Karsen Odin Payne

Well (once again) I was scheduled to be induced and (once again) my baby decided to come on his own time. I was scheduled for April 18th but was so excited to welcome Karsen to the world on April 11, 2011. On the 10th I was trying to get my house clean and laundry done and kept having to stop due to pesky contractions. Finally, I started timing them and was surprised to find they were only 5 minutes apart. I took a bath and a nap to see if they would stop - nope. I told Rick that if they hadn't stopped by 7 pm I was gonna have him take me to the hospital. I packed my hospital bag and still battled over whether or not to go up. Jesse and Kara came over to stay with Ryker and I think both Rick and I figured we'd probably be back in a couple hours. I thought they would probably give me something to stop the contractions and be sent home. Well, they monitored me for hours, even the nurse wasn't sure what to do, at this point they were three minutes apart but I was only dilated to a 1. At midnight she finally decided she was gonna give me morphine and see if my body could relax enough to start dilating more. She checked at 3 am and I had finally made some progress so she decided to admit me to the hospital and start me on petocin. I tried to get a couple hours of sleep but I think I was a little in shock that it was actually happening so soon and couldn't fall asleep. My doctor came in at 8 am and broke my water, by 10 I was ready to go and at 10:50 I finally got to see my little Karsen! He weighed 8 pounds even and is 21 inches long. He has a lot of similar features to Ryker but has his own look as well, his hair is darker and he has a deeper cleft in his chin (thanks to Dad). He is such a little cuddle bug, I could hold him all day long!

My sister Misty got in from Idaho to stay with Ryker and help me out when we got home and Ryker had so much fun with her! She brought him up to the hospital and he was so funny with Karsen, no one was allowed to come near him or hold him. He wanted to carry him so we really had to convince him that it wasn't necessary. He tried to feed him a french fry and soda so I'm for sure gonna have to keep a close eye on him once we are home.

I am so thankful for this new little life that is now a part of our family and so thankful for the incredible friends and family we have that give so much love and support! Don't know what I would do without each of you!

Countdowns On!!!

Holy Cow, was it really November that I last wrote on here! So much for keeping my promise to keep more up to date - Sorry! Truthfully, between school, work, and family it seems like no time has passed at all. And yet .....so much has changed! The holidays were great, we spent a lot of time with family and welcomed two new babies - Evie Adams (to Skip and Emma) and Crew Adams (to Jared and Brittany) both are so adorable and fun to play with, makes me excited for my own little guy to make his way into the world! I am in my second term at school and am plugging away, trying to keep to my goal of being done in 2 1/2 years. Sometimes it takes every bit of wheel power to make myself study after everyone has gone to bed, but it is paying off.

Rick is still working at Hill Air Force Base and shows me every day why I am thankful I married him! He is such a hard worker and is so willing to put in overtime when we need it, he also tries to build up his comp-time so that he can stay home if one of the kids get sick. He is such an incredible father and I love him with all my heart!

We are now down to the final stretch with baby Karsen, I am set to be induced on the 18th but am keeping my fingers crossed that he decides to come on his own before that. I finished his room this weekend, I'll post some pictures later, it turned out great - so excited!

There is more going on but I only have a minute so I'll try and jump on later with another update and pictures.