Thursday, February 20, 2014

These are much cuter.

We're getting closer. She's still cutest in person, but these pictures turned out pretty cute.



Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A post 9 months in the making

This is the only picture I got of me pregnant. It's kind of blurry because Little Princess took it. I was going to take another one, but it didn't happen.

She's here. Making her debut on February 18th at 4:29 p.m. Weighing in at 7 lbs. and 19 inches long. I will definitely be getting some better pictures because these do not show how cute and tiny she is.


Warning: Birth story with lots of details!!! Read on if you can handle it :)

Everything about this pregnancy has been different, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that her delivery was the same. My water broke on Monday night about 9:00. It was a small trickle, so it wasn't obvious at first but when it wouldn't stop, I knew what it was. My water has only broken on its own with one other child and that was an obvious big gush. It was a very long sleepless night on Monday with absolutely no contractions. The feeling of peeing is not a pleasant one. I finally got about two hours of sleep around 4 in the morning. I had an appointment with my midwife Tuesday morning, so I knew there we'd get things figured out then. They tested to make sure it was really amniotic fluid and we went from there. She said since it had already been over 12 hours since my water broke, she wanted to pull out all the stops to get contractions going. She wanted to see some real progress by that afternoon. She did a cervical check to see if I was dilated. I was at a 2, but with some help went to a 4 before I left the office. They also made me a chocolate castor oil smoothie-yum :( They gave me some homeopathics to dissolve under my tongue, and finally some essential oils to rub on my belly. It's hard to really pinpoint what started labor, I guess it could've been all of them together. I left their office about 11:30 and picked up some more homeopathics to take throughout the afternoon. When I made it home my tummy and lower parts hurt, but I figured it was from everything we tried.

I went to Little Man's 1st grade President's Day program that afternoon at 2. As I was sitting at his program the pain in my stomach started having more definite patterns. I would say contractions started around 2:30. By the time we left at 3:00 they were starting to hurt. I knew I needed to get home and time them. When I first laid down to time them they were coming every 2 1/2 minutes for about 30 seconds in length. I checked in with my midwife and told them that contractions had started and they told me to check back at 6:00. I was able to breathe through the contractions at first. The kids were good and left me alone. We told them we would probably have the baby that day and they were excited.

The midwives had asked me to get on my hands and knees during contractions because as of that morning, the baby was still turned sideways a bit. I was able to tolerate that position for a while, but as contractions intensified, I tried getting in the tub. I'd heard from so many people that once they got in the tub, it was instant relief. For me-NO, it didn't seem to help at all. I didn't stay in long, I decided to go lay back on the bed. That was even worse, I tried just sitting on the toilet. Over the course of a 1/2 hour the contractions were so bad that I was sweating and nauseous. I thought to myself-I can't do this anymore. I didn't know it at the time, but I was in transition-the worst part of labor. It was only 4:00 and I decided to call the midwives and go into the birthing center. There had to be something they could do to help me endure the pain. Jeff had put my parents on standby and called them once we made the decision to go in. It's a 40 minute drive to Orem to the birthing center. We decided to get someone to come watch the kids until they could make it down. I called a friend to see if her daughter could come over. Making phone calls while having contractions is not fun. I tried to talk through it, but found out she wasn't home and just hung up. At this point, the contractions stopped and I felt the need to push. I've felt this before as some of my epidurals have worn off at the point of delivery. I knew she was coming NOW. We were still at home, no one was there to watch the kids, it was not ideal. I told Jeff she's coming now and he kind of freaked out. He said-I don't know what to do. Should we go to Nephi. I couldn't really talk so I just ignored him and went and got back in the tub. He kind of looked at me like you've got to be kidding. We're having this baby here, now? I called the midwife and told her I wasn't going to make it. They said they'd come to us, but again it's a 40 minute drive. We stayed on speaker phone while the midwife and student drove to our house. Jeff got on the phone called another friend to come grab the kids. She lives a few minutes away. She came right over and in between pushes, Jeff grabbed shoes and got the kids out the door.

Once I had the feeling to push, the intense contractions stopped which was nice, but the pushing began. With kids 2-4, it was two quick pushes and they were out. With this one, I had several pushes and I could feel her slide further out with each push. As I reached down to see how close she was, I thought there was no way I was fully dilated. I remember thinking, there's no way she's coming out. I was wrong. The second the kids were out the door, I gave a big push and with Jeff's help her head came out. I waited for the next contraction to push again. Jeff held onto her head while I tried to find something in the bathtub to push against. There wasn't really anything. I got a leg cramp trying to brace my leg against the faucet-good times. With the next push she was out. Can I just tell you the instant relief that I felt once she was out. That's the best way to get rid of labor pain-get the baby out! I guess I've never really looked at my kids at the point they come out. I am so relieved to have them out that I just lay back and relax. This time was much different. I looked down and saw this tiny purple little mass. We both realized that the cord was around her neck. We unwrapped it and the purple color went away. The midwives were on speaker phone asking if she was breathing. She wasn't at first, but she was moving and had her eyes open. It was kind of surreal, but we were both calm. They had us grab a towel and start rubbing her all over. She never made a peep, didn't cry, but did start moving more and started pinking up. I put her on my chest and covered her with the warm towel. We sat like that for a while and waited for the placenta to come out. With all my previous kids, the placenta came out quickly and with very little effort. Well this time it didn't. I didn't love sitting in the tub at this point, so Jeff placed a ton of towels on the bed and I got out. I snuggled the baby with a dry towel and laid there and relaxed. The midwives were getting close, so we just waited it out.

