On Our Own

Since Adelaide was born she has been surrounded by lots of love and pretty much held every second of the day. She has had constant visitors and today is the first day that it is just us. It was so wonderful having all the helping hands and company and it is also a nice thing to be just us and start establishing a routine. We miss everyone though and so appreciate all their love!

Grandpa Walton made it out for a couple days and was so excited to meet Adelaide. He loved to play with both his granddaughters and he is an expert at swaddling her into a "Papoose?" He also knows an excellent way to get burps out of her. He is still trying to figure out who Adelaide looks like.

Grandma Mimi was able to make it for the actual birth and watched little Adelaide arrive into this world. She loved to dress Adelaide in cute outifts and was kind enough to change some really dirty explosive diapers. We are also very thankful for her cooking- yum! She missed a very busy week of work to come visit so we hope she has been able to catch up.

Grandma Nicole also was able to make it for the actual birth and although her visit was short it was so wonderful to have her here. She loved to hold Adelaide every chance she got and is excited to be a grandma! Nicole helped us make Adelaide's room complete by getting some cute baskets and changing pads for the diaper changing table and giving us ideas for how to rearrange the furniture in her room. We rearranged it like she suggested and love it! After the birth we were all so exhausted and so Nicole picked us up some delicious pizza and whipped up an amazing salad that hit the spot!

Meg arrived the night Adelaide was born and was able to stay with us for a few days. She crocheted the most beautiful blanket (seen below in the picture) for Adelaide. It is so soft and she just loves it. Meg thinks that Adelaide resembles Grandma Lois... I think she may be right- I don't see much/any resemblance from my side so far.

Jamie was able to come visit for a whole week! It was so wonderful to have her here- We had a fun girly time watching Anne of Green Gables- all 8 hours- and she made delicious dinners. Jamie also has great photography skills and took beautiful pictures while she was here. She just left yesterday and we miss her this morning, but I'm sure Steve is happy to have his ladies back in his life.

Miss Grace came to visit with her Mom and she was so entertaining her entire stay. She kept trying to strangle herself with our toy xylophone and enjoyed rearranging our diaper basket on a daily basis. She loved Adelaide's bassinet and would giggle when we let her rock in it. Every morning when I would change Adelaide's diaper Grace would hear her and come quickly crawling in the room to say good morning. We were even able to celebrate Grace's 1st birthday... It is nice that Grace and Adelaide are only one year apart- we know they will be great friends.

We were lucky enough to have Jessica visit for two weeks. She was here before Adelaide arrived and kept me company when Rick started school. We had a great time eating sleeping and watching Arrested Development:) She was here for the entire birth experience and was so wonderful and calming to me- I hope the experience didn't traumatize her and that one day she will still want children. She is such a cute aunt and Adelaide and Grace both love her very much. When Jessica would hold Adelaide we liked to make her do pouty lips and have a bulldog expression.

Geoff Casey and Raley were also able to stop by while they were visiting some friends in Denver for the weekend. Raley was excited to meet baby Adelaide and was so sweet with her. It was a nice surprise to be able to visit with them.

Thanks everyone for stopping by, we love visitors. We miss and love all of you!

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...

Baby Things

This is the baby's bassinet in our bedroom. Nicole made the bedding for us and it turned out so cute, we just love it! Now we just need the baby to come out and sleep in it.
This is the Rainbow Connection lyrics made famous by Kermit the Frog and although I originally bought it to give to Jessica, I later decided it was a little childish and maybe better suited for a baby?
Some more of the baby's room...
We set the crib up nice and low so when miss Grace comes to visit she won't be able to escape from naptime:)

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!