Here's the story

Well, today has been 3 weeks since Joey came to join our family, so it's probably about time that I told the whole story about the day.
I had been on bedrest for 2 weeks exactly & had a doctors appointment on the Tuesday the 10th. I was hoping my blood pressure was up enough that they would induce me, cause I was about at the end of my rope, being on bedrest. I actually almost packed a bag for the hospital & took it to my doctors appointment. I was sure if I did that though, I would jinx myself.
Sure enough, my blood pressure was still up, so Dr. Hollar sent me over to triage at the hospital to be monitored. This was my 3rd trip to triage for this pregnancy!!! My first was before our Pennsylvania trip to get the ok to go. My second trip was 2 weeks prior, when I was put onto bedrest. My third trip.. resulted in labor induction.
Sean stayed with me in triage while I was there for about 3 hours. They moved me to labor & delivery around 3ish, I think. Right before that, Michelle popped into my room in triage. She was on her way home from work in the OR & had received the texts I had been sending my family about what was going on, so she stopped by to say hi. Sean had parked in staff carpool parking, & when Michelle told him the ticket pretty often, he left at the same time she did. I wanted him to stay until I go into my room in L&D, but was thinking if it was anything like when we had Sam, it would be probably be the next day before the baby was born, so I told Sean to go home & I would give him a call when things got going.
So I finally made it into l & d & they began some medication to soften the cervix. It's so funny, cause before I even got to l & d, my sister Wendi was texting me & called me to tell me who my nurses would be, what room I was in... she made sure I had great people taking care of me. It pays to have a sister -who used to be- in labor & delivery :) When I asked the nurse how long it would take to get things going, she told me she thought the baby would come in the night. I asked- if you were me, would you have your husband here through the night? She said Yes! I seriously was planning on not having Sean there, cause I figured I wouldn't be close til the next day & he would be more comfortable at home & Sam could be with him. But! I was not ready to have a baby alone.. so I called Sean & told him that he needed to make sure Sam was with someone through the night & he was with me. My awesome sister JoDee volunteered to keep Sam for us ( & I know he isn't the easiest kid at night) & we REALLY appreciated it alot!!!!
So Sean finished some things at home & joined me at around 8:30 that night.
After the second round of medication, I started having minor contractions every 3-5 minutes, so they wanted to give me three rounds to see if I would naturally go into labor without pitocin. Before the last round, the nurse got me a cheeseburger from the grill (the food that the cafeteria brought me looked scary) because I wasn't suppose to eat after active labor began. So Sean showed up right after I finished eating & they had me walk around for a half an hour before starting the pitocin.
Here is Sean in his post at my side.

He is so funny- when he got there he couldn't remember if he left the oven on from feeding Sam at home, so he asked his mom to come get the key to our house & go check to make sure it didn't burn down while we were gone. She stayed a little & visited with us, & my contractions were starting to intensify. While she was visiting, she noticed there were ants on the ground in the room & pointed it out to the nurse, who then moved us to another ant-free room. They gave us the room they call the princess suite because it is just a little bigger than the othe rooms. Before they moved us, we were in the same room we had had Sam in.

Once she moved us, our awesome nurse Wendy, talked with us & kept us good company. I called her the pillow queen because every time she came in she had another pillow that she would stuff around me to make a giant pillow cacoon. She kept saying that Sean reminded her of her husband. Sean kept saying silly things to get a rise out of her- that is my Sean.. the teaser- even when we are in the middle of having a baby!!

By midnight the pain was pretty intense & I asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist had 2 other people in line in front of me, so by about 1am I had the epidural. Sean & I tried to sleep a little after that. My water broke at 3am on its own & I knew it wouldn't be long after that. By 3:30 I was at a 7, so I had Sean call my Mom so she could be there when the baby came. I was so happy that she was here to be with me this time! My parents got there at 5 to 4 & I was at a 9, just waiting for Dr. Hollar to get to the hospital. She got to the room at about 4:15 & I was sooo dying! I was ready to get that baby out!!

Just 3 pushes later.. & we had our little guy! 4:29am.

I love this picture of my mom.
she was such an amazing support, staying by my side even after the baby came. I could tell she was getting antsy to see the baby though & it almost made me laugh to hear her ask- do you mind if I go look at him? I love my mom more than I could ever begin to say.
Before she made it over there, little Joey marked his territory straight from that little bin they put him in. I was the only one to see him do it at first, but when I started laughing, everyone looked over. Dad said it was his way of telling us what he thought about dragging him out into the world.
I wanted to know he was ok & when they told me how much he weighed, I knew he would be fine. He was supposedly only 36 weeks & 5 days along, but I think I was 38 weeks by this time.. I guess we'll never really know.

