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 !!