Baby Steven

Sorry everyone that it has taken me awhile to update this post. I've been trying to play recovery and its been quite the ordeal, but now everything is going much better and we're home finally thank goodness. So while I'm sitting back and being lazy with my Mom slaving away in the kitchen, I thought I'd take some time to blog about how our wonderful little miracle, Steven, came into the world.

The whole thing started Thursday morning after I'd had a rough night of really bad menstrual cramps. I woke up at 6:30 to go to the bathroom to find a very big "bloody show" I remember my sisters always saying that they had this the day before they delivered (sometimes hours before) and I'd read online that this usually meant that your cervix was opening and you'd be having the baby soon most likely. So I got really excited and told Mike. Then neither of us could go back to bed...too excited and my cramps were still pretty bad. Around 7:30-7:45ish the pain transferred to my lower back. I'd get this feeling while on my period so I contributed it to the cramps. However, when I called my sister, she asked for more details and after I explained that the pain came and went, she thought I was in labor and having a back labor instead of front. Next time it happened I paid more attention to my stomach and sure enough it was contracting, but I was just feeling it in my back. Around 9 something we went into the doctor and I had started dilating, went from a 1 1/2 two days ago to a soft 3 and 90%. They sent me home to keep walking and trying to progress farther on my own and with orders to take a nap.

Home we went and we were able to take about a 2 hour nap. We then kept walking around but while consistent, my contractions weren't getting harder or closer together-they ranged from about 5-10 minutes apart. The office closed at 5, and I wanted to be checked one more time before they were gone, so at 4:45 we went back in and I had dilated to a 4. Rachel, the midwife who was checking me and was on call to deliver, said that she wouldn't be surprised if I was in the hospital by 8 or 9 tonight. She was right! My contractions finally started hurting (haha who wishes for that? ME!:) and for half an hour were coming every other contraction 3 or 6 minutes apart so averaging about 4 minutes. Then the next half hour they were every 2 to 3 minutes so we decided to head on up and above is the admitting picture when they checked me. I was dilated to a 5! So sad, I was hoping I'd be farther along but oh well. Below is a picture of me in the bed after getting admitted and having my IV started.


I was wanting to try to go natural, so after Rachel arrived we headed off for a walk around the hospital to keep the contractions going, bouncing on the ball, even did the jacuzzi before I was ready to push at 11:45.


Here is Mike geared up and ready to go! Our Midwife, Rachel, was very nice and awesome! She was willing to let Mike do as much as he wanted to with the delivery and so he gowned up and she put her hands on top of his as he helped guide Steven's head out. Mike ended up not finishing helping because he felt bad about "roughing" Steven up when she was helping his head out. He wasn't able to cut the cord initially either sadly (he was able to trim after under the warmer). This was due to Steven having the cord around his neck twice, he swallowed some meconium, and he was floppy and didn't cry right away. Rachel threw him on my chest to cut the cord before they whisked him away and I remember thinking, "Holy cow! That was in me? He's HUGE!" And then it registered I hadn't heard him cry yet and so I kept yelling over at the warmer to the NICU nurse and Respitory Therapist (RT), "Is he okay? Is he going to be okay?" My nurse, Carli, reassured me he was crying now and pinking up so he'd be okay. Then I turned back and looked down at Rachel and saw her face and thought, "Am I okay?" She looked really worried and then turned to my nurse and said, "She's bleeding, get pitocin running right now and get cytotec now!" Rachel was really calm about it all, but I could tell it was serious and I remember at one of my sister's births where she was bleeding and they kept instructing her to tell her body to stop bleeding, so I started telling myself to stop. After a little while Rachel gave a big sigh and said, "Okay, I think we're okay...my heart really got racing there for a minute but I think we're in the clear now." So, back to Steven...he was born at 1:08 AM Friday morning on September 9, 2011 and weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz and was 22 inches long! Can you say BIG baby? :)

Here is a picture Mike got of the clock shortly after Steven was born so that we could remember.



Steven at the warmer being worked on by the RT and NICU nurse. All is well :)

Mike was able to help my labor nurse, Carli, give Steven his first bath and change Steven's first diaper. I think this might have been one of the very first diapers Mike has ever changed which made for an entertaining and fun experience :)

The diaper change :)

Beginning of the bath.

What a sweet Daddy :) Carli had to keep telling him it was okay to press harder to get him clean.

