Name Venting Post

Another post from Dad... 2 days after Baby Light's birth and still "IT" has no name! Looks as if Carolyn and Baby IT will be discharged this morning and we will have nothing to tell inquiring minds what "IT's" name is. Maybe "IT" can be named "I.T. Light"! (Hey, what's up I.T.?) or we could spell it "Eye Tee Light"..... Whatever!

So most everyone knows that I have had a name picked out for most our marriage, if we were ever blessed with a boy. Levi Benjamin Light. Well, come to find out that 12 years back Carolyn was attending a church dance and some hot guy named Levi asked her to dance. He was one of these summer college working pest control guys from Utah working in Texas. Well his mother forgot to teach him about hygiene etiquette (shower, soap, deodorant, toothpaste,) normal need to know stuff to keep woman around after your looks have gotten you to the dancing part. All Levi had to do was come within a 3 ft proximity, lift his arm and open his mouth. Now my chances forever having a son named Levi is completely gone down the Drain! Literally!

So, "Forever Single Levi" wherever you are....THANKS! And now we have been blessed with a Baby "IT".

The Big Day.... "Carolyn's D-Day"

So, first let me start by being up front with everyone that reads this blog entry. This is from Ben and not Carolyn. The narcotics they have her on, hinders her from being in her Right mind! So enjoy the sense of humor that Carolyn endures on a daily basis.

It felt like D-Day started three nights ago when Carolyn went into the nesting phase of the pregnancy. The neurotic “Honey do” list grew faster than the natural man or husband could keep up with. Everything need to be perfect! Carolyn took to cleaning and organizing our bedroom making room for the baby. After completion, it only took (1) Dr.Pepper for Carolyn to decide to start over and re-clean and re-organize the room again.

On Tuesday morning, we arrived at the hospital around 7:30am and were escorted to our suite (oh I mean birthing room). I say suite because it was as big as Carolyn and I’s first apartment! I mean it! The apartment was small but this room was huge! I bet the max capacity could have been around 25+. (Carolyn was not hip on the idea to see how many we could fit.) I guess it’s good to have perks every once in a while. Well, they hooked Carolyn up to an IV and started PIT. By 8:15am. The doctor stopped in and gave Carolyn a pep talk along with offering some motivation with an AROM. This is medical terminology for a procedure that I would name “No going back now!” It could be compared to popping a water balloon between your legs.

The PIT worked its magic and by 11am it was time for the epidural. Carolyn calls it the Happy-dural. Here is a classic picture that I was fortunate to catch. Immediately after the anesthesiologist finished putting in the epidural, Carolyn went back to texting. Remember now, she is not numb yet and she is having contractions. Technology is great. The funniest part was when she got on the phone and was too busy to hear the Drug Doc. asking here to sit back up so he could readjust the epidural. So he sat there and waited for her to finish.

Well, finally around 2pm Carolyn was complete and ready to push. Carolyn asked to have her 'Happy-dural' turned off because she could not feel the lower half of her body. 20 min. later the Doc arrived and after a whole 29 minutes of pushing the Doc pulled the baby out with a baby plunger called a kiwi. You can tell in this picture those 29 minutes did a number on her.

After everyone (Carolyn) is fixed up we pose for pictures with the Doc and then our nurse.

Here is a classic picture of Baby Boy Light staring down MOM!

Natalie holding Baby Light

Julia holding Baby Boy Light

Grandpa & Grandma Light with Baby Boy Light

And Me with Baby Boy Light

We are still trying to decide on a name for this special, sweet little baby boy. He's blond, blue eyed, calm, mellow and very cuddly. Any suggestions???

37 weeks

Had another OB appointment yesterday. It was short & sweet. Baby Boy Light is doing fine, getting HUGE, and moving around like crazy. My OB asked me if I had any questions. I told him I wouldn't harass him about an induction date this time.

The girls are so excited. I went on a field trip with Julia last week. (Last one for a while; it wore me out for 2 days!) She told me as I got on the bus, that she had promised all her friends that they could rub my belly and feel the baby move if they wanted to. I told her... ummmm NO. She was a bit disappointed. :( I am such a mean mommy.

Natalie is becoming a fantastic piano player lately. She practices daily and it sounds really nice! She's turning into a little lady. She and Julia were "Best Friends" on Saturday and played outside all day long. It was so sweet.

Ben is halfway through his Biology class this semester. He's working hard at interviewing with different law enforcement agencies, but so far we are still waiting for official job offers. We'll see.

