i am woman, hear me roar...

this is too much information....literally! so, this is my account to what happened this week, if you're at all the queasy type, for goodness sake, skip this section, but i need to share here since this is just as much a space to post memories for me for years to come as it is a place to share the boys' lives with you :)


due to the size of charles, and safety for both moma & baby, we were scheduled for a cesarean at 715 tues morning, the 26th of january. this had been set for a while now. it used to be once a c section, always a c section, but in recent days, there is argument for that. doc says there is a high risk of rupturing things and blowing out things that shouldn't be blown out during labor if you do a v-back. (vaginal delivery after c section). so, given charlie was 11-4 when he was born, and this baby was expecting to be large, we (the doc & i) saw no reason to go through labor.


until midnight monday night. i laid down with my alarm set for four fifteen am . "four hours" till this show starts right?! i felt like baby was gnawing on my bladder. but then the pain started increasing. & getting more & more intense. it must have been close to one thirty, when brian, who had been lying next to me, watching whatever was momentarily hilarious online, was informed that something may be askew. (is that the right word?) we then shifted into high gear. brian got online to see what the heck we were about to get into. he remembered 4-1-1. from our birthing class three years ago. four minutes apart, for a duration of one minute, for one hour. then head to the hospital. so now, he gets on the phone. after a few automated messages in doctors' offices, we were timing our way out the door. grandma barge & grandpa mike saw us out the door at two thirty (am mind you). think we get stopped for a police escort? nope, mabye next time ;) we get to go through the emergency room entrance, it is the only door open. we get checked in just in time for another contraction. at this point, i don't care there is an audience of other uncomfortables. there were only about half a dozen other bodies waiting for ..well, whatever!. by the time i can breathe again, there is a wheelchair attached to some dude dressed in scrubs. i get in, we manage to find our way to the maternity ward, he wasn't really sure how to get to our destination. by the time we get to the desk, the nice lady behind the desk gets me to sign two pieces of paper & i'm on the floor again. crap....i have to pee...bad! they ask me to pee in a cup...(really? i what? okay...good luck to me!!) i manage to do so, before another contraction. next thing i know, i'm on this bed & ohhhhh dear lord..."i have to push!!!"....not waiting for an answer, my body just does so...this is taking place in a triage room...NOT a delivery room..there are tons of people in here & the nurse is telling me this is how it is going to be..."where are the drugs?!" i'm exclaiming. up until this point, i was able to stay with brian as far as eye contact (okay, sorta) and listening to him...but then i lost all control. i lost brian. & there are people preparing for the arrival of this baby..right now! i mean , right that moment!! i'm totally confused & in loads of pain. holy crap...& noises are coming out of me...as though the experience has not been humbling enough...i'm screaming louder than..well, nothing i've ever heard. mabye the quarter stick of dynomite my dad set off at my 21st bday? then, somehow, it is decided to move me to a delivery room. everyone shuffles. not sure how that came about. it is here that i asked to still have the c section -which i had already been told that isn't going happen. i'm not prepared for this at all. not even a teensy tiny bit. no drugs. no surgery. no husband?! where is that brian?! (turns out he's over my left shoulder..but i kept leaning to the right. (there was a pretty nurse there who kept telling me i'm doing good!) poor brian has probably witnessed the last thing he'd ever wanted to see by this point. (i'm leaving out gooshy details..!!) i'm pushing & feeling baby & screaming. but we end up able to do c section after all. this is the decision i regret. i was right there. but i was so confident i was unable to proceed. i wish i would have gone just a few more minutes. i may have been able to do it. (and i'm not just saying that cuz my incision is really sore!) but like i said, i was certain i couldn't do it. damn my estimations. i just reiterated how charlie got stuck after hours of pushing & we didn't know how big this baby was. now the crew shuffles (quickly of course) to the operating room. next thing i know, the lovely man with the need provides a spinal...ahhh hhhhhhhh relief. phew. that was harsh!! and oh yay, my lovely husband is back!! until they take the baby out ..then he's gone again!
409am is his arrival. hard to believe we left the house at 230. whoa. talk about a whirlwind. i saw every room in that maternity ward in about an hour!
what seemed like hours later, i was in recovery room. it took at least half an hour to sew me back up they said. i was moved to yet another room-recovery room maybe where i'm monitered & asked lots of questions. finally daddy & baby show up. daddy looking fine in his blue scrubs & baby, well, beautiful as you could possibly imagine. only 9lbs 6oz of beautiful, but filling up my whole world!! we've all made it!
by 515, the time we were supposed to be checking in at the desk to prepare for the surgery, i was rolled into our room. the nurses walked out the door & grandma mary & grandpa mike came in just in time!!! they checked in at the desk & they told them i was still in the recovery room so they thought they'd just wait for me in the room..but i barely beat them there!!
our stay was lovely . two & a half days. went home thursday afternoon.
it has now been a week. i've been staying upstairs (the main floor) in the guest room. as stairs and fresh incision on my abdomen are not a good pair. maybe today i will attempt to journey down again. thank you to everyone for coming. grandma/pa edwards, grandma/pa barge & kathleen & lowell too!! aunt barb even sent the cookie bouquet! (she had for charlie too!)
enough for now. sorry if you read more than you wanted to know!!
back to your regular scheduled programing...just clean snippits & pictures!

