Welcome to the World!

Introducing Gabriel Thomas Lyons!

Born: April 11, 2012 at 1:38 pm

Weight: 8 lbs 9 oz

Length: 21 inches

Birth story (for those of you who are interested): Tuesday, April 10th, I had a doctor's appointment and he checked to see if I was progressing at all...I wasn't. So we began thinking that this little boy wanted to wait all the way until his due date (April 16th) to show up. I came home and went about doing my everyday chores and such and that night decided to go food shopping so we could be prepared for the next week. Lets just say by the time we finished I felt like he was going to drop right out of me right then and there! It hurt so much to walk around! Well, we went to bed still not thinking anything was going to happen. Jacob started crying at around 3:30 for his binky so I got up and put it in his mouth and had a contraction while bending over! I laid back down and continued to have some contractions that were about 10-15 minutes apart. I just laid there because I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake up Brandon just in case this wasn't the real thing. But they started coming a little bit closer together and getting a little harder...still I didn't wake Brandon up, but luckily he got up to go to the bathroom and then asked how I was doing when he laid back down so I could tell him I had been having some contractions for the past hour or so. We just kind of laid there for a little bit, before I decided to get up and do something productive. I thought if I wasn't going to sleep then I had better do something better with my time. So I cleaned! 7 o'clock rolled around and Brandon asked if he should go into work or not. I told him to go because they weren't terrible yet and still 5-7 minutes apart. I told him I would call him when they started being 2-3 minutes apart...so he left. David got up and I got him something to eat and stuck him in front of the tv. (I didn't want to have him under my feet while I was trying to breathe through contractions.) I called my mom and told her that today was probably the day and while I was talking to her the contractions started coming closer and really hard. I called Brandon and told him it was time...this was like at 8:30 so he really didn't get much work in. Jacob was still asleep so I decided to jump in the shower because I was having some bad back pain. While I was in there, Brandon got home and got the boys dressed. At 9, we headed over to the Torres' home to drop the boys off and then headed to the hospital. We got checked in at 9:30 and I was dilated to a 4! So they said I could get the epidural any time I wanted it...I lasted until about 11! haha By this time, I was dilated to a 6. I decided to call my mom afterwards and let her know what was going on. I talked to her for about 45 minutes and at the end of our conversation I started to get really uncomfortable when a contraction hit. It wasn't until I got off the phone that I realized that it was some intense pressure down in that area. The doctor came in and checked me again and I was fully dilated! I went from a 6 to a 10 in 45 minutes! We still had to wait a little while before I could push because our nurse was out to lunch...but around 1 they came in and started setting everything up. They said I could do a couple of practice pushes, which I did, and they said they could already see his head. I pushed a couple more times until he was crowning and then my doctor told me to stop! He said he wanted to let my muscles stretch a little before continuing to push so there would be less chances of tearing. Well, I stopped pushing but I could feel him sliding out...just my breathing was pushing him out but my doctor was telling the nurses to hold his head in!! Our main nurse turned to the doctor and said, "He's coming out whether you want him to or not!" So he told me to push and 2 pushes later Gabe was born at 1:38 pm! We were shocked to see a full head of red hair, but have since gotten used to it and love it! As weird as I thought it was for my doctor to tell me to stop pushing, it definitely worked! I didn't tear at all and have felt great ever since! So to all those women out there...tell your doctors to let you stretch a little before trying to push your baby all the way out! haha

We are so very happy to have this little boy here and can't imagine life without him already! David and Jacob are wonderful big brothers!

Comparison Pictures

38 weeks pregnant with Jacob...he came 2 days later.

38 weeks pregnant with Gabriel...let's hope he's like his brother!

I don't know what you think, but I definitely think I'm way bigger this time around and lower too (let's hope that's a good sign)! I'm ready for this little man to be here! Hurry Gabriel, please hurry!!

Almost Here!

Baby boy #3 is almost here...just 20 more days, give or take. Hopefully, he's more like Jacob and decides to come early because I am SO done being pregnant. I don't know if it's just because of how this boy is sitting or because I'm having them so close together my body never really recovered fully from Jacob, but I am in soo much pain! I can barely walk...each step feels like 100 lb weights are pulling on that area (if you know what I mean). *Hopefully it is just women who read this blog* I can't really stand for more than 30 minutes before I feel like my belly is going to fall off...and I get braxton hicks contractions whether I am standing up, sitting down, or laying down. I'm NEVER comfortable! This did not happen at all with David or Jacob.

