8/3/10 - A Day At Home

Today we finally spent the whole day, a pretty relaxing day, at home, and it felt REALLY nice. Olivia is still being great about sleeping in a little later than she used to, so that has been a huge help. Especially today...Amelia decided to stay up pretty much the entire night last night, it was horrible. I swear, at one point, she ate for like 3 hours straight. Oh, gotta LOVE this part of the newborn stage!

Once we were all up, we hung out, did the typical picking up around the house and just spent some time together. Christian's parents came over to spend some time with us and make dinner...so they all grilled and cooked while I cuddled with the baby. I eventually ventured outside in the horrible heat for a while to sit by the pool with Olivia. It didn't last long though...the heat takes it out of me much quicker these days!

After dinner and some chatting, his parents were on their way. We had a little TV time together, and I was off to bed early. I think I need to get used to going to bed early...

8/2/10 - 19 Months

Well, baby girl #1 turns 19 months today. It's so hard to believe...it seems like just yesterday she made us a family, yet, it was definitely NOT just yesterday! We're pretty sure she's already well into the terrible two's...that's fun. She knows how to push our buttons, and does it often! But, at the end of the night, when she's sleepy and tired, she cuddles up and gives you that little angel face, and all is forgiven.

She seems to really be expanding her vocabulary these days. Grandpa (bupa) and Puppy are still definitely her favorites. But she's been repeating us very well lately, and showing that she really understands. She has become a great helper lately too, which has actually been coming in handy. She loves to throw trash away and put the diapers in the diaper genie. She will pick things up and bring them to you (this comes in very handy when I have a hand full of baby). It just amazes me that she really truly understands what we say and do.

She has become slightly scary around the baby though. At first she really didn't care about her. Then, she was interested in her, but a good amount of "standoffish". Now, she gets a little to close for comfort and it makes me really nervous. You cannot leave them in a room together, that's for sure! Now, let's see what this month brings us in the world of Olivia!

Other than that, today was another busy day, of course! My mom came over this afternoon to watch Olivia so we could head off on a shopping trip. Thursday we are having family pictures taken, so we were off to buy some outfits for them. Obviously with the feeding situation, we took the baby with us. Shortly after we got to the mall I was thinking it wasn't such a good idea...After about an hour I was already feeling pretty run down and exhausted. BUT, I toughed it out. We got the cutest little matching dresses for the girls, and each found a shirt for ourselves. YAY, now I just can't wait to get the pictures done!!

8/1/10 - Hello August...Wait, August?!

Wow, I cannot believe it's August! Seriously, where has this year gone?!? I can't believe summer is already starting to come to an end...wow!

Today was a pretty good day! Another day of sleeping in thanks to our two sleepy girls. My mom did a shopping run for us and stopped over, which was greatly, GREATLY appreciated (especially by Olivia, who was out of diapers!). Then, it was time to shower and get on with our day. Christian took to the yard, just watching him wares me out, I don't know how he does it! He was feeling a little overly exhausted after his chores were done, and understandably with all of the extra responsibilities he's taken on this week, so he took it easy the rest of the night. The girls and I were off to my BFF's son's birthday dinner with her family. I was nervous to head out on my own with the girls, but I knew I'd have plenty of helpers over there, so I risked it. I was pretty run down by the time we got home, so we got Olivia to bed, and just relaxed the rest of the night. Here's hoping we get a tiny bit more sleep tonight...yes, I'm talking to you little Amelia!

7/31/10 - Another Busy Day

Today was a pretty exhausting day, but a good one. I woke up feeling a little better (unfortunately, that didn't last the whole day through). We took it easy most of the morning, did some light cleaning and picking up around the house. Once Olivia was down for a nap, it was time to get ready for the day. First up, was Meeka's 2nd birthday party! I didn't know for sure if I'd be able to make it, but I really wanted to make an appearance, so we toughed it out and headed over. For many reasons, most of which I don't care to actually discuss, it's not really possible to be away from home for TOO long right now, so we only ended up staying for about 2 hours. It was long enough for Olivia to get some BFF play time in and give us a little time to catch up.

After we got home, some of our other friends stopped over, bought us dinner, met little Amelia and hung out for a little while. It was so great to see everybody, and we're definitely lucky to have such great friends! It must have been pretty obvious how lack-of-sleep exhausted we were, because they all headed out around 8:30 or so. We bathed the girls, put Olivia to bed and just relaxed the rest of the night. I sure hope I didn't overdo it too much and that I'm feeling better tomorrow!

7/30/10 - More Car Work

Today, Christian and Olivia were off to his parents house, bright and early, to finish working on the car. The installed the spark plug kit he bought last week, and now we have our fingers crossed that these fixes will keep her running a little longer! We still have about 2 years left before we pay off Christian's truck, so my little car MUST last until then. Overall, she does pretty well. The car is 11 years old and has 135,000 miles on it, and I really haven't had to do a ton of work on it. So, hopefully she'll keep treating us well for a few more years.

