Sunday, September 10, 2006
Happy Grandparents' Day...
...to my own fantastic Elrey grandparents, Grandma Sine and Grandma Muriel, and to the grandparents of my kids: Papa Post, Papa Jim and Gramma Becky, Nana and Papa, and Gram and Gramp Melin. Thank you for making life so sweet and fun and full of love for all of us!!!! I envy your job and I'm comin' for it in about 25 years! ;) Have a great day and know that you are adored and indispensible in our lives!
Bittersweet
So Friday morning I was enjoying my first morning at home with THREE kids, watching my cute boy make waking-up faces, when my mom came downstairs to hang out on my bed with me. The house was quietly a-buzz and I was feeling so relieved and thankful that James was with us, that mom was there, etc...
The phone rang and it was my brother, Matt, calling to tell me congratulations and to say good bye to mom.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"I am sitting on a bus at Fort McCoy, getting ready to fly to Ireland and then good ol' Tikrit..."
We continued to chat and then I passed the phone to my mom (who of course began to cry). I thought about how long we had been waiting for and dreading this very moment, and how weird it was that I was having this peaceful, joyful moment in my little Montana home and he was facing this...deployment.
For real.
I felt strangely at peace with Matt's situation, though, too, after all the crying about it earlier this year (especially when his own baby boy was born in February). Like I said in an earlier post, I just sing the prayer, Bring Him Home, to myself. I know he'll be okay.
That moment reminded me again how the things I treasure most in life and the most joyful moments always come at a price...someone else's Great Sacrifice. So once again, thank you. Thanks to Heavenly Father for all of it, and especially today, to the soldiers, their families, and others who make these quiet, peaceful moments full of love and home and family a given. Thank you, Matt.
You're in our prayers and always will be.
The phone rang and it was my brother, Matt, calling to tell me congratulations and to say good bye to mom.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"I am sitting on a bus at Fort McCoy, getting ready to fly to Ireland and then good ol' Tikrit..."
We continued to chat and then I passed the phone to my mom (who of course began to cry). I thought about how long we had been waiting for and dreading this very moment, and how weird it was that I was having this peaceful, joyful moment in my little Montana home and he was facing this...deployment.
For real.
I felt strangely at peace with Matt's situation, though, too, after all the crying about it earlier this year (especially when his own baby boy was born in February). Like I said in an earlier post, I just sing the prayer, Bring Him Home, to myself. I know he'll be okay.
That moment reminded me again how the things I treasure most in life and the most joyful moments always come at a price...someone else's Great Sacrifice. So once again, thank you. Thanks to Heavenly Father for all of it, and especially today, to the soldiers, their families, and others who make these quiet, peaceful moments full of love and home and family a given. Thank you, Matt.
You're in our prayers and always will be.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Birth Story
So…I didn’t mention that I went to the hospital on Saturday night for my non-stress test hoping that the OB nurse would check me and maybe get things started, but no dice. I went back home to my house full of family with no baby. SHUCKS! We all went to bed and had a really excellent Sunday church meeting. By the time church was over, most of my siblings had headed home and we just had a nice quiet nap that afternoon. Later, we joined my in-laws (Rich’s brother Jess was visiting with his son and some friends) at the ranch again for some dutch oven dinner and s’mores.
