2 Weeks Old

December 27, 2011

Happy 2 week birthday Everett! Had 2 week check up...he now weighs 6lbs 11oz and eats
2.5 ounces every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Christmas Eve Day 2011

 Thug life bakes cookies. Heres Papa, covered in Chocolate.

Baby boy all snuggled up.

Everett Leaving the Hospital!

Proud Daddy Alert!

Going from womb to carseat is not a welcomed event if your a newborn.

Tore Up!!

"PULL HIM OUT!"

December 12, 2011...Monday (yes, still- I know!)

Where was I, yes...Epidural in place, cell phone in hand and a room full of family while husband and mother took a breather and prepped for the "big push," we had reached the final hurtle...delivery.  Lets do this! Just as soon as I could stop shaking. "Why are you shaking so bad- what are you afraid of?" asked the midwife. "Um I don't know...Maybe that when this is over, there will be another human being here and I will be his mommy" was my reply. Duhhh

11:00pm- Cell phone off, family out of room and husband and mother each holding a leg, the work began. Umm, "I can't feel my parts. Is it working?" Sort of, at this point I asked for them to turn down the drugs so I could feel what I was doing. Over the next hour it went: hold breath and count to ten and imagine pushing a grapefruit through a keyhole (ok, last part was in my head). I didn't feel too much for most of the time but the epidural was started to wear off and I was able to get a taste of the hell I would have gone through sans epidural. At this point, I'm feelin it! "Push the button, I need more drugs!" People, don't ever let your crazy die hard mother hold the drug button. "Matt tell that bitch to push the G#D D#$&;N BUTTON!!" (sorry mommy). To which the answer was "Sorry babe, you only get 1 click every 10 minutes and he's almost here." Those damn clicks don't last very long and next time I'm holding the button!

"Would you like a mirror to see him come out Mrs. Hutchison?" "NOOOO, Just Pull him out!!" "Oh God, please just get him out!" 

December13, 2011...Tuesday (Finally)

12:05am- And then the pressure ceased, time stood still and laid on my belly was the most incredible, amazing, perfect (I could keep going) thing I have ever seen or felt in my entire life...my baby boy. Uhhmm (correction) Our baby boy. 

"I'm Dilated to What?!" (The delivery)

December 12, 2011...Monday (still) 7:30pm

Matthew and I arrived at the hospital practically on two wheels and nearly missing a visiting family walking (straggling ) across the driveway entrance. It was all Matt could do to not yell for them to get the hell out of the road (wait I think he did). Once that car was at a complete stop (barely) we both jumped out and immediately proceed to the back triage room but not before I had to stop and squat at the entrance doors- sounds funny now. Oh wait (elevator music) we had to stop at the desk to sign Power of Attorney in the event I died and admittance forms (...back to Metallica and techno music combined)

I made it to the exam room and got on the table where I heard the nurse talking on the phone and refering to me as "a live one, she's a squatter!" That gave me pause. Back on the table, I laid there getting examined and immediately had my water break. I remember thinking "Oh God, that's what water breaking feels like...that would have been embarrassing if it had happened in public". It was at this point I learned I was dilated to 9cm ("maybe 9.5cm"). Talk about go from 0 to 60 in no time! I remember freaking out saying "she told me to go home. I TOLD her my mother had babies fast (for some reason that seemed important). 

After the exam, I was immediately wheeled into the delivery room where like at least 5 nurses came out of nowhere and started wheeling in carts, pullling lights down and prepping the room and was told I was ready to push if I wanted. WTF!! No, I did not want to push, I wanted to crawl out of my body. Every yoga, and so called labor position did not to shit to relieve the back pain I was experiencing. I wanted some freakin drugs and I wanted them now! Hell, I would have taken a shot of whisky (and I did ask but was denied) if they would have offered.  I REALLY wanted that damn epidural now but the only way I was gonna get it was if I shut up, calmed down and held still- that was like asking me to hold off a hurricane, words were flying, accusations where slinging and the teeth were about to come out (though Matt swears they did). Somewhere my resolve kicked in and my desire for pain control was stronger then the contractions I was now having every 2 minutes. So after multiple tries to place an IV in my hand (which to this day I still don't see how they had such a  hard time- have you seen my veins, a blind man could hit them from a mile away). Anyways, IV in  place and through no small feat- epidural working its magic, life was good again (Que Ice Cube's "I Guess It Was a Good Day"). At this point it was like "hand me my cell phone, I got business to tend to." 

"Oh, This is Getting Serious!"

