Reading, PA

Last weekend we went to visit and meet some of my extended family up in Reading, PA. I got to meet my Dad's cousins and one of my second cousins. We had a blast!

Jacob and Zoe both got to ride on the stair chair. It was a mini roller coaster for them.

Peyton was as cute as ever!

Jacob was showing his great, great Uncle John his transformer.

My second cousin (aka Jacob's friend) Sarah's birthday celebration.

Jacob and Zoe anxiously waiting for cake.

Dad and his cousin Katie. She was so much fun!

Grandmother, Uncle John and Zoe.

Uncle John has Lou Gehrig's Disease and has lost the ability to speak. This has not stopped his sense of humor! We had such a good time meeting everyone!

Back to Back Blizzards

The first weekend of February we got hit with 3 feet of snow in 24 hours. What an adventure! We lost power at 2:00 AM on Saturday morning. We stayed at our house all day thinking it would come back on any minute. It didn't. Most of the base had lost power but our friends, The Bradshaws, got their power back Saturday evening. They invited us to stay at their house until our power came back. Luckily, Brandon and I had been shoveling the van out throughout the day. Unfortunately, the Bradshaw's street had not been plowed. We parked our car on the main road (in a parking spot that they shoveled for us) and trekked through a maze of paths to their house. Our power did not come back on at our house until early Monday morning. Our house was sitting at a frosty 54 degrees. We had a blast hanging out with our friends but we were happy to be in our own beds again.

Two days later, another blizzard hit. This one had more wind and less snow. It was hard to tell how much snow we got because of the drifts. We think we got about 12-18 inches. Luckily, our power stayed on! The bad news is, we all got sick. The good news, Brandon didn't have work all week!

Brandon's car is in there somewhere.

Our backyard.

Our front walk.

Looking out our front door.

Playing Catch Up!

Here are some pictures from the end of January.
Zoe will wear whatever you put her in as long as she can take it off and put on her "pretty dress"

One Sunday afternoon. Poor Peyton is wide awake while Daddy is sleeping on the job.

In Zoe's words, "I'm a SUPER!"

Pappy taught the kids the proper way to eat an oreo.

Peyton's Birth Story

I had become “that crazy pregnant lady.” You know the type of pregnant woman who has that wild look in her eye. The kind of look that says, “at any moment I will cry, scream, laugh, go crazy or all of the above without warning.” Jacob was born 11 days early and Zoe was 10 days early. I was expecting Peyton to be born some time during the 38^th week like my previous children. When the 38^th week had come and gone I began to go insane. My OB had tried to convince me to induce two days before my due date but I refused because I thought he would surely be born by then. The OB wanted to induce because I had been battling with low amniotic fluid. I called Dr. Goitom back after I realized how badly I wanted Peyton to come out! We scheduled the induction for October 29^th.

We had to be at the hospital at 7 am so Jacob and Zoe spent the night at the Bradshaw’s house. I was very excited and nervous when I woke up. It is an odd feeling knowing you are going to have a baby within the next 24 hours. I was actually having contractions every 15 minutes when we were on our way to the hospital. When we got to the hospital we had to fill out some paper work and get situated. We started pitocin at about 8:00 or 8:30. I was 1 cm dilated when we started. Dr. Goitom was very busy that day with c-sections so my doctor throughout the day was Midwife Debbie Doerfer. She was awesome. I had been seeing her for the pregnancy but when I started having trouble with low amniotic fluid I started seeing Dr. Goitom. I wish I had stayed with Debbie the whole time. We had a wonderful nurse named Susan as well. She helped calm my nerves about being induced. I really wanted to have a natural birth like Zoe’s and I was afraid having pitocin was going to make everything unbearably painful. I was also afraid the hospital staff wouldn’t listen to what I wanted. Debbie and Susan were incredible. Unfortunately I got a different nurse at 3 pm…she was not so great. At 10 am Dr. Goitom came to check on me (the last time I saw her). She wanted to check my dilation and break my water. This frustrated me because it had only been two hours at most. Checking my dilation at that point would have only discouraged me. I refused. My contractions were 3-5 minutes apart but were not very strong yet. Honestly, I was kind of bored. I was playing Farkle on Brandon’s itouch. The day passed very slowly for me. I was dreading the pain but I just wanted to get it over with. At 1:30 I asked Brandon to go home and get a few things. I knew he would be gone for about an hour but I really didn’t think anything would happen in that hour. Just to be safe I asked Debbie to check how dilated I was. I was at 3 cm…grrrr. I knew it was going slowly but I wanted to be farther along than that. At 2:00 Brandon left (even though he thought it was a bad idea). Fifteen minutes later I called him on his cell and asked him to come back. Contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart but I was getting really uncomfortable really fast. I knew if this labor was anything like Zoe’s I was going to be in a lot of pain very soon. When Brandon got back I was laying on my side and the contractions were really working, aka hurting. Brandon was out of breath from running from the car, up the stairs, to the room. He was worried about me and said the elevator took too long. From here on everything happened really fast. I couldn’t talk through my contractions anymore. Brandon was applying counter pressure on my lower back during the contractions. I don’t think I would have made it if he wasn’t doing that. The nurses shift change was at 3. Unfortunately Susan left and we got a new nurse. This new nurse informed me that I needed to keep the blood pressure cuff on so they could check it every 15 minutes. It is a little distracting to have something squeezing your arm in the middle of a contraction. As soon as she left the room I took it off and refused to put it back on. At 3:30 I asked Debbie to check me again. I was 5 cm and asked her to break my water. I asked for an epidural but I knew I probably wouldn’t get it in time. I was groaning/yelling through my contractions now. A nurse named Bambie came in and said, “Blow through the contractions like you are blowing out a candle.” All I was thinking about was how could I pry my hand off the bedrail, slap her in the face, and still maintain control of my body. Needless to say I didn’t slap her. At about 3:45 I told them I was going to start pushing. Actually it was more like, “I’M PUSHING NOW!” I don’t think they believed me. Debbie was there by 4:00 and was not phased in the least at my yelling. My epidural got there right after her. I was 9.5 cm dilated…too late. I was pushing and yelling with every contraction. Debbie grabbed my knees, got in my face and said, “Kristin you need to breathe!” That got me to focus on what I was doing. I found out later that I was yelling more than I was breathing and that worried some people…especially Brandon. After Peyton’s head came out Debbie told me to stop pushing. The cord was wrapped around his neck. Brandon told me later he was very blue. Trying not to push when that is all your body wants to do is very difficult. After the cord was unwrapped I was able to deliver Peyton. Peyton Douglass McCain was born at 4:15 pm. Debbie put him on my chest and I cried. He was perfect! 8 pounds 1 ounce, 21 inches long. My biggest baby so far.