I spent a majority of the day just hanging around the house with little Amelia. She's been doing great. She's a little fussier than Olivia was, I hate those "I don't know why you are crying" moments that happen so often with a newborn! But, she's nursing SO WELL, which I'm so happy about. Olivia never got the hang of nursing, and with recovering from surgery, I just did not have the patience to work with her and the lactation consultants on fixing the issues. I'm really hoping Amelia keeps this up and it isn't just a fluke! Formula is EXPENSIVE!!

Amelia's little belly button stub fell off already (which kind of worries me...), so tonight we gave her her very first bath. Luckily, just like Olivia, she LOVES the water, she was in heaven! YAY for water babies!

7/29/10 - Maybe We Can Do This!

Well, things are going OK! Olivia slept right through the night, not even a peep when Amelia would wake up! YAY. Hopefully that continues! Im' sure the fact that we don't have to delay feeding time by running off to make a bottle helps! Amelia on the other hand has decided she needs to eat ALL NIGHT long. Oh man, I've never been so exhausted...she eats for 20/30 minutes, then 30 minutes later she's hungry again. Hopefully this does NOT continue!

This morning we were off to the doctor for a blood draw. We dropped Olivia off with Christian's mom and headed down to the clinic. We checked in with the pediatrician, who said everything was looking great. Amelia left the hospital at 6lbs13ozs, so she really didn't lose much from birth, and today she was actually up an oz, so she is doing great there! After the check up, we were off to the lab to get her billi level checked. Taking blood from a newborn should be outlawed...the poor thing, I could hardly stand it!

After the appointment we picked up Olivia and Christian's mom and headed home. She came over to cook some food and help out around the house for a while. Amelia went back under the billi-blanket as we anxiously awaited a call with her results. They finally called and her levels were still up there, but were the same as the day before, so she was able to come off the blanket! YAY, no more glowworm! Later, Christian, his mom and Olivia were off to meet my mom at the Rice Street Parade. I was very sad that I had to miss it...I think this is the first time, in my WHOLE life, that I missed the parade. But, Olivia came home, with treats and goodies in hand, happy as can be...and tired as can be, she passed out very soon after!

So, day one of being home was a success! Maybe we really can do this!

7/28/10 - Time To Go Home!!!

Well, today was my actual due date, but instead, today is the day we take our little Amelia home! Her jaundice levels were up even higher, to 11.2 this morning. But, they are sending us on our way and having a billi-blanket delivered to the house until she levels off. It was a long morning of packing up, paperwork and getting ready to head out into the real world. I think we were both actually quite scared!! What in the world is life like with two kids?!?

We were finally all "checked out" around 1:00. We picked up Olivia from my mom's, made a quick stop at Christian's parents' house to pick up some food they had for us, then were on our way home. We got some resting time in, hung out for a bit, then were visited by Nate and Gini!! They brought us dinner and came to meet the baby. As exhausted as we were, it's great to see our friends and catch up with them.

Obviously Amelia spends most of the waking hours asleep, so life at home was pretty much as usual. Due to a slight lack of sleep, I think Christian and I are both a little short on patience right now...Olivia is crazy as ever and Chuy does not help matters...he's basically like having another toddler running around! But, we got Olivia off to bed, and we settled in for the night. I'm sure it will be a long night...and we're just anxious to see how Olivia sleeps with a crying baby next door...hopefully she's a much sounder sleeper than we think!

7/27/10 - Still In Heaven

Well, we're still on cloud nine, still can't believe we are the proud owners of two beautiful girls.

We were sure we'd be sent packing from the hospital today, but Amelia's jaundice levels were up, so they urged us to stay. We knew Olivia was in great hands with Grandma, and that it would be best for Amelia to just stay put, so we did. She spent the rest of the day and night under the billi-blanket. It was hard to see her like that at first, but we weren't too worried about it. She was at an 8.6...and back when we had Olivia, she got up to a 16 and they never did anything about it...no blanket or anything. Apparently the guidelines have changed, but knowing that Olivia was WAY higher, and we didn't have any issues, we're not too concerned about it.

So, we spent a very quiet day at the hospital. My mom and Olivia stopped up for a quick visit...Olivia doesn't seem to miss us at all, as shown by the wave and loud and proud "bah bye" she gave us when SHE decided it was time to go. Christian's mom stopped up again, and took Christian out to eat down the street. My sister Tonia and nephew Tommie stopped up. Other than that, it was just the three of us, spending some nice, quiet time together. It's amazing...when I had my c-section, the nurses and doctors were in and out ALL DAY long, the whole time we were there. It was exhausting. This time, we hardly ever see anybody, it's great!

So, that was our day...just hanging out in our current "home". It's so quiet here...I think we'll be in for a rude awakening when we get home! The hospital photographer came to take pictures today, so we even dressed her up in her going home outfit a little early!

7/26/10 - Amelia Grace is Here!!

