Abrie's Blessing

We blessed Abrie this last Sunday, and if you're wondering why it wasn't on fast Sunday, it's because we'll be out of town that Sunday, which is also our last fast Sunday in our ward. So, we got permission from our bishop to do it then.

Abrie's dressed so warmly because this was my blessing outfit (except for the headband because I wore a bonnet). It turned out to be a cool, overcast, windy day in Rexburg so the outfit was perfect! The outfit was made by my GREAT grandma.

She's so done with the pictures!

In case you can't tell, we're laughing because we couldn't get Landen to stop picking his nose long enough to take a picture! Brian even tried to hold his arms down, but he escaped at the last second!

It was so great to have family and friends come up, we're really going to miss living so close!

The most recent addition to our family

So, this is the reason I stayed in Utah an extra few days while Brian went home:

We had been kind of half heartedly been looking for a bigger vehicle for awhile now, because with 2 kids, we can't take BJ with us anywhere. Well, we found a cute little school teacher who was selling this baby for about $2000 less than the retail value with LOW miles on it, and we couldn't pass it up! BJ will be very excited to go with us out of town now ;). The reason it took so long to find, was because I DON'T WANT A MINIVAN! Yes, I realize that makes me a brat, but my thought is, if we're going to spend that much money on something, and I'm going to be the one driving it most of the time, I should be able to get what I want...right?! Anyway, this is Brian's favorite feature of the new vehicle...and Landens:

An Update/Brian's birthday

I haven't had the desire to do much blogging lately, mostly because I don't feel like we've done anything blog worthy!!! Also, I forget to take pictures most of the time, so there's nothing to show what I've done, but since I don't write in my journal or scrapbook, I should probably give a quick update!

Last week was Brian's birthday (the 18th), and we headed down to Utah on the 17th to spend some time with family and meet Amy's (Brian's sister) friend that came all the way over from England for Brian's birthday (not really ;). Brian picked out his own birthday present this year, so planning for his birthday wasn't too hard. He got some new running shoes that he's been wanting, and is in love with them! On his birthday, besides looking at vehicles (more on that later), we had a barbecue at his brother Brad's house and we made Brian his requested rainbow sprinkle birthday cake...so easy to please ;). We're trying to squeeze in as much family time as we can since we're packing up the house and moving to San Antonio in the next month! I was actually able to stay in Utah an extra few days with the kids while Brian had to go back up to Rexburg to work...he missed us, and I missed him! He usually lets me sleep in awhile longer and he gets up with Landen, and I really missed that extra sleep in time! More updates to come...

2 week stats

So, I took Abrie in today for her 2 week check-up and was pleasantly surprised to see that she'd gained 1.6 lbs since her last check-up! It's so refreshing to have a child that actually ranks somewhere on a growth chart!! So, here's here stats at 2 weeks:

Weight: 7 lbs, 13 oz 29%

Height: 20.5 inches 53%

Head Circumference: 13.8 inches 21%

To avoid going stir crazy, I've been trying to get outdoors more since the weather has been nicer, and plus it helps Landen burn off some energy instead of throwing fits to get attention at home. Speaking of, Landen has adjusted much better than I expected. Most of the time he doesn't seem to notice Abrie since she sleeps a lot, but when she makes any noises he immediately wants to hold her, plus he must know where she is at all times asking "where baby sister go?" He's a cute big brother, and has become such a big helper, especially when I need things and am nursing at the same time.

On the topic of nursing, I finally went into the lactation nurse yesterday because I have a sore that just won't heal! I'm not bleeding anymore, but it seriously feels like an ulcer and my eyes water every time she latches on! I also wanted to make sure she was latching appropriately. I've almost given up breastfeeding everyday, but I keep telling myself that I'm not just doing this for me! I did get a prescription cream that has been miraculous at how much it has helped me heal already! Just in case pregnancy and childbirth isn't hard enough...