Day 2

Greetings from Hotel Isaiah-
Well we are in the second day of the "Coming of Izzy," or "The Poop Factory Cometh." He is the reverse opposite of Charlie as a newborn. He learned how to nurse from the giddy up and he sleeps...a lot. In fact I fear we may be in for a long evening. As usual he went through a battery of tests over the course of the day. Shots, pokes, pricks, sticking things where they shouldn't be stuck, and a hearing test complete with anodes and wires stuck to all parts of his head. I think he either signed up for the Army or he is the next Six Million Dollar Man...bigger, faster, stronger. All and all he is a very healthy guy. Grandma and Grandpa Edwards flew out today. It was great to have them here the last couple of days. Grandma and Grandpa Barge are, as usual, helping out a ton with taking care of Charlie for us. Speaking of Charlie, you have never seen someone so disinterested in another human being. If he could make a list of 100 things he would like to do, acknowledging Isaiah would be pretty close to the bottom. However, the parking garage is attached to the birthing center via sky walk, and I wish I liked anything as much as Charlie likes walking across the sky walk. Jenn is doing great, and is a champ as usual. We got up and went for a walk around the center today. She is in some pain, but of course never complains (except when the pain pills don't arrive in a timely manner) and is always smiling. We're probably heading home sometime tomorrow, so we will keep you updated. Cheers!

Meet Isaiah "Izzy" Leo Barge

So we have been planning a scheduled C-Section for our new little buddy for 7:15 am on 1/26/10. It was supposed to be nice and easy. Well Izzy had a different plan. At about midnight Jenn started having contractions. They started getting stronger, longer, and closer together. By about 1:30 am, Jenn was in labor. Fortunately we were packed and ready because nature was calling, and it wasn't backing down. We pulled up to emergency at about 2:30 am. Jenn had a huge contraction in front of a dude with a fresh cast on his arm, and another dude with a big ice pack over his eye. Exactly what you would expect at an ER waiting room at 2:30 in the morning. Funny thing was they all congratulated us as Jenn was hauled off in a wheelchair. By the time we got to the birthing center, Jenn was going full blast. For those of you who know Jenn well you know how relaxed, laid back, and wonderful she is. The decibel level at which she was performing was other-worldly. Honestly I didn't know a human was capable of producing that kind of sound. Needless to say she got the attention of most of the staff and Canada. She went from five centimeters to fully dilated in about five minutes, and it looked as though Isaiah was coming right there in the triage room. Fortunately there was just enough of a window to still get her in the OR for the C-Section. As I entered the OR Jenn was nice and drugged up. She was telling the anesthesiologist about a book she was reading called "Stiff." The book is about what happens to human cadavers after they had been donated to science. Then she shared some story about placenta recipes that I tried really hard to ignore/forget. Keep in mind her gut was being cut open during this conversation. Finally, at 4:09 am (three hours earlier than her C-Section was scheduled), Isaiah was brought into the world. He was 9 lbs.-6oz. and 22 inches tall. Freaky big hands and feet too. He is handsome and healthy. Jenn is doing very well. Thank you to everyone for your love and phone calls, we will keep you up to date as the days go on.

