Wade is here!

For any of you that don't know....Wade Brandon was born at 1:57 am on March 8th! He weighed 9lbs 0.6oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. It was a crazy experience, but I was able to have him naturally and I feel absolutely fantastic. I'm recovering very quickly and Wade somehow is surviving all the kisses and 'attention' his little sisters are giving him.

Unfortunately, my birthing experience in the hospital was not exactly as I would have liked. I was able to labor on my hands and knees in the hospital, right up until I was fully dilated. Here is an excerpt from my journal of what happened after that. (I apologize for the grammar in this. Hopefully you can understand my random journaling thoughts)

Another nurse showed up...which I immediately didn't like. I think her name was Angela. She briskly said, flip on over so you can push. Brandon said...can't she push like this? She said...she'll need to flip over. Brandon...but she's given birth like this before. She leaves to get the doctor. Doctor says...she needs to flip over so she can push. Brandon...this is how she wants to give birth, why does she have to flip over? Dr....it's easier for me. Brandon...what about her? At this point...I was near death...at least it felt that way and I was willing to do anything to get the baby out. I wasn't willing to 'fight' a doctor at that point. I could barely move. They immediately wanted me to flip over, which I was willing to do...but my body was in a contraction and I couldn't move. Finally I consented to their ridiculous request and my water broke. So...instead of using gravity and an easier position I was forced into birthing on my butt. They wanted me to pull my legs towards me and curve my back and tuck my chin and push. It was the MOST painful experience of my life. And the thing that was killing me is that I knew it would have been better in the position I was previously. So...while I'm going through all this pain. I said something like,...I can't do this, it hurts so much....which in my head was meaning...I can't birth in this ridiculous position, it's too painful. Lovely Angela smirked...'sweetheart, it's supposed to hurt'. Had I any expendable energy, I would have drop kicked her. Angela, sweetheart...it doesn't HAVE to hurt...not like that at least. Trust me, sweetie....I've done it before. Brandon eventually almost passed out from all this, and just as the baby was coming, he disappeared...meaning he had to sit down and take a few breathers. I was confused and wondered where my man had gone. He quickly came back to my side and Wade came out soon there after.

I don't want to take away from the amazing experience it is to have a child naturally. But, it is NO wonder to me why women have epidurals if they are required to birth in such a ridiculous and painful position. So...what did we learn?

1. What's easier for the Doctor is best.
2. Labor is supposed to hurt.

Those are two lessons I hope never to learn again.

Horny Shoe??

Bryn and Elle spent a large chunk of yesterday putting on dress up shoes and prancing around the kitchen floor. They were experimenting with the sounds the shoes made and having a good time doing it. Bryn would get the 2 fake Cinderella shoes on her feet and then jump up and down until she fell, which was apparently hilarious. Having only one set of fake Cinderella shoes, I thought Elle might like to try a pair of my shoes. Unfortunately for Elle, I don't own any fake Cinderella shoes...or anything that even comes close. To substitute, I found platform boots and crazy platform Skechers that come out only for Halloween with a Disco costume. She wasn't satisfied and asked me, "Mom, do you have any horny shoes?". That's a good question. I don't think I do. Do you?

The Root Beer Challenge of 2008

Root beer has been my one huge craving as of late. So, for Valentine's Day Brandon bought me a whole bunch of delicious root beer. Naturally, we had to have a contest to see which root beer was superior.

Brandon set up the taste test. The contenders were from L to R were Boylan, Stewarts, Saranac and Hanks. We tried them all with a nice chip palette cleanser between each.

Cup 1 (with the smiley guys on it) was just delicious. Cup 2 was smooth and delicious and had a most excellent after taste. Cup 3 was delicious also, but a little too sweet. Cup 4 was disgusting and tasted like medicine. This surprised me as I had anticipated liking Hanks root beer. It did have the coolest bottle. From most liked to least, I voted 2, 1, 3, 4

Being a true samplist, Brandon had (unknown to me) mixed up the bottles with the cups. Their true identity was exposed. Cup 1:Stewarts, Cup 2:Saranac, Cup 3:Hanks, Cup 4:Boylan. I had voted for Saranac, Stewarts, Hanks and finally Boylan.
Give the Root Beer Challenge of 2008 a try!

