Anders' Birth Pictures

I never thought I would have anyone in the hospital room besides Jonathan when I had a baby, but my sister-in-law Robin was taking pictures and everything happened so quickly that she ended up staying in for the birth! And I'm SO glad she did! I've teared up plenty of times looking at these pictures and remembering those few moments. (And luckily a sheet on my lap kept things modest so I didn't have to worry about that either :))


Mid-contraction, grinning and bearing it. (Maybe not grinning, but not yelling at people either. We'll call that a win.) I've actually decided I'm a pretty big wimp since I was in labor a whole 2 1/2 hours and thought I was going to die. Props to girls who go for hours on end.

Does everyone make a duck face when they're pushing a baby out? I wish I had a picture of my shocked face when I realized what actual pushing was and that I was not going to have this baby out in one push like Easton.

Immediately after birth when they laid him on my chest. I think I was in a bit of shock because they didn't do that with Easton so I wasn't expecting it, but I definitely didn't mind. :) Another unexpected thing: Jonathan got to cut the cord for the first time!

He screamed for a long time, which is ironic since he is the calmest baby I've ever seen. I guess he got it all out of him at birth.

Still screaming, but on the plus side he clocked in at 6 lbs 8.9 oz and beat out Easton by 3 oz to be our biggest baby yet!

Finally not screaming and meeting his brothers for the first time.

I was a little worried about how Miles would adjust to not being the baby, but he's surprisingly in love with Anders. He always tries to grab him out of my arms and hold him and will worriedly yell, "Baby Anders crying!" whenever he makes a peep.

Anders' birth was so wonderful. There were so many things I loved about it. I loved how quick it went. I loved that I got to do a VBAC. I loved being able to feel everything like I've always wanted to. I loved how nice the anesthesiologist was. I loved my doctor. And the specialist(he may be the best doctor ever). I loved having our family come visit so soon after I had him. I loved being in the same state as our family when I had a baby, which hasn't happened since Easton. I loved having Robin taking pictures that I knew I would treasure forever. I loved having my best friend and love next to me. I loved that I got to hold and feed him right away. It went so perfectly and I'm so grateful! Mostly I loved you, Anders.

Anders' Birth (the long story)

