He's here and oh so wonderful :)

He came, he came, he FINALLY came!  We are very happy to announce the arrival of Carlos Anthony Sullivan, born on April 21, 2010 at 1:43 am.  He weighed 7 lbs 7oz and was 19 in long!  I had Luke keep track of my labor and delivery experience so that I could share it with you all.  So here it goes!

I started having contractions on Tuesday morning at around 3:45 am and they had been between 5-10 min apart up to 9:30 am and then they started being 3-4 min apart until we went to the hospital at around 12:30 pm!!  Man do those things HURT!!  I was NOT a happy camper to say the least and things got worse before they got better.  When we got to the hospital they checked me and I was only at 3 cm, 75% effaced, -2 station.  They gave me the option to either stay in the triage and tough out the contractions in a bed until I was at a 4, go back home and wait it out or walk around the hospital for a couple hrs and then come back.  Being that it was about 2:30/3pm when they said this there was NO WAY we would go all the way home in traffic just to drive all the way back.  So walking it was.  We covered a little over a mile of ground walking around outside (up and down lots of hills) and got some lunch at the Subway there.  A couple hrs later we went back and when they checked me they told me I was still at a 3 so I sat there and waited out the contractions.  About an hour later they checked me again and I was finally at 4 cm, 90% effaced and -2 station.  This meant that I was admitted to Labor and Delivery at 5:30pm.  By then I had lost my mucous plug, but my water was still intact.  Once in the room I got an epidural (I had been laboring for about 16hrs by then and couldn't take the pain anymore).  Once it kicked in I was in heaven!  I'm really glad I got it.  I had a little issue with it though since it really numbed up my right side, but my left side didn't get quite as numb so they had to give me a couple extra doses to make it work.  Anyway, the doctor then broke my water at 6 pm and it was filled with meconium.  That meant that my little guy was under some stress so they hooked me up to some monitors and kept me on oxygen until I delivered him.  The next time they checked me was at 8:45pm and I was at 7cm with 90% effacement and at 0 station.  At about 10:55pm they checked me again and told me that I was at a 10 and 2 station.  Doctor said that I could start pushing soon and that he would be here shortly!!! :)

So from 11pm until 1:43am I pushed.  The first hour I pushed with every contraction, but that was causing the baby's heart rate to drop and have some trouble recovering so then the next hour or so they had me push with every other contraction (Thank the Lord for epidurals!!!).  At about 1:15 or so I was told I could push with every contraction and then at 1:43 he was here!!!  He had a good cry right when he came out and then they whisked him away to wipe him down and weigh him before giving him to me to start breastfeeding.  Oh the relief of having him here safe and sound!  To hear him cry and see him was amazing.  And that first time I held him was the BEST feeling in the WHOLE WORLD!  All the pain I went through was soooo worth it!  We still hadn't decided on a name (wouldn't until about 7 or 8 am the next day).  The nurse that was there for pretty much the whole time gave him his shots and a bath shortly after I nursed him.  She also got his footprints for us (he has his Daddy's feet!  they are so cute!!).  Her name was Deshka.  She was also helpful in getting me to get Carlos to latch on.  He did great on the first try!

 at the hospital

He is a very happy baby (when he's not starving that is).  That whole day he did alot of sleeping and eating as is normal for newborns to do.  He started playing favorites with which side he liked to feed on though the stinker.  That night was a rough one for me because he decided to cluster feed the whole night so I didn't get any sleep between 9 pm till around 6 am.  (That was only the beginning of my sleepless nights.  I get maybe about 4 hrs (give or take a couple) of sleep each day.)  Anyway, we were discharged from the hospital at about 2 pm on Thursday and have been doing pretty well.

on our way home from the hospital and snuggling his Poppa at home :)

 cuddle time with Daddy

 all clean after his first bath at home :)

We had a couple follow-ups with a lactation consultant and she said we were doing well.  The only problem I have now was something I didn't notice until later in the day on Saturday (after we got home from the appointment) that I have a small lump on the side of my breast that is red and very very sore.  It's gone down in pain though since I started pumping to help reduce my swelling.  I've been trying to have him eat on that side more too.  Saturday night really didn't help at all...it was the worst night so far...he would not be comforted for anything!  It took me running the sink water to calm him down enough to get him to latch and even then he was still pretty fussy.  Poor guy was having trouble from about 12 am until about 3 or 4 am and I was exhausted!  All I could do was cry because I felt like I was being a horrible mother for not being able to comfort my baby.  We finally got some sleep around 5 or 6 am though for at least one hour before he needed to be fed again (and was still pretty fussy).  So I pretty much got about 2 hrs of sleep.  He has been doing really well the last couple days though!  Eating and sleeping much better than he has in the last couple days that is for sure.  I actually got a 2 hr nap yesterday and about a 4 hr one today!!  I'm hoping this continues, but I know that there are probably more rough nights ahead as he gets older.

passed out after being fed :)

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that we are doing well considering a few bumps on the road :)  I love being his mom and wouldn't change it for the world.

