Happy 29th Birthday Mike!

This year for Mike's birthday I was able to surprise him. Mike's family, Sarah, Amy and Sam, were able to come up on his birthday and spend the weekend with us. It was so much fun surprising him and having them here. It beats singing a happy birthday solo! Come over to my craft blog to read up on his cake. It was YUMMY! sewincrediblycrafty.blogspot.com

Sarah was the official camera lady this weekend so that is why there isn't any of her.





Amy build so many towers this weekend! Alex loved every one of them.

Thanks for taking the time to come up and play with us Sarah, Amy and Sam. We loved having you!

Alex's Story

Since Alex turned one I realized that I never wrote up the story of his birth.  This is more for Alex and our family's benefit.

Alex’s Pre-Birth Story

I had a great pregnancy with Alex.  I only experienced minimal morning sickness and I was tired.  I didn’t have any problems with the pregnancy until the last 6 weeks.  My doctor measured me and noticed that I was 2 inches bigger than I should be for how far a long I am.  He set me up for an ultrasound to make sure everything was alright with Alex.  At the ultrasound they noticed that Alex was two weeks ahead of schedule but also I had very low amniotic fluid.  For the next week I had to drink a gallon of water everyday to hopefully build up my fluid level.  If the fluid level didn’t lift then they would know something was wrong with the placenta.  Luckily, after the week was up my fluid level was normal but I was extremely swollen.  I gained 16lbs that week!

 This was taken on New Years Adam (day before New Years Eve)

The same week I had the ultrasound, my doctor started me on non-stress tests.  I had to go into the hospital twice a week to get Alex’s heartbeat and movements monitored.  They also checked my blood pressure and weight.  At these appointments they discovered that my blood pressure was higher than it should be. 

At the end of the week of drinking water, the doctor had me collect all of my urine for 24 hours so they could check it for protein and other deposits.  They thought that I could possibly have preeclampsia, toxemia, or pregnancy induced hypertension.  After the results from my 24 hour urine test came back they discovered that I didn’t have preeclampsia yet but I was on the border of it.  They then put me on bed rest so I wouldn’t develop anything serious. 

 

First time seeing Alex

I did really well on bed rest and I improved a little but not enough to get off bed rest.  I continued to have the non-stress tests twice a week and everything seemed to be good every week.  When I was 36 weeks along we went to the doctor and I was already dilated to a 3 and I was effaced 50%.  The doctor said Alex was very low and I had a chance of going into labor soon.  I had felt Alex drop earlier on that week but we were still surprised with the news from the doctor.  Not as surprised as we were a few days later when my water broke. 

Alex’s Birth Story

 Finally getting to hold Alex

On Thursday, we were celebrating New Year Eve.  Mike and I had gone to the store and got a bunch of food to help us celebrate.  I was eating chips, dip and salsa and went up to go to the bathroom.  When I came back down stairs I leaned over to grab something and felt like I had to go to the bathroom again.  When I got upstairs, I noticed that water just kept on coming.  When I would sit down it would stop but when I would stand up, I would start leaking again.  It was 10:45 and we kept an eye on it for a few minutes before we called the Gritman Family Birth Center and told them that we thought my water had broke.  They told us to come in.  Since I was still three weeks early, I hadn’t packed anything for me, so I stood in the shower leaking while I told Mike what to pack. 

We drove to the hospital and I started to feel slight tightening in my stomach but it wasn’t bad at all.  We were both very nervous about Alex coming but very excited!  When we got to the hospital they told us that I was dilated to a 4 already.  They got us all hooked up to the monitors and Mike and I watched the new year roll in at the hospital. 

 Mike and Alex

At 3:00 am I was dilated to a 5 and I was having pretty hard contractions and decided to get the epidural.  The epidural wasn’t that bad but holding still during it was a little tricky.  The first hour of the epidural felt wonderful.  I was completely relaxed but unfortunately I still couldn’t sleep.  After a little while my contractions started to slow down and almost stop.  They put me on patosin to jump start my contractions again.  I really felt my contractions after the patosin got into my system and I was wondering why I kept feeling the pains.  I was allowed a button to push to give me some more medicine but every time I pushed it, I didn’t notice the pain going away. 

The next time they checked me, I was still only dilated to a 7.  The doctor came in and told us that since I wasn’t dilating we had two choices.  We could take me off of the monitors and let me relax and check me again in 12 hours to see where I was at or we could go in for a C-section.  The pain was getting worse and I hadn’t dilated very much.  They started being concerned about my lack of dilation.  During this time we decided to see what is wrong with the epidural.  We decided to get another epidural because the one I had wasn’t providing enough pain killer and we discovered that the first one had wiggled itself out. By that time I had been in labor for 19 hours with a faulty epidural, no sleep and no food.  I was so ready for it all to be over but I also didn’t want to go through a C-section if I didn’t need to.  Mike and I prayed about it and I got an undeniable answer to go for the C-section. 

