50th Birthday

My cousin, Travis, and his wife and two kids were staying with my parents on their way up to Idaho and N. Utah for family reunions. They were leaving on my mom's birthday so we had a surprise party for her at the park the day before when they got to town.

The birthday girl.

Crue having fun playing with the kids. Kate, my cousin's daughter (Tamara's), had been kissing Crue and giving him kisses right before I got this picture. It was so cute!

Cute stinker

I realized I sounded like I can't stand Crue in my last post. I figured I'd better say that I absolutely LOVE him, but just like every parent probably understands, he can definitely drive me crazy. I'm sure it's just the terrible two stage, and getting a new baby that I have to be with a lot more instead of being able to play with him. He really is the cutest little boy in the world and I am so grateful to have him in my life.

I had the camera out the other day and he wanted me to take some pictures of him. Here he is with his "big smile" that he has recently started doing when you take a picture of him. He's so cute!!

Here's one more with Crue giving Cooper a kiss (which he LOVES to do).

*I will post pictures soon from when Cooper was born. Things are still just a little crazy around here (it doesn't help that I was planning on cleaning, doing laundry, and getting things ready on Saturday before Cooper was born and instead ended up having him Friday and not getting home until Saturday).

It's only the beginning....

On Wednesday I put Cooper on my bed and went to the bathroom real quick. Crue was playing in the family room by Loni and I didn't think anything of it. All of a sudden I hear both boys crying and remembered that Cooper was on the bed (where I could hear them both crying). I ran into my room and Cooper was now on the floor and Crue was getting up off the floor. Somehow Crue managed to get Cooper on the floor (luckily he was face up but somehow his feet were under the bed) and I think it scared him. Once I picked up Cooper (after screaming "Crue!") and he was ok I handed him to Loni who had also come running in and held Crue for a minute. I think he was just as scared as I was. When I went running in there he was crying and shaking. Poor boy. Luckily they're both ok. Unfortunately, it's only the beginning of more to come I'm sure. Today Cooper was on a bed in another room and I took something in my room and then went back in the room he was in (the rooms are right by each other). Crue was trying to get up on the bed right where Cooper was. He LOVES to kiss Cooper so I'm sure he was either trying to kiss him or wanted to be on the bed so he could hold him. If I hadn't been fast, I'm sure we would have had both boys on the floor again. This is definitely going to be an adventure!

I have to say the hardest part about having a newborn is his 21 month old brother. Crue has gotten into the bad habit of not listening to me when I tell him no or not to do something until I get up to spank him, and then he starts running. I get so frustrated with him and have thrown him in his crib (without his binkie) and slammed his door so many times. He used to be really good. I could ask him to pick up his toys or help me pick up the blocks and he would do it. Now he'll just throw the toys or go start playing with another toy. Anyone have any suggestions? Or is this just a phase every kid goes through and I have to just patiently wait it out? Hopefully it ends soon - I miss my cute little boy that was so good most of the time and so fun to be with!

Hospital Pictures

*Hospital Pictures*

These were taken when he was only a few minutes old. My mom was the only one at the hospital when he was born. Everyone else came Friday after a good night's sleep.



Here's the ones that came that day:

Jared stayed that night obviously but I thought it was a cute father-son picture.

Aunt Kelci

Big Brother Crue

Aunt Loni

Uncle Kyle and Crue

Grandma Little with her two grandsons (they are the first grandkids on my side so you can imagine how spoiled they are:))

Grandpa Peterson

Rachael, Crue, and Grandma Peterson

The story

(Warning! It's long - for journal purposes)

