My Girls....brings a smile to my lips, and a warmth to my heart just to say that.....My Girls

Lydia's Birth Story

Lydia’s Birth Story

I want to start with how God worked some wonderful miracles with the timing of Lydia’s birth.  I was really stressed wondering who I could find to watch the other girls while Jake and I go have Lydia at the birthing center.  I had made a schedule of when some friends and family could babysit, but because of work conflicts and vacation times, etc…. there were some days and nights that nobody would be available.  We were also about to move to a new house.  We were supposed to close on both houses on Friday, Feb 24 and move through the weekend 25-26.  Due to some paperwork issues the closing was pushed to Wednesday; Feb. 29 and the moving the following weekend, (March 3-4).  God knew that we would be busy with other things that weekend.

Friday; Feb. 24, 2012 at about 4pm I started having contractions at about 1-2 every hour. I told Jake “I don’t think I’ll make it through the weekend.”  I went to bed about 9pm, thinking I’m going to need my sleep. I woke up with contractions at about 3am. Jake woke up soon after and started timing them for me. They were about 10 mins apart.  We waited until about 5am, when the contractions were about 6mins apart, to call the midwife (Dinah) and let her know that it looked like today was going to be the day.  At 8am we called my parents (my mom happened to have that weekend off!) and let them know we would bring the kids over that morning.  After breakfast and getting the kids ready, we headed over to my parents at about 9:00am.  The contractions were still about 5-7 minutes apart, but were becoming very regular in intensity.  We arrived at my parents at about 9:45am, Dinah called and asked how we were doing.  We updated her and she reminded us not to wait too late.  At about 1030am I started feeling nauseated and shaky. We called Dinah and she stated she would meet us at the birthing center at 11am.  We went to the center and walked around the park outside until Dinah showed up.  When she checked me, I was 5 1/2 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. The second midwife (had just finished school and getting hours,) Christine arrived about this time.  We (Jake, me, and Dinah) decided to walk around the park some more and then went inside where I took the best and longest shower of my life.  I really LOVED that hot shower.  After about an hour in the shower, the baby had really moved down, but I felt she was still very posterior and needed to move forward.  Dinah checked me again and I was 100% effaced and about 8 centimeters dilated.  We tried at this point some different positions to get the baby to move forward (out of my rectum.)  First I went for a few contractions with my head down, knees tucked and butt in the air.  Dinah fed me some cheese and crackers and oranges.  Baby still posterior.  Then we tried lying on right side with left leg to chest. Still posterior.  Then lying on left side with right leg to chest.  THAT finally got baby moving forward.  With the contractions starting to pick up, Dinah started the water in the spa tub.  Dinah kept feeding me, but I was feeling kinda nauseated so I didn’t eat much.  I got in the tub (*sigh of contentment*) and about 1 hour later (contractions still 5-6mins apart) time to push. One push, head out, I looked down and saw wonderful head with soft hair.  Next push rest of baby out. It’s a GIRL!  Lydia Hope Wells was born at 3:12pm on Feb. 25, 2012, a perfect water birth (and still a VBAC!)  When Jake cut the umbilical cord we realized the cord is very short!  We had to lower Lydia to get enough length to cut.  After the placenta came, we realized why.  The cord had attached to the edge of the placenta and wrapped around the edge. Normally the cord attaches to the center and branches out.  The midwife and Christine had never seen anything like it before; they were so amazed they took pictures to share with their midwife group.  We ate dinner (chicken salad sandwich from Jason’s Deli) while Lydia was weighed, 8.0 lbs and 20.5 inches.  I didn’t need any stitches, so after eating we left at about 5:30pm.  Lydia’s sisters were so excited to see her!!!!  They gave lots of hugs and kisses and wrapped her up in blankets. 

Lydia latched on for nursing right after birth and has been such a wonderful nurser ever since.  She loves to just nurse for hours.  She has a soft cry until she decides she’s done waiting on me; then she can really wail!  She wiggles and squeaks a lot unless I’m talking to her; then she is very still listening and watching me.  She is so sweet and petite, what a wonderful gift from God!

Yes, she was still a little blue from birth in the upper photo. But she got pink real quick!

The second photo: Dinah on right, and Christine on left.

 My Girls!

 

Christmas Fun!

So here is a long blog with lots of photos......kinda like all my other blogs- lol

We first went to Dickens of a Christmas.....twice. First without Daddy, then again with Daddy.  It's the Christmas festival that downtown Mckinney holds every year. The girls had fun with the petting zoo, and each made an ornament (twice), and loved the hot chocolate and funnel cake and corndogs.  Madelynn heard 'ho, ho, ho' over the loudspeaker and kept asking "Mommy, who is doing all that ho-ing?  We have to find who is ho-ing!"

