You Down With O.B.B.

OLIVER BRUCE BALLARD

Born January 25th 2013 at 6:06 pm

7 pounds 2 ounces 20 inches long

HIS BIRTH

The night before I was to be induced Kyle called labor and delivery to see if they could guesstimate as to when we would be called in. The girl said we were 3rd and historically it is anywhere from 9-12. So we called Caitlyn and told her that she didn't need to stay the night because they wouldn't call until later. 

Gus was up a LOT that night!!!! At 5:20 am I get a call from Kim Postma from labor and delivery saying did you get our message? I guess they had called at 4:30 am, one of the times I was up with Gus. Kim said they wanted us there by 6:00. I hurried and called Amy so she could have Caitlyn come down, and we hurriedly got ready. It was a slightly drizzy drive over, I was crying already thinking that I was shafting Gus. It was such a weird emotion. I was afraid the love I would have for this new baby would take some of the love I had for Gus. Strange. We got to Labor and Delivery around 6:30 or so. I got hooked up to the IV by 7:00, that is also when Dr. Lunt broke my water. Then the waiting game began. I was handling the contractions pretty good until 12:30 or 1. I was dilated to a 4 with contractions every two minutes. After the epidural at 12:30 I fell asleep for an hour (much needed after the horrible night with Gus). At 2:30 Dr. Lunt came in and I was dilated to a 5+ or 6, at 3:30 the nurse checked me I was a 6+, then the next hour they had me rotate side to side which helped a ton (they did this with Gus at hour 22 and the next baby I have I am going to start laying side to side at hour 1). By 4:30 I was a 8 and my mom and Ashlee showed up (Amy and Naomi were both home sick). At 5:30 I was dilated to a 9+, the nurse called Dr. Lunt he showed up close to 6:00. When he showed up I pushed through 1 contraction and he said ok ok thats enough, he hurried and got ready. I pushed through 2 more contractions and out popped baby Oliver. I was the one who cut the cord!! I loved my epidural this time, I never pushed the pca pump, by the time I was ready to push I could move both my legs but felt no pain. I felt everything during the delivery besides pain it was amazing! My sister Amy said she could have been drinking a diet coke when she delivered her 2nd (Caitlin) and I felt the same way. Everything about this pregnancy, labor, and delivery has been much easier. My tail bone doesn't hurt HALLELUJAH , which makes life easier I can actually do normal daily activities this time.
Oliver has been such a good baby since the moment he was born. He has a much milder temperament than Gus has ever had. He breast feeds like a champ and will go 3-4 hours between feedings, which makes nights a dream come true! I haven't eaten dairy since the first 2 days, both nights I ate dairy Oliver had the worst gas, it was so sad. I cut out dairy and he hasn't had issues since. Oliver takes a binki which I have mixed emotions about. Kyle's Aunt Shelley came and visited us one night and she is all about horoscope signs. She said Kyle and Gus are both water signs, and Oliver and I are air signs. Then we told her about their temperaments which she went crazy over. lol.

HIS NAME
Oliver gets his name from my Mom's side. Her great great great grandpa was Oliver Stratton Sr. Who was asked by President Brigham Young, along with 11 other of the most successful farmers, to go to Virgin, Utah and raise cotton and molasses cane. Oliver was very well educated and helped build the St. George temple, and held the priesthood of the seventy. Now this is where it gets interesting. I am named after Emily Amanda Gardner Stratton, who married Oliver Stratton Seniors son, James Albert. Here is a link of a story published in The Friend about Emily Amanda Gardner Stratton. CLICK HERE
Oliver  Senior's wife Harriet died leaving a 6 month old baby. Harriet asked Emily Amanda to take care of her baby and other children. So Emily Amanda along with James Albert took care of the children along with Oliver Senior who lived for 8 years after Harriet passed away.

I cut the cord

Gus facetiming with Dad and Oliver

Dr. Lunt. The Best!

38.6 Weeks

Tomorrow is the big day. I am excited to not be pregnant, although I have felt really good! It is just hard picking up after a 2 year old with a basketball in your way. I have gained a total of 20 pounds. Wednesday at my doctors appointment I was dilated to a 3 and 50%, which is weird because I swear last week he said 60%. I cannot wait to meet this little guy, but am sad at the same time for Gus. It is the strangest feeling. Sad, that he won't have all of the attention, but I know he will love his new baby brother. Oliver got Gus a shark back pack, monster truck, and a baby bottle (for his babies). Kyle gave Gus and me a blessing tonight, so I think we are ready!! Ready or not this baby is coming.

