Introducing Baby Thomas

We are happy to announce that baby Thomas James Gardiner was born on September 25th at (officially) 12:42 p.m.  He weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20 inches long.  He is healthy and doing great, and we are so happy he is finally here!

Here are a few details about his birth and some pictures.  Note:  don't keep reading if you don't want to know about medical procedures or other birth descriptions.

I had a checkup with the doctor on Monday afternoon.  I had a feeling that something might happen because I noticed my swelling had been kind of bad.  It turns out my blood pressure was high.  It wasn't horrible, but since I had pre-eclampsia with Grant, the high bp combined with the swelling and a few other indicators made the doctor want to get him out.  So I was scheduled for an induction the next morning, at 38 weeks pregnant.

We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. Thankfully a friend of ours was willing to let us drop off Grant at 5a.m. Talk about early!  So we get to the hospital and get settled in, and finally we started to get hooked up to the IV and get pitocin around 8 a.m. I started feeling the contractions pretty quickly and I was really debating on when to request the epidural.  I had considered trying to go without one if I went into labor naturally, but I knew if I had an induction I was going to get an epidural due to the intensity and rapidness of the pitocin contractions.

I was feeling the contractions pretty intensely around 9 a.m., and I think we requested the epidural about 9:30 a.m.  The anesthesiologist got there around 10 a.m. and started the procedure.  She had to try several times to get it in the right place and it seemed liked it was taking forever.  It was hard because I was supposed to sit in a certain position and stay still, but I was still having intense contractions.  She was trying to test if things were in the right place, and suddenly I felt a sharp pain and tingling in my leg, and my leg jerked forward.  It was a weird feeling and they waited to see if it would go away or whether they needed to fix the placement again.  I guess it was pressing up against a nerve.  It happened two more times and I started to get upset.

At that point James started to feel lightheaded and dizzy.  They anesthesiologist and nurse told him to sit on the floor against the wall.  I was trying to stay calm so I couldn't look at James because I was trying to focus on staying still and breathing through my contractions while waiting to see if the leg pain/tingling would go away.  I heard a barfing noise coming from James and he ended up passing out for about 10-20 seconds (I guess he didn't really throw up, it was just a part of the reaction he had because his bp dropped suddenly).  That upset me and I started crying because I was scared, wondering if he was okay, wondering how in the world this epidural was going to turn out, and wondering if my labor was going to turn out to be a disastrous experience.  Luckily the nurse was really helpful and calming and helped me to feel better.

James was okay.  The anesthesiologist said it happens all the time and that's part of the reason why they really don't like people watching the procedure.  There is something about watching certain procedures, especially on your loved ones, when there are complications it causes a change in blood pressure and people pass out pretty frequently.

The tingling in my leg went away and I got a "test dose" of medicine in the epidural catheter.  It worked right away, but it worked a little TOO well.  I was completely and absolutely numb up to my chest area and even kind of tingly in my arms.  I did not like that at ALL and I didn't feel right.  It was freaking me out.  I started to feel nauseous also, but they gave me some medicine and I felt better.  Some of the extreme numbness wore off and I was very relieved.  The anesthesiologist came back several more times to check up on me and gave me the regular dose of epidural meds and things seemed to be fine after that (except I had a slight side effect from one of the drugs which made me really itchy, but it wasn't bad).

So all of that craziness actually took up a lot of time.  It was probably about 11:30 a.m. at this point, and I had progressed to about 5 cm.  After that I got drowsy and was able to rest and catnap for a while.  I actually felt really sleepy the rest of the labor and was very comfortable.  About an hour later the nurse came and checked me and I was complete and ready to start pushing.  She said she was going to count to 10, but when she got to 2, she told me to stop because the baby was right there!  She called the doctor and he got there pretty quickly.  They asked me to start pushing again and counted to 10 and he pretty much slid right out!  I really wasn't pushing that hard.  Two more seconds of pushing and he was completely and all the way out.

It was rather calm, actually.  That's the upside of all the epidural craziness.  It ended up being a good experience once everything balanced out because I was numb in the birth canal but had some feeling in other places which made it easy to control what I was doing.  Once Thomas was out he wasn't really crying and the doctor was clearing out his airway carefully and calmly, and he let out a few little whimpers.  He was actually pretty quiet even as he was laid down on top of me and while he was getting cleaned up afterwards. Just little cries, not much screaming or anything.

I had a small tear so I got stitched up.  It took a while because there was a student midwife that my doctor was helping learn how to do stitches in a particular way.  I didn't mind though, because my doctor was very involved with everything and made me feel comfortable.

Thomas nursed right away and it was such a happy moment realizing that he was here with us and apart of our family.  His eyes were wide open and he was looking around as if he was wondering where he was and what was going on.  He has a very sweet disposition.

When Grant came to meet baby Thomas, he noticed the hospital bassinet and said, "hey, a baby!"  We told him it was baby Thomas and he wanted to see him right away.  He sat next to James and checked out Thomas.  He kept looking at him, smiling at him, touching his hands, and patting him softly on the head.  He also got concerned whenever he heard Thomas make a noise.  He would quickly look at us and say, "Baby Thomas cryin'!" or "baby okay?"  It was cute to see him get excited about seeing Thomas and being involved with him.  We asked him if baby Thomas could come live with us, and he said "yes!" So we will see what happens when we actually bring him home (most likely tomorrow).  That will be the real test!  :)

Pirate Grant

It has been almost 9 months since my last post!  So much has happened, and I'm sad that I haven't been good at keeping up with it.  Grant has changed so much and learned so many new things, and we are about to welcome Baby #2 into our family, another boy!  So I've decided to start blogging again from this point forward.  Ideally, I'd like to go back in time and cover all that I've missed sharing, but I can't commit to that right now.  Our lives are about to be turned upside down! :)

I'll start by sharing some pics that I love from this past week.

