December 28, 2008

Christmas has came and gone once again. This year was a lot better year then last. Mark was unemployed most of last year so it was a struggle to afford a nice Christmas for the girls. In fact on Christmas last year Mark had only had his job at Presbyterian Community Care Center for only 22 days. Along with celebrating Christ's birth we were able to celebrate the birth of our first son and a one year anniversary of Mark being employed.

Mark was more excited to watch the girls open their presences then his own. He wroke a lot Christmas night to see if it was time to for the girls to wake up and open presences. He hasn't woke up that often the night before Christmas since he was a child. Allyssa got the mermaid barbie doll she has been asking for all year and Ashlee got the baby doll she has been asking for all year. Michelle and Mark got the best gift of all, Kaden. Since Christmas Allyssa has got up every morning asking if santa came again. She hasn't quite grasped the concept that Christmas is once a year.

The new year is fast approaching and we would like to wish everyone a happy new year. We will be setting our new year resolutions as so many others will be and hopefully we will be able to keep them.

December 11, 2008: Kaden's Homecoming

Michelle and Kaden were released from the Hospital today December 11, 2008 with a clean bill of health. It is good to be home. I stayed with Michelle the hole time and I could only imagine how boring it was for her to be stuck in the bed. I could at least go outside or leave. We owe Michelle's family a big thank you. Katie for getting up in the dead of the night to take the girls the night Michelle went into labor and Michelle's parents for stepping up and taking care of the girls for longer than had been planned.

Now to the story of Kaden's birth. I had went to bed early December 8th because I was suppose to get up early to catch a plane leaving Boise at 6:30 AM to go to Portland Oregon for a two day Employment Law Conference. I am unsure when Michelle actually came to bed, but I do remember my friend Phillip calling at 10:30 PM and Michelle getting up out of bed to answer it. She tells me that she knew something was starting to happen at that point because when she got out of bed she felt the baby drop and engage. I went back to sleep and she wroke me up at 12:30 AM and told me that she thought she was in labor. I asked if she wanted to head in since the hospital is 50 minutes from our house. Having been induced on Ashlee and not having gone through the actual pains with out an epideral she told me she wasn't sure if it was labor and that she did want to ruin my travel plans. I told her it was better to be save than sorry and that if it was a false alarm we would already be in Boise and she could just run me to the airport. So Michelle called her mother who immediately came over with Michelle's dad. By time they got here we could tell that it was not a false alarm and that we needed to get going. It was a struggle to get Michelle out the door in a hurry. She had this check list that she was going through and insisted that she needed to get everything on the list.

The drive to the hospital was something else and something I do not want to experience again. It began off with me speeding out of the drive away with Michelle saying you don't need to kill us on the way. Before we made it to Caldwell, 30 minutes from Boise, Michelle was in enough pain that she was shouting at me to get to the freeway. Once on the freeway I was going on average 80 mile per hour and she was really in pain and telling me I need to go faster. As we passed St Lukes Meridian and Saint Als I would ask Michelle do you want to stop but Michelle was dead set on delivering at the St Lukes Boise. As I took the connector to city center every single light was red and I ran every single one. By time we pulled into the emergency room drive way Michelle was in a lot of pain.

Michelle's sister Katie pulled into the drive way right behind us and helped me get Michelle in the wheelchair. I ran through the doors leaving Michelle's mom and sister to sort out the girls and the parking of the van. As we got to labor and delivery they immediately took Michelle through the double doors as I filled out paperwork. I could hear them say that she was fully dialated and they came rushing out the doors with her in a bed and the nurse at the desk said follow them. We got into the delivery room with Michelle asking for her epideral. Being fully dialated she didn't have that option. She had to deliver him with no pain medication of any sort. They have us being checked in at 2:03 AM and Kaden being delivered at 2:09 AM.

Michelle started labor at 11:00 PM on December 8th and delivered Kaden at 2:09 AM on the December 9th meaning the labor only lasted 3 hours. Kaden weighed 9 lbs 3 Ounces. The quickness of the labor and his weight concerned the doctor so they kept us 48 hours verses the normal 24 hours that we usually stay. I know now that when people say they love visitors when they are in the hospital they really mean it. We were board to death and are glad to be home.