Carving Pumpkins

This was the first year we decided to carve pumpkins with Liam. He was a little bit apprehensive about the 'guts' but after he got going he said, "I actually think I like this part!"

 Daddy did all the hard work carving. He carved a silly face for Liam (very appropriate) and a kitty for Adelyn (to match her nifty Halloween hat).  He then carved himself something or other (I'm sure he'll appreciate that line) from the book "Angels and Demons." It looks pretty cool. :)  Good job, Daddy!

 

Our little family with our pumpkins:

Back Track to 38 weeks

I wanted to post these photos a while ago, but things got busy.  I was 38 weeks pregnant in these photos- taken 4 days before Addy was born.  We were trying to let her know that she could come out now since the leaves had changed colors. :)

Our First Week

We've had a busy first week as a family of four.  Addy is a very easy-going baby and usually sleeps about 3 hours at a time.  She's nursing like a champ and is really a joy to have in our home. We love her so much!

 Liam is enjoying having Grandma here to play unlimited amounts of 'Go Fish' and 'Memory Match.'  They have taken many walks to the park together and painted quite a few pictures. :)

Here are some photos from Addy's first week on Earth. :D

Scott and La Resa came home to visit when we came home from the hospital.  Addy loved them.

Adelyn tried out her crib and she loved it.  I think I would like sleeping in her beautiful room and bed, too!

One thing that Addy does not enjoy is a sponge bath.  Look how red she is from screaming.  You'd never know that the heaters were on and it only lasted 3 minutes. haha.  Hopefully she'll like it when she gets to have a real bath.

Liam has also kept busy playing boxing and bowling on the Wii.  I thought he looked pretty cute boxing away here.

We took Addy to her little check up with our pediatrician.  She got dressed up in her Halloween gear and looked pretty darn cute.  Dr. Roesler told us what we already knew: she's perfect. :D  She has lost 4 oz, so she's at 7lbs, which is fantastic.  She was a tad yellow in her face, but it's going away due to sunbathing and lots of nursing, so it's nothing to worry about.

Before Adelyn was born, we bought the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."  I don't know how we never had it before, but I wanted it for Adelyn. Liam has been dying to read it but I made him wait for Addy to come. He's read it to every single night since we've been home. It's very sweet. He even shows her all the pictures.

Titi came over to visit and we played dress up.  I love her little angel outfit that Titi bought her.

Such a sweet face:

Liam went and got a hair cut while I was napping one day. He came back like this! 

We went on our first little outing. Where?  To Target of course!  She did fabulously and slept the whole time.

She loves to be bundled up and one night Wes went to bundle her and she was a total surfboard she was sleeping so soundly.  It was hilarious.

We knew she was a little yellow, so we did a little sunbathing. She loved that as well. She's a desert girl. :D

And last but not least, Liam and Grandma attended his pre-school Halloween party today. Who was he for Halloween, you ask?  Thomas, of course!  And a pretty darn cute one at that.

Life is good.

Welcomed with Love

Addy was welcomed into the world with so much love!  Here are some photos of her hospital stay:

Here she is with G.G.  Her middle name, Esther, is G.G's middle name.

Bernadett, one of the sweetest co-workers in the world, came to visit Adelyn:

Liam made a Build-a-Bear to bring to his new baby sister. Here are shots of him meeting her for the first time:

So blessed:

I made Liam a rag quilt to match Adelyn's. I wrapped it up and gave it to him at the hospital as his special "Big Brother" blanket. 

Adelyn also brought him a present. :)  Emily the train that he's been dying to have for quite some time!  He asked where Baby Addy went shopping for such a cool gift. :)

Peyton was so cute and enthralled with her. Every time he'd look at her, he'd get the biggest smile on his face. It was adorable.

Izzy was very concerned about baby Addy and was so soft and gentle. Such a little mommy already.

Mommy's office sent beautiful flowers to welcome Adelyn.

Big Brother, Little Sister. :D

And Papa with Addy:

Just a sweet one of our angel:

In the precious hat GG made her and with the special blanket Nana bought her on our special girls' trip to Murphys:

Nana:

Grandma meeting Addy for the first time:

We're Home!

Handy Big Brother was there to meet us when we got home:

We are so happy to be home and are getting settled nicely!  We are enjoying these first few days as a family of four and look forward to the many happy memories to come.

Adelyn's Birth

Warning! Long post ahead that's mostly for myself and for Adelyn to remember the details surrounding her birth, so you can skip to photos if you want to. :D  It will probably take me several days to write, if that gives you any indication of how long and detail-oriented it will be. ;)

As most of you know, I've been looking forward to, planning, and dreaming about baby Addy's birth since before I was ever pregnant with her.  I'm somewhat of a 'birth junkie' and can't wait to be an L and D nurse someday and eventually a midwife.  I wanted this experience to be a different kind of experience than Liam's.  Liam's was beautiful in it's very own way and I was happy with it at the time and it obviously had perfect results. But, as I've been through nursing school, researched and prayed, I decided that I really wanted a different experience.  Therefore, I chose a Certified Nurse Midwife and Wes and I did what we could to prepare ourselves to deliver our baby girl naturally.  We worked together with our midwife to create our birth plan and we were confident in our choices and looked forward to experiencing her birth.

For the last 3 or so weeks, I'd been having lots of contractions for hours at a time and then they would just stop.I'd also been having significant back pain and tailbone pain.  My midwife had felt fairly confident that Addy would arrive early as I'd been dilated since 36 weeks and was very favorable.  So, each time those contractions would come, I'd be certain she'd be coming. However, week after week, no baby.  In those weeks, I sure did get a lot done though!  I finished Christmas gifts, was able to go to Liam's primary program, visit my parents, scrapbook, clean, etc, so it was very productive. 

