Val's Birthday

Just like you I love to read a good birth story. And this one will not disappoint!

So let's begin....

Val Anders Hawkley
8 lbs 10 oz

Val was due on April 7th. I figured he would be late because my babies like to take their sweet time. The last couple weeks/days of pregnancy are always the hardest for me. I'm always trying to make sure everything is ready, the house is clean and full of food. And I do everything in my power to try and get the baby out. The 7th was a Monday. Baby didn't come. So on Tuesday I woke up, packed up the kids and headed to a friends house. She watched my kids while I went on a 6 mile walk. People would look at me and I would respond, "yeah I was due yesterday!" I was contracting the whole time I was walking and things were really starting to hurt. So I was getting excited! I went back to get my kids. Took them back home and put Jade down for a nap and started cleaning the house and vacuuming out the car. Contractions were still coming. I called Pehrson at work and said...I think it's time. I called the family who was gonna watch our kids and they were available. P got home, dropped off the kids. Picked me up and drove me to the hospital. Contractions were about every 4 minutes at this time. I got in and they measured me at a 5. But the baby wasn't low enough. So they stripped my membranes and told me to go walk around the hospital for an hour and come back. I was so disappointed mostly because I didn't want them to send me home. So I walked and walked some more, ran up & down stairs, did the curb walk, squats...and said lots of prayers! The hour was up and we got back into the elevator to go inside and guess what, "my water broke!" I was so excited! So they admitted me for sure and started getting everything set up. So usually when my water brakes that means it's go time. But you'll find out later in the story that my water breaks 3 different times. It's a slow process. I'm not in major pain but the contractions were getting stronger. They checked me and I was at a 6.5 and I pretty much stayed there for about 10 hours. Also, my baby was sunny side up which was making it harder for him to drop and get in position. Some new nurses took over and checked me and one of them said she felt like there was a fore bag (which means my water really didn't brake completely the first time) about 30 minutes later I stood up and a gush of water came out of me! So they were right my water hadn't broken completely and now that I had another brake we all thought for sure the baby would be here any second. But the contractions started to die down. They were still strong but only happening every 8-10 minutes. Val was not under any stress, his heart beat was perfect and he was in no hurry to get out of me. Since my initial brake in the water it had been about 15 hours. And once your water breaks you are on a time crunch now. They want to get the baby out around 18 hours after it breaks to avoid infection. So since my contractions started to slow down we all decided it was time to put some pitocin in me to help things go a little faster. They started at a 2 mL (I think) and went up to 8 mL. Which isn't very much I guess, they can go up to 20 or higher. But it was enough for my body to respond. I was really nervous about putting pitocin in my body. I have never had it before and I didn't want it to stress out my baby. But since they didn't have to put too much Val was still under no stress. The pitocin kicked in and the last two hours of labor were LABOR! I was contracting about every 1 1/2-2 minutes. Of super intense, can't breathe, nobody talk to me, nobody touch me contractions. Val didn't like it when I sat down, so I stood through every contraction or was bent over on all fours. The pain was getting stronger and I almost started to cry. I looked up at Pehrson and said, "I can't do this anymore!" And he said, "that means it's time to push!" And sure enough he was right I was at a 10 and baby was coming! Seriously the best news. The hardest part was over. Time to push! I love when it's time to push! Feels so good especially since you know your baby is almost in your arms.

So remember how I said my water broke 3 different times. We'll here comes the best part of the story. I get all set up on the table. My nurse asks me if it's okay to have some students come watch. I said sure and in a matter of seconds there were about 16 people in my room watching me. Awesome! Ha so the resident gets all suited up to deliver the baby and the doctor is right next to him. A contraction comes and they all tell me to push. I push with all my might and POP the last of my water popped ALL OVER THE RESIDENT! I sprayed the poor guy with amniotic fluid from head to toe. It looked like I had taken a big cup of water and thrown it all over him. No one could believe it. The room went silent, I looked at him and said,"I am SO sorry!" Then started laughing so hard. Everyone was laughing. Pehrson was in tears, my nurse was uncontrollable. It was seriously histerical and exactly what we needed after being in the hospital for 17 hours. The poor guy stood in awe and asked nicely, "can someone please get me a towel?" Then a few seconds later he says, "can someone please wipe my mouth!" On the bright side all the laughing made my baby drop fast and in about 2-3 more pushes out he came!

He was perfect!