But, on an awesome note, I've lost 17 lbs according to the scale this morning, which means I've lost all my pregnancy weight plus 5 additional pounds! Yay for gestational diabetes!? I still have a lot more weight to lose, and am excited to get my all clear at 6 weeks so I can go back to my zumba classes...oh how I've missed them, but for now, I'm enjoying the fact that I've lost weight! Nothing like having a baby to make you feel instantly slimmer ;).

"D" Day

Finally finding a second to update the blog before Abrie decides to wake up and want to eat again! So, on Monday, I went in for my check-up pre induction that was scheduled for Tuesday, and found out that I was still only dilated to a "1" and "thick", so they wanted me to go to the hospital that night to start the processes of thinning out my cervix.

Here's my last belly shot before going to the hospital. Once I got checked into the hospital they started me on Cytotec to try and get my contractions stronger and more regular in the hopes of thinning my cervix. Even with a sleeping pill on board and getting a couple shots of pain medicine in the night, I still only slept about 30 minutes. The good news was that when I checked into the hospital I had dilated to a "3" on my own and had effaced to 75%!

At 7:30 the next morning, my doctor came in and checked me, and I was still the same (which kinda stunk after having a sleepless, painful night), but he went ahead and broke my water and they started me on Pitocin. Holy crap did the contractions kick in more fast and furious after he broke my water. I swear it took an hour to get the anesthetist down there to get my epidural in, but it probably only took like 15-20 minutes. I don't know how women go through labor medication free! I must be a huge wimp!! Having my epidural was heaven sent, and by 10 am I was fully dilated and ready to push. I pushed for an hour, and our sweet baby Abrie was born at 11:09 am weighing 6 lbs 13 oz and measuring 20 inches long...smaller than we thought she was going to be! I had a little meconium in my fluid, so respiratory was there to check her out, but she ended up not having any problems! The kind of comical relief of the whole experience was that apparently most of my water was up behind Abrie, so that when she came out there was an EXPLOSION of fluid! If the doctor hadn't decided to gown up from head to toe, he would have been covered head to toe with fluid!

Later, my sister Katie and her husband brought Landen up to meet his baby sister, and she gave him a gift (pictured below). He loves his train and has already worn out the batteries! He's been so cute with her so far, except for a little incident this morning when he went and grabbed some bath toys and started squirting her with some water. I guess she needed to wake up!

This is Landen getting his gift from Abrie at the hospital.


Our first little family photo, yes I'm as exhausted as I look!

Me and my little girl, she just loves to snuggle like this!

Let the wrapping around Daddy's finger begin ;)

An Official Eviction Notice

So Tuesday I went in for my usual bi-weekly ultrasound and doctor's appointment, and other than Abrie being so tired from being awake with me all night long at work and not wanting to cooperate, everything was good. She was cracking me up in the ultrasound. She was so tired, that she didn't care that the ultrasound tech was pushing right on her hand trying to get her to move her fingers, but she finally gave in after about 10 minutes! Anyway, I met with the doctor afterwards and he checked me and I was still high and only dilated to a "1". I started crying! I'm sure that only having 3 hours of sleep before my appointment contributed to the crying part, on top of being hormonal, pregnant and friggin' sick of having this tube in my back, basically I'd had it. On top of things, my long term antibiotics that I've been on obviously weren't working since I have a UTI, which is not common for me. I blame it entirely on my tube, which had been looking pretty disgusting lately!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the doctor just took pity on me, and went ahead and scheduled my induction for this coming Tuesday May 17th. I'll be exactly 39 weeks! It's kind of weird planning on when you're going to have a baby, but I guess she could still surprise us ;). He also put me on a new antibiotic and it has since cleared up my UTI (I can tell just by looking at my tube), so things are looking up! I'm so excited for her to finally be here!

At my appointment today, Abrie weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz (+/- 6 oz), and via ultrasound came is measuring right on track at 38 weeks, 3 days. My stomach measurement on the other hand says I'm 41 weeks pregnant...I believe it! Also, according to my doctor's office I've only gained 5 lbs this whole pregnancy, I'm thinking they have their numbers wrong or they're counting from when I had my first appointment, because according to my scale I've gained at least 12 lbs. Either way, not bad considering the water I'm retaining these days because it's warmer outside (hooray!!!).

