Payton Elizabeth is here!!!!!

Here is Payton's birth story:
So I woke up at 3:30am with a contraction and for some reason just knew to get up and pay attention to my body. I sat in the living room and relaxed on the couch while the contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart and pretty strong. At about 5am I decided to go stand in the shower to relax and see if the contracts. would stay. Standing they were 2-3 minutes apart so after my 35 minute shower I paced the house. DH woke up at 5:45 asking why I was up so early (DUH) and then asked why I was putting makeup on and drying my hair. Men just don't understand why we want to look "decent", plus I was killing time. He just wanted to get up and "go have a baby". Anyway, I woke my parents up at 7:30 to let them know we were heading to the hospital and that they could take their time getting ready w/ Erin before coming down (we're only a mile away from the hospital).

We get to the hospital and get right into a room. The nurse that I had this time was FANTASTIC!!!! Without even asking she hooked me up to the portable monitors (which is what I was wanting) so that I could walk around if I wanted. She also asked about my thoughts on pain meds and when I told her I would be wanting one she instantly called it in so that I wouldn't have to wait once I asked for it. I was progressing on my own at a good pace and got my epi around 9:30ish. Shortly after my family showed up and we just hung out. I was feeling NO PAIN whatsoever. It was wonderful! Erin was excited and did REALLY well waiting. At noon my dr broke my water and had been stuck at 7-8 dilated for a little while so they gave me a small dose of pitocin around 12:30. Finally at about 1:15 she gave me the ok to push. They said it would be really quick and we joked about waiting to try and time the birth at 1:44pm (same time Erin was born). The nurse wanted me to so some "practice" pushes to get Payton down and ready for the dr, but I only needed to do that once. My OB came in at 1:25pm, we got my mirror set up and he had me push one really good push and Payton was almost out. They actually had me laughing and just push lightly to get her shoulders out. I got to watch the whole thing and it was amazing. Payton was here at 1:30. I guess I am super lucky when it comes to childbirth because both girls we "easy" to deliver (please don't hate me for saying that).

Payton came out rooting for food and has latched on really well. She's a great eater but my boobs are SUPER sore right now. I'm using that lanolin like it's going out of style, hopefully it passes soon. Erin is still really excited about her sister constantly wanting to hold her, rock her, and talk to her. It's wonderful!!! I am so blessed.

Erin turned 3!!!

On 2/22/09 Erin Marie turned 3 years old! I can't believe that she is already 3!!! She has turned into such a big and beautiful little girl and is not a baby anymore. Since we are anticipating the arrival of her little sister, we had her birthday party a couple weeks early (see posts below). Her actual birthday was pretty low key. We stayed around the house played then took her to Applebees for some lunch. We were really disappointed when we were told they weren't allowed to sing, that's what Erin wanted most! After lunch we took her to Toys R Us to buy her a "big girl bike" but she wasn't interested. She wanted to play with the trains and Lego's instead. We stopped and bought her an ice cream cake so that we could celebrate after dinner.

Erin opened her presents after her nap and loved everything she got. Her favorite present was her Hi Ho Cherry O game. Instantly KC, Grandma, and I had to play it with her. As you can see, she was very excited to win! KC made dinner for all of us and after we ate, Grandma & Grandpa McColm came over for some ice cream cake. Erin LOVED singing Happy Birthday to herself and blowing out candles, we had to do it 3 times! HaHa! I think she had a wonderful birthday!

38 weeks pregnant

Here are some pictures of my BIG HUGE belly at 38 weeks pregnant. Only 2 weeks to go and Miss Payton seems pretty comfy in there. I wonder when she's going to come out?!?!?! She's making me REALLY sore in my back, legs, and tummy. I often feel like I can't move or that she's going to fall out. The left side of my leg (by my knee) has been numb for about a month now (dr says it's normal) and Payton likes to punch something that gives me sharp pains about 3-4 times a day now. She loves me!!!

We had fun taking these pics because Erin wanted to be involved. At first she wanted to kiss her "baby sister Payton" but then she decided that she wanted ME to kiss HER baby sister in HER belly! HaHaha.

Erin's 3rd birthday party

Today we had Erin's 3rd birthday at this wonderful place called Parti Palooza in Livermore. She had an absolute BLAST!!! We had her party 2 weeks early because we didn't want a chance of missing her birthday with Payton arriving who knows when. I especially liked the party because the place did all of the setup, serving, and clean up! I actually got to enjoy her party! Erin missed her nap and still played and played like an Energizer bunny. We weren't able to open her presents at the party because we wanted to give the kids more play time, so after Erin took a short nap on the way home, we opened her presents. She was so excited to see everything she got from her friends/family and enjoyed playing with her new toys even more!