped. They started up again the next night around midnight and by 7am I hadn't slept AT ALL and decided to go to the hospital. I was still at 3cm and 60% effaced. After a couple hours of waiting to see if my Dr would send me home or what, the nurse came in with my IV and said we are going to have a baby today!

The on call Dr. came in and broke my water. By then I was 4cm. I asked for my epidural right away cause I figure why not? Well while I was getting the epidural Jesse made the mistake of watching...he walked away from me looking confused then the nurse told him to sit, good thing he did cause all of the sudden his face turned white and he was gone. He was only passed out for about 7 seconds but it scared the crap out of me! After a few crackers and juice he was fine. 

They started a little pitocin and before I could really rest it was 4pm and time to push. I pushed for about 30 minutes and everything was looking good. His head came out and he had the cord around his neck which was not a huge deal but then he wasn't coming out anymore! His shoulders were so wide that he got stuck.(When Jesse was born he got stuck at the shoulders as well) I quickly had an episiotomy(boo!) and Tristan was born! 

Tristan was a little stunned after he was born and they were concerned that he wasn't crying, even though my babies NEVER cry when they are born. He snapped out of it pretty quick and looked like a healthy 8 pound baby boy. He is my biggest baby and he was born two weeks early! I nursed him right away and he nursed like a pro. One thing I noticed was that he was sweating. I have never seen a baby sweat like that. The nurse said it was probably cause he was getting too warm from snuggling with me. So I didn't think too much about it.

That night was the usual after baby stuff. Waiting for my legs to work again and having to call the nurse to help me to the bathroom(hate that). The next day I was SO TIRED. Never have I been that tired in my life. My Dr came to check on me and she said I have low red blood cells from bleeding so much which is why I was so tired. Apparently it takes a while to recover from that so I have to take a pill everyday to help fix it. 

The nurses said Tristans blood sugar level was a little low and that they are keeping an eye on it. After he was born it was in the 50's(it's supposed to be 60+). By morning it was in the 40's so they fed him formula to try to get it back up. I had him in my room and he was still sweaty, but again, I didn't think too much of it. By noon his blood sugar was so low it wouldn't even register. They took him to the NICU and hooked up an IV immediately.

Apparently low blood sugar is a common thing? I had no idea. The NICU Dr. said Tristan would be in there for at least 2 days...I was leaving the hospital on Saturday and if Tristan has to stay for 2 days then that means I wouldn't be able to bring him home with me :(.

So I was a little upset about the whole thing but thought I know it could be a lot worse and I am lucky that aside from his blood sugar levels he was a very healthy baby. That night my sister Kristin who was watching my other kids said that Parker puked! Ok, maybe he ate too much or something, but then he puked again and AGAIN. I felt so bad that Kristin was dealing with a puking kid that wasn't her own, so we decided Jesse better go take care of him.

By the next day, Parker, Lacee, my Mom, my sister Katie and her son Liam all had the stomach flu. Definitely not the best time to be dealing with puking kids. Knowing Jesse would have to drive me to the hospital every few hours so I can nurse Tristan, I would have to get someone to spend the night. Who on earth could I ask to come stay with my puking kids?! Finally after a lot of stress trying to figure out what to do, my 16 year old sister finally agreed to come help.

It was definitely a new experience having to go to the hospital multiple times during the night to feed Tristan. He was on a strict 3 hour feeding schedule and after a few feedings I realized there is no way I could be there every three hours. So I started going in every 6 hours and would pump in between so he could have breast milk while I wasn't there and I would be able to rest. I honestly felt like the nurses were judging me for not being there every feeding but nothing I could do about it. Lets just say there was a lot of crying going on those few days.

After the first night of going to the hospital and coming home to puking kids, things seemed to get a little easier. Until Jesse, who cleaned up all the puke and took care of the kids so I wouldn't get sick, got the flu too. So here I was with all three older kids puking, Jesse sick in bed, Tristan in the NICU, and me recovering from giving birth. Again, a lot of crying. 

At the hospital, Tristans IV accidentally came out of his hand and immediately his blood sugar dropped. So we knew he wasn't coming home soon. They put the IV in his head so it wouldn't come out again poor baby. 