In other news, we've been busy little bees trying to get the house ready to sell. Well, mostly Brian and his Mom have been busy, and I just do what I can, what they'll let me do ;). This week they planted a flower garden in the front, painted the shutters and mailbox, and hung bigger house numbers on the house as well as put a treatment on the lawn. Inside the house, they painted the hall, living room, kitchen and laundry room. There are new baseboards in the hall, living room and kitchen! It looks amazing! We've also started the decluttering process and have been boxing things up and storing them in our storage unit. I'm really hoping we can sell our house! I just pray that it's the right time and right house for someone right now! Anyway, we've had plenty to keep us busy while waiting for baby girl to get here. My sister comes in town Sunday night, and my Mom comes up on Thursday! Yay!!!

Still pregnant!

I guess, I really shouldn't complain since this means Abrie's still getting a good chance to grow and develop all those important things needed to arrive safely, but I'm not gonna lie...I'm in pain! I also don't feel like a have a lot of room to complain as I've followed a couple of friends from back home that have recently had twins and were more miserable than I could imagine, but in comparison to my last pregnancy, this one's been pretty rough (at least the last month or so)!

Just to recap, I had the pleasure of experiencing kidney stones and had to go to the E.R. on March 25th, and they put my nephrostomy tube in on the 26th (the day I supposed to have a baby shower ;). Although they've never actually seen the stone, my right kidney was completely blocked and building up fluid...hence the pain. The Dr. that put my tube in thinks he pushed it into my bladder when he shoved the tube in my back (yes, and it felt like a "shove" with only being given some local anesthetic!). So my "tail" and I have have been friends for over a month now, and they won't take it out until after Abrie's born because they don't want to risk having another stone develop...blah, blah, blah! I understand why, and really NEVER want to experience that kind of pain EVER again in my life (they really should give epidurals to people with kidney stones!), but this stinking tube is not to comfortable either! My muscles in my back around the site are constantly sore, and if the tube gets kinked, the build-up causes a horrible pressure! Like I said, so ready to get rid of this sucker.

To add onto all of that, I've been having contractions for the last 3 1/2 weeks, and as of Tuesday, I was still only dilated to a "1" and only 25% effaced! Some nights (like last night) they were stronger and about 5-6 minutes apart, but then after an hour start to wear off! They had me on medicine until Tuesday to stop my contractions (which they never did stop), and I was really hoping that I would progress a lot faster! My neighbor's trampoline is looking very appealing at the moment.

And, since I've never been this pregnant before, I'm getting to enjoy all the later discomforts of pregnancy! I'm pretty sure she's dropping (I really hope), because I now have pain on the right, lower side of my pelvis which is making walking very difficult! I have no idea what to even do about it, because there's not much stretching I can do, guess I need to call my brother the chiropractor ;). Needless to say, I really want this to be over, as I'm sure every pregnant woman feels at this point. I go into the doctor again on Saturday, so hopefully I've made more progress, unless I get lucky and deliver before then ;). I'm supposed to work tonight, and honestly I'm really hoping it puts me into a more active labor. At least I'm right there at the hospital and can just go upstairs if I need to ;).

I've been praying a lot, and had a priesthood blessing a few weeks ago that promised me that my body would have the strength to make it through all this, so I know it will, it's just my mind that is failing me! I know that if Heavenly Father wanted her here, she would come. I also recognize how much we've been blessed through this whole ordeal of the military taking a couple of weeks to change our insurance. I'm so lucky I didn't go into labor during the "dark ages" of that time! I was really worried I might with all the contractions, but I was again blessed with peace of mind that helped me know everything would be all right. So, now I'm just being impatient and quite frankly, super excited to meet this little girl! I still have so much to do to get ready for her (like finish her bedding), but I can't wait to see her and see if I get to have a child that looks like me ;). So, complaining session is over, I feel better and hopefully the next time I blog, it will be to introduce her!!!