Monday turned out to be a pretty relaxing day, too. We cleaned up from the weekend fun and got lots of rest. I was very uncomfortable and couldn’t even nap very long, but tried to stay busy. Mom and I made a big Mexican dinner and invited Mom & Dad Melin over for a makeshift family night, and that was a really nice visit (it’s so nice having my mom AND Rich’s mom over—they are both so much help and make my life so much easier). By the time we cleaned up dinner, I was having regular contractions, although they were hard to follow. I went downstairs and sat down for a couple of hours. We watched TV and the contractions got more and more regular. I took a hot bath around 11pm and decided to go into the hospital and just check if I was really having contractions. I was going to go alone, but mom offered to come with me. The night nurse, Shari, hooked me up to my regular machine and we started monitoring. My contractions were regular but over 2 hours, I hadn’t progressed much (stayed around 5 cm dilated and 60% effaced). She said she thought my labor was real and we could just wait around, but I said I’d rather sleep at home and go see my doctor at 9am as scheduled. So I went home and put my poor mom to bed around 2:30am. No sooner had I laid down than Heidi woke up and would not go back to bed (or even lay by us) for NUTHIN’! Rich even had to put a movie on for her around 4am and she crashed a little before 6am. It was HORRIBLE! Luckily she was still asleep when I left for my appointment and Rich left for work.
At the appointment, I saw Dr. Burwell (who was also on at the hospital that day). She saw the report from the hospital and checked me and I had progressed enough that she thought she could “augment” my labor that afternoon and deliver the baby after office hours. I still had to get the Group B Strep antibiotics two hours before the induction, so I told her I would go home and get my stuff and check in by 11am so I could be ready for induction at 2pm. My mom was getting the girls dressed when I got home and she was so excited that we were really going! We took the girls to Grandma Melin’s house for a couple of hours so mom could help me get checked in and Rich could get some things done at the office [aside: this is a bad week to be an insurance agent in Montana—our area is completely surrounded by dangerous wildfires and several of our insureds have had to evacuate and may lose property in the fires]. Rich and mom got me settled then went home to take care of the girls so Grandma Melin could go into the office for a while. Mom went home to rest while Heidi took her nap, and Rich took Addie to play at a friend’s house. Nurses Mary and Katie got me all set and started pitocin around 2:30pm, and Dr. Burwell came to talk with me around 3pm. We discussed our plan…I would have an intrathecal anesthetic (what they used to call a “Saddle block”—a one-time spinal injection that lasts 3 hours, instead of the immobilizing epidural), then she would break my water and hopefully the baby would soon follow. She left to return around 6pm, and I just kept working on labor. My mom came back after Heidi had a nap (Grandma Melin came over to my house to take care of the girls—feed them dinner, get them ready for bed, etc.) and Rich soon joined her. We walked around the hospital (mostly because just sitting there was giving me a headache and the contractions weren’t too painful yet) and just hung out watching TV.
After 7pm, contractions became stronger and I decided it was time to start the anesthetic (it started at exactly 7:21) since they would only get worse. Let me just say that the two times I have had anesthetic for childbirth—getting the meds was EASILY the worst part of the whole experience. I am SO not a needle person and “skin pain” as I call it (itching, burning, poking, etc) is more irritating to me than any deep muscle pain any day. So it was a real trial getting through the intrathecal without moving (or vomiting or passing out). By 7:30pm, I was numb from the waist down with only a mild, annoying itch from the tiny bit of morphine (I am SO not a narcotics person, either). Dr. Burwell broke my water around 8pm, then I got very sleepy and spent the next 2 hours alternately sleeping and vomiting (it wasn’t terrible vomiting, though, and I didn’t get one of those awful spinal headaches, either). I woke up at 10pm with very serious, painful contractions, so Dr. Burwell checked me at about 10:20. She said I was ready to go, so she and Nurse Shari got the delivery stuff ready and I started to push at 10:35. I had Rich on one side, mom on the other, and the doc and nurse out front coaching me. I did about 7 or 8 long pushes, then the baby crowned (YIKES! I kept saying, “It’s burning! Get it! It’s burning,” and I am guessing that’s about the time Dr. B went ahead and gave me a very small episiotomy). Three big pushes and James was out in the world. I remember finally letting out my breath and opening my eyes and seeing Dr. Burwell turn him right side up, all wet and white and red. She said, “Wow, that’s a big baby…he’s more than 8 pounds!” She laid him on my chest and he felt tiny to me. The nurse came to clean him up a little and mentioned how big he was, too. I felt like he had been easy to deliver, so I though he’d be around Heidi’s size (7-14). Of course we soon found out I was wrong—the boy weighed in at 9-11!