38 Weeks

The countdown is almost over! Dr. Lunt is going to induce me on 1/25/13!!! Hip Hip Hooray

I was dilated to a 2+ and 60% at my last doctors appointment.

Weeks 31-37

35 Weeks

37 Weeks

Well I am just getting bigger and bigger that is for sure. Someone tonight at YW's told me that my stomach has gotten so big just in the last week. Well, thanks for that, and it wasn't even a YW. I didn't gain a single pound from weeks 34-36. Woot Woot. Total weight gained thus far is 19 pounds, but I feel like my butt and thighs are lots bigger than with Gus! I have felt pretty good, most days.  The days Gus doesn't sleep at night I am pretty emotional, it reminds me of when he was first born. The only days I cried after he was born were the days I got zero sleep at night. It is hard when he wakes up because then it wakes up Oliver in my belly and he will just go crazy kicking and stuff for 30 or so minutes. I was dilated to a 1 and 25% effaced at my 36 week visit. I just pray this little boy comes before his due date and not 11 days over like Gus. I am going to ask Dr. Lunt if he will start me early if this boy doesn't come before my due date. I have got lots of projects done due to my nesting, every day. I find more and more to do/clean/create its great I wish I was this productive everyday of my life!!! Oliver seems more mellow than Gus was in my belly, I think? 

Their shared bedroom is almost done, I will have to take pictures of that

Pregnancy Update Weeks 25-31

So it has been forever since I have wrote down anything about this pregnancy. We had another ultrasound last week at 30 weeks and found out my placenta previa is gone. The little placenta moved out of the way so no C-section! Hooray! I have gained 14 pounds so far, but feel a lot bigger than last time. I sleep horribly these days, I get short of breath then I start to panic because I can't get a good deep breath and this happens a lot at night. Dr Lunt says it is completely normal, but I say it is completely inconvenient. So the shortness of breath on top of the stress of the Santa Stampede 5k, and my new calling as the Mia Maid Advisor has me up for at least 2 hours in the wee hours of the morning. I have slept lots better now that the 5k is over. I remember getting anxious about dumb things towards the end of my pregnancy with Gus. If I wake up to go to the bathroom and start thinking about things I need to do my minds just escalates into an almost full fledged panic attack. I have a goal of trying to read the BOM before this baby arrives, so at 2 or 3 in the morning is when I get my best reading done. It helps me relax and stop thinking about all the little things I need to get done. This little boy seems so chubby in his ultrasound pictures last week. I wish we would have done an ultrasound this late with Gus so I could compare the two. I have been awful about taking my pre natal vitamins, only because they make me super nauseous to the point of throwing up so I decided they were useless if I was going to just throw it up anyway. Dr Lunt told me to just take an over the counter multi-vitamin, so since my last appointment I have been doing that. 

I think the first belly picture is week 29 or something and the last one is week 31

Weeks 20-24

This is my week 24 belly... I think. I can't remember exactly when this was, but it was close to 24. I forgot to mention that at my 16 week ultrasound to find out the gender I also found out I have placenta previa. Suck! Well, we just hoped and prayed that by 20 weeks the placenta would start migrating its little self out of the way. At my 20 week ultrasound there was little movement of the placenta if any. So now we are just hoping and praying that by my 30 week ultrasound the placenta will have migrated north and get out of the way so I don't have to have a c-section. So no heavy lifting, pushing, pulling etc. I have been feeling great, I just love the second trimester I would have 10 kids if my pregnancy felt like this the entire time. This little dude is a mover and a shaker though, especially at night. Which has me dreading those sleepless nights when he is born! I gained 6 pounds in 4 weeks at my 22 week appointment, anyone jealous? Didn't think so, I almost asked the ma to double check the number. I guess this sudden weight gain goes to show that I have been feeling better. I blame the weight gain on Swigs sugar cookies. Those things are devilish! I think I am the only one that doesn't think dirty Dr. Pepper is delish though. I have been working a ton because of flu season and flu shots so my exercise routing has dwindled to basically nothing, but I vow to start again once we are back from vacation.

