Birth story

I'm a little out of it, so I'm sorry if this all doesn't make sense. I just want to write it down before I forget!

The past couple of weeks have been really difficult. Most days were full of painful contractions that I could do nothing about. After I went off of procardia, the contractions got worse and worse. We had endless days wondering if that day would be the day we would welcome our sweet Abby. I spent most of my time cuddling with my sweet Katey, cleaning, or resting. My contractions were so irregular it was hard to know if it was time to go in. Most of the time they were at night so I could just take an ambien and go to bed. Saturday night at around 7 pm the contractions got worse. I was in so much pain most of the contractions brought me to tears. That's when I decided we were really going to try some natural self inducing methods. We tried a massage, pushing pressure points, spicy food, and a few other things I'm sure you can use your imagination ;). At around 11 my contractions went from every 6 minutes back up to 10-13 minutes apart. So I gave up and took an ambien and got a good 8 hours of sleep. The next morning , St. Patricks day, I lost the rest of my mucus plug and this time it had more blood in it. It kind of freaked me out so I called my midwife, who told me it was normal. Right after I got off the phone with her I started to keep track of my contractions. They were just as painful as the night before but still inconsistent. When Ben woke up I told him we were not going to church, but that he had to take me somewhere so I could walk this kid out of me. I was so ready to be done. Laying down, changing positions, drinking water, walking, nothing would change how painful the contractions were. Katey has been so sweet in the past two months. She always could tell when I was having a contraction and she would try to kiss my belly to make it all better. She really was a big supporter of helping mommy feel better. Anyways ben took me to the mall and we walked through only stopping every few steps to breathe through contractions. By the time we got home, I was contracting every 3 and a half to 7 minutes. Still inconsistent but I was either in tears or screaming. Ben kept saying that it was time to go, but I didn't believe him. I was being stubborn because I didn't want to come to the hospital and then have them send me home with no baby. So we came to a compromise that I would call my midwife again. She told me to come down and get checked out. So, expecting to be sent home I had my sweet friend Elaine meet us at labor and deliver to take Katey home with them after church. Ben and I came in and they got me hooked up to the monitors. The nurse checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 5 and 80% effaced. This was around 3 pm. She kept me on the monitors for an hour and then checked me again. I was then dilated to a 6 and 98% effaced. The words lets have a baby really gave me some relief. Even though by this point I was in so much pain I was ready to punch something. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said as soon as possible. After 2 months of pain and suffering I wanted the drugs! It took another hour and a half to get the anesthesiologist into our room, and it took 2 try's to get the epidural in right. Ben helped me so much to get through the contractions, and the epidural. I don't think I could have gone through all of this with out him. When I told the nurse I could still feel the contractions at 545 she seemed to be a little surprised. She wasn't sure if the epidural was working. She decided to check my cervix. By then I was dilated to an 8 and a half and 100% effaced. And Abby's head was in position so that is why I still felt so much pain. I basically went through my whole labor naturally. The epidural only kicked in only for my delivery.

By the time my midwife for here my water had still not broke and I was dilated to a 9 and a half. I still didn't have a catheter and they didn't even have to use pitocin because I had progressed so much and so quickly on my own. Since it was during the day I feel like I was so much more aware this time and able to enjoy some of the good things about labor. I had them put a mirror up so I could watch the baby come out. To my amazement all of the sudden we saw a head with so much dark hair! I only pushed through a few contractions and she was out! She decided to turn from face down to face up in the birth canal so her little face got more bruised then normal. But she was here! And they laid her right on my chest. She calmed down to the sound of my voice and this bonding experience was magical. We are so in love with her.

With in the next half hour we were both cleaned up and everyone left the room to let ben and I have some special time with our new baby. I started to breast feed her and I am so amazed at what a natural thing it can be. With Katey the nurses didn't let me feed her until the next day and they started her on a bottle and binkies with out my permission. This time I have had some great nurses and they have been awesome at respecting my wishes to help get breast feeding established.

I haven't had much sleep, but this has been a great experience!

