clean

Last week, the crusty remaining umbilical cord fell off of Isaac's belly button. It took quite a bit longer than I remember with Emma. We celebrated the occasion with his first sink bath. He loved it!

bath time fun

Ahhhh, it's like a day at the spa!

He also has begun smiling although I have yet to capture it on camera. He is also quite strong. He is able to hold is head up nearly all the time and can stand (with help of course!) because his legs are so strong. He sleeps pretty well through the night - a good 5-6 hours for the first stretch. He's our wonder boy!

A half smile

welcome

Isaac Asher Meunier

Mr. Isaac Asher Meunier has finally arrived! He was born August 14th at 7:29 am, weighing 10lbs and 9 oz and 21 inches long. Yes, he is a hefty boy! Thankfully we are both doing well although his birth story is a little dramatic.

We arrived at the hospital at around 4:30 am after my contractions had been about 4-5 minutes apart for about an hour. My water still had not broken, but I wanted to at least be checked since my labor with Emma really wasn't that long. Unfortunately, I was only dilated at 5. I had been at 3 for the past few weeks. Initially the nurse said they were just going to monitor me for an hour in the triage room and if things didn't progress, they were going to send me home. At the next check, I was still at 5, but my blood pressure was starting to increase. I think at that time it was in the 140s. I had had normal blood pressures all through my pregnancy.

Since my blood pressure was elevated, they decided to go ahead and admit me and started some pitocin to hopefully get things going. The doctor came in a few minutes after the pitocin had started and broke my water. After about an hour, the contractions were getting really strong thanks to the pitocin and I still was only dilated to 5. At that time my blood pressure was in the 170s.

Even though I was planning to go "au naturale", the nursing staff strongly suggested I get an epidural to not only help the pain, but hopefully bring my blood pressure down. It didn't take much convincing and I agreed. One last check of vital signs before the anestheologist arrived revealed my blood pressure at 197/100 and Isaac's heart rate suddenly dropped to 90. Because of my blood pressure issues and Isaac's heart rate, the recently on-duty OB doc decided to rush me into the OR for an emergency C-section.

It was quite scary. The room suddenly filled with 10+ staff and they literally ran me to the OR. Because it was deemed an emergency, Nate wasn't able to scrub in for the procedure and so had to anxiously wait in the room until the doctor came in about 15 minutes later to let him know he was now the father of a healthy boy weighing over 10 pounds! They still aren't sure exactly why my blood pressure and his pulse responded in the way they did, but I think it's just because he is so darn big, he just didn't have room to get going (thankfully!)

First meeting

I came to about an hour later. Because it was emergent, I had to have general anesthesia. Although I am so thankful everything went well, it was sad that I wasn't able to hear his cries when he was first born. I was pretty much out of it the first day. I'm a bit of a light weight when it comes to strong painkillers. We spent the next 3 days in the hospital getting to know each other.

Siblings

We now are all doing well. I'm feeling surprisingly well given my abdomen was sliced open. The worst part is that I can't lift up Emma. My parents (who are the greatest people in the world BTW) took Emma home with them for a week or so to allow me to recuperate. It's probably the hormones, but I was very emotional to see her go. She is enthralled with Isaac and really does well with him, although did need frequent reminders to be gentle.

Gramma and Grandpa

Isaac eats all the time! He had his first check-up a few days ago and is basically back to his birth weight. He has lots of hair - I can even style it! The mohawk look is my favorite. He seems to have a pretty low-key personality, but at this point he's only awake about 4 hours out of the day, so it's hard to say. He has an assortment of silly faces and grunting noises. I'm still getting used to his, ahem, anatomical differences. I've been peed on a few times already.

Happy baby

I have a bit of anxiety about returning to work, mostly because I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the schedule in the morning. I feel like I'll have to get up at 4 am to get everyone dressed and ready to go. Two is certainly more challenging than one! Despite the challenges, I couldn't be happier. We have two beautiful, happy, healthy children and I can't wait to see them grow!

expecting

She's a brick house!

Today is my 29th birthday and I am 37 weeks pregnant. Unfortunately, I am spending the night by myself - Nate is at work and Emma is spending the week with my parents. I did get to celebrate the occasion a few nights ago with dinner and a movie with Nate. We saw Hangover and I'm still laughing, so tonight is not a total drag.

