Elijah Kevin Hobbs

Elijah Kevin Hobbs
Born December 23rd, 2015 at 2:49am
8lbs, 7.6 oz, 20.5 inches long

Written January 1st, 2016 - Eli's birth story

My main goal for months with this baby’s birth was to finish all my classes before the baby came. I’m happy to say the goal was met with no problem. December 7^th, on the week of finals, I had a doctor’s appointment and asked my doctor to check me. She optimistically told me I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced. “I’d be surprised if I saw you next week!” she told me and excited I set my next appointment “just in case”, thinking that I was going to have a baby any moment. The next day I participated in a relief society activity and excitedly told everyone the news. It was just the waiting game.

Nothing whatsoever happened. The appointment I was sure I wouldn’t have to go to came and I dragged myself into the office. My due date was that weekend and the doctor asked me my goals. I said I wanted to have the baby before Christmas and she told me she could induce me Friday night, right after Sam’s big test. YES, that sounded great and had her set it up. However, during the week I was having second thoughts. Joey’s labor went so fast and as well as anyone could have hoped and didn’t like the sound of Pitocin. The day before I decided to cancel the induction and see if I could go into labor on my own. I was still sure I could do it before Christmas (which was in a week). A weekend of Star Wars, a Christmas party, and Christmas meetings at church was able to occur. But now I was really itching to have this baby.

I had a small ultrasound on Tuesday the 22nd to see how baby was doing and he passed with flying colors. I think they wanted this done to see if he was a candidate to be induced since I was over my due date. My sister called me and told me my doctor was working that day (she is a labor and delivery nurse at the same hospital) and was sure that if I called her and if it wasn’t too busy she would induce me. At that point I just wanted to be home for Christmas and not be pregnant. I wanted to talk to Sam about it, but he was in a surgery all day and couldn’t call me at a time before I should decide, so I chose to be induced. My doctor was busy, but she set up an induction that night with another doctor (she probably assumed I would still be in labor by her next shift in the morning). So, that was that. My hope was to go into labor on my own if they broke my water, but if I had to have Pitocin, I wasn’t against an epidural.

I came in with Sam at 8pm and was set up in a labor and delivery room. After a little waiting I was put on a fetal monitor and just had to wait until the doctor could see me. Baby was having a good party, which made it hard to keep track of his heart rate. The doctor came in at 10:20pm and decided to break my water to see if I could go into labor on my own. Apparently I had a ton of amniotic fluid because it ended up pooling at the bottom of the bed, and started dripping off, something my sister never seen before.  After cleaning me off, we waited to see if contractions would start to pick up. Sadly, my contractions slowed down and it was looking like I would need Pitocin. Sam thought a couple laps around the floor might help kick start contractions, so I got the fetal monitor to go and started walking several laps around the labor and delivery floor.

When Sam and I returned to my room he pulled out the birthing ball. I really had no idea what to do with it, but I was bouncing on it and talking to my sisters for a few minutes before I started feeling funny and wanted to lie down.  We were waiting for baby’s heart rate to be “reactive” before putting me on Pitocin, which after his dance party, he wasn’t keen to come out of his sleepy state.  Sam thought food would help him so he went to a vending machine and came back with a Kit Kat bar and Dr. Pepper. Heidi told me he wanted to get me a Monster energy drink but she told him he was crazy. So I ate the Kit Kat and took a few sips of Dr. Pepper, but by then my contractions became more and more frequent and painful. Turns out I didn’t need Pitocin (or candy for that matter).

This was around 1 o’ clock when I started to really go into labor. I had Sam apply pressure to my lower back when I felt one coming and just breathed through it. The labor was progressing quickly, but not quickly enough for my liking. I had the doctor come in to check me around 2 and she told me I was at a 6, and I didn’t know whether I liked that or not. When was I going to be a 10? Well, it didn’t take too much longer. After extremely painful contractions and sitting on the toilet for a while (the position gives slight relief), I asked to be back on the bed. It wasn’t long after that where I felt the extreme urge to push. Everyone kept telling me to wait, and I did while the doctor checked me. I was an 8. It didn’t feel right with this crazy urge to push, so I just watched her get ready. It really felt like she was taking her sweet time, but I just wanted the baby out of me at that point. I did a few weak pushes when my body couldn’t hold on any longer while she checked me one more time then she told me I was complete. Sam wanted to deliver the baby, so he got dressed and was in position. I straddled down and did what they told me to do. Within three pushes our sweet little Elijah Kevin entered the world at 2:49am.

