Camden's birth story

It started on Monday when I went in for my 38 1/2 week appointment. I was dilated to 4cm and 80% effaced so my doctor scheduled an induction to avoid me giving birth at home or in the car on the way to the hospital.

I've never been induced before so my previous birth experiences involved rushing to the hospital in the middle of the night, yelling in pain and feeling like I was going to die. This was so different. After a great night of sleep we woke up, ate a big breakfast, got the girls all settled at my friend's house, then drove to the hospital. We calmly parked the car and walked in together holdings hands and laughing. They checked us into our room and we just hung out, taking pictures and discussing baby names until the nurse came in to start things.

One last prego pic of my enormous belly.

I was GBS positive so before they could start the pitocin I had to have an IV with antibiotics in for 4 hours. They got the IV going and then we had time to kill. We watched a couple episodes of The Office, surfed the internet, ate some yummy lunch and just relaxed. It was awesome.

Around 1pm they started the pitocin and the contractions started coming. Before going to the hospital I was undecided on what I wanted to do for pain management. With Teya I had an epidural and it was horrible. I couldn't feel anything and had to push for 2 hours which gave me awful hemorrhoids (sorry TMI) and I still had to get an episiotomy. The recovery was awful. I couldn't walk for hours after giving birth and my right leg was numb for 4 months.

With Brinley on the other hand I didn't have an epidural and the recovery was awesome, but the birth experience was a nightmare. (mostly because I went through transition in the car on the way to the hospital, not exactly an environment where you can check into your inner zen and focus through contractions.)

I was torn between my fear of a bad epidural recovery and the horror of going through transition without drugs, but Taber seemed to think I could handle the natural delivery this time since I would be in a calm environment and have him right there for support. So I told the doc we'd give it a try without drugs. She warned me that I wouldn't have much of a window to ask for an epidural if I changed me mind, I told her I understood, and then we got to work.

At first the contractions were very manageable. Every time they came I'd squeeze Taber's hand and calmly breathe through them. This went on for about an hour and I was feeling pretty good. Then the Doctor came in and broke my water. The contractions really started coming after that and I moved from the bed to the birthing ball for some relief. The contractions got harder, my breathing got harder, and poor Taber's hand got squeezed a lot harder, but I was still in control so we soldiered on.

After about 2 hours of hard contractions every 2-3 minutes the nurse came in and turned up the pitocin. That changed the game. the contractions started coming one on top of another with little relief in between. I could no longer just breathe through them and started moaning. It went something like this, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO owie! owie! owie! owie! owie! OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" My whole body started shaking and I knew I was going through transition and also losing control. In between the moaning I started whimpering, "help me, help me, help me" Finally I looked up at Taber, exhausted and in tears and said, "This was a bad idea, I need an epidural." He told me I was doing great but I told him he had no idea how horrible this was and that I needed drugs. He agreed and called the nurse in.

When she came in and saw me gripping the bed with white knuckles, shaking and begging for drugs she went into speed mode. She called the anesthesiologist and started prepping everything for the epidural while we waited for him to come. She did warn me that it might be too late and that if I felt any pressure or the need to push we weren't getting drugs. I prayed harder then ever that it wasn't too late as wave after wave of contractions pushed me closer to the edge of losing it. "Where is he? Where is he?" I kept asking between moans. When it felt like he wasn't going to get there in time I really started panicking. I kept saying, "I'm so dumb! This was the worst idea! I'm so sorry!!" My doctor told me I wasn't dumb and that it was going to be okay.

Just then the anesthesiologist walked in and I thought, "oh please oh please let it not be too late!" The doctor checked me and I was at an 8, which meant I still had time to get the epidural! YES!! But then I had to hunch over and actually HOLD STILL while the doctor put the epidural in. If you've seen the needle you know that holding still would be hard even if you weren't having major contractions. I don't know how I did it but with the help of Taber and my nurse and the hope of getting relief I forced myself to hunch over and hold still while that giant needle went in during a contraction. Luckily the doctor was a pro and within a few minutes it was over. I felt a few more contractions after that but each one got easier. Finally I was calm and breathing normally again. I told the anesthesiologist he was so so awesome and pretty much the best person in the whole world at that moment. I'm sure he hears that a lot.

