Movin on up!

Here is mostly a picture update. I think most of them speak for themselves!!! :O) Enjoy


I call the following segment! HEART ATTACK FOR MOM!!!!!



Here is our cute little family!!! (the wet stuff on my shirt, I just got peed on!)

We are in the proccess of moving to a new construction house on the other side of base. YEAH!! I am so excited to get out of this bunker I feel like we live in with our concrete walls that you can hang stuff on and the walls and windows that dont meet and have huge gaps in them so bugs can come and go as the please, into a new house!!!!

Anyway I probably wont post till the end of next week, since we will be moving and getting settled in. TTFN!

The Labor and Delivery!

Okay so finally I have some time to get on here and post about the labor and delivery. Between packing to move and handling two little men I have not had a whole lot of time, but since Braddoc is napping and Landon is gone with Daddy I have a few minutes to get on here and post about the delivery.

So I went in at 5 to be induced, (a lady walked in the same time as me in Labor and dilated the same as me.) I was given the whole run down on the induction procedures, the usually, "it may not take and if it does not we will send you home, you have till 4 to be in active labor or you go home and wait it out", (should be easy enough I'm already at a 3 1/2-4 depending on who checks me.) and then given the whole run down on the risks involved. For some reason this time around I actually got a little nervous when he started talking about all the risks, like C-Sections and uncontrolled bleeding, fevers ect. That stuff wont happen to me right?!!! Then they check to see if he is in the right position. "Oh minor set back, he is facing sideways!!! So just rotate from side to side every 30 minutes and he should turn"...... we shall see!!!

So they start the Pitocin at 6:30 and check me! "About a 4, almost fully effaced and water is bulging, this should go really quick, so just relax and get some rest". Okay easy enough, right?! Wrong! The contractions start almost immediately and don't let up at all, another one is starting before the last one ends. So after about 2 hours of this, they come check me again. A good solid 4 but nothing different, be back in an hour. After another hour, 4 1/2 yeah!!! Moving right along!!! Or not. The next few times they check me I have not budged. So now its if I don't make any more progress by 3 I go home. Now the icing on the cake at this point. The lady that came in the same time as me, dilated the same as me, had her baby 2 HOURS AGO!!!! And another has come in since me and delivered as well. Its my turn!!!

Now its almost 12 and I have been having contractions that are killing me, (worse then with Landon) for several hours, no relief and no movement. I am getting frustrated. Oh and the turning every 30 minutes is murder! I can not get comfy. So they have me stand and rock back and forth holding onto Noah, then bounces up and down will rocking back and forth, then some squats.... don't you nurses know that this is VERY painful!!! My doctor, Dr. Nejduco transferred here from Cook County (you know the hospital ER is filmed at and about) so she is pretty much no pain no gain, big ole Black lady, who really is as sweet as can be, but she has seen it all so, deal with the pain!!! No epidural till you hit a 5!!! My poor nurses finally convinced her that I was in a ton of pain and that my contractions were very intense so she gave me some Finagrin and Stadol. It took the edge off and I was able to drift in and out of sleep for a bit. Finally at about 1 they check me again!!! NO PROGRESS!!!!!! "Okay Mrs. Jenkins if you don't make progress in the next hour we will have to send you home." WHAT!!! That's now 2 and not 3 or 4!!! So here I am in tears, I went through all this and now I'm going to have to go home and hope he comes on his own. What is with me and getting stuck at a 4 1/2? The same thing happened with Landon, but I was so over due that they were not going to send me home till he came, take all the time in the world. Not this time, I had an hour to make progress or go home!!!

