New Favorite Pictures

Just a few random pictures for our month together

Story of his life for the next 3 years

His famous face. This is what he is pulling like 90% of the time

Him at age 3 days old

Alex at 4 1/2 weeks. He's grown so much!

Hi guys

Trying on his new brown locks :-)

His blessing day. Sadly this is about the only picture we got :-(

Sting Concert

Daniels brother Christian from New Jersey came into town a few days ago. He works for A & E and they came to Red Rocks to film the Sting concert. Christian was nice enough to give usback stage passes and the VIP tour! We had SO much fun! Sting was there with the London Philharmonic Symphony, that mixed with the Red Rocks Amphitheater made everything sound amazing! It was also awesome to get a date night in.

Time for an introduction!

Its been 2 weeks. I suppose it's time to tell my story. Sit back and relax - because like all birthing stories this is long and I'll make it as dramatic as I possibly can :-)

At 2:45 am on Sunday May 23 I woke up from an otherwise restful sleep. Nothing in particular woke me up but because I was awake I decided I might as well go to the bathroom. I did so and as soon as I was done I realized that something more was going on. I heard water dripping. Odd, I thought. Why was water dripping and where was it coming from? Yup- my water had broken, thankfully over the toilet (I am so sorry if this is too much info). I sat there and just laughed. The reason I laughed is so silly but here is the story. Daniel and I are huge LOST fans. We love it and are addicted. As are our good friends Tammy and John. The season finale was scheduled for Sunday May 23. We were so excited. After watching the last episode before the finale we all joked about how it would be terrible if our baby decided to come on May 23 because we would still have to figure out a way to watch the last episode 'live'. We were saying how Tammy and John would come to the hospital at watch it while I was delivering if they had to. So come May 23 and my water breaks I just laughed. My baby was listening.

I wake up Daniel. He shoots up and gets so excited. However, we are very new at this and so uneducated that we had no idea what to do next. Haha- we just looked at each other and said 'what now?'. Contractions had started and my doctor said not to come to the hospital until they were 5 minutes apart, she never said what to do if my water broke... So what did we do? We went back to bed. My contractions were an even 10 minutes apart so I figured we had tons of time. Even though we were apparently idiots for doing this I am glad we did. It was nice to be in my own bed and be able to eat.

When 9:00 rolls around we figure we should think about going to the hospital. My contractions were still 10 min apart, but my water had broken - we thought that might be a point of interest. I got up to get in the shower and boom my contractions started coming every 4 minutes. I got a little nervous. I thought they would gradually go from 10 to 4 - but no, they skipped all of that. So we start hurrying a little faster to the hospital. We get there and get all checked in.
Here is the last picture of my and my baby belly. I'm ready. It takes a while to get all situated and settled in. I had to get a bag of IV fluid and antibiotics before they would give me the epidural - bring on the swelling of EVERYTHING! Thankfully though I could still tolerate the contractions at this point. Eventually the lady came in to give me the epidural. Talk about an uncomfortable position they have you sit in! And she had to try 3 times to get it into the right place so I was sitting crouched over having contractions and 'relaxing' for what felt like an eternity! But I loved the anesthesiologist and the nurse that was helping- so that made it better.

After that was in (as we all know) things became a little brighter. I was able to hear the birds chirping and smell the sweet smells of rain kissed flowers :-) It was glorious. Now all we had to do was wait. I hate waiting.

They started the pitosin (or however it's spelled) and we were off. I was progressing pretty well and the baby was tolerating the contractions like a champ. Then the stupid nurse... she was trying to get a better measurement of exactly how hard my contractions were. So she was trying to put this tool thing next to the baby. It took her forever to place it for some reason and in all honesty things went down hill from there. From then on whenever I had a contraction baby's heart rate went really low. So much for sleeping. Have you ever tried to sleep when you hear your childs heart beat go from 120 bpm to 70 bpm? Not fun. It scared me!
So they took me off pitosin, threw this oxygen mask on me and told me to roll onto my side and pull one knee up. I felt like they were trying to get me to do a difficult pose in yoga. I'm just not very agile at this point. But things didn't change. Even with the smallest of contractions his heart rate would just plummet. After the contraction it would race back up again, which was good. However, it still wasn't good that it would go so low.

THEN there was the 't' drug that made life miserable. When I would have a contraction my uterus wouldn't let up. I would have super long contractions and as we know the baby's heart rate would go down so having a long contraction was frowned upon at this point. So the nurse gave me this drug that started with a 't' to loosen my contractions. It was the worst drug I have ever been given. It made me shake uncontrollably. It was like I was shivering. Oh my gosh it was terrible. I had to have 2 doses and the nurse said she couldn't remember the last time she had to give 2 doses of the stuff. Blah!

This all happened from about 2 until 6 pm. The doctor had been monitoring my progress from home (docs are getting so lazy:-)) and then she felt it was time to take a more hands on approach. While she was en route my nurse told me flat out that I was probably going to have to have a c-section because of this doctor. I had been dreading a c-section but for the health of the baby I'll do anything.

