Mason is HERE!!

Mason Price Espericueta was born on March 27, 2010 at 5:41pm at Mercy Gilbert Hospital. He weighed 7 pounds and 8.6 ounces and was 20 inches long. He came after a VERY easy induction. Sal and I arrived at the hospital at 7am and our nurse Meredith layed out the game plan. Since I was group B strep + I would be started on the antibiotics at 8am, then the pitocin would come at 10 and she already had the anesthesiologist lined up to be there at 10:30 for the epidural. She painfully started the IV (the worst part of giving birth!) and the antibiotics and Sal and I watched The Proposal while we waited. She then started the pitocin and I expected to start having horrible contractions and that never happened. 10:30 came and went and so did 11 and 12 and 12:30 with nothing horrible happening. Meredith kept asking if I was ready for the epidural and since I wasn't in pain I kept telling her no. Finally at 12:30 I told Sal, "Maybe I should get the epidural so they can turn up the Pitocin and get this whole thing going."

Dr. Chan came in and did the epidural and we talked and chatted the whole time. To be honest I can't remember having a conversation with an anesthesiologist before. I have always been in too much pain to talk. This was a nice change. Within 10 minutes my legs were heavy and Sal and I snoozed while watching the NCAA tourney. Unfortunately, we had to wait until 5pm for the doctor to come break my water so I could start pushing. Meredith thought she could "accidentially" break it but according to her I have a bag of steel. It was funny to hear Dr. Adams my OB say the same thing when she tried to break it. Once my water had broken, it only took 5 minutes to feel the pressure and need to push. I think I pushed for 3 contractions and Mason was born.

I was able to hold Mason for probably 30 minutes before I finally told the nurses they could have him to weigh him and warm him up. Here are pictures of him being weighed....

The doctor had guessed he would weigh about 8 pounds 5 ounces and to be honest I was surprised how small he was.

The after delivery was easy as well. I think the hard part is being in the hospital with all the nurses in and out. I tried to be a very good patient so they would let me go home when I wanted to. On Sunday, Dr. McClure, our family doctor came in to see Mason. He really wanted me to stay in the hospital until Monday but I talked him into letting me go Sunday night. He said Mason looked great and he then did his circumcision. The new way to do circumcisions is AWESOME. I am not sure what they do, but I do know that there is no more vaseline and pulling the skin back. Can you tell I was super excited about that part? Now I guess we wait for the plastic ring to fall off.

Sunday night we waited for them to do his first PKU at 24 hours old. Once that was done I was able to walk out...... that was a first for me too. All the other times I had to be wheeled in a wheelchair and I hated looking so stupid!!

Life a home has been great. Sal was home yesterday and that was a HUGE help since the first night home I got about 2 hours sleep all night. The kids have been great. Cole and Olivia have been incredibly smothering. In fact, when I feed Mason, Cole sits right next to me and watches and Olivia tries to pull up my shirt and help Mason latch on. It has been a challenge to make everyone happy. Olivia is only happy if she is holding Mason and can't understand why she can feed, bathe, burp, and change him. I hope in a few days the newness will wear off and I can have a bit of space to do my thing. LOL

Today I take Mason to the doctor and we will see how much he weighs. I hope my milk comes in soon so he doesn't have to starve for too many more nights.

A couple of things I don't want to forget..... he came home at 7 pounds 7 ounces and has A+ blood. I will try to get a picture of him with his eyes open. Until last night he hadn't really opened them.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the kids. Granny and Papa, you were the hit of the weekend and the kids loved having you here. Thanks for always being willing to help and run them all over. I LOVE you both!

Baby Update #3

I went to the doctor again today and I have not progressed too much since last week. I am still 3-4 cm dilated and I did learn that it is their policy not to strip the membranes of anyone who is group B strep +, so it wasn't just the doctor last week. They decided they will induce me Saturday morning at 7am. They want to make sure that I get the necessary antibiotics for the GBS because when I have Olivia, my labor was too fast and I wasn't able to get the necessary doses.

It is nice to have a date and some time to be really ready..... wait, are you EVER REALLY ready for the life changes that a baby makes? I look around my house and I see the stroller, car seat, and crib and I am STILL in denial that in 3 days I will have a baby. I wonder why?

I will spend the next 3 days washing and cleaning and organizing so I can be ready to bring this sweet little boy home.

BTW, Sal is STILL lobbying for names. This week he has asked for Lane Staheli which he has liked and lobbied for FOREVER. Layne Staley was the lead singer of Alice in Chains who overdosed in 2002 so that name is a HUGE NO! The other name is Miles, which sounds like an old man's name. Sal's nickname for this baby thus far has been Fui. If I haven't said before, Sal is infatuated with Tongan/Samoan names. His favorite is Fuamatu-Ma'afala. I told him he should have married an Islander and then he could have this name. There is a guy who plays football at Notre Dame and his name is Manti Te'o. I really like the name Manti, but it is too "Mormon" for me. You know those people who name their kids Lehi or Mahonri Moriancumer? Those names are as bad as naming a child Jesus or Mary or Rebekkah. Can you tell I have naming issues?

From the moment I knew I was having a boy the only name that sounded right to me was Mason Price. The name came over and over and over. One day when I was talking to my mom about it, she said, "you know Aunt Bonnie's Dad's name was Mason Price and Gramps LOVED him so much." Since my Gramps sent us this baby, I think he wants this baby to be named Mason Price Espericueta and that is why I am so adamant about naming him Mason.

I can't wait to meet him!

