Now that I figured out the video, i can put a bunch on here

So I think I need to clarify something before you watch this video. There is a little thing where you hear Christina's mom saying something about sitting on the toilet doing something, well she is talking about Christina sitting on the toilet while they bathe him so that everybody can fit in our small bathroom. So it isnt anything gross, its just her organizing. No big deal. Sorry for anybody that may have misinterpreted what was happening, I must say I did too, thats why I was like "Shhhhhh!" but then I soon realized what they were tlaking about, hahaha.

Oh the video

So here is a video of Jackson at the hospital, I know I said I was going to post it, and now i finally did.

More Pictures of Jackson

Well i was just sitting here with Jackson laying on me, and I thought I need to put some more pictures on here, and hey Im not in any of these ones with him. So here are two with me, and a couple others of him here at home watching the BYU game against Utah State on Tv, which we won.

More Pictures and a quick perspective from Christina

Well, Andrew is watching Jackson right now and Emily just sent me some more pictures, so I decided it is now my turn to write a post. I am so glad Jackson is here. Actually, the labor and delivery was not so bad at all. I was only in pain pain for about an hour and a half and then I had the epidural. Okay that was pretty painful Ill admit. The doctor kept saying, "keep still, keep very very still" but let me tell you, when he first put that needle in I dont know how anyone can stay still. He actually said after that, "I always tell people to stay still and yet they move!" Anyways, the whole procedure of getting the epidural only took about 10 minutes and after that I was in heaven!! No more pain! At one point though, I could only lay on my right side because of the way Jackson was sitting so the epidural medicine would not get to my left side so it was starting to hurt! Like tears welling up in the eyes kind of hurt, but I talked with the nurses (quick side note, I had the best labor and delivery nurses EVER!!) and I was able to switch over to my left side so that the medicine would get over there. Luckily Jackson tolerated that just fine and so I was able to get that side numb again before I had to start pushing. Let me tell you, that is the strangest yet most wonderful feeling. My nurses told me that most first time moms push for an average of 1 1/2- 2 hours. Holy cow that would be soo tiring! I was tired after the only 30 minutes that I pushed. Anyways, I was so very proud of Andrew! He was there right along side me the whole time. He even watched Jackson coming out! I didnt think he would be able to do that because he usually gets kind of queasy and whatnot, but he just kept saying how cool it was and would show me with his hands how much of Jacksons head was showing. It is such a neat experience to give birth and to have your husband right there along with you! I just cant describe it.

The next three pictures were taken by Emily and they were when Jackson was in the NICU and I was being taken down to the 4th floor- the well baby and mother floor. I dont know if Andrew mentioned about Jackson being in the NICU (I havent read all his posts), but he swallowed Meconium (basically he pooped while in the womb and swallowed it). They decided to take him to the NICU after he wasn't gaining color after I delivered him. They wanted to suction him out some more and give him some fluids. It was sad because I only got to hold him for like a couple of minutes and then he was gone for a couple of hours, but no worries, he is now doing very well!

If you can't tell, its my hand holding his little foot. He is kind of a funny baby. Every once in awhile he will just start to whimper and then cry for no apparent reason. But if you start talking to him and rubbing him, he stops. Cracks us up. He also makes a lot of noises..we think he likes to hear himself. Well, everything is going good. Andrew and Jackson are taking a little nap together right now. We hate to have to send him to the nursery. We sent him for a couple of hours because we were both exhausted! But anyways, we will keep posting pictures as we take them and whatnot. Thanks for everyones well wishes and concerns. Love ya all!

Jackson is finally Here!!!

There he is...Jackson Andrew Muffler. Wrighing in at a whopping 7 lbs 12 oz! With a height of 19 inches! Oh man it was so great! What a spiritual experience to see a child being born! Christina did awesome also, she only had to push for about 30 minutes or so, which was so good! Everything else went pretty good, nothing really too concerning. (he doesnt even have a cone head...well not a huge one at least) He does have 10 fingers and 10 toes (5 on each limb) and just like all the other mufflers, he hates staying awake past 9. haha! Wahoo! He's finally here!

Still Moving Along....Slowly

Well things havent been moving very fast. She received an epidural shot at about 3:00 because the contractions were starting to hurt. So now she feels a lot better. Later the nurses came and checked her and she was still only like 3 cm dialated. No big deal, she will just keep moving on, but it looks like its going to be a long night. Right now she is resting/trying to nap, but nothing else to exciting has happened. I will make sure to let you know on here as soon as everything happens.

