Ready......Or Not.....Here I Come!!

Jon Desmond Workman

Believe it or not, but that title totally describes everything about the last week and a half. It has been the most hectic week and a half that I've experienced since I was in high school. So here is our story.

At the beginning of the month we were given notice that the terms of our lease agreement on our apartment were changing due to some circumstances concerning our cats. So it was either get rid of our cats and we can stay there for an extra $25 a month, making rent $500. The reason they changed the lease is a whole other story that is really, really annoying, and gets us going, so we just will pass over that part of the story. So needless to say, we didn't want to get rid of our cats who are a part of our family, so we started the process of looking for a new place to move. Around this time, our friends and neighbors, the Clegg's, were preparing to move to South Dakota for graduate school and were looking to sell their apartment. We talked with a loan officer and were accepted for our first home loan. And on the bright side, our monthly payments will be about the same as the rent on our old apartment, so the logical choice for us was to purchase their apartment

As scary as it has been to get a mortgage, it will finally be nice to actually own our home. We have loved the townhouse that we've lived in for the past 5 years and are very sad to move, but at least we truly have a place to call our own. But really, the moving part is only half of the story to be told here, and the more hectic part as well.

I know that it wasn't the smartest move to be moving and having a baby all in the same week, but honestly, we didn't have much of a choice now did we. But in our defense, we did have something of a plan that would have worked out just fine. Because our new residence is literally in the back yard of our old residence, we figured that we could move the small items over and get them in their place and then have one day where we got help with moving the big items and then we would be moved in allowing me to be induced on Thursday evening, the 25th. I honestly think that it would have worked out just great, but unfortunately, that isn't how it all played out.

Michele and Casey were set to move out on the 22nd which is when we would begin the migration of our smaller items and then our big items. So on Sunday evening we put Olivia down to bed and began cleaning and putting some items together so start moving them the next evening. I new that this week was going to be hectic, but I was prepared to face it all, but JD had other plans for us.

As we began our cleaning and organizing, I made sure that I took frequent breaks, due to the fact that I was 9 months pregnant. I had also been having contractions throughout the day, but they hadn't been painful, so I just labeled them as Braxton Hicks. But as the cleaning wore on, they began to get a little more uncomfortable, but once again I put them from my mind. You see, with Olivia I was induced at 39 weeks because of the diabetes, so I honestly didn't know what it was like to go into labor on my own. So you can see why I wasn't considering the fact that I was in labor as I cleaned around my house. As the hour got late, we headed to bed to prepare ourselves for a very hectic week. I was only able to lay in bed for a few minutes before I got very uncomfortable, so I relocated to downstairs to try a different environment. But as the minutes wore on, my contractions got worse and a lot more painful. Now I was finally thinking "I might be in labor". But I didn't really know how to tell if it was true labor or false labor. I really didn't have the luxury of going into the hospital only to be told that I wasn't in labor. I had a 22 month old that I didn't want to wake up. So I downloaded a free contraction timer on my ipod touch and began timing. When they really seemed really close and extremely painful, I finally accepted the fact that it was go time so I woke Frankie up, called mom to come watch Olivia and headed to the hospital.

We arrived there around 5:30 and were immediately shown to a room. Thankfully I was already preregistered with the hospital, so I didn't have to do much paper work. In our room I put on my hospital gown and got hooked up to the monitors and was ready to get settled in for a couple of hours of labor. But of course I really didn't get settled until I got an epidural because I was in a lot of pain. I don't know how women can do it without an epidural, because it was really painful for me. But all I can say is, power to those who can tough it out because I can't. I was there for about an hour before I received my epidural. One very painful hour. Once I received my epidural I was prepared to settle in for a few more hours, boy was I wrong about that.

With Olivia I was in labor for 18 hours because my labor was jump started. So even though I wasn't expecting an 18 hour labor, I wasn't really expecting a 6 hour labor either. They called my doctor at 7:45 while he was at the gym. He would be right in after he was finished there. Shortly after 8 he came to check on me and to break my water (I wasn't sure if it had broke on its own or not). He came in, said hi to me checked my dilation status and then looked at me and asked if I was ready to push. I was totally shocked to see that I was already dilated enough to push. I felt like I had only just got my epidural. Dr. Olsen left to scrub up and the nurses got everything out to prepare for our new little baby. At 8:58 am on Aug. 22nd our beautiful JD arrived in a whirl wind. He was 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long, almost a 1/2 lb lighter than Olivia. He was a week early, but he was ready to be here even if we weren't quite ready ourselves. But ready or not, here he came.

The rest of the day was spent resting while Frankie ran around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to get everything ready to move without me. I felt so bad that I couldn't help him get things ready, but honestly I was very glad not to be pregnant anymore. Already it was easier to get comfortable and get some sleep.

I know that there were so many people from our ward and our neighborhood who helped Frankie out and I'm very grateful to all of them, I'm just not sure who everyone is so I'll just throw a thank you out there to everyone. But the person I really want to thank is my mom. I couldn't have done it without her helping out with Olivia. I'm so blessed to have her for a mom, and to have her living close to us right now.

I checked out of the hospital Wednesday afternoon, but I didn't go to our new home, I checked into my parents house so Frankie could continue to get things put together. It was nice to still have the help of my mom with Olivia while I got into the swing of being the parent of two. It is going to be hard, but I'm up for the challenge. But it will be easier to be the kind of parent I want to be once I get this extremely messy house in order.

Olivia's first meeting with her little brother

JD meet your mom

JD and Daddy

Just sleeping life away
First family photo

Every time she sees JD she asks to hold him

Proud new parents

Ahh, home at last

Now I can sleep without getting poked and prodded