Sitting here by myself more than ready to welcome this new person into the world, I am contemplating what it means to be expecting. These have been my expectations during these last few weeks - most have not been met.

1. During the hot summer months, I'll be able to keep my cool.

I have never sweat so much in my life. I have to frequently tell coworkers not to get too close and am constantly apologizing to my patients. I am also not keeping my cool as well with Emma. My patience is about an inch long and I feel really bad. I hope she doesn't remember this ranting, irritable pregnant mom.

If you look closely you can see my new nasty stretch marks

2. People will keep their comments about my growing belly to themselves.
It will always amaze me the things complete strangers will say. It ranges from the mild "any day now, huh?" to "are you sure you're not having twins?" to "please try to keep your legs crossed until you leave the store so you don't go into labor on my watch". Yes, someone actually said this. Like if I happened to go into labor at the store the baby would somehow immediately fall out of me. Man people are dumb. I find the best approach is just to not make eye contact with anyone.

Regardless of my unreached expectations, I still am very excited to meet our little guy. Going through Emma's old things, I have been reminded how wonderful babies are despite the last nights and spit-up. So come on Mr. Isaac, we're ready to say hello!

Since it has been so long since I've posted, here are some pictures from our summer so far.

Cowgirl Emma

Emma wearing daddy's shoes

Emma and the birthday boy.

Emma helping daddy with his presents

The bfcw girls.

The bfcw kids Alex, Aidan, Emma, and Ivy.

Emma discovering "baby Eleanor".

Tromping through the park.

Running with daddy.

Practicing lacrosse so she can take on Uncle Josh.

Almost got it.

weekend

I am truly exhausted tonight. Probably a combination of my incredibly busy work schedule and the busy weekend we had. Oh yeah, and I'm pregnant! I think spring has officially arrived in Billings. Today the temperature was in the 70's so Emma got to break out a new spring outfit. What a doll!

Bring on the spring dresses.

It was really nice outside both days this weekend, so we took advantage of the nice weather to start tackling some outdoor projects. First of all, we moved in Emma's new swing set! It was my Aunt Janet and Uncle Chris' and they gave it to us. It's a little old (13 years to be exact) but you can't beat a free swing set. Thanks so much again guys! Emma was so excited to get it and promptly went to town on the swings. She also spent several hours playing on it yesterday, even going so far as sliding down the slide head first! Needless to say, we have our weekend plans laid out for us for the rest of the summer!



We are also doing some landscaping projects, the first of which is to replant the small flower garden in front of the house. We're not big fans of using rocks, which seems to be really popular out here, so the first part of the job involves removing all the rocks and existing plants from the garden. After loading up a wheelbarrow full of rocks, not only did we realize we had not come up with a plan of where to put them, it was also to heavy for Nate and I to move! Whoops! I'm sure more exciting landscaping adventures to come this summer.

Removing the rocks, Take 1.

Saturday marked the 10 year anniversary of my and Nathan's first date. To celebrate the occasion, we went out to dinner and a movie. We saw the new Star Trek movie which I really enjoyed. I certainly would not call myself a "trekky" but I've liked most of the Star Trek movies. When I was younger, I used to watch Star Trek (the TV show) on Saturday afternoons with my brothers (yes you guys know you watched too!) while Dad would grill burgers, our traditional Saturday fare. Ah, the life!

Sunday was mothers day and a really great day overall. I awoke to breakfast in bed made by Nathan and Emma. Tasty! We then spent the majority of the day outside, but I did get to experience a nice nap while Emma took hers. Nathan got me roses and cooked me Mannicoti for dinner too, which was really nice. I also got my first homemade mother's day card from Emma. How cute! Happy Mothers Day to all mommies out there!

Pretty mom's day roses.

First Mom's day card from Emma.

Inside of card.

baseball

Before updating you all on Emma, a few shout-outs. First off to Josh, who graduated from Northeastern University last Friday. Way to go! Again, sorry Emma and I weren't able to join in the festivities, but it sounds like you all had a nice time. He also narrowly lost his lacrosse game which would have allowed his team to compete in Nationals. Bummer! He did end up being awarded first team All-American in his division for lacrosse, which is pretty awesome! To see a sweet action shot, click on this link. Josh is #28 if you want to scope him out in the other pictures on the photographer's site.