Mike was scared to do this part so Carli washed his hair.

Carli was an amazing nurse and such a support for me. While pushing and inbetween contractions she stayed right by me and kept telling me I could do it when I'd look at her and say I couldn't. I was able to brave it through and go natural...crazy I know! But yes, I was really grateful for all of the support I got through Carli, Rachel, and of course my amazing husband Michael during that time. I couldn't have done it without them. By the way, you may have noticed, Carli was pregnant as well and has two little kids already so she had great experience and tips for me.

Proud Daddy with baby Steven.

And enjoy some pictures of little Steven.

Some people have asked if Steven has red hair and I can kind of see why this picture might show that. However, I can't really even see hints of red normally. I would say his hair is medium brown and very cute. I was shocked we had a baby with hair since both of us were bald, but Steven has a head full! :)

My first time holding Steven for real. He isn't breast feeding (my mom at first thought he was), we're just doing skin to skin that they recommend as soon as possible after to warm him up and to help the bonding process. I don't know how much I needed it...I was already bound as tight as you could get to this little boy the first time I saw him but I still enjoyed holding him :)

Another sweet picture of Steven. I just love this boy so much! :)


The room that we stayed in on the Mom Baby Unit had its air conditioning broken. Lucky for me they found a fan that kept me cool, but it was way too hot for Mike to sleep so after that first night he went home and would sleep. I woke up Friday night to find this:

Mike had gone home for the night but was missing us too much so he came back up and was holding Steven when I woke up. He ended up going back home because try as he may, it was just way too hot in there! I felt bad he wasn't able to stay, but I'm glad he was at least able to get good sleep and that he loves us so much to come back in to see his wife and son, even in the middle of the night! Love this man, love my son. I am so grateful for both of these amazing individuals in my life and still can't believe we've been so blessed with such an amazing son!

Friends, Park City, and baby stuff :)

Mike and I are really lucky to have so many good friends here in Rexburg. The very first couple we had over after getting married were the Schenks and lucky for us they have been around since. We just barely started becoming better friends last semester, but I sure am glad we did! Mike and Nick get along great and Lindsay loves to read...need I say more? :) The other great quality about this couple is their son, Koen, who is a doll and so much fun! Mike and him have a really cute relationship and Koen just LOVES Mike, no joke! Its really cute and makes me happy to see it. But anyways, awhile back we went on a picnic with these awesome guys and then played some frisbee golf. Here are some pictures from that. Above is Nick and Mike going out to play.

Throwing the frisbee.

Little Koen eating his lunch while we ate ours.

Lindsay and me...this girl is awesome! So glad she's my neighbour :)

A few weeks ago we were able to go down to Park City to visit Mike's parents, his sister Stephanie, and Ryan, his little brother. I was surprised the doctors said it was okay to go, but they did, so we went! It was a fun trip and was nice to see family. Ryan is attending his first semester at BYU and we were able to help him move in. It was fun remembering back when I moved into the dorms for the first time, and shortly after met Mike! Before moving in, we were able to have a few days with Ryan and so Mike went and did the Alpine Slides, runs, and many more activities with him. I didn't do as much...I didn't really feel like having Steven come and join us :) Above is Mike coming down the slide.

Mike and Ryan on their way up to the Slide.

Ryan coming down the slide.

Next are some things that I'm really excited about! We finally got a diaper bag! I'm so fickle and can never decide what I want, but I'm excited about this one and feel good about my choice. Yes, it has flowers, but I figure it doesn't look too feminine and looks more like a purse than a diaper bag anyway so Steven hopefully won't mind :) The next project I've been wanting to do for a while was decorate a wipes container. One of my friends did it to hers and I loved it! So I called up one of my other good friends and we got together and decorated these while our husbands played some video games (their daughter Chloe was already asleep). It was a lot of fun! I'm just sad I wasn't thinking and didn't get pictures of us doing it together or at least both of us with our end projects. But anyhow...may I present my wipes container! :)

Here's the front view. I used extra fabric that was left over from the bumper pads and curtains I made for his room and then ribbon from our wedding cake.