~Nicole

6 months....

It's been 6 months since I moved into our new place and it has also been 6 months since I purchased our kitchen table...and we still don't have it.....AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! Can we say ridiculous?!?! I'm supposed to hear back from them tomorrow about the status of my table since I've been calling them for the past couple days asking what's up. They informed me that they got a conformation number but they aren't sure why...WHAT?? What does that mean? So I'm hopefully gonna get to the bottom of this tomorrow so I can have my table by next week. I want to eat at a table like normal people for once gosh dangit!! Then we can feel good about having people over for dinner or have a game night and not need to play on a broken down box on the floor (so embarrassing lemme tell ya!). I cannot wait!! I've been waiting for 6 months, that's long enough I think! Anyway, that's my new stress for the week.

Our House Hunting is moving along. We looked at three homes yesterday and thought that one of them was really nice and would be good for us. The only problem is the price. We still are keeping an open mind about all this and will not just "settle" for something if we think it isn't meant for us. Plus we want something that we can afford to keep even after the military as long as we have the income to support our family. If we end up not finding anything we will hopefully be able to live on Schofield which is really close to work and that will reduce alot of strain on the both of us and we won't be spending sooo much money on gas anymore.

Anyway, that's our little update for now. Talk to you later!

~Nicole

still waiting...

on what is happening with me and changing shifts. Had a talk with one of my supervisors yesterday and found out somethings that are a bit hard to swallow, but I'm a big girl and I can handle it. Just have to step it up and work harder I guess. Now that I know the reason why they want to switch me though (and I can't really talk about it) I don't think I want to switch for something lame. Because it is lame. But if they want me to I can't complain about it because I'll be getting back on a normal sleep schedule again. Anyway, I guess we will be finding out for sure tonight at work. I'll let you know the outcome tomorrow.

well darn it

I took my DLPT on Monday and Tuesday this week and found out my scores after I finished the second part yesterday...I failed again...the only bright side was that I improved my reading score by one full point..but that means it went from me having a 0+, 0+ proficiency level to a 0+, 1+. My goal is to get a 2,2 or better. This really stinks. But I'm going to make the best of this next year to study and get my scores up dangit!!

In other news (and not so good news either), Luke got into an accident yesterday on the H1. Nothing serious, no one was hurt...just my poor little car :[ I'll take pics and post them soon. I'll have to let him re tell me the story so I can get an accurate description of what happened. Now my insurance is going to go up even more...ugh. It doesn't help that Luke's truck is still broken and we can't fix it until we can tow it back home. Can't do that till our official AAA cards get here so we can tow it without it costing an arm and a leg. Then he can fix it and I can get my car back!!

So yeah, this is how our week has been so far. I still have to get Christmas Cards out...might be late on that and I apologize. It's hard for us to sit down and take a pic when we've been busy lately now that Luke is working a day shift and I'm not. We will hopefully get our Christmas lights up before Christmas...I'm beginning to think that it might not be worth it anymore since Christmas is next week and the lights won't be up for very long after that...and I still need to finish mailing out gifts to people..hopefully I can finish that today though. And clean the house...so many things to do and it feels like I don't have enough hours in the day to do them! Well better go get started on what needs to be done today. ttyl!

~Nicole

Stress...ugh

So, yesterday I found out that my husband has orders for Maryland (and has had them since before he left for Korea last year..) and that if he doesn't have someone in his chain of command help him get them changed he'll be going there and it will be 10 times harder to change them so he can come here..meaning he'll be there for 3 years...and I'll be in Hawaii...alone. I had a nervous breakdown!! But I talked to him about it and he's informed his supervisor and some other very important people who will pretty much help him get this fixed pronto. I really hope that this works out cuz I do not want to live here with out him anymore!! It's kinda like he'd be deployed to Iraq... the only difference is he'd get to come visit a couple times a year or I'd get to go see him. However, if that happens I will go insane!! But I have complete confidence that the people in his chain of command there will help him fix his orders and he'll be here in no time. So yeah, that's my big and very stressful news of the year! I don't know how much worse things could get...and I don't want to know either. Talking it out with him and a couple friends has made me feel a bit better though, cuz no matter what happens he will always love me and I do have some pretty awesome friends that will keep me company while we are apart.

On a different note...I'll be going to go sign my lease for the new place tomorrow afternoon! I'll be sure to take pics of the outside so I can post them on here! The only bummer about tomorrow is that I have to go to what our base calls the "Warrior Run"...aka...pain-in-the-butt-make-me-get-up-early-on-my-day-off run...argh! Oh well. Anyways, I'm hungry so I'm gonna go eat a snack now before dinner so laterz!

~Nicole