Catching Up... January Edition!!!

     January has been a busy month to say the least! I have really put the pressure on myself to get back into some sort of a routine.  It's been pretty difficult.
  
     First things first... I turned 25 years old on January 2nd!  It was an awesome birthday. I got a few gift cards and had dinner with family and enjoyed a day out with my wonderful husband and two very beautiful daughters.  That in itself was a wonderful gift, the best!

  
      A few days later we picked Hannah up from day care and she had thrown up once right before we got there and then had another episode while we were on our way home... GROSS! A two year old strapped down in a car seat who is practically projectile vomiting and going into complete panic mode is no fun, actually it's horrible! So I pulled over and Kyle got Hannah out of the car cleaned her and her car seat as good as possible until we could get home.  We fed her applesauce, crackers and water for dinner, gave her a warm bath, put her to bed about 7:30 and prayed she wouldn't get sick again... Luckily, she only had those two episodes and that was the end of it! Over the next couple of days I noticed Olivia had started sneezing a lot and then after that a dry cough started and seriously the next day that cough turned into a wet croupy cough.  She was only running a low grade temperature around 99.3 so I knew it wasn't too serious.  It was Friday and I kept getting this gut feeling that I needed to take her to the doctor and get that cough checked out because I knew how dangerous a cough can be for a newborn.  She technically wasn't a "newborn" but she was only 30 days old and it was too close for my comfort.  So I made her an appointment, when the doctor heard her cough he immediately thought she had RSV.  RSV is basically a cold for children and adults over one year old but in children especially newborns it can be quite dangerous because they cough so much they can't catch their breath and their oxygen levels drop, so on and so fourth.  It is the number one thing that will send a newborn back to the hospital with a guarantee to stay at least one night! NO THANKS! Turns out she just had a bad upper respiratory cold, which resulted in a double ear infection. A antibiotic and 4 days later she was showing signs of improvement and I could tell she was already feeling better.

     I've also been busy planning Hannah's 2nd birthday party... OMG!!!! By baby girl isn't a baby anymore [tear].  She has taken up a new love for Elmo so I decided that he was going to be the theme for her birthday party!  I found some super cute invites on Etsy.com and ordered a few things like cup cake toppers, a little personalized happy birthday sign, treat bag ties, and balloons... The girl did a wonderful job and I just adore the colors! Kyle and I made a trip to Party City and ToysRUs to make the final touches.  I am so excited and can't wait to decorate! It was a bit hectic doing it at my house last year so we decided to do it at our church, especially since we are inviting the kids from her class and I don't want a bunch of little 2 year olds destroying my house! ha! We got Hannah a few things for her birthday and one I am particularly excited to give her.  This year we got her an art table with a chalk board and dry erase board on it, a couple Elmo's World DVDs, a baby bye bye set with a little pack-n-play, diaper bag w/changing pad, and a stroller [I think], and my favorite a little Four Wheeler [barbie style] lol... Yes that's right when we went to the toy store we saw it there and looked it over then I decided to get Hannah to sit on it to see if she even liked it.  Sure enough she LOVED it and it was all over after I showed her where the [go] button was! She has to work on her turning skills but none the less she was in love with it and kept saying Mo! Mo! Gin! Gin! [translated More! and Again!] so I think that one will be a big hit!!! Her party is next Saturday the 4th and I'm soooo excited!

So behind... Christmas Edition 2011!

     The past month or so I've really neglected my blog!  I hate that! I hate being so behind on everything.  And behind is exactly what I've become.  So much has happened in the past month and I've been so busy that I haven't been able to blog about it.
     Well we are starting on a new routine and it's time especially since I've only got 6 weeks left to get myself into a routine.
     So I'm going to highlight on a few things that have taken place in the past month and I'm going to over load you with pictures!
      Olivia was born 11 days before Christmas and luck would have it that we had everything ready to go when it came to all the Christmas events we were attending! On the 23rd we went to my parents and did our Christmas thing with them.  It's an all day event so it was really nice to spend the day with my family but at the same time exhausting.  Having a newborn wears on you not to mention my sweet Hannah running around having temper tantrums every 10 minutes!  But it was a lot of fun and we got tons of great gifts and spent wonderful much needed quality time with my side of the family!

   
      On the 24th we went to Kyle's parents and did our Christmas with them that morning and his side of the family got together that afternoon for lunch.  I will be honest I was pretty much a nervous wreck the entire weekend because here I was [hormonal] worried to death someone was going to give my 10 day old baby germs! I was paranoid and I was so afraid that she was going to be passed around like a hot potato but when it comes to me evidently my face is easy to read especially when I'm uncomfortable and that isn't what happened at all [thankfully]! Kyle's momma was the one who took all the pictures so I've only got one for now!

      Now I said that the weekend was busy and it was on the 25th, we did our first official year of Santa Claus! Hannah's still young so the meaning of it didn't really click yet but she knew she got toys and had a blast opening up presents this year! Afterwards, like every year we went to Kyle's grandmothers house and had an amazing breakfast hung out there for a while, exchanged gifts and then they all went to church.  I was still not up to fighting on the massive crowd at church that were dying to meet Miss Olivia.  So we went home and took a little nap before heading to my parents house to have Christmas with my dad's side of the family. 

Our birth story with Olivia!