Then, we went to our HOA Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony.  They had alot of crafts there as well. The girls ran around another petting zoo, ate hot chocolate and cookies, played in a bell concert and took pictures with Mrs. Claus (fyi, much shorter line than with Mr. Claus.)  In the end we went on a fun carriage ride.  It was warm that night, but the Madelynn and Annie loved wearing their hats. Such fashionistas- lol!

I woke up this week to screams of snow and "icing."  Evidently, we had gotten a small dusting of snow and the girls couldn't wait to get out and try eating it- lol!

We also made some Christmas bells for our neighbors this year. The girls were so excited to be using permanent markers.....I had to watch like a hawk, but most things ended up unscathed.  *sniff*  My girls are growing up!

Well, we still have more Christmas activities planned. I really love doing all these fun things with the kids.  Hope you all are having fun with your own Christmas plans!

Halloween

I love all the Fall activities, and so do the girls!  We went to Kroger's annual fall games and trick-or-treating special, the girls and Jake went to a pumpkin patch (with his family of course), and then we've had alot of fun making paper pumpkins and passing them out with cookies to our neighbors too! 

Then for Halloween, Annie and Madelynn decided they were a fairy princess. Joy was content just being herself.

I think they made out fairly well!  Mommy and Daddy enjoy the candy very much too! ;)
Hope everyone had a great Halloween too!

Summer Sandwich

My Favorite summertime sandwich is a cucumber sandwich.

Spread some cream cheese on bread (just regular cream cheese is fine)
slice some cucumbers and add
add optional turkey (delifresh turkey lunchmeat is what I use)

viole! yummy!

On a Sad Note

One more quick thing, on a sadder note. I did want to thank you all for keeping me and all the friends and family of the recent deaths in your thoughts and prayers.  It's been a hard couple of weeks, especially for this overemotional preggo. I just pray that I can be there for all the wonderful people in my life who are hurting from these deaths. I want to respect the privacy of these people and not give details on here, so just a small summary.

The first death was of a dear friend and coworker. She was such a vibrant and fun person to be around. Cancer can be no fun, but she had a way of uplifting people through even the hardest of circumstances.

The second death was of the mother of a very close friend of mine. I had known her mother for several years, and enjoyed all the conversations we shared. She was such a comfort to talk to, and gave the best advice. She was like the sun; being near her warmed your heart and made you a more positive, better person.

The third death was of a friend of mine, that I've known for about 14years. We had met in high school, and even though we lost and regained contact many times through the years; we always picked right up where we left off......as if no time had gone at all.  He had such a quiet strength about him, I could always be myself and feel right at home.

Each of these very special people will always hold a place in my heart. I know I will see them again in Heaven. It makes me appreciate everything and everyone even more.
Well, this quick note ended up being alittle longer than expected.  Please remember to tell everyone you love them, and to live each day to the fullest.
I love you.

Long Overdue

I know I haven't posted in forever, but I've still been so tired with this pregnancy. I can't seem to get anything done.  Jake and the girls have been really patient with me....hopefully this stage passes soon.  Some quick updates:

We bought a car!  We kept debating on getting a minivan, and had finally decided to get one. Then when we went to the dealership to compare the Honda Pilot with the Honda Odyssey (totally thinking the Odyssey would be the clear choice) we found that the most pros were with the Pilot!  It was cheaper, with the better APR. It has good gas mileage, and room for 8 passengers. The trunk space wasn't bad, and did I mention it was cheaper?  I'm very glad we chose the Pilot. Even though I've found some cons to it.....I enjoy spending money on things I really like rather than things I 'groan' about.  We can pretend to be young just a little longer. ;)

After getting some kind of stomach virus, the girls are back to their normal selves again.  Madelynn is enjoying sounding out and trying to read everything in sight. We're working on writing.....but that is still needing alot of practice.  Annie is talking better and better. She really enjoys singing, and is working on colors, shapes, and numbers.  Joy got 2 more teeth in! She now has her 2 bottom and 2 top teeth (both middle.)  She got a taste of table food, and took off trying to taste everything!  She is still trying to figure out the sippy cup, but enjoys copying her sisters.  She races after her sisters (on all fours) everywhere they go. She has even started imitating things; i.e. she puts the toy phone to her ear and yells in it. I can't believe how big all the girls are getting! Here is a recent pic of Joy (yes, her onesie is quite the mess.)

I will post recent pics of Madelynn and Annie later. They are so busy, I realized we've been doing mostly movies of them.
Well, gotta jet off. There are so many things I want to blog about, I'll have to search for the energy (and time) later.