Hello world...

She's here!

Lylah Grace

was born on March 21, 2011 at 7:48 pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 5 oz., and 18 inches long. She's the cutest little thing and we just adore her!

Here's the story:

So the hospital was supposed to call us as soon as they had a delivery room available Monday morning. They told us it could be as early as 6 or 7 am. I didn't sleep very well the night before, I was so anxious! I finally got up at about 7 and decided to take a shower. Kyle said he'd answer the phone if they called. But they didn't. He and Lucy slept until about 9. We ate breakfast and relaxed. We got dressed nice and packed to go. We waited and waited. We played with Lucy's new kitchen she got for her birthday. We read books. Finally, just after 11, they called! We headed down to the hospital. My mom met us in the parking lot to pick up Lucy, and Kyle and I headed in.

(here is Lucy, all ready to go):

We got into the room and situated. It took about an hour to get me hooked up to everything, and started on the Pitocin. We waited for a few hours, and I was VERY slowly progressing. Baby's head had been blocking the opening, so it was incredibly painful when the midwife tried to check where I was dilated and effaced to. She also wanted to break my water to get things moving, but it was hurting so bad. Plus, I was starting to get ornery and uncomfortable, so I asked for the epidural. Those things are heaven sent I tell you! I felt so much better. They broke my water and then I was able to nap off and on for a few hours. I had monitors hooked to me to keep track of baby's heart beat and my contractions. Around 6 pm, my midwife started to get a little concerned because baby's heart rate was dipping (same as when I delivered Lucy!). I was fully dilated and effaced, but not feeling the urge to push yet. But she wanted me to try anyway, just to see. Sure enough, baby's heart rate would go down after each contraction, and it was worse when i would push. Poor little thing! So they decided to call the on-call doctor and have him help deliver. He was concerned enough that he decided to use the forceps. It all went pretty fast after that and she came out after I pushed about 6 times! She had had a bowel movement during labor, so there were nurses there to check her out and make sure she was okay. They weighed her and cleaned her up a tiny bit, and I got a few stitches from some slight tearing. Then everybody left and I got to nurse her.

After we were done, Kyle went down with the baby to the nursery to get cleaned up and checked out. Lucy got there just in time to see them give her a bath.

Lucy just watched for a minute, then she started laughing and said "my baby sister?". Cute!

Kyle and the baby were down in the nursery for a long time. I had to wait in the room by myself for ever, even though all our family was there. They were all down watching the action, and I still couldn't move because of the epidural. :)

When they finally brought her back, the nurse came in and said she needed to explain a few things. She said that the baby had a heart murmur, which is pretty common and generally heals it's self. She said she also had really low blood sugar levels. She said they had given her a bottle of formula, but if I hadn't gone up when they re-tested it in an hour they'd have to put her on an iv while they tried to get it up. That would mean she'd have to go in the Level 2 Nursery-the NICU. Well, it actually went down when they retested, so they admitted her in. Poor baby. She did get her own fancy little area:

(then relocated to here:)

Poor little thing looked so uncomfortable. Look at all the things she's plugged in to:

Sad, huh?

It definitely made it a different hospital experience than I had with Lucy. I don't think I got out of bed (expect to go to the bathroom) the whole time I was at the hospital with Lucy. But Lylah couldn't leave her little bed, so I had to go to her every couple of hours to feed to. Plus, we had to pick 4 people that were allowed to go into the Level 2 Nursery (with picture i.d.), and they were the only ones who got to hold her. And Lucy couldn't go in at all. Needless to say, we had barely any visitors the whole time we were there. Pretty much just our moms, and that was it. We did get to know and love some of Lylah's nurses.

This one, Kaye, was our favorite. She was so great!

(Quick side note: Lucy came and saw us a couple times a day with my mom. She was excited about the baby and was having a good time at my parent's house, but she was super mad at me. She wouldn't look at or talk to me until we were headed home from the hospital! I felt so bad!)

Anyway, we finally got her blood sugar up enough (and for enough time) for her to come out of the L2 Nursery about 2 hours before we had to go home, so we didn't have to leave her at the hospital! I was so glad! Here are a few more of her cute little pictures at the hospital.

She's exactly two weeks old, and I can't believe it! She seems like she's been a part of our family forever. Lucy adores her baby sister, and is so sweet to her. We've had a few rough days, but we're doing great and loving getting to know this sweet new little lady!

4 days...

So, I've been planning on the baby being 1-2 weeks late. I figured it was most likely going to be that way, so why not just plan on that?

Well, great news! I went for my check up on Wednesday and everything looked great. So I decided to just *ask* about inductions. And she said they'll do it as early as 39 weeks if I wanted to! Heck yes!

The nurse called me a few hours later and told me it had been scheduled for Saturday-GAH! I thought they were going to do it on my due date, but okay! We're pretty much ready for her, and I would figure out a way to work out my school stuff.

Well, sadly, the nurse called me back this morning and said that she actually wasn't allowed to schedule them on the weekend, so we'd have to do Monday instead. Only two extra days, but a little bit of a bummer.

But that means that Baby Sister's birthday is going to be March 21, 2011!

I can't wait to meet her! Now we just need to decide on a name. :)

How to get cheap diapers.

Okay, I have 2 people interested in how to get diapers from Amazon, so here it how you do it!

First, go here to Amazon Mom. Amazon Mom is a totally free program through Amazon with lots of sweet benefits! Among those benefits are 15% a ton of their baby stuff, and a free trial to AmazonPrime--which gives you free shipping! Sign up for Amazon Mom.

