The real deal

Well, just shortly after the "False Alarm" we headed to the hospital for the real deal! I sent my mom home on Monday morning thinking that it wasn't really going to happen any time soon. Well, Monday night, just when I was getting ready for bed about 10:30pm the contractions started in again and this time they were getting much stronger. Finally, about 11:15, I made a call to my mom and hesitantly asked her to come down again because I thought we were probably going to be heading to the hospital again. So, she gladly hopped in her van and drove down. By the time she got here about 12:30, I couldn't talk through contractions and was sure this was the real thing. So, we got up to the labor and delivery floor about 1:00am and they kept us in a triage room (with another laboring woman) hooked up to the monitors to "be sure they were going to keep me" until about 3:30am. Then, they decided they would go ahead and start my IV since I was progressing to about 4-5 cm dilated. Finally, at 4:00am they moved us to a room of our own and Gabe went to the car to get our stuff since we knew we weren't leaving without a baby. From there, things progressed very quickly. By about 5:00am, I was in very hard labor and was progressing quickly and the nurse decided it was time for me to head to the bed because she did not want to be catching a baby. The doctor on call had five women about to deliver so they would not break my water until the doctor was ready, so when the doc got to my room a little after 5:00 am and I was 9 3/4 cm, she called in the troops to get things ready and as soon as she broke my water I was ready to push. I pushed for 12 minutes before Grady made his grand entrance at 5:37am.

He weighed in at 7lbs 7oz and 20 inches long. He came out sporting a FULL head of hair!
It was love at first sight...

for all of us!

Welcome to our family Grady Wilken, we are so glad you are here!
**Grady was picked because we like unique names. Wilken is a combination of both of his Papa's names- William and Ken**

False Alarm

Well, we thought for sure we were having a baby today. Yesterday, we had some, ahem, signs (that I won't go into detail about) that labor was on it's way. Then, a few hours later the contractions started about every 5-6 minutes apart. Not intense, but definitely there and regular. So, we had Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah come over to hang out for the evening and spend the night so if we needed to make a night run to the hospital we would be ready. Well, Gabe went to bed early so he would have a few hours of sleep in case we needed to head to the hospital. I went to bed around 10:30 and slept off and on for a few hours until about 2:30 when I couldn't sleep through the contractions any more and was timing them at about every 3-5 minutes. About 5:00am I woke up Gabe and said maybe we should head to the hospital and get things checked out (since Hadley's labor was only 5 hours long from start to finish, I didn't want to take a chance of delivering a baby at home!). So he got up and got ready and we headed to the hospital around 5:30, got sent up to Labor and Delivery, got in the hospital garb and hooked up to the monitors. I was disappointed to only be 1 cm dilated but I was relieved to see a steady heartbeat as the contractions measured every 4 minutes consistently for about 30 minutes. Then, the nurse said I could get up and walk if I wanted to. YES, let me move! So, Gabe and I walked the halls of the 7th floor for a solid hour and then went back to the room to get hooked up to the monitors again, this time sitting on the birth ball while they monitored contractions and baby. The contractions were then every 2-3 1/2 minutes apart and quite a bit stronger on the curve of the monitor but when she checked me again at 8am, no dilating progress- ugh! So, home we went. We took the walk of shame back through the emergency room (where we had to enter when we got there at 5:30am) and out to the van. We headed back home, helped get the kids ready for church with Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah and after they took off for Lincoln, Gabe headed off to church as well and made it there in time for the end of 2nd, and all of 3rd and 4th services. The contractions continued throughout the day, but did taper off in terms of intensity and length. Gabe and I walked at the church for an hour this evening before my mom came back to our house with the kids. She is spending the night tonight...just in case....

30 weeks

The weeks are flying by and I'm already to my two-week appointments! Today, I went in a few days before I was actually 30 weeks because we were going to be on vacation during my scheduled 30 week time slot. It was a quick and painless appointment. I'm still measuring slightly ahead of schedule so they will do an ultrasound next appointment to check on the baby's growth. I've gained a total of 15 lbs now, which continues to be less than with either of my other two by this point. I guess chasing after two others helps in some ways! :) We are really enjoying the summertime weather and have spent MANY days at Knight's Action Park soaking up the sun and water. This summer has been a little taxing on us with Gabe working so much this month, so we are very excited to be going on vacation next week to the Dells and relax ALL together. Then, we come back to a flurry of business again with one week at home and then a week of Jr. High camp.