After the epidural the rest of my labor was a breeze. The nurses turned off the pitocin and I swear they all went to dinner. Me and Taber just relaxed for an hour and then they came back and I was a 10 and ready to push. I started pushing at 6:35 and at 6:42 he was born. 3 sets of pushes and then my doctor said "look down!" I looked down and saw him and she said, "grab his head and pull him up!" So with one last push I grabbed his little head, and pulled him up onto my stomach. Words can't describe the feelings I had looking at my son for the first time. He was so perfect, I mean just so absolutely perfect. I looked at Taber and we were both smiling and crying. It's just such an amazing moment when heaven touches earth and one if it's precious little spirits enters our world. I was overwhelmed with happiness and love.

After some bonding time the nurses took him away to get him all cleaned up.

We had narrowed our name search down to two names when we went to the hospital, Maddox and Camden. As we spent those first few moments with our baby boy the name Camden just felt really right. It's a name I've loved for a long time but Taber hasn't been as sure about it. The first time I put the baby in his arms though, he looked down and called him Camden. When he said it he got a little choked up and he looked and me and said, "That's his name, it feels right." His other names are Taber, because I wanted him to have his Daddy's name, and Kekoa, which is Hawaiian for "brave one, courageous, or warrior."

The day after Camden was born the girls came in to meet their brother for the first time. They were smitten immediately, as I guessed they would be.

They kept saying, "Aw, he's so adorable!" and smothered him with kisses.

This picture made me laugh because Brinley's face suggests there might some sibling rivalry/jealousy with new baby brother. I think it may be a little adjustment for Brinley not to be the baby anymore, but I'm sure she'll be a great big sister.

First picture as a family of 5

After two nights in the hospital we bundled our little guy up and got ready to take him home.

I'm happy to say that even with the epidural my recovery has been awesome! 30 minutes after giving birth I got up and was able to walk by myself and use the bathroom without any help. Camden roomed in with me the whole time, and I was able to take care of him no problem. I'm still a little sore of course, but I feel great and am just so happy to have my sweet little guy on the outside instead of in!

Camden Taber Kekoa Rigg

Born on 1-13-11 at 6:42 p.m.

Weighing in at 8 lbs 2 oz (my biggest baby yet!)

20 inches long

scored a perfect 10 on his Apgar test (he's already an overachiever : )

Welcome to the family baby Cam!

Here are some pics of his first few hours outside of mommy's comfy belly.

Check out the double chin! I love his squishy roundness : )

Taber and his Son. Can you tell he's a proud papa?

Getting cleaned up and showing off a strong set of pipes. He'll have no problem keeping up with the noise level of his big sisters.

Black hair like Mom and Dad.

More pics and details will come later but I wanted to get these up for those who requested : )

Brown and Blue Baby Shower

Last Friday my sweet friends Darby and Stephanie threw me a baby shower. When I walked in and saw all the brown and blue decorations I was seriously giddy. LITTLE BOY STUFF IS SOOOO CUTE!!! At least it is to me, after being surrounded by pink ponies, mermaids, fairies and princesses the last 5 years. ; )

Darby made this adorable diaper wreath. It's so dang cute I couldn't bear to take it apart so for now it's hanging up in baby boy's room.

Stephanie made this awesome diaper cake with all kinds of goodies like binkies, bottles, tiny shoesies and little socks hidden in there.

BLUE-berry cupcakes to go along with the breakfast food theme

And an amazing spread of breakfast foods like homemade scones, an egg and sausage casserole, fresh fruit, sticky cinnamon buns, and candied bacon. So yummy!

