{ She's Here!! }

Well she finally made her debut at 4:56 p.m.

The Dr. checked me at 4:54 and I was complete and well you know what time she arrived. I say a 2 minute delivery isn't too bad & drug free might I add.

She weighed 8 lbs 15oz.

She was bigger than what everyone thought she would be including my Dr. and Lloyd and Me and well everyone, the nurse actually weighed her twice because she thought the weight was wrong. All I have to say is it's a really good thing that we didn't wait until her due date, because she doesn't look like an almost 9.lb baby I will post pictures really soon but here are all her stats.

Addison Claire Berry

8lbs 15oz

20 3/4 inches long

time of arrival 4:56 p.m.

October 31st 2007

We are pretty sure of her name, but you never know with me. But we are still pretty sure. Pictures will be coming soon I promise, I'm just a little preoccupied :)

Now that she is all clean I can see how much bruising she has, it's on her forehead and nose and on one of her fingers and on her arm... Poor little thing. I always bruise my babies because I push so fast and hard. Oh well it will be gone soon enough. More pictures later I am a wee bit tired. :) P.S. She is a little noise maker too! Enjoy the pictures more are coming.

Okay

I was just checked and am at a 6 & they shut off my pitocin, head is nice & low too... And really the contractions are tolerable they don't last too long - about 45 seconds and are about 2-3 mins apart. I am so glad I am not having back labor (knock on wood) I'm getting there!

Updated: They turned my pitocin back on as my contractions were not as strong and they were not lasting as long. I actually asked them to turn it back on, I know odd request why would anyone ask for more of the Devils juice but I knew it would help me to dilate and get her here faster. So the pictocin did it's job I did dilate and when it was finally complete I only had the pushing urge through 3 contractions which on the 3rd one is when she came out. She had her cord wrapped around her neck once but Dr. Hibbert got that undone and out she came. She was crying nicely about 5 seconds after she came out and was good and pink as any girl should be. I was so relieved to have her out, that I actually thanked her for coming out of me. She is by far the most cheesy (vernix? not sure of spelling on that on) baby I have ever had. My other kids maybe had a tiny bit in their creases but Addison had it EVERYWHERE and thick. She has a little bit of brown hair, not much, as why would it be fair for my girlie's to have hair? So I am very glad that I bought her a ton of hair bows. What we lack in hair style we make up for in accessories :)

Anyway you all know her stats are on the post above this one, just thought I would get this typed up while I was thinking about it and while she is sleeping. :)

So Here I Sit

Leaking all over myself, I tell ya having your membranes ruptured just feels a little unsanitary even though I know it's fine. Having a few contractions but not too many, I am hoping to get up and walk around a bit that should get these contractions to do their thing. Dr. H broke my water at 9:40 and it's 11:20 now so it may be a long day but then again you never know it may just perk up and get going all of the sudden. I kinda feel like a dork blogging while in labor but what are you gonna do when your just sitting here?

Yup I pretty much know I am a blog-a-holic because Lloyd just took a picture of me blogging while sitting in this most uncomfy bed strapped to a fetal monitor and seeing the picture on my camera just verified my bloggy addiction.

So just consider yourselves very well informed and updated. :) More later here comes a contraction.

Okay another update. It's now 1:30 and I am back in my bed after getting to walk around for a while. I had to lay down as my feet have so much swelling they were starting to hurt. But now I am hooked up to Oxytocin to kick start these contractions. I am having some and they are not too bad- yet. So there you have it another update. I think these are more for me, that way I don't have to remember too much when I go back to type up her birth story. Off I go! :)

{ I Can Do This, I Can Do This..... }

I feel like a lamb going to slaughter. Nothing like going in on purpose to be put in pain I know this is the way I always have my babies (induction that is) but for some reason I am unusually nervous.

I got my usual 1 1/2-2 hours of sleep last night. I am dressed and ready to go.. I think. I will post more later today. That is if we can get the Hospitals wireless network to work on our laptop. :) Happy Baby Day & Happy Halloween.

