Longest Month Ever

I finally had my baby! I say finally because honestly since October 1st I have felt that every day was the day that I would go into labor. I started having false labor at an Oktoberfest party on the 1st of the month and it got me all excited that I would be having the baby soon. With Adelaide I never really had any false labor; my water broke when I was four days passed my due date and I had her 17 hours later. So this time whenever I had any contractions I really got my hopes up.

I had been given three different due dates throughout my pregnancy, Oct. 5th, October 9th, and October 13th. As each passed I got really discouraged and just wanted to meet this baby! Around the time of my last due date I was 4cm dialated so I thought that was promising ( my mom thought so too and flew out to Flagstaff to be with me for the birth). A week later I was 6cm dilated and finally 13 days after my due date I was 7cm dilated. I was so close to going into labor but for some reason it just wasn't happening. I have seriously never been so discouraged in my life and felt like the baby was never going to come out; it seems silly now but each night I would pray that I would go into labor and each night it failed to happen I would wake up and sob. During all this time I was doing everything I possibly could to go into labor including but not limited to walking a lot, taking castor oil (SO gross), driving to a lower elevation and back, eating spicy foods, taking black and blue cohosh, and I had my midwife sweep my membranes four separate times. Because I was getting so close to 42 weeks we went to the hospital to have a Bio Physical Profile done. Everything looked great (and they actually gave me a new, fourth due date- October 21st) but the doctors still wanted us to be induced and gave us until Thursday the 27th. So Wednesday the 26th we really gave it our all to have the baby and did all the natural induction techniques in a row and prayed a lot and I was so lucky because it actually worked... Next post I will write about the actual birth :)

At the Bio Physical Profile Appointment.

It was so embarrassing having to sit in a wheelchair while being transferred to radiology... Plus I was trying to get this baby out and needed to be walking as much as possible! :)

Sickest. Stuff. Ever.

OVERDUE.

At least my huge belly served me well as a table.

Full Term

I haven't really been keeping track this pregnancy of what week I'm at, but today I actually checked and I am 37 weeks... technically considered full term:) I'm not feeling like I will have the baby anytime soon but it is nice to know that if I do go into labor the baby is big and strong enough (already estimated at 6.5-7 lbs) to come into the world and I could go forward with my plans to have the baby at home with my midwife. This pregnancy has been pretty amazing so far and I can't wait to meet this little baby. I'm also really excited to find out if I am having a boy or a girl. I just made a poll on our sidebar for you to guess the gender, so please do; I'm anxious to know what the consensus is because I seriously have no strong feeling either way. Also, we still like the names Maverick or Cash for a boy, and Clementine or Caroline for a girl but we are having a hard time coming up with middle names so any suggestions would be appreciated!

Week 37 Belly Pictures:

20 Weeks

I can't believe I am already half way through this pregnancy! I seriously feel like time is flying by but I'm enjoying every minute of it. From the kicks I can already tell that this baby is a little gentler than Adelaide. She would kick in spurts really aggressively while this baby gives more gentle kicks all throughout the day. We just had the 20 week ultrasound and it was so fun to watch the baby give us a little show. He kept bringing his hands up to his mouth and kicking and punching and at one point he even did a slow little back flip trick causing the ultrasound technician to call him "yoga baby." I know I just referred to the baby as a he, but that is just because saying "it" over and over gets a little annoying. We still don't know the baby's gender, when they were checking out down there they had Rick and I look away and chat. We have brainstormed a few names though; for a boy we like Cash (it is a family name on Rick's side of the family) or Bentley, and for a girl we like Caroline or Clementine. Any thoughts?

The profile shot.

The yoga pose.

Sorry these are a little blurry, they are taken from our phones... I really should learn how to use our scanner.

Here are a couple belly pictures of me at 20 weeks. I have the best husband ever who kept Adelaide for five days while I went back to San Diego for my sister's graduation and to spend time with family. It was a great trip made up of multiple breakfast burritos, lots of giggle fests, a relaxing bed and breakfast stay, planking sessions and trips to the beach.

My belly's getting pretty big :)

From the front I think I just look like I ate a few too many donuts.

My sister and I planking in La Jolla while Eric watches us in disgust.

Thoughts on Pregnancy #2

First of all, thanks to all of you who left such sweet comments regarding my pregnancy! We are really excited about baby #2 and appreciate all the kind words and support:)

I can't believe I am pregnant again! It is a good thing though because I really feel like Adelaide needs a playmate, I can't be her constant companion forever :). I think it will good for to her to learn to share, 'be soft' and help take care of someone else.

We got to hear the heartbeat on St. Patrick's day which, as always, was so exciting for me. My due date is October 13th and I haven't figured out who my midwife will be yet because we're not quite sure where we will be living. Rick graduates in May and is in the process of securing a job. Although we could very well end up here in Boulder, I am hesitant to get attached to a midwife in case we have to move during the process which is what happened with Adelaide's pregnancy. But we'll see.