Just as James was getting wiped up, Rich ran down to the waiting room where Mom & Dad Melin were waiting with the girls and Aunt Angie. They all came into the room to watch Rich cut the cord and pass the baby around. I was stuck getting stitched up, but so excited that our boy was here and was being so adored. It was a huge welcome and I felt so relieved.
Sadly, all the excitement died down, everyone went home, and I was still too dizzy/nauseated to get up, so I had to sleep in my delivery room until almost 5am on Wednesday morning. When I could finally get up and go potty and change into a clean nightgown, I was thrilled. I went across the hall to my big comfy recovery room and got in a clean bed and held my beautiful, clean, sweet baby boy on my chest. We slept that way for about an hour and everything was good in the world! I was sick until about 8am and couldn’t eat until around lunchtime, but it was all so worth it (and that first meal and all that yummy ice water and juice tasted SOOOO good after a 25 hour fast!). James is sweet and perfect--I feel so blessed!
Monday turned out to be a pretty relaxing day, too. We cleaned up from the weekend fun and got lots of rest. I was very uncomfortable and couldn’t even nap very long, but tried to stay busy. Mom and I made a big Mexican dinner and invited Mom & Dad Melin over for a makeshift family night, and that was a really nice visit (it’s so nice having my mom AND Rich’s mom over—they are both so much help and make my life so much easier). By the time we cleaned up dinner, I was having regular contractions, although they were hard to follow. I went downstairs and sat down for a couple of hours. We watched TV and the contractions got more and more regular. I took a hot bath around 11pm and decided to go into the hospital and just check if I was really having contractions. I was going to go alone, but mom offered to come with me. The night nurse, Shari, hooked me up to my regular machine and we started monitoring. My contractions were regular but over 2 hours, I hadn’t progressed much (stayed around 5 cm dilated and 60% effaced). She said she thought my labor was real and we could just wait around, but I said I’d rather sleep at home and go see my doctor at 9am as scheduled. So I went home and put my poor mom to bed around 2:30am. No sooner had I laid down than Heidi woke up and would not go back to bed (or even lay by us) for NUTHIN’! Rich even had to put a movie on for her around 4am and she crashed a little before 6am. It was HORRIBLE! Luckily she was still asleep when I left for my appointment and Rich left for work.
At the appointment, I saw Dr. Burwell (who was also on at the hospital that day). She saw the report from the hospital and checked me and I had progressed enough that she thought she could “augment” my labor that afternoon and deliver the baby after office hours. I still had to get the Group B Strep antibiotics two hours before the induction, so I told her I would go home and get my stuff and check in by 11am so I could be ready for induction at 2pm. My mom was getting the girls dressed when I got home and she was so excited that we were really going! We took the girls to Grandma Melin’s house for a couple of hours so mom could help me get checked in and Rich could get some things done at the office [aside: this is a bad week to be an insurance agent in Montana—our area is completely surrounded by dangerous wildfires and several of our insureds have had to evacuate and may lose property in the fires]. Rich and mom got me settled then went home to take care of the girls so Grandma Melin could go into the office for a while. Mom went home to rest while Heidi took her nap, and Rich took Addie to play at a friend’s house. Nurses Mary and Katie got me all set and started pitocin around 2:30pm, and Dr. Burwell came to talk with me around 3pm. We discussed our plan…I would have an intrathecal anesthetic (what they used to call a “Saddle block”—a one-time spinal injection that lasts 3 hours, instead of the immobilizing epidural), then she would break my water and hopefully the baby would soon follow. She left to return around 6pm, and I just kept working on labor. My mom came back after Heidi had a nap (Grandma Melin came over to my house to take care of the girls—feed them dinner, get them ready for bed, etc.) and Rich soon joined her. We walked around the hospital (mostly because just sitting there was giving me a headache and the contractions weren’t too painful yet) and just hung out watching TV.