Here's the long story: Anders' birth story really starts months before. I started having braxton-hicks around 8 weeks and by 14 weeks they had switched to real contractions. Pre-term labor is weird, it's not BH, but it's also not the real, strong, I'm-having-a-baby type of contractions, it's just kind of in between, but after Miles' pregnancy, I was pretty good at telling the difference. Luckily I had an awesome doctor and perinatologist so they kept a close eye on things. I started taking it easy as soon as I knew I was pregnant, hoping it would keep me off bedrest a little longer. We also stayed with my parents so I would have some extra help and apparently it worked because things stayed fine until I hit 30 weeks! 8 weeks longer than with Miles! I went in Dec 23 and found I was dilated to a 2 and so I went in the next day and had progressed to a 3. My doctor said it's normal for women to dilate early when they have had a few kids, but not that early. So I started full-time bedrest and medicine. The treatment seemed to help for a while, and by 34 weeks I was at a 4. At that point they let me stop taking the meds since the risks of taking them were greater than just having the baby. Before that, my contractions were pretty sporadic, but after I quit taking the medicine they were every 5-8 minutes for the next two weeks, sometimes pretty intense but mostly just uncomfortable. I went in at 35 weeks and was between a 4.5 and a 5 and about 75% effaced. My doctor was sure I wasn't going to make it to the next week and I completely agreed. I was planning to go off bedrest Sunday Feb 2 when I hit 36 weeks, but since that was Miles' birthday and he had been born 4 hours after I went off bedrest, I decided to go off on Saturday, the day before, in hopes that the baby would come that day and they wouldn't have the same birthday. I made it through the week and Saturday morning I woke up early, showered, got all ready and got the boys dressed in cute outfits so they'd look nice at the hospital and then pulled all of the baby clothes out of storage and got them folded and put in drawers. And waited.... and waited.... and nothing happened. The next morning I went to church and was having contractions every 2 minutes for a while but I didn't feel like it was real yet, and it wasn't. Eventually they went back to every 5 minutes. That night I was in a lot of pain and was sure that I would be a lot more dilated at my appointment the next day. Monday morning I went in and was waiting for the doctor and thought about how crazy it would be if I hadn't dilated at all. I actually got teary-eyed thinking about how disappointed I would be just because I had been in so much pain for so long I was ready to be done. The doctor came in and sure enough, I was still a 4.5-5. Luckily I didn't cry in front of her, but as soon as I got in the car I did. It's not that I like having my babies early, but it's hard being in pain all-day-every-day for months, and more so the last few weeks, especially when I knew he would be okay if he were born at 36 weeks. But by the time I got home I was over it and had decided I would make the most of whatever time I had left and would do all the things that would be hard to do with a newborn. I planned out my week with temple trips, dates with Jonathan, all that good stuff, and went to bed feeling excited. I woke up around 6 with what felt like a pinched nerve in my hip. I told Jonathan I thought I slept on it wrong and went to lay on the couch. After a while I decided I couldn't sleep still so I took a bath to try to help it feel better. Around 7 I noticed that the pain in my hip was coming every 4 minutes and I was starting to have contractions at the same time. Having almost delivered a baby in the car before, I decided to hustle over to the hospital before things got too crazy. It had snowed the night before so we inched our way along with the rest of the morning traffic and finally got to the hospital around 8. They checked me and I was still only at a 5 but 100% effaced. About 20 minutes later I asked the nurse if she would check again and I was at a 6. She called my doctor to hurry over. Since I was doing a VBAC I had to have an epidural in case anything went wrong and they needed to do a c-section, so they called up the anesthesiologist. I've always wanted to experience a natural birth and haven't been able to with my complicated uterus and 2 c-sections, so I asked him to give me as little medicine as possible. He did so I had a little bit of relief but was still in a lot of pain. The nurse checked me again a little after 9 and I was between a 7 and an 8. My doctor walked in ten minutes later and checked me and I was complete so she broke my water and I started pushing. I'll be honest, I only had to push once with Easton and he popped out so I was really surprised after a few pushes when he wasn't out yet. It only took ten minutes, but it felt like forever! Finally he popped out and we got to meet our sweet little Anders! Our first baby that didn't have to be on oxygen! :)  I didn't know that I had the option of doing a VBAC since I'd had 2 c-sections, but the specialist said if you've had a successful delivery without a c-section then you still can. I was a little nervous, but Jonathan and I both felt like everything would be fine, and it was. I couldn't believe how much better I felt after I had Anders and didn't have pain in my stomach every time I moved. In fact, after having a baby in there it felt awesome to be able to move all over just fine! The recovery was much easier too and I've been amazed at how good I feel. And of course I'm just so grateful to have our sweet little one here at last.

Great news!

Just for a quick update, I got great news at the doctor yesterday. I haven't dilated anymore, still at a 3, and his head has gone back up. Apparently the last two times she checked me she could feel it right there pressing down on the cervix but now it's off so that's wonderful! The lack of gravity pulling him down has probably helped since I've basically been doing nothing but laying down since Monday. I'll go to the specialist on Monday (he was out of town this week) and see how things are looking then. I'm really really happy though because I can definitely tell the bedrest and medicine are helping, the contractions are fewer and less intense, and I'm really glad to feel a little bit in control of things again. Hopefully things stay the same through the month of January and we get to hold off on meeting our little man till February!

A little update...

