Individual Updated Pics of the Kids!

Thomas, 9 1/2 years old

 Toby, 5 years old

Trevor, 7 months old

Until later,

Emily

Brothers Pictures

Until later,

Emily

Trevor's 6-month Pics

So many cute pictures to choose from, luckily I got a CD to remember them all!  These are some of my favorites.

Until later,

Emily

A Sneak Peak...

I'll post more next week...Trevor's 6-month pictures (well, 5 3/4's months). It's the first time I've taken him in for "real" pictures.  Sure wish we could freeze this age in time for a while. It's my FAVORITE! Lots of cuteness & personality coming through, still able to take him along almost anywhere, not mobile and not much of a temper coming through yet.

Until later,

Emily

Thomas' School Picture (Age 9)

November 1, 2011

3rd Grade

Until later,

Emily

Three Cute Boys!

These three boys sure keep me busy!

Until later,

Emily

Pinewood Derby 2012

Thomas competed in his Pack's Pinewood Derby tonight.  He got Second Place overall.  (Good job, James!) He's going to the Super Derby in March.

Until later,

Emily

Our Rolley-Polley Roller!

After weeks of almost rolling over, Trevor finally rolled over! Yesterday, he was so close and I had the camera out, filming him for several minutes, hoping to catch his debut roll on film.  It wasn't meant to be.  However, Toby alerted me seconds before that first roll and he and I did get to see him do it.  I just didn't catch it on film. He rolls to his tummy and thinks that's lots of fun for several minutes and then gets frustrated, he hasn't learned how to roll back over on his back.  When not trying to roll from back to front, he's also become a great sundial, turning round and round in a slow-moving circle. 

Until later,

Emily

Our Birthday Boy!

It's hard to believe our Toby is already FIVE years old! His birthday was on January 11th.

 Birthday morning.  Just Toby, Trevor and myself.  I let him open his presents from his grandma's and grandpa's and my siblings and their families.  And also some of the smaller gifts from us. And then it was off to preschool at 9 AM.  He took cupcakes in to share with his preschool class.

 Toby's "big gift" was a new bike.  We hope to get him out this Spring to really learn how to ride it. January birthdays are hard.

We went out to dinner as a family to Red Robin and then came home for cake and ice cream before a delayed bed time.

The next week, Toby and I came up with a compromise for the "friend" birthday party that he wanted, but I just didn't.  We had a "Big-Birthday Play Date" where I took Toby and a friend out to lunch at Chick-fil-la ,  and then I let them play at their play place for about an hour.  After that, we drove on over to our local mall and I checked Toby and his friend and the inflatable "bouncy-castle" place for an hour. The kids had a blast!  It's great getting lots of energy out of two five-year old boys in the middle of January!  I don't know about his friend, but Toby slept well that night!

Until later,

Emily

First Food!

Today, at exactly five months old, I decided to let Trevor try some rice cereal.  I haven't been in too much of a hurry to start him on solids.  He seemed happy enough, sleeps through the night and really hadn't showed any interest in eating solids.

So, I kind of expected to sit him down, and have him be uninterested and make a big mess.  And then I'd shelve the whole idea and re-visit again in a week or two. I was a little surprised when he ate the whole bowl in only a few minutes, without much mess at all.  What can I say? Trevor likes to eat!

Until later,

Emily

One Year Ago

One year ago today, we received our early Christmas present, when we found out that our FET cycle had worked and I was going to have a baby! Trevor will be four months old tomorrow.  Part of me asks, where has the time gone? Part of me can barely remember not having him in our family.

Until later,

Emily

Merry Christmas from the Snow Boys (& Santa)!

(Pretty cute, huh?) 

Until later,

Emily

Trevor's Birth Story

In honor or Trevor's Three-month birthday, here is his birth story:

Trevor Snow

August 14, 2011

4:46 PM

6 pounds, 14 ounces

19 inches long

head circumference: 33 ¼ cm

On Sunday morning, I was scheduled for an “elective induction” due to the fact that I had precipitous labor (fast labor) with both Thomas and Toby.

James & I walked into the hospital at 7:30 AM. We made a quick stop at the registration desk and then made our way to the maternity wing.

After changing my clothes and being asked another thousand questions, at 9 AM I was finally given the first round of IV antibiotics because I was a Group B Strep carrier. These antibiotics needed to be in my body at least four hours before the baby was born in order for them to be effective.