Here we are after they cleaned him up. He was born at 7:16 on 23 May 2010. Daniel was so excited. I heard him just laughing in the background while they were sewing me up.
Here is our little bundle of joy. He was still nameless at this point. It took us 3 days to finally decide on a name. We had dozens of options and couldn't decide on one. Finally the day we left we decided on Alex Heninger Jacobs.
His first car ride home. The dang car seat made his head all funky, poor kid. But he did excellent in the car!

So sleepy all the time.

Alex and his daddy. Alex LOVES his daddy. He loved him when I was pregnant and it has transferred over to the life side as well.
Thank you Aunt Merilee and Uncle Michael for the sports jammies! He is almost too big for these :-(

We Love him and are SO glad he is here!

I've Had Better Days...

Doctors appointment today! To be more specific, we had our 36 week (at 37, almost 38 weeks) ultrasound. Apparently they like to know about how big the baby is going to be (and frankly I would as well). We waited a week because now we have a lot better insurance and so we postponed the ultra sound for the insurance.

I have to admit, I've come out of appointments happier. In fact, this was by far the most depressing appointment we have been to. I was on the verge of tears pretty much the entire time. I firmly believe that hormones played a large part, but also the events of the visit attributed.

What we found out:

- Baby is healthy

- Amniotic fluid is excellent

- He apparently has a ton of hair (we couldn't see it, but the lady found a patch)

Also what we found out:

- He is in fact 37 weeks (not the 39/40 I truly thought he was)

- He weighs 8 lbs already

- His abdomen measures 40 weeks

- His limbs are at 36/37 weeks

- He already has fat rolls (the lady just kept saying "this is a big kid")

And the kicker? His head is so large that they couldn't even give it a measurement. Its measuring past 41 weeks and so the computer doesn't even register how big it is. He is in the 97th percentile for head size.

Remember how I DON'T want a C-section? Ya, kids head is gunna be a little problem.
This is the best face shot she could get. He was mostly hiding and she couldn't get him to turn his face.

Here is his head! She just kept enlarging the circle :-)

This wasn't the end of the appointment. I don't have high blood pressure. I have never had high blood pressure. This pregnancy is the highest its ever been and is still in the 115 area. But today it was 140/80. I was floored! What?! That's crazy! My doctor was a little nervous. Then she saw my watermelon sized feet and then I told her that I had been really not feeling well these past few weeks. That made her think preclampsia and/or toxemia. So I got blood work done and I have to do a 24 hour urine collection and then come back in on Thursday. We'll see what happens.

So now we are just playing the waiting game. I could be induced next week just so he won't get any bigger, but that is the week of Daniels finals. Things are just up in the air. I just wish he would come tonight, naturally.

I think I have contractions, but they never amount to anything. Now it just feels like my stomach is just constantly rock hard.

I'm such a drama queen. This really isn't that big of a deal, but I am so dang dramatic that its this HUGE issue and when I tell people or read this I'm like 'dude this is nothing'. I'll be fine. People do this all the time. Just shut up Stephanie! :-) Soon. This baby will come. Who knows, my next post could be introducing our son. Yeah! He's coming!

The Worst Wife EVER Award Goes to Me!!

I have one thing to say: Try and remember when you switch the comb from one hand to another or this might happen.
Words can't express how awful I feel. Luckily Daniel is the best husband in the world and is being incredibly gracious by saying he's had much worse. But lets be honest, that's hard to imagine. Poor guy.

We're Winding Down!

We are about to cross the finish line! Here is an update of where we are now.

The nursery is up and in working order. I think it looks awesome. Sadly the whole 'decorating' aspect of anything is totally lost on me. So its still a little bare and will probably stay that way. But at least it's not pink anymore!

Incase you forgot... here is the before picture:

Nice, right?

And now to present the after pictures:

My mom came up and did all of the wallpaper. So THANK YOU MOM! Daniel did the paint and helped me rearrange the furniture like 10 times in order to satisfy my nutty 'fung-shwey' obsession, that apparently only shows up in nurseries.

I'm really happy with it. Kid won't even care or notice, but still- I like it :-)

Pregnancy update:

- He dropped about 2 weeks ago. So I am carrying super low now. I love it though because I can breathe! I swear I hadn't had a decent yawn in 8 months! Then all of a sudden I could yawn! Oh it was a glorious day!

- At my 34 week apt. he measured 36-37 weeks. Resulting in the mention of the terrible 'c' word. Yes, my doctor basically told me to prepare for a c-section because of his size. This is something Daniel and I want to avoid at ALL costs. However, we still think that we'll be able to do this as naturally as possible.

