Baby #2 Is Here!

I have been pretty absent from our blog, that's for sure. I haven't even updated the blog with the fact that I have been pregnant! But, welcoming a baby to the family definitely calls for an update.

So a few quick words on the pregnancy:

We found out we were pregnant a week or so before leaving on a family vacation to Newport Beach and Disneyland! Luckily I was still feeling good for the trip, but I had to skip out on all of the adult/awesome rides on our Disneyland day. That was alright though because we spent ALL DAY doing stuff Jennika would like. It was so awesome watching Jennika's excitement while we were there. I LOVED IT!

Towards the end of the trip I started feeling crappy and then I felt crappy until about 18 weeks. Throwing up every evening and not being able to leave the couch all day was really terrible. We survived though! And that's pretty much all I can say about that. :)

The second half of pregnancy was a ton better. I felt good and baby was really nice to me! We found out we were having a girl in mid-July... Jennika gets a sister! So much for buying all the "gender-neutral" stuff when we had Jennika. Should have just committed to all girl stuff! We love pink!

At about my 34 week appointment Dr. Winward wanted to check on baby's growth since my belly measurements were always a little behind normal. I had a growth ultrasound and we saw that baby was measuring a little small in her belly and my amniotic fluid was around a 9. Relatively low, but nothing to be too worried about. Baby also had a slow-ish heart rate though so doc said I needed to do Non-Stress Tests each week.

The NSTs were good... no issues there. At my 35 week appointment doc did another ultrasound to check on the fluid levels. Surprisingly it was up to 11! That was good! At this point though, because of baby's smaller size and restricted growth we knew we were looking at baby coming earlier than her December 9th due date. (Jennika's birth story was very similar to this so far, so knowing the numbers from Jennika's growth ultrasounds made us pretty sure this baby would be coming soon.)

I went into my 36 week appointment on Friday, the 13th. Dane was home from work because he wasn't feeling well so he stayed with Jennika while I went to the doc.

In my exam, Dr. Winward checked baby's heart rate, which sounded good and she said I was 2 cm dilated ... but that baby was still breech. I'd been hoping for weeks that she would flip, but her bum was lodged pretty far down with her feet up by her head. She wasn't going anywhere, especially with less fluid to move around in. Dr. Winward said "you've got to have a pool to do a backflip!"

After my exam we went to do an ultrasound to check on the fluid levels again. Dr. Winward checked all over my belly and was only able to measure 4 units of fluid. Down from 11 last week! So Crazy! Well, anything less than 5 means it's time for baby to be born. I knew that from Jennika's birth so I was starting to freak out a little bit!

Dr. Winward said she was going to call down to Labor & Delivery and let them know I was coming. I asked if I could wait a day and try to flip baby doing handstands and whatnot, but she said no. ;) While we were waiting to hear back from L&D, I started calling people. (It took awhile for the hospital to be willing to admit me since I was 36 weeks. They had to make sure an induction was medically necessary from a 2nd doc.)

I called Dane first. He was shocked, like I was, but I could tell he was so excited! He was just talking to me earlier that day about how he couldn't wait to hold baby girl and meet her finally! And I told him earlier that I couldn't have a baby that day because I didn't sleep well that night! Well, it was baby time and Dane was in charge of packing a bag for me at the hospital. I just kept texting him things to pack as I thought of them. He told me later he was a mess trying to get everything together. (That was me when Jennika was born! Ha!)

Next I called my mom and dad. I talked to my dad and he said they would head over to watch Jennika. They met me at the hospital first so Dane and my dad could give me a blessing.

Next phone call was to work to let them know I would be taking the next week off. Yay!

Well, I got all set up at in my hospital room. I had to go do a special ultrasound with the maternal fetal medicine doctor so he could basically confirm what Dr. Winward saw. I asked him if it was possible to do a version (flip baby from the outside). He checked out the space he had to work with and said no. :( All the space that wasn't being taken up by baby or the 4 units of fluid was umbilical cord. So there was literally nowhere for baby to flip.

So I was off to have a c-section. I was pretty worried about it. I hadn't heard too many good stories about c-sections. And Jennika's birth was so great, I was hoping I could just duplicate her birth. I had about 4-5 hours to think about it because I had to wait to have the surgery 8 hours total since I ate last.