The two amazing hostesses, Stephanie on the left and Darby on the right. (and Big Baby proudly featured in the middle ; )

It was a great night of food and friends, and so much fun opening little boy presents.

My friend Laura made him the coolest little pirate blanket that was wrapped in this box. Referring to my Halloween costume she wrote, "Fer the buried treasure within the pirates booty! argh!" So awesome, cute and creative!

Group shot of my wonderful friends and supportive ward family.

When I came home with all the little man clothes and boy stuff (hello first Tonka truck!!) Taber was SO excited. Every time he'd see an outfit that was particularly "manly" he would say, "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!"

I'm so happy our little guy decided to stay in so I could go to my baby shower. Today I saw my doctor and I was dilated to 4cm and 80% effaced. She said this baby is ready to come and he'll probably come fast. She scheduled an induction for Thursday morning so in 3 days or less, we'll finally get to meet him! Can't wait!

Almost Done

I'm in the home stretch of this pregnancy and excited about the fact that I'm almost done!! 2 weeks ago I was 2 cm dilated, 60% effaced and the baby was at a +1 station. I haven't been checked since then but I've been having a good amount of contractions and baby is LOW (as in my poor bladder and sciatic nerve are in a constant state of distress from all the pressure he's causing down there.)

Since my labor with Brinley was so fast my doctor has decided to induce me next week to avoid me giving birth in the car on the way to the hospital. I've never been induced before but the idea sounds heavenly! No middle of the night panicking or waiting for someone to come watch the kids. We could get all our ducks in a row and then calmly head to the hospital to have a baby. Sounds great to me!

Now if I can just keep this kid in here until next Thursday we'll be good. I swear he really really wants to come out. Yesterday I was having contractions every 10 minutes for a good hour. I finally took a nap and they stopped. But they started up again last night and I was having a little anxiety because I'm still not ready!! My baby shower is tomorrow night and I want to make it to that, also my mother-in-law gets here on the 15th and it'd be nice to have her help closer to the time of his birth.

Anyway, here's a fun little belly comparison of me at 12 weeks and yesterday at 38 weeks. Since the first picture I've lost my tan and gained 42 lbs. : ) Pregnancy really does a number on your body but man is it worth it! Can't wait to see this little guy and soak in all his newborn cuddliness.

How we spent our Christmas vacation

Having Taber off of work for a week and a half was the best Christmas present ever. Besides spending countless hours in the snow, here are some other highlights from our week.

GAME NIGHT WITH FRIENDS:

I was really happy when my friend Becca organized a game night because that's something we always love to do with our family over the holidays so it was nice to feel like we still got our game fix.

We played Scum (or Capitalism) and I drew upon my mad gaming skills to reign as the King for all 4 rounds. : )

Meanwhile the kids played on the Wii downstairs. When I went to check on them I was dying laughing watching Teya try to keep up with the big girls. Her face was in such deep concentration I had to take a video. During the first song she's in concentration mode, but once they hit "Who let the Dogs out!" She really gets giggly and into it. She was having so much fun, almost makes me want to buy a Wii.

BOSTON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

We wrapped up the week with a trip to the Children's museum down in Boston

The kids were in heaven. They loved it so much we bought a year pass for the whole family.

Little monkies definitely wore themselves out. (p.s. what young celebrity does Teya look like in this picture? I think she looks like the girl from iCarly, maybe a little?)

New Year's Eve:

We had a super fun spontaneous get together on New Year's Eve. I was planning on crashing early since I'm not much of a party animal these days. But then our friends called and asked if they could come over and cook Japanese food for us. Um..heck yeah!! They made sushi, tempura shrimp & vegetables, and pot stickers. We ate SOOOO much food it was awesome!

After gorging ourselves on Japanese food we played some games and then went for another round of food. Miraculously I was able to stay up passed midnight and officially ring in the New Year! Spontaneous get-togethers rule!

