i'm having a baby!!

van on february 13th

the first time brad saw van

right after delivery

me after the epidural with anesthestist sarah and nurse donna

me before the epidural

i thought i would blog my labor while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind...

well to begin with on tuesday, february 10th i had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. last week i was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. i had horrible contractions all week and i was excited to go to the doctor to see how much i've progressed! of course when i got there dr. wolaniuk said that she wouldn't even say i was dilated to a 3. closer to a 2! and that i was 80% effaced. she took me off of "house arrest" and all other restrictions. she said they would induce if i made it to the 20th. i was devastated. i cried all day. i was in so much pain and i didn't think i had the strength to make it 10 more days!

the next day (february 11) i woke up and i felt a lot better. i had finally accepted that he wasn't coming anytime soon and i made plans to go visiting teaching and had my boss put me on the schedule for the next week for a few hours to keep me busy. so around noon i went to wal-mart and picked up some treats to make valentine buckets for the girls we visit teach. emily morrison wanted me to come over to get to know each other before we went visiting teaching. i stopped at mcdonalds on my way to emily's and got a chicken nugget happy meal. i visited with emily from about 1 to 3. when i got home i hung out with brad a little and watched 'die hard 2'. around 5pm i started getting contractions. they were like 5 minutes apart. patty made potato hamburger helper for dinner. i said that i was going to watch 'Lost' and if my contractions hadn't slowed down i would go to the hospital. i started watching 'american idol' and by 7:45 the contractions were so constant and painful i told brad i wanted to go ahead and go to the hospital.

brad was so good about not freaking out! although he kept speeding and saying the cops wouldn't care b/c i was in labor and i was getting upset saying if we wreck the cops wouldn't have a chance to pull us over...hehehe when we got to the hospital brad dropped me at the door then went to park the car. it was kind of funny b/c neither of us could remember where labor & delivery was. we walked and walked and couldn't even find anyone that worked at the hospital. finally some guy told us it was on the 3rd floor and we found it. patty came a little while later.

to make this a little shorter they admitted me and put an iv drip in for the pain. after 9 hours of one contraction after another i was still only dilated to a 5. my nurse, teresa, asked me if i wanted to continue being in pain or if i wanted an epidural. i was scared to death but i'm also a BIG baby and i couldn't take the pain anymore. brad held my hands and it hardly hurt at all. i know everyone says you should try to have your baby naturally but that was the first time in months that i felt no pain! it was amazing! i got the epidural at 2am.

i slept pretty good after that. except for every hour when they came in to examine me. around 9 am i was still between a 5 and 6 so they said at noon they would induce. no one came in until 1:30. after they induced me i got really hot and dizzy and i couldn't breath. they gave me some oxygen and told me to relax.

after that it was kind of a blur. they examined me, the nurse told the other nurse to go get the doctor and they had me turn over on my knees and put my elbows on pillow. i was in so much pain. it felt like he was coming out already. it was also a little awkward with my butt in the air and brad and his mom sitting in chairs at the end of the bed but i couldn't think of anything but the pain. i kept asking what was wrong and all they gave me was that he had "nose dived". i didn't know what that meant but they started wheeling me into surgery.

they put me on the operating table and i heard them saying they didn't have time to put me to sleep. i heard someone ask why they had done and epidural and someone said it was already in there. they said they were going to do a c-section and put a blanket up in front of my face. i remember they kept asking me if i could feel it and i could and i was crying and scared. finally they got me numb enough to start. they said it wouldn't be a sharp pain. they should have said it would feel like someone is ripping out your insides and someone else is pushing around your insides with as much pressure as they could! the anesthesiologist and nurse donna were so good about telling me what was going on and when i couldn't take the pain i asked them to just talk to me and they were really nice. the sound of van crying was the most beautiful sound i ever heard!

i kept asking if he was ok and if he had 10 fingers and 10 toes. when they told me he was perfect and they held him up for me to see i really cried. i told them they had to let brad know we were ok. i couldn't imagine how scary it would be for him for them to just take us away and not let him come.

