Degan Reed Swapp

So first things first: ALL of you that voted I would go late, you were WRONG haha.. and those of you who voted early GOOD JOB!! you all had the faith like I did. Ok. so now the details on my lil miracle baby.
He was born on Friday December 19th @ 11:53 am. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. I went on Thursday for my appointment and since we were gettin closer and closer to the new year and I was SOO over being pregnant, I asked her to strip me and she decided it would be ok, but she didn't think it would put me into labor.. WELL.. after she did she said " Call me at 9 pm and let me know how your feeling, so that was a good sign that just maybe it would work. I went home from the appointment and finished shoveling the snow on my side walk (my brother inlaw was doing the rest on the 4wheeler) I knew I had to do as much as I could to help the process along and yup.. soon enough I was having contractions.. they started at about 5 pm and just continued to get Stronger and closer so I went to my nieces dance recital , Brett had to go to work and I wasnt gunna sit home alone and wonder if It was for real (even though I was pretty sure). After the recital I came home called Laurie told her yup im pretty sure this is it so .. yada yada.. I knew I was going to have this lil boy in 24 hours. I had always told myself I was gunna try to stay home as long as I could stand it because its much more comfortable and I only live about 3 minutes away. So.. I lasted till about 2 am.. The contractions weren't horrible but I just wanted to sleep cause I knew once this baby came .. that part of my life was over. I went in hopeing for some drugs to help sleep but I was to a 2+ so she let me hang out and if in an hour I progressed I could get my epidural, well when she came back I was at a 4 and 90% effaced so they called the anithesiologist (miracle worker) but he didn't arrive till about 6:30 am.. so by this time I was really starting to get cranky from no sleep and the pain. PS I hate IV's I think i might of went in to it already knowing that but it was worse than childbirth all together haha.. anyways.. I got my epidural started feeling it about 10 min later was so happy and it does not hurt I dont know why people think of it as this MONSTER needle and all that it was definetly my friend. anyways.. a funny story.. I was gettin my cathider (sorry TMI) and the nurse asked me to grab my gown to get it out of the way .. and I said ok.. "whats that? and she kinda looked at me like uh I just explained what im doing, and I said no this.. I was rubbing my OWN LEG.. I had gotten SO numb that I didn't even know what my own leg felt like... I could feel it with my hand but I could not feel my own hand rubbing my leg that was the start of all the laughing and enjoying my sons birth.
I had a few minor complications.. my BP started dropping pretty low so I had to get some medicine for that and then come to find out Degan's cord was only 9in long so he was having a hard time his heart rate would drop unless I was laying in the right spot so I had to have oxygen on for the whole time and lay on my right side.. The nurse kept asking me to let her know if I had the urge to push and it was really hard to know cause I was pretty numb but finally.. i said oh.. i think I do so we got my nurse and she came and checked me and said OOH.. yea.. we are ready to have a baby.. so we all get excited.. and the pushing began oh.. i forgot to say that the whole time Degan was posterior and so it was taking labor a little longer to progress because of that.. so he finally turned the correct way and I went super fast and we began pushing.. and then he thought it would be funny to turn AGAIN.. and his lay on his cord so I had to stop pushing and turn on my side AGAIn.. let his heart rate come back up, relax and turn back.. I think we waited about ten minutes and then I pushed two more times and out he came into this wonderful world. I got to meet my son... All these wonderful emotions just hit me and I was bawling he was bawling my mom was bawling and I look over and so is Brett.. It was such an amazing expirence, I dont even know how to explain it, it really made those 10 long months disappear and just be happy to have gone thru it all.
We got to come home yesterday and man was I happy to be home.. their is just something about being at your own home that is wonderful. Plus I got to start using all the great things we got for our lil boy. My living room looks like a bomb went off with all this baby stuff. Well I guess I have rambled on enough about me and my baby. Thank you to all that have helped me through these crazy 10 months.. they are over and now my new journey begins being a MOM!

Just WAITING...