The back

And the side...this ribbon was generously donated by Ashley, the girl I did this with. It still opens and so is completely functional and was so much fun to do! It didn't take very long at all...just cutting time and hot gluing time. Though I am kinda a perfectionist sometimes so it might have taken longer than it should have but I would do it again in a heart beat! The next project we talked about doing is making those hanging diaper containers. I still have left over fabric and think that would be so cute to match everything and I really don't think it would be hard to do at all! I've started making a pattern out of newspaper and Ashley has a sewing machine we can use so this might just happen! I'll have to post a picture if it actually does and if it turns out looking okay :)

Baby Steven where are you?

The other night Mike wakes me up in a panic reaching over me and said, "Steven, Steven! Where are you?" I took his hands and put them on my belly, reminding him that Steven was still inside and not crawling around like he was dreaming. But really...where are you baby Steven? Just because the doctors say your due date is September 11th doesn't mean you can't come play early...I'm just sayin :) I'm not quite sure where my body is at currently, I have my appointment tomorrow, but as of last Friday I was dilated to a 1 and 70% effaced so at least something is happening! Mike has been really cute and wants his buddy to come play before he is back in school so every day he has been taking me on walks, having me walk stairs, bouncing on our exercise ball, and eating spicy food. So far nothing too much. More contractions than normal, but they don't hurt or anything. I guess we'll just have to continue the waiting game and remember that its not our choice really when he comes. I still can't believe I'm almost 39 weeks and that its here! It hits me every once in awhile that I'm going to be a mom and have a baby 24/7 soon for the rest of my life...kinda crazy and sometimes scary! I'm more curious about labor, most of the time I'm not too scared but I'm sure that will change once labor actually starts. I'm still working and that's going well. Haha, I keep getting coworkers or doctors saying, "You're still here? You look like you're going to pop!" I don't think I've gotten too much bigger the last little bit, but I think I just got big so fast that they all assumed that I was due in August and am over due now. I don't know...just a theory. Anyways, I'll keep you all posted and let you know once out little guy decides to make his entrance! :)

Steven's Baby Room:-)

With less than a month left until Lil Steven gets here we have been busy getting ready for his arrival. Mike Has taken it upon himself to set Steven's Nursery up all by himself. With many hours and lots of nails in the wall he is finally done.

As you walk in the first thing you see in our lovely big brown chair and a blanket that I made for my sewing class. Mike put up a Captain America Poster, action figure, Thor's Hammer and some sports teams pennants. Also there is a little chair on the wall to represent our family motto (adopted from his family) That there will be no empty chairs around our Heavenly dinner table.

As you pan the room you see some nice wall decorations with Steven's initials and his crib. A picture of Christ on the bottom left of the decorations to start training him right.

Then comes the crib filled with little toys and a pillow that I made for one of my sewing classes right after we found out we were having a boy.

Mike's favorite wall. It has a couple of his favorite autographed pictures including Austin Collie, Jimmer Freddette, Andy Roddick, Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheddle (Iron Man 2) and a poster signed by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is pretty proud of all his hard work and I have to say, though I was nervous at first, I think it turned out pretty good and I think Steven will love it

Last but not least we have our changing table. It definitely makes it nice to help store diapers and other necessities.

Robert Bingham Family Reunion 2011

This year for our family reunion, my immediate family went up to Alturas Lake were we stayed at Camp Smokey. We have a lot of memories there ranging from girls camps, ward camp outs, and for a lot of the guys 50 milers. It was a lot of fun getting together and being away from cellular devices and out in nature for a time. There is always stuff to do like hikes and games, but lucky us, we even had four wheelers! Below is a picture of Mike and I right before setting out on one of our rides.

We were also able to have a horseshoe tossing contest. Mike and Moe were on a team against my Dad and nephew, Jacob. Below Mike is showing off his awesome throwing skills.

And my Dad's throwing skills.

And finally Moe's throwing skills.

My brother Trent with his girl Shonee watching the game.

Haha, sweet little Thomas! He has so many faces and I was lucky enough to have caught this one. If you can't tell, he isn't exactly happy :) Love this boy! :)

And yes, I even love this boy! :) Mike is such a great sport and was more than willing to be the one to dress up in the dress and be little bo-peep for our skit. We were given a bag with clothes and instructions to perform a skit from a family memory. Our skit dealt with 4H and my sisters modeling the clothes they made, and then Trent's showing of his run away lamb :)

Clariee and me pretending to be my older sisters modeling.

Trent playing himself and Mike as the runaway lamb.

