My Baby Story

Our baby is finally here! Lindy Faith was born at 4:06 p.m. on January 18th and was 7 lbs, 3 oz and 19 inches long. A few people have asked how it went so here is my baby story. This is just the physical process of what happened. I'm going to post my emotional story later.

I went into the hospital on Sunday night so they could put me on an IV overnight to start softening my cervix and they were going to start the induction on Monday. Around 4 in the morning, the medication they gave me to soften my cervix really kicked in and I started having contractions. This was a good sign! Things were progressing really well. I held out until I was at a 5 to get my epidural. I'm telling ya, I will never do it naturally. I have no desire whatsoever.

We did have a scare. I had about 4 contractions very close together and she couldn't get enough oxygen in between them so her heart rate dropped drastically. I didn't even know what had happened. All of a sudden there were about 5 nurses in there moving very quickly. They gave me an oxygen mask and even started to wheel me out of the room when her heart rate came back up.

Because her heart rate came back up, they decided to wait it out and see how she held up. Her heart rate never dropped that drastically again, but it did drop with every single contraction. Because I was only at a 5, they estimated I'd still be in labor for another 8 hours or so because I wasn't dilating quickly enough and just didn't want to risk Lindy being without enough oxygen that long. They told me they were going to do a c-section and I heartily agreed. I knew from the very beginning that a c-section might be necessary so I had already come to terms with it. However, Allan hadn't.

Allan was by the bedside telling me that everything was going to be ok. I told him I knew. I was completely calm. He told me not to be scared and I told him I wasn't. He responded with, "I am!" After getting his clothing on for the surgery, he started doing the running man. He definitely had some nervous energy. It was pretty funny.

During the c-section, they put me on a table and then put a big tarp like thing up right at my chest so I couldn't see a thing, nor feel a thing. I was numb from the chest down. It's kind of weird to not feel a thing but know that you're being cut open. Allan was the only one who could be in the OR with me. My dad and I were both telling him how jealous we were that he could watch the surgery. He didn't agree. He didn't want to look. He kept his head down right next to mine until he heard, "Here's her head!" At that point he just had to look so he did get to see her come out.

From the time they started the surgery to the time she came out was all of about 5 minutes. After she came out they took her over to clean her off and all that jazz. It then took them about 15 minutes to sew me up. So Allan took the camera & took pictures of her since I hadn't seen her and brought them back to show me. About 10 minutes after she was born he got to hold her and bring her to show me. My first thought was, "It's just not fair! I should get to hold her first. I carried her for 9 months and gave birth to her. Isn't it just a right for the mother to hold her first?!" I wasn't really THAT upset, but it was a little disappointing. After I saw her, it all went away. I was just thrilled to see her finally.

Lindy right after birth

Our first family photo

36 Week Update

Last post of the day, I promise! It feels like there's just so much going on! When does life start slowing down? Not anytime soon, I'm sure.

I'm now at 36 weeks and am really starting to feel it. Ok, pregnancy has actually been really easy for me and has somehow agreed with my body. I do feel huge though. My only complaint is that I'm having trouble breathing. I'm in the "stand up or lie down to breathe" phase because sitting for more than 5 minutes makes it nearly impossible. My ribs ache all the time. Other than that, I'm doing great. I know that I've been really lucky throughout this whole thing because I've had almost no side effects except feeling healthier.

I got to schedule my induction a few days ago so it is now official. Baby is coming January 18th. It's now less than two weeks away! I can't believe how close it is. I'm not sure where the time went. It's now becoming real. I'm not quite at the "Get this baby out of me!" stage, but I am a little bit more ok now with the whole thought of giving birth. :) Still nervous, but getting excited. I'm so excited to meet my daughter and see what she looks like and get to know her personality. We've had fun guessing. Allan's family all thinks she'll get my blond hair and blue eyes. My family, Allan and myself think she'll have the dark hair and hazel or green eyes. We also think she'll be like I was as a child and ALWAYS have to be active and doing something and looking around. Please feel free to leave your own guesses in comments!

My last ultrasound is this week. It's weird to think that it'll be the last time I see her in black & white. The next time will be in full color and 3-D! Exciting. I'm hoping she'll be pulling faces again. The last time, her tongue was out almost the whole time. It was cute, but I'm thinking she's got an attitude now. Scary! But my tongue was out in almost all of my baby pictures and I turned out ok, right? So it can't be that bad. ;)

For those wondering, we don't have one set name picked out. Allan wants to wait until he sees her to pick one, which I'm 100% ok with. However, if I send myself into labor during the Lindy Exchange (Yes, my Dr. gave me permission to go and dance my little heart out - I love him!), her name will definitely be Lindy. Otherwise, we'll just see.

Baby Shower

Last Saturday was my first baby shower. It was with the Ambrose family (and my mom and best friend because they just have to be there too). I love my in-laws. It was a lot of fun.

We played a game where you have to pick out safety pins from a bowl of rice while blindfolded. It sounds easy, but trust me, it's not. In fact, it's so difficult that my mother-in-law felt the need to pick out a few before her time started. It didn't help. She still lost. Haha! My mom really doesn't like shower games so she didn't want to participate in the 3 way tie she ended up in. She said to just give the gift to someone else but they made her do it. In my opinion, I think she lost the 2nd time on purpose to make sure she didn't have to do it again. It was so funny! Miranda & I were the only ones who caught it and couldn't stop laughing at her.