I need you all to give me advice.. this waiting game is going to drive me CRAZY. I know its totally normal and I know I have a few other gals that are feeling my pain at the moment, but I need some suggestions on what you ladies that went before me did. How do you get thru this waiting game in one piece. :) I thought that with Christmas coming I would have enough on my mind to keep me occupied and our family has had alot to deal with these past weeks, but still all that is on my mind is wanting to know when? when will this child come and join our family. I know he will come when he is ready and to be completely honest Im sick of hearing all the right answers I just want to know already. haha ... So Ladies what did you do the last few weeks before your child came into this world??

100 things

Copy this and bold the things you have done:

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a babyI hope soon

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own?

thanksGIVING 08'

Happy Thanksgiving to those I missed on Thursday!!
Thanksgiving this year was a little different, we still got to spend time with family but Brett had to work at Chrysliss in the afternoon/evenings and so I didn't get to spend very much time with him. But oh well.
Thursday we got up early and headed to St.george to start cooking the turkey on our Keg Roaster( Brett's bright idea). My brother (the lil chef) found a recipe to marinate it all night long in a 5lb bucket and then put stuff under the skin and then we put a can of beer in with it to help keep it moist. That turkey was the best dressed bird I had ever seen, it was definetly the most interesting thing we had done.
For those of you who don't know my family our tradition is to make something a lil different every year the only constant thing at our house is Potatoes :) We cooked this thing out side on the deck and poor Brett was the chef since it was his Keg Roaster, and it was drizzling outside so he had to sacrifice.. Here are a few pics of that time.

We ate our lovely turkey it had the best flavor of any turkey I had ever tasted, Great job Nic and Brett!
I had good intentions of getting completely ready for the day but once I got to my parents I lost all hopes of actually acomplishing the task. We did take a few pics a couple of my belly but im sitting down so you dont get the full extent but thats alright.


Friday I did not want to go shop so we didn't , my grandma did need something from Bed Bath and Beyond so right before the sale ended at ten am we hopped into the store got what we needed and got in line and paid and out we went it was the fastest Black friday shopping I had ever done. I then met Brett in Hurricane and we headed over to Kanab , we got to spend a few hours with his parents before we went to Orderville for the Brinkerhoff family meal, but as usual they ate about an hour after we were told to be there, so we grabbed our turkey dinner to go and back over the mountain we went so Brett wouldnt be late for work. I then went home and took a much needed nap and waited for him to come back so I could cook dinner and we watched a Christmas movie with Eric (a guy Brett supervises). The rest of the weekend was a lil mellow but nice. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and got to spend it with your loved ones around.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Last sunday we had my family come up to our house and we had some awesome steaks and dutch oven potatoes (I made them). They were so delicious.. and it was so nice to have Nic and Tera there home for Thanksgiving. Since we moved into this house my WHOLE family had not been in my home all at once. Dads birthday is always around Thanksgiving so sometimes he doesn't get a seperate party or anything but this year we made it a point. I made cheesecake and brett picked out Trick candles we sang and it was a lovely evening.
Dad Thank you for all that you do for us and I know you are going to be such a great Grandpa. We love you SOO much !!

Weekend Fun

So Saturday I had my second shower in St.George. WOW is all I can say. THANK YOU to all who came and sent gifts and everything, Degan has everything he could ever ask for. We had such a great turnout, it was so weird and nice to see all the people that I care about and have gotten to know sometime in my life. It was fun cause at one end there was all my friends from 6th grade and up with their moms and then ladies that go to my parents church (who watched me grow up),and lets not forget Mandy, she kept me company since they had me on my own island, then family, Grandma's friends and other ladies that are like my second grandmas, and then other friends from high school and clients and ladies from the salon and other co workers.. it was so much fun, the only thing I regret is that I didn't get to speak to anyone that much cause there was so much to do but wow.. THANK YOU! Randi, Erma and My mom did such a great job at putting the shower together I loved the games, but then again I love games period. Randi you are amazing, being as pregnant as I am, chasing almost a one year old and doing all the work for the party you are so great. and yet again NO pictures I was so sad I didn't get pictures of all of you there, but I will never forget you all.
So all my friends from highschool we decided that we wanted to go on a lil girls night out after the shower, it was alot of fun wish more of you could of came but Steph, Aubs and Kristin and I had a grand ol time catching up and just talking girl talk. and yet again we didn't get a picture until I was leaving and remembered. so the three of us posed in the middle of Target parking lot and used our self timers and got some wonderful pics (ha).