After 7pm, contractions became stronger and I decided it was time to start the anesthetic (it started at exactly 7:21) since they would only get worse. Let me just say that the two times I have had anesthetic for childbirth—getting the meds was EASILY the worst part of the whole experience. I am SO not a needle person and “skin pain” as I call it (itching, burning, poking, etc) is more irritating to me than any deep muscle pain any day. So it was a real trial getting through the intrathecal without moving (or vomiting or passing out). By 7:30pm, I was numb from the waist down with only a mild, annoying itch from the tiny bit of morphine (I am SO not a narcotics person, either). Dr. Burwell broke my water around 8pm, then I got very sleepy and spent the next 2 hours alternately sleeping and vomiting (it wasn’t terrible vomiting, though, and I didn’t get one of those awful spinal headaches, either). I woke up at 10pm with very serious, painful contractions, so Dr. Burwell checked me at about 10:20. She said I was ready to go, so she and Nurse Shari got the delivery stuff ready and I started to push at 10:35. I had Rich on one side, mom on the other, and the doc and nurse out front coaching me. I did about 7 or 8 long pushes, then the baby crowned (YIKES! I kept saying, “It’s burning! Get it! It’s burning,” and I am guessing that’s about the time Dr. B went ahead and gave me a very small episiotomy). Three big pushes and James was out in the world. I remember finally letting out my breath and opening my eyes and seeing Dr. Burwell turn him right side up, all wet and white and red. She said, “Wow, that’s a big baby…he’s more than 8 pounds!” She laid him on my chest and he felt tiny to me. The nurse came to clean him up a little and mentioned how big he was, too. I felt like he had been easy to deliver, so I though he’d be around Heidi’s size (7-14). Of course we soon found out I was wrong—the boy weighed in at 9-11!
Just as James was getting wiped up, Rich ran down to the waiting room where Mom & Dad Melin were waiting with the girls and Aunt Angie. They all came into the room to watch Rich cut the cord and pass the baby around. I was stuck getting stitched up, but so excited that our boy was here and was being so adored. It was a huge welcome and I felt so relieved.
Sadly, all the excitement died down, everyone went home, and I was still too dizzy/nauseated to get up, so I had to sleep in my delivery room until almost 5am on Wednesday morning. When I could finally get up and go potty and change into a clean nightgown, I was thrilled. I went across the hall to my big comfy recovery room and got in a clean bed and held my beautiful, clean, sweet baby boy on my chest. We slept that way for about an hour and everything was good in the world! I was sick until about 8am and couldn’t eat until around lunchtime, but it was all so worth it (and that first meal and all that yummy ice water and juice tasted SOOOO good after a 25 hour fast!). James is sweet and perfect--I feel so blessed!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Still more birth pictures...
That's me, ready to POP on Tuesday night with my mom. I'm so glad she came and she got to witness the birth of a grandchild...it was really cool (except for the part where I kept throwing up and ruining the otherwise-jovial occasion).
Here's proof that James is gigantic...edited for the web!
Addie is such the Little Mommy! She has been taking great care of me AND James. I am hoping we all adjust smoothly to his arrival!
Addie came and shared lunch and some quiet time with me and James before we checked out of the hospital yesterday...she was SOOOO excited!
Going Home... Baby James was NOT thrilled about the car seat. I have the complete birth story written in James' baby journal, I just have to find a quiet moment to type it into the blog. It's coming soon! Life is good here...our first day home was not so bad, although I was feeling pretty bad at 3am trying to get him to latch on when my milk came in and he was squealing and grunting and frustrated. A few hours of sleep made a big difference and we have enjoyed a nice peaceful day at home as a family...
"and now we are five!"
Thursday, September 07, 2006
We're Home!
Hi, it's me, Jamie...I am home with sweet baby James (as of 2pm), even though they threatened that we'd have to stay til Friday morning. The docs checked us and set us free and we are glad to be home.