Thursday (June 11) we went to my last doctor's appointment before I was scheduled to be induced on Monday. They did a non-stress test because I was over 41 weeks. The baby's heart rate wasn't doing something they were looking for, possibly because he was sleeping. Dr. Sanders came in after a while to talk to us and showed us on the chart where there was a slight bump in my contraction line (it went under instead of up like a mountain) and said that where that was and with what the baby's heart rate had done right around that point made them worry that my placenta was starting to calcify from being old. If it calcifies, then not as much oxygen will reach the baby and he didn't want us to have a still birth Monday when they start me. My doctor and his office were going on a trip that weekend and he didn't want to have to worry about me all weekend. He asked us to go home and get our stuff, eat (I could only eat a little if I wanted to), makes calls if we needed to, and then head over to the hospital. I also had Jared give me a blessing before we left. We got to the hospital at 9 pm and he was there waiting for us. After getting changed the nurse came in to get my iv going. I had tested positive for Strep B so they had to give me two doses of antibiotics, 4 hours apart. The nurse tried the first time in my right arm. She had to move around a little trying to get the needle to thread. I started getting light headed and finally she pulled it out. I asked her about numbing it first (they had done that with Crue) so she tried on my other arm and numbed it first. She still couldn't get it in. She called for another nurse and then started trying again. The other nurse came in as the one was trying a third spot. She still couldn't get it so the second nurse put heat packs on my arm to try to get my veins to do better. After a while she came back and tried again. She ended up digging around for a while again but luckily this time I was numb. She finally was able to get it in. I now have 3 bruises from the first three tries. I felt bad for the first nurse, Krista, because she felt so bad and was having the hardest time (she said she's been a nurse for 9 years). The cool thing was the second nurse was Natalie, who was my nurse when Crue was born (I think she was new then) and I was in the same delivery room that I had Crue in. The 3rd nurse, Megan (who was my actual nurse - the other two were just helping) started the Pitocin about the time the first bag of antibiotics was empty. I had been having a few contractions that weren't too bad. It was mostly pressure, not pain. I have had them before and they only last that night and then go away. When I got to the hospital (and they started the Pit) I was dilated to a 5. After the Pitocin kicked in my contractions weren't measuring near as strong on the machine but they sure hurt a lot more. I was going to see if I could deliver without an epidural (basically hold off until I couldn't handle it anymore) because we don't have insurance and the one I had with Crue cost about $1000. My first contraction happened around 11:30 pm. After going to the bathroom around midnight I decided I'd better ask for my epidural because my contractions were getting pretty bad. Megan called for the anethesiologist and I was now doing what I could to make it through the contractions. After a little while I wasn't getting a break between contractions. I could feel the pain in my pelvic area still (a lot of it would go away but not all of it) and knew that another one was about to hit. I asked about the anethesiologist and she told me that he was on his way (she went and checked one of the times). She turned the Pitocin down since I was not getting a break. Shortly after that I felt like I needed to push a little with the contractions. I told Megan and she checked me. I was at a 7. That was when she went to check on the anethesiologist so I could get an epidural before I got to an 8. She turned the Pitocin off at that point. I think she recorded it and walked out. All of a sudden I really felt like pushing and started saying it - loud enough that the nurses could hear. Krista came in (it had been maybe 10 seconds since Megan had left) to check me and I told her Megan just barely checked me and I was a 7. She started to check me while my contraction was about over and I told her I was getting another one. She pulled her hand away and all of a sudden my water breaks. The baby is now crowning and I am unable to stop my body from pushing. She yells for Megan and all three of them are back in the room. They call my doctor (who was at home at the other end of town) and the respitory therapist and are doing everything they can to help me. They had me roll on my left side and for the first time I would feel a break between my contractions. Natalie was by my head talking me through it (like last time), Krista (I think) was holding the baby in until the doctor got there, and Megan was getting other things ready. I heard someone in the hall ask if we needed the anethesiologist and I jokingly said that he was too slow (I think they thought I was mad at him because I couldn't joke very well while in pain). I had gone from a 7 to water breaking, crowning and pushing in 30-45 seconds (not exaggerating). Doctor Sanders called and said he was in the parking lot so they rolled me on my back and he came running in. After about 3 good pushes, the baby came out. It was 12:51 am. I had been in labor for about an hour and a half. They didn't have time to get the bed apart or anything. It was crazy. It was so good though. I would definitely do it again without an epidural if it went that fast or faster. It was a lot of pain but I made it through, and I healed a lot faster. Two hours later I was able to walk over to the recovery room. Later Jared and I were talking about it and Heavenly Father was definitely there helping me. I went really fast which was good considering I didn't have an epidural. Cooper was a lot smaller than Crue (1 lb. 1 oz. smaller) and had a much smaller head, which was good since Crue had gotten stuck on my tailbone. When my water broke, Cooper's head was already past my tailbone so I didn't have to worry about him getting stuck. I think the fluid helped him over my tailbone. With his head being a lot smaller and him just being smaller overall, I didn't tear which was really nice. The doctor told me I just had some scratches. I was especially glad about that since I wasn't numb and was worried about stitches. Also, since we were worried about money, it was sure nice to know that the anethesiologist didn't get there in time so we won't have that expense. It was a really great experience and I'm so grateful for how everything went and for Heavenly Father's help through it all. There were so many times I didn't think I could do it, even though I really had no choice. And most of all I'm grateful for Jared. I felt so bad for how hard I was squeezing his hand but he said it was ok. After Cooper came out Jared was crying and Doctor Sanders asked if dad wanted to cut the cord. He said "If I can see through the tears!". Later he told me he had started crying because of how much pain I was in (I was yelling to get him out of me) and then they were tears of joy when he saw Cooper born. I have the most amazing husband, even though he doesn't believe me. I love seeing him be a dad to our boys. It makes me fall that much more in love with him when I see him playing with Crue or when he's holding Cooper. I love him so much! Plus, he gave us some really, really cute boys. :)

