Tristan turns 2!!

For some reason my pictures are not wanting to upload right now. I am very frustrated about this whole problem! I was uploading pictures that my dear friend Tori has taken of Tristan at some of his milestones. The above picture was taken by her. I am going to put a plug in for her before I start talking about my little boy. Tori takes beautiful pictures and always captures the essence of my children. We spend a decent amount of time together too so she knows my kids and therefore can capture them well. So....for any of you who live in State College/Tyrone area I highly recommend Victoria Isenberg to take your pictures. She will come to your home or a location of your choice! Plus...she is beautiful, sweet and very candid! Tori, you are great!!

On to the man of the hour! As I was laying in bed Wednesday morning I of course starting thinking about the day Tristan was born and I can remember pretty much every detail. I suddenly realized though that all of our boys were born on a Sunday and all within the 10:00 hour. Tristan and Judah were after 10:00 pm and Shane was after 10:00 am. Weird, huh? All three on Sunday and all three sometime between 10-11:00. I am going to look back to last years calendar and find out if Eden was born on a Sunday. That would be pretty special.

So July 23rd 2007 rolls around - Tristan's actual due date. I had never gone overdue with any of my children so this was my last shot. Some of Mark's family was coming over for a cook out and I just had this feeling. I called Hannah and told her to bring her bag just in case I went into labor. I started contracting, feeling yucky, no appetite, etc. etc. and so finally around 7:00 I called my doctor. We talked about how fast I normally went during labor so she said to go ahead, come in and we would check to see what was going on. On the way to the hospital I finally realized that yup...I was definitely in labor. And I suddenly remembered why labor isn't exactly too fun. (don't worry Krista - labor will be fun for you and J) We got to the hospital, got situated in our room and I was checked at 9:00. Only 4 cm! I was really bummed because the contractions were so intense. The nurse called my dr, said that I should get up and start walking to get the labor going. I remember not being too kind and saying something along the lines of, "I am NOT walking! I couldn't even walk into the hospital! I AM in labor and it won't take long. I want some pain meds NOW because they never give them to me in time." I continued being slightly bossy but I didn't walk. I just sat on a big exercise ball which helped with the pressure. My mom and sister Donna arrived to my labor and delivery room shortly before the dr arrived. I didn't realize how comforting a mothers hands are even when you are an adult! My mothers hands rubbing my arms just took so much of the agony away. My mother has witnessed many labors when working at the hospital but she had never seen any of her grandchildren be born. It was an honor to have her there.

So..onto my poor nurse. I am not mean when I am in labor, just a little more forceful. The dr finally arrived just looked at me and said, "She is in labor. Get the anesthesiologist up here and lets give her something for pain." I fell in love with Dr. Hardyk right then and there. She is by far my favorite doctor I ever had and all of my doctors have been great. She just listened to me so much and believed that I knew my body. She checked me at around 10:00 and I was 6 cm. Still not what I wanted to hear but at least a little progress. The next 40 minutes is a blur. The anesthesiologist arrives, they prep me for a shot, she checks me and I'm 8 cm, he administers the shot, my water breaks 10 seconds later and Tristan arrives less than 10 minutes later. The medicine kicked in after he was born! Oh well!! I tried at least to enjoy the labor.

For me labor is almost a euphoric experience! My labors tend to go pretty fast so I am not completely exhausted from the labor and I can enjoy my child. Although Tristan was taken to the nursery for almost 1 1/2 hours for some tests. His sugar was a little low, his body temp wouldn't come up and so finally they brought him to me sometime around midnight. He was beyond beautiful!! And he still is! All the nurses and doc's told me that I am made to have babies! I didn't know exactly how to receive that. I know that I have been incredibly blessed with relatively easy and uncomplicated births. I just don't think that being told you are a baby making machine is necessarily a compliment!

Tristan has finally turned a corner I think with his sleeping patterns. For the past three weeks he has been sleeping pretty consistently through the night every night! This is a huge hurdle for the little guy and really an answer to my begging with God to HELP ME!!!!

Now that I have taken a trip down memory lane I will just say why I have been absent from my blog for a week. Basically it boils down to this - I have been sick - again!!! Craziness!! Today is day nine of fever, sweats, pounding, pounding headaches, no appetite and obviously low energy. I made a visit to the doctor one day this week and found out what I already was pretty sure - virus! My glands are sore and somewhat grotesque in swollenness but what can one do. Today thanks to my dear husband I slept until 11:00!! I have never in all of my 30 years slept past probably 9:00. Sleeping late makes me feel insanely lazy and I just can't allow myself that luxury. Today though I was pretty unaware that there was a world until my eyes opened at 11:00. I could have kept sleeping too but the silence was so weird that I have to drag myself out of bed and check things out. Mark has been so amazing this week. I feel as though my house has taken a beating but cleaning has not been at the top of my list of things to do - making it through the day has been my goal. The physicians assistant said if I am not noticeably better by Monday to come back in and be reassessed. I may just go back anyway. I mentioned something about my daughter having an infected gland a few weeks ago, how I know it would be a fluke, my glands are sore, yada, yada......The pa said to me, "How old are you?" with a somewhat puzzled look on her face. I told her that I am 30 and she gave me the strangest look. She said, "I am 23 and when I walked into the room I couldn't decide if you were 20 yet." This was said while I am sick, no makeup, feel like poo-poo - well you get the picture. I am going to make that woman some cinnamon rolls when I am feeling like myself again. She was too sweet. I can't decide when hearing that I look 20 became a compliment and no longer an insult. (No offense to those of you who are 20). SO.....just pray I am on the upside of this cursed plague of a virus!! I am done feeling tired.