She Went in This Morning!!!

Okay it says that this is Christina posting, but its not, shes a little busy right now, :) Yes she is in the hospital receiving Pitosin injections, on the monitor it says she is receiving 16 ml per minute. In fact I might have a cool picture about it. Anyways, Its me and Christina, and also Emily (shes the one taknig the pictures) but since I have so much time just sitting here, I thought "Hey I could post some of the pictures."

The end is here!!!

So I went to the doctor today. The bad news was that my blood pressure was higher (148/98) and I had more protein in my urine then before, but the good news is that I am going to be induced first thing tomorrow morning. With everything going on, my doctor decided it is better to not wait any longer and to just induce me!!! I did make it to 2 1/2 cm dilated so thats good. She said that my cervix still isn't optimal for induction, but it doesnt make sense to keep going on now. I have a non stress test today at 2:00. My doctor did say that if my blood pressure is higher or if there are problems when we do the non stress test then she will want to induce today. She wants to wait until tomorrow morning that way I won't be pushing in the middle of the night, but if things arent looking good then it will be this afternoon. How crazy! After all the waiting we are finally going to have our baby boy!! If you can't tell Im excited and so happy to know that I am done! No more bedrest!! Well, I will probably be resting a lot but it wont be mandatory!

Dr Appointment

Well, I had my doctors appointment yesterday and it went well. I mean, Im not having the baby so it didnt go THAT well. But everything is looking good. My blood pressure has stayed at about 138/80 so thats good. Its keeping calm. My doctor checked and I am 1 cm dilated- so that is definite progress from last week YAY! but still not enough to enduce me. She wants to see me at at least 2 cm. She said that since my blood pressure is staying pretty good it isn't forcing us to induce and by waiting a little longer she is hoping to avoid a very long labor and/or c-section. So, I guess she really does have my best interest at heart. She stripped my membranes (not the most fun thing in the world let me tell you) but it can sometimes start labor and help get things going. Jacksons head is still really high, so we need him to drop and that will help also. I go back and see her on Tuesday and hopefully I will be at least 2cm and then I can have the baby!! Tuesday I also go and have another non stress test done. At least they are easy tests and I dont get poked or prodded- plus I get to see Jackson on the ultrasound machine while the nurse measures the amniotic fluid. Anyways, we are just crossing our fingers that stripping my membranes works and that I get to be induced on Tuesday! Ill keep ya posted. By the way, I am still on bedrest, but she did add that if I feel a contraction to get up and walk around.

Non Stress Test

Well, the non stress test went well today. Jackson has been sleeping basically all day so the nurse tried to push him around to wake him up. That didn't work, so she had to use the little buzzer. He was not to happy with that, but it worked and woke him up! Everything looked good once he started moving. My heart rate was high again- 136. The nurse said that in pregnancy your heart rate goes up, but it should still be under 125. But since my doctor already knows about this and I have been tested I was able to go home (thank goodness). Other good news, he is still head down!