He's here!

I'll post the story later when I have some more time but I just wanted to say that he's here and we're all doing great. Crue has been having a blast hanging out with my parents and my sister (getting spoiled I'm sure) while we've been in the hospital. We just got home today. Here's a picture for you of Cooper and one of our family at the hospital.

Cooper West Peterson

June 12, 2009 12:58 am
8 lbs 5 oz 20.5 inches

Mean doctor

So my doctor isn't really mean. In fact, we really like going to him (yes, I make Jared go with me to all the pregnancy appointments). Yesterday I had another appointment and he asked about stripping my membranes. We were planning on asking him to do it so we said yes. I remember being scared to do it with Crue because almost everyone said it hurt so bad but it didn't really hurt and I was fine afterward (once I got some water). This time though, holy cow it was not so good! It didn't hurt really bad, like say a bad cut would, but it was sure some really uncomfortable pain!! Jared told me after that I did really good and I told him I held my breath through a lot of it because it was not fun. Then my doctor had me stick around and do a non-stress test and get an ultrasound to make sure there was enough fluid. He usually starts that at 41 weeks (which I am today) and you have to do it twice a week. So I'm scheduled to go back Thursday. I probably won't post about that appointment because there's not much to post anymore, especially since I just went yesterday. When the girl was doing the ultrasound she was using the small machine that can go from room to room instead of the nice one that they can project on the wall (that they use for the other ultrasounds) and the computer was turned just enough so I couldn't see it but I think Jared could. She asked if we knew what we were having and I said a boy. She said he was really showing it off. It was pretty funny. So look forward to the next post being about the baby getting here!

You might be a redneck if....

....you mow your lawn and find a vehicle. So I guess even though we didn't really mow our lawn but do have weeds like crazy and a torn apart vehicle in our yard, we must be rednecks. :)
My uncle took what he wanted off their suburban and then gave it to Jared so he could use parts off of it for his '86 Blazer he's been working on for rock crawling. He got the Blazer for really cheap and it's not the best condition so he's not worried about dinging it or scratching the paint or anything while he's four-wheeling/rock crawling. Plus the wheels and tires could be sold for more than he paid for the Blazer so that was worth it right there! Jared has sold some of the stuff off the suburban that he doesn't need and has already made more than it cost him to get it here so that's been good. He has gotten a lot off the suburban for his Blazer and that has been a great help. If Jared can just sell the tires and wheels off the Blazer (know anyone that wants them?) then he can buy the tires and wheels he wants/needs and then get those, the ball joints, steering linkage, and park brake all on/fixed then it will be street legal and good to go for rock crawling. He has to sell the tires and wheels because they're six lugs and he's putting different axles on that are eight lugs. I'm so glad it's almost done so we can take it out and have some fun in it now that it's warmer (it's hard to go in the snow).

By the way, my uncle is an awesome artist. He takes car parts and driftwood and turns them into amazing things. You can check out his blog here and see all the things he's made. (It's also listed in my blog lists under Tim Little's Fine Art.) If you're in Salt Lake I think he's got stuff in shows there and I know there's something about posts downtown that artists get to put stuff on top of and he was one of the ones selected so you can see them there. The shows he has stuff in is listed on his blog. If any of you have parts he can have, let me know. He's always looking for stuff from engines.

Sprouts!