I truly forgot how painful and awful labor and delivery is. After giving birth to Joey I was on a high and life felt great. It felt a little different with Eli. I was happy to see him, but I spent all my energy having him that the high didn’t come like it did with Joey. All I could think about was how painful it was. However, it was a shorter labor and delivery with Joey. I also liked laboring at the hospital because they had everything I needed to labor there and I could be ready to go before I was in heavy labor. I’m just glad I didn’t have to have Pitocin. Elijah is a sweet newborn. He loves to eat eat eat, and he is getting some chubby little cheeks. Hopefully when Sam goes back to school I can handle my two sons by myself!

2.5 Years

Joey has now been 2 for more than half a year and I feel it's time for a little update on our little boy.

Ah, 2 year olds. It has definitely been an adventure having one. When he's happy he shows it through his big smile and big voice. When he's mad he lets you know, usually with actions more than words. But he has added quite a bit to his vocabulary since turning 2. I can usually understand what he's trying to tell me or what he wants even though sentence structure is not there. He flips his words around and it's cute. "Cereal want!" is what he's telling me at the moment. He is starting to grasp more concepts, which makes it more fun to teach him, like opposites and letter sounds.

Although he is getting more adventurous, he is still pretty careful for his age. Perhaps he gets that from me. He is finally enjoying going down the slide and will do it willingly, which has been a huge step in his occupational therapy. He also isn't big into climbing, but that's totally fine with me. Our new place has stairs and a loft and I never have to worry about him. He explores more and loves being outside. Joey is getting better at playing with other kids but has a problem with biting. BITING, how I loath thee! It is a very frustrating habit and hope he kicks it soon, especially with this baby coming.

 No potty-training yet. I have a feeling that it will take quite a while, like his walking and talking, before he's ready. However, he willingly sat on his little potty one night without a diaper, so we are getting closer! Joey still gets constipated and I really should be asking the doctor about it, since it has been a problem since he was a newborn.

Joey visited the dentist a month or so ago and we lucked out with no cavities. But the two things I thought they would bring up at the appointment they did. He has a very strong frenulum which creates his cute little gap teeth (just like his daddy had) and told me that he would most likely need that removed in the future. They also asked if he was a thumb sucker, but I told him about his "binky" fetish and was already trying to wean him. We tried cold turkey, but for my sanity I reintroduced it for nap times. He won't take a nap otherwise and gets really grumpy.

He is a total boy. Joey loves loves to roar and does it several times a day. However, he has made children cry by running up to their face and growling at them. Still loves anything with a motor, but he's getting into animals and dinosaurs. He has quite a collection of animal sounds and loves going to the zoo. He loves to pretend he is a monster or shark, probably so he can get away with biting us. "I'm just playing, guys." But he is a sweet heart. Joey loves giving kisses and being kissed, particularly when he gets hurt. "Owie, kiss it!" Then he says "better". Or he gives us kisses and says "mommy happy"!

Joey has been really patient with his parents. Since we've both been in school and have busy callings in church, he hasn't been getting the attention he deserves. Lately he has been hitting, kicking and biting us when we don't give him our full attention, but with a little baby coming along, I really hope we find an outlet for this kid. When I'm annoyed at his behavior, I just tell myself that he is craving attention and I need to be better at that. Maybe having a little brother will help more than hinder this whole thing! I think he will be a good brother despite not being the gentlest kid on the block.

Here's to being 2 1/2! Like I said, it's an adventure, but our lives would be so dull and have a lot less meaning without our Joey.

Thoughts on 2nd Pregnancy

As I promised, I would say a few things about being pregnant second time round. It's hard to say if it has been easier or harder, but boy I forgot how uncomfortable it really is!