The baby was born about 4:30 and the midwives got there at 5:00. I think Jeff was relieved to let them take over and finish everything up. We tried several times to push out the placenta, but it was kind of stuck or something. We hadn't cut the cord at this point either. Finally after both of them pushing on my stomach, it came out. It was almost as painful as the baby coming out, but again I felt a lot of relief. Yay, finally we were done. I didn't need stitches or anything so it was relatively uneventful at this point. My parents showed up about 10-15 minutes after the midwives did. They flew down here! I'm very grateful they didn't get in an accident or get a ticket. My mom got to cut the cord which was kind of cool. I think it's the only grandchild she's got to do that on. They did the newborn check and she weighed in at 7 lbs and 19 inches long. It really surprised me that she was that much, she looked TINY! In the meantime, my kids came home and were anxious to meet their sister. Jeff's mom came down to meet her newest granddaughter. I just laid on the bed and tried to wrap my head around the events of the day. It was crazy and I was so glad to have it behind me.

This is the first of my five babies that came out with dark hair. I knew it was bound to happen one time. I had the darkest hair as a baby. Only time will tell if she gets my eye color or not! She is definitely loved. The kids can't get enough of her. Bedtime last night was a fiasco with kids coming in 6 or more times to give her one last kiss. Each of my children's births have been a wonderful experience, but as I think of how things happened with this one, I feel very blessed. So many things could've gone wrong and they didn't. I know it was from all the prayers of our family and loved ones. We truly were watched over and protected. I have an amazing husband who bucked up and did what was needed for me and our baby. He's a good man. What a day, but I'm glad she's here and she's so incredibly adorable.

Valentine's Day

I was hoping I could get away with not making new Valentine's Day boxes this year. One kid complied, two did not. Little Princess wanted a mailbox. It sounded simple enough, so I agreed. She talked her dad into the long stick and base.
Big Man wanted a minecraft box. I asked him to get started earlier in the week, but of course we were scrambling the night before. It turned out pretty cute. Little Man at the last minute wanted a new one, but he was finally agreed to use the Cowboy from last year.
Little Man was also in a President's Day program. He worked really hard to learn his part and a few different songs. He did a great job. He even got a fresh buzz the night before!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Catching up

When I looked at my last blog and realized it was December since I last posted, I decided I better catch up. Besides Christmas pictures, these are the ones I found on my phone.

We moved The Mover downstairs to share a bedroom with Little Princess.  We wanted her to be used to it before the baby comes.  She's done pretty good so far.  She has trouble staying in her room and not bugging the other kids.  She likes to go climb in bed with her brothers and sister and keep them up.  Her favorite thing to do is read before bed.  This is how I found the girls one night.

We've had fun at Grandma's house a couple of different Sundays with cousins. The girls adore their cousin A.

Thanks Dad for the photo bomb!
She's my biggest helper in the kitchen (and elsewhere too). All my kids love licking the beater.
Little Princess's dance class was invited to perform at the High School Drill Team's dance night. She thought she was pretty hot stuff.
Since Little Princess had makeup on for the dance performance, The Mover snuck it and put it on herself. Not too bad really, at least she got her lips!
The boys are playing their first year of basketball. They have had fun. Between games and practices we are in Nephi three nights a week. The girls have had fun at their games too.
If Little Man could remember to dribble the ball, he'd be great! His games are pretty entertaining to watch.
Finally, Little Man went with Jeff to show a house up by Heber City two weekends ago. They heard Karl Malone was at his dealership up there so they went over and met him. Little Man really didn't know who he was until they came home and Jeff showed him some video clips and they saw him on TV at the Jazz game that night.

Our Muddy Mess

Last Sunday in church they announced that people were having a special fast for rain and moisture-especially for the farmers in California that their spring crop might make it. I know we haven't had much snow here either. It's been a very mild Winter. Our little Mona reservoir is tiny compared to what it was when we first moved here. So I know people here have been praying for moisture as well. This weekend we got it. It started raining on Saturday night and continued through Sunday morning. This is what our backyard ended up looking like. Before church the water was still towards the back of the yard, but by the time we got home it was almost up to the deck. Jeff went and borrowed a friend's front-end loader to build a berm around the deck and windows in the back. It wasn't quite the peaceful Sunday afternoon that we had hoped, but at least our basement is dry and safe. The kids couldn't stand watching from the window as Jeff worked so they all eventually ended up outside 'helping'. The last thing I told them was stay out of the water-that didn't last. I have a muddy mess in my washroom as a result. Good times.