So that's it for our Christmas break. We were all so sad when Taber had to go back to work yesterday. Good thing he has a 2 week paternity leave to look forward to in the VERY near future! Yippee!

SNOW, SNOW, AND MORE SNOW!!

We got our first big snowfall the day after Christmas and Taber and the girls spent the majority of the week in their snow gear. It got to the point where I stopped putting their stuff away when they'd come back in the house because I knew once it was dry they'd be right back in it.

They had a blast sledding in the front yard

Teya eased into it by riding with Daddy but Brinley (aka Miss independent) went straight for a solo ride on her first time down. Didn't take long for Teya to follow suit.

The girls also convinced their Daddy to build them a little snow cave by the mailbox.

Brinley LOVED the worm hole and it was almost impossible to get her out of there.

On one particularly sunny day we also joined up with some friends at a nearby park to take on the big sledding hill there.

Taber went down first with Teya. It looked so fun that Brinley begged me to take her too. The hill was huge but how could I say no to that sweet little face? Without really thinking I sat my giant pregnant bum down on the sled and off we went. When we got to the bottom Taber was staring at me in total shock. He just kept shaking his head in disbelief and then he banished me to the bottom of the hill. I guess Taber's mom broke a rib skiing when she was 9 months pregnant with him so I can't blame him for feeling a little protective ; )

No sledding adventure is complete without some hot cocoa to finish it off.

I'm happy that we finally got some snow and even happier that my kids love it so much.

Just look at Brinley's face. Snow angel ecstasy : )

Igloo in New England

Weeks before we ever saw a single snowflake, Taber got an itching to build an igloo. I don't know where it came from, perhaps his Alaskan roots? All I know is he started researching igloos on the internet and couldn't wait for it to snow so he could build one. Luckily for him our first big snowfall came during his Christmas break. With plenty of snow and time on his hands he got to work.

The first night he was all on his own and the work was slow moving. He got a few blocks done but I told him he should probably recruit some helpers if he wanted to finish it before he had to go back to work.

The next day Garrett, one of the young men from church came over to help. With an extra set of hands it started moving a little faster.

The girls were "helping" too, and LOVED being out in the snow with their Daddy.

After an hour or so our friend Jeremy and his son McKay joined the effort and that's when things really started picking up. They were packing three snow cubes at a time and the walls started coming up.

Garrett worked on the inside, smoothing out the sides with a machete and packing the blocks in tight after they were stacked on.

Meanwhile Taber, Jeremy and McKay were cranking out snow cubes. They put a little water in the bottom of the bins to make the snow stick better, then they packed it in tight.

Once the blocks were molded they stacked them on top of each other moving them in a little closer each time to narrow the igloo out towards the top.

Here's a nice action shot of Taber and Jeremy hefting one of the snow blocks on.

With about an hour to go Garrett's three younger brothers joined the effort. It was exciting to see it so close to being finished.

With some help from a stool they packed the last cubes of snow on top.

Finally after 5 hours of hard work, the boys (and Teya) had finished their snow-tacular igloo.

I think we were all amazed at how awesome it turned out. Definitely exceeded my expectations!

When they were done everyone crammed inside.

All 9 of them fit in there, it was pretty impressive.

It looked so cool that even I decided to squeeze my big belly through the tiny entryway to check it out.

Once it was finished the true test was to sleep inside.

Taber and McKay braved the 17 degree weather and earned bragging rights as the first people to sleep in the igloo. I'm sure they won't be the last though, Taber can't wait to get out there and do it again.

The girls haven't slept in there yet but I'm sure they will at some point. Taber did bring them out there last night and they LOVED it. Teya was especially excited about wearing the head lamp.

While I had my doubts at first I'm pretty happy about the fact that there is now an igloo in my backyard. It's made our first snowfall especially memorable and I'm sure it will be a fun thing to keep the girls entertained all winter.