Seussical the Musical

Since our month has been consumed with Gabe being gone to the Muni, where he is running sound for the show Seussical the Musical, the kids and I decided to head out and watch the show. We packed up our cooler with snacks and drinks, loaded up the lawnchairs and enjoyed an evening at the Muni. The kids LOVED the show and were totally engaged the whole time. I think the only thing Drake said to me during the whole show was to lean over and say, "I love this SO much!" a few times. I think the Muni will definitely be something we will be visiting on a regular basis.

Another Year in the Books

I can't believe our little girl turned 3 today. Hadley has been loving the book, Pinkalicious, that we checked out from the local library. She even had a lot of it memorized. So, we went all Pinkalicious this birthday! With our busy month of Gabe running sound for a show at the Muni this month, we couldn't come up with a date that all the family could get together to celebrate. So, we have been celebrating in stages. Yesterday the kids got to go to the zoo with Nana and Papa and Hadley enjoyed her "all pink" presents from them, including her very own copy of the book, Pinkalicious!

This morning we started out with some pink rice crispies for breakfast along with some present opening. Early this afternoon, Hadley got to have a few friends over for a Pinkalicious party. Aunt Sarah made some super-cute pinkalicious cupcakes for the girls to enjoy. I also had found some cute cupcake frames for the girls to make along with some pink beads to make bracelets. Aunt Sarah also stayed to help with the party and painted the girls' finger nails. It was a super-girly party, so Drake and Uncle Eric headed to the park to play some tennis while we partied it up. Everyone left in time for all the girls to get some nap time in this afternoon. Hadley kept saying, "Mom, this is the best party ever." and "This party is beautiful!".

Tonight, we (Uncle Eric, Aunt Sarah, Drake, Hadley and I) headed out to meet Grammy for pizza and then over to Drake's baseball game. It was a hot and muggy night for baseball, but Hadley's busy day had her totally tuckered out and she slept through the whole game, even amongst all the cheering fans!

Summertime Bliss

Hopefully, I will still be thinking that in August... Today was Drake's last day of Kindergarten. I can't believe that in a few short months we will have a FIRST grader! His year of Kindergarten far exceeded my expectations of what the year would hold. He is reading amazingly well, loves to figure out addition and subtraction facts, is writing multiple pages in complete sentences in his journal and is very proud to tell time on his watch that Grammy got him.

Today, while Drake went for report card day, Hadley and I ran to the dollar store so we could surprise him with some balloons and some new first grade workbooks to work on over the summer. Then, Hadley and I headed into the dentist office for our cleanings before we went to meet Drake at home as he got off the bus. (Hadley did amazingly well at the dentist once again, she even got her teeth cleaned in the next room by herself while I got my cleaned and I could hear her being oh so cooperative. I just love it when my kids make me proud!)

Drake was all toothless smiles when he got home and saw the balloons and new workbooks. Then, we decided since the weather looked to be warranting a trip to the pool, we ate our peanut butter sandwiches and fruit and headed to the pool by noon. The kids were a dream at the water park. They patiently took turns and waited on each other to try out the amenities for their different age groups. Then, when it was time to go there was complete cooperation by both kids, unbelievable! I can only hope the rest of our summer days at the pool go so well!

When we got home they each went to their rooms, Hadley fell asleep right away and took a glorious 2 hour nap before I woke her. Drake worked quietly on his workbooks for awhile in his bed before he also fell asleep for about an hour before I woke him. Then, this evening was capped off with some dinner at home before heading out to Drake's baseball game where I made no less than 5 trips to the potty with Hadley. (Thankfully, I had put the potty chair in the back of the car because otherwise we would have been trekking to the port-a-potty way TOO many times.) Other than going potty, she played quietly with a pet kitty almost the entire game, pretending to be the mommy to the kitty, oh and she threw in some artistic coloring time in there as well in her Veggie Tales coloring book. So, we topped off the end of a near-perfect day with some Coldstone ice cream (with a gift card, no-less) on the way home from the game. Then the kids got on their jammies, brushed their teeth, read some stories, prayed and crawled quietly into their respective beds with not another peep to be heard.

I wanted to document this day so I can re-read it frequently throughout the summer and remember how dreamy my kids can be!

Bellies

My sister was in town for several days while we spent the weekend cleaning out my mom's basement. Cleaning out the basement involved mulitple dumpsters, truckloadS to the burn pile and vans full to thrift stores. Amongst all the working we were able to snap a shot of the bellies to document the babies pre-birth. Kara is due Sept.16th with twins and our baby is due on Sept. 8th.