So here it is 1:30 and I beg the nurse to check me! YIPPIE!!!! I am at a 5! "Do you want an epidural?" YES about 5 hours ago! So they call the doc in, she checks me, sure enough I am in active labor and we can break the water and let the real fun begin. So they call the Anesthesiologist and we wait. At least this time he only took about an hour instead of over 3 like with Landon. So its 2:30 I have my epidural, but something does not feel right, I can still feel a lot of pain on the left side but nothing at all on the right, not even my toes. They stick me with a needle later in my leg and I don't even know it! I tell the nurse and she says "That's normal!" I don't think so!!! They give me the catheter, PAIN!!!! I feel the whole thing, something is not right! "The Epidural guy said to call him if I felt like this, so please call him!!!" "Oh no you are okay!" Break my water, I feel the whole thing!!! This really hurts!!! So they check the catheter, over and over and reposition it over and over!! PAIN PAIN and more PAIN! STOP! Get the doc back in here to fix this, I feel the pain every contraction right there on the catheter. "Mama just turn up your medicine." So I do, even more tingling numbness in the right side, nothing in the left. Okay Ill deal! So I send Noah home to get Landon so I can see him one last time as my only baby, since the nurse says its going to be awhile and he will probably be in bed by the time the baby gets here. So he leaves! About 5 minutes later, Braddoc's heart rate drops. Down below 100! People start running into the room and making me turn, not so easy when I cant move my right side. They turn me to the left, his heart rate drops to the 40's, not good! They turn me to the right his heart rate shoots up to the 250's okay still not good, moving turning, dropping to about 44 then shooting up to the 250-270 range. More people running into the room. Putting the oxygen mask on me. Bringing in C-Section consent forms. The whole time I am so lost and no one is really explaining to me whats going on. I am crying and I'm all alone in a room full of people! Just when I feel like I am about to lose it Noah walks in carrying Landon, who immediately starts to freak out. All these people around mommy, a funny thing on her face. Why didn't some one tell my poor husband, "You might not want to take him in there."? So I pull the mask off, show Landon I am okay, give him a kiss and shoo them out the door. "Take him home and come back, FAST!!!" So he heads out the room and the mask goes back on. Still no one has bothered to really tell me, or at this time my very confused, concerned husband, what is going on besides, "If his heart rate does not stabilize we will have to do a C-Section." By this time Braddoc's heart rate is staying below 100 and I keep telling the nurse, "I hurt more and more with every contraction right on the catheter. I don't know how much more I can take." She asks, "Is it pressure? Surely you have not hit a 10 yet, its only been 45 minutes since you really hit a 5 and we broke your water." My response, "I don't know, it just hurts like nothing I have ever felt before." So she checks me!!! "HOLY COW, your at a 9 1/2 just a slight lip and you will be a 10, its time to start pushing." No calling the doctor, she is already in there along with all the whole floor of nurses. Oh and its not the doctor I have had all day, its a new one, my docs in a meeting. The new one, Dr. Gould, very sweet lady who really helped me out a ton.

Okay you can start pushing. "MY HUSBAND I CANT DO THIS WITH OUT MY HUSBAND!!" "What?" I repeat myself about 4 times, before someone gets smart and takes my mask off. "Can someone please stop my husband, I don't want to do this with out him." So off they go chasing him down and luckily he has not made it to the car yet. So some change of people, someone to watch Landon till my parents get there and I have my husband back and can start pushing. Oh wait!!! All that turning back and forth every 30 minutes, did not turn Braddoc from his sideways position. So I have to push him out that way! Since I had a horrible epidural I could not feel anything on the right side when I pushed and my pushes were not as effective on that side, which happened to be the side he was facing, so he kept getting stuck. "How long did you push with your first one?" "45 minutes" "Okay this will be much faster." Wrong again. I have never hurt so badly. I seriously thought I could not do it, I just wanted to give up and be done, I could not push any more. They kept telling me to scream, and so I would with every push. Then I would apologize after I was done pushing, for screaming, they just laughed and told me they rarely hear "Sorry!" In the delivery room from the lady in labor. If he did not make progress on that push I would apologize again.

I was screaming and crying and thought I would not make it. All I thought with every push was "Heavenly Father I can not do this alone, I need your help." I could not hold my legs to help me because of the epidural and then to top it all off, my left leg got a bad cramp and started to shake uncontrollably which made it almost impossible to push right. Finally, after 45 minutes of pushing he came out, and I tell you those last few pushes were not me, I could not have possibly done it by myself, I was so worn out and so sick that I know if it had not been for Heavenly Father, I might not have made it through. Oh and you know how they tell you to stop pushing when the head comes out? Not this monster, "Honey you have to keep pushing we cant get him out." So I push some more and what do you know, a dream I had months ago about his feet getting stuck in me came true. His feet got stuck on my pelvic bone, so I had to push those out too.

They laid him on me and I feel in love. He was/ is so beautiful, so perfect and worth every second. The heart rate changes were caused by his dropping so fast into the birth canal. He went so fast that he hit his head on my pelvic bone and cut it open, so he had a nice bloody cut there. Poor guy it was a hard trip. I just wanted to hold him forever and never let go. The whole room stood still, it was just me and him. This perfect angel was mine. I finally look up at Noah who had tears streaming down his face, it was such a perfect moment. Then they took him away to clean him up and the rush of adrenaline wore off. Something else was not right, I feel really hot and really sick to my stomach. They take my temp. and I have a very high fever. So they load me up with cold rags and give me that lovely shot in my right leg that I never felt. They try to bring Braddoc back to me, but I tell them I can not take him, I really feel sick. I start shaking all over and can not stop. Then it happens! I throw up and can't stop that either. Landon comes into the room, to see baby brother and poor kid walks into see Mommy throwing up and shaking with rags all over her and tons of people standing over her trying to stop whatever it was that was going on. Twice in one day was he traumitized, poor guy, I hope it does not scare him of hospitals. I was so sick to my stomach and so tired that I still don't really know what was happening.

Finally the fever subsides, so does the sickness and after 2 hours, I finally get to hold my baby and feed him. And then I start to think, I can do this again!!! Funny because it took me 10 months after having Landon to say "Okay I can do that labor stuff again." This time labor was 10 million times more crazy and more painful and it only took 2 hours for me to say "I can do this again." I know the joy of having a baby and I know the joy of what is to come, and its all worth it.

Reverance for the Flag!

