Welcome Ethan Cole !

Holy Hormones with my last post. I was so just exhausted with everything at the time being! Lord knew I was done and ready to not be pregnant!

Our little Cole arrived February 2, 2019. Weighing in at 7lbs 13 oz and 21 inches long!
The day started out like pretty much any other Saturday. We took our time waking up and eating breakfast before we loaded up the kids and looked for something to do for the day. First on the list was a Target run of course! Who doesn't like going to Target?! Well, actually to be quite honest with you, Target on the weekend is not the most exciting ... Too many people and too much of a long line at the checkout.
It was a perfectly gloomy, rainy day. I remember praying and asking God to please let it be a cool rainy day when I give birth.

After Target, we decided on pizza for lunch. While we were at Target walking around, I began to have what I thought were braxton hicks contractions. While at the pizza place, I began to feel uncomfortable and just sat in the booth while the kids played in the arcade. I kept looking at David and rolling my eyes and saying " It hurts but it's not it. It's just so annoying, I wish I knew when it really is the real deal!" Just a week before we had gone to the hospital because I was having consistent and painful contractions for a few hours. We got sent home after staying the night for not progressing more than 1 cm while there. I had been 4 cm dilated for over a week.



After pizza, we went to Supercuts and got haircuts for Noah, Ben and myself. ( Levi wanted to grow out his hair)


I was last to go and the whole time I sat in the chair I tried to keep my cool with every contraction I felt but they did begin to feel tighter and stronger. I was still able to carry conversation with the hairdresser so I figured It wasn't time to go to the hospital just yet.



After our haircuts, David suggested we go to the hospital. I stubbornly said "no, it's okay. I really don't think it's time yet." We headed home.

We got home and I drew myself a bath, threw in some bath bombs, got my bag of peanut m&ms and pulled up youtube on my phone to relax. It was great.
When I got out, I wanted to make my hair wavy to see what it would look like with the new haircut. Meanwhile, the kids were playing and running through out the house, David was working on clearing out the boy's closet to make it more efficient and it was pouring outside.

From the time I began to curl my hair to when we left, it was a blur. I was okay for the first 20  min and than it hit me like a wave... The contractions had me stop what I was doing, go on all fours and just breathe. I felt like I was getting struck by lightening in my abdomen. After a few of those painful ones, I began to call for David. I asked him to just hold me. Again he suggested we go and I said no. So he went back to the boy's room. I kept having to pee. And than I went to the living room and laid on the couch and cried. David than came and said " okay I'm getting the kids ready!" I got up and put my jacket on, slippers... and then went to the bathroom. I must have peed 5 times in ten minutes. I called for David in the bathroom and cried and said " I don't think I can make it in time!"

We left the house, Yes all of us, at 7:15PM.

It was pouring rain out. David sped.



I turned the emergency lights on as he zoomed past cars on the high way.


The pain intensified.


I rolled my window down with the rain coming in and breathed. I began  talking to myself . " I can do  this... I can do this... the pain is only temporary .. I can do this!"

David may or may not have ran two red lights when we got off the high way. He called his mom ahead of time and told her to meet us at the hospital entrance. He ran one last red light and there it
was... the most beautiful building I'd ever seen.. The hospital! We arrived at 7:35 pm ( mind you it usually takes 40 minutes to get there !)
His mom and stepdad were standing there waiting for us to pull up. David tossed the keys at them and I began to get out. I almost fell it was so slippery and his mom caught me. A big contraction.. she ran and got me a wheelchair. David ran with me in it and we made it to the Labor and Delivery side!

The nurses began to ask questions and take my information and all I wanted was a room asap! The nurse finally got the hint and said " she looks pretty serious, maybe no triage for her." I asked " is the room ready?! Please I need to go in!" and they led us into a room. Once in I ran to the bathroom to pee. I changed into the gown and peed again. My nurse came in and began to ask questions. I got up to pee again...
She then had me lay down to check how far along I was. I was at a 9! I began to panic.. "I can't do this ! Babe I can't do this! I need an epidural!" she responded " Oh no you can't now, you're too far along.. I'm sorry" and she began to put the straps to monitor the baby and I and put the monitor on my finger to monitor me . She began to ask questions and type on her computer and all of the sudden I felt the worst contraction I'd ever felt. I removed the monitor from my finger, sat up on the bed with my legs on the floor and David rushed over and said " where are you going?!" I grabbed onto his arms and pushed so hard that I broke my water all over his boots and the nurse's shoes! Not to mentioned I felt the babies head out! At this point they had no idea I had already pushed his head out because my gown was covering. David lifted me and laid me down on the bed and that's when I
pulled up the gown to show him. "Oh shit his head is out!" he said. The nurse called for all nurses to come in and the doctor. As they were coming in and getting everything ready, I pushed for the second time and out he came!

(All of this happened super fast!) We were only there for 10 minutes and then he was Born.

Ethan Cole McDaniels was born at 7:48 pm!

I never imagined his birth would be as dramatic as it was ! It all happened so fast! I wasn't even aware my body could do such an amazing job on it's own as it did! I'm so thankful to God that it was a quick birth and that the pain was only for a short amount of time.

