On Snobbishness

I'll admit it. In the past I have been a bit of a snob...a diaper snob, that is. Starting with my oldest, I used ONLY Huggies or Pampers, whoever was better at the time (Doesn't it always seem like they are always changing something or other about their diapers? One will change then the other will one up them...it is a diaper game of leap frog). Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't insist on Supremes, but it was Name Brand diapers for my kids.

There were a few times that I did try store brand diapers, but my experiences with them were definitely negative. I usually ended up with leaking, torn tabs, and occasionally the whole diaper would fall apart.

So, for years I insisted on name brands...rarely condescending to buy LUVs. (And with 5 kids, all who insist that they are NOT ready to potty train until they are 3 and a 1/2, I have single handedly kept the diaper industry afloat). But fast forward to the current economic crisis. My grocery budget was not increasing and my money was not going as far. I needed to find a way to cut back, so I started buying LUVs diapers. They were fine, no complaints...but grocery prices continued to grow...and I had a week where my grocery budget was a little extra tight...I paced back and forth, eyeing the Parent's Choice diapers (Wal Mart Brand); their discounted price was calling to me. But my mind was haunted by discount diaper nightmares...leaking, torn tabs, and falling apart..Oh My! But I gave in to the siren call of money saved and the yellow package made it's way into my cart. I hoped that I wouldn't experience buyers remorse at each diaper change.

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. They came equipped with everything my name brand diapers had. Stretchy fit, cloth like feel, even the stretch side tabs! Each week it got easier to put that yellow package in my cart, passing by the red, green and purple packages who still whispered to me that they were better. I am now a convert to Parents Choice diapers. They run about half the price of Huggies and Pampers, and about 30% cheaper than LUVs. For this Mommy of five, with two in diapers, the savings are huge.

I did try the Target brand diapers about a month ago, and I must admit that I was a bit disappointed. They were not as soft, their side tabs not as stretchy, and I experienced night time leaking.

1st smile!

Tonight I got my first real smile from Lucas. I only got the one, but I could tell it was the real thing. I was taking a bath to wind down for the night. I put him in his swing in the bathroom so I could keep an eye on him and still take a bath. He was looking so cute, so I started talking to him. He responded by giving me an adorable smile; dimple and all. So fun!

NO more lights!!!

Bili lights, that is! Yesterday afternoon we got a call from the Dr. that Lucas' bili levels had dropped enough that we could take him off of the light bed. It made for a much better nights sleep for me! YEAH! It was so much nicer. All swaddled up he slept much better, and only woke for normal feedings! Today was nicer as well, since I could just cuddle with him when he was done eating. I am hoping to take some new photos of him tomorrow, so be watching for new photos soon!

Tough night!

Well, Lucas is back on Bili lights. His levels just aren't dropping, in fact yesterday they had gone back up a point to 12. I have to say, having a 4 day old on lights is way easier than a 2 week old! He cried a ton last night. I ended up feeding him every hour and a half, and only pushed it to that by using a pacifier. Needless to say, I got very little sleep last night. Today we have to go down and get some more blood work done to check his level again and see if there is a major cause to his extended elevated levels.

So now he is finally asleep nicely on the lights and, of course, the other 2 little boys are wide awake! Hopefully tonight is better!

Lucas Boyd Jensen is here!

Lucas Boyd Jensen

October 22, 2007

5lbs 8 oz

20 inches

So here is the story for those of you that haven't heard yet:


Tuesday night (the 16th of October) I took Joelle down to Kids Care because we thought she might have a UTI. Shortly after we got there I started having contractions, I had been having some off and on over the weekend, but they always went away. Well after the 2 hours of waiting at the Drs I went home. I called my midwife and she advised me to drink a ton of water and lie down, if they didn't slow down, I was to go to L&D. After an hour and a half of no improvement I drove myself over to the hospital.

I figured I would get all hooked up to the monitors and then they would stop. Well, that was NOT the case. The contractions continued to be very regular. So the nurses gave me a shot of tributalene (sp?), took a fetal fibronectin (sp?) test and checked me. The test came up positive (meaning I was likely to deliver due to preterm labor in the next 2 weeks) and I was already 4 cm dialted. This earned me a stay in the hospital on bed rest. A half hour later I got another Tributalene shot and a shot in the hip of Betamethazone (sp? this is the steroid to help accelerate lung development). After another shot of the Tributalene I started an oral drug I took every 6 hours the rest of the time I was there to try to stop the contractions.

It worked pretty well through Friday morning, when I started with another run of regular contractions, in spite of the pills. They stopped these with another round of the tributalene shots and some IV fluids. I had another round of regular contractions that night (I was checked at this point and was now dilated to 5), but they stopped those by upping a single dose of my oral medication (procardia).