Ben went to pick Katey up this morning and brought her here. When she walked in she saw my grandma, my sister in law Julie and her two cousins Madison and bailey. I think she was more excited about that than seeing a brand new baby in my arms. When we tried to get her to meet her sister she said no and pushed her away. My sister did that with me too and now we are great friends. So we aren't losing hope yet!

Today Ben went home and got a lot of homework done so I've been at the hospital by myself spending time with my new baby. I have loved it! I've had a couple of visitors and lots of phone calls! I'm really tired but its been a good day.

I do have some pain from the epidural and labor as well as some cramps from my uterus going down. But I didn't tear at all so my pain down there has been bearable. I think my recovery should be fairly easy.

Exclusive photos.

The Y fell off right after I took this picture. The baby kept trying to kick them off my belly. She might just be a little competitive like her daddy. 

Sticking her tongue out to be like mommy

This is Katey telling daddy to Shhhhh!!!!!

Glamor! 

He is such a great daddy!

Whenever she sees us hug, she has to get in on the hug too. Ben and I always feel like there is always something (or in our case a couple of silly girls) between us. 

So Facebook wouldn't let me load these pictures. That is why they are here and not there. I guess only you chosen few who care about blogs get to see them! I cannot believe how big I look though. I am so pregnant! Let me know what you think! I personally am in LOVE with them. Especially with the photographer! Ben took all of these for his art project he has coming up. He has so much talent! I can't wait for him to take pictures of our sweet little girl!

In case you don't already know... I am 37.1 weeks pregnant.... Dilated to a 4 and a half... and 85% effaced That means we should be having this little munchkin at any minute. My contractions are more painful, but they are still around 10-15 minutes apart. They need to get down to 5 before they will let me go to labor and delivery. It really hurts to walk i can tell you that much! I am hoping she will come sometime this week since its Ben's spring break. That way he will be around to help us adjust to the baby and he can take care of Katey until our help arrives. 

Christmas, Katey's birthday, bed rest, life...

Hey there! So lots has been going on! I guess we could start with Christmas.