2 MONTHS

My first trimester was horrid, but it wasn't the pregnancy that made it so. Soon after finding out I was pregnant the family came down with a flu-like sickness. While Sam and Joey were on the mend I ended up with a double ear infection. I went to get some antibiotics, but ended up being severely allergic to them! I mentioned it in a post back in May of course. But I was pregnant as well, which complicated it a little bit. After getting over my allergic reaction I got an absolutely awful cough, and incontinence came along with it. Peeing your pants in public isn't fun. Then the exhaustion hit me. I could tell this part was hard on Sam. It was frustrating coming home to a messy house and no dinner after a hard day. But good news is I didn't get morning sickness (although my cough did cause me to throw up a few times). That and it was summer time so I didn't have to go to school.

3 MONTHS

Second trimester always saves the day. After getting energy back, I was able to be a good wife and mommy, and the cough disappeared. We found out we were having a boy around 14 weeks, and though people told us it wasn't for sure, baby boy wasn't shy the second ultrasound to confirm it. I have an anterior placenta, which would make things slightly more complicated if I were ever to have a C-Section, and it makes it harder to get a clear picture when I do go in for ultrasounds. I felt I was showing a lot faster than I was with Joey. By the time I came back to school, everyone I knew were asking when I was due, and I was 22 weeks!

4 MONTHS

Third trimester came with a few worries. I never took the glucose test with Joey and turned out fine. I decided to take it last minute before the next doctor's appointment to make them happy. But of course it came back slightly elevated. I doubted I had gestational diabetes and put off taking the 3-hour glucose test. I had an appointment with a midwife I haven't seen before and she was practically telling me I had gestational diabetes with my slightly elevated test and made me feel horrible for deciding not to take the 2nd test (although I'm sure it wasn't her intention. I'm just sensitive). I still wasn't going to take it, that is until I had my last ultrasound. Two more risk factors popped up (extra amniotic fluid and baby being in 85th percentile in weight). That is what helped me decide to sit at Tricore for over 3 hours. Another midwife at the ultrasound clinic and I planned like I already had it, making BPP ultrasounds weekly and whatnot. However, both that midwife and my doctor called me to let me know my last test was normal and there was nothing to worry about. HUGE relief. I thought it was unlikely for me to have it anyway, so this whole thing was surprising and taxing.

5 MONTHS

Another worry was that around 34 weeks I kept feeling his hiccups near my ribs, which made me believe that he was still in breech position. Being this far along in the game it would be very hard for him to turn. However, he turned by my last ultrasound because baby is head down. Yay! I don't want a C-Section if I could help it. Now, I am just super uncomfortable, the baby gets hiccups at least three times a day, and I have Braxton Hicks contractions constantly. Can't wait for this baby to arrive next month! He doesn't have a name yet, but he will by the time we leave the hospital.

7 MONTHS

My 6th month photo doesn't exist, and I am now 8 months. Woo-hoo! I am excited to be pregnant, but I am writing this post at 35 weeks, so sorry if I touched a lot on the negative parts!

Fall 2015

We're slowly catching up here on this blog. This post will have the NM State Fair, the Balloon Fiesta, and Halloween.

I didn't have much time to spend at the fair, but Sam's mom took us out (turned out it was a free day, so I got free funnel cake and a watermelon drink). We enjoyed seeing some farm animals and going on a little McDonald's adventure. Joey loved those little tractors and had to be pried away. If you didn't watch him close enough he would disappear and end up by the tractors again. We had to leave before the petting zoo, which was too bad, but there's next year!

I wasn't planning on going to the Balloon Fiesta, but all my sisters decided to go and I can't miss a sisters outing when it's planned out for me! I got to ride with my oldest sister and save some money on parking. When we got there I was thinking it wasn't that cold and the sun wasn't even up. Funny how when the sun first comes up it gets a lot colder. Joey really enjoyed the balloons and eating graham crackers with his cousins. Noelle gave us a scare and went missing for a good ten minutes or longer. She's good at disappearing. Here are a few pictures:

Cuddling with my happy Joey!