The second the nurses plopped Ethan onto my chest, I fell head over heels. All the frustrations and disconnect I had felt through out the pregnancy just completely left me. I am 100% sure I was meant to have a big family. Ethan is everything I ever wanted and didn't know it. We're so beyond blessed to have him. He's healthy, he's beautiful and he's our little heaven on Earth.

One Month Old Baby Benjamin

We have a ONE Month old!
Talk about the fastest month of my life!
Little Benjamin is doing so well! He eats so good, sleeps...eh, what baby sleeps a full night? Not mine but that's okay, his cute stare makes up for it .;)

Weight:

- at one month, Ben is weighing in at 9 pounds 14 ounces.
-21 inches long

Ben is beginning to smile more and more. It's the cutest thing ever! He stares and stares at me and everywhere I go.
Oh, that's another thing, I cannot be without him. I went to Walmart the other day to get groceries and he was frantic! David called me to tell me that I needed to hurry back ASAP! I could here the baby's frantic cries over the phone, it broke my heart! He's super attached. More so than with my other two boys. Benjamin likes to sleep in my arms, pretty much only my arms.

There's our sweet new addition in his mini crib. =)
We co sleep just like we did with Noah and Levi but Benjamin will at times nap in his crib. I lay him in it just to try and get him used to it while he's awake and I'll look over maybe ten minutes later and he'll be asleep. But come night time, he knows he what he wants, and that's to be right next to mama feeding.

Benjamin's short and sweet month update! 

11 Weeks!

Hello Everyone!
I'm so happy and excited to share some new photos with you all! I am now 11 weeks and LOVING it! My sluggishness is slowly but surely going away and my nausea has toned it down except for today, while I made my lunch for work, I gagged about 10 times with tears running down my face! It was out of no where! For about half the day I was super gaggy and couldn't even eat what I had brought to lunch but I now know I cannot not eat because that is no good. So I had chicken strips. =)
So on Monday I went to the clinic to fill out some paperwork and I asked if I could get an ultrasound since I hadn't seen Sweet Pea since the 5 week! The awesome nurse said of course and I was not prepared to see what I saw. It was the most amazing thing to see my baby grow so fast in such a little bit of time! Sweet Pea was kicking all around and scratching its cute little eye! I melted. I recorded it for Daddy McD since he was at work and I thought I'd share with you all.

Sweet Pea looks more like a Potato Bug! To the right is the head and the eye looking thing is actually the brain! Baby is scratching it's eye. Baby is the size of a Fig!

My little baby is flexing it's foot! See the toes? Sweet Pea is going to be a Dancer ;)

So I'm starting to show a little. If I wear tight clothes you can tell there's something more than last night's burrito going on in there.

Bump , Bump, Buuuuummmmpp....

We are so excited for this baby of ours! We've already been to Babies R Us like 4 times. We've begun to register things here and there since we've got family wanting to bless us with *A Crib *A Stroller & * A Rocker Glider with Ottoman! And of course I've already picked my faves on those.

If Sweet Pea is a lovely girl, This is the crib we'd want. So girly!

If Sweet Pea is a he, than this one will do, since it goes with our bedroom set.

yum! I'm excited for this awesome reclining glider! Also comes with an ottoman! =)

So we already started to rearrange our bedroom yesterday just thinking ahead. We loved how it turned out! for a one bedroom apartment we sure make the space spacious! So here's what our room looks like now.

Did the coffee filter lamp shade project. 

David's guitar

I'm planning on cleaning out my closet. I have too many things I NEVER use. 

Sweet Pea's crib will be on the right side of the bed against the wall. We still need to get the wooden bed frame from the in-laws house. I'm in love with the white against wood look. =) 

We're going for this look, if it's a girl. 

Pregnancy Now:

Symptoms: sore, itchy breasts. =/ gagging but still no vomitting. Backaches. 

Cravings: Not many but I love soda. I don't drink it like I used to but I allow myself some. I love bananas and oranges and apples! I miss magaritas from El Torito so much! =( 

Showing?: Barely there bump but I'd say so. 

Maternity Clothes: Not yet.

Gender Prediction: Girl

Mood: Generally happy but I do have spurts of anger out of nowhere. My poor husband is so sweet when I'm so not. God bless him. ha

Movement?: Not yet. Obviously the baby is moving but I still don't feel. 

Okay friends, I need to get some sleep, tomorrow the boy and I are leaving in the morning to my dad's because my step sister is Graduating from High School! Crazy! We are staying there and then on Sunday driving the opposite way to David's dad's house in Lancaster! We have an amazing 4 day weekend ahead and I cannot wait to be with my Love and to show my dad my bump! Oh I also just made some amazing Lemon Cheesecake for him;) I'll post on that soon!

Goodnight Friends! 

xoxo

-Susie

Introducing to you....

Little Mr. Or Mrs. McDaniels! Surprise!!!! We are expecting!!!