I  have so many sweet friends check up on me all the time that I figured I should just do an update and let everyone know how things are going(and because I haven't updated in over a year, I figure it's about time). I've been planning this post for the last few weeks, where I'd announce how I'm kicking pre-term labor's trash and despite non-stop contractions since 8 weeks(meaning sometimes every 3-5 minutes for DAYS), my weekly ultrasound always reveals that everything's still holding up fine and life is awesome. I've been taking it easy since the beginning and sometimes felt like I was already on bedrest since I couldn't do much without getting those darn contractions going, but it's been soooo nice to come home each Monday from my appointment naming all the fun things I'd get to do that week since I was not officially on bedrest. I hit 30 weeks Sunday and decided that would be a good time for my triumphant announcement. Well, my appointment yesterday changed all that. I found out I was dilated to a 2. My doctor asked me to come back in today so she could check and see if I'm progressing or just sitting at a 2 and unfortunately I'm now at a 3. She really didn't want to admit me to the hospital over Christmas so she gave me a prescription for anti-contraction medicine and told me to take it really easy and take the meds and come back Thursday to see where I'm at, as long as I don't end up having to go to the hospital between now and then. I swear, holidays are a curse to my uterus. Last time, I got put on bedrest on Halloween, this time the day before Christmas Eve. So here I am on the couch again, timing contractions and drinking obscene amounts of water. Of course, I'm super grateful that this time it will only end up being for 6 weeks at most as opposed to 14 weeks like last time, but I'm really really really hoping this little guy will stay in at least a few more weeks. I've done a 30 weeker and although everything turned out pretty well, there's still a risk for long-term complications that will almost disappear by 32 weeks, so that's my goal.
Anywhoo, on a much less depressive note, I am super excited for this little guy to come!!! Holy cow he moves way more than any of my other kids did, my stomach is constantly rolling and bouncing all over the place. The boys are so excited, they always talk to the baby and talk about what they're going to teach him, although they always call him a girl on accident, they were pretty disappointed when they found out they weren't getting a sister. I was surprisingly not disappointed. My mother-in-law asked me what I thought it was going to be a few days before I found out, and although I thought it would be a girl, I told her I would actually prefer it be a boy, since he would be so close in age to Miles and they could be little best buds. I know girls and boys can still be best friends, but seeing Easton and Caden together really made me want a little buddy like that for Miles. They all play together well, but I can definitely see how the age gap affects the way they play, so when I found out it was a boy I was ecstatic. I'm so excited for another sweet little man!
The boys are all doing well, Caden and Miles have become really good friends while Easton's gone at school. I always wondered how Caden would do being the older brother and how patient he would be since he tried Easton's patience quite a few times, but he's amazed me. Miles went through a pretty rough time for about 6 months where he would just randomly attack any kid that was within arms reach. It was really fun and I'm so glad he's over it! I'd often find him pinning Caden to the floor and smacking Caden in the face and Caden yelling, "But Miles, I love you baby! Don't hit, Caden loves you!" What a sweet kid. Luckily Miles has turned a corner and is now much sweeter and more loving and adores his older brothers. He started talking up a storm and loves being understood better now. The other day he realized that I have a name besides "Mama" and has started calling me "Insi" sometimes and laughing his head off about it. Sheesh I love these boys. And of course we're so excited for Christmas tomorrow! We've gotten to spend so much time with all of our family and it's been terrific.
I think this deserves a blog mention, after years of hard work my handsome hubby graduated from law school this spring, scored a job here right by our families, and passed the bar! Just kind of a big deal. :)  It's crazy to think we're finally done being students and real grown-ups now, although it doesn't feel like it quite yet. We decided to stay at my parents house to have extra help during the pregnancy and we're planning to buy a house this spring after baby comes out, then I think we'll feel like official grown-ups.
So there's a little update of how things are going out here in the Peck household. Overall pretty great, even better if little man stays cooking a few more weeks for us! I didn't get a chance to send out Christmas cards this year, so MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone and a Happy New Year!!!

the fam

It's been a while since I updated about the five individuals that make up this family, so here goes...