Another addition to why pregnancy is not my thing

Well, yesterday I had a non stress test appointment again. Basically just to make sure Jackson is fine. Well, he was doing fine and my blood pressure was doing fine but my heartrate was so high! When I was first there it was 151, then went down to about 113 then back up to 136. This was all within an hour with me just sitting there doing nothing. That combined with the fact that I hadn't been feeling well since Sunday made the nurse call my Dr. They were both really concerned about why my heartrate would be acting like I was running a marathon. So what did I get to do? Go to Labor and Delivery for monitoring. So my half hour trip turned into a full day at Labor and Delivery. When I got over to Labor and Delivery they hooked me up to the monitors again and also had a blood pressure cuff and a heartrate/oxygen monitor on my finger. My dr came in (one of the great things of having your drs office right behind the hospital) to check on me. She seemed completely baffled as to what was going on with me. So she listened to my chest and back and everything was clear. So more labs for me! They took some blood (thank goodness it was not the same phlebotomist as last time because the last one bruised me bad!!!) Anyways and they took a urine sample, and had an EKG done. I had never had an EKG done and did not know what to expect. For some reason I thought that it was a whole ordeal and took a long time, but that is not so. They put little patches on my ankles, wrists, and the left side of my chest and then I just had to lie still for like 30 seconds and it was over! Crazy! Anyways, after a couple of hours the results from all the tests came back, oh and during this time, I had a nurse change. My new nurse kind of laughed at everything that was going on telling me that I had been dealt a bad hand of cards (with the preeclampsia, Jackson being breech, and now the heart rate issue). Anyways, I kept thinking that I would be able to leave soon, but then when we finally got the results (at about 2:30), my nurse called my Dr but my Dr was really busy and not able to look at the labs yet so she faxed them in. So more waiting. Finally, at about 4:00 the nurse comes back in and said that my Dr had looked at them and that everything looked alright, but that Jacksons heart rate had dropped twice during everything. It is usually around 130, but twice it was down to the 100s or so and one time it lasted for about 2 and a half minutes. So my nurse said that my Dr wanted to check my cervix and see if it is favorable so she could induce me that day, but if it wasn't then we would keep monitoring and if his heartrate stayed good then I would be sent back home on strict bedrest still, but if it dropped again then we may be talking about inducing. Anyways, she checked and I was only 50% effaced (where the cervix is thinned) and not dialated. Bummer Deal! So then I was laying on my side for another hour of monitoring. Well, his heart rate stayed up and so I was able to go home. Which at that point I was more than ready to do. It was about quarter to 6 by this time. I had been at the hospital since 10:30 that morning! That makes for a long day.
Well, so now I go back for a non stress test on Thursday and then I'll see my doctor on Friday. Lets hope that my cervix becomes more favorable so she can induce me. All these issues are not making it any easier to be waiting, but whatcha going to do? Evidently Jackson is just perfectly content staying. But today I am feeling better (other than a low back ache and hips hurting but I think thats expected of pregnancy). So onward we go!

Some good but mostly bad news

Well, yesterday I went to the doctor. The good news is that Jackson has stayed head down. The bad news is Im still on bedrest, Im not dilated, effaced, and his head isn't engaged. So for now we just keep on waiting. My blood pressure was acutally pretty good yesterday, 136/90. My doctor said that since my blood pressure is doing alright that I'll just have to keep on bedrest and be monitored closely. So yesterday I had to have more bloodwork done and then a non stress test done. So they drew my blood, no big deal, but about an hour or so later I was talking on the phone with my sister and looked down and I had bled through the gauze that they had left on! Gross!! It must be something with my platelets being low I guess. Andrew was able to go to the hospital with me to go have the non stress test done. Basically you sit in a reclined chair with your feet up and first they do a quick ultrasound checking for the amniotic fluid. Mine measured just fine yesterday and we were able to see that it is a foot by my belly button that always goes poking around. Anyways, after the ultrasound they put on two monitors. One measures the baby's heart rate and the other contractions. Then you just sit and they keep a track of what the babys heart rate is doing. They like to see a good resting heart rate and then to see the heart rate go up when he is moving and then back down. Well, Jackson was super active when we first got there, so for about the first 30 minutes he just kept on moving and moving. They nurse actually kind of laughed and said that he needs to just stay still for a little while. Well, he must have listened because a little bit after that he finally went to sleep and was calm. Anyways, everything looked fine on the non stress test. He is doing totally fine and seeems to be unaffected by the preeclampsia thus far. Anyways, I go back next Tuesday for another nonstress test and then to the doctor on Friday. Hopefully next Friday we will have better news- like that Im dilated to a 3 cause then my doctor would induce me. Oh if only.

Oh the pregnancy drama!!

Well, last week I woke up to some really bad pain on my right side in my ribs. It was horrible. I ended up having some tests run and it came back that my platelets were low. I went to the doctor last Friday and when they took my blood pressure it was really high. This has happened a couple of times but usually if they take it after I see the doctor its better. Anyways, when I was talking to the doctor she told me that my platelets were low and that combined with the pain and high blood pressure I may have preeclampsia. She had me do some more blood tests and a 24 hour urine collection (so gross! you have to collect all your urine in a jug you keep in your refrigerator for 24 hours...such a pain!). Anyways, today they finally had all the results back and I have preeclampsia. Bummer deal. Here is a description of what preeclampsia is:
"Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. Swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision are important symptoms; however, some women with rapidly advancing disease report few symptoms." (thats from preeclampsia.org)
Basically it starts to cause your organs to not function to their fullest- thus causing the drop in platelets and protein in urine. It goes away as soon as you deliver the baby. Anyways, my doctor said that I am now on full bedrest. I can get up to go to the bathroom and to get something to eat. Nice. Im just glad to know that I can have the baby soon so it won't be a SUPER long time on bedrest. I go see her on Friday and we will go over our options and decide what to do then. So everyone should update their blogs because I will have A LOT of free time now. As a side note, I think Jackson may have turned back but I can't tell for sure. I have the best luck with pregnancy (I hope you can sense my sarcasm). Anyways, Ill update again when we know what is going to happen. Hopefully Ill just get to have the baby soon- like this weekend. That would be great.

