A missing post

Ok Everyone, I deleted my Valentine's Day post with pictures of Max having his first bath, because Eric thought it was bad to have those pictures on my blog. Go figure, but I wanted to put some of the pictures from after his bath back on, so here they are in a different post, and for anyone who didn't see the post before, it was just me wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day and the pictures.

Doesn't he look thoughtful

Gotta love the new Spiderman outfit.

Happy President's Day!

Well I just had a little bit of time and it is so nice to have Eric off from school for one day even though I know he will be studying anyway. Our Valentine's Day was nothing special we didn't go out and we didn't get each other gifts, but Eric did get me a card. He said just being with me this year was enough. The girly part of me felt really bad that I didn't even get him a card, since I was so sick last week. Oh well. Max has had a lot of congestion and I am probably going to break out the humidifier. Poor little guy, it's so hard to see him sick when he is so small. Well that's all, hope everyone is enjoying being lazy and having the day off today like we are, but if your not have a happy President's day anyway.

First Bath's and Being Sick

OK, everyone, well I'm sorry I haven't posted anything new in about a week. I don't know how you guys keep this thing up and where you find the time to post, but for me, I am lucky to find any time at all to sit and type these things up and still keep a clean house with 3 kids and having to nurse every 2-3 hours a day. I have a good excuse this week though, in my last post you all got my little rant on my being sick, well it got worse and I had like 3 days of fever and chills and the works. I am telling you mom's don't get to rest. My own mother used to say that a lot and now I totally agree with her on that. I probably would have been better sooner if I was one of those moms who took medication while nursing, but I just keep it to Tylenol which doesn't do much. I am really grateful for the priesthood because without Eric to give me a blessing, I don't think I could have gotten over it so fast. It was also nice that Haley had Friday off from school. The highlights of my week consisted of getting to go to Sacrament Meeting last week (we haven't been to church in almost a month, so it really was a highlight even if we didn't stay through all the meetings), giving Max his very first real bath in a tub which I posted pictures of, and helping Haley with Valentine cards to hand out at her school party. Other than that I was just laying around a lot and feeling miserable. Someone once told me that if mom is miserable then everyone is, and I think to some extent it is true. Luckily my kids didn't get fever and chills. Alex is pretty much over his cold and Max is a little congested, but hopefully he is on the up. Keep us in your prayers OK, and I'll try to keep up with the posting.

Blessing Date Change

Ok, so that last blog was really long, and if anyone read it I am sorry it was so long, but if you know me, I am a talker. Anyway just an update, the blessing date for Max got moved to the 22nd because my dad couldn't make it earlier. It worked out good, because I have been really sick. I think I got double whammied with sickness. I had a cold which was mostly a really bad cough just a few days before Max was born and about a week after he was due I was starting to feel better. Then it seemed like a few days after I was starting to feel better, I got worse. Another cough, and my left eye turned all red and crusty, then I got some back aches and Eric said I felt kind of warm to him so I may have had a slight fever too. Anyway I am just trying to get well enough to go to church, but I should be better by the 22nd. Luckily Max seems ok, he may be a tiny bit congested, but he seems ok, and poor Alex got it, but oh well, what can I do.


I found out a way to change the background of my blog too, and it was free so anyone who wants to know how to get really really cute backgrounds for blogs, the site is: http://www.simplychicblogs.blogspot.com/
Anyone who blogs should totally check it out!!!

Daddy and Max

More Pictures of Max:

Yep his eyes are blue

What a Cutie

Baby Max, Our First Post

Okay Everyone, I have finally succumbed to the blogging world. Everyone seems to be sending me blog pages lately and so I have finally decided to do my own. So it starts with the birth announcement or rather the info. that everyone keeps asking for about the birth of our third child, Max Selmer Tweten. So here it goes...

I was due January 12th. We moved in August to Rancho Cucamonga, CA so that Eric could go to Law School. And just for everyone's info. he is going to The University of LaVerne College of Law which is located in Ontario. Anyway I needed to see a doctor, but we had no insurance so after a long search trying to find an insurance company that was inexpensive and would cover my pregnancy, I ended up on Medi-Cal, because most companies or at least the ones we could afford considered this pregnancy as pre-existing which I think is really stupid but it is what it is. Anyway I went to a public health clinic in Ontario because they would see me while my Medi-Cal coverage was pending. I do not recommend this clinic to anyone though, so if you are ever in my situation, wait and find a doctor that has his own clinic. The health care is 100 times better in Utah by the way. Anyway the clinic sent me to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, CA. I also do not recommend this hospital to anyone either. I have a million complaints on why, but no one wants to hear me rant, so I'll just get on with it.