I have never been so relieved! I just stared at him while they stitched me up. The doctor came over and pushed on my stomach and noticed that I had a ton of blood clots come out of me. She said I lost a ton of blood and she needed to go in and scoop out all the blood clots. She said she was gonna give me some medicine that would make me really drowsy and I couldn't nurse my baby for a while. I said no way! I just went through hours of labor with nothing I don't want any drugs in me now! I didn't really understand what she had to do.....but boy was it painful! She stuck her entire hand inside of me and scooped out all the blood clots, three times, then the last time she got a rag and wiped all around my cervix. It only took about 30 seconds but I could not believe how painful that was, makes me sick just thinking about it. Then it was time to recover.  I was a little shaky from all the blood I had lost and super hungry! They put lots of blankets on me and feed me some peanut butter and graham crackers. I was so relieved and so happy to have my baby here.

I moved over to the recovery room and slept the rest of the day and stared at our sweet little baby. Beck & Jade came to the hospital the next day. And as much as I love seeing the baby for the first time after labor. Watching my kids see each other for the first time on earth takes the cake. B&J wanted to hold him and give him fruit snacks and B asked daddy if the boys could all wrestle. Those are the moments I replay in my head over and over again.

It just felt right.

Val proved to me again that every delivery is different.  Every kid is different. And that the challenge of being a mother is learning how to raise each one because of their differences. Val has been such a wonderful baby. He loves to cuddle and hardly ever cries. Is a great eater and just let's Beck & Jade love all over him. We are all smitten and so happy to be holding him in our arms.

Our bodies are  truly amazing! And I feel so lucky and blessed to have another one of God's children to raise and love. There is nothing more important to me then spending my every day with these three beautiful children. It is the best job in the whole wide world!

SoinLove!

Pregnancy round 3

Pregnancy.....oooh pregnancy! Where to begin. I have a love/hate. I love that I am pregnant and that my body can create these beautiful little people. But I hate that its 9 months (more like 10 for me) and I am just SO anxious to meet the baby. 9 months always feels too long. 6 months would be perfect!

But I have to admit this has been the fastest pregnancy of all time. I can't believe I only have 5 weeks to go. I am still feeling pretty good. I have gotten bigger faster this time and so people still can't believe I'm pregnant. I get the most ridiculous comments of all time. I have started lying about my due date to strangers because they look at me like they've never seen a pregnant person before and make comments like, "you look like you're gonna explode!" "and WOW...any second now?" Beck told me I look like a snowman or Mr. Smee. haha And he is determined to name this baby Olaf. And Jade just loves on my belly all day. She is going to miss it the most. She helps me put lotion on it and can't go through the day with out giving my belly a kiss or blowing on it. She is so funny!

And I am just so grateful that I can still be active and keep up with my kids everyday. The end of the day my back and hips feel like they are going to fall apart sometimes and I get crazy night sweats. But I still manage to get up the next day and get all the things done that I need to. The body truly is an amazing creation. Thinking about it just blows my mind.

We can't wait to meet you baby boy! We still don't have a name picked out but you are loved so much already! Beck & Jade talk about you all the time. Beck says you are bestest friends already and he can't wait to show you all his cars and toys. And be prepared cause Jade is going to kiss you all day long. (I will too!) Daddy can't believe we will be a family of 5. He can't wait to cuddle with you either. Next month we will be preparing for your arrival and I can't wait. You move around inside me all day and there is nothing I love more than feeling your active little legs and arms move around like crazy!

We love you SO much little brother. Can't wait to hold, cuddle & smell you! See you next month. Be nice to me on your way out =]

This was seriously one of the best days of my life! (sounds pathetic!) haha But after two failed attempts I was scared to try again. But I was so sick of changing his diapers and I really didn't want three babies in diapers...SO i buckled down and mission accomplished! Beck was finally ready and he was SO proud of himself! Like SOOO proud of himself. He would cheer and scream when he went potty. It was the best and Jade was his #1 cheerleader. She would jump up and down with excitement along with him. (I think its because she got some candy too!) But once he finally decided to do it on his own he did and never looked back. Still to this day he has only had made 1 or 2 accidents. We are all so proud of him.

Jade is showing interest now too and wants to sit on the toilet whenever Beck does. Maybe she will be one of those miracle babies who is potty trained at 20 months....but probably not! HA

New Years!

 I always love the end of one year and the start of a new one. 2013 was such a great year for us. We graduated dental school and moved to a new state. Definitely a year we will never forget! I am mostly excited for this year because of the new little babe that will be joining our fam! We all can't wait to meet him. This New Years Eve we spent the evening at a friends house in our ward. We had a bonfire and did fireworks. It was perfect! There really is no better way to celebrate than a bonfire and marshmallows. The kids loved it all!

