IZAAK EDWIN CAMPBELL

When I was pregnant, Kayden and I went back and forth on baby names. We couldnt decide on Ethan or Khayl.. but then one day I thought of Izaak. We both liked it but it wasnt until I couldnt sleep one night (which happened a lot during the pregnancy), that I sat up really thinking about my baby and a name that would suit him. When I finally got my thoughts in order I woke Kayden up and told him the following:

"I have such good feelings about our son. I feel like Heavenly Father has really preserved his spirit until this time in the world when he can truly live up to every expectation the Father has for him and be an elite Son of God. And that's why I want his first name to be Izaak.

"I think we should name his middle name Edwin cause, well first we already told my dad we would, but that way my dad will have a little name sake.. but not only my dad, but me too, cause my dad and I are so much alike. So his middle name will be Edwin but it will REALLY mean Strickland, haha... ya following me? (kayden barely utters "yea" at this point..) And so by naming him Edwin, we'll be blessing him with the characteristics my dad and I share- like a strong will, a sound mind, a charming personality, and well the list goes on really... haha

"THEN obviously his last name will be Campbell BUT that will give him all of the Campbell attributes and a name to live up to- like faith and a desire to be like his dad and serve a mission and to serve God continually, to live close to the spirit, and stuff.."

At this point, Kayden fell back asleep, but when he woke up I recapped and his argument for khayl was NOTHING compared to my thesis of a name... of course I probably jinxed myself, and Izaak could very well turn into a burley naked-woman-drawing tatoo artist or something but... that's his choice.

I just cant deny the feelings I had and still have about my son: I know that he -like all of us- is a child of God, with a special spirit, and endless potential. And I hope that I can be the mom that he needs and as he gets older, help him realize who he is and help him to be able to live with God again someday.

PS- and why didnt I tell anyone the name we had thought of? Because I didnt want to hear "EWw i HAte that nAME!" or "...ohh.. thats.. an ...interesting name", etc. PLUS i wanted to make sure that when I saw him, it felt right, soo.. hope that answers some questions.

Baby Izaak

I feel like blogging, but I feel like I cant blog until I blog about Izaak.. I havent been able to write about the labor, because once I finally had him (the labor inducing salad didnt work btw) we didnt have the internet AND THEN we didnt have a computer (but now we do! THANK YOU ROTH FAMILY!!) So feel free to continue reading if you havent gotten sick of this story already..

I was scheduled to be induced on Saturday May 23 at 12am, however my water broke two hours prior. Kayden and I were laying in bed, trying to take a nap to calm our nerves before a busy night at the hospital but I heard a pop inside and freaked out. The water didnt gush out immediately until i relaxed! HaHa i sat there on the toilet texting every body that my water broke!

So Kayden gave me a blessing, we packed our stuff and headed for... SONIC! LOL i knew they weren't going to let me eat or drink, so we had to get a quick fix. By the time we got there (btw it was not on the way nor was it near our apartment) I was starting to have contractions; by the time we were actually getting on the 215 heading for the 95, I started really feeling them. By this point, I felt like my water had broken atleast three more times- there was soo much fluid! We began timing them as we were passing Sunset and by the time we got to the hospital they were every two minutes apart.

I told the nurses I was in labor & my water had broken and I guess maybe because I wasnt screaming or crying or lying on the floor they didnt really believe that my contractions were every two minutes UNTIL they did an exam and saw I was dialated to a 6! The contractions werent bad, they were just SO annoying OMG! Everytime i got comfortable, the next one hit! So.. I got the epidural! HAha! And i'm so glad i did! I remember looking at the charts and watching my contractions just plateau and not feeling a thing (thank you Dr. Trnygh).

My labor progressed a centimeter every hour and at about 2am they started giving me petocin because Izaak's head was still really high. By 4am the nurses ran in freaking out because heart rate had dropped, so they put me on oxygen and turned me on my side. I felt so bad when they were turning me because I couldnt even lift my leg up- these two little 'pino ladies had to turn my 205lb-self over, haha... Once his heart rate was good, they then told me i was fully dialated & 100% effaced, but then they just left the room! I asked my mom "...oookkkaaayy.. so when do we push?" At about 4:25am I couldnt resist the urge and asked my mom to call the nurse so I could atleast an idea of when we could start pushing so I could focus on that, but the nurse came in and let me start pushing right away.

I pushed for about twenty minutes when kayden and my mom told me they could see Izaak's hair.. of course i had to feel down there (haha sick i know..). Then both nurses told me to stop pushing if i wanted my doctor to be able to deliver the baby. I guess he was not expecting labor to progress so quickly and was still in route to the hospital. So -please dont imagine this- i sat there for 20 more minutes with Izaak crowning (haha seriously thinking he was gonna plop out any minute) waiting for Dr. Paul. At 5am he finally got there and i pushed what seemed like just a handful of times. AGAIN- THANK GOODNESS for the epidural! bahaha, i got a little taste of what the pain felt like (i remember reading the description as "a burning explosion" in a mommy book and thats exactly what i thought) and then Dr. Paul gave my an epiosiotomy (sp.ck?). You should have seen the look on kayden's face when he did that!! HAHA! He only cut about 3/4 of an inch and then we welcomed Izaak into the world :)

He was 9lbs 21in long. Dr. Paul immediately said "yep, he's as big as i thought he would be". AND GOOD THING TOO, cause for how HUGE i was, if he was only like 6lbs I woulda sent him home with somebody else! just kidding, but once i got home from the hospital and weighed myself I had lost 25lbs just from delivery and fluid.. lots and lots of fluid.. Since then i've lost another 15lbs, and have -oh, about 20 more to go! :p

Two weeks after izaak was born, my friend Amy (who was my YW leader growing up) came over and took some stellar pictures of my munchkin! I'll be forever grateful for her talent!

By his one month appointment, Izaak was 12.4lbs and 23inches long. Now he is one day short of three months, 15.4lbs and 24inches long! I've got to get some new pictures up but he is THE most amazing baby ever! Not to mention the cutest!

(..and, yes, i am a little biased!)