The actual “game plan” for the induction kept changing before anything ever happened. I didn't really care how the labor was brought on, but what I did care about was getting the epidural. My labors had been too fast with Thomas and Toby, so I was unable to have one, but I knew that I really wanted one this time around.

After expressing my concern to my doctor, Dr. Thomas, she suggested that I may as well get the epidural first and then they could start giving me doses of Pitocin, which is very unheard of.

Sometime during the 11:00 hour I was given my epidural. It was instantly wonderful! I guess I got a “good epidural” in that I could still feel quite a bit and had control of my legs.

At 12:15, I was given my first dose of Pitocin and I immediately started having some pretty heavy-duty contractions and couldn't feel any of them! This went on for about an hour and a half...I was sitting up in my bed in a way that was comfortable for me and was relishing no longer feeling the constant pain of carrying a baby, the urge to empty my bladder every 15 minutes (I had a catheter), or the ache down my right leg. It was the best I had felt in months!

When suddenly, Trevor's heartbeat plummeted. My nurse came rushing in and had me lay on my side. That seemed to do the trick and she half-joked that the baby just didn't like me sitting like that any longer.

Unfortunately, there were a few more of these episodes and my nurse kept saying that she “really wished he would stop giving her gray hairs”. I had to wear an oxygen mask for much of the remaining time.

Meanwhile, I was dilating but not extremely fast so it was decided that my water should be broken. After that, things go blurry. Sometime after my water was broken, Trevor's heartbeat dropped from normal down to almost nothing in only a matter of seconds. There was a surge of nurses that flew in my door and I went from left side to right side and was told that they were going to get me up on all fours to find the heartbeat again. Luckily, a turn to the side and he recovered.

By this time, I was dilated to a 9 and Dr. Thomas said that when my water was broken, the baby probably moved down rather quickly and was under a lot of distress. The pitocin was taken away and I was told that they were going to give my body a few minutes to dilate to a 10 on it's own, give the baby some time to recover before pushing, but if I didn't dilate to a 10 soon, I was going to have to push through to the 10.

A NICU team was called in. It seemed that nurses were flying in and out of my room. The NICU nurse came and talked to us and told us that when the baby was born, we wouldn't be able to spend any time with him, they would need to take him to the NICU right away and check him out.

Dr. Thomas came in and coached me that the baby was under a lot of distress and so when it came time to push, I needed to focus and get him out fast. Every push needed to count and hopefully there wouldn't be too many pushes (talk about pressure!)

I was able to grab my nurse, Nadine's, attention and asked her if she thought the baby's umbilical chord was wrapped around his neck and she admitted that that was what they were guessing.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later, it was pushing time. My body did dilate to a 10. We waited until the next contraction and I started to push. Since I had an epidural, obviously it felt different, from the other two times, but I pushed with all my strength and I instantly knew something was wrong. I knew he wasn't budging. Dr. Thomas then asked, “Did you have episiotomies the last two times?” which I replied that I did not.

It a matter of seconds, she apologized and explained that she would have to give me one because we needed “to get the baby out fast”. After that, I was told to push. Even then, the pushing was really intense. Soon, it was discovered that Trevor  was coming out face up instead of face down, which explained why it was so difficult to push this time around. His head came out and then his neck. The chord WAS wrapped around his neck tightly(I don't know how many times) and they cut the chord before I had finished delivering him. The next thing I saw was a brief glimpse of my blue-gray baby.

Seconds later, though, there were cries coming from him and no rush out the door from the NICU team. They decided to stay and assess Trevor in-room and about five minutes later, he was brought to us, and we got to keep him. He was no longer blue, but was very pale. He quickly pinked up, though.

It was an intense, fast delivery. I pushed him out in less than three minutes. My induction was only 4 ½ hours long if you don't count the time that I sat in bed just getting penicillin.

My recovery this time around was the most difficult of the three. There was a lot of healing involved.

Until later,

Emily

Trevor Update

All of my babies started out on the smallish side, but they all chunked up rather quickly once they were born.  Trevor appears to want to be the fastest growing of the three of them.  The kid has a killer appetite, basically when he is awake he wants to be eating!

I took him in for his 1-month well-baby visit on Monday.  When he was born, he weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and now he weighs 10 pounds, 6 ounces! That's right, that is a 3 1/2 pound weight gain! There is a reason we call him our "Lil' Pig!"