of course the worst part wasn't over. they still had to sew me up! this hurt even more and it took even longer. just when you think it's finally over they say they have to push on you to get the rest of whatever out. talk about awful! i would have rather had him naturally with no pain medicine at all! when they finished my arms felt like they were asleep and i couldn't stop shaking so they had to lay van on me and wrap my arm around him for me. then they put me against the rail of the bed to hold him in.

it took about an hour after the surgery for the morphine to kick in and i was shaking so bad i felt like i was having a seizure!! all in all february 12, 2009 was the scariest and happiest day of my life!!!

Vanderlei Allan Pikey

born February 12, 2009 at 2:23 pm

7 lbs 0 oz and 20 1/4 inches long!

thanksgiving!

well my mother called me last week and said she wanted to have thanksgiving at my house. of course we live so far away from my fam the only ones that could come were the ones that rode with her. it was my mom and step dad, my sisters, abbie, allie, anna, and angel and my brother austen. they all went and picked up andy at the airport wednesday night. i had to work so i didn't go to the airport.

i met them at vista grande. a mexican restaurant. it was fun with the 10 of us eating out. especially since my fam is so entertaining. andy told us a few things about life in iraq and allie entertained us with her gullibility. you can get her to believe anything!

mom and doc rented a hotel room so our apartment wouldn't be so crowded. angel went with them b/c she wanted to go swimming. the next morning i woke up at 8:30 and they were all up already! andy, anna, austen and i played monopoly until mom got there. andy won. then mom and i cooked a small lunch and prepared the food for thanksgiving. mom kept telling me to sit down and that i shouldn't be on my feet so much but i didn't want her to have to do everything!

we ended up eating around 1:30 and it was delicious! then we played uno and scategories. my family loves board games!! anna beat us all pretty bad at uno. and doc won scategories. we had pumpkin pie and brownies for dessert. i made brownies b/c i hate pie! after dessert my family headed back to macon. it would be 8 before they got back. brad and i went over to his parents for about an hour. he has so many relatives that every family event there's a good 10 people there that i don't even recognize. we were both so exhausted that we didn't stay long. it was a nice thanksgiving! i'm sad i have to wait until christmas to see them all again....

i should be cleaning...

just wanted to write a quick note because i'm procrastinating getting up and cleaning. tomorrow is thanksgiving! i can't wait! i'm so hungry just thinking about it. i ended up having to work today. i think i could get out of it if i really tried but we need the money so i'm just going to do it.

my little brother, andy is flying in today from germany. he's been in iraq for about a year and a half and just got back to germany a couple weeks ago. he's in the army. infantry. he wanted to be like his big brother that's a navy seal but andy's just too nice! he gets to be home for 40 days then he's back to germany. his 4 years is up in february and he doesn't plan on re-enlisting. so he'll be moving home soon too! he's always been the comedian of our family. when he was little he told mom he didn't want to be called andy anymore. when mom asked him what he wanted his name to be he said "funny boy".

so mom is going to bring abbie, allie, anna, austen, and angel up from macon and along with my step dad and brad they're going to meet him at the airport. i get off work at 5 and his flight comes in at 5:18 so i'll just be waiting at home for them to get back. mom rented a hotel room so half of the kids are staying with me and half are staying at the hotel tonight. tomorrow mom and i are going to cook dinner! and at some point we're going to try to make an appearance at brad's parents too! at least i know with my crazy family the next two days will be eventful!

little brother and sister...

last weekend my baby brother and sister, zackary and lindsey. came up to st louis to visit for the night. well they're not babies anymore. zack is 9 years old and lindsey is 7. they'll always be the babies of the family though.

it was fun having them here. lindsey and i made bacon and eggs for dinner then we made and frosted sugar cookies. then we took them to brad's cousin's first birthday party. there were a few kids there that were their age so they had a lot of fun. actually it was 4 hours later before i could get them out of there. it was late when we got home so we just watched a movie and went to bed.

the next day i was still fighting this cold that i can't seem to get rid of so we stayed home. zack and brad played xbox and lindsey watched hairspray. later brad, zack and lindsey finger painted. i made a chain counting down the days until van is born. here's a few pics from this weekend! all in all it was great spending time with them! of course if i wasn't already pregnant they would have been great birth control!

