Exhausted...and Excited

Well, we are both exhausted! Zac has been falling asleep around 7 or 8 lately because we are so sleep deprived. Gavin has been pretty naughty when it comes to bedtime, for over a week straight he would not go to bed until after 1am, some days it was as far as 4am. Which leaves for some pretty tired parents. The other night he would NOT go to sleep and by 3:30 I was so exhausted and frustrated that I sat there crying on the couch. Zac came out and took him for awhile so that I could go to bed, but then I just felt like a bad Mom because I just wanted to sleep instead of hold my baby :(. But I do love him very much and my life has never been happier than it is now with Zac and Gavin in my life.

Well, I am officially done with school FOREVER! Ok, maybe not, but I would like to think that I am done forever. Maybe in like 20 years or something I will get my masters, but I am not planning on it. I am now Chelsea Barrus RN/BSN. Zac is almost done, he just has two days left and then graduation is this weekend. I feel so blessed that I will get to share this experience with my husband and we are excited for what the future holds. I know that the last few weeks have been stressful, but I am so proud of my husband and the hard work that he has put into his education, he is AMAZING and I am always so proud of him.

We are also blessing Gavin this weekend and I am so excited. I don't know if most moms are excited about this, but I really am. We are also moving at the end of the month, just two blocks away but we are excited for the extra room now that we have a baby.

And Christmas is only 10 days away, and we have only bought one present, and it is not even for us. Sad huh? I am learning how hard it is to get things done with a new baby. Especially when you are breastfeeding and your child likes to eat like every hour when he is awake. I am lucky to shower each day. The house always seems dirty and the dishes are never done, but oh well.

I was laying on the couch playing with Gavin today and it hit me that I will not have as much time to 'bond' with any of my other children. Because he is the only one right now, I can spend my time holding him and kissing every inch of him. I feel blessed to have the time right now to just be a Mom and I am so in LOVE with motherhood. It truly is the greatest blessing in the world, and I feel like Christmas came early. This is the greatest gift that I could ever be given, and I am grateful that the Savior has given me this opportunity as well as Zac giving me this opportunity.

My sweet baby.

Our Baby

Well, I guess I have waited long enough to post. Sorry that it is taking forever! I am just enjoying being a Mom and I am trying to drink in every moment. Even with the lack of sleep and frustrations of a crying baby, we LOVE Gavin so much. Even more so, I cannot believe how much my love has grown for my husband. Zac loves his baby, and is always so willing to change diapers and burp and hold him. I know that it is hard for him to get school work done because he just wants to hang out with Gavin. I was really looking forward to seeing Zac grow in his role as a Dad, and I must admit that he has truly blown me away and I am grateful for his love for our family, especially his love for me.

Well on to the birth story: I will try to leave out all the boring information. :)On Friday Nov. 6th I was having contractions pretty much all day, and they were pretty close together but they weren't really growing in intensity, so my Mom came up on Friday night thinking I would go into labor soon. No such luck. I went and got checked and still had not progressed anymore from three days earlier. I was frustrated and sad.

So Saturday my Mom and I went shopping hoping the walking would start my contractions again, but nothing! Ahh, going in to labor should be easier than this right! Yeah, yeah, yeah. We also made the cradle set for Gavin.

Monday, my mother-in-laws birthday, my due-date, NO baby.

Luckily, my doctor scheduled me for an induction on Tuesday! So we left for the hospital at 7am. They broke my water at about 8:15 and started me on pit. I started contracting right away. And the doctor said that I could have an epidural whenever I needed. I was about 2 1/2 cm and 75% when I went in. So I endured about 7 hours of contractions and couldn't do it anymore. By this time I was on about 13ml/hr of pit and I was dying. So by about 3 pm I had my epidural and it was starting to take effect. But after about a half an hour my body started to transition and it was making me pretty sick. The nurse kept thinking it was because of the epidural but my blood pressure was fine and I knew that wasn't the problem. I got the nurse to check me again around 4 but I was still at 5cm. They put me on oxygen to help with my nausea which helped a little. I didn't get checked again until about 6pm and by then I was complete. And the doctor said that I could start pushing. But, my nurse I had to help deliver another baby so I had to wait about an hour before I could start. I pushed for about two hours and he wasn't going anywhere. I had gotten him down to my pubic bone and he got stuck because his head was too big. So everytime I pushed it just elongated his head without pushing him down. So finally the doctor came in and they tried to tell if he was anterior or posterior, but couldn't. Finally the doctor asked if he should try forceps. I knew that he wasn't going anywhere without some help so I agreed. A few pushes later he was out and a BIG baby(see size in the post below). But he is beautiful! Sadly I had an episiotomy and I tore with almost a fourth degree. My mom said when the forceps were pulled out they were covered in my skin, fun huh? So I was in a lot of pain and it still hasn't gone away. But I LOVE being a mommy and I must say that it will be a little while before we have another baby, but we are so grateful for the opportunity to grow our family.

Here are some pictures:

Daddy loves his Gavin.

Jayden holding his newest cousin.

Gavin Zachary Barrus

Born: 11/10/09 at 9:18 pm.

8.7 lbs, 21.5 inches.

He is beautiful and we love him so much.

Give us a few days to write the story,

recovery is slow and very painful.

Last Shot

Okay, one last picture before he comes.

I thought I should take one to show what I looked like in the very end.

Well, I look ridiculous. Honestly, it looks like I stuck a soccer ball under my shirt.

Anyways, it could be any day now and we are just playing the waiting game.

The next post will have pictures of our baby boy!

Belly Buttons

So, I had to write about this because my husband just makes me laugh.

He is the silliest person I know, and he has the most random mind of anyone that I have

EVER met!

