It's Official

Meet the newest member of our family......

We finally did it, took the plunge. We traded in the Blazer for a Chrysler Town & Country. So as Eli kindly pointed out, now I am a true soccer mom since he plays and I drive a minivan! We waited until the very last minute....signed papers on Tues the 24th and had Hailey on Fri the 27th!

Welcome Hailey Sophia!

So Friday was the big day.....the day I was being induced! It proved to be an interesting/exciting day for sure.

We had to be at the hospital at 7:30 to check in. It was almost 8:30 by the time they got the pitocin drip started. I should mention that going into this I was only dilated at 1cm. So there were zero changes by around 10. I could only feel a few of the contractions that the medicine was causing which would explain no progression. I was laying there talking to my mom when out of nowhere my water broke. Kind of took us all by surprise because the baby hadn't even settled far enough down to cause the water to break. And I don't think the nurses really believed the low amniotic fluid claims when they saw the amount that came out! Anyways, shortly after my water broke, whenever I would have a contraction Hailey's heart rate would drop from the 140's down to the low 100's or 90's. That immediately put the c-section need on the table which was a little scary for all of us. My OB decided to continue to monitor and see if this was going to continue to happen or correct itself. One of the causes for the lowered heart rate could be that the umbilical cord is compressed underneath the baby somewhere. That was a very likely cause in my case because of my water breaking and there not being anything for her to float around in there anymore. So they flipped me to my other side where it would only do it when the contraction was really strong. On my back, they quit all together! Phew! At sometime between 2-2:30 my OB came in and checked on me and found that I was now dilated at 3-4cm. Ugh it was going slow and starting to get painful! I went into this whole thing with a very open mind about the epidural. I had not had time for any pain meds with my labor with Kayla and Emma (got to the hospital and they were born within a half hour of arrival) and with Eli I wasn't really open to it. After having been induced with Eli though, I knew how much I hated it and how uncomfortable I was just lying in the bed. So by 3, I was all hooked up with an epidural....worked so well my leg kept falling off the bed and people would have to put it up for me. My nurse came in and checked me at about 3:30-3:45 and I was at 9cm! Nice! She told me whenever I feel like pushing to let her know. Well I never really felt the urge to push like I did with the other 3 kids so I didn't say anything for a while. She checked me at 4ish again and said the head was right there and she would call my OB to have her come down so I could start. Once OB got there, she was getting dressed in her protective gear and told me to go ahead and push....I gave one good shove and she told me to quit. Hailey's head was right there already and she could see her hair! Once more push and out she came! I can now see why so many women opt for the epidural! :) Though I didn't like not feeling my legs for another 2 hours afterwards.

Hailey Sophia was born on June 27th at 4:42pm weighing 8lbs 1oz, 20" long.

Take note the absence of dark, dark hair on her head. Her hair is like a light brown (the other 3 were dark brown) and she has no where near the amount they had. Of course Emma had the most by far! And her eyes are a grayish color. Kayla had blue eyes but Eli and Emma had brown. Really makes you wonder exactly how DNA works.

Tomorrow

It's the big day! I am being induced (provided the hospital isn't too busy)! I cannot wait to meet little miss Hailey Sophia! We are all really curious to know if she is going to have as much dark, dark hair as Emma did or if she will look like Kayla and Eli did. I am praying it goes smooth and as quick as possible tomorrow for all of us involved. And here is one last picture of the belly.....

Hmmmm

Guess Kayla is figuring out the camera.......

ABC's and 123's

We have been working with Emma on saying her ABC's and 123's for quite some time now. She picked up counting very fast! You can ask her to count and she can do 1...2...3....5...6...7..8..9...10...lelve. I think that last number is eleven and twelve combined. Which is just too cute! And you can tell her to start and she will say 1, you say 2 and so on and go all the way up to lelve.

We sing her the ABC song and try to get her to sing along....she isn't really interested in doing that. But if you ask her to sing it, she will say "ABC's, next time sing with me"! She does know some of the letters in between and will only show off that talent when Kayla is trying to get her to count with her!