I am feeling wonderful besides being really tired and needing daily naps. I felt the same way my last pregnancy but I remember that I got a burst of energy back after the first trimester, so in a couple of weeks I should hopefully be back to normal.

We are not finding out the gender of the baby. Actually, I am not finding out the gender of the baby; Rick is still deciding. He may have the lab technician write him a little secret note. I used to find it soooo annoying when people wouldn't find out their baby's gender, but this time around for some reason I really don't care one way or the other and would love to have a little surprise at the birth. Also, I am not overly concerned about being prepared- the bassinet is yellow, the crib and diaper changing table are green, I obviously have tons of girly clothes, and a good friend who just finished having children gave me a huge box of adorable baby boy clothes.

I have had some major food cravings. I don't crave ice cream, candy, or any sweets really. I crave salty meat. This is part of the way I knew I was pregnant. I was playing around with a vegan-ish diet in January & February. We weren't being really strict or anything, but my home cooked meals were for the most part somewhere in between vegetarian and vegan. I was happy and satisfied until one night I had a huge craving for pepperoni. Lucky for me, we had a pack in the freezer from a pizza night with friends and I seriously put like thirty on a plate, microwaved them, and ate all of them. Gross, I know. Besides that I have wanted BLT's, steak and sausage. When I was pregnant with Adelaide Rick had just gotten his wisdom teeth pulled and I had a craving for BBQ ribs. So we got a huge rack of delicious smothered ribs and I ate them all in front of him. Poor guy, the one night I would have been willing to go out and eat ribs with him, he couldn't partake in the fun. This meat craving may not seem that weird to many people, but it is strange to me because normally I don't really even like meat very much, and now I practically have dreams about it. But don't worry, although I crave meat, I don't eat too much of it, and still eat a balanced diet full of other nutritious foods:)

I hope to start taking belly shots soon (I am seriously already getting fat.) Last time, we failed at this, but I am determined this time around to document the growing of this baby. I am in love with the week by week fruit photo series being done of Carolee Beckham's pregnancy. I kind of become attached when I'm pregnant to one other pregnancy blog. This time it is Carolee Beckham, and last time it was Pacing the Panic Room with Cole's Maternity Series. Well, I think that completes my pregnancy update for baby #2.

Pregnant Cuteness

I want to be pregnant again, just so I have an excuse to get this shirt. So cute. And of course another baby would be fun too.

The Birth of Adelaide Rose

Proud new parents

I know this picture is fuzzy but I still love it because you can see how excited Rick is to be a new Dad.

Moments after the baby was born.

Finally our little angel has arrived! Monday night I was lying in bed with Rick and he had already fallen asleep but I was reading a novel when all of the sudden my water broke- I had wondered if my water had broken an earlier day, but this time there was no mistaking it! I ran over to the tub and was sooo excited I could hardly contain myself and I woke up Jess too to let her know. Rick is so organized and practical and began washing our sheets right away so he could get the bed ready again. The water looked pretty green to Jessica and I, and when I called Barbie, our midwife she said that was concerning (perhaps meconium). I was really disappointed because this happens often when the baby is in distress for some reason and would mean I would have to go to the hospital for the birth... so I started having Jess pack some bags for the hospital.

It turned out that my water was a "normal" color and as long as the baby's heart tone's remained good we would stay at home... I was so relieved and so grateful the baby was okay and that we could go on with our original plans to bring her into the world:)

I labored mostly in my bedroom and in Rick's bathroom and just used deep breathing to get me through the contractions. For some reason making these weird high pitched moans while exhaling felt wonderful (Rick told me I sounded like the fog horns you can hear near the Golden Gate bridge in SF), but eventually one of the mdiwives, Joanna, explained to me how my throat would hurt really bad the next day and taught me a better, deeper sound to make. (She was right, my throat does hurt a couple days later still).

I didn't really go into strong active labor until around 3 a.m. and I don't know what time it was when I really got in "the zone" but at some point I totally become focused in my own little world and was completely disconnected to things going on around me. The pain during the contractions was unlike anything I could have ever imagined and I could never put into words really the way they felt, but already I am starting to forget what it felt like. Either Rick and Jess were always with me and they were so supportive and wonderful.

I started pushing around 1 in the afternoon I think and pushing was the hardest stage for me. I started out on the bed, then the toilet, then squatting by the side of the bed and finally on my side on my bedroom floor. That seemed to work best for me. Pushing took all my energy- and as I am prone to blackout/feel faint even when I'm not pregnant, I needed oxygen between contractions to get me through.

