Comings and Goings

Life has been CRAZY!!  Adding a fourth to the mix was more of a shocker to me than I thought.  I had heard if you can handle 3 kids, any others will be a breeze.  They forgot to tell me that when you have older kids that have to be here and there all day long, it will be a little harder.  Before, we could just hunker down and adjust.  This time kids had to be to school and to soccer practice and be picked up and to soccer games.  It was a little harder to adjust.  Not to mention having to wake her up to put her in the car seat and go.
We survived though and are adjusting.  Now if we could just get little miss to be happy with life.  The poor little thing has not been a happy baby.  She has been my hardest, as a matter of fact.  We are trying to figure out what is bothering her with some success.  She is still pretty fussy.  It is a good thing she is so cute or who knows what we would do with all her screaming.

Little Miss is a MONTH old!

Through it all, schools ended.  DD#2 completed Kindergarten and is so excited to be moving on to the 1st grade.  She did so well this year and had great marks at the end of school.

DD#2 loved her teacher Mrs. L. We loved her as well.

DD#2 was finished a few days before DD#1 because of Kindergarten testing.  But soon enough, DD#1 was finishing her 2nd grade year.  Crazy!  I remember 2nd grade so well.  It wasn't that long ago, right?  DD#1 did very well this year in school as well.  She loved her teacher, Ms. S, and she improved so much this year.  Ms. S was perfect for her.

DS finsished preschool as well.  This is how he spent the extra time he had with DD#3.  He is a such a good big brother.

Dad has been the pillow many times.  He also gets little miss to sleep so well.

Little Miss turns 2 months old!

 DH was so excited to take DS to the Fathers and Sons this year.  DS was also so excited to go as well.  The morning of he came up to me and said that dad had told him last night that he only had one sleep until he could go.  He was done with his one sleep and was ready to go.  Unfortunately, he had to wait for Dad to get off from work.  An hour before dad was expected home, his tummy started to hurt.  We gave him his medicine and he was still saying he was going to go.  He fell asleep waiting for dad to get ready.  Well.....they made it about 5 mins before they had to turn around because he was too sick to go.  He was so sad the next morning.  Poor little guy.

Soccer 2012

All three kids decided they wanted to play soccer this year.  So we signed them up and started attending soccer games 9 days after Little Miss was born.  We have one more week.  We only had one week where all three of them had a game at the same time.  Luckily, Grandpa and Grandma O came to the rescue and we tagged teamed to see everyone.  They have all done really well.  We are glad to be able to have our Saturdays back, though.

 =

We've got a lot more fun things planned for this summer.

She's Here!!

Our little peanut arrived on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 11:37 AM. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz and was 21 inches long. She has a ton of black hair and looks a lot like DD#1 with DD#2 color and complexion.

Wednesday I didn't feel well. I planned on taking the kids to Trafalga, but got really sick as the day went on. I called and bowed out of Activity Days and relaxed the rest of the day.

Thursday morning I woke up to DH getting ready for work. I really needed to use the restroom. When I got up I felt a small gush. I didn't think much of it and thought maybe I went a little too long. As I was getting ready to go back to bed, DH asked what was wrong. I told him what happened and waved it off. He said that maybe it was my water breaking. I have had awful experiences with trying to figure out if my water really does break. I waited to see if it would happen again. A few minutes later it happened again. I told him that maybe it might be time. I just wanted to make sure though. The kids started waking up. We didn't have it planned as to where they would go if I was early. We just had everything set up for Monday. We called our neighbors downstairs and she had an appointment. We called our moms but said to wait to come if it actually had broken. So we decided to get our kids ready and take them with us. We gave them their "Big Sister" and "Big Brother" shirts. I was planning on putting them in their Easter baskets.

I took a shower and got myself and the kids ready. We finally headed out pretty sure that this was the real deal and that this little girl was coming today.

We got to L&D and they put us back in a triage room and checked me. Sure enough, water had ruptured. They were keeping me and a Csection was in the making.

They started prepping me and I was having contractions consistently. I had had contractions for the week leading up to this. It was very different than any of my other births. So waiting for the anesthesiologist became uncomfortable. The kids did really well. Dad had a ton of nerves and wasn't so patient. I, surprisingly, was very calm. It was probably the blessing that I got the Sunday before.

My doctor was there and wanted to get back soon. We had to wait for the anesthesiologist. I guess there were a lot of women in labor. The nurse came back after about and hour and said that there were two girls crying so they needed their epidurals and I would wait some more. I asked the nurse if I should start crying so that he would come and get our show on the road. :)

Both Grandmas showed up and the kids were thrilled. Grandma O was so very excited! It was her 61st birthday and she was more than happy to share her wonderful day with this new little grandbaby.

We finally got to see the anesthesiologist and I told him about my concerns. He was willing to do what I needed to make it as comfortable as possible. Dad got ready and we were off to the operating room to meet this new little girl of ours.

The spinal was okay. It seemed to be more painful than I remember. I think he had to start over because I wasn't quite numb from the lidocaine. The surgery started and I wasn't nearly as tired as I had been before. I was quite alert. DH kept asking if I was okay. I was fine and calm. I watched through the little light at the top to see if I could see anything. My dr. and his partner chatted about names and we laughed about some of the names that I have had as a teacher. It was nice to interact with them. It made it seem like I was part of this and not just another surgery for them. Just before they pulled her out they asked DH if he wanted to stand up and watch. The nurse then looked at me and asked if I wanted to watch. I was shocked! I had never been able to see any of my children born. They put up a mirror and I watched as they pulled out sweet little girl out of my tummy. It was AMAZING!! When they did pull her out, I made a huge sighing noise. It was like she was finally pulled out of my ribs and I could breathe again. A very strange feeling. They whisked her away and DH went over to take pictures and to be with her. I finished watching them stitch me up. Very interesting to me.

