Enjoy!
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Newborn Pictures!
I took some newborn pictures of Elizabeth today. There are a couple that didn't turn out quite as sharp as I would have liked (my lighting was not exactly ideal) but for the most part I really like how they turned out. :) She was very cooperative for me, thankfully!
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Elizabeth's birth...and other stories
The days leading up to Elizabeth's birth were...stressful. On Wednesday the 25th, Will's mom, Annette, (she was staying with us to be there to take the kids when we went to the hospital) took the kids to a movie and Will and I went shopping and then went to Sonic for a drink. Well, at Sonic the car decided not to start up again. It was making weird noises and doing all kinds of strange things with the lights. We decided to try to jump it, but we were in a "stall" at Sonic and not in a great position to do that. We put it in neutral and tried to back it out a bit, but I had a really hard time steering it at all without the power steering, and the brakes froze up - so as the car is moving if I wanted it to stop I had to jam it back into park, which couldn't possibly have been good on the poor car. We got it backed out far enough to work with and a Sonic worker came out to help with his car. Sure enough it started right up. HUGE relief. What with it being a long weekend starting the next day, a huge snowstorm coming the next day/night, and baby coming any time, we really did not want the car in the shop!
Then we headed to Walmart to buy a new battery. The battery they said was the one we needed did not match the one that was in the car, oddly enough. We bought the one they recommended in case we'd had the wrong size in our car all along, and what do you know - the new one fit perfectly, better than the old one. So, problem solved and the car works better than ever.
We finally all got home, and Kaylee was complaining that her throat hurt. Oh well, probably just a little cold or something, no big deal. Nope, she started throwing up a little bit later and threw up for 14 hours. As you can imagine, I was ridiculously stressed out at that point. The day before Thanksgiving, a stomach bug in our house, baby due any time, yikes. I did my best to keep everyone clean and try to avoid it spreading, but anyone with kids knows how hard that can be. Thankfully Annette was there to help and stayed up with Kaylee that night. You know someone is a really great person when they're willing to help with pukey kids that aren't theirs! That helped me out a ton.
We made it to Thanksgiving dinner and had a great meal. The day after Thanksgiving was good too, we went and got a Christmas tree and decorated it. I figured we should do it right away because I knew the baby would be here pretty soon and I wasn't sure I would have the time and energy after that. I also had a doctor's appointment and I was a little sad to only be slightly more dilated than my last appointment. They wanted to induce me on Monday if I hadn't already had her (with being GBS+ and history of fast labors, and already dilated to a 4-5 they thought it would be best). I REALLY did not want to be induced and was hoping she would come sooner anyway.
That night, I started having contractions. I'd already had a couple of "false labors" where it really, truly felt like the real thing, but wasn't. These contractions were regular and getting pretty painful, so at around 1:30am we decided to head to the hospital. I was definitely in labor, and the contractions were hard but they were really far apart the whole time. Up until the very end, they were still 5-6 minutes apart. Normally the end is really intense for me, but I got through it just with controlled breathing and nothing else. I just lay on my side and tried to stay as relaxed as possible. My nurse was awesome, she was British and apparently really liked helping women who wanted to labor naturally. I didn't need a whole lot of help, though. ;) I was amazed when the doctor came in and told me I was fully dilated. It was such a gentle, calm labor. It took longer than I expected it to, but it was easy so I'll definitely take that trade-off! I had them break my water to get going at the end (who knows how long I would be if they hadn't, because the contractions were so far apart), and then it only took a couple of contractions and a few pushes and she was here! She was 8 pounds even, 20.5 inches, born at 7:59am. I think she wanted to make sure the doctor stayed, his shift was over at 8:00. Haha!
Also, a funny coincidence - both Kaylee and Elizabeth's due dates were on a Sunday. I went into labor with both on Friday night before, and had them both in the morning on Saturday, the day before their respective due dates. And then there was Ben, who came like 3 weeks early. Odd one out, I guess. :)
All in all, it was a wonderful delivery and experience in general. I was very impressed with the hospital and the doctors and nurses.
We've had a great first week home, too. Elizabeth is nursing really well (best of the three by FAR) and I am doing well too. The older kids are kind of driving me nuts and acting helpless with everything, but as far as I know that is pretty normal and will hopefully pass soon! *crossing my fingers*
Now we get to see if life is really as crazy with three kids as everyone says it is!
Then we headed to Walmart to buy a new battery. The battery they said was the one we needed did not match the one that was in the car, oddly enough. We bought the one they recommended in case we'd had the wrong size in our car all along, and what do you know - the new one fit perfectly, better than the old one. So, problem solved and the car works better than ever.
We finally all got home, and Kaylee was complaining that her throat hurt. Oh well, probably just a little cold or something, no big deal. Nope, she started throwing up a little bit later and threw up for 14 hours. As you can imagine, I was ridiculously stressed out at that point. The day before Thanksgiving, a stomach bug in our house, baby due any time, yikes. I did my best to keep everyone clean and try to avoid it spreading, but anyone with kids knows how hard that can be. Thankfully Annette was there to help and stayed up with Kaylee that night. You know someone is a really great person when they're willing to help with pukey kids that aren't theirs! That helped me out a ton.
We made it to Thanksgiving dinner and had a great meal. The day after Thanksgiving was good too, we went and got a Christmas tree and decorated it. I figured we should do it right away because I knew the baby would be here pretty soon and I wasn't sure I would have the time and energy after that. I also had a doctor's appointment and I was a little sad to only be slightly more dilated than my last appointment. They wanted to induce me on Monday if I hadn't already had her (with being GBS+ and history of fast labors, and already dilated to a 4-5 they thought it would be best). I REALLY did not want to be induced and was hoping she would come sooner anyway.
That night, I started having contractions. I'd already had a couple of "false labors" where it really, truly felt like the real thing, but wasn't. These contractions were regular and getting pretty painful, so at around 1:30am we decided to head to the hospital. I was definitely in labor, and the contractions were hard but they were really far apart the whole time. Up until the very end, they were still 5-6 minutes apart. Normally the end is really intense for me, but I got through it just with controlled breathing and nothing else. I just lay on my side and tried to stay as relaxed as possible. My nurse was awesome, she was British and apparently really liked helping women who wanted to labor naturally. I didn't need a whole lot of help, though. ;) I was amazed when the doctor came in and told me I was fully dilated. It was such a gentle, calm labor. It took longer than I expected it to, but it was easy so I'll definitely take that trade-off! I had them break my water to get going at the end (who knows how long I would be if they hadn't, because the contractions were so far apart), and then it only took a couple of contractions and a few pushes and she was here! She was 8 pounds even, 20.5 inches, born at 7:59am. I think she wanted to make sure the doctor stayed, his shift was over at 8:00. Haha!
Also, a funny coincidence - both Kaylee and Elizabeth's due dates were on a Sunday. I went into labor with both on Friday night before, and had them both in the morning on Saturday, the day before their respective due dates. And then there was Ben, who came like 3 weeks early. Odd one out, I guess. :)
All in all, it was a wonderful delivery and experience in general. I was very impressed with the hospital and the doctors and nurses.
We've had a great first week home, too. Elizabeth is nursing really well (best of the three by FAR) and I am doing well too. The older kids are kind of driving me nuts and acting helpless with everything, but as far as I know that is pretty normal and will hopefully pass soon! *crossing my fingers*
Now we get to see if life is really as crazy with three kids as everyone says it is!
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