Finally the baby came out at 5:39 p.m. and they layed her right on my tummy and she was beautiful. I guess after her head came out it was pretty purple and she had the cord wrapped around her neck twice, so Barbie just unlooped it quickly. Eventually she turned a healthy pink and I pretty much immediately began to breastfeed her- she has been hungry since. She weighed 8 lbs and was 20 1/4 inches long. They gave her an apgar score of 9-10 and in my eyes she is just perfect.

All in all the birth was the most amazing and intense experience of my life and I am so thankful that everything went the way it did. The support of my family and friends has been amazing. During the actual birth I spent A LOT of time praying and then Rick, Jess, my Mom and Nicole were there as well as the midwives Barbie and Joanna. Since then Jamie and Gracie and my Dad and sister in law Megan have come to visit too and it has been really nice.

Finally the sleep deprivation is catching up with me- the whole next day after the birth I was awake and excited and active I guess because of adrenaline from the birth- but now I am trying to nap when Adelaide naps because she is all backwards and at night she wants to eat and play and look around. We have gone on a couple adventures already- yesterday we went to the park in our complex and relaxed in the shade and today we actually took a quick trip into Boulder where Rick and I sat in the shade with Adelaide in the sling while the rest of the family went to the Farmers Market. I always kind of expected to be really tired and bedridden after the birth, and although I am a little tired I still have a lot more energy than I expected and it feels good to get out and be somewhat active. I think for a while though when in public I will keep Adelaide in her little sling so that people don't touch her with their germy hands.

It took us a while to figure out her name- we had always kind of planned on Adelaide Rose, but then at the last minute Rick mentioned the name Melody Rose and I had a really hard time deciding between the two. She looks like an Adelaide though so I think we made the right decision:) My favorite thing about her are her beautiful lips- they are so cute and she does funny things with her mouth. She also smiles a ton and it is the cutest thing ever. We can't really figure out who she looks like, she is not the bald headed, pale and wide eyed baby I was imagining... I was sooo excited when I saw that she had hair- and that it is dark! I think it is so beautiful and I realize that it can fall out and come back blonde or whatever, but for the mean time I am enjoying it.

Rick is such a cute Dad and you can tell he just loves Adelaide so much. He missed Tuesday of orientation, but went back for the rest of the week. On Wednesday Nicole and Meg were going to pick him up during his break to go get lunch at Pearl Street- but I guess as soon as they picked him up he asked if he could just come home instead and hold the baby... so cute.

This is the longest post ever, but I just kind of wanted to write some of this while it is still fresh in my mind. All in all, the birth was amazing, my baby is perfect and beautiful, I am so thankful for my family and friends and my Heavenly Father, and I am SO excited to be a Mom- so far I absolutely LOVE it.

Rick's First Day of School

So yesterday, August 13, was Rick's first day of school/orientation at the Leeds School of Business. He was excited and had a great day. He really liked a class he had to take called "The Art of Small Talk," and met a lot of really interesting people. Jessica and I went to the Spouse/Partner Orientation in the afternoon and then met up with Rick for the welcome BBQ in the evening. We sat with some of the international students and met some of the professors and ate way too many lemon bars for dessert. I think I made some people nervous because they knew it was my due date, but there was no excitement there- I did bring some towels in my purse in case my water broke though.

"I'm so excited to go to school today!"

Still got my balance.

Picture of me on my "expected due date"

I have had some contractions, but nothing major so while Rick is at school today Jess and I are heading down the road to the Celestial Seasonings Factory. It is about a 1.5 mile walk and part of the tour includes a peppermint room- I hear that strong scents like that can help induce labor? We'll see...

BRRRR

Even though Colorado is actually a beautiful temperature this time of year, I guess because I am pregnant I can only sleep with the A/C on full blast and a huge fan blowing on my bed. Rick is not pregnant and therefore is very cold in this atmosphere. Poor thing.

So this is what I wake up next to every morning and although I feel bad it also cracks me up.

Week 38

Week 38 has been pretty productive... Nesting I think has finally set in and I have gotten a lot of stuff ready for the baby. Rick found a brown changing table and decided to buy it because it was "a steal," the only problem is that the baby's room is all light colors with white furniture so the changing table looked ridiculas. We decided that I should paint it green, so I started that project but halfway through we realized it was not going to work without priming it- (duh), so I had to redo it another day but it is finally finished. It took me forever and so I have decided if we have a boy next his room will have green in it:)

We went to the temple this week because our new friends the Mercers invited us to meet them there. The only problem was they told me 5:30 and I thought they said 6:30 so we missed them. Oh well.
Yikes.

I randomly drew this on my belly and it may not seem funny to anyone else but it had me laughing for a while.

Week 37

As of yesterday I am considered "full term" and if I go into labor I could legally attempt my homebirth, although realistically I'm sure I have a ways to go before this baby wants to come out... she seems quite content at the moment in my tummy.