Here is a preview of the kids Halloween Costumes. I made them dress up last night just in case I didn't get pictures later today of them.

Scratch The 1st!

We are having our baby TOMORROW! Yes I know it's Halloween, yes I know I wanted to have her on the 1st, but things don't always go how you want them to. At least she will be guaranteed a party every year at school. :)

Oh well it's just a day right?

So I go in tomorrow at 8:00 am. Nothing like painful fun.

Well gotta go feed the family, I do believe we will be going out for dinner tonight.

Plus I have a hundred things to do before I go to bed.

Wish me luck. I think I need it.

Yup still here. T-Minus 3 Days!

And can I just say I am SOOOOOO TIRED! I didn't' sleep hardly at all last night. Between heartburn and contractions I finally fell asleep around 4:00 am only to be awakened at 4:30 by Corbin who was crying for who knows what reason. I think I managed to get back to sleep a little after 5:00, then I got up at 7:15 and did Brinley's hair so she could go to school and went back to bed. I officially got up around 8:30 with Corbin and we have been taking it very easy today as my eyeballs hurt because I am so sleep deprived.

Thank goodness for my lazy boy recliner and the laptop.

I got about a 15 min nap then my boys came home so I guess there really is no rest for the weary. Although now that I think about it, I did sweep all my floors and folded a load of laundry and started 2 more loads & vacuumed the living room & base boards and buffet lamps, and dusted everything so i got a little done today. Oh and my Visiting Teachers came too and brought cookies. The kids devoured them as their after school snack. So thanks Teija and Sharon! It's nice to have VT's again after not having any for 6 months.

I can actually say I am looking forward to going to the hospital on Thursday, if only to know that I don't have to be a "real" mom for at least a little while.

I have a Dr. appt. tomorrow morning, my last one hip hip hooray & then la' baby cometh on Thursday. Scary.

I am ready to not be pregnant anymore but am not ready for the pain....... Yikes!

Now I need to figure out something really, really easy for dinner. Oh the fun.

{ Seriously! How Can Corbin Be Sick AGAIN! }

How can he be getting sick yet again! Corbin has been running a fever all day. And he just wants to lay around and he keeps telling me that he's tired. We are the hand washing police around here and we haven't really gone anywhere we just stay home for the most part. I swear I feel like I am being punished for past deeds or something.

I was really hoping that everyone would be nice and healthy for next weeks baby arrival. We will just keep popping the vitamin C & I suppose it's time to start disinfecting everything again.

The picture isn't the greatest but it's him feeling all sick and snuggling with his sister, all I can say is thank heavens for Cartoons & Clorox wipes.

D-Day!

I HAVE AN INDUCTION DAY!

We are suppose to go in on the 1st of November at 8:00 am. So you can all disregard the floating widget baby to the right of this post we have 9 day's to go not 16!

I decided we need to get Halloween over with & then have little Miss make her appearance. Plus with all the kids Halloween party's at school it would be easier to attend those in one piece instead of 2.

So that's the day unless something happens this weekend which would be fine as my Dr. is on call. And being induced on a Thursday gives Lloyd more time he can take off to help with the other kids. And HOPEFULLY everyone will be healthy by then.

I am dilated to a 3 and he said again that I would be an easy induction, see I'm still an easy girl & I gained 1 more pound so I am up to 15 pounds.

Now.....how is it possible to gain weight while you have vomiting and diarrhea and not eating much? I know TMI, Oh well I'll say it's all her.

Dr. doesn't think she is a huge baby, so I am keeping my fingers crossed as I would rather not push out another 9 pound baby especially since I usually go without drugs. When my Dr. called to schedule my induction they didn't want to do it because they already had an induction coming in that day. Seriously can they not handle 2 births in one day? Lovely small town hospitals. Oh well I'm going in whether they like it or not.