     First of all I will say that I was induced with Hannah so I've never felt what the start of contractions feel like and because of the induction I didn't know what things to look for, for the onset of labor.
     So with that being said, I had been having contractions for about 2 weeks and I didn't even know that, that is what they were!  All I remembered were the kind of contractions you have when your on Pitocin and those were hardcore compared to these.  I asked the doctor at my 37 week appointment if what I was experiencing when my stomach got really hard was a contraction and he said it could just be the baby balling up, because there was no pain involved just a lot of discomfort when the tightness occurred.  So I figured it wasn't anything to worry about.  I saw a different doctor at my 38 week appointment the Monday before I delivered and he decided to check me for any progress. I'd definitely been having period-like cramps so I figured there would (hopefully) be some sort of progress.  Luckily there was!!! I was 2 cm dilated and that was excellent news!
     I knew that I wanted to make it through my last final and then I'd be able to relax enough and Olivia would/should be here before Christmas, so we could be home with Hannah and eat some delicious home cooked food!
     Wednesday morning came quickly and I got to school to take my final I finished it in about 35 minutes and to my surprise the teacher was able to tell me my grade right away... a 97!!! Woo Hoo! I think that I did my little happy dance out of that building and all the way to my car (haha).
     I called my sister and I was telling her how much I really wished Olivia would come on now since I was completely finished with classes and everything.  I ended up keeping Hannah home from school that day since she was a little under-the-weather with a runny nose and a little cough.  I got to my parents house about 10:30 and I had plans to help my mom and sister finish decorating for Christmas.  I was feeling a little sick to my stomach and so I decided to lay down about 11:15 to try and sleep off that sick feeling.  I finally woke up about 12 and my parents wanted to go get a bite to eat, I decided to go with them although I still wasn't feeling a 100%, I knew eating anything fried would be a bad idea so we headed to 36th Street bakery and got a deli sandwich.  By the time we got to the bakery my contractions were getting stronger and more consistent.  I really didn't have much of an appetite so I nibbled and decided to call Kyle and let him know what was up.
     I told him that I thought I was having contractions and they were getting more consistent he suggested I start counting them.  I honestly didn't feel like doing that because I really wasn't even sure if I was having contractions... There was NO pain!  We got back to my parents house about 1:15 and that is when they seemed to get even more stronger and definitely happening more often! I'm thinking they were probably occurring every 2 to 3 minutes and lasting a good 30 seconds to a minute some were longer.  I called my doctor's office and they told me to come in and the doctor would check me to avoid waiting in the triage for 2 to 4 hours to get admitted/monitored.  Sure enough I was dilated to a 4 and the contractions were getting strong I could still walk and carry on a conversation but my emotions were reeling and I was getting nervous! I mean my baby was going to be here soon!!!!!!!
     I got the hospital and they immediately got me a room asked the necessary questions, stuck an IV in, and had the epidural on its way all before Kyle got there.  Once he arrived he was buzzing with anxiety and his emotions were on high too!  We just weren't expecting it to happen so quickly.  I was having to lay in the bed while waiting on the anesthesiologist to get there which took about an hour and the contractions at that point were getting a lot stronger.  It was getting difficult to just sit on the bed.... He finally got there!!! At that point I was getting nervous because I wasn't mentally aware of the pain of an epidural with Hannah (I was so dopey from being on Stadol) that being aware of the pain was making me nervous!  Honestly, the epidural was the best decision I had made but when I got it the numbing shots were the absolute worst! I jumped and cried like a baby! But once it took affect I was on cloud nine!  The pain was completely gone and I couldn't even feel the contractions! This took place about 4ish.
     Once I got the epidural I was feeling great!  Me, Kyle and Lydia were having a blast chatting away, laughing and honestly having a great time!  The doctor came around 6 (I think) and checked me which sadly there was no change and the contractions began to spread out a little bit.  She decided to break my water and put me on pitocin.  And that really changed things A LOT.  The contractions were back up again and by 8 I had dilated to a 5 or 6 so good news (in my opinion).
     I tried to nap but I was just way to excited I couldn't get any sleep.  About 10 p.m. I started feeling pressure in my bottom... And it was every time one of my contractions would peak.  I figured it was trying to move the baby down into the birth canal.  Kyle was getting a little panicky so he called the nurse she came and told me it was probably the epidural wearing off so she gave me an extra dose and told me to push the medicine button every 10 minutes and by 10:30 if I was still feeling pressure than to call her back if the doctor hadn't been back in yet.  Sure enough the pressure didn't die down any and it was happening with every single contraction.  My sweet husband was too nervous to stand it, he headed to the door to find the nurse... At that same time the doctor came in and she decided to check me!
     She asked me if I felt like pushing... My response was like sure! She then asked me if I remembered how to push?  I responded with I don't know but I can give it a shot!  She had me push through one contraction and said "Yep! You're ready to go!" I asked her if the baby had moved down and she said oh yeah her head is right here! I was so excited! I pushed 4 times and my sweet Olivia was here and screaming her head off!  The doctor immediately put her on my chest and she was perfect!  The nurses then took her and did all the other things like cutting the cord, cleaned her up, did the checks and tests, weighed her, measured her and then she was back in my arms ready to eat! ha! The first time I tried to breastfeed her, she latched right on like she knew what she was supposed to do!
     As long as I waited she was here quicker than it took to actually set up the room for delivery! Not that I am complaining by any means!

     This had to be the best pregnancy and delivery I'd ever expected!  God gave me all I'd literally asked for.  I am more thankful and blessed to have been given such a gift! 

The pictures below are from the hospital... They are mixed up and for some reason I can't get them in the correct order... But I'm sure you get the gist of the events that occurred! :))