One Whole Year!!

Since I wasn't blogging when I first had Casen, I have decided to create the longest post in history and tell the story of Casen. For those of you who don't know, it took us quite a long time to find success in the baby department! When I finally was pregnant, I got more excited each week, because he continued to grow and develop as he was supposed to! We were so excited to be parents and it has been such a blessing to us! I can't believe how fast this first year of his life has gone by! I will start at the beginning...Casen was born on October 1, 2007 at 8:03 pm by C-section. He was 7 lbs 15 oz and 19.5 inches long. I had no idea I would be having a C-section until 3 hours before he was born!! I started having very early labor pains on Sunday night, but I was able to sleep through them. Then on Monday, I thought the pains would have stopped because my due date was still 2 weeks away, but they didn't. My contractions were mild but 5-10 minutes apart for most of the day. I was home by myself and going insane. I kept calling the doctor and they just gave me suggestions on how to relax because it would be a while before I could come in. Finally, at 3pm I called again and the nurse was nice enough to let me come in and just get checked to see how far I was dilated. When the doctor checked me, he had a very weird look on his face and said I was only dilated to a 2, but he needed to do an ultrasound. Naturally, we were a bit worried about this. We went in for the ultrasound where we got the news that Casen was breech. His little bum was where his head should have been. Marc made the comment that Casen had just gotten his first proctology exam! My belly was already packed as tight as it could go, so my doctor did not even consider trying to turn him, so my only option was C-section. The funny thing is that when we went to childbirth class we skipped the C-section part of it because I was soo sure I wouldn't need it (that's what I get!). I was pretty much anti C-section because of how hard my surgery was a few years ago and my doctor knew this. Anyway, the doctor gave me the choice of having the baby that night or in the morning. I wasn't about to be in unnecessary labor for the rest of the night so I opted for the sooner of the two choices! We ended up going straight to the hospital (it was about 5 pm by then) and Casen was born 3 hours later. My doctor did a great job and I had a wonderful anestiesiologist that kept me happy and pain free.


Here is a picture of us right before the big surgery! Marc was so excited and he looked so funny in his little scrubs! I forgot to get a good belly picture right before so this is it!
Here is a picture of me touching Casen for the first time. The doctor actually pulled the curtain right when they pulled him out and Marc got a picture but it is a little bit gross so I am going to spare everyone! I was a little bit out of it and Marc was making fun of me for just talking about how cute he is. Marc also came back in while they were checking Casen out and showed me more pictures of him. Casen's grandparents got to see him in the nursery only a few minutes after he was born and Marc still got to cut the umbilical cord.
This is a picture of Casen's legs after he was born. He was basically folded up inside me like a taco. His feet were in his face and it was hard to get them down right after he was born. He was lucky that his hips were not displaced because that is pretty common among little girls who are born in this position.
This is our first family picture! The worst part of having a C-section is that I didn't get to hold Casen until about 45 minutes after his birth because I was in recovery still. I also didn't get to see my parents either (which I think is STUPID!). I was so excited to finally get to hold him. Marc didn't let anyone else hold him so that I would be the first one!! What a sweetie! My brother, Brad, took our first family picture because he was nice enough to bring us pillows at 2 AM because we forgot them. He also got to be the first family member to hold Casen!
Here is one of the picture of Casen during his first real day alive. I was having so much fun just looking at him and taking pictures of him. If you look carefully in the back left, you can see Marc finally getting some rest after staying up and helping me with Casen all night. One of the crappy things about a C-section is that you cannot get out of bed for a while and you can't lift the baby out of his crib, so Marc had to do everything. I didn't change a diaper for almost 2 days! (I guess that part wasn't too sucky!)

Casen at about 2 weeks old!
Casen at about 3 weeks old!
Casen's first Halloween at one month old!
Casen's blessing day! He is in a tuxedo made by his Great Grandma Rawlins. He was just older than 1 month!
Casen at nearly 2 months old on Thanksgiving! He was starting to smile and such a chunk back then!

Still a little chunky man. Casen at Christmas time! He was almost 3 months!
Casen in January! I just love that face!
Casen in his little Valentine outfit! He is trying to sit up but just doesn't quite have it yet!
Casen in March. He was almost 5 months old! He was already army crawling and starting to get into trouble! He is such an active little boy!
At about 6 months, Casen learned to sit up by himself and pose and smile for the camera. He is wearing his little UNLV Rebels outfit in this picture! He looks like a little model with that pose!

This is a great picture of some of his little toofers! He has such a big personality! Casen is about 7 months in this picture!
Casen at 8 months!
This is Casen at 9 months old on our family reunion to Hyrum Dam. He loved playing in the grass and acting like a big boy!
I thought this captured the essence of Casen's life at 10 months because he started taking his first steps right after he turned 10 months. This is a picture of him trying to walk and starting to fall over. He was so excited and proud of himself when he figured out the whole walking thing. He walks all over the place now!!
Here is a picture of Casen just about a week ago in his 11 month of life! He is such a goof ball and this just shows what a silly little baby he is.

Overall, this has been an amazing year! We have enjoyed watching Casen grow, learn, play, laugh, discover, and all the other wonderful things that he does everyday. We are so grateful that we were blessed with such a good little boy. I can already tell that he has such a great spirit in him. He might have a little too much of his momma's fire, but he might just need it with the challenges he might face one day. Happy Birthday Casen!! Mommy and Daddy love you lots!

(if you are still reading this...you are awesome...if you skipped to the end, that's okay...sometimes I skip to the end of yours too =) we can still be friends)