That's about it for this week. :)

My Birth Plan.. Part 1

OK, so I am a lame blogger lately. I'll try to be better. I got an email from MyPregnancy.Com today about writing out a birth plan for my hospital stay. As an L&D nurse, I sometimes roll my eyes at some of these birth plans that patients come in with. I am not a granola, natural person. I like drugs, epidurals, scheduled inductions, & I am OK with a C-Section if this kid doesn't just fall out in a few hours of labor. Try that on for a birth plan! Only I seemed to have picked a very conservative, careful, OB/GYN. He doesn't share my same idea on giving me a scheduled induction 1 wk before my due date just because I want one. He thinks my cervix needs to be ripe & my baby's head should be in the pelvis. (sigh.....) whatever.

So here is Part 1 of my dream Birth Plan for Baby Boy Light...

• My Due Date is 11/17/09 - (If I come into the hospital anytime in the week before my due date and I am not in labor, you are just going to have to keep me because I am not going home. INDUCE ME if I am not in labor.)
• I would like to be free to walk, move around, & change position at will throughout labor. (I will not be walking much as I plan on having an epidural ASAP! I agree to to change positions, but you may have to remind me and help me do so b/c I move as well as a beached whale.)
• I would like to be able to have fluids by mouth throughout the first stage of labor. (I would like to eat & drink whatever I want, whenever I want it. I know I am only going to be allowed ice chips while in labor with an epidural. I am actually an ice chomping monster right now, so just keep the ice chips coming & we’ll be fine. I will be puking occasionally while in labor & for the 1^st 24 hrs after delivery regardless of what I eat or drink, so please let me eat & chomp my ice chips at will. I will be needing IV Zofran 4mg q 6hrs while I have an IV. This will only help me feel less nauseated. I will still puke. If you don’t keep the ice chips coming, my husband will be sent to refill my ice cup. And if you don’t keep the Zofran coming, I have my own stash of Zofran that I will take while you aren’t in the room.)
• I will be bringing my own music to play during labor. (Actually no music needed, I’d rather sleep or watch TV).
• Monitoring. (I would like to have continuous fetal monitoring because I am a control freak and I want to make sure my baby is not in distress. Feel free to use external or internal monitors as needed).
• Labor Augmentation/Induction. (I would love to be AROMed to get my labor going. We can try anything: pitocin, cytotec, etc. I would like to avoid the ‘natural’ methods like walking or nipple stimulation. Walking is too much work and ‘nipple stimulation??’… Let’s just use the drugs God gave us to use.
• Anesthesia/Pain Medication. (I know pain medication exists. Let it be clear that I would like a heavy, strong epidural ASAP. I do not want to try any IV pain medication before the epidural because it will make me even more crazy than I already am. If Dr Brown is available, I pick him to do it. :)

That’s all for now… I’ll finish Part 2 later… :)

Meet Rachel's "Harry Potter"

I Failed my Glucose Tolerance Test

Are you freaking kidding me??? I thought it was a fasting 1 hr glucose tolerance test, (which when I showed up, it turned out I didn't have to be fasting). The last thing I ate was a bowl of ice-cream around 10pm. I woke up, did a few chores. Did not eat or drink anything. I showed up for the test around 1pm in the afternoon (starving to death), drank the nasty orange crap, & waited an hour. They drew my blood & that was it. I went straight to Taco Bell and ate a huge meal! I just got a call that I failed the test and now I have to do the 3 hour test. This sucks. If I have gestational diabetes, I will die! I have no self control when it comes to food. I eat whatever & whenever I want. I won't say I eat a lot, but I don't have self control when it comes to dieting or exercising. I just don't care. I love my food!

Champs Swim Meet

Natalie & Julia did great @ the Champs Swim Meet. It was so fun to watch them. They really improved their times on all strokes. Natalie is the breast stroke queen! This is Julia's 3rd year on the swim team and this will be her last year as a 6 & Under. She had many 1st & 2nd place ribbons this year. I survived the summer. Ben did all the volunteer requirements and then some. I just sat in the shade and made sure the girls made it to their races. I did swim in one parent relay team with my preggo belly about 2 weeks ago. I only had to do one lap of free-style (25 YDS). It was the most exercise I've had all summer (not counting 8 hr shifts running around @ the hospital). Two more weeks until school starts and 15 more weeks being pregnant.