So, yeah, I basically want him here now because I want my body back. But at the same time, I'm thinking he can stay in there as long as he wants because I'm not ready to have a newborn again. I get very overwhelmed at least once a week because I just don't think I can handle everything, especially since the house is not how I want it to be. But I can only really do one thing a day towards it before I feel completely exhausted and most of those things consist of doing the dishes, laundry, or picking up toys. Things that never really go away...so we still have boxes every where and I hate it!

Sorry, I'm venting, but I've noticed that when I get stressed I take it out on my family, which puts everyone in bad moods, so I'm trying to find new ways to release this frustration. We will see if it works...

I've been having really weird dreams, but very easy to break down and figure out. The gist of them...something is happening that I'm not prepared for and I start freaking out. The real life problem- I feel very unprepared for this baby and I'm freaking out! haha I'm sure every mother feels this way too right before their baby arrives because they know it's seriously going to change their lives forever...but for some reason, knowing that everyone experiences it doesn't really make me feel any better either.

And secrets confessed...I know how to feel better too. I know I need to turn to Heavenly Father for help. Why I haven't done so or been doing so is beyond me...it's stupid really, a very simple solution but very hard to execute. So this is my goal...and here's to a better, less stressful, tomorrow!

I'm Famous!!

I just have to brag about myself here for a little bit...

I found out today that my 1st grade jumping rope record still hasn't been broken yet!! That was 20 years ago!! I still remember doing that competition too. Whoever wanted to try for the King and Queen jumping spot for their grade could go to the gym and grab a jump rope, find an empty spot in the gym, and when the music started start jumping. If you messed up, then you had to sit down and watch everyone else jump. The last girl and boy jumping became the King and Queen for their grade. I remember just jumping away and watching as all of my friends quickly or slowly started to sit down. I just kept on jumping...eventually it was just me jumping (I had even beaten the last boy) and they couldn't stop until I messed up. It got to be over 10 minutes before my gym teacher finally stopped me. He called and told my mom he stopped me because he was afraid I would pass out or something because I just wasn't stopping! So who knows how long I could have been jumping for!

I have a church friend, Kim, who has kids who go there now, and she told me they just had the competition last week and they read the names of those who are still holding records for their class. And first off was Hilary Cook 1992! They asked the students if anyone knew the people who held these records and Kim told me that her daughter was so excited to tell everyone that she knew me! haha So that's how I'm famous!

I taught myself how to jump rope with a scarf when I was 4 years old...I got to be pretty good at it. Now...not so much! haha But now I'm done bragging about myself. It just made me feel so good to know something I accomplished is still not beaten yet!

Karma?

When I was a child, like the same age that David is now, I was a terror for my parents. I got into everything, had the worst temper and never really listened to anything my parents told me to do. My mom said I would never sit in time out and I could climb out of my crib, so that was out of the question too. My dad told me he called me "the devil's child" because I seriously was that bad. It took a lot for me to lose that temper too...I think I was in high school before I realized that it could get me into some serious trouble. Anyways, my mother would always make the comment, "wait until you have kids..."

Well, now I do and I really think I'm being hit with some serious karma! David is a sweet boy, don't get me wrong...he loves to cuddle and I love our Mommy/David cuddle time. But man, he does NOT listen at all, and he LOVES to make messes. Ok, I don't think he does it on purpose, not really...he's just curious about what would happen if I to do this...sort of thing. Which then transfers into a big mess for mommy to clean up.

Sadly, I think I'm getting hit with double karma too! Because Jacob follows David around like a lost little puppy. Sometimes it's really cute...like when they are playing really nicely together. But when it comes to them getting into things, well...it's not so cute.

This is what I found the other day when David was taking his nap...

You can't really tell it in the picture but that's about a whole roll of toilet paper on the floor...and some toys are thrown into the tub.

I hate to say it, but I think Jacob has officially hit the toddler phase and is taking after his big brother pretty well...I'll have to call them Terror #1 and Terror #2! Karma stinks!!