After weighing & measuring him, they finally brought him over to me & helped me sit all the way up so I could get my first glimpse at my new little guy.




Here we are with our awesome nurse Wendy & doctor- Dr. Hollar. I'm pretty sure this is one of the worst pictures of me EVER!


proud Grandma.. #19 grandchild!!
Grandpa stayed int the corner til the baby came & Grandma called him into picture taking action.
after all was said & done, I could hear Sean & my dad talking about cars in the corner.. it made me smile.We still hadn't agreed on a name for the baby. I really wanted to name him Henry. Sean seriously would never give me a name that he wanted throughout the whole pregnancy. It wasn't until the 12th, the next day, that we finally agreed on Joseph Henry. I wasn't convinced he was a Joseph at first, but after I started calling him that, it just fit :)
I wasn't able to breastfeed Sam, but was hoping I would be able to with this one. He took me right from the beginning, which made me very happy. Sam was taken to the NICU right away for about 5 hours after he was born. The NICU was waiting in the room for Joe, but when they saw that he was healthy, they left. He stayed with us in the room all day.

After a few hours & everyone had gone, Sean, Joe & I all took a little nap.

After we slept a few hours, one of the nurses gave Joey his first "bath" & washed his hair & body off.

Sean went home to get a little more sleep & get Sam too. I guess the post pardum was a little packed, cause it took them quite awhile to get me a room. I hung out in my l & d room til that evening. About 4pm, Sean came back with his mom & Sam, to meet his new brother.

He found the wheelchair extremely fascinating & just couldn't leave it alone!

Aren't I just beautiful in that awesome hospital gown??

Sam meets Joe.

Sam saying bye ( to which we replied- Sam, he's coming home with us!)

love at first sight!

Grandma Johnson with Joey

Sean & his mom went to Famous Daves right before coming to the hopsital & he brought me a cajun chicken sandwhich (my fav!!) from the restaraunt. It was pretty much the first thing I had eaten since I had the baby!! With the confusion of getting a room for me, they didn't bring me breakfast- which didn't really bother me cause I was asleep- & then the lunch they brought was pretty much not edible. I downed that sandwhich!!!!!

All at once, there was a room ready for me, & the Dillards & Stevens all showed up at the same time!! so we all went up to post pardum & they all got to meet Joey ( who still wasn't named at this point).

Aunt Wendi

Aunt Michelle

Aunt JoDee

Aunt Nancie

Uncle Phil

It took a couple of days for my blood pressure to come down enough (with medication) for them to let me go. I had a slight emotional breakdown, embarrassingly enough, in front of the nurse & Dr. Hollar. I'm sure they NEVER have emotional women there! :)

I wanted to go home so badly to be in my own bed & with Sean & Sam, it was a hard couple days in the hospital after that.

It's taken a few weeks for my blood pressure to get where it should be, which was how it was when I had Sam too. I'm still being weened off of medication in hopes that my bp will go back to normal on its own.

I think I just forgot how much work a newborn is!! These past 3 weeks have definitely been some adjustment. But our little Joey is SO worth it!!

He is so amazing. Our little gift from God, to help us grow into better people while being blessed with his amazing spirit. Here we go...

Joseph Henry

I genuinly feel like this is the first moment I've had to breathe in the last week & a half! On August 11, 2010 we welcomed the newest Johnson addition... Joseph Henry Johnson. I thought I should update the blog, so even though this is short of words, here are a few pictures to tie you over til I find some time to tell the whole story!
Born 4:29 am, 7lb4oz, 19.5 in. Healthy as can be :)
Sammy meets his brother!

the Johnson boys!

Sam LOVES Joey. He wants to love him & kiss him all the time!

our amazing Joey...

The day before we had Joey I asked Sammy to go get me a diaper so I could change him. He got the diaper for me, laid down so I could change him, & then took the diaper to the garbage for me. I thought... I'm starting over again!!!! I've already got a nicely trained child.. & I'm starting all over!!

It's ok, cause Joe is worth it! He is so different than Sam! I guess I just expected to have a Sam the 2nd. Sam has this very very lightheartedness about him, & Joe is a happy baby, but he is quite a bit more serious. Isn't it funny that I'm already pegging the personality of a week old baby? I can't wait to watch him grow!

Sammy love

Although this whirlwind of a child drives me bonkers on a regular basis.. there is more than one moment a day that I look at him & wonder how on this Earth I was ever blessed to have such a beautiful, sweet, smart, and innocent angel grace my home. I love him more than I can even begin to say. I stress a little bit when I wonder if I can love this next one as much as I love my Sammy. I know I have the capability to love alot though, so I think we'll be ok :)
I thought Sammy needed a haircut anyways, but seeing his hair drying after a bath just confirms it...