December 12, 2011...Monday- The day started out normal enough with the alarm sounding at 6:30am, which I promptly crawled out of bed at 7am, fed the dogs, jumped in the shower and proceeded to go through my usual morning routine of Braxton Hicks contractions...or so I thought. By 8am I was at work and starting the day off with a few back aches here and there. By 9am the back ache was getting more distracting and around 10am thats when the thought occurred to me "Oh, this is getting serious!" At this point the "Other Aimee" (my coworker) suggested that I just might be in labor, to which I responded with complete denial... I wasn't due until December 24 and I had a lot of things still to do at home. The car seat wasn't even in the car, I hadn't packed a hospital bag and most importantly I still needed to buy a birthing ball!

Somewhere around 11am the "Other Aimee" decided to be the voice of reason and suggested that I go down to the hospital and get checked to see if I was in true labor and how far along I was. I called my mamma "I need a ride", I called my husband "How do you feel about becomeing a daddy today? Because we may just have a baby today! I'll call you back." So off to Kaiser I went, with mother at the wheel (oh, but not before I made her stop at the Hospice Thrift Store to donate a trunk full of stuff (remember the big storage clean out from the day before), so after that stop...Off we went!

Its now around 1pm and I was checked in and getting the lowdown: 100% effaced but only 1/2cm dialated. What?! At this point the midwife told me I could either go walk the mall (haha- yea right) or go home and let things progress, that it could be 2 hours or 2 weeks...well that leaves it wide open (thanks lady). I chose to eat (when all else fails, eat) but not before we stopped at Target for the coveted "birthing ball" everyone swears by (more on that one later).

Next stop was lunch, mind you that this whole time I'm having contractions that could not be ignored but as I would soon find out were nothing compared to what was to come.  Ok, so back in Auburn now, lunch sounded awesome since I was starving at this point (plus if I was gonna do this "giving birth" thing I would need my energy) and what better to eat before giving birth... Mexican food! Not really, but hindsight it 20/20 and a taco AND giant bean burrito with hot salsa and jalapenos sounded so good. And it was! I stuffed down every bite while enduring contractions that reminded me birth was eminent.

After lunch I had another great idea to go home and clean the house. Driving is not recommended for a person haveing contractions, I'll just stop there on that one. Once home, I got the neighbor kids to blow up my birthing ball, I got my Wiff (Sandy) to put the carseat base in the car and I got my bag packed. That is pretty much as far as I got (oh I did manage to squat on the laundry room floor and toss laundry into the washer- why this needed to be done, I'll never know). Things from this point are pretty much a blur but it included some crying, a long miserable hot bath, some more crying and a few texts and phone calls in between "Where was Matthew" you ask, He was working overtime in Truckee (I told him things would probably progress slowly so just come home when he got off work). My goal at this point was to wait for Matthew to get home (@7pm), take a shower and clean up from the day and then off we would go. But that wasn't gonna happen.

Somewhere around 6pm Sandy came over to check on me and found me laying on my bedroom floor moaning and panting with my feet up on the air. At this point my contractions were about 1 minute 15 seconds long and less then 4-5 minutes apart. ( I had to look up "timing contractions" online earlier haha). And that birthing ball did not do shit to help, I kicked it down the stairwell. Liars.

So.... my Wiff (another voice of reason) decided that husband or not, it was time to get into the car and head to the hospital, to which I only put up a slight argument (I was still thinking Matt was gonna come home and shower). So I pulled myself up off the floor and together, ran around the house trying to pack Matt a hospital bag, grabbing last minute items I may have needed and taking care of the goats (What?! I had to feed and put the goats away).

So again for the second time that day...off we went! We met Matt in Auburn, switched drivers and proceeded down to the hospital.

Commonly Known at "The Burst of Energy"

We tiled the bathroom the week before.

You know that burst of energy they say a women gets right before she has her baby...while I got mine and here is what I did:

December 9, 2011...Friday- Raked entire yard, got a burn permit, proceed to burn all 9 piles of leaves, raked and burned debris in goat pen ( oh and when I say burned, I mean transported each pile by wheelbarrow and trash can to burn pile), did 3 loads of laundry, pooped scooped, cleaned kitchen and bathroom and started making pinwheels for a mobile to hang over the crib. Oh yea, I almost forgot- I also made chicken tortilla soup, a double batch of christmas cookies and hung christmas lights.