I stole this one from Krystal...

8 T.V shows I like to watch:
1. Law & Order SVU
2. Supernatural
3. Smallville
4. America's Next Top Model
5. Lost
6. Fringe
7. Privileged
8. South Park (I know it's dumb but my husband is an addict and some of them kind of are
funny)


8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Went to work
2. worked out while i was at work
3. did the dishes
4. started dinner
5. called my mom
6. surfed the net
7. watched halloween 6 & 7 (which gave me michael meyers nightmares)
8. tried to take a nap but van kicks so much i can't sleep


8 favorite places to eat:
1. Red Robin
2. Quiznos
3. TGI Fridays
4. Taco Bell
5. Chili's
6. Steak & Shake
7. Panda Express
8. Outback


8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Van being born!
2. buying a house
3. Twilight to come out!
4. to be comfortable again
5. brad to finish his guitar
6. seeing my family again
7. going on a cruise in april...hopefully if all goes well with van
8. A hot bath

family fun shots!

I went to my mom's this weekend for anna's play and her 16th birthday. we set up a spot in the living room for taking pics. these are some of the fun pictures we took. we had a blast just being silly!











this is my sister, anna kaye

this first one is of my sisters angel and anna, the second pic is of my sisters, allie, anna and abbie. allie has a brownie in her mouth so abbie's laughing at her. the third one is of all 4 of them.

these 2 are of all of my mom's girls. allie, angel, anna, me, audrey and abbie. it's hard to get a serious picture out of my family!

jezlyn is such a good sport. she must be used to having her picture taken! she was soaking it up until we tried to put her in the pumpkin! then she was so sad it still breaks my heart when i see the pictures.

here's my niece, erica and my sister, angel. they're in the same grade. then brad and i posed for some shots.

prego belly shots. here's brad and i trying to decide who's belly is bigger. brad always jokes that i have a bun in the oven and he has a loaf.

it had been a good 5 minutes since we jook jezlyn's picture so she had to get in front of the camera again. she's lucky she is so dang cute!

now she wants to get behind the camera.

this is a scarf that angel made me. isn't is beautiful??

then of course we had to get one more of jezlyn. she's has the prettiest eyes. i just love her to death!

i took like over 200 pics. these are just a few of my favorites! my family is so entertaining to be around. i probably would have taken more if i had more room on my compactflash card.

A-Z

i stole this from tanis who apparently stole it from someone else!!

A- Attached Or Single: Attached
B- Best Friend: My husband, Brad
C- Cake Or Pie: cake...i hate pie, unless it has a graham cracker crust
D- Day Of Choice: Friday
E- Essential Item: camera
F- Favorite Color: pink
G- Greatest Accomplishment: being prego
H- Hometown: Macon, MO
I- Indulgences: chocolate!
J- January Or July: July
K- Kids: One on the way
L- Life is Incomplete without: the gospel (I agree with Tanis!)
M- Marriage Date: August 11, 2007
N- Number of Siblings: 10 younger siblings. 6 sisters and 4 brothers.
one brother and sister-in-law
O- Oranges or Apples: apples
P-Phobias or Fears: suffocating
Q-Quotes: i don't know
R- Reason to Smile: life!
S- Season: Fall
T- Tag five friends: i don't know what a tag is
U-Unknown Fact about Me: i think i have obsessive compulsive disorder!
V- Very favorite store: Hobby Lobby!!
W- Worst Habit: i have a horrible sweet tooth
X- X-ray or Ultra sound: Ultra Sound
Y-Your Favorite Food: steak quesadilla fajitas
Z- Your Zodiac sign: Aquarius!