A Success

Well today I went and had the version done. It really wasn't bad at all. So my best friend Emily came with me because Andrew has student teaching and can't miss class.(He has already missed one day because I had to go in to have the baby monitored because of pain I was having, which we still don't know what it is). Anyways, we get there and they do an ultrasound of the baby. He is growing well! He weighs about 7 lbs 12 oz and has a big head! His head measured at 10 cm!! That is gianormous!! Anyways, after the doctor looked at the ultrasound and everything she said that everything was good and we could try to turn him. So after the ultrasound I went in and had a non-stress test done. Basically they put two monitors on my belly. One measures his heart rate and another contractions. They are looking to make sure that his heart rate increases when he is moving and decreases when he is still. If he is sleeping they use a little "alarm clock" as the nurse called it, to wake him up. Basically it just makes a buzzing noise. They also started an iv, basically just in case I had to have an emergency c-section (which obviously I did not), and gave me a shot of terbutaline (I think thats how it is spelled). The terbutaline relaxes the uterus, but not only the uterus but all smooth muscles in your body which includes your heart. This causes your heart to race- basically it felt like I had had a caffeine shot. It was crazy. They then took me back to the ultrasound room and had me lie down on the table. I was only lying there for about a minute and I started to feel like I was going to pass out. I sat up and evidently as soon as I sat up color started back into my face. The doctor said my lips were white. Once I was feeling better they monitored his heart rate for a moment and then the doctor started pushing on my stomach. Thats all that it really felt like, someone pushing on my stomach. With the first couple of pushes she was able to get him to roll over and down. It was really all pretty quick. It was kind of funny because he must have kicked or something because after the doctor rolled him she said "I know youre angry with me now." So Jackson like! She monitored his heart rate and said that he was doing alright so I then went back to the other room where they did the non stress test to begin with and had another one done. I stayed there for about a half an hour and he was responding just fine so we were able to go. So now he is in the head down position (hopefully he will stay that way), although the doctor did mention that I may not be even able to deliver him because his head is so big so that is something I will have to talk to my doctor about. Oh the saga continues!

Oh Jackson!

Well, as you can see from the little baby on the side we are only about 3 weeks away from my due date! That means that I am officially full term and can really have this baby any time. Oh, but there is one problem. He's breech- STILL!!! So I went to the doctor today and it was kind of funny because she was asking me if I had any questions so I mention to her that I think hes breech. She says that she was going to check that today. So I lay down and she goes to listen to his heart and she says, "Well, I can just look at your stomach and tell he's breech!!" She then proceeded to feel my stomach and how he was laying in there and sure enough he is laying exactly as I thought with his head in my right ribs. She says that since he's breech we should try to do what is called an external cephalic version. Basically, a doctor puts their hands on your stomach and tries to turn the baby. Doesn't sound too comfortable but whatever, if it will get him to turn so be it! So next Monday I get to go to Perinatology (again) and see if the doctors can turn him. Evidently, it has to be done in the hospital just in case something goes wrong (umbilical cord gets tangled, placenta breaks, water breaks etc) they can do an emergency c-section right away. Very comforting. Actually, my doctor said that there is only about a 1% chance that something like that would happen, its just one of those better be safe than sorry kind of things. The sad part is that Andrew isn't going to be able to come with me because of student teaching. He can only miss a maximum of two classes without his grade dropping, so we have to save those days for when I am in labor.
Anyways, other than Jackson being breech, everything else is looking good! My dad says that Jackson is being stubborn, just like his parents! Well, yeah, I can see that. I'll post again and let you know how the turning of the baby goes- that should be an interesting story.