Here lately Emma has become an accident waiting to happen. She fell at Nana's house the other day and skinned both knees. You would have thought the child was crippled by the way she acted. Not only did she walk around saying "ow, ouch" she wouldn't even sit down if it meant her knees would be at a 90 degree angle! She did something to her finger tonight at our favorite ice cream shop to make it bleed! Guess it's time to stock up on band aids!

Another Baby Shower

My mom threw me a baby shower yesterday at her house. It was lots of fun and gave me time to catch up with some friends that I didn't realize just how much I missed them! I haven't exactly been a social butterfly since being put on a "rest" order. Hailey got tons of cute little outfits and is definitely set for the summer time! Now I just have to wash everything and we are good to go.

Emma and her friend Morgan - neither one of them were real interested in smiling for the camera

Kayla and Eli - they spent a good part of the time in the pool in the back yard

My friend Jessica and my sister Ayrah

Pretty Emma

Not the best picture of me and it doesn't really show the belly but here it is!

The cake....see below for a really funny story.....

So we weren't sure what this little baby and flower were made out of. It looked alot like marzipan/fondant. So we pulled it off the cake and inspected. Kayla tried to pull one of the leaves out but it wouldn't break. She licked it and swore it tasted like sugar. She even tried to bite into the leaf. Still wasn't happening. So my mom washes the frosting off the bottom......made in China! turns out to be fake and not edible by any means! But it sure did give us a good laugh!

Lovely Sunday

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in lovely Colorado! Actually the whole weekend was great weather. Saturday we hung out at Nana's house for a bit with Ayrah and Joey and got to check out Grandpa's new '77 Corvette. Of course Eli and Kayla both cannot wait to be taken for rides! The little ones don't get to because Corvette's weren't exactly built for car seats! :)

Yesterday the kids decided that they were going to wash JR's truck and my Blazer. Emma missed out on the truck but I did take her outside in time to help wash my car. She wasn't a big fan of that cold water coming out of the hose but she did love to play with the bubbles out of the bucket! I think I heard an ice cream truck about once an hour throughout the course of the day. One of them came down our street (for some reason a couple of the guys completely pass our street by and only do surrounding streets) so Kayla bought ice cream for her and Eli and the girl from across the street Kaylie. And no, there are no pictures because I had left the camera inside and didn't want a wet kid going inside for it (I couldn't go in because of Emma being out there).

Once we were in for the night Eli was given a chore of vacuuming the living room and dining room. Emma has a walker toy that she apparently thinks is her vacuum too! She was pushing it and making a noise like the real vacuum was doing for Eli. Too cute!

We have a date now!

As I mentioned before, I will be induced at 39 weeks due to my amniotic fluid issue. So the Dr. discussed dates today and told me to check my calender. No need since I am so ready already! We decided on June 27th. Woohoo a month away! I feel alot better actually knowing the date now so I can totally plan everything. Including what to do with my kids while I am in the hospital.

And despite the fact that I am sick, my fluid was at 9 today! I asked the Dr why it fluctuates so much and she basically said it goes with my hydration level.

The Latest

Sorry it has been so long but the last couple of weeks have been, well, long. So here is what has been going on in our house....

Kayla - she had a school play and had a few lines to say. However, she had no voice because she was sick so she couldn't really SAY anything! I got her on camera but since you can't hear her it isn't very fun! Her last day of school was this past Thurs. She is now officially a 7th grader! Geez she is growing up so fast! I haven't seen her report card yet because they mail out the last one to parents.

Eli - Since finishing soccer his life has been able to slow down a bit. He had a field trip to the zoo on Tues that dad got to go on too. Actually, dad got to be a "helper" on the field trip because there weren't enough adults volunteering! And Eli's last day of school was Thurs and he is no officially a 3rd grader! He got good grades on his report card...he just needs to focus on focusing!

Emma - Her vocabulary is growing by the day. She continues to learn new words and it is fun listening to her try to use them like we do. She will try to repeat something and has to do it very slowly but it usually will come out as close to right as you can expect from a 20 month old! The best though was last Sunday Eli, Emma and I were all in the car and naturally had the radio on. The song Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis came on and all of the sudden Emma started singing it! It was too cute because her voice would go high pitched just like Leona's at the right time. Of course I have tried for a repeat performance so Kayla and daddy could hear it but she isn't cooperating!