So I'm sorry, your gonna have to put up with one more week of blogging my pregnancy complaints. But it's almost over as she will be here NEXT WEEK! :)

Now I guess I should repack my diaper bag it's full of 3 yr old boy things, time to reload with little bitty diapers and gas drops and, and, and...

So there's my update. And now you are all in the know.

The Sickies

I'm not sure when this is going to end but it really, REALLY stinks.

Now both Lloyd and I have had this puking nastiness. I did most of mine last night, I had to make myself puke as I am not normally a thrower-upper. And can I tell you feeling like your gonna hurl and have contractions at the same time =no fun. Plus not sleeping at all last night...... That was horrible.

Then Lloyd got up this morning and now he has it.

So much for his day off and working in the back room. Poor guy.

Well that's my crappy update for now.

Hopefully we will be better tomorrow.

And now the only person that hasn't had this is Brinley... Hmmmm I wonder if she's next. Lovely.

{ DRUM ROLL PLEASE!! 100th Post! }

It's my 100th post and all you get is this recipe!

Actually this is really, really good. It's called Pizza Spaghetti, and my family now likes it better than regular spaghetti. The kids had second helpings of this stuff.

It's super easy and totally delish..

I got the recipe from this blog.

Pizza Spaghetti

12 oz spaghetti, cooked al dente

1 lb Italian sausage

2 oz sliced pepperoni

26 oz jar pasta sauce

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

Place cooked spaghetti in a 13 x 9 casserole dish.

Cook sausage in a skillet for 5-7 minutes, or until cooked through. Crumble. Pour pasta sauce over the noodles.

Spoon sausage and pepperoni over the sauce.

Sprinkle cheese evenly over the pepperoni/sausage combo

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and place back into oven for an addition 5-8 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

I was told this picture made the food look interesting... It's just the cheese baked on top of the noodles. Really it is very good.

picture credit: blogchef.net - my recipe looks exactly like this when done. ;) 

His eyes were bigger than his stomach.

Edited 10/20/07

The cause of Parker's illness was, I believe too much junk food and staying up to late. He never did throw up and was acting a little too normal for my taste considering he was "sick".

The night before he said he was sick I had given all the kids a Dairy Queen Dilly Bar and then Teija came and brought more dessert as the guys were all working in the back room and Parker being the boy that he is had 2 HUGE helpings of Cake and a whole lotta ice cream.

I do believe that Gluttony was the culprit.

So it's been 4 days --- I do believe that's the incubation period, and now Parker is not feeling so hot. He woke up this morning saying he felt like he was going to puke, so he went back to bed with his bucket and next thing you know he says he wants to go to school. Well fast forward about 1 hour.

He's now home, Lloyd went and got him from school and he is now in his bed with his bucket watching Transformers bundled under his feather comforter.

We have not had any vomiting yet from him but I'm sure it's coming..... Sigh does it ever end? And if this bug is working out like it has been, Brinley is due to be sick on Tuesday.. I should just pencil it in on the calendar.

Well back to my contractions/sick kids.

{ Help Has Arrived! }

Nothing new to report from me, still here, still pregger's, still contracting. Really nothing new.....

But reinforcement has arrived in the form of men offering help in our new/old room.

Actually Brent & Chas are still here helping Lloyd with the back room.

They got the insulation up and are now hanging sheet rock. It's so nice to have friends that are willing to lend a helping hand. And to top off this evening my friend Teija (Chas's wife) brought over dessert. She made cake & pie it was yummy! Thanks Taija :). We may see this room get done one of these days.

It's nice to see some progress happening.

SO THANKS TO BRENT, CHAS & TEIJA!

Sorry I know, not the best picture but it's dark & we are under construction..

Update

Yup, I know I stink I didn't update yesterday. So here's the latest scoop (really nothing new). I had my appt. yesterday and I am still a 2, go figure with all the contractions I have.