Yes, we have sprouts! It's amazing! We are so excited. Everything has some sprouts except for the potatoes and two more rows of corn that we planted on Monday. We also got my tomatoes planted but they are plants, not seeds, so of course they're the biggest things out there. We've only had two of the circles with sprouts so hopefully the others are just taking their time. The ones that have sprouted are Montana Jack (a pumpkin) and another pumpkin that are supposed to be the big competition size ones. I'm excited. Here's some pictures of our sprouts. This first one shows most of the stuff that's in the rows. You can't see all of the sprouts because some are little but from the very top of the picture to where I'm standing there are carrots, yellow onions, green onions, beans, and then peas.

These are the beans and peas.

And here's the corn! I'm so excited for corn. I LOVE fresh corn. And I'm really excited to be able to bottle a lot of this so that we can have it all year long (and have some good food storage).

This is the Montana Jack - it was the first in the circles to sprout.
These are the large competition size pumpkins.

I'll post more pictures once we start getting veggies. One of the tomato plants has a little tomato growing on it so I'm excited for that. We have 5 Big Beef tomatoes (I think that's what they're called) and 2 Sun tomatoes (one of those has the tomato growing) and 7 grape tomatoes. Crue LOVES grape tomatoes so I figured it would be better to plant them ourselves and he can have them to eat whenever he wants instead of spending tons of money on the ones at the store.

Haircuts

Both Jared and Crue have been in need of a haircut. I cut Jared's all the time so that was no big deal. My sister-in-law, Molly, cut Crue's hair last time and showed me what to do so I could do it. I've tried a couple of times when he was younger but it was hard and I didn't know what to do - I've watched Jared's mom cut his hair so I knew what to do when I started cutting his. We hoped that if Crue watched Jared get his hair cut and then had Jared hold him, he might do good. It definitely helped but after a while he was ready to be done. I got it done and it looked pretty good. I was impressed. :) I took a picture and he loved smiling for me. It was so cute. Here's my little boy with his new hair cut. There was sure a lot of hair to cut off!

Another doctor visit...

I'm still a good 3 1/2 and he said my cervix is really good. He was really surprised at how patient I am - he's got some women that are ready to beat him if he doesn't get the baby out of them, especially if they go past their due date! He told Jared he has a really patient wife and it was even better when Jared said the same thing later. I have another appointment Monday night and we're thinking we'll probably ask him to strip my membranes then. It didn't work with Crue but we're hoping it'll work this time.

Where are my contractions?!

We went to the doctor (again) last night. He said I'm a good 3 1/2 almost a 4 and that my cervix is really good. Once I have contractions, I'll do great. He told me I need to get out and do stuff. Problem is, it doesn't work! After doing a lot of work when we went camping, I still haven't had contractions. With Crue, I tried walking (even pushing a stroller with a 18 month old up and down hills on a 3 mile walk), and a bunch of other things. I think we're going to see about a four-wheeler ride this time. That's the only thing we didn't try with Crue that might work. If not, at least I get to have fun trying! :) I'm hoping to wait until Monday anyway. Then it would be June and my awesome neighbor, Jessica, will be working that night in the OB so she could be my nurse! I guess the next update will either be when the baby comes, or after my appointment next Wednesday.

Crue's new ride

My mom found this four-wheeler on clearance at Cal Ranch. It comes with a SWAT guy and a gun. I think the gun got lost in the toy bucket but Crue has fun putting the guy's helmet on. He calls it a "hat". He points at Jared's helmet and calls it a hat too. Yesterday Crue decided to start riding the four-wheeler. It was hilarious! He sat on it and just used his legs to move. I got a video but it was at the end of when he was riding so it wasn't very good but you get the idea. The picture shows how small the four-wheeler is compared to him.
I have a feeling we'll have to be getting him a four-wheeler someday:) He sure loves anything with wheels! (Not much of a shock coming from our family.)

