Parker Ki Jensen - 6.6.2012

It is about time I got around to blogging about the newest and cutest member of our family!!!  I have been wanting to do a blog post about our cute little guy for awhile now but... well you know :)  Blogging has sort of been on the back burner the last 2 months.  On the very farthest spot on the back of the back burner to be exact haha.

The Sunday previous to my due date:  I decided I had just about had it with being pregnant so Ki and I went power walking for an hour and a half before church... we of course found out later that the speed has nothing to do with helping bring on labor, just the gravity of being on your feet walking... well gee wiz that would have been nice to know before we POWER walked haha.  I was SO sore the next day I could barely lift my feet when i walked and my hips felt like they were broken.  Lesson learned.

Monday: Parker still wasn't ready to come meet us and I had decided that being large and pregnant wasn't so bad... he sure was easy to take care of in my belly.  I came to the conclusion that I would no longer worry about trying to speed his arrival through the practice of all the "wives tale" remedies.  He would come when he was good and ready :)

Tuesday:  It turns out my discovery from the previous day was no longer clear in my mind, as I once again decided that I NEEDED to meet Parker and SOON.  This sense of urgency came again when my pregnant brain suddenly remembered my husband's sister's wedding was in 10 days down in St. George.   So I again began to try everything in the book to get our little angel to come.  Went for another hour and a half walk, deep foot massage, walking with one foot on the curb one foot off (my neighbor SWEARS this worked for her), s-x, spicy indian food for dinner etc.  Nothing- not even braxton hicks.  That night I went to bed convinced I wasn't going to see Parker for another week.

Wednesday June 6th 2012 (due date):  I woke up at 8:50 am to get ready for my 40 wk doctor appointment, went to the bathroom, stood up off the toilet, and then there was just a huge gush!  I just stood there in shock in a big puddle thinking "no way!"  I then shouted to Ki who was still in bed that my water had just broke.  I have NEVER seen him get out of bed so fast in all the time I have been married to him.  We called the OB office to tell them my water broke and the nurse said "get your butt to the hospital"  I then asked if I could at least shower first and she said yes but only if you hurry.  So hurry I did.  On the way to the hospital we disagreed over which was the faster route.  Ki took his way, but then missed a turn.  We laughed when we missed a turn because when we had read the chapter in my pregnancy book about preparing for the delivery day they suggested that you practice driving to the hospital which we thought was ridiculous.  I guess the book knew that husbands in their flustered state of excitement often miss turns on the way to the hospital :)

We checked into the hospital around 10:15 am - by the time I got to my room it was 10:30.  I was only dilated to a 1, 80% effaced, and having irregular contractions so the doctor recommended I get started on a little bit of pitocin.  After about an hour on the pitocin i was having contractions every minute so they took me off.  After that my body had contractions every 2 minutes all by itself.  I finally got the epidural when I was at a 5 sometime in the afternoon maybe around 3?  And oh my goodness after feeling the difference I don't think I could ever attempt to do it without the epidural.  I am impressed by those who can do it without one, but for me the whole experience just was so much more enjoyable after I had the epidural then it was before.

After the epidural to pass the time we chatted about how we couldn't believe we were going to get to meet Parker in just a few hours, Ki watched the office on my ipad, I read the billions of papers the hospital brought to me, and we waited anxiously.

At around 6:40 pm the nurse came in and checked me and said that I was ready to push!  This was the part I had been most nervous about and I got butterflies of nervousness and excitement.  My epidural was kinda weird because I was absolutely completely dead on my right side of my body, but I could still feel the contractions on my left... it was a very odd sensation.  No matter how hard I tried I couldn't even move my right leg a hair.  My nurse took my left leg and Ki took my dead leg and we started pushing.  Ki took his job very seriously and would shove my leg as hard as he could into my body when I was pushing hehe :)  In fact he was even a little sore the next day.  So funny.  Anyhow the first questions I asked Ki when he said he could see our little man was "Does he have hair?  What color is it?"  Haha Ki makes fun of me to this day for asking those things mid-push, but I was so curious!  When the moment came that we needed the Dr's help, he wasn't there yet!  So the nurse was like don't push!  We need to wait for the doctor so he can give you an episiotomy this baby's head is stuck.  I was like ok, but it was surprisingly SO hard not too push.  My body felt like it needed to so bad.  When the doctor finally got there I got so nervous about feeling the episiotomy since my epidural was wearing off, but Ki squeezed my hand and was like you can do it, so I pushed - the doctor cut- and out popped Parker's head :)  One more push and out popped his whole body.  It all felt so weird and surreal.  I immediately started bawling my eyes out the second I saw him - I couldn't believe I was a mom and that he was mine!  I thought he was beautiful the second he was born, but Ki still talks about how alien like he looked the first couple minutes fresh out of the womb haha.

Parker was born at 7:35 pm and was 6 lbs 14 oz and 18.5 inches long.  The moment the doctor put Parker on my chest and he was crying and I got to hold him and love him for the first time was so incredible.  I almost cry just thinking about how it felt.  I was so worried in the weeks leading up to my due date that I wouldn't know how to hold him or how to be his mom, but the second they put him in my arms I didn't even have to think twice about it.  It was like I was always meant to be his mom.  It was the most amazing feeling in the world.

I still can't believe I am a mom.  Sometimes I look at Parker and just think oh my gosh he is my baby.  I don't know how to explain it, I just feel so lucky to have him and Ki in my life!  The last couple months since he was born have been some of the most exhausting and some of the most rewarding moments in my life.  I can't even believe how much Ki and I love him!  To us he is the cutest baby that has ever been born!  I think he is beautiful and Ki used to tell me that beautiful wasn't masculine enough of a word to describe him, but just the other day he was like "he really is beautiful huh"  So now we both think he is beautiful lol.

Anyways, I could write so much more and I hope that I will get to another blog post soon about all the cute things he is starting to do that I love, as well as a post about his baby blessing day, the 4th of july, etc.. etc...  Dang, he is only 2 months old and I am already so far behind!  For now enjoy these pictures from his birth/hospital stay since if I posted all the pics from the last 2 months it would be a little overkill... actually it probably still is haha :) 

Doing my makeup - I know I am weird.

Waiting to meet our little angel

Fresh out of the womb - 6 lbs 14 oz 18.5 inches - and a healthy pair of lungs lol

First time holding my sweet boy - words can't describe it

These make me cry just looking at them lol - one of the best moments in my life

Papa and Parker

All bundled up waiting to go get his bath

All cleaned up and in our room :)

Love this picture of him and his little tongue haha

Quality time with Dad

Grandma Mem & Grandma Cyndi with Parker

Bella Baby Photography - we call this the Monkey pose

Such a sweet little face and cute little baby fists

Ki & Parker - melts my heart

My precious baby

First Family Photo

First car ride - home from the hospital - Ki has never driven so cautiously ever!

First day home from hospital meeting Auntie Ash

Home with our newest member of the family

Until next time!  Thanks for reading :)  Hopefully I will update again before another 2 months goes by!  But no promises... my house is still in desperate need of a deep clean :)