Yesterday Rick and I drove out to the Denver area for some new adventures. First, we went to the Denver temple, which is actually in Littleton but we forgot to take a picture. After, we went to Roxborough State Park and hiked the Fountain Valley Hike which is supposedly 2.3 miles, but felt much shorter. It was so beautiful.

We also went to a quaint little place called Heritage Square- it is sort of like an old fashioned shopping center and amusement park... except it felt more like a ghost town because many of the shops were closed down and there were maybe 7 other people there total besides us. Rick went up to one of the workers who was standing around at a ride that no one was on and asked him, "So.. does this place like ever get busy?" He told us that it does around the 4th of July and on weekends. I felt bad for this poor guy, especially because I felt like Rick was rubbing in his face how boring his job must be. We asked one of the few people we saw to take our picture behind this beautiful body builder painting.

Heritage Square

Rick's new ambition is rock climbing...

Big White Belly. I was attempting to soak up some vitamin D.

At the top of Lyons Overlook.

Great Day!

Week 36

Last week we checked out some of what Boulder has to offer- and this is us right around the corner from the Farmers Market. I have never seen such a busy market- I got seriously claustrophobic and even though there were lots of delicious things I wanted to buy I wanted to get out even more. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that lately I feel like a giant monster and bump into people more often than anyone should. But I plan to go back again this weekend because I especially want to start growing basil and passion fruit plants on our balcony.

Week 35

While in Montana, Rick's uncle Sean and his aunt Lin Sue did a little pregnancy photo shoot for us. I am BIG!

Can't believe it is already June!

Even though I have been done with school for a couple weeks now, I still feel very busy somehow! Graduation weekend was so much fun, all my family was able to come down except for Kevin and Rachel ( we missed them!!!) and my Grandma and Grandpa Holt also came down from Idaho which was very sweet. We had a great time just being together and some of us headed down to Mexico for some tacos and shopping. As always, it was an adventure, but this time there was NO ONE down there because of all the swine flu and drug cartel media that is scaring people--- so we pretty much had Revolucion street to ourselves. I really wanted to go one last time before we move because I broke our last set of margarita glasses from there and so I needed to replace them, Rick wanted to get another sun hat because his brother Nick anonymously borrowed his last one and lost it on his way to Chile, and we also wanted to get some cute Mexican dresses for the baby in my tummy. Too bad we ran out of time to get our names written on a pice of rice. I will miss our random trips to Mexico:(

I met with my midwife and doctor last week and it still amazes me how different the appointments are... I really learn so much more information about nutrition and the birthing process from one appt. with my midwife than all my Kaiser appointments combined. I guess at Kaiser they just don't have the time to really sit down with you and answer your questions and give you information. I don't mind going to both sets of appointments though because it is always fun to hear the heartbeat.... not so much fun to pee in a cup and weigh myself though. I am 30 weeks along and have gained about 27 pounds. I have a new bundle of cellulite on backside that I lovingly refer to as my chunkalunk. The baby and I are healthy and happy and I've been told I am "the picture of good health," a phrase that Jessica really found amusing and keeps repeating to me.

Rick and I are just packing away-- I am using all my nesting like energy to pack and organize:)

Rick is a fabulous photographer. Here is the latest picture of my belly at 30ish weeks.

It's a Great Day to be Alive

Rick and I created this blog a long time ago, but we never got around to using it until today.  Rick has been gone all day at some type of scouting event, and now he is fixing his car so I have had a lot of free time today to  finish my to-do list.  I made two delicious cheesecakes for Rick's birthday tomorrow, took some pictures of my belly to send to my family because my Dad has really been bugging me about that, ran a couple shopping errands and took an online test for one my classes... And now here I am trying to start our blog.

  I am quite intimidated by blogs because I am not very good with computers and I am surrounded by very talented people like my sister in law Jamie.  Maybe she can give me a few pointers.  She pretty much inspired me to start this because her family blog is so cute and I love to look at all the pictures of Gracie, and since I am growing a little baby girl too I thought I should follow her lead!  

My original plan was to post pictures of my belly from each week but we took pictures on a disposable camera and the pictures came out very underexposed.  We think it is because on our trip to colorado I let the camera go through the x-ray machine... Anyways, we have a new digital camera now so we will try to take pictures from here on out.  I took some today- this is me and my belly at 23 weeks.  I feel so big when I look in the mirror, but when I look at the pictures I don't really think I look that big yet.  So far pregnancy has been a breeze- I feel blessed that I am one of the lucky ones who didn't get morning sickness.  I was just tired a lot.  Now I am just really hungry, my back aches on occasion and I am quite emotional at times... Poor Rick and Jessica have to deal with me the most- but they are also pretty good at helping me to snap out of it sooner than later.  

Today while I was doing the dishes I was listening to the Travis Tritt song "Its a great day to be alive," and I couldn't help thinking that it really is.  I love sunny days.