Weeks 15-20

Weeks 15-20

It is amazing how slow time goes by when you are feeling sick, but now that I am feeling really good time is flying by. So since week 14 I have been feeling better and better.  I don't have any nausea, thankfully, and my energy is back. I sleep really good, so I have stopped taking Unisom at night. I switched prenatals from b-nexa to the regular o-cal, I can only take half of it with tons of water. I learned that lesson the hard way. Week 20, this week, I finally look pregnant and not fat. This pregnancy I feel like I am getting wider. With Gus I carried mostly in my belly so to see my butt is traumatic. I have started spinning (we have a trainer I attach to my road bike inside) so hopefully that helps my situation. I did 30 minutes on it yesterday and was dripping sweat after, it felt so nice to get my heart rate up. I still don't like chicken or eggs which is really inconvenient. At my 14 week appointment I finally gained a little, so I was one pound below my pre-pregnancy weight. No cravings, well maybe cheese as a snack.

Random Shots

This is my fat belly at 23 weeks. I finally look pregnant not "fat"

This is my cute little skeley in the morning

I bought a lot of pumpkins for decorations, now Gus thinks the little ones are his. He calls them

 "punkins" it is pretty cute to hear him say it. This is one of Kyle's old shirts from when he was a lad. Aunt Mary Lu and Kelly brought it back from Hawaii for him. 

Kyle got released as the young mens first counselor "hooray" this was one of his last Tuesdays with them. His assistant rents out paddle boards and kayaks so we took all of the ym/yw and went to Sand Hollow. I have never taken Gus, I am always too afraid of swimmers itch. Luckily, no one got swimmers itch and Gus had a blast.

Gus Is Going To Be A...

Weeks 12-15

12-15 Weeks

I had to document my 14 week belly. Kyle asked if I was sticking my belly out during the above picture, my reply, why would I want to look bigger than I actually am? When I hit 12 weeks I started feeling better. I would have 2 really good days then revert back to feeling down right awful. That lasted until 14 weeks, for the last 2 weeks I have felt really good most of the week with maybe one bad day. My energy is back, not 100%, but definitely much better. I still don't eat chicken, eggs, milk, or most meats. I hate the heat this pregnancy, which is funny because I was a lot farther along in the middle of the summer with Gus. We have had some really nice rainstorms which I have been very grateful for. We get to find out what we are having when I am 16 weeks, which I am really excited for. I just want to start doing projects for this next babe and I can't do that without knowing the gender. Part of me wants a boy because Gus has been so fun and lets face it I already have a nice wardrobe for a boy. A girl of on the other hand would be so fun to dress and do her hair. I am torn, I tell Kyle I am going to have a boy because I keep saying if it is a girl I am done and Heavenly Father wants me to multiply and replenish the earth!

Weeks 1-12

Weeks 1-12

The worst part of pregnancy started around 5 1/2 weeks this time. I was training to do the Top of Zion Relay with Lindsey Hurst. The last couple of runs I ran I could barely do 3 miles.  I was supposed to run a total of 19 miles spread between 3 legs, but had to call Lindsey with the bad/good news that I couldn't run the relay. It was such a relief not to have to stress over training/sickness. 

I don't think I was as sick as I was with Gus. With Gus I threw up all day long with horrible heartburn. This pregnancy I have only thrown up in the evenings. I still felt nauseous throughout the day, especially when I didn't eat something every 2 hours on the dot. I carried around pecans, cucumbers, golden delicious apples, or cauliflower at all times. I still lost weight like last time, I am still losing, but hopefully with the nausea not being so bad that will stop. Or it can continue I wouldn't mind. lol I called the Dr. at week 6 1/2 and told them about my nausea they gave me a new prenatal called B-Nexa, it has ginger and Vitamin B6 in it. It has done wonders, I really think taking B-Nexa at night with Unisom combined with eating a small something every 2 hours has helped tremendously. Foods I despised this time around CHICKEN, I can't even think of the c word without feeling nauseous. Cafe Rio, cold sandwich meat, sweets, and eggs, are some of the other yucky foods on my list. There were lots more in the beginning, but I can't seem to recall what they were. I have gotten headaches this time around, but would rather the headaches then the throwing up. Overall this pregnancy has been much different than last time. I tell Kyle, this is my last pregnancy. I might change my mind in 5-10 years, but as for now I am done. 

Week 12 has been tons better. I still feel nauseous in the evening, but I can handle this. I am slowly getting my energy back. I forgot how tired you get during the first trimester. On the days I didn't work Kyle would get home after work and I would still be in my pajamas without a bra on. Poor guy! 

I have started to show faster this pregnancy, but figured that would be the case. Especially because I started out 5 pounds heavier than with Gus' pregnancy. 

I still don't understand why they haven't figured out morning sickness. We are curing cancer, but can't figure out why morning sickness effects (affect? I can never remember the rule) some but not others. I know it is a good sign disguised as an ugly symptom but I could do without it that is for sure!