When the nurse called out 7 lbs. 2 oz. I was so shocked. She was our littlest. DD#1 was our littlest at that point weighing in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. I thought maybe they had made a mistake. DH took a picture of the scale, so I guess I can't argue that. :)

We got back to the room and all was well. Little Miss swallowed some amniotic fluid and was having a tough time. They kept watching her to see if they needed to take her to the NICU, but she slowly started to breathe better. She sure was spitty though the next few days. You could tell that she didn't feel well and cried when someone touched or moved her. It was a rough two days with a pretty fussy baby. Eventually, she felt better and began to be calm. We spent 4 days in the hospital loving this little girl all day long. My mom took our kids to Delta to enjoy the Easter festivities.

We are so in love with this little girl. The kids are in love as well. DS comes up all the time and tells me that she is so beautiful and that she is the cutest baby ever.

We came home on Monday and have loved having her with us. She sleeps a lot and eats a lot more. If you ask DS what his baby sister does, he replies, "eats, sleeps, poops and cries"! He wanted his job to be taking out her diapers to the garbage can. Well...this little girl poops a TON!

She has gone through 3 packages of diapers in 10 days. That is 96 diapers. A few days after being excited to take out diapers, DS asked if he could have another job. :)

I am in awe about this whole pregnancy and birth. Remember my dream? I was so worried I would go too early and it wouldn't happen in April. I sighed a huge sigh of relief when it hit midnight on April 1st. It was my April baby. Then she came on my mom's birthday. My mom made the comment that my dad must have sent her as a birthday present to my mom. I believe that as well. When we were in our room, one of the hospital workers came in and wanted us to fill out her birth certificate. She said there were some questions they ask, that possibly we couldn't remember, one being the day of my first prenatal visit. I definitely could remember that as it was my dad's birthday. So many special things have happened that helps me realize my dad did have a hand in getting this little girl to our family. I am sure he had a hand in getting all of our children here for us.

Elder Scott at this last General Conference talked about receiving personal revelation. What an special experience it was for me to hear that we can receive revelation in our dreams. How appropriate that it was discussed a week and a half before my "April baby" entered this world. I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that allowed me to find peace 10 1/2 years ago when we were struggling so hard to get a family here. I needed the assurance that our children awaited coming down to be with us. Growing up, whatever my dad said, I listened to and obeyed. What a fitting person to come and help me realize that our children were on their way.

You can read Elder Scott's talk here. But let me share with you the part that touched my heart and let me know that Heavenly Father was listening to our prayers when our hearts ached so bad to start a family.

"Revelation can also be given in a dream when there is an almost imperceptible transition from sleep to wakefulness. If you strive to capture the content immediately, you can record great detail, but otherwise it fades rapidly. Inspired communication in the night is generally accompanied by a sacred feeling for the entire experience. The Lord uses individuals for whom we have great respect to teach us truths in a dream because we trust them and will listen to their counsel. It is the Lord doing the teaching through the Holy Ghost. However, He may in a dream make it both easier to understand and more likely to touch our hearts by teaching us through someone we love and respect."

We are so in love with this little girl and can't imagine life without her. She has brought a lot of joy to our family and will continue, I am sure.

My Valentine's Gift!

When DH asked what I wanted for Valentine's Day, I jokingly said that I wanted a 3D ultrasound of this baby. He said, "Okay"! and that was that. I was the one that had a hard time wanting to actually spend the money and do it. After being convinced by a few people that I should, we went ahead and did it.

I was excited to see her cute little face, make sure she still was a "she" and have the kids come and get to see her as well.

Now, let me tell you about what we know about this little girl already. She has been my calmest baby in the womb. Often times I will go throughout the day and that night wonder if I ever even felt her. She rolls and moves but rarely kicks. I am hoping that this means she is very calm and laid back. She is also a "stinker" as we all like to call her. Whenever she does kick or start to kick, I will always call someone over to feel her. The minute someone other than myself puts their hands on my belly, she stops and moves away! I thought it was a coincidence, but after having it happen so many times, it seems she is pretty stubborn. So we call her our "stinker". The kids get a kick out of calling her stinker as well.

So we head over and start the ultrasound. We see her spine and we see her heart. I ask if she can check the gender just one more time to give me piece of mind that she really is still a girl. So the tech heads down and says that her legs are indian style and really can't get a good look. She said she would go back and check after we got some good shots of her face. So she heads up to her head and sure enough, this little girl will not turn her face to get a good shot. The more the tech would poke and prod, the more she would just scrunch up her nose and turn more inward. She said, "Boy, you have a stubborn one!" DH and I just looked at each other and laughed.

After turning on both sides and waiting for over 30 minutes, we finally got some decent photos of her. We did confirm that she is still a little girl and after she showed us that shot, her legs and feet went immediately up to her face. I guess she was deteremined to cover her face.

I am glad that we did it. It was fantastic to she her face and see just how much she looks like my other two daughters. She is our last, so it was something fun to do.

Her mad face after the tech was poking and prodding to see if she would move.

Squishy face, not wanting to turn. Being stubborn.

Finally after 30 mins., she decided to turn just enough

to get a pretty good shot.

While the ultrasound was going on, I sure thought she looked just like DD#2. The tech said she had hair and DD#2 came out with dark hair. DD#1 did not have much and it was blonde. I wanted to get home and pull out newborn pictures of our daughters and compare. Sure enough, she looked like DD#2. But then I pulled out a picture of DD#1 and couldn't believe how much she looked like her. So I made a comparison to put them all together. I am still leaning towards her looking more like my 2nd than my 1st, but she probably will look like both. Who do you think she looks like?