Poor Parker

I was completely spoiled with Paige. She didn't really get sick until after her first birthday and the only time she's had to go see the dr besides her well check appointments was when I was worried she had hurt her arm. 

Parker on the other hand turns 1 month tomorrow (crazy how fast time flies!) and has been to the drs at least once a week. 

First he was in the hospital being born. They had to keep doing blood draws to make sure he hadn't contracted any infections. They also had to pump his stomach because he had swallowed blood during the delivery which was causing problems. 

Week 1 was the typical check.

 Week 2 he was circumcised. 

Week 3 he had thrush. 

And now week 4 he is sick with a crappy cough and difficulty breathing. I feel so bad for the poor kid. And to top it off his dang umbilical cord won't fall off. 

(And yes he has an appointment for next week for his 1 month well check)

I know it could be WAY worse and I am so grateful we have never had to have a baby in the NICU or deal with serious illness. I pray we never have to know what that feels like. But it is still so hard watching your baby be in pain and know there isn't anything you can do to help. 

Hopefully he can kick this quickly. 

Introducing..

Parker Taylor Jepson was born Thursday, September 12th, at 3:23 am, weighing 8 lbs 15 oz and coming in at 21 inches long. He has TONS of black hair and so far it looks like he is going to have brown eyes.

So that was cliff notes. Here's the whole story, it's not very exciting and may contain TMI in some parts. You have been warned.

So Sunday morning Karl and I were playing with Paige. I was sitting reading her a book when I suddenly felt wet. I handed Paige off with an exclamation of "Ahh, I'm leaking!" Karl's response "Umm, is that supposed to happen?" To which this genius nurse responded "Gross, it's because I'm a girl, and I'm pregnant, and this is disgusting". I was just thinking, ok I am 39 weeks, my body is just finally doing something to get ready for this baby to come. There was not a constant leaking of fluid or big gush of water so I didn't really think much of it. I definitely didn't think my water had broken. It was more that I would feel fine and then every once in awhile I would move a certain way and feel wet. It was gross but I had never made it this far being pregnant and I wasn't having contractions so I just let it go and figured I would ask the Dr when I saw her.

 So I went about my day, and the next, and the next, until my Dr appointment Wednesday morning. I had been in on Friday and was dilated to a 1. On Wednesday I was dilated to a 2 (yay me) so while they went to do the test to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid I told my mom nothing was happening.  When the Dr came back in she had a slightly panicked look on her face, asked when I first noticed the fluid, and then told me I was having the baby that day. Awesome. Apparently I had a high rupture so the fluid was leaking out and pooling, hence no constant drip, and I only noticed it every once in awhile when I would move and cause it to drain.

Anyways, So I ran home to get Paige situated. Karl left clinic early and went back with me. We got checked in, I got hooked up to pitocin, to "augment" the labor that really wasn't happening, and penicillin, because my water had been broken for three days and we were at serious risk for infection. Then we waited. FOREVER! (I swear I am never going to be able to have a baby without being induced. It took 16 hours on the highest dose of pitocin AFTER having my water broken for 3 days. Next time I think I am going to tell Karl he has my permission to not being in the hospital until I have been there for 10 hours (unless by some miracle I am in active labor on my own) so he doesnt' have to just wait around with nothing happening. We were so bored!)

At 930 pm, 10 hours after being admitted, I was finally having hard contractions that hurt pretty bad. Karl said "is it bad that the more you hurt the more excited I get?" I totally agreed with him, for the first two hurtful contractions. So by then I was hoping to be dilated to an 8 or something (I had been a 4 at 4:30) so I could feel justified in getting an epidural, unfortunately I had gone up to a 5 (seriously?!? I am pathetic). So I cried and by 1030 I had my epidural. I can't imagine having a baby without an epidural. Honestly I never want to try. Those things are amazing and contractions are horrible.

An hour later I started having difficulty breathing. I felt like I couldn't keep my lungs open. So they had to dial down my epidural, which fixed the problem and was actually great because then I could tell I was having contractions but they still didn't hurt. I was able to sleep for awhile, pushed for 45 minutes and then had my beautiful baby boy at 3:23 am.

Karl brought Paige to the hospital the next day. She LOVES Parker. She got the biggest smile when she saw him and kept insisting we pick her up so she could look at him.

When we got home from the hospital Paige was so excited and gave Parker a ride rocking his car seat and saying "whee!!!" so he would know he was having fun.

 It's been interesting having two kids but I think we are figuring it out, slowly but surely. I am just so grateful to have two of the cutest kids in the world and that they love each other so much. 

Paige loves holding and reading to Parker. 

And giving him kisses. 

I am so blessed to have my sweet little family and I love them so much. I am so grateful for Karl. He is such an amazing man and I couldn't have asked for a better husband. He is such a great dad and he works so hard in school so he can support us. I am so grateful that we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that we were able to be sealed in the temple, and that we are going to be able to be a family forever. Life is wonderful.