But he did tell me he would induce me a little earlier than the 1st if I want, as I would be an easy induction. See it's pays to be easy.. He he.... I know that joke is in such poor taste. Sorry. :) Anyway things look good, baby sounded fine I still am holding at 14 pounds- yippee no new weight gain!

Corbin is feeling a little better today, he isn't eating much but at least the barfing has stopped. And on the upside my Mom came to help out yesterday, she will be here for a couple more days then go home and come back when it's baby time.

She has been VERY helpful with the kids and meals and I was able to take a 2 hr nap today. SO NICE. Anyway I gotta run, kids need to get homework finished and off to bed.

Trust me I will let you all know when I go to the Hospital. Even if I go into labor on my own I will post a quick sentence to let you know what's up. More later.

Barfing & Contracting, I Really Don't Need This Right Now

Really what's with all the barfing and contracting? This is what I did last night, well I did the contracting and Corbin decided to start with the barfing. Let me start at the beginning... Contractions started again last night so I figured well, I'm not gonna sleep anyway I might as well go to Wal-Mart and get the rest of my stuff I need like pads, nursing pads, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway I contract the WHOLE time I'm there, I come home manage to finally fall asleep around 3:00 am, then I am awoken to the glorious sound of puking from a 3 yr old at 4:30. And of course I am still contracting, and cleaning up barf & contracting about 2-3 minutes. And of course this certain 3yr old just pukes where ever he pleases, really no bowl needed but thanks mom.

And today is the lucky day I go in to get swabbed for my group b strep test. Can my day get any better? Crap this day is well.... CRAP! I'm this close to ripping out my own uterus I swear!!!!

They still do home births right? Hey, I have access to hair clips and clean towels...

Oh and did I mention I am exhausted? Geez.... crap..... I gotta go contraction commencing.....My body hates me :(

After contraction/puke clean up on isle 7 thought:

I am living proof that there really is no rest for wicked.

Sorry for this rant after reading it I have figured out that I am in a really, really cranky mood.

Oh Such a long day

Well happy anniversary to me, I am officially on 16 1/2 hrs of freaking painful contractions. I have tried everything to get them to go away. Layed down, sat in my rocking chair, took a shower, then took a bath. But they just kept coming every 2-3 minutes. So we called up to the hospital and they said to come in and get checked, so off we went. I am dilated to a 2 and have a very,very soft cervix. They sent me home as I expected but at least they sent me home with 2 little friends --SLEEPING PILLS. I am on them now so I hope that this post makes sense. As I am feeling a little loopy. Anyway I am going to go to bed I am not typing so well. I'll keep you all posted.

ETA: I also believe that I have lost my mucus plug. I know TMI but hey it's what's going on with me. Gross looking stuff I tell ya. I go in for my Dr. Appt on Tuesday so we shall see if I am any more dilated that I already am.

PS: Sleeping Pills + Contractions= Another very long night. I still didn't get real sleep. Oh well. It's the sleep of the damned I tell ya.

{ Happy 13th Anniversary to Us! }

13 years ago on October 14th Lloyd & I were married in the Portland Temple. Man were has time gone? We went out to Chinese tonight for dinner, along with our 4 kids. It would have been nice to go alone but we were already out and everyone was hungry so we basically ended up taking our children out on a date. See, we are good parents. :) I still think we need to go out ALONE before this baby gets here (small hint for ya Lloyd).

The above picture is from our wedding announcement. I sometimes miss those day's of naturally highlighted hair, size 7 jeans, & being able to jump in the car on a whim because we decided to run to Utah & only having to worry about the 2 of you.

Man how times have changed.

Someday I will be skinny (well at least smaller) again, and there will come a time that it will be just the 2 of us once more. But for now we are enjoying our 4+kids & we wouldn't have it any other way. I am grateful for the man that I married, he is an EXTREMELY hard worker, and makes sure that our family is always provided for & lets not forget he's a pretty great dad too. Thanks honey for a great 13 yrs-here's to many more. :) I Love you Happy Anniversary!