December 10, 2011...Saturday- Packaged cookies to take to Aunt Beth's, gathered up christmas gift bags, got myself ready to go visiting (which is no small feat when you are 9 months pregnant), stopped by thrift store to find buttons for pinwheels (could not find any so bought button down shirts to steel buttons off of), drove to Wheatland and enjoyed afternoon with family and ripped buttons off of shirts (while thinking about how I could be finishing my pinwheels), left Aunt B.'s house and went to mothers and visited with family some more. Then went home but not before stopping at grocery store for some items.

December 12 2011...Sunday- cleaned kitchen, did more laundry (what the hell??) then went to storage to help Matt "clean and organize" which apparently meant two different things to each of us and almost ended in brutal warfare. I ended up going through every bin and bag, trashing, rearranging and consolidating until I saw fit and found everything I was "looking for" for the past year! Once storage was organized to my liking, I polished up an old coat rack (had to go buy polish from store) that we wanted to give to someone. We then delivered it to their house and had pizza for dinner and watched christmas movies. Midway through the movie Matt pleaded exhaustion (sissy) from working all day and I was plotting how I was going to set up my christmas decorations and lights...when we got home. And yes, I did do this when we got home while Matt threw in the flag and fell asleep on the couch. He was not pleased when I hung the bells on the christmas tree.
I think that pretty much sums up my weekend... and then...

Dr. Appointment 12/2/11

60% Effaced and 1/2cm dilated. Midwife said baby could take a while. Other then that nothing new to report. Oh...except swollen ankles. Had to go and buy new boots and get a pedicure to make myself feel better. It helped!

7 Months pregnant

Somewhere in the seventh month I believe. Did I mention baby is a boy! Nothing exciting to report...I think I had the most uneventful pregnancy ever. I'm not complaining really. My craving pretty much throughout was cherry slurpees. So good.

Toeing the Line

I think this is called "testing boundaries." She knows she is not allowed inside but this is pushing it.

14 Weeks

Happy 2nd trimester too all of us!! We made it! How exciting is this. I feel like I hit a landmark. Yes, I said landmark because this marks the first phase of a lifetime journey for us. My appetite is slowly returning so I have been branching out from cereal and fruit and am now reintroducing meat (heavily sauced) back into my diet. Grilled meat is still off the menu. I still feel the need for a nap but am now able to go a day hear or there without one. I will post a belly photo later this week.

12-13 weeks

Not very exciting. Still tired and still love my cereal.

11 wks

Friday June 10, 2011 was my second prenatal appointment. Everything is progressing fine and I was able to hear the heart beat for the first time. That was pretty amazing. I was further proof that this whole "pregnancy" thing is just some odd, crazy thought. It was such a tiny sound but had such a huge impact.

Other then that not much else to report besides fatigue and the desire to nap several times a day.

10 weeks

Whats on the menu? Bread, Trix cereal (still), fruit, creamy stuff (milk, greek yogurt) and any pastry, cookie or maple doughnut that crosses my path. I really have to keep away from doughnut rack at Raley's. Its my weakness.

Still feeling pretty good except the hormones are kind of roller coaster.

"Though he's barely the size of a kumquat— a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long." -BabyCenter.com"

Whats going on this week...

"Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain."

9 Weeks

Two weeks later. (I'm posting belly shots every two weeks at this point, since I don't think there is much difference at this point) The only time I really look pregnant is when I'm bloated, and that seems to be all the time. I won't post pictures of that, though!
Here is whats on the menu this week. Fried food and meat are still/now out. I have to force myself to eat chicken a few times a week. Ground beef is ok, if its disguised with taco seasoning in a tortilla. Cereal and fruit seem to be my staples. Even the veggie thing has waned (that was a few weeks back). I have to be honest, food has dropped down on my list of favorites. It's sad.

Grandma, could not help herself.

Mama, could not help herself.

I'm sure nothing will fit and I know it's blue but I figure a girl can wear blue but a boy can't really get away with pink and flowers. Hey, if anything, I only spent $8.00. ( I ran across a yard sale with all these "like new" baby clothes) They were so cute and such good condition I couldn't resist. Ok, but really this is it! Nothing more until I find out the sex. Then...its on!

8 Weeks

This week has been a rough week. The cravings have stopped for the moment and sleepiness has taken over. I've needed a nap every day this week. The emotions are wild and the reality of it all is really setting in. According to "Baby Center":

"New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways."

As for my brain, I have so far forgotten my work alarm code last Thursday and remembered it by Monday morning. I have forgotten how to use the fax machine at work and I have left my bank card home two days in a row. That has been this week. I've decided I'm going to start a list. Stay tuned...