here you can see a bit of the haircut mommy has been whiney about! we weren't going after a buzz cut for sure!!! mommy is just partial to longer hair...she'll get over it!

well, tomorrow am, we go to the airport to pick up grandma & grandpa!! wahoo!! mommy says my life is about to be turned upside down, i wonder what that means? ....these next few weeks should be real interesting!!!

went to the park this morning, was nice to get outside to run around a bit :)

daddy convincing me i don't want to slide down the pole without his assistance!

this past weekend, grandma barge took me to see the horsfalls! we had so much fun! we went to a train museum, which made quite the impression of course! and went to a pizza joint where we were pretty much the only customers, so we got a ticket to run the place! air hockey & all!! here's a couple pics of us at the beach, within walking distance from the house! thank you so much for the weekend everyone, i had a lovely time! can't wait to go back!

The angels are pure enthusiasm, vibrating at such a high point that the least little connection with the angels fills us with God.

- Terry Lynn Taylor,
Angel Days

i went to the dentist today and was wonderful!! the hygenist guy that worked with me has five little boys of his own, and was awesome! he let me play with all the tools he uses to clean my teeth! my favorite was the suckey straw thing that looks like an elephant's trunk, he repeatedly filled up a cup of water & let me suck it out with the suckey straw thingy! so in return, i offered my teeth for him to brush & then came back to paint them with flouride! i even let the dentist count my teeth & scratch at my front tooth (the one with the spot on it!) i was soooo good!! mommy was quite pleased with me! especially since i was being a brat this morning ;)

on the flip side, mommy's car was ransacked last night (maybe the night before). someone got into it & ya know how mom hauls a lot of junk around? well, this person/s emptied every single compartment & bag in the car!! even down to where the spare tire is!! she thinks it was just kid/s because if it was someone looking to sell stuff, well, there was much more to be taken, so we're blessed in that aspect! only a book of 100cds, her bluetooth, & shades & mabye ten dollars in cash seem to be missing. they left behind jewlery & unopened chains, & my owners' manual (which is a common target for kids) she's most disturbed over the sunglasses. mommy's pretty addicted to them as you know! when i told her to put hers on today, she said someone took them. i said "maybe daddy took them". she said no, "someone else". i said "maybe unlce eric took them!" ...she laughed out loud thought i was real cute, but it didn't make her feel much better! anyways, we're feeling quite blessed that there wasn't any damage to the windows/locks (it had to be unlocked, i didn't find any evidence of break in!) (dummy me, i know, another expenseive lesson learned i suppose! normally, i ALWAYS lock my doors....wouldn't ya know it, the one time....grrrrrr) it could have been way way worse.

okay, back to blessings...
we still have no idea about how long daddy can work. we're really hoping it will be a few months yet so we can keep insurance for us all! especially with all the appointments required with newborns!!
we had an ultrasound tuesday, they estimated 8.8lbs then. (who knows how accurate it really is, they said charlie was 8 something too! of course he was delivered at 41 weeks & isaiah will be at the beginining of 39weeks!) anyways, doc says at least another pound before the delivery on the 26th! (715am!!) mommy's scared of course, but ready to not share her torso with another big body anymore!!
grandpa & grandma edwards are both coming for a couple days! so i'm real excited about that too!!
i have been so excited myself for this baby to come out of mommy's belly because when he does, grandma mary comes back!! other than that, mommy says i have no idea how much my life is about to change!!!
thank you auntie stef & uncle ryan for the davenport gift card btw, mommy & daddy had an AMAZING dinner last night!! YUM!!!

GG!! three poopy prizes since yesterday afternoon!!! YAY!!!!