Kiera Lavon Rixen

The wait is finally over! November 12, 2010 Kiera Lavon made her entrance! She was born at 2:56 am and was 8 lb 2 oz, 21 inches long.



The story: The labor and delivery went relatively quickly. It was about 8 pm when contractions began, we went to the hospital at 11:30 pm. We were admitted at about 12:40 am and 4.5 cm, and it was decided immediately that I wanted an epidural (knowing that things would probably move quite quickly, and I was extremely uncomfortable with contractions about 2 min apart). At 1:50 am the epidural was in place and beginning to take effect. At 2:10 am the membrane ruptured on it's own and I was at 8 cm. At 2:30 am, we were at 10 cm and Kiera was born at 2:56. The epidural was shut off and removed by 3:15 am (perfect to only have it for about 1.5 hours).

She is a good baby and doing well. Her days and nights seem to be mixed up, but that is to be expected! Cael is adjusting pretty well. When we first got her home he wasn't so sure when he woke up from his nap and she was here, but today he has been very receptive of her, and doesn't seem to mind (yet) that I am holding her and feeding her. My mom is here, which is a HUGE help, and a good distraction for Cael! Jonathan is planning on heading back to work tomorrow, with a pretty flexible schedule.

Enjoying the nice weather...that is soon to change!!

It has been a long time since Cael fell asleep in the highchair...last weekend he must have been exhausted.


He fell asleep, we took him out, changed his diaper, put him in his pajamas, then bam...he was wide awake again, ready for round 2 of dinner!



On Sunday last weekend, we took advantage of the nice weather and went for a stroll at Lake Nokomis. Cael's favorite part...throwing rocks into the water! (what a big surprise!)


Update on me: I am progressing once again, which is good. They had me on the fetal monitor for about 45 minutes at the office to see what was happening. Baby's heart rate was good, it certainly is active, and I continue to have contractions. Hopefully it is only a matter of days now! We did not schedule an induction yet...kind of screwed up since the midwife we see doesn't deliver at Regions (where our insurance is the cheapest), so we aren't exactly sure how to schedule something when she isn't going to be there. I guess we are hoping we will go in the next week or so, so we don't have to worry about it...we will see when the baby decides to join us!

Have a great day, and look out for the snow coming this weekend! (At least in MN!)

No baby yet...

There is really nothing new to report from our end...just wanted to write and let you know that there is nothing really new to report! I know people are curious and waiting...so are we!!

We are 2 days from the due date, and with Cael being 10 days early, I feel overdue. (Erin, I am beginning to know how you feel). I have an appointment on Thursday morning, so we will see how things are going. I took Thursday off after the appointment for a "personal day"...I figured one day at home doing whatever would probably be ok.

We had a false alarm this past weekend, where we actually came into the hospital. Contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, and becoming uncomfortable (but not unbearable). We got here to find out I was having more contractions than I could actually feel, but no real progress was going on. I guess I am a little paranoid, too, since I got so sick the first time around...I am just a little extra cautious. We were at the hospital for about 2.5 hours, and they sent us home. Obviously, nothing has happened since.

I am still working full time, and getting through the days. The afternoons are more challenging than the mornings...I'm sure I am getting tired or something! Everyday my co-workers (and everyone else in the hospital) are surprised to see me at work. The midwife and everyone else says just to keep walking, so I figure I might as well do it at work, at the hospital...I am much closer to labor and delivery at the hospital than I am at home! (wishful thinking that something will happen while I am at work and Cael is taken care of at daycare!)

I hope everyone is doing well! We will be sure to let you all know as soon as something happens! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!!

Cael favorites

It has been a busy couple last weeks. Last weekend, I spent Friday and Saturday with mom and grandma at Women of Faith. It was a great, refreshing weekend!!!

On Friday, Jordan and Erin welcomed a baby boy to their family, Fletcher James! Unfortunately, we weren't able to go down and visit to meet the new addition! We are anxiously waiting to!!

Yesterday, we went to Como Zoo for a couple hours, and we were surprised at how many animals we actually were able to see! Most of them were indoors, which was perfect (50 degree high isn't really warm enough to spend hours outside unless you are running around...I certainly am not running too quickly these days!) I am 38 weeks in this picture.
Here are a couple pictures of Cael enjoying the fall!

One tired boy...
Now for a little update on me. We are certainly moving forward, however baby doesn't seem to want to enter this world! I have another appointment on Tuesday, so we will see where things are at then. When I was expecting Cael, he was 10 days early, which is tomorrow...doesn't look like this baby is going to be that eager. I will keep you posted!!

Weekend fun

Hannah came up with mom and dad for the weekend, and Cael was thrilled! He couldn't stop saying "Hannah", and getting her attention for EVERYTHING he did! And by the way, he never stops to pose for the camera for me anymore...he certainly would stop when Hannah was there!

Jim and Debbie came up on Saturday to spend time with Cael while Jonathan and I attended a wedding of a co-worker of mine. I guess you can look at it as one "last date" before #2 arrives!

The final product

We can use the kitchen again!! With the help of our parents and the cabinet guy, we were able to complete the project in about 9 days. We love everything about it! I will admit it was sad to put our old refrigerator and stove back in with the old tile, but we plan on replacing all of that in the spring (when we aren't expecting a baby in a matter of days/weeks). We still have to put up the trim around the window and put in the new mini-blinds but these are projects we hope to get done before baby arrives, but if not, they can be done after! The most important thing...we have a functional kitchen!!




We finally have the dryer hooked back up again, too, so this has been an extremely exciting weekend for us!

Thanks to our parents for all their help! We couldn't have done it without you!!!!!

Cabinets day #1

Here is what I came home to today...

It is looking like a kitchen...and so far we love it!

Of course I had to throw in a couple pictures of Cael today. Who knew playing with muffin cups was so entertaining! It is kind of like a puzzle to Cael!