Oh and a total side note that made me laugh out loud tonight at dinner. After we were done eating they brought us our fortune cookies and I cracked open 2 here is what they said.

#1: Good things come in small packages. One is coming to you.

#2: Next Wednesday will be a day of rejoicing for you.

Seriously----- how perfectly appropriate!

{ Hi My Name Is Rachel & I Own An Easy Bake Oven }

(Everyone say Hi Rachel)

Yes admitting that I own an Easy Bake Oven is the first step to acceptance.

I am no longer in denial. :)

And yes my oven is still broken as we are trying to decide what to do.

We got our new part but discovered that it needed yet another & the most expensive part might I add to make it work.

So, do we dump even more $$ into this lemon of a Maytag appliance or do we bite the bullet and get to know our sears card yet once again?

I have a hard time paying for another major appliance. It's just so frustrating.

But if we go ahead and get the other part is the oven going to do this again next year?

It seems to take a vacation at least once a year and

I don't want to go through another oven hiatus.

But I should be grateful as I do have my new Adult Easy Bake Oven, so at least I can bake some things.

I did discover tonight that you CAN cook meatloaf in one of these hummers. It took just a little longer but not too bad and dinner was as yummy as ever.

So here's wishing us luck on our appliance endeavor.

I just really want to try and make some bread one of these days... But I'm pretty sure an oven would be better for that task than my easy bake...sigh....

Are We Freaks?

Alright, I have been asked 4 times so far this week & it's only Wednesday, the same questions by random strangers or by some people we know.

Question #1. You have how many kids? (asked with the look of shock)

Answer:4 going on 5

Question #2. Was this pregnancy planned? A BIG RESOUNDING NO!

it was a shock to both Lloyd and I-- with a little more explanation involved.

Question #3. Are you going have a 6th? Really come on people. NO!

Did you not get the subtle hint in question 2?

Question #4. You've been married how long? (again with the quizzical look)

---13yrs this coming Sunday.

I guess I must look like freak-a-zoid -- me sporting my pregnant belly with 4 ducklings in a row. It's not like I'm 20 and having my 5th. Good grief.

I am getting tired of the questions and I KNOW that more are coming as soon as this new baby makes her grand entrance.

You know it's funny because in some states or towns people don't bat an eye if out of your rolling Mormon Mobile pours 8 or more kids.

But in a little town your asked if you done with 2.

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with small families, I have family & friends that only have 2- 3 kids and they are done.

But seriously, why is it that a large family meaning 2 or more kids gets you the shocking looks and questions? Are we freaks that should be shunned?

When people ask me wow you must be really busy, I answer back "yeah I am but I wouldn't have it any other way this is a GOOD busy".

That usually shuts them up. I think they are expecting me to be really negative about it. So that's my pat them on the back answer.

I know people are the way they are, but really enough already!

An old & terrible photo of our Freakishly LARGE family :)

Easter 2005
In the words of Bill Cosby: 
"We have 5 children because we didn't want 6"!

{ Party Time, Corbin's 3rd Birthday }

 We made it through one more birthday! 

Corbin was so serious while we were singing to him & he did get a little ahead of us and blew out the candles while we were still singing so we re-lite them and had him blow them out again...

One more time for the cheap seats in the back!

Grandma & Grandpa Berry came & they brought cousin CJ with them, Grandma Merrill was unable to make it but mailed his gifts 2 weeks ago (we missed you). And my thanks goes out to Sherelle Christensen (I doubt she reads my blog) for the Monkey Cupcake idea Corbin LOVED them, he kept calling them

Funny Monkeys.