Baby Shower

Okay, so I have totally slacked and not posted about my wonderful baby shower. Dan and Sharryll called me out on this one, haha, so I dedicate this post to them. But, in my defense my family was in town this whole past week. Anyways, the baby shower was so great! I was so lucky to have my mom, sisters (minus Bobbie who is far far away in England), grandma, Andrews mom and two grandmas and aunt all there. Emily and Kathy did such a wonderful job! We got tons of clothes for Jackson- tons and tons! Here are pictures from the day. (I should add a disclaimer, I choose the pictures that were most flattering for everybody. I really tried to get the best ones!)
Andrew's mom, me, my mom

Top row: Andrews mom, Nana Bev (Andrew's grandma Muffler), my mom Bottom Row: Grandma Lahoff (Andrew's mom's mom), Me, my Grandma Trapp

All of the family: Aunt Kathy, Andrew's mom, Nana Bev, my mom, Nicole & Shannon (my sisters), Grandma Lahoff, Me, Grandma Trapp

Overall, the shower was so great! I am so thankful for everyone who came! It was great to have so many friends and family there. I would post more pictures, but the ones that I have are of me opening presents so not very exciting. Haha.

Well, I should probably do a baby update. I am now only a month away from my due date so he can come any day now basically- which would be super fantastic. I go to the doctor every week now. I went on Friday and everything is looking good. They are watching my blood pressure closely because it is kind of high but so far everything else is good. Now if only we could get Jackson to turn and come out! Haha- Andrew has been making me walk so much that my poor feet look like clubs and I now have cankles- sad day. Lol. Thats alright. We are so excited to really be in the home stretch now.

All about Jack

Last night we went to the Jack Johnson concert up at the Usana Ampitheater with Emily and Dylan. It was a BLAST! Can I say that Jack Johnson is a very good entertainer. It was also enjoyable to watch all the drunk people around, it reminded me of going to the Britt Festival in Oregon. When we first got there two drunk guys hit on Emily and I. Mind you this was the beginning of the concert so how they were already drunk I have no idea! Later that night, a VERY VERY drunk girl came up to Dylan while we were sitting in our seats and started dancing around him. It was HILARIOUS!! The other great part was the drunk lady two seats in front of us- she was with her daughter and who we assume was her daughters boyfriend, and the woman was absolutely plastered! Everytime she came back to her seat it was with a different guy. Very funny. Needless to say, the concert could have sucked and we still would have enjoyed just people watching. It was great! We also had some highschool students in front of us (4 of them, 2 guys 2 girls- double date kinda thing). Anyways, we are all very grateful that we are past that part of our life. One of the guys really wanted to hold the girls hand but was too chicken! We were all sure that he would, but he did not. Anyways, here are some cool pictures from the concert.

Before the concert

During the concert while Jack Johnson is singing

Jack Johnson singing (Awesome!)

We all had a lot of fun. I was kind of unsure about being at a concert in August at 8 months pregnant, but it worked out really well. We had seats and so that helped a lot and for most of the concert we were able to sit down. Towards the end, everybody was standing, but I didn't mind, I just stayed sitting- you don't really need to see the person to be able to hear him singing. It was pretty funny, because Jackson was still for most of the concert and then when everybody was clapping and yelling for an Encore I think it scared him half to death because he shook quite a bit and then was moving a lot! I don't think he liked that, but it made me laugh. Also, Andrew thought it would be good for Jackson to have his first concert t-shirt. He found this onesie for Jackson.

In other Jackson news, Friday I had another doctors appointment and everything is still looking good. We are getting down to the final weeks! We are so excited. This week I was only measuring 2 weeks ahead- so I still measured at 35 weeks like I did at my last appointment. My doctor wasn't worried about it because she said baby's grow in spurts so we will have to wait and see where we are at next week.

Baby Registry

So, tonight Andrew decided that we should register at Target for Jackson. We went with Emily and Dylan which was great other than the fact that Andrew and Dylan got trigger happy with the gun. Andrew pretty much registered for everything that he saw so sorry if you see some random things- its all Andrew's fault. I tried to delete the ones that seemed really ridiculous (I won't go into detail as to what those were) but probably failed to get a lot of them off.
Emily and I did learn a good lesson though- NEVER let Andrew and Dylan use the scan guns to register for things- they'll go CRAZY!

Still Measuring Big :(

So today I had my doctors appointment. It was pretty uneventful for the most part, other than the fact that I was measuring 35 weeks and Im only 31 weeks. Not so good. But my doctor didn't seem too concerned by that. Andrew thinks that this means Jackson is going to be a 10 pound baby. Boy, I hope not! That was pretty much it.
Yesterday, Andrew measured me around to see what my circumfrence was- it was 41 inches. Holy Hannah that sounds big! Haha.
I now start going to the doctor every two weeks. Woo hoo the end is nearing!
Well other that that, nothing else is going on. Ill let you know if something exciting happens.