I didn't get pictures of all the skits, but here is one where Jacob is me when I was little and Kimball is Marjorie. We had a lot of good stories growing up and this one was Paul's favorite. He tells it to everyone! So of course his kids reenacted it.

Marjorie also did a skit about her and I. Her little boy Jared played me and they're pretending to ride a four wheeler out in our pasture when Marjorie somehow managed to figure out how to hit the cow pies in our pasture just right so that I got splattered and she didn't. Yea...not so fun for me :)

Below are some videos from activities that Angela and Moe came up with for us to compete against each other. Some of the ideas originated from the show Minute to Win It.

This is where Mike had to knock over the pop cans with a yo-yo tied to his belt loop. He was really fast! I accidentally stopped half way through so that's why there is two videos.

This last video was an activity that Angela and Moe saw when they were living down in Mexico. We had a rope tied on our belt loop with a pencil that we had to fit into the top of the top can. As you can see, pregnancy was not a hindrance here :)

A picture of Heidi and I...yea, we've got skills :)

Here is proof that I'm getting bigger...I believe this was at 28 weeks. And I'm still growing! This was later in the day taken while on our way down from the hike we took up the mountain.

Also on the hike were above, Angela and her kids Micah and Naomi and below, Marjorie and Jared. There were some older kids, David and Scottie, but they were always way ahead of us and so I'm sorry but no picture.

This is a pretty view of Alturas Lake Angela took from up the mountain. It was beautiful! This was a really fun family reunion for both of us...a nice break from school and work and time spent with family. Hopefully we'll be able to go there again! :)

Mindy Concert and 26 weeks prego

Mike has a hero. Her name is Mindy Gledhill. While on his mission in Oklahoma, Mike was only able to listen to certain types of music and Mindy became one of his favorite singers. I really like her music too, but I must admit I had never heard of her before Mike. She had a performance here in Rexburg so of course we had to go :) When they asked for the first three Mindy super fans to go up on stage Mike jumped out of his seat and jumped on stage...the first out of three other girls :) Haha...what a goof! :)

Here's Mindy! And yes, those are butterfly wings. When she first came out both Mike and I looked at each other and were like, "Umm..." But it was kinda cute and she completely pulled it off with her fun personality and everything. After the first songs she said, "I bet you never thought you'd see a pregnant butterfly dance huh?" It was cute. Yep...she was prego in this concert jumping around and singing...I was impressed! I can't even walk up four stairs without getting winded anymore, I can't imagine dancing and singing for a whole concert! Props for Mindy!

Here is my incredibly awesome husband up on stage with Mindy and the other "super fans". Notice all the others are women? :)

A hug from Mindy...it made Mike's night :) I was really excited for him and knew he'd be talking about it for days. Sure enough, right when he got home he went over to some of our neighbor's house to show off this picture and tell his story :)

After the concert. I kinda wish we could have gotten a belly shot together, I think that would have been funny, but there was a huge line waiting to get a picture or autograph from her. Cool story though...Mike got her to autograph our program's picture of her by saying, "Thanks for the hug Mike -Mindy" or something like that. I can't remember exactly.


And here is another belly shot at around 24 1/2 weeks. My mom keeps getting after me about posting more pictures, but I don't think we'd see as many results week by week where as two weeks you can see a bigger difference. I will try to be better though Mom. Haha...funny story. So about a week before at 23 weeks I had a patient at work ask me when I was due. I told her and she was really shocked saying, "Oh dear, but you look like you're ready to pop right now!" I didn't think it was too funny at the time and said, "I'm not that big yet!" to which she replied, "Oh yes you are dear...little junior is poking out alright!". Hmm...then just this week I had two nurses the same night at different times ask me when I was due and when I told them they were like, "Are you sure? You seem bigger than 6 months" and one even asked, "Are you sure you have the right due date? They have to be off, you're too big already!" Ha, ha, ha...maybe its the scrubs? I know that I'm carrying him more out than some but seriously! Who says that to a pregnant woman? I'm sure they are right in some aspects though. I mean there is this one girl at church who is a month ahead of me and I'm bigger than her and then another girl who is a month behind me and you can't even tell she's pregnant at all! So not fair! At the same time I can't complain. I like looking pregnant and have gotten a lot of comments from patients and people that I look cute so at least those comments are a plus! I'm just not looking forward to when I do get HUMONGOUS and awkward looking. I know its gonna happen, after all I have another three months and already I look like I'm "going to pop"! :)