Memorial Day Camping

I was excited to get one more camping trip in before the baby comes. Not that we won't go camping again this summer but it'll be a little harder with two kids (one being fairly new) than it is with one. We went to Oak Grove - my favorite place - and had a lot of fun. Jeremy and Molly and their kids were there the entire time (Jared's brother). Molly's sister, Amanda, and her husband were there but left Saturday. Molly's sister, Erin, left Sunday, and her other sister, Jen, came for Saturday night only. We just hung out Saturday and played a few games or hung out around the fire. It was overcast and cool but it felt good. That night a storm came and it about blew away a screen house (it was staked in but the wind pulled a few stakes out) and it pulled one of our tent stakes out. It rained too - thank goodness for awnings and trees. Jared's parents joined us for dinner Saturday night. Molly's friend joined us on Sunday. A few people went hiking Sunday and for dinner we had Jared's parents, my entire family, Molly's dad, and Jen's husband. Jared and I were in charge (luckily we had lots of help) and we did Jared's famous dutch oven bbq chicken and potatoes and I did two kinds of cobbler. Six dutch ovens at once! We had both camp chefs set up and I used charcoal for the cobblers. It was SO good!
I only got one picture the entire time though - how terrible am I! We had gotten some pallets from my brother-in-law. Jared's brother had talked to the camp host and he remembered us from last year. That was good because he didn't care that we had more cars and people than were allowed per site (he said he remembered us being quiet so we were ok). He said he knows that old pallets need to be burned but he hates the nails that always end up where they shouldn't be so Jared tore the pallets all apart and the kids helped put the nails into soda cans to throw away. On Saturday Crue "helped" Jared take some pallets apart. He was helping to hold a pallet while Jared hammered on it and then later he was sitting on the edge of the cement with the can and helping to put the nails away in it. When I went to get the picture of him sitting on the cement he stood up so I didn't get it but the one below is of him "helping" hold the pallet so Jared can break it apart. I love seeing those two together - it's so cute!

Hard work

Rachael and I decided that it is much better doing a garden together rather than Jared and I doing one, and Tyson and Rachael doing one. Monday night we started working on it. The guys (Jared, Tyson, and Kevin) all helped till the front flower bed so I could plant some seeds I had bought. I had edging that I had bought the first summer we were here and I was finally able to put that up. Rachael, Rachel, and Kevin all helped get the edging in and then Kevin and Rachel went home and Rachael went to help with the backyard while I planted seeds in front. So here's my new flower bed:

Because of the wonderful clay here in Cedar, Jared and Tyson have had a rough job (I bet they're probably glad we're only doing one garden instead of each doing their own too). They tilled the ground for the garden but that stuff is basically rock hard. They got one big area tilled that we are growing tomatoes, onion (green and yellow), carrots, beans, peas, corn, and potatoes in. Then they tilled 8 circles off to the side (and Rachael and I sort of dug out another one) that we planted different kinds of pumpkin in - for carving, decoration, and for eating - along with zucchini, cauliflower, and squash. I think that might be everything. Tyson's mom is going to come down this summer and teach us how to bottle so we can bottle a lot of the food for food storage and just to have in the winter and stuff. I'm really excited. I hope everything grows and grows well! The only things we have left to do are to plant zucchini (I need to get seeds), get more tomato plants and plant them in the garden along with the ones I already have (they are still sitting in pots on our deck), and cut up potatoes and plant them. Other than that, everything is planted and ready to go! I'm so excited!! This is my first garden so I'm really excited to see how it goes.

I tried to get a shot of the entire thing but I couldn't fit all the holes in the picture from where I was. I'll get better shots when things are growing!

Jared is tilling where the potatoes are going to go - we already had everything else planted except some of the corn that we'll start in a couple of weeks so that we can have two rows of corn ready to be picked at a time instead of 4-6 rows all at once.

Rachael watering the seeds.

Tyson watching the rest of us do all the work! j/k Actually, he was taking a break from tilling while Jared took his turn. These are all pictures from the second night of work. I forgot to get some of the first night with all of us working when Kevin and Rachel were here too. More garden pictures in a couple of weeks with some sprouts hopefully!

Doctor

This appointment was a lot faster than last week. We were home half an hour after my appointment! Things went pretty good. My cervix was off to the side a little bit so that sucked when he was trying to figure out what I was at. He asked what I was at last time and he started to say a 2 but we told him and he said, yeah, you're a 3 - 3 1/2. Apparently my cervix is moving forward meaning he's dropping to get ready. So hopefully that means I'll go into labor on my own. I'm good waiting until June though. They always say something when I'm there about how they feel for me but in all honesty, I am having a great pregnancy and am just fine waiting. They're really nice though and I love going there. It was funny because while we were talking to the doctor when he checked me he told me I need to go garden. We laughed and said I had been doing that the last two nights and it obviously hasn't worked! Speaking of garden, I'd better get pictures of that posted!
Also, the doctor talked to us about an option to help with money. He said as long as I have a good delivery (so basically like Crue's) they can discharge me after 6 hours instead of waiting 24 hours. He already wrote me the prescriptions that I would be getting after the baby is born. If I want to stay in the hospital I can if there's empty rooms and basically pay room and board so that I'm there while the baby is (since they keep him 24 hours for the testing). I guess the only difference is that I have to take my own pain medication rather than the hospital charging $5 a pill every time a nurse has to give me something. I don't know how much it really is but it's a lot cheaper if I do it myself than to have to pay for the hospital to do it. I'm excited for that. My doctor is always trying to think of ways to help save us money and make it so that we are excited for the baby and not so worried about the money part. It's been really nice.