- I can't sit to save my life. He doesn't like to be squished :-)

- I have been dang sick going on 5 days. It's like I am regressing. It's like my morning sickness is back but sadly enough my true friend has let me down . We've been through a lot together in the past 10 or so years. Never has she led me to believe she wouldn't be there, helping me. It was always a comfort when I had her bottle with me 24-7. I felt safe just knowing she was there. Yes, I took 2 zofran and it did nothing to alleviate my sickness. It was a sad day. So I've been trying to force things down. Yucky, I just feel so yucky.

- However, in other- better news, I think because of my sickness my swelling has gone down! I kind of have a shape in my legs and feet. It's not all the way gone, not even close. But at least when I walk it doesn't giggle and I can move my toes!

- Daniel and I have basically put me on bed rest because we have pretty crappy insurance right now and come May 14th we'll have awesome insurance through the air force. So I am really taking it easy. He's just gotta last until the 14th.

- I don't know much. I've never been pregnant before. I never knew what it would feel like. I've asked as many questions as I know how. But in the end I will have a different experience than everyone else. And I think he is coming in May. None of this June 2nd crap. I personally think that he isn't HUGE, they just got my due date wrong. So right now I believe I am 39 weeks, not 37. But we'll see. I may be wrong. Who knows.

I think that's about it as far as updates go. This is what's going on in our world!

My visiting teacher recently threw me a small baby shower. I was too sick to stay long at all, but a lady in the ward made me the cutest jungle cake. So I wanted to show off her talent.

It was a banana cake and the monkeys were tootsie-rolls! SO YUMMY! Sometimes I get a little obsessed with cakes and decorating them. But mainly I think cake decorating should be left to Duff from Ace of Cakes. It's nice to see that anyone can do it!

Look how cute it is?!

Daniel couldn't wait to eat it :-) Do you see the torn leaf and the big finger print in it? Hehehe, and people think I don't have any kids!

An 'Egg'spirement- we are such nerds :-)

Daniel being the scientist that he is decided to run a very important, prestigious, life changing 'egg'spirement. I gladly offered to assist in anyway. Which was beneficial because that meant that I got to eat! Here is what happened:

Scientific Method-

1.) Ask a question: Do organic eggs taste better than regular, cheaper eggs?

2.) Background: About a year ago we tried organic milk to see if it would help Daniels ... sensitive digestive system. We found it to help significantly with this ailment and as another bonus was that it tasted AWESOME! I hate milk. I never drink it, but organic milk? So yummy! Such a huge difference. So we wondered if eggs would be any different.

3.) Hypothesis: Daniel- he thought that between the 3 types of eggs we used in the experiment there would be minimal difference between them. Me- due to my love of the organic milk, I thought that the organic eggs would taste better.

4.) Test: We bought 3 different types of eggs at Wal-Mart. Regular Large Eggs for $1.46. Grain fed eggs for $1.74. Then Great Value Organic Eggs for $3.17. Then Daniel went down this morning and cooked the three different types of eggs 2 ways, scrambled and over easy. Only he knew which plate held which type of egg. We judged each egg on appearance, taste of the yoke, taste of the white and the difference between scrambled and over easy.

5.) Results: Color- the regular eggs were really dull in color. The yoke was a muted yellow. The organic and grain fed eggs were a bright, yummy yellow.

Taste of the yoke- Organic had much more flavor and a better consistency.

Taste of the white- Grain fed and organic were very similar, however we felt that the organic one was slightly better tasting. The regular eggs I spit out because it tasted so rubbery. It was gross!

Scrambled vs over easy- I LOVED the organic scrambled eggs. It tasted clean and fresh and natural. It was an obvious difference between the other eggs.

-Then he asked me to guess which plate contained which egg. The first one I guessed was grain fed eggs. The second the regular eggs and the third the organic eggs. I was right because there was such an obvious different.

Therefore, our conclusion is that organic eggs taste SO much better than regular eggs. This made us SO mad because they obviously cost so much more than the gross eggs! Also, the shell in organic eggs are brown and spotted and different shapes. Another obvious 'natural' sign for us. They put all this junk into the animals and it changes the taste of the product a TON. We don't need all the junk! Which is another reason we are ticked that the organic eggs were so much yummier. We have never considered ourselves as the 'granola' type or crazy about food and stuff. Sadly though we are finding that organic food really does taste so much better and honestly that is important to us. Why does eating healthy cost so much money!? UGH- I am hoping that the prices will go lower.

I recently babysat at a persons house who is more organic than I have ever seen in my entire life (woman didn't have a microwave). And Daniel and I tried organic ice cream she had there. Oh my gosh! We were immediately hooked. I can count on one hand how many times I have eaten plain vanilla ice cream, but this stuff- did not need one topping or add-in or anything. It was SO good!

So what the heck? It tastes SO much better and is better for you. Why not? That is our conclusion. We are going to try and move across the organic line slowly because it really is more expensive, but so far we are totally sold on eggs and milk.

Our next experiment? We are going to see if the organic eggs make cookies (so if you bake with them) taste better. Do you think we'll be able to tell a difference? At least we'll have 2 huge batches of cookies to make sure to test each type thoroughly