Xander

Leaving the hospital to come home
Mommy's swaddle in the bassinet

Hanging out with daddy

Sleeping with mommy

First real bath after his belly button fell off, Xander loved it!

Helping daddy cut his first birthday cake

Gigi came to visit

Auntie Tami & Uncle Brett

Introducing Xander Michael Mass

Xander’s delivery

We woke up at 4 am on Labor Day, Monday, September 6th, to eat breakfast and get ready for the long day ahead of us. At 5 am we called the hospital and they said to come right in for our scheduled induction. Brett and Tami came by and Jeremy, Tami and I headed for the hospital.

We arrived around 6 am and were the only ones in the Birth Center, so we got a huge room and lots of attention! On Friday I was dilated to 3 cm. They put me on pitocin help bring on contractions. By 10 am we had walked the halls and was dilated to 4 cm. Dr. Nickel broke my water at around 10:30 am. I took a Jacuzzi bath, sat on the birth ball and walked the halls to help bring little Xander here. The nurses kept increasing the pitocin and contractions got pretty bad. I got two half doses of fentanyl, but I was in a lot of pain. Contractions were between 2 and 5 minutes apart. Mom and Brandon showed up to say hi around 2 pm. We were blessed with such a great nurse, Cynthia; she was so compassionate and helpful. By 5 pm I had only increased to 5 cm and decided to get an epidural, which was a very hard decision for me. I hadn’t wanted to put stress on my baby or to slow the labor process. But I thought if I had been at 5cm for 10 ½ hours, and the pain was only getting worse, which was putting stress on the baby, I might as well get an epidural now, because it was turning into a long day. At one point close to 5 pm contractions were a minute apart.

After the epidural I couldn’t feel much of anything. Having the epidural done put a lot of stress on Xander. His heart rate got really low, so I was on oxygen and they turned the pitocin off until his heart rate could stabilize. Xander wasn’t stabilized until about 8 pm, at which point they checked my cervix and I was still at 5 cm. The nurse called Doctor Nickel and he told them, “turn back on the ‘pit’ and increase the dose every 15 minutes for an hour.” We tried that for an hour but there was still no increase in the size of my cervix.

Jeremy and I then had a talk about what to do concerning the birth of little Xander. We decided that we would continue the pitocin for another hour and if there was still no change we would opt for the c-section. This was not really what we wanted to do and it was an extremely hard decision for me because I wanted my family to be there for his birth but at the same time we really needed both baby and I to be healthy. Dr. Nickel called me and discussed our options and he was okay with our decision.

We continued to increase the “pit” until 10 pm but to no avail. I only made it to about 5 ½ cm. We had the nurses call Dr. Nickel. The nurses wasted no time in getting me prepped for Dr. Nickel. They also gave Jeremy his little outfit to put on that made him look official.

It took about an hour to prep me for the surgery. When I went in only my left side was numb so they had to move the epidural otherwise they were going to have to put me to sleep and Jeremy would not be able to join in on the surgery. Even after they moved the epidural I could still feel them poking with needles on the right side just a little, but I endured because I really did not want to be put to sleep. After they got me all situated a nurse brought Jeremy in to witness Xander’s birth.

It took Dr. Nickel a few minutes get Xander. He said that when he opened me up Xander was just looking at him making a sort of kissing face. They brought him over to me to look at and I just couldn’t believe how beautiful he was. They then took him over to this table and cleaned him up, weighed and measured him before handing him off to Jeremy. He weighed in at 7lbs and 15.9 oz. and was 19 inches long.

Belly pics

Pictures of my growing belly. We are so excited for Xander to join our family in 3 short weeks! But out of all of us, I think Jake is the most excited, it is all he can talk about and all that he is concerned with. "Mom, are you eating so Xander can grow? How was he at work today? Did Xander sleep well last night?" Just a few of my daily questionings, he is so adorable and excited to be a big brother!

6 weeks18 weeks
18 weeks, trip to Canada

23 weeks

31 weeks

Caron and I

I am 33 weeks and she is 37 weeks

34 weeks

36 weeks August 15, 2010

39 weeks, Labor Day, before we left for the hospital

We are having a baby boy!!!

This is at our 19 week appointment on April 19th, we are having a boy! He weighs 9 oz. We found out I was pregnant on January 7th. I took the test at work, because I couldn't stand the anticipation any longer. I called Jeremy, who thought it was a joke, we had been trying for over 2 years. When I got home I told Tami and we cried tears of joy on the stairs together.

Mom's birthday was the 12th and we surprised her with a trip to Cannon Beach for the BIG 50. We rented a house there and had such a blast. She was also surprised with the news of a new grandbaby:)

We told Jeremy's family at 7 weeks and work at 10 weeks. Everything is going well so far. Smells have been the worst for me, I have a very weak stomach. We are due September 12th. I could not be more happy, I feel so blessed!

2009 in review

Well I haven't kept up to date this year on the blog, but we are still here. A lot has happened this year, here's a recap:

September 2009 family picture

1. My twin sister had twin boys on March 28th!!! They are almost 9 months now.

2. Jeremy turned 30 and had one of the worst birthday's of his life as he likes to point out too often. He did have a fun month though, he had a month of 30 day's until he turned 30, a gift each day. We drove to Utah with our trailer to move my dad up here and on his birthday he sat on a park bench waiting for my dad to pack his stuff so he could pack it in the trailer. I did make him strawberry and whipped cream waffles for breakfast though and my mission friend Kimber got married and we happened to be in Utah so we got to go to her reception and see some good friends! I made him a yummy cake too, so I don't know why he complains about this birthday:)

3. Tami and I turned 30. Jeremy and Brett put together a fun surprise party for us! A day at the spa and all.

4. I skipped out on dancing at our annual luau, but Jeremy and Brett were HOT dancers!

5. We went to Mt. Rainier because Jake wanted to roast marshmallows.

Gavin

Carter

6. Jake started kindergarten and loves school!

7. I spent Halloween and Jake's birthday in South Dakota on an Indian reservation in the middle of nowhere for work. It sucked, but I talked with my managing partner and will not have to do a repeat on that job!!!

8. Jake turned 6!

9. Brennan, Jeremy's little bro got married.

That is pretty much it. No fun vacations this year, the boys are too busy:( I have been thinking about it a lot lately and have decided that if we don't make time to have fun together then it won't happen, so that will be my goal for next year, have fun and enjoy my family!

Jacob's first day of kindergarten

Kindergarten orientation, we took the twins with us
I can not believe that my baby is old enough to be in the "big kid's school". He loves it! He learned to write his capital letters in preschool and now we are having the hard task of learning lower case letters. He loves to learn and is doing so well. I love you babe:)

Welcome to the world Gavin and Carter Hansen!

My twin sister had twin boys on Saturday March 28th! They are too cute for words! Click on Tami's blog link on the right to read their story.