Shane's Birthday

Shane's birthday snuck up on me quickly after Aaron's birth.  Luckily, we had been very generously given a gift card to Sky Zone by someone Josh had helped out and that made things easy.  I told Shane he could invite a couple friends to go jump for a couple hours, and he invited Ellynn and Aubrey from his class.  It was very low key, but I think they had a lot of fun,

 and the girls did too.

That was on a Saturday and his actual birthday was on Sunday, so we celebrated as a family then with presents,

 his dinner request- barbecue chicken enchiladas, and cake (of course chocolate).  I tried a new recipe this year and it turned out really good, gluten free and all.  

A few things about Shane at 7:

-Still loves superheroes and animals.
-Is really starting to snowball with his reading, it is becoming a lot easier for him and therefore more enjoyable too.  He has great expression.
-Would ask you a billion questions or tell you a billion stories every day if given the opportunity.
-He can be deliberately rude to her at times and she can drive him crazy, but he and Marissa spend a lot of time together playing and it is so cute to hear all they come up with, they get very into their play.
-Is super competitive.  He likes playing with girls better, because he is afraid the other boys are faster and he won't be able to win their games.  He would rather not attempt something than risk losing.
-He LOVES Aaron and is super cute with him, especially since he started smiling he can not resist talking to him when Aaron is giving out smiles.
-Has a heart of gold and is very caring, and always wants to please me.  Words of affirmation are definitely part of his love language.  He loves to say, "Weren't you impressed when I..."
-Sings loud and proud during primary at church.  He can be very spirtually minded and sensitive in that way.

Even Stevens

I love that Aaron makes our family nice and even.  4 kids- 2 boys, 2 girls, 2 older, 2 younger, 2 fall birthdays, 2 spring birthdays. etc.  When we were thinking about having our fourth I told Josh we should aim for the fall this time because we have girls in the spring, and boys in the fall- and it worked!  And a couple fun facts about Aaron's birthday (Nov 18):
-It is my late Grandpa Durham's birthday
-Aaron's birthday is 18 days before Shane's, and Sadie's is 18 days before Marissa's.

Their Little Baby Doll

I think the girls think that Santa came before Christmas and brought them a real live baby doll!  They LOVE him, and so far haven't really been jealous at all because they are so excited about him.  They want to love on him and help with him all the time, which sometimes can be annoying and I have to go over boundaries daily, but they can actually be helpful sometimes too.  Aaron seems to like them and puts up with a lot (more from Marissa than Sadie;) )

And Shane loves him too, just doesn't get as much time with him.

Coming Home

On our last day in the hospital, Josh was working in clinic and swung by the hospital afterwards to pick up me and Aaron and take us home.  My mom was so cute to have the kids color Welcome Home posters for us.  

He doesn't look too thrilled about coming home does he?

He quickly fell asleep in the bouncer and stayed that way while the kids ran and danced in circles around it.  I think Sadie told me ten times, "I'm so excited for him!" and she really was.  She was also a little morbid, she kept asking, "what if him dies?"  or saying ,"I'm so glad him didn't die!"  We had talked a little bit throughout the pregnancy especially with the early bleeding about the possibility of something happening and man she took it to heart!  

It was so nice having my parents here for awhile to help, they stayed through Thanksgiving and a few days after and helped ease the transition for all of us.  Here are some of our first pictures at home with Aaron- 

(whole family of 6 on the couch- Josh is filing Aaron's nails)

In the Hospital

This hospital stay/getting ready to bring the baby home was 100,000 times better than the experience we had with Sadie.  For one, Josh actually got to stick around a little bit.  It was so nice having my parents here and knowing that we didn't have to worry about the kids.  I told Josh to go home our first night there so one of us could get some good sleep, and he took the next day off so he could spend some time with us.  

They do a "celebration dinner" where they have some fancier options to order and your spouse gets to order too, and they set the table up and have sparkling juice and a little cake too. Of course another nice thing this time was that Josh can get whatever food he wants there for free, and also that most of the nurses knew him and were extra nice.  It was a different experience this time too just knowing it would be our last and trying to soak it all in.

He went home again that night and worked the next day,but this time I wasn't so exhausted like I was in the hospital with Sadie because they had a nursery and I utilized it some at night when he didn't need to eat.  And so I was able to enjoy the time with him a little more.

I couldn't get over how cute he was!

Grandma and Grandpa came with the big kids to visit both days.

I love this picture my mom got of them seeing Aaron for the first time and waiting to hold him.

Sadie went first and she was so cute, just in wonder and checking him out.

Marissa's turn

Shane's turn

We have 4 kids now!  And can you tell they all love him?!  I'll admit I was a little anxious when they were there about bringing him home because of how overexcited they got, but we are all adjusted now for the most part, more on that soon.

Aaron Gregory Dettinger

***WARNING: This is a birth story!****

My doctor and I had talked for a few weeks about tentatively inducing me on Wednesday November 18, figuring that I would be already pretty dilated and ready like I had been with the last two.  So I was a little discouraged when one week before that I was only a 1 1/2 and not really effaced at all.  I was starting to second guess if I should induce or not, and spent the previous weekend bowling, running, eating spicy food, and everything else to try to get a little more ready.  I decided to just keep a flexible attitude and see how I felt/how far progressed I was at my appointment on Tuesday and take it from there.  Much to my happiness, at my appointment I was a 3 close to 4 and 90% effaced.  Woohoo!  That made me feel a lot better about going ahead with the induction, so he told us to go in the next morning and he would do one prostin just to be safe and then start the pitocin an hour later.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 or so and it took a little bit to get the paperwork stuff done and the iv started etc.  They put the prostin in around 9:30 and I started having a few contractions, then the pitocin around 10:30 and started having them more regularly.  Josh asked me a couple times if I needed anything or wanted some music or movie on or something, and I said no, I was still doing good so I'd just read my book and wait til I needed something more.  I called my dad just after 12 to make sure they had gotten to ballet okay and I remember telling him that contractions were going but I was still comfortable.  And lo and behold, Aaron was born just 2 hours later at 2:10!

Just after the contractions started picking up in intensity my water broke when I went to the bathroom and when I got back the nurse checked me and I was at a 4.  That was a little bit discouraging, but I still wasn't in unbearable pain so I breathed through them, and sat on the birthing ball for a little bit and that felt good, but it made it so the monitor wasn't in the right position to pick up the baby's heartbeat so the nurse wanted me to get off for a minute to do a check, and I was at a 7!  I knew at that point that I would be just fine without an epidural.  I decided to stay on the bed after because I knew if I got on the ball again I wouldn't want to get off.  I could feel the baby making his way down and had the feeling that it would not be too much longer, and started to think my doctor better get here soon!  He called Josh when he was pulling in and asked if he needed to run or not and Josh said he was fine, but I started pushing just a few contractions after he got there so it was a good thing he made it!  (though really Josh could have delivered him obviously but I like him to be my support rather than on the other end).  As I was pushing it was almost as if I couldn't believe it was already okay for me to push, usually it feels like I am wanting to push for awhile before I am actually ready.  The great thing about a fourth baby is that my body really just knew what to do and he came out pretty quickly, and as they handed him to me I thought, "wow, I can't believe I'm already done!"  It was a pretty happy and surreal moment.  

On our way to the hospital

Still comfortable

So happy

 He was 8 pounds 6 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long

These pictures make me smile because this was what was happening while I was in labor- Marissa's little ballet performance!