Pictures of my Girls

 A good friend of mine offered to take some pictures of the girls.  I had a neighbor do it for me with Dixie when she was a newborn.  I love how they turned out.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Welcome Grace Anna!

It has taken me a bit to finally post about the birth of our second little girl. Can't believe it's already been a week and 3 days. That is, if I finish this post today sometime. :) Grace was born on April 9, 2012 at 12:30pm. She is such a good baby and we are in love with her!
It is crazy how calm and collected I seemed to be. So many things seemed to go "wrong" the whole time but it didn't seem to bother me. I was induced so it was scheduled...or so we thought. Turns out my doctor forgot to call the hospital to let them know I was coming. They found me a room though, thankfully. Then our toilet leaked so after Grace was born we switched rooms. I had 3 nurses in the first 2 hours, the middle nurse put my IV in and sucked hard core. Paul got so frustrated he was ready to push her out the way and do it himself. She put it in my hand and "fished" around for 5 minutes before pulling it out and trying again. I still have a big bruise on my hand.
We got to the hospital at 6:30am and they got me going at about 7:45 or 8am. I got my epidural at about 9am and she was born at 12:30pm. It helped that I was at a 4 when we got there and that it was my second child. There were a few "complications" however. She had the cord around her neck and her shoulders got stuck. It wasn't too terrible and they got her out quick. She was a big baby 9lbs 4 oz and she was born about 5 days early. Her lungs were not all the way developed. Because of this she was in the nursery for the first 24 hours or so. She had to be on CPAP for the first 5 or 6 hours of her life. They had to give her a synthetic medication to open her air sacks in her lungs. After that, I went in there to feed her. She is eating like a pro. :) She finally was labeled a "well baby" by 6pm on the 10th and was able to be in our room with us. We are happy that she is healthy and doing well now. We feel so blessed to have 2 precious little girls.
Here are a few pictures from the hospital.

Our newest angel. She still had an IV in her head, poor thing.

Family Picture...just missing Jackson.

Dixie's first encounter with her little sister

On a positive note

So having Strep Throat caused me to take Monday off. I got to spend some quality time with Dixie. She likes to push buttons a lot, but then she can be so cute and so sweet...it really does make it worth it. Her latest thing to do is sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Some of the words are still made up, but she is getting better and better. I can't really sing, even now, since I lost my voice. It has been fun to hear her sing. She loves it. Since I've been whining and complaining, I thought I needed to post something good that has been happening. My little baby girl is getting grown up!

Just one more complaint...

So I know lately I've been venting some frustrations with discomfort and being pregnant and blah blah blah. But seriously, got a cold and I'm 37 weeks. So I can't really talk very well, can't sleep because A)I'm so hugely pregnant and B)I wake up coughing. It's pretty awesome. Well last night topped it all off. I had come back to bed after a first or second time to the bathroom. I was just settling back to sleep when I heard a loud noise. It's nice out so we had the window open. Then all I can hear is a guy yelling something about "I told you..." Well this was quite annoying and I was debating to myself about calling the cops. Luckily or not so luckily, Paul was also awakened by this (or me coming back to bed) and he got up. He took his phone and went to see what he could see. Turns out he didn't have to call the cops because someone else already had or they drove by and stopped. Seriously neighbors...3am is NOT the time to be having your domestic dispute as loud as possible. It's actually annoying, especially to an 8 month pregnant woman with a cold. So adventures in Provo. Gotta love it.

Baby Update

Today I had my appointment and everything is looking good. Yesterday was a pretty rough day. It seems like a lot has been going on in our lives lately. And to top it off, Gracie now likes to stretch and kick while I am trying to walk. Yesterday was probably the worst when it came to that. It's getting harder and harder to get up and move around. I feel tired a lot and I am swollen so much more than I ever was with Dixie. I attribute part of this to the weather. I am enjoying it being nice but it has made me swell so badly. Basically wearing my running shoes is the only way to go. They are the only ones that feel comfortable. I tried the Chacos...big mistake. I think I had them on at work for a total of 1 hour before my feet were so swollen I had to change. I had a pair of flip flops under my desk that I put on. They weren't really comfortable since they have virtually no support, but they were better than my feet being squeezed to death.

So I am now seeing the doctor every week. I think they start checking me next week for any signs of dilation. I feel like I still have so much to do with work to get things ready and accomplish things before I am gone. I am hoping to get most things done this week. I dunno, just feel an urgency like she'll come early. But then she'll probably come late. Who knows. I can't believe I'm already 37 weeks...well almost. Can't wait to see Mom and Dad and so grateful they are coming. It will be nice to have Mom around and to see Dad briefly. So there's the update.

Last Ultra Sound

Wednesday I had my last ultra sound of this pregnancy. Gracie is now 6 lbs 1 oz. I should be 34 weeks, but she's measuring 35 weeks. She's looking good and is healthy. I had my doctors appointment on Monday (they couldn't schedule them together). The doctor usually just measures my belly and then checks the heart beat. He found it easily, only for Gracie to move around so he couldn't get the count. It took a few tries for her to hold still long enough! He commented on how she was doing some Zumba in there. Yeah, tell me about it, I FEEL that all day long. I finally scanned in an ultra sound picture to share. It came out pretty dark so I apologize but I'm so excited to meet this beautiful little child. It's a face profile in case you couldn't figure it out. A lot of my staff had a REALLY hard time seeing it. I just pray this girl is happy and healthy and the transition for Dixie isn't too tough.

Baby News

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment. I am on the 2 week schedule now. In 2 weeks I will have my last ultra sound to see how big Gracie is and to make sure she's getting into position. It seems like this pregnancy has been so much harder than the first. My friend Kalli said her doctor said that usually the second is the hardest. I was a little bit more sick, I've been WAY more uncomfortable and I have had 2 colds so far. But I am sure that having a 2 year old also makes it a bit harder. She wants to be held...regardless if I have any space in my mid region to hold her comfortably. She wants to play "gotcha" (her version of tag) which involves a lot of running. And I don't get to rest as much as I did when I was pregnant with her. I am getting excited to meet our little girl and for Dixie to be a big sister. I am hoping she transitions well and that we have minimal problems. Overall, though, I am lucky in that I don't have really hard pregnancies and sometimes I feel like a whiner when I know some women have it pretty tough. So if you read my blog and you've had it tougher than me...excuse the whining. :) Less than 2 months folks...well hopefully!