Pretty much Sam's favorite usage of time lately... riding his train-

only second to... taking things in & out of his train

His favorite book...

his absolute favorite past time... NOT listening to me. I totally laughed when I saw this next picture-

I LOVE all his faces in these next pictures :)

Today Sammy got to help his daddy fix a car... his ultimate favorite past time- anything Sean is doing.

could there be ANYTHING more adorable than that face??!!! I also love how much he looks like he truly believes that he is doing something with those tools!

I'm excited to think that I could love another child like I love this sweet boy!

Sean's Corner --- Old friends and Adventures

Latley Ive been bumping into old friends. Yesterday my good buddy Matt Palmer and his family came by and had dinner with us. This was pretty cool cuz Matt has been in Texas going to school for the last yr or two. He was in town because he is moving to Tucson to go to the U of A Law program. Later that night at the walgreens I bumped into Janae, an old friend from High School, and it was nice to catch up. Its always nice to catch up with people you havent seen for years and see how they're doing. The next day Sammy, Matt and I went up to Seneca to check on the bee's and try out Matts new AR15. My review on his new fire arm is A+, It seemed very tight and firm and accurate. However I did better with my SKS, probably because I wasn't used to the sights on OCTAVIO (Matts AR15), however despite that I very much like the feel of that gun. Perhaps I'll get one some day. Seneca, as usual, was amazing. Something about that place always draws me back to it, I love it. It has a kind of rugged beauty that most places can't compare. Theres other places that are greener, or cooler. However, the wild life and the feeling I get when I go there is uncomparable. Julia and I had our best date up there before we were married. My sister was married there and Someday I hope I can own a little peice of property up there with a cabin. Needless to say, I jump at any chance I get to go up there. Sammy had a pretty fun time up there too, trying to throw the biggest rock into the biggest puddle. There is so many trails that I haven't conquered up there. I've decided that eventually I'd like to get another travel trailer and a FJ40 Land Cruiser. I've had both of these in the past and enjoyed them very much, and I am excited to have them again. I look forward to the day that my boys and I can put a fuel injected 5.3 vortec v8 in a 60's land cruiser fj40, then we could go camping with the family and try out the modified FJ40 on some trails at seneca-That would be a great time. I look forward to it-----Since this post is of the purpose of a journal entry in addition to a post, I am putting a few pics.

thoughts...

Yes, more ramblings from me.
Yesterday brought some breakthroughs for us here. After coming home to a house that may or may not have had a dirty dishes bomb go off.. it was finally all cleaned up. Hallelujah!! Thank you Sean for all your hard work! The night culminated with Sean telling me he didn't realize I did so much.. nice to hear :)
However, in the midst of his cleaning spree, he attempted to cook. How is it that Sean's cooking can bring me to tears when I'm pregnant? When I was pregnant with Sam I couldn't stand the smell of bacon, but Sean insisted on making us sandwhichs with bacon. Despite how much I told him not too... I guess it didn't all mean too much until I actually started to cry when he brought me the sandwhich. Last night I was step by step instructing Sean on how to make potatoes, onions, sausage & squash. I thought I'd done a pretty good job until I started smelling something not in the equation I'd layed out for him.
"are you putting bbq sauce in that???!!!"..... followed by a very sly-"....no"
I guess Sean spotted some beef marinade & decided this would be a perfect touch to our potatoes & squash? It smelled awful!!! Even when Nancie stopped by briefly & said it didn't smell too bad, I wasn't feeling too reassured. She probably thought I was insane for how mad it was making me & I'm glad she left before the anger turned to tears. I was sooo hungry! I just wanted it how I make it!!!!
well... it turned out how I thought it would- and was also too spicy to try to feed a 22 month old child, who ended up running around holding his tongue & crying. The sincerity of Sean's apology made me realize he really was just trying... & I guess maybe looking back, I'll eventually be able to laugh, like I do about the bacon incidence. We all ended up drinking alot of milk & eating alot of watermelon, which seemed to put out the fire on the tongue. Good times.
So today I woke up to a clean house.. absolutely wonderful :) & we finally got our new remote (not a good time for your child to smash yours, when your on bedrest & can't get up).
Today Sean took me for a Dr. appointment. She was running very behind, & we ended up in the waiting room for an hour. It wouldn't have been so bad if a delivery man didn't walk in with like 10 pizzas & I was already starving!!! I guess I'm doing so well on bedrest that she wants the trend to continue. yay
I lost 5 lbs since my last visit (go figure... all I've been doing is sitting around) & I am 80% effaced & 1cm dilated. There was no talk of an induction, so here we go with another week :(
We did have some great friends, the Palmers, stop by to visit this afternoon, which made the day fly by.. & me happy. They just moved back from Texas to start law school in Tucson. It's always nice when people who you didn't want to leave come back :)