I'll have the birth story for you all soon. I must tell you that I have NO swelling, very little pain, and I am amazed that this GIANT baby was the easiest! He is sweet and quiet ( he only grunts--it's hilarious) and tolerating all the love from his sisters very well! We need a nap, so I'll be back soon! Thanks for all the e-love and the personal visits, too--we feel special! ;)
I'll have the birth story for you all soon. I must tell you that I have NO swelling, very little pain, and I am amazed that this GIANT baby was the easiest! He is sweet and quiet ( he only grunts--it's hilarious) and tolerating all the love from his sisters very well! We need a nap, so I'll be back soon! Thanks for all the e-love and the personal visits, too--we feel special! ;)
More Baby Photos for Yall (from Rich)
Look at that belly! This is about 6 hours before James was born, right when the induction started (3-4pm)
Somebody is the most popular guy in town!
Happy Sisters
Attack of the clones
Just beautiful I must say!!
Somebody is the most popular guy in town! 
Happy Sisters 
Attack of the clones 
Just beautiful I must say!! Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Sweet Baby James
When the girls were with Grandma Melin on Tuesday, they made him little birthday cakes...SO CUTE! When they came to hospital, they brought him presents and sang him Happy Birthday...
Both Grandmas, both sisters, and Daddy greeted Sweet Baby James
Both Grandmas, both sisters, and Daddy greeted Sweet Baby James
Handsome Boy!!
A new addition to the Melin Family
Baby James Ole Richard Melin
was born on 09/05/06 at 10:53 P.M.
Weighing in at a hefty
9 Lbs. 11 Oz.
He and Mom are doing great!
I am sure there will be millions of
photos to follow. This will have to
do for now....Love, Proud Dad
SEPTEMBER 5th AFTER ALL!
Sister Jill here-
I talked to Jamie yesterday morning while she was packing her bag for the hospital. She just returned from a Dr appt. where her doc said it was the day. She was making progress and it was TIME!!! I have the priviledge of being a guest blogger! I recieved another call around 11PM last night, and guess what? Baby Boy Melin is here!!! You will never guess his weight- 9lbs 11ounces!!! Born at 10:53PM, I am sure the proud parents are so happy he is finally out of there! Congratulations Jamie and Rich!
I talked to Jamie yesterday morning while she was packing her bag for the hospital. She just returned from a Dr appt. where her doc said it was the day. She was making progress and it was TIME!!! I have the priviledge of being a guest blogger! I recieved another call around 11PM last night, and guess what? Baby Boy Melin is here!!! You will never guess his weight- 9lbs 11ounces!!! Born at 10:53PM, I am sure the proud parents are so happy he is finally out of there! Congratulations Jamie and Rich!
Monday, September 04, 2006
Saturday: On the River
My father-in-law helped get everyone on canoes & rafts
Petersen Canoe: Jack, Jill, Drew, & Nana(This is the canoe that sank just beofre it reached the ranch; Nana, Jill, & Jack got out and walked back while Drew got the canoe going again and rowed into the beach at the ranch)
Willy, Melanie, & Liam
The Lehman Canoe: Darrin, Jared, Gabriel, & Laura
The Post Canoe: Liam, Mel, Spencer, Will, & Audrey (Brent rowed with them, too)
Spencer & Brent at the ranch beach
Addie in the sand...any wonder she STILL has sand in her pants???
Melanie in the sand
How the ranch looks through the smoke of two big wild fires
Willy, Melanie, & Liam
The Lehman Canoe: Darrin, Jared, Gabriel, & Laura
The Post Canoe: Liam, Mel, Spencer, Will, & Audrey (Brent rowed with them, too)
Spencer & Brent at the ranch beach
Addie in the sand...any wonder she STILL has sand in her pants???
Melanie in the sand
How the ranch looks through the smoke of two big wild fires
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