However, even though I was getting a lot done, I was getting very little sleep due to the uncomfortable contractions, but I knew she'd come when she was ready. I was doing my very best to remember all the sweet little kicks and hiccups and the way that my belly felt, because I knew that my pregnancy would be over all too quickly and I'd miss those special, quiet moments feeling her sweet movements.  At 37 weeks I found out I'd need two rounds of antibiotics during labor and because I'd had a fast labor with Liam, we wanted to make sure that I would get my doses before she was born.  I was very bummed about this because I wanted to labor at home as long as possible and I knew that changed things a little bit. My midwife was very reassuring that we'd make the environment at the hospital as home-like comfortable as possible since I would need to be there a little bit longer.

For the two weeks before she was born, I'd had this fear that she was posterior (or sunny-side up). Just the way that I'd have contractions that wouldn't progress, to the tailbone pain, I just had a feeling...  The midwife couldn't determine if she was posterior, but I spent a LOT of time on my hands and knees to try to get her to turn around, to avoid a longer labor and longer pushing. 

In the early morning hours of October 21st, I had a LOT of contractions, but again, I could tell they weren't going anywhere. I had a horrible night's sleep, but got up and headed to work to at least keep my mind off of things.  Throughout the morning, I had contractions and there were a few questions that I wanted to talked to my midwife about, so I went into her office at 1pm during my lunch.  When I got to her office, she checked me and I was a little more than 4 cm and contracting every 2-3 minutes. After a long discussion about the pros and cons of doing so, we decided to send me to the hospital, get my antibiotics in and then she'd break my water when I was ready. She assured me she thought that this would NOT increase my risk for pitocin since my contractions were already so regular and, in fact, my contractions continued to get stronger before we even got to the hospital, so I'm sure I'd have been heading that direction anyway. 

I headed home to get my bag and Wes.  Liam was picked up by GG and Grandpa-Great(he then informed me he'd be staying with them for two weeks hehe).  Then we headed over to the hospital. When we got  to the hospital, I had to take one last belly photo of me at 39 weeks:

After we got there and got settled, they started my IV (which, for some lovely reason, took 4 pokes and an anesthesiologist to get going--which I now have a lovely set of bruises from) and got my antibiotics going.  I asked Wes to give me a Priesthood blessing. It was a beautiful blessing and I have no doubt it played a part in me knowing that I could accomplish the birth that my heart desired.  Heavenly Father let me know that I had the strength to do what I was created to do, which was just what I needed to hear.  They then let me cruise the halls for the next 3 or 4 hours.  My contractions were there and steadily increasing in strength, but still bearable.  After my second dose of antibiotics, I was still having good, regular contractions, so my midwife went ahead and broke my water. At this point it was probably around 8:45pm. I was about 5 cm at that point.  I knew that things would really get going at that point and I was right! I labored in the tub for a while and then got out and sat on the ball. Wes and my  mom were great coaches.  Wes rubbed my back and reminded me of slow breathing.  As things got more intense around 9:45, she checked me and I was only a 6, so I decided to get back in the tub.  That was Heaven! I don't know what I would have done without the tub. I was having pretty much all back labor at this point and my contractions seemed to be coupling, which is another indicator of a posterior baby. While I was in the tub, things got increasingly intense.  This was the point where I was in what they refer to as 'laborland.'  People would ask me questions, but I would just be so focused on breathing that I would just barely answer "I don't know." haha   At about 11:00, she checked me in the tub and I was only a 7. This was the one point in my labor where I wasn't sure I could do it.  Lynn assured me I could and had me flip over on my hands and knees and pushed two pressure points on my back. Adelyn immediately flipped and I had to get out of the water and get to the bed.  I'm not sure exactly how I made it to the bed, because on the way there my body started pushing and there was no stopping!  But, thankfully I made it to the bed and she was born 8 minutes later! So we went from 7cm, to baby in about 15 minutes.  Pushing was extremely intense and surreal, but I had such amazing coaches and encouragement from everyone around me.  Wes was able to help 'catch' the baby, which was a really awesome experience for him.  I think that going through this labor and delivery together and having him be such a huge part of it has definitely given us an even stronger relationship and bond and greater appreciation for one another.  The next few hours were a dream. I just sat and drank up her beautiful little face and couldn't believe that we were now a beautiful family of four!

Here is her daddy helping bring her into the world!

  Everyone thought she looked really big, but it was just her beautiful 'bowling ball head' that made her look big. :)  They immediately put her on my chest, skin to skin, and left her with me. It was a really amazing, intense experience that I will never, ever forget.

Here is her Daddy holding her for the first time:

7lbs 4 oz, 21 inches long

Here is Addy with our amazing midwife, Lynn. Her knowledge, skill, compassion, and presence made me feel like I couldn't have possibly had a better experience. I hope to be able to give to other women someday what she gave to us.

Our nurse, Ali, was also amazing. She was so calm and supportive. I'm so glad she was also part of our experience.

 

Brand New Addy:

 

Our newest edition!

Wes had to take a photo of my beautified 'labor toenails'.  I know Adelyn appreciated them.

Nana and Addy

Great Birth Coach (she should go into this professionally now-- it's her fourth one!)

I know it sounds redundant, but I feel so blessed.  Not only was I able to have the perfect birth experience with the perfect coaches, nurses and midwife, but I have the most beautiful, healthy, perfect little angel.  Life is good. :)