8 Things

8 Things Tag

8 TV Shows I Like To Watch...

1. All my Children
2. CSI (ALL of them)
3. Lipstick Jungle
4. Biggest Looser
5. Brothers and Sisters
6. Hills
7. Grey's
8. As of late, The starter wife

8 Things That Happened Yesterday...
1. Started Organizing Degan's room (didn't get to far)
2. Went to Walmart because we honestly had NO food. like we had mac and cheese but no milk, we had hamburger for something but no bread .. it was awful.
3. Started making more Thank you cards
4. Watched football while my husband, played on the computer is there something wrong with that, most households its the complete opposite
5. Visited with Lane and Amanda.. thank you for the gift really its so cute
6. Watched Brett put Degan's pack and play together (hilarious) and for all of you going to be new parents make sure you buy batteries LOTS and a few of each kind man..
7. Found the cat sleeping in Degan's crib.. he is getting used to his stuff and thinks he can play with it and its all for him haha
8. FINALLY had a good nights sleep

8 Favorite Places To Eat...
1. Olive Garden
2. Costa Vida
3. Jimmy John's
4. In n Out
5. Applebees (but just for the spinach dip)
6. Lately just at home I have been a good wife
7. Whatever I crave at the moment
8. ??


8 Things I'm Looking Forward To...

1. Thanksgiving with the family, even though Brett has to work but its okay he has already taken time off for Christmas
2. Degan's birth, WOW im so ready to meet him
3. Starting my family
4. Christmas
5. Having my body back, loosing my basketball belly
6. Brett holding his son for the first time
7. Everyone meeting Degan
8. Bunco Tomorrow Im gunna win a prize..

8 Things On My Wish List...


1. To go into Labor a few weeks early
2. To be a good example to Degan and raise him to be a worthy priesthood holder someday
3. To be as kind to my family as they are to me
4. New perfume for Christmas
5. Labor and Delivery to go smoothly
6. Bostyn Michelle to be able to come home early
7. Lots of clients to come to my home for their hair and not have to work outside of the home :)
8. To be able to travel

8 People I Tag...
1. Anyone that wants to give this one a shot

bAbY sHoWeR

Thank you Thank you!! Really thanks to everyone who came it was a fun time, im excited for this weekends baby shower and then Degan will really be set. Thank you Natalie for all your hard work and cute invitations, then everything else you did was so cute it was great. So like normal my brain wasn't functioning as well as it used to and I forgot to take pictures so, sorry kind of a boring post but I just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful gifts and support.
If you missed this one you can always come to the one in St.george. It will be at 3pm on saturday @ Comfort Suites.

Deer Hunt 08'

This year Brett and his Dad went out hunting alone, the wifes stayed home. Well that was the plan...
I had to do Kariann's hair saturday morning (opening day) and then her wedding so I just thought I would spend the weekend in St.geroge. Boy was I ever wrong. I did my duty and the bride looked gorgeous.

Hung around for the wedding ceremony and it was so beautiful I cried, but im almost 8 months pregnant so Im allowed :) Then I decided I couldnt stand being away from my husband for 5 full days. Normally I would of been fine and I wanted to him to go Hunt and harvest a deer and have such a wonderful time, BUT my pregnancy hormones got the better of me and I decided I needed to be with him for at least the day. So I headed out to Kanab, then bright and early sunday morning went out with my brother and sister inlaw to hunt and met up with him. I loaded my big ol self in the jeep and out we went looking for the BIG buck. I think we had only been drivin maybe fifteen minutes when Brett spotted what he thought was pretty decent, out the window. He stopped hopped out grabbed his rifle and took his shot. The deer humped up and off he went after it, Bobby (his dad) jumps out the other side takes off down the road to help and I try to get in the drivers seat to move the jeep off the dirt road incase other people need thru. Mind you Im 30 weeks pregnant and climbing between seats is not that easy to do... So they went off I tried to drive up to where I thought they were, and I couldnt see them anymore so I decided I was gunna take a lil snooze till they came back. Who knows how long I was asleep but bobby came back and said lets go, drive over to where they had tracked him down and gutted him, so off we went.