Everyday at 4:30 retreat plays for the whole base to hear. For those of you who dont know military procedure, its where they play "Ruffles and Flurishes" followed by the "National Anthem." Its to show reverance to the flag and time to support those serving over seas and in war zones. We sometimes are out and about when it plays and have told Landon to put his hand on his heart and be reverant. He usually does pretty good, but one of us has always been with him. The other day we were in the kitchen and I guess his keen little kid ears heard it because he says "OH NO!!" runs to the back door opens it and runs out to the back yard and the side of the house where he can see the flag and puts his hand over his heart (he does both hands) and stood there so calm the whole time. When it was all done he looked over to the door where I was standing (taking pics of course) and just gave me the sweetest smile. I was so proud of him, he did it all by himself and stood there the full 2 1/2 minutes it took for it all to play. (thats an awful long time for such a little guy) Way to go Landon, thanks for supporting our country so reverantly!
Just some random pics! Sorry the one of Braddoc sleeping is side ways!! (dont know how that one happened)


Baby blue!!!

Fort fun and more!

Landon is very protective of his little brother. If he thinks we are neglecting him, like when he is taking a nap, he fusses at us and goes to check on him.

Noah and Landon built a fort in the living room and had a blast playing in it, after it caved in they made a big mat with pillows and ran from the playroom to the living room to jump on the pillows, Landon had a blast! I love all the mid air pictures.

Noah was hiding around the corner when Landon came running in and jumped out and scared him. I can not believe I actually got the picture! Priceless!



Landon is a clean freak! Nothing wrong with that! Now after we brush teeth we have to floss and he has to do it himself first. We will try and he says "No Landon do it!" So here he is flossing his teeth.

So whats with men and watching TV. Braddoc and Daddy and then Landon and Daddy..... male bonding?
He is such a good baby and sleeps so well. However he makes a ton of noise in his sleep and mommy and daddy dont sleep so well. He will cry out in his sleep and wake us up about every 30 minutes!!! AHHHHH mommy is tired, but when I check he is sound asleep. Last night was bad from about 10-1 all he did was make noise and then from 1-5:30 he was quite as a mouse and from 5:30-9. Its so weird and now he is super quiet again. Crazy kid!!!!

So people keep telling me that Braddoc and Landon look so much alike. Here is a picture of Braddoc and then Landon there is only a week difference in age at the time. Same couch same outfit, you be the judge do they look the same? I dont think so, they look like brothers but definetly different. Sorry its not a better head shot of Braddoc!

Heres more of our cute little one!




Enjoy!!!! We sure do!

The story behind the name!!!!

Okay so how we got the name.....

I love history, anything to do with history really. Sports history, war history, The Renissance, The Dark Ages, the BOM times and Bible times, history in itself just intriges me. In high school I took an Olympic and Sports history class and learned about James J. Braddock, a boxer during the Great Depression. I feel in love with his Cinderella Story, it just struck a cord in my heart. He had so much love for his family and wanted to do whatever it took to provide for them. At a time when couples were having to send their children away to homes to take care of them, he refused to have his family broken up and did everything he could to take care of them, including boxing with broken ribs and hands, going without his meals so that his kids could have extra, and working 24 hours at a time sometimes when ever he could get the work to make sure his family survived. At the age of 29 (old for a boxer) he came back against all odds and battling with freshly healed limbs and won the World Heavy Weight title, setting his family up for the rest of their life. His journey to get there was not easy and was plaqued with many heart aches and full of disapointments but he never gave up on his dream or his family. The story always stuck with me. A few years ago they wrote a book about it and came out with the movie both titled CINDERELLA MAN. We bought the book and Noah read it and fell in love with the story as well, we immediately bought the movie and were very impressed with how accurate the book and movie both are. If you have not seen or read either one you really should, its really a wonderful historically accurate story.

The week before I found out I was pregnant I was brushing my teeth and that name popped into my head and I wanted to go watch the movie. Noah came into the bathroom about 30 seconds later and said "For some reason the name Braddock just popped into my head, you know the boxer from the Great Depression, want to watch that movie?" I just laughed and said it must be a sign because I was thinking the same thing. The next Monday we found out we were pregnant and right then we knew, if it was a boy his name was Braddoc (minus the K) and sure enough he was a boy and so that name stuck.

Ammon was a little harder, we had three names we were torn between and for some reason my heart kept going to Ammon. The story of Ammon cutting off the arms and taking them to the king has always been my favorite BOM story and during this pregnancy I was reading the BOM every time I read about Ammon, which is of course a lot in the BOM, my heart would just skip a beat and so I took the name to Noah, he vetoed it at first but came to me one day and said, "You know Ammon is not so bad." So that went on the list. I knew that was his middle name the whole time, we just had to wait and see him so Noah would know. And as soon as he was born that was it, Braddoc Ammon, my warrior, my fighter. There is no other name more fitting for him, that is who he is!

I had to throw this one of Landon is here, cause it was too cute! Thats sour cream and tortilla all over his face. YUMMY!!!!