Well, it's the big day...the day we've been waiting for, for soooo long! Baby #2 has arrived!

Amelia Grace was born today, via a very successful VBAC at 6:12AM. She was 7lbs3ozs and 20" long. She's perfect as can be and worth every painful moment! I have this overwhelming feeling of pride in myself right now...I can't believe I actually went through with the VBAC! The midwives and nurses at the hospital were all so proud and so happy that we went for it, and that it was a success.

We arrived at the hospital last night just before 5:00PM and checked into triage. After getting all settled in and hooked up, the midwife on call came in to check me. I just knew I was in for "bad" news, I could feel it. And sure enough, just like with Olivia, after everything I was only dilated to 1, BUT, I was significantly effaced and baby was very low. So, that was promising. Shortly after, my urine analysis came back and showed that I was very dehydrated. The nurse said that can cause labor to stall, so they got an IV of fluids going, eventually pumping 2 bags into me. Once those were done, about 2 hours later, they took another sample and called the midwife in again. This sample came back much better, and I had dilated to 3! So, it was official, I was checking in!!

I could not stay in that bed any longer, so Christian and I were off to walk the halls while they got my room ready. Because of my high risk situation (the VBAC), the baby and I had to be monitored constantly. Luckily, my amazing nurse got me hooked up with one of the few suites with wireless monitoring. So, I was able to walk around, go in the bathtub and be much more free. At 9:30PM, we were all set up in the room. Then, it was a few hours of resting, sitting, standing, sitting, bath tub, resting, sitting, etc.

By around 3:00AM everything had gotten much more painful and it seemed like a lot more was going on. They came into check me, and I had only dilated to 4! I couldn't believe it. They went over my pain management options at this point. I was determined to go as far as possible (hopefully all the way) without drugs, so I shot everything down at this point. The midwife broke my water since I made it to 4, in hopes of it moving things along.

A short time later, I just couldn't take the pain anymore...I think breaking my water was starting to move things along a little faster as well. I was really against getting an epidural because I did not want to be tied down to the bed and I did not want it to slow down my labor. They had discussed another option with me, a different shot, that doesn't take away the pain or tie you down, but it was just meant to take the edge off between contractions, so you can rest. They thought the constant pain I was feeling was again stalling things, and assured me this would help move things along. So, we decided to go with that. It definitely helped...the contractions were as painful as ever, but between them I felt like I could actually relax, breathe and forget what was happening.

They came in again to check me around 5:00AM, and I was dilated to 7!! I wanted to cry I was so excited...things really were moving along! It wasn't long after that I started feeling a lot, and I mean A LOT of pressure, and the contractions felt like they were non stop, one after another. I told Christian something was happening and that I needed to push, so he got the nurse, who got the midwife. She checked me and said "Yup, you are about to have a baby!". I was dilated to 10, fully effaced and baby was low, low, low! Everybody got ready and it was time to push. About 20 minutes later, Amelia Grace entered our lives.

I looked at her, and it was just the most amazing feeling. I couldn't believe I did it...I actually did it! All of the fear, all of the hard work, the pain, the worry...it was over. She's here, and it feels absolutely amazing!

My mom arrived shortly after, followed by Christian's parents and Olivia. Olivia did not know what to think about little Amelia, she seemed pretty weirded out by the whole thing. After we were checked into our room, we got a little resting, alone time. Later on, we were blessed with visits from so many of our friends and family members...my mom and Olivia stopped up for another visit, Kari and Andrew, the Madrid's, Melissa and her her mom, Christian's mom stopped up again, my stepmom and niece Angel, my Dad. Everybody was so excited to meet our newest family member, and who could blame them!

So, here we are, officially a family of four! Now the fun really begins!

7/25/10 - Things Are Moving Along!

Well, I'm pretty sure we officially have baby movement going on. I spent the morning and afternoon having pretty regular contractions..and pretty painful! I wanted to tough it out as long as possible, so we tried to get some stuff done around the house. Christian took to the yard and got everything cut and trimmed and taken care of. I did some cleaning around the house, finished putting away the laundry from yesterday and packed my hospital bag. Of course, Christian still has not installed the car seat, so we'll just be taking the whole thing with us and he'll have to install it at the hospital...talk about procrastinator!

I'm sure hoping this is it. This is how everything started with Olivia...contractions all day long, centered in my back. It was horrible and painful, yet, when I got to the hospital, I was only dilated to 1! I couldn't believe it. I'll be devastated if that's the case again! But, it's now 3:30PM...I have called the hospital and they gave me the green light to come in. I think the fact that I am going for a VBAC, they want me in right away, so, we're off!

I'm nervous..I feel like this is my first time, and, in a lot of ways, it is. I don't know what to expect or what is in store for us. I'm still pretty terrified to give birth, but, I'm really praying the VBAC goes as planned and everything goes smoothly! Fingers crossed...here we go! Here's a picture of us on our last day as a family of three!!