Literally, it is worse than a three year old. He could probably be on

Kid's Say The Darndest Thing

as an adult!

So this is really about belly button lint.

First of all, I do not understand how we even get belly button lint.

Maybe it is because I am a girl, and I do not think that I have ever had belly button lint in my life. But my husband, gets it EVERYDAY. Without fail, I do not understand it, he showers everyday, we wash our clothes at the same time, but I do not get belly button lint.

The only difference I can find is that men have hairy stomachs, and women don't.

Anyways, the other night Zac tells me that the lint is always blue. I just laughed at him, and said that it was white. He continued to tell them that it is always blue and I just said whatever.

So after we get home from church on Sunday he comes up to me and says, look it's BLUE!

And of course he is holding it in his hand to show me. Haha, I was laughing so hard!

And then after dinner with the Burkholder's he suddenly states,

"Is it true that women have pink belly button lint and men have blue lint?"

WHAT? I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. Seriously, who thinks like that?

MY HUSBAND! That's who.

But don't worry, I don't mind it one bit! Because I get to spend my days laughing with my best friend. :)

Pregnancy Insight

Okay, so my pregnancy is slowly coming to an end (Can you hear the angles singing?)! And I was reading some other pregnancy blogs and it got me thinking. Often as a nurse I am able to talk to people about all circumstances of their life. And recently my teacher was telling us about a woman in a Care Center who had dementia and her daughter was sitting next to her visiting, but of course the woman had no idea that the daughter was her daughter. I know, sad. But then the woman proceeded to tell the entire pregnancy and birth story of her daughter who was sitting right next to her. This story had a point, to help us realize how we prioritize certain things in our mind.

I hope that I will be able to recount my experiences with pregnancy to my son someday, and to each of my other children. I would never say that I have had a difficult pregnancy, I haven't had any complications at all and I am SO grateful for that blessing.

1st trimester- Yuck! Lots of time in the bathroom and the rest on the couch trying to stay hydrated. Everything made me nauseous, and I do not think that I have eaten scrambled eggs in 7 months! There are just some things that are no longer appealing once you have seen them come back up! I was able to spend the first 10 weeks at home which was a great blessing and helped me to get a handle on pregnancy. No one knew that I was pregnant (except for family), and it was nice to spend that time in secrecy :), even though it was killing Zac. I don't think that I cooked anything in the kitchen for the majority of this time, sorry honey. Heartburn.

8 weeks pregnant

2nd trimester- Joy! I am sure that everyone will agree this is the best time in pregnancy. Although, I did have the lightheadedness, it wasn't so bad. I was in school throughout this time and going to the hospital for clinical was sometimes difficult, especially on isolation patients when you have to wear a gown and mask. The mask was awful and made me feel like I would pass-out everytime I was in the patients room. The nausea came back for a while. I felt the first kick at almost 19 weeks, well at least the first that I noticed. What joy! At this point I was anxious to start wearing maternity clothes (which I am now sick of), and of course to find out if we were having a boy or girl! Yeah, a boy! I was ready to start showing, which didn't happen until about 22 weeks, ugh! By 27 weeks I was unable to sleep and uncomfortable all the time! Heartburn.

19 weeks pregnant

3rd trimester- Seriously?! WAY worse than the first. No sleep, tons of pain in the hips, back, belly, and do not think that the baby is enjoying this either! Braxton hicks, okay not painful, but uncomfortable! Anxiety! Fear! Happiness! Gratitude! And so, so much more. I LOVE that I am bringing my little boy to this world! I HATE being pregnant! Heartburn (did you notice that in EACH trimester?)

32 weeks pregnant

I will be honest, I always thought that most women were just wimps. Pregnancy can't be THAT bad! I always assumed it would be easy, go by quickly, and would LOVE it! Boy was I WRONG! Maybe the Lord is humbling me, but I have definitely changed my mind :).

I cannot say that we will be doing this again very soon, but don't worry, I could not handle being a mother of only one :). I think that Zac is struggling with the fact that we have known each other for 18 months and I have been pregnant for just about half of that. He still calls me beautiful, but I know that he is ready to have his old Chelsea back, and SO AM I!

I have started to get ready for the baby, now that my block classes are over and I have Monday, Wednesay, and Friday open. We bought our stroller/carseat set yesterday and have installed it in the car. I cannot wait to see our little boy in that seat. :) 2 weeks left, and I couldn't be more excited for what the future holds for my little family :)!

Great Baby Shower!

Well, I had a baby shower in my ward today and it was tons of fun! My friend Courtney took on all the responsibility and did an awesome job! The theme was, she is about to "POP!" So everything had to do with 'pop'ing. The invites had tootsie pops, we had popcorn, pop, popcicles, and the prizes were ring pops, pop rocks, or bubble gum. She really did a great job and I am so grateful for everything she did for me, especially because she has a baby of her own that is only 4 months! Courtney, you are AMAZING!

Here are the pics of all my gifts including the ones from my shower two weeks ago! I love you all, thanks for your support with our new BABY!

Sorry, about all the pics, I didn't want to leave anyone out!

Bath Stuff

Receiving Blankets and Burp Cloths

Blankets, made by Great Grandma's, Grandma Barrus and Friends.

Infant Rocker from Zac's Aunt Nancy and Aunt Sandra

Cute winter coat from Aunt Amanda and Aunt Tiffany

Cute Clothes

A Piggy Bank from Christina, super cute idea!

Little Shoes

This is a motorcycle made of diapers and blankets, with the bottle as the headlight.

Courtney is very creative!

This is just a picture of my diaper bag, I LOVE it!

And this is my nursing cover that I made, I just put it on so that you could see the fabric I picked out.
P.S. We have picked a name..........I will tell you what it is in about 3 weeks! :)