 

First Family Picture

We got ready and went into the operating room nervous but ready for Alex to come and meet us.  By the time we got into the operating room, I had been in labor for 20 hours.  They started the surgery around 8:30 and at 8:50 pm, we heard our little boy cry for the first time.  He had very strong lungs and wanted to let us all know he wasn’t very happy.  After the doctor and nurse checked him over, Mike was able to hold him.  The doctor told us that the reason why I wasn’t dilated was because Alex was “sunny side up.”  This means that his body was facing the right direction but his head was turned up instead of towards my spine.  My doctor said that we made a good decision with going for the C-Section. 

 Look at that cone head!  He was defiantly stuck!

Mike and Alex got to go down to the nursery and get checked over more while I was being sewed back up.  I was in the operating room for another 45 minutes until they took me to the ICU to let me recover a little.  Finally at 10:10 pm, I was able to go back down to my room and see my beautiful little boy and hold him for the first time. 

 Happy New Year!

Alexander Evan Christensen was born 8 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long.  He was really healthy and didn’t have any problems.  They were really surprised at how well he was considering he was 3 weeks early.   He was born at 8:50 pm on New Years Day and was the first baby in that region in 2009 and Alex got a write up in the newspaper.

1st Birthday

Alex had his first birthday on January 1st, 2010!  What a way to start out the new year!

Good morning Birthday BOY! (He actually woke up at 6:00, hungry and with wet PJ's so he got a bottle and a quick change and then back to bed.  Hence the jeans and t-shirt in the morning.)

This was my amazing thrift store find.  I can't wait to fix it up and add all sorts of kitchen type stuff to it.  For now Alex enjoys opening and closing the cupboards especially since we've locked the ones in the actual kitchen.

Come on Dad!  It's mine!!

Since Christmas was just a week before, Alex got pretty good at opening presents.

He got this train from his Grandma and Grandpa and loves it.  They always give the best gifts.

First Birthday Cake

I decided to make Alex's first cake.  It was fun but a lot more work then I'll probably do most of the time. (I even used cake mixes and it still took me forever to do!)

I decided I wanted it colorful inside so I made up the cake mixes like the box instruct you too and then I divided it up into four bowls.  I used Gel food coloring to die the cake the different colors.  I then randomly spooned in the cake mix into my two pans.  I baked it like normal and then when the cake was done and cooled I put them in the freezer.  The next day I stacked the two cakes on top of each other and cut them into the number one.

I made up some frosting and put frosting between the two cakes and then the sides and top.  The coolest way that I learned to get the frosting to look smooth is to use wax paper.  After you have your frosting on the cake take your wax paper and push it a long the frosting with your fingers until the frosting is smooth.  The frosting won't stick to the wax paper.  (Sorry I couldn't find where I found this helpful tip.)  Also all I had was whole milk when I made the frosting and it made the best frosting I've ever made.  It was the perfect consistency.   So next time you have to make a bunch of frosting, keep that in mind.

I then used a decorative tip to decorate the outside.  To help me get the star shape I just lightly pressed a star cookie cutter on the icing.  It left just enough of an indent for me to follower with my decorative tip. I made Alex's little cake just from the scraps of the big cake and again used the cookie cutter as a guide for the frosting.

 

My favorite part about the cake was when you cut into it and saw all of the colors.  I looked and tasted amazing!

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Alex with his first ever birthday cake.  Note to self....don't wait until you child is ready for bed both tired and cranky before starting on the cake.  He really could have cared less about the cake.  I was able to stick a few bites into his mouth but after smashing it down a few times he didn't want anything to do with it.  He actually attempted to push the entire thing off of his tray.  I guess better luck next year!

Happy 1st Birthday Alex!

Christmas

This year we went down to Provo, UT to spend Christmas with Mike's family.  We had the Christmas Eve dinner at Sam and Amy's house.

Sarah, Alex, Amy, and Sam

We also did a gag/white elephant gift exchange and came out pretty good from it.  Mike got a rock star (which he wanted to try,) Alex got a stuffed spider man that is bigger then he is, and I got a bracelet.

Dave, Joy, and Ethan

Alex loved that his Aunt Joy gave him popcorn in a bowl.  He just sat there holding his bowl until he was done.

Ethan and Hannah got an easel for Christmas from their Grandparents.  They were pretty excited.

Alex found as much stuff as he could to chew on.

I think we wore him out!

Last picture before Mike, Alex and I headed home.