Not so fun weekend....

Friday night we had a fun girl's night out planned. We were going to the What Women Want Expo in St. George and then to dinner and out for ice cream. The expo was really fun. I started getting a little sore during the last couple of rows but figured I'd tough it out since we were almost done. It was also after dinner and I was hungry. We went to Texas Roadhouse after and I was so excited - I have been wanting to go there for a long time. I ended up getting sick and threw up twice while we were there and wasn't able to eat any dinner. We went to a shoe store after and I stayed in the car (Rachael stayed with me). Rachael ended up driving after that because I was getting worse. We stopped at Cold Stone (I stayed in the car) and then headed home. I kept throwing up, even once everything was out of me, until about 3:30 am when I was finally able to go to sleep. I kept Jared up too and he had to be to work at 8 am (and work 16 hours!). I felt bad. I was sore from walking around and trying to throw up half the night. I ended up going to my parents' house so that they could watch Crue and I could sit and relax. I was able to eat a little bit and that was good. I felt a lot better, especially by Sunday, but my stomach still hasn't fully recovered. I still can't eat as much as before and I don't want much sugar which is unusual for me.

Jared felt sick at the first of the week but never threw up. Then in the middle of the week we were at Jared's friend's house getting a helmet that he was giving to Jared and Crue threw up a LOT - and all over me. Luckily his friend was pretty cool about it. Then on my one night of fun, I end up getting it and got it worse than both of my boys! It went progressively worse from one of us to the next. I'm just glad it's all over with now!

Tonight Tyson and Rachael are coming over to plant a garden in our backyard. They are going to be doing stuff to their backyard so it's not ready for a garden but they don't want to wait any longer so they decided to do it in our backyard. I'm glad because I wanted to do one but don't know what to do and figured it wouldn't get done this year (we're only good at growing weeds). Since they're coming over to do one, we're all going to work on it and do a community one - so I'll add what I want to it and we invited some other friends to come add to it if they want. I'm really excited to learn how to garden. Tyson's mom is going to come teach us how to bottle later this year too so we can bottle some of our stuff. I'm excited to be able to add to our food storage, especially stuff that I've grown and bottled myself! I'll post pictures of the garden and hopefully of us working on it. I also got some flower seeds to put in the flower bed out front so I'm going to get that done tonight with the edging I have to go around it. Hopefully it'll do good and the front of the house will look a little better! I'll get pictures of that too when it's done.

Giveaway

I saw this on my cousin's blog and thought it was so cute.
Now I'm entering so I can win it! Just go here to check out her cute ideas and for info on entering. I'll have to keep checking her blog out for more ideas!

Free Chocolate!

I found this today and got one for me and Jared so I thought I'd let you know so you can try each week to get your free chocolate. Just click here (RealChocolate.com so you don't have to come here every Friday unless you want to:)) and if you're one of the first 500,000 people each Friday, you can get a coupon in the mail for a free Mars candy bar! You have to enter your birthdate and then it'll take you to a page that tells you if you're one of the lucky ones. Hurry and do it before everyone else finds out about it and it's hard to get one without waking up super early! You can click here to learn more about it and why they're doing it. Pretty cool! You have to wait for your coupon to get mailed to you but it would be worth it for free candy!

Appointment

I had another appointment last night (only two more before I'm due!). We had a long wait which was unusual. There was two people that came in after us that got called back before us (they may have been there for the other doctor or the PA) and then we waited for a while before the doctor came in once I was in the room. He checked me and said I was a good 3 1/2 almost a 4 and my cervix is really soft. I'm glad I went back up instead of being smaller. Even though I don't expect to go into labor soon (at least before my due date) I still like to be dilating and have hope that maybe this time I'll go into labor on my own. We'll see. When the doctor came in he apologized for taking so long and said the girls were telling him he needed to come see me because I'd been in there a while and was going to get a paper mache butt from the paper I had around me! I had a good laugh at that one.