In September I had an ultrasound and the baby's position wasn't the best but the doctor was guessing it was a girl, so we went with that. We were ready either way and had names picked out and outfits ready. We had no middle name if it turned out to be a girl though and I was stressed about that. Fortunately it was a boy so we passed down Eric's middle name which was his grandfather's name, Selmer. I guess deep down I knew it was a boy. I had had a dream that I had a boy, and I just couldn't settle on a middle name for a girl.
Out here, having babies early is a rarity, pretty much every doctor here wants to make the moms go as close to their due date as possible despite any misery or pain the mother is going through. I started having contractions the Friday after Thanksgiving and December 1st I was 34 weeks and contracting 4-5 min. apart, but it was false labor, and after giving me 2 shots to stop the contractions and instructing me to drink 10 glasses of water a day they sent me home. Well I ended up having 2 more false labor situations almost exactly like that, and after that and I just had contractions randomly all the way up until I had the baby. The doctor called them irritable uterine contractions and I was on bed rest for most of December, and thinking I was going to have the baby early. My mom and sister were here for the last false labor and my contractions were 2-3 min. apart and painful, but still because I wasn't dilating they sent me home, I was 38 weeks and it was New Year's Eve. I was deeply depressed and cried the whole night, because I knew that in Provo, they would have broke my water and let me have the baby then, but here they are heartless. I hurt so much the next day that I could barely walk and it hurt to roll over in my sleep. Anyway my due date came, but my doctor said they make their patients wait a full week to induce labor, I was very bitter about the whole thing. In Provo I would have been able to pick any day after my due date that I wanted. I got lucky though because the Monday that they would have normally induced me, was a holiday so I was induced 4 days late on Friday January 16th which just happened to be Eric's brother Kevin's birthday. Unfortunately the doctors at the hospital were extremely busy that day and even though I was scheduled for 8am we didn't have Max until 11:23pm. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced too. The doctor gave me some sort of weird pill to thin me out, but about 6 hours and 2 nurses later I still hadn't dilated so they finally gave me the petocin, another pill, and stripped my membranes. I was supposed to be checked after 4 hours but like I said the doctors were too busy. 4 hours after the petocin, I was dilated to a 5 and having heavy contractions. The nurse was surprised since I was only at a 1 last they checked. Anyway she left to get approval for the epidural, but I knew at the rate they were going it would be too late when she got back and I was right. I was at an 8 when she got back and so I had to deliver without drugs. I have never screamed so much in my whole life. The pain was excruciating. Anyway at least I didn't tear and other than Max having a tiny, minor fracture on his right clavicle (shoulder) everything went well. He was 8 lbs. 11 oz. and 21.6 inches long.

Yesterday was his 2 week appointment and he was 9 lbs. 4 oz. and 22 inches long, so he has grown. I think the only upside to natural labor without drugs is that I have recovered so much faster and without taking any pain killers whatsoever. I feel so blessed to have a new little one straight from Heavenly Father in my life. He keeps me up with feedings and I am tired all the time, but he is a really good baby boy and hardly ever cries. The kids love him, Haley loves him so much she has to be reminded to be gentle and she is always waking him up because she can't leave him alone, but she loves him. Alex seems a little indifferent. He looks at the baby and I let him hold Max a few times, but he just carries on and does his own thing like always. I am looking forward to having the baby blessed. We have chosen the 8th of February and my parents are planning on coming. It just wouldn't be the same without my dad there in the circle. This will be the only blessing without my brothers and sisters though and it makes me a little bit sad. I miss being in Provo and being close to my family. They drive me a little crazy sometimes, but it was easier for Eric's parents to travel than my parents, and I think now that we live in CA I will be seeing a lot less of my family. I love Eric's family, but it just feels strange having a new baby and not having my mother here. Eric's mother stayed with us for 2 weeks to help out with the baby and she was great. We have been relying on them for a lot since we moved here. I just hope they don't get tired of us. Anyway that is the whole story. I was just a weird coincidence that 2 of my children were born 4 days late and on an uncle's birthday. Haley was 4 days late and came on my brother Kemish's birthday she was 7lbs. 10oz. Alex was the only baby I had early and that was because I had gall stones and was in too much pain to go full term. He was 12 days early and weighed 6lbs. 5oz. Who knows if we will have any more, but we are probably going to at least wait until Eric finishes school and has a good career under his belt before we consider having another child. Plus with my temperament I'm not sure how I will deal with 3 let alone 4, so we'll see. Here are pictures of Max and the kids. Enjoy!

Haley and Max

Alex and Max




Babies are so cute asleep

Eric holding Max

Max's first pictures at the Hospital