@5 weeks 6 Days

So Now you know why I've been MIA. I'm not comfortable with my work knowing about this and I know that a lot of my good buds from work actually read my blog but I just don't want anyone from work to really know. So if you read this and I work with you, please keep it on the down low until I choose to announce it. ;) But I do want to keep blogging about all the experiences so I decided to finally announce it! We are extremely excited and you all know that not long ago I posted about wanting a baby, well thank you all for the nice text messages from that post and nice emails! Apparently I was totally pregnant already ! 

Currently I am at 8 weeks and 2 Days! And yes I got the little bump or bloat whatever you want to call it. =) 

We are both so excited and this is what we wanted. We both want to be young vibrant parents and that's exactly what we'll be. We already have so much love for this little boy or girl. 

Ok so here's our story: It was the last week of April and I had begun to feel different. Can't really explain what different means besides extremely sore heavy breasts (get used to the TMI. ha ) but I had a feeling something was up. I told David I needed to get a pregnancy test just to get the question of possibly being pregnant out of my head so early morning on Sunday April 29 2012, he came home from work and brought along an at home pregnancy test. ( he's sweet like that ) We kinda avoided it for a good hour and a half, I was so nervous I felt sick to my stomach. He had me drink up a cup of cranberry juice and I didn't even finish half when I decided "Okay, I need to know. If we are than we are blessed, and if we're not than that's okay, all on God's timing" So I went to the Bathroom,  followed directions and not even two minutes went by when the Big plus sign stared back at me. I called for David in tears, I started crying and crying I was so nervous and scared and the look on his face was priceless. He had the biggest grin and caressed my face and told me not to cry and that everything was going to be okay. It was so sweet. After a few minutes I started giggling and realizing Holy Moly I'm going to be a mommy! 

That's David. Excuse the mess. 

I began to question the accuracy of the test and decided one wouldn't be enough. We needed to be sure. So we another. 

And another... 

Until we decided okay, let's go to the Dr's office and make sure too. And sure enough they congratulated us and told us we were Due Dec. 29, 2012!!!

The following weekend would be Mother's Day and I thought what better day to announce it? Except we couldn't hold it any longer and began to tell the parents. (a couple weeks after we found out)

My Mom

My Daddy (who the following day sent me a Binder of pregnancy info and a Disney Lalluby CD. ) 

Father in Law and Step Mama!

And with his mom, I think we were so nervous we didn't even take a pic! ;( But it was so funny, her reaction was shock, didn't say much until her husband was like "Congrats you guys! " and then she went into grandmommy mode! She took us up to the attic and pulled out all of David's baby clothes and blankies and little knick knacks! It was the cutest funniest thing!
I of course told my Grandma over the phone and my ear almost fell off from the loud scream she did! hahaha She was extremely excited!
And we told David's grandma via Skype as well.

The following week we went to get the ultrasound so they could measure the heartrate and how big the baby really was and it turned out we were a lot earlier than told. =/ So our due Date is now Jan. 8 2013! =D It kinda feels like forever now but I'm super happy everything is okay.
So when we were on our way to leave for our Big trip/ Babymoon we announced it to everyone else.

We put : "Did we mention there are 3 of us going on this trip?!" haha it was awesome.

We've had nothing but positive reactions and I just can't wait to be a mommy. People are already spoiling us, My brother is already looking at strollers and other things! ha I love it.

So Current Symtoms:

2 Months  preggo

Current bumparoo

Appetite: gone for the most part.. If I get a craving that's all I will eat. I get very nauseas but don't vomit. If I smell a certain food I get nauseas. It sucks. I love junky food right now and it's not good but it's what I'll eat for now. Oh and fruits are amazing!

Hello Bathroom: I pee like a race horse. I poo a lot.. (sorry I know TMI.)

Sleep: I wake up a ton now. I just can't get comfortable. I get up to pee a lot at night. Last night I did 4 times! ;(

Tired?: Very very very sluggish. I've never been one to stay at home and be a couch potato but for now that's all I want. I wake up take a shower and get dressed and I'm ready for a nap. Naps are a Must do at least twice a day which is not as possible. David Loves that I can just chill now at home. ha

Now let's talk about David. Heehee.. David is totally pregnant. He gets more cravings than I do. Eggnog? really David? Eggnog on a super hot day is what you want??? ha  He gets back pains (if I complain about my back he will too. ) it's cute. He needs his naps too. And he pees as much as I do. On our trip he was getting sick to his stomach as well and couldn't eat just like me.

Have you Seen the I Love Lucy Episode where Desi has labor pains ? Ha that's David. ;)
So here's something else totally unexpected and something I'm super excited for. Turns out my bestie is also pregnant. We had the same heart rate and are the same weeks far a long and WE EVEN HAVE THE SAME DUE DATE!!! I totally called it. The second I found out I texted her and asked her if she was pregnant before I told her and she had no idea she was! She just recently Found out and I cannot wait! =D
She came over a couple days ago and we had the same cravings. My lovely husband went to the store and got us everything we were talking about! She craves strawberry milk and I crave chocolate milk! And we both wanted cup of noodle soups! ha

Mexican style with tapatio hot sauce and a hint of mayo..

Alright so there you finally have it! Our little Savannah Delilah or Noah Kalvin. =) can't wait to keep updating!