Since we were in the jeep, this is how we transported the lil guy.
When we got back to camp we found out that not only did Brett kill, but so did his brother James and his uncle Bob. So there was a lot of work to be done, 3 deer to skin and hang haha.. that sounds so morbid.



After all the work we had a wonderful dinner sat around the fire and enjoy ourselves.
I spent the night out there and I honestly slept better in the trailer than I had the past two nights so that was great. Monday afternoon I headed back to town and then back to cedar. Brett stayed out till Tuesday night , but I at least got to spend two days with him so I was alot better and wasnt having withdrawls. We had a sucsessful hunt but boy am I glad hunting season is all over with now its a count down till the baby gets here.

My Sweet Brett

What's your husband's name? Brett Reed Swapp
How long have you guys been married? 2 years 2 months
How long did you date? 8 months
How old is he? 24
Who eats more sweets? He used to, but now that im pregnant with his child I eat alot of sweets :)
Who is taller? Brett
Who is a better singer? me, but he tries
Who is smarter? Well that depends on what the subject is. We both are smart
Who does the laundry? I do, but if he needs something and im not doing laundry that day he will do his own
Who pays the bills? I do
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do
Who mows the lawn?Brett does and he loves it.
Who cooks dinner? Well I usually do, but lately life has been so busy whoever is not tired does
Who drives? Brett, he would like it if I drove more
Who is the first to say they are wrong? uh.. we both will if we are really wrong
Who kissed who first? well it was new years so it was kind of mutual
Who asked who out first? Brett when we got back from Vegas but it was NO FUN lol
Who wears the pants? uh.. I would say me but he would say him.. haha Degan soon will

Puppies

So my dog Kloee had her puppies on October 1st, this is her second litter and so its not as exciting as the first but then we found out she was going to be having 5 so that made things a little more exciting. Here are a few pictures of the lil guys they are Minature Daschunds, we have 3 boys and two girls, and we are also selling 4 of them so if you know anyone that is interested or if you are let me know. The two that are all black will be selling for $250, and the two spotted ones will be selling for $350. They are 100% pure bred, both parents are owned by my family the father is AKC registered the mother is not. They will be ready to go about the end of November. If you or anyone you know is in the market let me know. These are great dogs, VERY loving and if raised around kids, they do very well. They are just little, the mother and father weigh about 5-7 lbs, they do shed a little bit but you dont have

Catch Up

Wow.. things have been a little wild and Im not sure they are going to slow down EVER..... Well I hope so. So we have been staying busy here are some pics of some of the things we have been doing.





We had my nieces and nephew a few weekends ago so I made everyone get up at 7 on a saturday and we went to the Skyfest. I took one picture of the kids so we had proof we got up early and went and did this. But as you can see we didn't get ready we went in our pjs and blankets cause it was early. I hadn't been to the skyfest yet and it was really fun. Out of us I was the only one that has been in a hot air balloon so I was trying to explain to the kids and Brett how it all worked. Kenzi sure liked the smiley face balloon. For those of you that haven't gone you should its really neat to be surounded by all the different balloons.
Then this last weekend we went to Glenwood Springs , CO to watch my lil brother play soccer and visit with my aunt and uncle. I love going back to Colorado it just feels like home even though I've lived in Utah way longer now but I was born there so I can still consider it home.. :) So we arrived Thursday evening had a good lil dinner and then got up Friday morning and did some site seeing but Im a horrible person cause I forgot my charger for the camera and it died so we only have like four pictures and let me tell you Brett was very unhappy and I dont think he will ever let me forget this one. We went to Aspen, Co which is just like 30 minutes away and its so nice.. a pretty chilly but lovely. Then we went on a tour and say the Maroon Bells I really had never heard of them but I guess they are pretty famous... As we were driving we passed the airport and there were so many private jets it was unreal. We did see one that had a Redskins helmet on it not sure if it was there's or just someone who liked the team. My uncle had his camera so Im going to have him send me some pictures..