Once you're signed up, do a simple Amazon search for "diapers". It will come up with a lot of stuff. Go to the left side of the screen and look at your sorting options. You will see one that says "Subscription Options". Under that, you can check "Subscribe and Save". Do that.

Then you can scroll through and see all you diaper options. "Subscribe and Save" is an Amazon Mom deal that gives you an additional 30% off the price already listed. You can end up getting a box of diapers for $0.15-$0.20 per diaper! And free 2 day shipping to your house with Amazon Prime! I just got two boxes of newborn diapers delivered to my house for $23!

Make sure that after you receive your diapers, you go back on an unsubscribe from the "Subscribe and Save", unless you want them to send you diapers every month or two.

Extra Ways to Save:

Amazon will let you use any additional coupons on your purchases. Almost every issue of Parenting: The Early Years magazine has a 20% off coupon in it. And, you can get a three year subscription on their site right now for $12. Sweet!

And, if the diapers are already on sale, pick those ones, because the 30% off is off the lowest price!

You can also check this blog from time to time-they update it with additional sales and deals on Amazon.com diapers!

Also note:

This is a really good way to buy diapers. However, right now Costco has a coupon for their Kirtland Signature brand diapers. The cost of their diapers online is $50 per box, but at our warehouse they're only $35. So with the coupon, Costco diapers ended up being $0.15 for Lucy's size and $0.13 for Baby Sister's size. So make sure you check!

Hope that helps!

Almost there...

Baby Sister is due in 2 weeks! (March 25th)

(just in case that's the only reason you're here)

Well, I can see the end in sight (barely. past this enormous belly). One week from now, I will be done with my internship and everything related to that class for school. In two weeks, I will (hopefully!) be done editing all these pictures and we'll be ready to welcome Baby Sister to the world!

I probably should add that, to be honest, I don't think it will be until about three weeks from today that we actually meet this little one. I'm just sure I'll be late again. I was 8 days overdue with Lucy, and not a single contraction. I think it's my destiny. I'm okay with it. I'm not ready for her quite yet. :)

I went to the doctor's this week, and I am dilated to a 1. Yay. We'll see how next week's visit goes.

Do any of you mommies out there buy your diapers on Amazon.com? You can get rockin' deals if you know what to do! Would anyone be interested on me writing up a "tutorial" on how to do it? Leave me a comment if you're interested.

Other than that, we're pretty much just trying to get everything done before this baby comes. I think we're going to make it.

Anyway, have a good week!

Everyday funnies...

Baby Sister is due in 3 weeks! (March 25th)

(just in case that's the only reason you're here)

Lucy just gets more and more funny every day. She's totally hit her terrible twos--oh boy! It is killing me! She's such a stinker, but such a hoot too! Here are some of her recents:

• Lucy throws MAJOR fits when she doesn't get her way. She runs around in circles screaming, then lowers herself to the floor (carefully) and cries. I think it's kinda funny. I'm a bad mom.
• Lucy loves music. Her favorite song right now is "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mis, sung by Susan Boyle. She asks to listen to the "princess song" every time we get in the car. Over and over. And she sings along loudly, with the vibrato. She's very talented.
• Lucy still only calls her dad "honey". It's super great.
• Lucy is super confused about who "baby sister" is. Right now, she thinks we mean her new cousin, baby Tommy. She uses the names "baby sister" and "baby Tommy" interchangeably. She is in for a BIG surprise.
• Lucy mostly talks in third person these days: "Lucy's toy!", "Lucy have treat?", etc.
• Lucy is still in love with her "binkia" (binky). But she's only allowed to have it at resting time. That doesn't stop her from sneaking into her room and somehow getting in out of her crib. Problem: she can't help but come show me how naughty she's being. Immediately. :)
• Lucy is really interested in potty training, but I think she'll have to go right back into diapers when the shock of baby sister arrives. So I'm not willing to put the effort into training right now. But almost every night when Kyle comes home, Lucy will have him help her go sit on the potty so she can go. I should just do it.
• I have trained Lucy well. She goes NUTS in the shoe section of stores. Like, out-of-control nuts.
• This morning in the car on the way to my internship, Lucy reminded me that we forgot to have family prayers. I told her we could have one now, and she could say it (with my help). She really liked that, because we then had to say 4 more prayers in the car on the way to grandma's house. They all included things like "Ellie be at grandma's", "play with toys at grandma's", "baby Tommy have a binkia" and "Uncle Travy" (Kyle's little brother who is on a mission. That one was complete with my made-up sign for Travis, an "L" on her forehead.
• Every time Lucy looks in the mirror she says "I'm so cute!". Yes you are, darlin'.
• Kyle always empties his pockets onto his nightstand at the end of the day. Usually, he has a few coins, so he's got quite the collection there now. Lucy is obsessed with dad's "moneys". She carries them around and hides them, then proudly shows Kyle where to find them. Lucy will also take my wallet if she can find it, looking for moneys.
• Lucy will literally (and has) sing the "Fun to do, to do, to do" song for a full hour. At first it's easy to think of things that are fun to do, but then she starts needing help. She'll say "Fun to do...hmmm....fun to do..." until I give her a suggestion. Basically anything is fun to do when you're singing about it.
• Lucy loves to have her picture taken now. The other day, she found one of my newborn props (a rug). She set it by the window, then ran over to me and said "take Lucy's picture! Ka-ching!".
• If mom's too busy, Lucy will set up photo shoots for her toys and take pictures of them with her pretend camera.
• 

Lucy "having a rest" so that she could have her "binkia".

Having a picnic with Dora.