Also a big Yahoo to Sam who made Delphian choir at Great Falls High. This is the highest level choir and, speaking from experience, really fun to be involved in. As a sophomore, it pretty impressive to get chosen. Can't wait to go to some concerts next year!

We've also been able to see Sam play some ball games already this year. Last weekend we traveled to Helena to see him play and the weekend before that we went to Lewistown. I don't know what it is about watching baseball, but I really do enjoy it. Last year for my birthday Nate got us tickets to see the Mariners play and it was awesome! (and also my first pro game) Here's some pictures from Emma playing on the sidelines.

Take me out to the ballgame.

Running from Maddie.

Batter up!.

In Helena there was a nice playground to enjoy which reminded me a lot of the playground we went to in Red Lodge this summer. She's taken quite a liking recently to swings so was a little upset when we had to leave. I also have several relatives that live in Helena and we got to see most of them (nice Meghan and Ryan!) after the game. It's always nice to catch up.

The playground in Helena.

Swinging with Maddie and Gramma.

Loving the swings.

The Helena crew (starting with first row on the left): Aunt Jan, my cousin Maurika and her daughter Piper, Emma and I, my cousin Joe, (second row) Uncle Marc, Maurika's other kids Truman and Rileigh, my Dad, my Mom, and Maddie.

Emma playing with Rika and Piper.

silly

Last week Emma's class celebrated the Week of the Early Child. I didn't even know this was a celebrated week! Anywhoo....there was a different silly theme everyday. The two I have pictured here are Mismatch Day and Hillbilly Day. Other themes included favorite sports team day, silly hat day, and crazy hair day. Overall it was really fun and reminded me of homecoming week in high school. The kids all looked so adorable, but Emma of course was the cutest.

Hillbilly day. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any cowboy boots for her yet.

Mismatch day.

Along with mismatched hair.

celebrations

My brother Jake recently informed me that he checks this blog everyday and it ruins his day when nothing new is posted, so here's to you Jake. Sending you smiles from MT!

We've had a lot happen over the last several weeks. Emma had her second birthday, we celebrated Easter, and we learned the next member of our family will be a boy! We are quite excited about the last piece of news. Everything on the ultrasound apparently looked fine. Even though I work in the medical field, I still cannot comprehend what I'm supposed to be looking at on those things. Good thing I don't have to worry about pregnancy in the population I work with!

Emma's birthday celebration was a lot of fun. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but invited several family members over for homemade pizza, cake, ice cream and presents. I got off work a little early (4:30!) and rushed home to start making pizza as I told everyone to be over about 5:30 and had 10 pizzas to make! Luckily my Dad was in town and came over to help. We got them all finished for the 20 or so guests and I still have leftover pizza in the freezer! Gramma Mary, Uncle Sam, and Aunt Maddie were able to join us via webcam and Emma got to talk to Nana LaVonne earlier in the day. Emma's favorite part was opening presents, but the chocolate ice cream was a close second! Enjoy the pictures and thanks again to everyone who joined us for the fun day!

Emma and Mommy opening presents.

The cliche hair bows.

The mini cupcakes I made for Emma's class

The birthday cake I made

Easter was wonderful too. We headed down to Great Falls to spend it with my family. It started off with an Easter egg hunt with some kids from my parents church. Emma loved it and even won two of the special prizes! We then dyed easter eggs which Emma seemed to enjoy too. She loved directed Gramma Mary which colors she wanted to use. She got to get all dolled up in her easter garb after discovering her easter bunny presents (a new outfit complete with flip-flops). She even got to watch Aunt Maddie and I fly kites, which didn't last too long after my kite got caught in the 2 foot tree in my parents front yard and Maddie's kite flew away.

On a sugar high in her Easter garb.

Emma and Mommy taking a break from egg hunting.

The easter egg hunting crew. Emma and Maddie are in the second row on the right.

Dying easter eggs.

A not so great look at the ever growing baby bump.

Here's some ultrasound pictures of our new guy. The first are from my first ultrasound when I was about 10 weeks, then 13 weeks and finally about 22 weeks. Pretty amazing.

Little alien.

Check out that nose.

Foot.

Maxin and relaxin.

Hello up there.