Everything went fine until Sunday, when in the morning I started with some small, irregular contractions, but as the day progressed they continued to be more and more regular and caused more pain. By later that night, they were 3-5 minutes apart, so my nurse decided she needed to yet again check me. I was now dilated to 6, so it was no turning back, he was going to come no matter what we thought about it. I got my epidural and we waited for my midwife to arrive to break my water. By the time she arrived I was at 7 and within a half hour of breaking my water Lucas was here. We had a few little scares in between, as he had some decellerations in his heart rate during my contractions (it turned out he had the cord wrapped around his neck) and there was meconium in the fluid, but when he arrived he looked like a perfect little man! His apgars were 9 and 9, amazing since he was only just 34 weeks! He never really had any breathing problem (THANK YOU Betamethazone!!!).

They took him to the NICU based on his gestational age, and he only stayed there 12 hours (and he was just being observed the whole time). So the rest of the time in the hospital he stayed with me in my room. He is doing great with nursing and almost everything else. He will join us at home tomorrow. He is having some problems keeping his body temperature up and he is having some problems with jaundice. He is spending the afternoon and night tonight under the lights, and depending on how successful they are in lowering his levels, he will be home as early as in the morning, but should be atleast sometime tomorrow.

We can't wait for him to get here! I am so glad to be home with my family though, even if it is without my little baby. I have missed Jared and the kids so much! We were so lucky that my mom was able to come over the weekend so Jared could come stay with me in the evenings while I was on bed rest.



Well, sorry for that crazy novel!! I will post a few more pictures here below! Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern and their desire to help. We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and a wonderful family.

30 weeks...yes the promised belly shots are here!

I am 30 weeks today! Yeah, we are on the final lap now! It should only be 7-8 more weeks now until we have Lucas here with us! I am getting so anxious for him to arrive (and not being pregnant any more will be nice too!)


Well, I took forever to have hubby take these, but here they are. I have kind of a goofy look on my face here (I always seem to in photos, I must be goofy looking..LOL).

I really like how this one came out. I love the Black and White!
Here's a good side shot for you, so you can see how big this little guy is getting.

Thanks for looking! We plan to take some more as I get closer as well, but who knows when that will be...LOL..hoping to include the kiddos in those!

Baby Name...Finally...and winner announced!

So, we have FINALLY decided on a name for our little baby boy!! YEAH! After much deliberation we have decided on....

Thanks to everyone who helped us with suggestions! YOu guys are awesome and gave some wonderful ideas! Unfortunately we did not pick a name that was suggested..but...we wanted to award a prize to one of you who made a suggestion...so I had my son Liam draw one of your names for me and our winner is ...... DAFFNY!!! Send me and email with your addy adn I will get a prize off to you soon!

Thanks again everyone.

*name block designed using Lucky Star kit by Gina Cabrera of http://www.digitaldesignessentials.com/ Font is Beach Type

Belly Shots

These aren't the best, as I took them myself with a tripod and the timer....but I wanted some belly shots for the blog..so here they are. Not too huge yet, but feeling bigger everyday!

Just a little funny!

I get a weekly pregnancy email newsletter from Baby Center and sometimes they will include a little comic. This one came today with my 22 week newsletter. It is so me! I had to share!

Names...

Ok, you guys have given us some great suggestions, but we are still struggling to come up with a name.! I have never had this much trouble deciding on a name for any of our kids. By this point in my pregnancies I have always had a name picked out! It seems that every name I like is either too close to one of my childrens names (for example, I was searching through a baby name site this morning and found the name Baxter, I thought this was cool, especially since the town that our family's cabin where family reunions have been held semi-annually for year is called Baxter, and then I thought, duh..can't use that...how would you shorten it for a nic name???? Bax...duh I have a Max already....). Also when you are deciding on names and your husband is the youngest of 7 children, all of whom have atleast 4 children...tons of names have already been taken, and you can't repeat! Ok, and doesn't it seem like all of your bad experiences in childhood come rushing back when looking through lists of names? Sure, a name woudl be fine, if you hadn't dated that jerk Senior year, if that bully hadn't picked on you in Kindergarten....the reasons NOT to pick a name continue to mount, and acceptable names are few and far between! We will keep you updated as our search continues! Don't worry, if we choose a name that someone did not suggest, we will have a random drawing for our winner..someone will get a prize!

Baby name contest.

We are stuck on a name for our little baby boy. We have 2 names that we like, but we are not sure...they are just the only ones we like so far. So here goes a contest to help us name our little one. Leave a comment on our blog with name suggestions (remember I like the names to be a little different, but not wierd). If you are the first to suggest a name and we choose that name we will send you a prize. The names we like so far are Kimball and Byron (so you can't pick those!) Post away and see if you can win a fun prize (and have the glory, being able to claim that you named our son)

Are we seeing Pink or Blue?

What do You think we are having....? Maybe this scrapbook page will give you a hint!



Click on the LO to be able to read the journaling.
Isn't he so cute??

Now that was a fun announcement wasn't it? Sorry I am so late in posting it, I had a VERY busy day!