Baby Update #2

I saw the doctor again today and I haven't made much progress in a week. I am dilated to 3cm and 50% effaced and the baby is at -1 station. I was hoping she would strip me, but she said because I am group B strep positive they won't strip me. I am on my own. This is particularly scary since I have never had a baby without being stripped or without Pitocin. I just hope my body will know what to do. Bottom line is the fact that I won't be pregnant forever. ;o)

Baptism day for Cole

Cole was baptized on Saturday and it was such a special day. Of course it was a crazy day. The baptism was at 9:30 and we planned to leave the house no later than 9:00 because we had to stop and pick Hayden up from his Scout camporee. Everyone was ready by 9:03 and we loaded into the car. Then Tata called and needed directions to the Church so we waited while Sal told him where he needed to go. Then, Nana called as we were driving out of the neighborhood and we had to go back so she could ride with us. Next, Hayden wasn't where he told us he would be and of course my cell phone, with the Scout leaders cell number programmed in it, was left at home. Sal decided he would be able to find Hayden if he drove to the campsite. Have you ever tried to find a Scout in a crowd of Scouts? It isn't easy, but we finally found him. FINALLY we were on our way.

As we were driving, Hayden told us that he didn't feel very good. He said the night before at the Camporee, they had done the "gallon challenge." I had no clue what that was, but he said it was where you have to drink a gallon of milk in one hour and then hold it down for another hour. He said 4 boys tried to do it and 3 of them threw-up, but Hayden was ONLY able to drink a half gallon and couldn't drink any more. He said he felt terrible. Can you even imagine??

Anyway, we finally made it to the Stake Center and got the guys changed into their white clothes. It is AMAZING to see Sal and Cole dressed in white clothes. It reminded me of when we were sealed in San Diego. What a wonderful day that was too.

We started late, but it was ok. Hayden did a great job with his talk on baptism and then it was time to "dunk" Cole. As Cole and Sal entered the font, they said the water was WAY too hot. In fact, I thought Cole was going to cry. I could tell he was suffering just standing up to his waist. I couldn't imagine how he was going to put his face and head in. Cole got out of the water while we asked if we could add some cold water, but we were told we could not touch the temperature controls. Cole decided it would be ok and Sal quickly baptized Cole and jumped out of the water.

Granny gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then Sal confirmed Cole. Once again, Sal's blessing was awesome and he blessed Cole with many important things. A few things were that he would remember his baptism day and remember how he felt, and that he would use the Holy Ghost to guide him in his life. He reminded him how much we love him, that he has an older brother who will always be an excellent example and Cole needs to be an example to Olivia and his new baby brother. The Spirit in the room was so strong and I was so thankful that Sal is a worthy Priesthood holder.

After the baptism we all came back to our house to visit and to eat. It is always so wonderful to be together as a family and I thank all those who were able to come support Cole.

Kid's say the darndest things.....

Today Olivia and I were riding in the car and she was looking at all the pictures in my Relief Society manual. She paused at this picture



and asked said, "Mom, look Jesus is washing that man's feet. He must have gone out to get the newspaper without shoes."

Baby Update.....

I went to the doctor today and I am already 2-3 cm dilated and the baby is head down and engaged. I think I am still in denial that I am actually going to have a baby in the house again. I have been nesting quite a bit and Sal has helped me paint a dresser and crib. Next will be to refinish the glider. My next appointment is on the 17th and I will let you know what the progress is.

Serious questions in the middle of the night.....

Don't you just LOVE it when your kids wake you up in the middle of the night for silly reasons??

Last night Olivia woke me up and said, "Mom, I need to ask you something....."

"What Olivia?" I ask in my grumpy, what could you possibly need, voice.

"Ummmm" I could totally hear her thinking of something to ask. Then here it came...."What does igloo start with?"

I just about DIED laughing, but I said, "It starts with an I Olivia, now go back to bed." I couldn't lead her on because we play this game all the time and she can go on and on and on....

What silly things do you get woken up for?

Hayden a DEACON??

Last weekend Hayden turned 12. Could I seriously be that old? And IF I am, why don't I FEEL that old? Anyway, enough about ME!!

Hayden had a FUN-FILLED birthday. He first had a merit badge clinic to go to. He was excited to go to that and in fact had looked forward to going. It just means he is that much closer to his Life Rank. After the clinic he came home for an hour or two before heading off to baseball practice. He was not too excited about this part of his day. What he REALLY wanted to do was to stay home and hang out with his friends. As the mother, it was my duty to remind him of the commitment he made to play baseball and his coach was expecting him to be there. After baseball it was home for a shower and then we all loaded in the car to go out to dinner. Hayden's friend Jordan came with us. We were sad that Nick had baseball practice and couldn't go with us too. We ate at Nando's and as always it was DELICIOUS!! After dinner Hayden went to Jordan's for all night movie watching. He ended up just sleeping at the Woolley's because the movie ran so late. I think he had a great birthday and LOVED his new hiking boots that we gave him.

On Sunday, Hayden was given the Priesthood and ordained to the office of a Deacon. Sal ordained him and he gave the sweetest blessing to Hayden. Sal spends an incredible amount of time thinking about what to say in his blessings and they always amaze me. I wished I would have taken notes during the blessing. A few things I do remember are: he blessed Hayden that he would remember feeling the Spirit in the room that night and that he would live his life in such a way that he would always be able to feel that Spirit in his life. He blessed Hayden that he would use his Priesthood to be compassionate and to serve others. I hope Hayden will live up to the things his Dad blessed him with. Thanks to Colby, Cam, Mitzi, Kendall, Granny, Papa and the Woolley's for coming and participating in Hayden's ordination. It truly was a special day.