Miles. Ah, Miles. Ooooooohhhhh Miles. This kid started his existence in 2012 like a lamb but ended it a lion. His first 4 months of life he was the calmest, happiest, easiest baby. Then something happened, or better, clicked. He realized he could move, and with 2 older brothers running around, there was little else he wanted to do. He had zero interest in crawling because hey, who wants to crawl when you can walk? He finally started crawling at 8 months. Two days later he scaled two flights of stairs when I wasn't looking. Two weeks later he was pulling himself up on things and letting go and taking 4 or 5 steps. Two months later he quit crawling completely and became a frankenbaby (arms out in front to steady himself) and now he runs around with his brothers everywhere, playing cars, superheroes, whatever they're doing, so is he. Except when they play board games, then they refer to him as Wreck-it Ralph. He is extremely determined to get what he wants and if you won't let him, he'll scream at you. When he was younger, we got comments all the time about how he was the happiest baby ever. He's still happy, but definitely can get worked up now in his determination to get what he wants. He's definitely a happy kid though and laughs a lot. His personality reminds me more of Easton. Caden is a more happy-go-lucky, easily distracted, imaginative fellow, but Miles is like Easton in that he is very aware of what's going on. His baldness and small size (5-10% percentile) make him look younger, but that kid knows what's up. I tell him to do things and he does them. He gets upset and we tell him to stop yelling and he does. Even when he was a little 8-month-old, he'd stand up in the night in his crib and talk to me and I'd tell him he needed to lay down and he would immediately obey. That's how Easton was, he took everything in and once he finally started talking I was amazed at what he knew. I think Miles got those genes. My mom says he reminds her so much of me when I was a baby, and I completely agree with her. He loves to dance, is obsessed with basketballs and cars, laughs his head off anytime he sees family pictures or family home videos, is a mini-daredevil who loves slides and any ride at disneyland, could be swimming all day and be happy, getting a little picky about what he eats, searches every bathroom several times a day to see if any toilet lids have been left up so he can start splashing, is madly in love with his stuffed monkey and lion, will not watch one second of TV unless it's Lawrence Welk (and then he's glued), is attached to his mama, and comes walking up with his arms spread wide whenever we come home from somewhere so we can get a welcome home hug. We love that little crazy thing.

Caden is still quite the goofball. He loves to make everyone laugh. He recently got to meet Lightning McQueen in real life (more on that later) and is still just as obsessed with Cars. All he wanted for Christmas was a "black light up kachow" for his brother (meaning a mcqueen car with black back windows and world grand prix labels instead of rusteze). He is so excited to be in primary, but sad to leave his beloved nursery. If he has two cars, he can play by himself for hours. He loves preschool and his buddies. He also loves playing with his brothers. It's fun to watch him play with Miles. Easton plays with him like he's taking care of a baby, Caden plays with him like they're friends. I'm so excited for them to play more as they get bigger. We love him more every day.

Easton is a goofball as well. He just turned 5 and is soooooo excited to go to kindergarten this fall. He loves making new friends and immediately finds someone new to play with whenever we go to the park. His best friend is still his brother though and if we ever go to preschool and Caden is sick and can't come, Easton will inevitably say, "I miss Caden, I wish he could come" within the first three minutes of leaving the house. He still eats whatever we give him and requested chicken cordon bleu for his birthday dinner. He reads everything. He's been able to go to preschool with me since just after he turned three so he picked up reading fast and loved learning so much that he now reads everything he can, from his scriptures at night to every sign we pass when we're driving. He's definitely my child, I don't have too many talents but if reading were considered a talent, it would be on my list. He also still dreams of being a byu basketball and football player and loves playing catch with his dad.  We love being his parents and hearing the crazy things that come out of his and Caden's mouth every day.