Christmas. Ben had to work the day before and the day after, so we were not able to go home. But we had a lot of fun making our own family traditions. We had a wonderful bread bowl and soup Christmas eve dinner with candle light, which Katey had way too much fun blowing the fire out. After dinner we let Katey open up her first gift of Christmas, which was Elmo pjs. She loved them! I am loving the age she is at because we see so much more excitement in her! She seems like she is starting to understand things more. The next day was full of opening gifts, smiles, laughter, movie time (Brave-We love that one!) And lots of baking and cooking! We had a dinner full of appetizers, mashed potatoes, gravy, ham, rolls, salad, and for some reason I can't remember what we had for dessert, but I am sure it was yummy.
The next day we had good friends come into town to see us, because a friend of ours got married in California and they were all on their way out there. We were sad we couldn't go with them, but we had plans to go up north to see our families up north. We had a great time with them! We had game nights and got to see all of the people we care about. It was an exhausting trip, but totally worth it. Our friends, Bret and Bekah asked us to house sit for them since they were in California, and it was fun to stay in a new place with just our little family. They have the cutest little house. I am so happy they found a house that fits them perfectly.
 While we were up North we explored the campuses of Utah State, and U of U to get a feel of where Ben would like to go to school fall semester. Both places seemed great, so it really was hard to make our decision. After a lot of research, prayer, and pondering we believe the U is where we need to be. He would like to go into social work or something medical to work with behavior. He would make a great counselor and we are really excited to see how the next few years of school will go.
Katey's birthday was awesome! I had so much fun planning it and putting it together. I didn't really want to go with a theme because I wanted her to just be able to help out as much as she wanted with it. I set her loose in all a dollar and she found some cute plates and decorations. We made some cute cupcakes and had friends over face book We played some fun games, opened presents, and just had a ball! It was so fun and we are so glad some of our friends around here were able to come. I kind of already did an overload on pictures on facebooking, so I won't post any here.
My pregnancy has been really difficult. I don't know why, but my body just doesn't accept pregnancy like I wish it would. With Katey, I threw up all the time, every day until she was born. Around 35 weeks I started getting a lot of contractions and started hospital trips. We made it to 37 and a half weeks before she was born... This time around has been a different story. I haven't been as sick as I was with Katey. I did throw up, but not nearly as much as I did with Katey. My second trimester was really great! I did feel a little crummy at times, but I was still able to do everything I wanted to do. Go to school, keep up with the house and Katey, and still find time to do fun things with the hubby. I started to get Braxton hicks contractions a couple of weeks before Christmas. For some reason I started to feel like that wasn't a good sign. With Katey the Braxton hicks didn't come until 28 weeks. Over the weeks they were getting stronger and stronger and some were getting painful. They were really starting to worry Ben and I. We mentioned it to my midwife this last Wednesday and she decided to check me to see if anything was happening. We found out I was dilated to a 1 and 65% effaced. That night I had some stronger contractions, so I got a hold of her and she prescribed me some medications. We went to get them, trying to avoid going in to labor and delivery. My insurance refused to pay for them though. Something is wrong with Medicaid lately. They want to make sure you actually need something before they pay for it. So I called my midwife and she said to just go home and get some rest and she would see me in the morning. The next day we went in to get a steroid shot to help the babies lungs develop in case she does come early. I was then dilated to a 2. The doctors office called medicaid, and tried to figure out how I can get those pills. The pills are actually a blood pressure medication, but they are suppose to help reduce contractions as well. Even after all of the arguing with my case worker for medicaid, my prescription was delayed. That night the contractions were still coming and getting closer together. I had 5 in an hour. I finally called the pharmacy and told them to just let us pay cash for a few days supply. I took the medicine, but I was still having contractions, and the baby wasn't moving as much. It got us a little worried. Ben made me get in the car and we drove to labor and delivery. My midwife was there doing a delivery and she checked me and found out I had dilated another centimeter and I was 70% effaced. Not a good sign. They decided They wanted me to stay hooked up to the monitors over night. My sweet husband took our 2 year old home to get some sleep, even though he probably only got 3 or 4 hours. Over the last 3 and a half years of marriage we have never spent the night apart. This was the first night and it was rough on both of us. I know that is silly to complain about, but when you are use to a warm body next to you it is hard to sleep! I woke up every half hour and had to put myself back to bed... He said he stayed up way too late playing x box and woke up quite often through the night worried he would have to rush back to the hospital at any minute. I know Katey slept a little, but not as long as she usually does. That morning the doctor above my midwife came in to my room and woke me up around 730. He decided to check me to see if I had made any progress or if the medicine was working. I was still at a 3 and 70% effaced, so he sent me home and said I now have to see him because I am high risk. I am also sentenced to bedrest. No lifting, no cleaning, no getting up unless i have to use the bathroom, shower, make a quick snack, or move from the couch to my bed. Let me tell ya, life is fun for all of us. Ben actually got laid off a couple of weeks ago. It was a big surprise for us because they had just promoted him. But now that we are having pregnancy issues, we are seeing this as a blessing so he can still have some income from unemployment, focus on school, and take care of Katey, the house and I. He doesn't think he is doing a great job, but he really is! We are feeling so blessed to have all of these wonderful people around us helping in any way they can. With meals, taking Katey for a few hours, doing my dirty dishes, or just calling, texting, facebooking  coming over to give Ben and I blessings, and just stopping by to chat. We feel so much love and we are overwhelmed by how much people care. It has been wonderful to see so much kindness!
We know these next few weeks are going to be rough, but we feel confident that everything will be okay. The baby seems to be doing great with her movements, and her heartbeat is doing wonderful. It is just my body that is having issues.... It is hard to imagine doing this again after all of this. But we know the Lord loves us and he will guide us into doing whatever we need to do. My contractions have slowed down, I still get a couple every hour, even with rest and more so when my medication is starting to wear off. Katey, Ben and I have all caught colds as well.... This morning we were all feeling so miserable! It is nice to have some cuddle time with my cute family, but I hate that we are all sick.
Ben recently bought me a nice camera that I am always so excited to use! I have been having a blast taking pictures. He also kind of got it for him, since he is in an art class that he will be using it for. He is going to take my Maternity photos. I am so excited to see him work his creative magic. So we will plenty of awesome pictures coming soon! Stay tuned!