The Calk Family: Being Thankful

I am thankful to be Barrett's mommy! Barrett is our second born, shy, and silly boy!

Bonham and I learned that we were pregnant in late October 2007. Funny story about this... I had an IUD after having Jayna. I went to see my mid-wife (who delivered Jayna) that August to have it removed, knowing that we wanted to try for another baby by the end of the year. Bonham and I were able to get pregnant fairly easily with Jayna, but we didn't know anything about timing ovulation back then. (I apologize if this is TMI). We purchased some ovulation tests and pregnancy tests online and I read up on things to eat and vitamins to take to help increase fertility.

I had a concern that I wouldn't be able to get pregnant a second time as easy as I did the first time. We know now that it wasn't an issue, but I was still young and I had become more aware of fertility problems with some of our friends and family. I took an ovulation test and it indicated that I was in fact ovulating. Bonham said, "Take a pregnancy test." To which I replied, "I can't be pregnant yet... I'm ovulating." I took one anyway, just to appease him. After a minute or so, only one line turned blue or pink (or whatever color it was supposed to be). I tossed it in the trash and went on my way. A little while later, I went to the restroom and the test caught my eye. I pulled the test out of the trash can (eww, I know!) and sure enough, there was another line, but it was very faint. I thought that maybe because it had been in there for several hours and they were the cheap ones that I bought in bulk that there might be something wrong with it. So I took another test and waited 5 minutes (like the instructions said). I didn't wait the full amount of time on the first test. And there it was again... a faint second line. We were pregnant! Our due date was June 27, 2008.

Because we lived Abilene at the time and we were too far away for me to go back to my mid-wife, so I found an OB to start seeing. Early on in my pregnancy, he said that he was willing to induce 1 week early on second pregnancies. I asked him if he would be willing to induce me 10 days early, because that was my Granny's birthday. Granny was my maternal grandmother who passed away when I was 12 years old. The doctor agreed, so it was set!

Around 16 weeks, we had a sonogram and I asked the doctor if he could tell what we were having. He said, "Oh no... it's WAY too early". Well, let me tell you... we saw it clear as day! The doctor tried to avoid the area, but we all saw it. A specialist confirmed at our 20 week appointment that he was in fact a boy! What was funny is that I had wanted a boy when I was pregnant with Jayna and then after having a girl, I kind of wanted another one. But another part of me still wanted a boy too. I guess I am a difficult person to please!

One day in the lobby of the doctor's office, I met a woman who told me that one of her labor experiences went too fast. I remember thinking that this wasn't possible in my mind after my experience with Jayna. (Yes, this is foreshadowing)

As we approached my induction day, I wasn't progressing towards labor, so the doctor had me go to the hospital the night before my induction to start the cervidil just like I did with Jayna. The doctor didn't prescribe me anything to sleep, so I stayed awake doing Sudoku puzzles and annoying the nurses by not sleeping. ;) Upon admission, the nurse was questioning why they were inducing me with no progression this soon before my due date... I didn't think this was a good way to start this labor process (more foreshadowing. haha!)

Around 4:00am, I started feeling a pain in my lower abdomen (only) every 5 minutes. I told the nurse and she said that contractions weren't registering on the monitor and that I should feel them all over. These contractions continued to get a little stronger and a little closer together. When the nurse checked me around 7:00am, she said that I was 2-3 centimeters. The doctor said that I was maybe a 2... Shortly after that, my water broke on it's own. I was so excited about it; I was laughing. Whoever made the bed forgot to put the proper pads down, so I had to get out of bed so that they could change the bed sheets. I was laughing; the nurses weren't laughing.

I got back in bed and asked for my epidural... denied! :( They said that I needed to wait. I'm not really sure why they wanted me to wait, but they wouldn't check me again for several hours and they said that it would be after lunch before the baby came. I joked that I would be able to order breakfast because he was coming soon! Because of how my last induction had gone, our family expected to have time to come see us before we got started. I was in so much pain and I was getting louder and louder, requesting my epidural. I didn't want anyone to come in and see me like this. I told Bonham that I thought the baby was coming... so he was able to get the nurse to agree to check me. When she did, we could tell she wasn't happy about it. She looked up and said, "I'll be right back!" I thought, "Yes, I am getting my epidural!" The anesthesiologist came in poked my back a few times. I put legs back on the table and out came Barrett's head! A nurse held him in while the doctor was still getting his gloves on. It was a crazy time! When the doctor was ready, he said, "One more big push and he'll be out". I replied, "I don't want to feel it... I want my epidural to kick in!" Of course there was no time and come to find out later, I never got my epidural. The nurse asked the anesthesiologist to come in to keep me from pushing. I didn't have to push Barrett out; he was ready! Barrett was born at 8:57am. He weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long.

You can probably tell from this picture that it was painful... haha!

Barrett didn't stay awake like Jayna... he was a good sleeper from day 1. Come to find out, he had heart condition that contributed to him sleeping a lot. More on that in another post...

We had two names picked out before we got pregnant. We had picked out Ella Marie for a girl and Robert Barrett for a boy. Obviously, you know which one we used. :) Barrett's first name, Robert is a family name... Bonham's first name is Robert and so is his dad's and his grandfather. We chose Barrett because Bonham wanted to name our son Bear (he had been watching Bear Grylls on tv a lot). I vetoed that, but said that we could name him Barrett and call him Bear. Happy medium!

Here is a picture of all of the Roberts -

Robert Preston, Sr., Robert Preston, Jr., Robert Bonham, and Robert Barrett

Jayna was (and is) such a proud big sister to Barrett:

Barrett is sweet, sensitive little boy who loves to climb trees and tell jokes. He loves his sister and baby brother. He is full of life and energy, especially after his surgery. He has the best little memory and when he recalls something, he says, "Yeah, I put that remember in my head". Barrett likes to sing and dance. He loves for me to sing him a song at night when he goes to bed. Some nights he will tell me that I don't have to sing him a song, because he wants me to sing him two songs the next night. His top requests are 'Fishing in the Dark' by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and 'Somewhere Under the Rainbow' by Sonny Burgess.

Barrett can easily have his feelings hurt. He is shy when he first meets people, but warms up quickly and then he acts super silly! He wants to teach George to be silly too. Barrett loves younger kids and is very nurturing with them. He is incredibly smart and loves to learn. He likes to receive recognition, even if he acts shy about it. Barrett also loves the kindle and playing Angry Birds. He is very good at those games and knows more about them than we do!

I absolutely love being the mother of this boy! My prayers and dreams for Barrett are that he continues to get strong and healthy; that he builds self confidence and is a leader among his friends. I hope that he chooses to follow the Lord and that he is a good, respectable man, husband, and daddy. I pray that his future wife will be sweet to him and their children (and to his parents). I pray that he achieves everything that he puts his mind to.

Here are some pictures of our sweet Bear....

I know this picture is blurry, but it shows how sweet he is with his sister...