After the bells we headed back to Glenwood Springs and went on this lil tram that takes you up to some caves a mini amusment park.. They had like those funny mirrors and wow Im sure you all stepped in front and got a good laugh but you should try it pregnant cause its even worse.. I thought I was going to pee my pants we were all laughing at me so hard. Then later that night we went to my brothers soccer game and they WON yipee.. I guess they played the best they had ever played and I know its cause we were there:) We then went to a lil hole in the wall mexican place and man this place was FOR REAL mexican almost to real that I didn't like it but my dad and his brother felt right in place they even had to help us order cause not all the people spoke english.. Then we headed to bed got up saw part of another game and then off to Martin's Wedding in Richfield.
Marting is one of my dad's bestest buds and we didn't make it for the ceremony and we were sad but Richfield is farther from Glenwood than we thought. Brett and I posed for photos and said hello and then back in the car we went. Brett was a little reluctant to take this trip because he was going to miss the Dixie Round Up Rodeo well we made it back to St.george at 7:30 just intime to see the last night. To be completely honest it wasnt as good as years past (I thought) but it could of been that I was just REAL tired and sick of being gone. But we sat with the family so it made it better, then after we headed to our home and our kitty was SOOO happy to see us he had gotten hungry ripped a hole in his bag of food and dumped it all over the laundry room, I dont think he likes being left home alone. well for now that is all that we have done but there will be more too come. Hope you all are doing well.

FlashBack

Well.. over the weekend I was going thru old boxes at my parent's house and I found some OLD pictures of us one of them is ten years old I can't believe that time goes so fast. But by the looks of us you can totally tell its been a lil while. Brett even said.. "honey you guys weren't very cute" and I just laughed and told him Im sure he wasn't that hot either ten years ago and Im pretty sure that is correct cause at the time I was at least in fashion and boy knows he still needed help when I met him.. :) jk .. but anyways.. hope you all get a crack out of these pictures and everyone thats in them hope I dont embarrass you. If you have any of us I would love to see them.

gDiapers

So my mom and grandma found these and thought it might be a way to go. I have read all about them and Im not sure what I think. Go to the website www.gdiapers.com and let me know what you think??

FINALLY

So yesterday after two weeks of hoping and waiting we FINALLY signed on our house. It has been one crazy hassle and I am so glad it is over and im not sure I want to EVER buy a house again but, i'll just have to wait and see if I forget this mess. We are going to move in today and get settled over the weekend and Im really happy. I will post some pictures after this weekend. In a few weeks we will have everyone over for a BBQ !

MoRe PiCtUrEs Of DeGaN

Yesterday I had my "medical" ultrasound and everything looks great. He is still growing to be here on Christmas day. So, I have come to except the fact that I am going to be in labor on christmas a wonderful present but, not a very fun thing to do on that day. Brett keeps sayin he'll come a week earlier and I hope so I really do but Im not getting too excited cause I dont want to be disapointed if it doesn't happen better to expect the worst. Not that giving birth to our little boy is the worst just the timing of his entry to this world, but I already love him so much that it wont matter when he comes.
For those of you who have seen his other pictures, he sleeps with his hand on his face and then yesterday he was awake but had his hand or hands up by his face or on his face the whole time. This time he was awake and it was neat to see him opening and closing his mouth and kicking and stuff, Brett had to work so he missed all the action AGAIN but thats ok, Degan is shy so he probably wouldnt of moved anyways.

Today is 22 weeks and that means only 18 more to go.. yipee .. thats still alot but I hope it goes by fast.