Hey, this ended up being Joey and Sam on Halloween!

Two separate balloons so expertly put together.

The famous Creamland Cow.

Cousins! Missing Kristy's oldest and youngest.

 This Halloween I knew I wanted to get on the Star Wars bandwagon. Sam's and Joey's costumes were set to go, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to go as. Queen Amadala would take more effort and money than I was willing to spend, but I came across the brilliant idea of putting the Death Star on my 7 month belly. Worked out great! We went to a Ward Party, a Hobbs family party, and trick-or-treated around our entire complex. Joey got plenty of candy! We also carved a pumpkin, but we definitely did it a few days too early. McQueen was not recognizable by day 3.

I free-handed McQueen. Not bad, eh?

Trying to get Joey to pose with him.

My costume.

Yoda. Y-O-D-A yohoda. I didn't realize how popular
Yoda was going to be this Halloween! But one house said "oh cute, Shrek!"

"No, I am your father."

Joey loved the light sabers!

That's all.

Washington D.C.

Here's yet another post! This time, I decided to share some photos I took while I went to a conference on Diabetic Retinopathy at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. It was toward the end of my two-week break between OB/GYN-Surgery and my Internal Medicine-Family Medicine blocks. What a great trip! Since Kiley went to Mexico without me, I decided to go to DC without her. (In all reality, I tried to convince her but she was too stressed with our recent move and starting school...).

On my first day, I decided to do some site-seeing. Sadly, I was feeling pretty sick so it wasn't as awesome as it could have been. Here are some photos I took around DC. What a cool city!

When I went to the White House, there was a crowd of people around the gate taking pictures (although that was true with most of the buildings in DC). I decided to take a closer look, and I saw a bunch of security guards in the driveway with some important-looking politicians. I couldn't see extremely well because of the distance, but I'm pretty sure Obama was there with them. At least I'll say he was!

This memorial was built to remember World War II. I was really touched to see how many service men and women died in the cause of freedom. We have quite the legacy! It's great to be able to join the ranks of the Air Force and continue in the service of our country. :)

The Lincoln Memorial was another one of my favorites. And it is HUGE! Lots bigger than I imagined! :)

If I had more time, I would have spent more time at the museums. Each of the Smithsonian museums was completely free to the public. There are so many cool things to see in the National Mall! I'm pretty sure this is the original Apollo 11:

In school, I have pretty much decided to do Ophthalmology as my specialty. I have been working with great physicians at UNM, and no matter what rotation I am in, I keep coming back to ophthalmology. There is a really good mix between primary care and procedures. I really like working with my hands, and the surgeries are both elegant and amazing, to restore vision to the blind! I really hope I can match...

My research mentor, the Chief of the Division of Ophthalmology at UNM, invited me to attend this amazing conference that he put on in conjunction with ARVO. It was a great success. There were many great presentations, and I met many people in the field that I am pursuing. Maybe next year I'll be able to present some of my research at one of these meetings! Here is a shot inside of the auditorium where I spent the majority of my days while at the conference:

The NIH campus is absolutely beautiful. I took some photos, so here are some of the better ones:

Lastly, I have to give you a picture of one of the LONG escalators from the metros in DC. This is the escalator from the Bethesda metro station. In reality, this is only half-way to up. There was another escalator we had to take after this one! It was lots of fun to go traveling, but next time I really want my family to be with me. :)

Due with Baby #2

As Kiley mentioned in a previous post, she's expecting baby number 2!!!!

We're really excited. The due date is December 19th, which would be the ideal day for this baby to come. I finish my block in school on December 18th (followed by a two-week break), and the week week prior to finishing I have a bunch of really hard tests, so that baby better not come early!!! :)

Here are some of the ultrasound photos from our 20 week ultrasound. It's pretty clear he's a boy!

And no baby-post is complete without the creepy 4-D images they can now capture. Here are some of the stills. Joey still calls baby "Baby Monster" when he looks at the pictures:

Kiley says she promises to post some belly-bump progression pictures and tell everyone how her pregnancy is going. You can hold her to it! :D