Nicholas Evan Erickson

Is here!! I can't believe that he has been here for two weeks!! Some days it still feels surreal that he is here and that he is all ours! This has been the greatest, best, most exhausting, difficult, rewarding week of my life!! Nick is such a good baby! He has the sweetest, most kissable, chubby cheeks ever!! I could kiss them all day long!! (and I do!!) Zac has been so amazing through this experience, and is an awesome dad!! Nicholas loves him so much, it just melts my heart to see those two together!! Nicholas is already so spoiled!! There are so many people who just love him to pieces and I feel very blessed that he gets to have so many amazing people in his life!! He has three sets of grandparents, one set of great grandparents, and a Great grandma!! Needless to say if I'm not kissing those cheeks one of his grandparents are!!

Alright here is the story of Nicholas's arrival:

On Thursday, September 23 I got up to go the the bathroom about 4:30am, when I sat down I felt a gush but couldn't decide if it was me peeing or if it was really my water breaking. When I stood up I felt another gush so I knew it must be my water breaking. I went back to bed and laid there for a couple minutes contemplating whether to wake Zac up or not. I wasn't having any contractions so I didn't want to wake Zac up if nothing was going on. I finally woke him up and decided that I was going to go have a shower and do my hair!! When I got out of the shower we called Lethbridge to find out if we should head in or not. They told us they wanted us to head in so that they could monitor the baby for a while to make sure that everything was going ok.

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00am and the nurse put me on the monitor. She also confirmed that my water had broken because there was amniotic fluid on the pad I was wearing. I stayed on the monitors for about an hour because my blood pressure was really high and they were worried. At 7:00am I got a new nurse assigned to me and she was very skeptical that my water had broke because I was still not contracting. Finally at about 8 Dr. Stewart came to see me. They performed a test called amnio-sure, and checked me. I was only 1-2cm. The amnio test came back positive, (although the nurse still didn't want to believe it!) but because there was no contractions Dr. Stewart said to go home and relax and to come back at 4:00pm if I was still not contracting, or if I did start contracting to come back sooner.

That morning I came home, had a nap, and relaxed. It was a really strange feeling knowing that I was finally going to be having this baby!! Zac and I ate lunch, then went for a walk to his mom's house to see if walking would start anything. But nothing!! Finally we headed into Lethbridge. We arrived back on Labour and Delivery at about 4:30 and got set up in a delivery room. They hooked me up to the monitors, started and at 5:00 they started me on oxytocin because I was still not having regular contractions (maybe one every 30-60mins). The first hour of oxytocin there was not any really change, the contractions were coming more regular but not that painful. The next hour was complete torture!! The contractions started coming pretty fast, they were lasting 60-90 seconds and were about one minute apart. It was really hard to stay focused because I wasn't getting much of a break to regroup. At 7:15pm I finally got an epidural!! Best decision ever!! After the epidural I was pretty comfortable and was able to have a little bit of a rest!! I dilated really fast and by 9:30 I was 9 1/2 centimeters, and by 10:30 I was ready to start pushing, or rather the nurses were ready for me to start pushing. I never felt the need to push. I pushed for 2 hours and at 12:30 am on September 24, Little Nicholas arrived!! It was so awesome to finally have him there with us!! He weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. We spent the next day in the hospital, with tons of visitors!! Grandma and Grandpa Erickson, and Uncle Max were the first to come and meet Nick. Grandma Susie gave Nicholas his first bath!! Other visitors that day were Devany, Aunt Amy, Grandpa and Grandma Fawns, Grandma Marolee, and Heather. Needless to say that the first day was not very restful for me, but that's okay because I'm pretty sure I was still having a bit of adrenaline running through my veins!!

We were discharged from the hospital Saturday morning. Zac and I enjoyed a very relaxing first day at home with Nicholas. We sure do love him a lot and are sure glad that he is here safe and sound!!

36 Weeks!!

That's right people I am officially 36 weeks pregnant!! Sometimes it feels like it is going by so fast, and other times I feel like I have been pregnant forever and can't remember not being pregnant!!

This last week Amy ,my sister-in-law, took some maternity pictures of me. I thought it was a good idea but then after looking at some I realized just how HUGE I am. She did do an amazing job, and I can't wait for the baby to get here so that she can take some shots of him!! I think that I will enjoy that a whole lot more!

Zac and I also finished our prenatal classes! Every thing is falling into place for this baby, and I am getting so excited!! I just hope that he hurries up and gets here already!! Come on baby!! I worked by last shift last night, so now I just get to relax and work on some project, and play the waiting game!! I have a doctors appointment this week and I am hoping that there is some progress!! Maybe wishful thinking, but whatever gets my through the next couple weeks, right?! My mother in law keeps telling me that as soon as I reach 38 weeks that I should start self inducing!! First on her list is castor oil!! I am not totally sold on the idea as of yet, but I guess we will see what the next two weeks brings, and how desperate I am!! I have enjoyed my pregnancy so far, and for the most part have felt fairly well. Just lately I am starting to feel quite huge, and am having trouble getting comfortable!! It has become easier to get out of bed and then get back in to change position then to just roll over!! Which isn't that big of an inconvenience considering I have to get up several times through out the night to use the bathroom!

Zac has been pretty awesome throughout this pregnancy and I couldn't have asked for a better husband! He has really picked up the slack when it comes to cooking, laundry, and cleaning!! I have been working a lot this summer so that I could get in my hours to qualify for maternity benefits, which means that I am always tired and not very good when it comes to helping out!! Zac is such a great husband, and he is going to be an awesome father!! This little boy is going to be so lucky!! Heres hoping we get to meet him soon, and that he doesn't come during mid-terms!! That would make Zac a lot less worried!! I am just hoping that he comes before Thanksgiving!!

I have been trying to upload pictures for the last hour with no luck, so another post with out. sorry

Peach Jam!!

For the last couple of summers I have had the itch to do some canning. Unfortunately, I never did because of work or never the right opportunity. However this summer my mom graciously offered to help me!! One afternoon I went over to her house and we whipped up a batch of peach jam!! It was really easy, and something that I will probably do again!! Next summer I really want to can some peaches and pears, and possibly make some crab apple jelly!! I would of loved to do it this summer but unfortunately I don't think that my body would of appreciated it!!

I only had about 15 peaches and this is how much jam it made!! I guess we will be eating peach jam for a while!!