James was able to (finally) take a few days off after working some very long hours lately.  He wanted to spend some quality time with Grant and decided to do something different for him.  Grant loves the show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" and enjoys pretending to be a pirate.  He'll put lots of things on his head (usually a pair of shorts) and say "ho ho ho!" to try to mimic the pirates saying "yo ho ho."  He'll say "arrrrgh" a lot and his favorite letter is "X," because X marks the spot for treasure. :)

So James organized a "treasure hunt" for Grant.  He got him this little pirate kit from the store and another toy to use as the "treasure."  He took Grant all different places around the house to look for the treasure until they finally found it.  It was hard to keep Grant focused but he still loved it.

 Getting his pirate kit

 Reading the "map"

 Ready for the treasure hunt

 Looking for Captain Hook through the spyglass

 Coming back to show mommy the 'treasure.'

 Opening the treasure

 He was sooooooo excited

 It's Mr. Potato Head!  (Grant calls it his "tomato")

Playing with Mr. Potato Head.  He really likes it!

November

I got to try a lot of new things in the kitchen this month.  I baked homemade wheat bread from scratch, for the first time!!! I didn't grind the wheat myself or anything, but still...Without an automatic mixer or anything. It was hard work but also very fun. I never thought I would be a person to make bread! I always thought it was way too complicated...but thanks to some lessons from friends, I realized I could do it. It's so cool to see the end result!  I also made a big batch of southern style pinto beans in the crock pot which we've been going through slowly (froze most of it).  

Most of my new kitchen creations came during weekends watching college football.  We watched a lot of games together this year, and of course rooted for the Aggies!  Grant got to sport his cool new jogging suit.

We also got to play outside a lot since it finally started cooling down.  Grant could play outside forever.  He cries whenever we have to go back inside.  It is very cute.

On Thanksgiving weekend we went to my parents' house and got to hang out with the family.  Grant really liked seeing all of his relatives and playing with all the dogs.  He kept following the dogs around everywhere.  He laid on them, petted them, chased them, and stole their toys.  It was funny to watch.

Then he wanted to play with the plants outside.  He was obsessed with these flower plants and started pulling off massive amounts of flowers.  Luckily, Nana didn't mind!

Then we headed to Bastrop.  We hadn't gotten to visit James' parents' property since the huge Texas fires affected the area.  They are very lucky that the center part of their property, where they are building a cabin and where their trailer is, did not get burned.  However, most of the trees and plants were destroyed.  Here is what it looked like.

This was really crazy.  Parts of the fire were so incredibly hot that they actually burned the roots underneath the ground...even the entire length of the branched roots.  Here are the empty holes...crazy!

 Grant was in heaven playing out there.  He loved the wide open spaces, but mostly he was obsessed with this little pebble pit.  He kept shoveling rocks into containers and dumping them out over and over again.  Amazing the things that keep kids entertained.

We also got to help saw some fallen trees.  We cut up a cedar tree into slices to make a path to the cabin.  I think it makes it look super cute.  Also Grandpa sawed another part of the cedar tree into a little chair for Grant.  In the process, Grandpa sliced his leg open but luckily he was okay. :)

 We ended the day by watching Scooby Doo in the cabin.  I love watching Grant and James hang out together.

October

We had a lot of events in October.  I love October because it is the beginning of the big holiday season with Fall Festivals and Halloween.  Too bad it was still VERY hot here (90s)...it makes it hard to believe that the seasons are changing.

We kicked off the month by watching General Conference the first weekend in October.  I love Conference.  For those who don't know what it is, this is an event held twice a year where our Church leaders give us inspired messages that give us guidance pertinent to our lives at that moment in time.  It is a great reminder of truths we already know and helps us focus on the Savior, as well.

The Conference is broadcast worldwide so we could watch it at home.  We got up early and made pancakes.  Grant REALLY liked helping me.  He seemed elated just to stand next to me on a chair watching what I was doing and occasionally dumping something in the bowl.  It's so much fun watching him interact with us more and more.

Here is my favorite quote from Conference:
‎
"This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God. While against the backdrop of infinite creation we may appear to be nothing, we have a spark of eternal fire burning within our breast. We have the incomprehensible promise of exaltation—worlds without end—within our grasp. And it is God’s great desire to help us reach it."
~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf


One of our friends had a first birthday party so we got to attend that also, at a nearby park.  It was the perfect time to get together with friends and celebrate.  Grant loved the park.

The birthday boy!  Happy Birthday Benson!

A nearby Church held a fall festival like they do every year.  It is free and they invite the community to come and do a hayride, play games, jump in bounce houses, etc.  Grant got scared when we jumped in the bounce house together.  They also had a pumpkin patch which we visited to get our pumpkin for Halloween.

Grant had a BLAST! He enjoyed running around and tried to touch and pick up every pumpkin! Most of them were too heavy but he tried very hard. It was fun to watch. Plus we even found a tiny one for him to take home.

Here we are on the hayride!  Grant really enjoyed it.  

Finally we got to celebrate Halloween, which is one of my favorite holidays!  We had a trunk-or-treat at Church which is when the whole family dressed up in our pirate costumes.  On the evening of Halloween, we also went trick or treating in a friend's neighborhood and just hung out.  Grant had a love-hate relationship with his costume.  He kept pulling the hat off, lol.  It was HILARIOUS trying to draw the mustache on him.  Of course he kept wiggling and trying to run away, which made me laugh, which made it even harder to try to draw the mustache!  Anyway, it was a good time.

 Playing games for prizes

Fishing for prizes

A really fun end to a great month!