That time went by SUPER fast. I thought I would sleep or something, but nope! They wheeled me back to the operating room at 8:00pm. I got my spinal put in. Aside from it being a little uncomfortable for a minute, it wasn't too bad. The numbness felt so great! I still can't get over how awesome anesthesia is when you've been pregnant for months and months.

Dane came in once I was all set up. I told him I didn't want him to look over the curtain because it would so gross! He was pretty interested to see though haha. Not much I could do to stop him! I'm glad I didn't because he took some pictures that are pretty great and awesome to see (if you can look past all the blood).

Dr. Winward and Dr. Benham came in at 8:30 to start the surgery. Aside from some pushing and pressure, I had no idea what they were doing! They were so chill, it was pretty funny to listen to them  and their tone as they worked. After 10 minutes, baby girl was born! It took her a minute to start crying, but once she started, she didn't stop for a while! She had a really strong scream and was breathing fine. We were a little worried about her since she was 4 weeks early, but the NICU staff on hand checked her out and she was perfect! She weighed it at 5 lbs 8 oz, which was a bit bigger than predicted. And she was 18 inches long. Not to mention, she was so beautiful! She has the most perfect face and the cutest nose! We fell in love with her instantly!

We spent the next day and a half at the hospital. I love the hospital stay haha! Everyone is taking care of us and the food is so good! Baby Lily did great and was eating really well. I was feeling really good too! I was up and moving better after Lily's birth than with Jennika's, which was a nice surprise.

We are so grateful for all the help we got from family and friends while we were at the hospital. I didn't have to worry about anything the whole time we were gone! We're so blessed to have had a healthy and successful delivery and a healthy baby girl. We still can't believe Lily is here so early and that everything went so well. Blessed doesn't even begin to cover it!

Valentines 2014

For Valentine's, we helped Jennkia make a finger paint picture for her grandparents.  I saw the idea on Pinterest and they turned out really cute! Jennika lost interest after a little while, so we had to hurry through it a little bit. But, she did really good with it! Only tried to eat the paint once. :)

For Valentine's weekend, I thought we would just celebrate at home and do something fun, but Dane decided last minute that he wanted to take us to Las Vegas! He got us a room at THEHotel at Mandalay Bay. It was probably the nicest hotel rooms we've stayed in. It had a living room and a separate bedroom. That was a nice surprise... we didn't have to share a room with Jennika. Usually when we go to hotels with her we all have to go to bed at the same time and be SUPER QUIET since we're sharing a room. But not this time! The room even had 1.5 bathrooms! You know, for all our guests. ;) Pretty crazy!

We went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and walked around the Town Center outdoor mall for a little bit. When we were done there we went back to the hotel. We took the long walk down to where the Shark Reef Aquarium was at and decided to check it out! It was fun to walk through and see Jennika get so excited about everything. She loved running around from one tank to the next. We all had a good time there.

The next morning we woke up and went to breakfast with Drew and Clarissa and the kiddos at the Santa Fe Station. Their breakfast buffet is seriously the best! And, if we would have remembered our card to get it, it would have only been $5 each! But we paid $7, which is still worth it for all the awesome food. The only bad part was that it was so crowded! We waited in line forever to get in and then the lines to get food were way long too!So that was kind of a bummer, but we still all got PLENTY to eat.

Then we all went to the Premium Outlet Stores and walked around for a while and shopped. It was way busy there also, but I loved all the stores they had! We're definitely going back... but maybe next time on a weekday. We found Jennika this way cute dress for church for $3 at OshKosh and Dane got a new pair of pants.

Jennika was getting restless in her stroller and only wanted to run away so we wrapped up our trip to the mall and headed home. Awesome baby girl slept the whole way home! She's the best. We had a lot of fun getting away for the weekend and seeing Drew and Clarissa! It was a fun trip!

Jennika Update Time!

I keep thinking that I'll remember all of Jennika's cuteness and milestones forever... or at least until I feel like writing them down. But when it hit me that I already don't remember how old she was when she started crawling, I realized it was time to start making time to write it all down! So here's a big/random list of updates about Jennika:

• She sucks on her two fingers all. the. time. I have pictures of her doing it since she was a few weeks old, so this has been happening for a while. It's the cutest! She usually sucks on her fingers when she's chilling out watching tv or when she's sleepy.