7 weeks!

First ultrasound! We have a heartbeat! 7 weeks 4 days. Due Dec. 24-27. (Baby is the white tootsie roll looking thing inside the lower black whole) Doctor said everything is in place and as it should be and so far lab results have come back normal. Even the $500 worth of drug testing they did. Apparently I'm not a drug addict. I could have told them that and saved myself the $500. Thanks Kaiser for confirming something I already know!
7 wk. belly picture. Most days I just feel bloated. I'm loving bean, rice and cheese burritos with lots of hot sauce. Not a fan of meat at the moment. Chocolate ice cream is my friend and fried food is my enemy. Some days I feel sleepier then others. Some days I feel supercharged. Not much nausea. Certain smells put a lump in my throat (i.e. fried foods). Getting lots of exercise, drinking lots of water and overall feeling pretty good. The biggest thing I have noticed is that I have seem to misplaced my brain. I think it took a holiday. Over the past few weeks I have locked my keys in the car, forgot my alarm code at work, left my lunch on the counter (several times) at home and paid for gas then got in my car and left the station. I can't keep track of a single thought from one moment to the next. Its ridiculous and quite comical...if your not me. Fortunately, I am finding the humor in it and taking it in strides.

Fort Bragg and Mendicino Dive Holiday 2011

The ride there was a blast from the past. I love this van!! Unfortunately, its Matts dads. I'm so jealous!

Here I am jumping in for some snorkeling. Nothing like an icy blast of water to make you feel alive.
Matt is abalone diving and I'm just bobbing around.
I'm not sure what I was doing here, but this could have been a really great picture. At least Matt looks good. Someday we'll look back at this and say "Well kid, that was your mother."

Egg dying on Easter Weekend

Hanging out with friends on Saturday afternoon. Did you know that egg decorating was done by pagans in prechristian times. Eggs represented fertility and birth and yadda, yadda, yadda.
Judging by the look on my face...this must be harder then it looks.
Budweiser! Apparently, that's what it take to properly dye Easter Eggs. This is obviously a kid in a grown mans body! My sweetheart.

Happy 9th Anniversary!!

Look what my honey brought me for our 9th Wedding Anniversary! How Sweet! My other gift was a dirt bike (gotta love the man) and we are going to Fort Bragg April 28, 2011.

So in Honor of my my Husband on our Anniversary, here is a top ten list of why I love my husband:

10. He thinks picking my toes in the car is a perfectly acceptable past time for the car.

9. He NEVER expects me to clean the house but ALWAYS appreciates it when I do. (Please note: I do clean my house regularly)

8. He thinks I'm bautiful, when I demand I'm not.

7. I can completely be myself around him. He knows me best!

6. He can put up a good fight when he's right. And sometimes when he's wrong.

5. He's knows what an apology is.

4. When he cleans the house, He CLEANS the house!

3. He can make me laugh and laugh with me.

2. He puts me first above anyone else.

1. He thinks a YZF250 is a perfectly acceptable 9th ann. gift!

Suprise Suprise!

Well, I can hardly believe this myself. The first two tests I took were digital. Both said "Pregnant". Then, this third test here a week later shows two pink lines and says "positive". So, I guess the only conclusion here is that "WE'RE PREGNANT"!!

Calculated Due Date: December 25, 2011

Feelings: Excited, Stunned, Amazed, Happy, Peaceful about it all.

First Thoughts: "Holy Crap, What did we do?" "What about my new dirt bike?" "WE HAVE NO SPACE!"

First People Told: Aimee Fredy, then mother, then husband.

How I told Matthew: He called me in the morning and asked if I'd "peed on the stick yet." Not being able to contain myself or tell him otherwise, I said "yes," he said "and..." I said "You're gonna be a daddy in 9 months!" He said "Are you serious?" And that was that.

My New Baby!! YZF250

Here she is. I finally got her. Never thought I'd see this day. EEEEEE!!!
Mama's girls! Little Red and Big Blue.
Coming back from my fist outing on it. I LOVE THIS THING!!
Post-Ride photos are never a girls best friend.
Safety First!! Matt, Danny and Travis playing on big red.

He's so cute.

Quad down.
Andy Ramsey and Aimee
Aimee's Action shot

More Waterfall...

A good time!
The Gang

Riding to the Waterfall

Oh the poison oak.
No falls at the falls!

Top Left over: Aimee, Cody, John Cook, Danny, Josh, Matt Bottom: Tavis, Jamie and Cable.

John, Matt and Aimee