Crazy Chicken Fat

Last week while Elle was at preschool at my friend Heidi's house, she learned a most excellent song. Chicken Fat. Heidi said they did it at least 5 times during the 2 hours. My girls love it and it's a great way to start the day! Heidi says that this song was sent out to all schools during the Kennedy administration. Give it a try....you might be surprised...and lose some 'chicken fat'.

Naming Woes

This post is brought on mainly from reading Myriah's blog and the inconclusive poll. I appreciate all the suggestions from people on names. It's great! However, I have yet to find a name I like more than Wade. Well...just name gman Wade, right? But wait, Wade didn't even make the poll! Why's that? Way back when Brandon and I were childless we decided that our first boy would have Brandon as a middle name. Just like Brandon's middle name is his father's, Wade.

So...would it be too strange to name our son....
Wade Brandon, when his father's name is
Brandon Wade , and his grandfather's name is
Wade Alan?

What do you think?

Brandon says it would only be weird on taxes. He also says...if we really want the name Wade, why not name him
Wade Freeze? (Freeze being my maiden name)

While this name sounds fine to me, I feel like Brandon is getting ripped off. Our eldest daughter has MY name as her middle name...so why should it be different for Brandon? So..I'm confused!
To add further confusion, the poll results are in. We've got a tie with Jack, Dex and Finn. The Freeze family poll had Zed and Jed tied. I have no choice but to throw out the poll results.

Web Design

I've been trying out something new lately. Web Design. I've found it rather fun. It started with helping Brandon and Brad with their De Novo website using GPC (google page creator). GPC is great if you want a generic easy to use interface. But, there are many bugs and it can drive you crazy. So, then I started editing the html for each block (header, body, sidebar, footer etc) on GPC. This helped some, but still didn't give us the flexibility we wanted. So...I've started to just code the pages in html (using HTML kit) while calling CSS files (style sheets) and then upload them through GPC. That has seemed to work best, but I'm finding more and more that I detest Internet Explorer. IE7 seems to handle CSS files alright, but the earlier editions (namely IE6) is plain annoying. It just doesn't read the CSS files right. So, I'm learning a lot and it's fun. Hopefully the site looks decent enough. It seems we're always making changes/improvements and we need more pictures and other 'things'. But the bones are there...or should be. So, check it out for yourself. Check out De Novo Pittsburgh Chiropractic & Health! You can compare that to the "original" pages we made before through this link.
Eventually, www.denovopittsburgh.com will link you into www.denovopittsburgh.com/index.htm (the new homepage). For now, we've just left all the old pages on until we are ready to declare a NEW site. Let us know what you think!

Branching Out

For the longest time, the only name that Elle would consider for the Cohen heir was 'Gasholder'. Recently she's added some new ones, depending on which room she is in. They include Booster, Door, Toys, Pillow, Blanket, Cougar and Spiny Chair. Not bad Elle!
Seriously, we need to figure out a name for this kid! I've gotten some great helps from friends and family. One friend lent me a book she got from the library. It's a great book (The Baby Name Bible) and we quickly discovered that both Elle and Bryn's names are highlighted and have stars with an up arrow beside them. That means they are good names, right?
So..we're 2 for 2. I figure we'd HAVE to have a boy name worth a similar star and up arrow. That's where I started my search. I came up with a list of names that I liked enough and then Brandon and I went through and crossed out ones we didn't like enough to name a child. The result is NOT a final list of names, but at least a list of names we kindof sortof maybe like. Please reference the poll and place your vote. We've never had such trouble naming a child! Does it get harder the more children you have?