• She got her first tooth the week of her first birthday. We were wondering if she was ever going to get any teeth!
• She was [probably] 8 or 9 months when she first started crawling. Before that she just rolled everywhere she wanted to go.
• She started walking when she was 16 months old... right around Christmas. 
• Her 2nd tooth came in ON HALLOWEEN. She was not a happy camper for a few days. All the pictures I have of her from Halloween she just looks so miserable. 

• She has consistently taken 2 naps everyday at 10:30 and 3:30 from the time she was 6-7 months until 15 months. After that nap time changed a little bit.

                                      

• She is the best sleeper! I was worried after the first 6 months of her life when I was still getting up 3 - 4 times to feed her still. I thought I would never sleep again! But ever since she turned 6 months old she has slept through the night (8 - 8) every night. 
• She now fights me at bed time. Not because she doesn't want to sleep, but because I don't put her in her crib and leave quick enough. I know... parents-of-a-good-sleeper problems.
• This is a weird one, but we still always change her diaper and get her dressed on her changing table. I would have thought we'd outgrow it, but meh. I guess not!
• Jennika has been in the 1st percentile for weight her whole life. No rolls here!

• She's always worn her clothes for a really long time before growing out of them. For the longest time she was still wearing 3 month stuff. She's now in this weird in between stage of clothes. The 12 month shirts are too short, the 18 month shirts are gowns. We pull it off with leggings... I think. :)
• She loves dogs and she'll woof whenever she sees one. She really started getting into them 3 or 4 months ago. We showed her 101 Dalmatians on Netflix and she loved it! She was sitting on Dane's lap watching it and every time she saw a dog she would start "woofing" and jumping up and down. It was awesome :)
• She can tell us what a dog, cow, lion, bear, snake, monkey and cat all say. And when we ask her what a Jennika says she plays/says peekaboo!
• Right now her favorite word is NO and we hear it all the time. (Crossing fingers that she grows out of this very soon! Or at least learns a few more words to mix in there with it.)
• She loves being outside! She likes to play in the dirt and rocks. She also really likes exploring at the park. 

• I'll admit it, she LOVES playing on our iPad. And she's really good at the games she plays. She loves playing on Endless Reader, putting together puzzles and listening to "I Am a Child of God". It blows my mind how good she is at using it. 
• Her favorite show, by far, is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. She could watch him forever I think! 
• 
• She loves going to get the mail with dad. When he gets home from work he'll pick her up and she'll pick up the mail key and off they go! It's a nice 30 second break for me :). 
• Her favorite food is probably macaroni and cheese. She also really likes apples, peaches, applesauce and cereal. 

• She doesn't like mashed potatoes. So weird!
• She's seen Despicable Me 2 and Frozen at the movie theater so far. 
• My favorite is when she blows kisses and gives kisses to people! 

• She got to go to nursery for the first time 2 weeks ago just to try it out and she was a natural. She loved all the toys and treats and kids to play with! She definitely didn't care if mom left. :( 
• She used to do so well going shopping and out to eat with us but now that she can walk she gets super restless in the cart. Going shopping takes a lot more planning and strategizing now. 
• She loves her aunts and uncles and cousins. Mostly it's the attention that she loves, but she loves them too. ;)

 

• She loves her grandparents and always gives them kisses! She especially loves playing with each grandma a few times a week when they babysit. 

• She loves reading all of her books! She calls them "Bah's". We read "Are You My Mother" and these cute little finger puppet books that Grandma Fergie gave her a lot.

We sure love you Jennika!!!

Sad Weekend!

We survived! Last Friday (the last and busiest day of the quarter for me at school) Jennika started throwing up. Out of no where! I swear she was healthy healthy waking up, eating breakfast, then BAM she's sick. She didn't eat/keep anything down/in for 3 days! It was pretty hard to watch such a tiny girl look so sick. She basically sat around on the couch everyday watching shows, puking, pooing, repeat, repeat, repeat.

We finally took her in to the doctor on Monday night after she threw up again. We learned not to let her drink any more milk... just water. And we also got her some Culturelle packets to add to her water. It seemed to do the trick because by Tuesday afternoon she was acting like her usual - but much hungrier - self again! Thankfully she's doing so much better now. She's just eating a ton trying to make up for lost time I guess.

Oh, and to make last weekend even crappier, Dane and I both caught it at the same time as well. I haven't been that sick in a long time. Those stinking germs are the worst! I'm glad we're all feeling so much better now.