He had a great day!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

Please note that I am NO cake decorator, so just keep that in mind while looking at the picture thanks :)

{ Happy 3rd Birthday Corbin! }

Hard to believe that 3 years ago today my little man was born! We are going to have a little party for him tomorrow as today is SO BUSY! But just wanted to say Happy Birthday Corbin We Love You! :)

  All my babies get a trip to the tanning salon

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday- I love his excited expression well,

I'll post more tomorrow after his party! 

I'm Getting There!

So I am getting a few thing accomplished. I sanded her dresser a little it may need a little more distressing, but I will live with it like this for a while and maybe I'll do more later but this is the progress so far. It looks shabby chic and should match her bedding pretty well. And of course you all know everything always looks better in person so your just gonna have to visualize. :)

 I finally put her clothes in there, EVERYTHING is washed now. I just need to iron all her dresses but that's not high priority so it can wait.

I may move beds around today and get her crib set up as last night I had contractions that well.. I can't say I've had these contractions before, well with this pregnancy at least. It was making me a little nervous so I packed up all her hospital stuff and some of mine just in case we need to make a run for the hills.
Anyway I'll bore you all later with more of my mindless ramblings.
Just had to put this in my journal/blog, hey I call it what I want to. I am so bad at regular journals that this is a huge MILESTONE for me--- to post stuff on a
semi-regular basis, we're talking shock and awe!

{ T-Minus 28 Days & Counting }

Well, I had my 35 weeks Dr. Appointment today and it went pretty well. I only gained 1 pound. So now we are up to 14 not too bad for 35 weeks pregnant. But then again I already weight too much to begin with so this kid could literally live off my body fat for 9 months. So ya know.

My Dr. told me that he would induce me at 39 weeks if I don't go into labor on my own, so that's like 4 weeks from today. Basically, it would be November 1st or he would do it on Oct 30 or 31st but that's just mean, my child would hate me forever if I choose Halloween as it's birthday. But it's nice to know that if I did go into labor on my own (not gonna happen) he would deliver me no questions asked and I would be able to stay here, no flying me to a bigger hospital.

Not to mention the other kids would hate not being able to go Trick-Or-Treating. So we shall see, at least I have a deadline or a literal "light" at the end of the tunnel.

I am supposed to go to the Dr's now every week but my Dr. is being kinda funny he wants to see me in a week and a half so alrighty and at that glorious appt I will get to have my group b strep test done and he most likely will check me to see if ANYthing is going on down there.

Oh, and they keep asking me what we are doing for birth control after this baby is born. I have been telling them for months now that we are taking Lloyd to the vet, time to get the snip. We are soooo not having any more babies, which in a way is kinda weird. Knowing that I will never be pregnant again. Nice on one hand and kinda sad on another. But I can't do another surprise baby. Finding out we were pregnant with this little chicka was surprise enough for everyone.

So there you have it my update for today! I swear I need to find something new to blog about... I'm sure you are all sick of reading about pregnancy, I know I am getting tired of living it. It will all be over sooner than we think. But at least we will have a cute pink bundle to look at! :)

{ Doing Some LITTLE Laundry... }

So I am trying to get all prepared for little miss to arrive, & I decided it was time to cut the tags off clothes and start getting everything washed & for those of you, that know me pretty well know that I have a hard time cutting off fresh tags

from tiny Gymboree clothes.

It's all psychological I know...

I am making SLOW progress but it's getting done. I have a Dr. appt. tomorrow I'm sure I have gained a few extra pounds so I am sure my pretty 13-pound birdie is flying out the window as I type. I'll post more of my horror weigh-in tomorrow,

geez this is starting to sound like the Biggest Loser.

Oh, and on a side note, I am experiencing for the first time Sciatic Nerve Pain. This stuff is not fun. So now I have shooting pains in my bum, but only on the left. And I am now noticing that if I sit too long I get the lovely pins and needles feeling again only on the left, I have never had this with any of the other kids. So those of you who have had this can sympathize with me. And ya know what? I do believe this just turned into a pregnancy rant... 
Sorry bout' that. ;) Well off to feed lunch to the kiddos.