We enjoyed the first couple of weeks of his life where he spit up very little, but unfortunately, he has become a "Happy Spitter" (for the most part, he's not bothered by it nor is it getting in the way of growth, obviously!) like his older brothers were.  Not like Toby, who also was a projectile spitter, but he does spit up quite a bit and I am drowning in daily laundry.

He is starting to sleep longer stretches at night.  He gets up twice during the night, for the most part.  I'm exhausted though.  I have a really hard time managing a nap during the day.  So usually, I just have to make it on what little sleep I get during the night & "fake it till I make it".

Until later,

Emily

Grandma Arleen Came for a Visit!

My mom recently came for a visit, September 10-17.  We loved having her here just hanging out doing the normal "daily grind" kinds of things.  It was really nice & it was hard having her go home.

Until later,

Emily

First Days of School

On August 29, 2011 Thomas started the third grade.

On September 9, 2011 Toby started his second year of preschool, he goes three mornings a week.

Until later,

Emily

Introducing "Trevor"/3.0 Has a Name!

Trevor Snow

born on 

August 14, 2011

at 

4:46 PM

6 pounds, 14 ounces

19 inches long

Until later,

Emily

39 Weeks!

Today, I am 39 weeks along.  Last night, I went to the hospital thinking I might be in labor.  Turns out, I was having contractions every 4-6 minutes but they weren't doing much so Dr. Lee sent me home.  If I was determined to get this baby out "on my own" I would be walking the neighborhood or going up and down all the stairs in my home, but since I have an induction set for tomorrow morning, with my favorite doctor, Dr. Thomas, I have been quite happy to take it very easy today!

Until later,

Emily

Any Day Now...

On Monday, I found out that I'm walking around dilated to a 3.5-4.  No big surprise since I have been having contractions on and off since Thursday, in fact, on Sunday, they got rather close (8-10 minutes) for quite a few hours.   I did this with both of my other kids.  It seems to be my magic number and then once I get past it, I just fly! Thomas I was at a 4 for a week before I delivered him.  And Toby for 3 1/2 weeks before he arrived.  I was at the hospital for less than 1 1/2 hours with each of them before they arrived.  That is counting from the second I walked through the hospital doors until they were handed to me.  I also dilated twice as many centimeters with Toby as I did with Thomas in that amount of time, I've done the math, and if this baby follows suit, and I don't catch on before I did with his brothers, I have about 45 minutes.  That's not a lot of time considering it takes at least 15 minutes to take care of the little paperwork involved (I'm pre-registered) and get undressed.

It occurred to me that the contractions started 11 days after my last 17p injection.  Interesting, huh?  I guess my doctor was right when he said that the effects would wear off after 7-10 days.

I have been trying to notice every cramp, ache and twinge of pain.  I'm trying my best to make it to the hospital before the contractions are right on top of each other and have me bent in two.  The problem is, there usually isn't much time going from feeling relatively fine to being in pure misery.  My sister made the statement that she thinks I've become sort of skittish...I believe she is right!

My doctor told me not to wait until they are five minutes apart and not to wait an hour until I've had regular contractions either.  Once I am sure that they are the real deal I am to get to the hospital.  Whether James is here or not!  So I have friends on call to swing by, pick the boys & I up and drop me off at the hospital where hopefully James can make it before the delivery.

So, today, I am officially nine days away from my due date.  I have an induction set for Sunday morning.  It was going to be Saturday night but there was a conflict.  Saturday night, Sunday morning...it really doesn't matter to me.  You pick your battles in life, this wasn't one I cared to fight over.  My doctor told me that since I'm already so far dilated, she's just going to break my water and give my body a chance before giving me any meds to bring on the contractions.  Which I'm fine with!

If I go into labor on my own, I am trying to accept the reality that I probably won't get an epidural.  It's a harsh reality to accept especially since having Toby almost five years ago, all I've ever dreamt about if I had another child, beyond not having another premature baby, was getting an epidural. I really don't want a 3/3 record!  Sure, I go fast, but let me tell you, it still hurts like HE*L!

I still have no idea if I'll make it until Sunday.  Actually, I'm uncertain that I'll make it until this afternoon.  Yep. Skittish.

Until later,

Emily

The Germantown Splashpark

We got invited to go to the Germantown Splashpark the same day that we went blueberry picking.  Germantown is in Montgomery county, which is the next MD county from us, closer to Washington DC. We don't have anything like this in our county, unfortunately.  We have since been back again.  The boys had a blast here! 

Until later,

Emily