As far as the pregnancy goes, my fluid level still continues to fluctuate. I have also been sick with laryngitis (along with the 3 kids) and now am sick again with what my Dr says is just sinus pressure but I suspect a sinus infection. I know that all of this being sick is not helping the rest of my body take care of itself. I had a regular ultrasound (as opposed to the quick fluid check) to see how big the baby is. She weighs approx 4lbs 11oz which apparently is totally average. The Dr. was concerned about size because I tend to have bigger babies. I don't think Hailey will be as big as Emma was especially since she will be born a week early. We did learn that she has flipped to be head down so she is at least obeying as far as that goes!

JR and I celebrated our 9th wedding (13 yrs total) anniversary yesterday! Since I wasn't feeling too hot we just went out to dinner and hung out at home the rest of the night.

Potluck/Baby Shower

A couple of the girls at work had a potluck/baby shower for me on Monday. They did a diaper theme....in other words told everyone to bring diapers and what kind and sizes to bring. I thought that was a great idea because one can never have too many diapers for your baby! There was also lots of yummy food and a really yummy cake. Here are a few pictures from the shower.

One of the ladies at work actually made this cake (she gets to make most of the cakes for work because she does such a good job). It is a layer cake with a fudge middle...yummmm and she has to special order the frosting mix from CA because she can't get it here!

Me "wearing" the cake...there is a picture of me doing the same thing with the cake she made for Emma's baby shower

OB Updates

So over the last few appts that I have had my amniotic fluid level has started to fluctuate. It got as high as 8.9cm and then dropped back down to 6ish cm. The good news/bad news part of that is the ultrasound tech can see a good pocket of fluid but she cannot use it to measure because the area is full of umbilical cord. It was pretty cool looking on the monitor to see it. But holy cow is it long! And as if Miss Hailey didn't think she was being stubborn enough, she has decided to hang out in the transverse position. Which means she was laying with her head on my left side and her little booty on my right side. I say was because she decided to move last night.....so that her head is now on my right and her booty is on my left! I can't seem to convince her that she would be more comfortable if she were to go head down or heck even flip breech! I asked the Dr today how long we wait for her to flip the right direction and she said they usually wait until 36 or 37 weeks and then if she still hasn't flipped they will try to do it manually. I am so hoping I don't have to go through that because I have heard it is a pretty painful process! She also said that this tends to happen with multiple pregnancies because the uterus tends to be more relaxed so it isn't "forcing" the baby to be in any particular position. So everyone out there reading this, please start the prayers that this baby flips head down for me!

Sick again

So here is how it started on Wed night......

Emma chose to get up on the chair at around 7 and there she stayed laying down and under a blanket until bedtime at 8. Very unusual for her because she starts going at 6:30am and doesn't quit until 8pm (except for naptimes).

She started running a fever on Thurs and started the coughing on Friday. Now I don't know how many of you have paid any attention to the "troubles" with any over the counter medicine for children under 6 but it basically boils down to the fact that none of the companies chose to run any kind of studies for that age group and instead pulled all those products from the store shelves and left those of us with kids under 6 out in the cold! (no pun intended there!)

I took her to the Dr. on Sat (thank God for extended office hours) and found she has croup. Fun stuff! Eli used to get croup on a regular basis...and even went to the ER once for a breathing treatment...and he had a standing prescription for Prednisone at the pharmacy. The boy couldn't sleep under a window or sleep directly on the floor without waking up with a bark. I did just learn that the same virus that causes croup in little ones is the the one that causes laryngitis in big kids and adults!

Anyways, she probably had her worst day yesterday because she was feeling extra poopy...congestion setting in and eyes starting to goop up. She spent most of the weekend sleeping off and on all day long. And when she wasn't sleeping, she was insisting I hold her. She seems to be a bit better today so I am hoping she is on the uphill swing finally! However, I started feeling sick the other day and now Kayla isn't feeling good again! Both of us have a hoarse voice and scratchy throat. Eli was like that a week or so ago.