My little brother Scot came over and watched my kids for the next few days while Tristan was in the hospital. He is really a great helper and I am glad he came. I could not have done it without him! Those days were pretty much a routine of hospital, puke, hospital, puke. Then we received the good news that Tristan was good to go home!! He came home on Tuesday so 4 days in the NICU. That was the longest 4 days of my life. 

Ready to go home!

My older kids were finally starting to feel better! Or so I thought...Lacee woke up Wednesday with a FEVER! Like seriously? Are my kids out licking door knobs?!? So right now my older kids have coughs and runny noses. The baby and I have been in my room the whole week and the older kids have not even held him yet :(.

Happy to be home.

This has been a rough week, but I KNOW it could of been a lot worse.

A HUGE thank you to my visiting teachers who brought meals AND cleaned my house from top to bottom! I don't think my house has ever been that clean and it was a huge help. Another thank you to my sisters for taking care of my kids while I was in the hospital. I am blessed to have all these people in my life willing to help me if needed.

Introducing...

Tristan William Michelsen 

3-6-14 

8 lbs 21 Inches

(Picture taken at 6 days old)

Too tired right now to go into detail about his birth...stay tuned for that!

Pregnancy Post

So I NEVER get pictures taken of myself, but for some reason I got this feeling that I really needed to get some maternity pictures taken. So here are a few of the edited ones!


At my 36 week ultrasound they informed me that I had a higher amount of amniotic fluid then normal. I guess I am supposed to be at 12 but I am at 20. This explains A LOT of why I am so much more uncomfortable with this pregnancy vs. the other 3. My midwife didn't seem too worried though. I am dilated almost 2 and about 50% effaced. I have been having contractions every night so I think I have to be making some progress. With my last pregnancy I dilated 1cm every week and ended up having him when I was 39 weeks.

I am feeling like this baby is going to be here soon. I am 36w 5d right now. I have all the signs of pending labor so crossing my fingers it will be soon! My next appointment is on Friday the 28th and I am hoping I have progressed. Nothing worse than having contractions for no reason!

One thing I wanted to say is that I am very grateful for my husband Jesse. I don't know what I would do without him. I feel very blessed to have him working from home. Let me tell you a little about my days right now with him. I don't sleep good at night so Jesse wakes up with the kids and lets me sleep for as long as I need. He then makes me lunch(makes the kids lunch too of course), we eat together, then I try to get some cleaning or organizing done which is hard but I fight through the pain(sciatic nerve). By the evening I am done and can't move so Jesse takes over the dinner, homework, guitar lessons, dance classes, everything! He puts the kids to bed and we spend some time together. I would probably have had a nervous breakdown by now if it wasn't for him. Not sure if he will read this but THANK YOU JESSE! I love you!

It's been over a year...wow.

Okay so in the past year there have been birthdays, Disneyland trips, weddings, photoshoots, school, work, etc. The biggest bit of news though is that we are expecting baby number 4 due March 19th 2014! Oh and he's a BOY.

That is his foot by his face, apparently he is very flexable.

We love him already and can't wait till he is here! Especially me...This is the most uncomfortable pregnancy for me. Apparently I have more amniotic fluid then usual so I am HUGE even though I still have around 4 weeks to go. My back is killing me and I have sciatic nerve pain. I have contractions almost every night so hopefully I will have him soon.

Parker is 3 now! He is a handful but what 3 year old isn't? We love just listening to the things he has to say and wonder, "Where on earth did he learn THAT?!". He is potty trained, he loves Mickey, and he loves playing with his sisters. I am excited that he will have a little brother soon.

Lacee is our petite, independent, spunky, silly 4 year old. She is in preschool which she LOVES but she is definitely ready for kindergarten. I know I am going to have my hands full when she's in her teens because she already does whatever she wants even when we tell her no. OH and she already rolls her eyes at us. What 4 year old rolls their eyes when asked to do something?!? lol

Lyla just turned 7 and I still can't believe it. She is in 1st grade and doing great. Jesse just started teaching her guitar and she loves it. She has been losing teeth left and right and gets very excited when she gets a dollar from the tooth fairy. Lyla has also just started her own blog called Lylasworld.com.

That is all for now. Hopefully I will post an update again before the year is over haha.