Christmas 2013

Christmas was a lot different this year. It was our first time on our own. I was a little worried about it and kind of excited to spend this time with the ones I love most. Pehrson's schedule didn't really allow him to take off that much time and the tickets to California were insanely overpriced! WOW! We couldn't afford to fly us all out so we made the best of it here. Luckily we have the Reeves family who has sort of adopted us into their family to make it not as lonely. We spent Christmas Eve at there house in Defuniak Springs, FL. A small little town right on this little lake. It was beautiful and their kids are so good with mine. Beck & Jade love hanging out with them and beg to play at their house pretty much every day.

We spent the day paddle boating....

Making some gingerbread houses....

Skating....

playing outside in the yard....all bundled up!

Ate dinner and did the Nativity story....Beck was a shephard and loved every second of it. After that we went to this lake close by and looked at all the Christmas lights. It was cold but we all had a lot of fun and we were so happy and thankful to have a place and people to spend time with on Christmas Eve. 

We also made some sugar cookies with these cuties a few days before Christmas...

Christmas day was a lot of fun! I loved decorating our cute little house and buying our very first real chirstmas tree. Beck's job was to plug in the Christmas tree lights every morning and he thought that was the coolest thing ever. I made a the tree skirt and was so happy with the outcome! And the best part was that I spent less than $20 on it. 

 But that morning the kids woke up and opened their gifts. I realized that I was a real mom this year for Christmas. I could care a less what I was getting for a gift, I was just so excited to see the reactions on my kids faces. I knew pretty much every gift that was under the tree. So nothing was really a surprise but I was totally fine with that. These kiddos had a blast and we spent hours opening gifts cause they wanted to open and play with each thing they got. It was so fun to see it through their eyes. I'd say they were pretty happy!

 And of course my favorite gifts were all right there in the room with me. Here are my three babies on Christmas Sunday. I am so so so lucky to have these cuties in my life. And a wonderful husband to boot!

  I always love the season of Christmas. Helps remind me of the greatness in life. It really is a good life! Love you guys. Hope you had a wonderful year also.

Baby #3

I have been 50/50 on finding out the gender of baby #3. I kept thinking well I have one of each it really doesn't matter either way. I love having a boy and I love having a girl. So I went to my doctors appointment (which is right across the street from Pehrson's Dental office) he was able to come with me to the ultrasound for about 30 minutes. We put the kids in the daycare on base so we could give this baby our full attention. I loved having Pehrson with me. He hasn't been able to come to any of my appointments and it's just always better having him there. When he had to go he gave me a look that made me think he knew what the gender was. (he denys it) Our appointment was on a wednesday. I had the Doctor write the gender on a paper and put it in an envelope. And decide later if we will look or not. Pehrson had a big test that he had to take that Saturday so the rest of the week I didn't really see him....finally on Sunday we decided that we would open it. The test was over and we could concentrate and get excited about it. At the end of our street there is a sand hill and so we climbed up to the top gave the envelope to Beck. He knows the letter "B" and points it out all the time so we figured if he opened it and could read it then it would be a boy....

 He opened the envelope and all I heard was, "look a B for Beck!" It's a boy!! We both called it and we are thrilled. Still can't believe that another sweet little boy will be joining our family soon. 3 more months exactly from now. 

We love this little boy so much already and so do the kids. B&J want to kiss and touch my belly all day long. Beck likes to remind me every day that my belly is getting bigger. We love you little guy. Thanks for being so good to me. And now the name search really begins. Picking a name is SO hard for us. But somehow it always works out. 

We can't wait to meet you little boyfriend..... 

Anniversary-5 years

 Just when I thought this guy couldn't be more perfect he goes and does something like this and proves me wrong AGAIN! Our 5th anniversary was on December 20th. It is a hard time of year to do much so we usually just write a letter to each other or do something small. This year he took me out to dinner and gave me the nicest thing I have ever gotten in my life! It was a journal that he made for me. All hand sewn and perfectly done. I opened it up and read the first page. He dated it December 2012 and said for the next year I am going to write something that I love about you ever week! I couldn't believe. He did it all secretly and for the entire year of 2013 he wrote something he loved about me every single week!!! Still can't believe he did this. I of course started crying! And read each word with a smile on my face. He is seriously the most special person in my life. With out him I wouldn't have my beautiful children or the joy he brings to my life. He makes me feel beautiful and special every day! I seriously scored in the husband department....BIG TIME!! I don't know how he comes up with these things. But I am the luckiest girl in the whole world to sleep next to him every night. 

I love you Perhson! Thank you for loving me the way that you do. So happy I get to spend forever with my best friend!