I spent most of 2012 doing a whooooole lotta this so when he started walking on his own after 4 months of bending over to hold his hand, I was pretty ecstatic, despite the new challenges I knew it would bring. I still teach preschool twice a week and LOVE my class this year. I celebrated 5 years of marriage to the greatest guy ever last spring and I am a firm believer that things get better with age. We've never been as happy or as close as we are now and he truly is my best friend. My "one word" for 2012 was "enjoy" seeing as I was going to have 3 kids 4 and under running around, and having a word totally worked. I don't wish Miles would return to babyhood because I enjoyed every second of it. I constantly reminded myself to just enjoy everything and a lot of things fell to the side as I continued to enjoy my family more and more. I ran a half marathon right before I got pregnant with Miles and planned to train for a full this year, but three kids definitely takes up more time than two (and a busy baby more than... ten?), and so my racing goals are going to be on the shelf for later days when I don't have three toddlers to enjoy. Or when I figure out how to train without taking hours away from my little amigos during the day and my hubba hubba hunky hubby at night. Until then my runs will consist of toting the ninos a few miles in the jogging stroller to the park or to our "secret paths" and dance parties around the living room. 

Jonathan is ALMOST DONE with school. Graduation is coming and it's bittersweet. Yes a paycheck is a great thing, but so is a 6-week winter break and no school on fridays. This last year has been a little piece of heaven and "billing hours" is starting to sound like a swear word. Luckily, he'd like to work at a smaller firm that doesn't require as much time in the office so he can spend more time with his princess and three little knights. I think he's a pretty smart guy. He also loves him some church ball and watching byu games with his 3 ft tall homies. We are all pretty big fans of this incredible dad and count ourselves lucky to have such a chipper man heading our home.

Here's another shot of that cute smile, because baby smiles are the best ever.

A little more summer...

We took some pics of the Harward boy cousins

Including the two little babes who are exactly 7 weeks apart and best buds already

Here they are together again about a month later. Crazy how fast they change

That's what big bros are for

Grandma and her babies

Grandpa's boys

Miles could lie under this one tree in my parents' backyard for literally hours. If I ever needed to get stuff done I'd take a blanket out and lay him on it and he'd be mesmerized

We also ran through the sprinklers in C-ville at grandpa dave and grandma kate's

And then remembered we weren't in Vegas anymore. brrrrrrr....

And some that got out of order

Love them.

Summer part 2

Looking through these pictures has made me extremely sad when I see this sweet face:

When did he get so big??? Newborns should stay that way for at least a year. I think I might cry.

Moving on, this pool got SO much use this summer. We absolutely loved it. But my favorite swims were the "adult swims" at night after the kiddos were in bed. We pretty much always played basketball and had races. I am not the world's best basketball player so Jonathan  had to practice a bit with me during the daylight hours before the other siblings got up there.

We already can't wait to put the pool up again next year.

Jonathan's parents had a little speedo/floatie outfit that Caden wore everywhere and I looooved it. I mean seriously, even with his kachow shirt over the top he still looked cute.

Big daddy.

Grandpa Dave spent lots of time diggin in the sandbox with the boys.

Papa and Hun's trampoline also got a tremendous amount of use.

We seem to make it up to free day at This is the Place State Park every summer, although this time I locked my keys in the car and realized as soon as we got there. That $15 a year for roadside assistance is totally worth it. I think I've used it 3 times already this year!

Some Native Americans were showing their traditional dances and invited audience members to come up at the end and dance in front of the stage. Caden must have misheard him because he ran up ON the stage and started bustin' some moves with the rest of the dancers. It was hilarious, but I couldn't get a very good shot through the crowds. Oh, and Easton followed his brother up there and then cowered in the corner. He's old enough to understand what's going on when he's the only non-Native American dancing in front of an audience. Too bad.

This kid gets his laugh on ALL DAY. He's not one of those mild, pleasant, quietly happy babies. He's one of those kicking, laughing, squealing, excited-beyond-belief about everything kind of kids. I hope it sticks.

We got to go visit my cute 81-year-old Grandma Bybee at the care center in Panguitch a few times this summer. We even got to take her to Tropic and Henrieville to see the graves on Memorial Day. The boys always get so excited to see her, she's a pretty fun grandma.

Notice the cute picture of her and my grandpa right behind Easton's head. So cute. They were married for about a half a century when he died.

There was a huge windstorm and we watched this huge branch fall out of that tree! Not only that, but Jonathan and the boys were about to go stand right under it! Crazy!

 Almost done with the update. I think I've only got one more to go!