After the games came the presents. I must say, I love getting gifts for Baby! I got some wonderful stuff that I can't wait to use. I think my favorite has to be the BYU onesie though. I cannot wait to put her in it!

The guests:

My mom & Miranda

Rosa, my mother-in-law & Abby, my niece

Future sister-in-law Whitney; cousin Kate; sister-in-law Arlen & Aunt Gloria

Liz was the one who ran everything, which is why she isn't in the pictures. She took them. And somehow Allan's stepsister, Margaret, avoided them too.

 Thank you to all who attended. I'm so glad to have you be a part of this exciting occasion!

Surround Sound

Baby's ears are fully developed so I though I would introduce her to music early in life. My little sister thought this was a great idea and lent me her awesome headphones. That's what I call surround sound!

So far it's been a lot of swing music (she went NUTS over Tuxedo Junction by Glenn Miller Orchestra today). We're going to have a little dancer yet! I'm also going to introduce her to the smooth wonderfulness of Dean Martin. I'm hoping she'll recognize his voice when she's born and I can play it to calm her down. I know it calms me down. :)

If anyone has any other suggestions for music for Baby, feel free to leave it in a comment. I'll see what I can do.

The Third Trimester

I am officially in my third trimester! It feels like such a huge milestone. I almost feel like I should feel differently now than I did last week because I'm now in a whole new trimester, but obviously, I don't. It still feels good to know that I've made it this far though.

For those who want it, here's a current picture of the baby bump at 28 weeks. I can't believe how much bigger I am now than at 22 weeks! I didn't think I'd really gotten much bigger. Luckily Liz recently lent me a whole bag of maternity shirts, which has been SO helpful. Now I have shirts that actually cover my belly button! Thanks, Liz!

Oh ya, the doctor said he's probably going to induce me on January 18th since I told him it had be be after the 17th because the 15th-17th is the Utah Lindy Exchange. Although, he also gave me permission to go dance my little heart out and try to induce myself. I love my doctor!

More Excitement!

I know that all of my posts have been about the baby and that's it, but I want to make sure I write everything down so I don't forget it. It's also the biggest part of our lives right now. So here goes yet another baby update.

Yesterday morning I not only felt Baby move, I SAW her move too! My belly looked like it was twitching. It was so cool! I thought I was imagining it at first. I told Allan to look and he confirmed that I am, in fact, sane and that it was moving. Well, as sane as possible being pregnant. I've totally got the pregnancy brain thing going on. It's quite funny. Anyway, Allan and I got to watch her move around for a few minutes before she stopped. I honestly think I could watch it for hours if she'd cooperate. 

It's so hard not to be ecstatic about every new progression. Maybe I won't be so awed with the next baby, but it's so amazing to me now. In the words of my mom, "ah, the miracle of life." It really is exciting.

Baby Bump Week 22

I've had a couple of requests for baby bump pictures so here it is. This is me at 22 weeks (1 week ago). I've been told a few times that I'm really tiny. My sister, however, after seeing me for the first time, told me I'm really fat. It made me laugh. Only a sister could say it and get away with it. I love that you can tell I'm pregnant now and don't just look like I'm eating my way through the universe.

I had an ultrasound last week and Baby looks great! She's developing perfectly. I got to see her arms, legs, stomach, kidneys, bladder, diaphragm, brain hemispheres and all four chambers of her heart. There was even a shot where I could see all 5 toes on her foot. It was quite amazing. I love modern technology! They gave me a DVD of the ultrasound as well so I got to show Allan and my mom and dad. This is the first ultrasound Allan has missed and he was really sad about it so he was really glad to have the DVD.

While all her organs and bone structures are formed perfectly so far, she is quite small for her age. She's about two weeks behind size wise. She's only in the 28th percentile (normal is 50). The doctor isn't concerned about this. He's just going to watch her a little bit more closely. I personally am thrilled about it. I am so ok with having a small baby, especially because diabetics tend to have HUGE babies. So things are going great!

Our other great news is that Allan got a job! Woo hoo! He's working at Auto-Owner's Insurance. So far he really likes it. He just can't wait to get to the real training. They are currently swamped and trying to play catchup so they've got him doing little odds & ends jobs. But hey, it's still a job. And I start my CNA class on Monday. I'm so excited!

Allan's Turn

On Sunday night, Baby was kicking pretty hard so I decided to see if Allan could feel her. I didn't think he would, but we had nothing to lose. I had him put his hand on my tummy and wait. After just a few seconds, his whole face lit up! He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. He definitely felt her moving and he was SO excited. He got to feel her about 4 or 5 times before she stopped. After that, he put his head on my belly and talked to her for a bit. I'm not sure if she can hear him yet, but it was darling. He now sleeps with his hand draped over my belly, just in case she moves again. I'm so lucky to have a husband who is so excited about this baby! I think she's got him wrapped around her little finger already. 

She Moves!

Ok it's been a little while since I've updated. We are back from TX and found a new apt and moved in on Monday. We had to paint almost the whole thing before we moved in and it was quite the project! But it looks so good now! I thought my next post would be before and after pictures of the apt and a video tour, but something even more exciting happened that made me update today. (The apt post will come later...after I unpack all the boxes. It could be a little while.) But on to the big, exciting news...

I felt our baby move for the first time today! It was so exciting! What's funny is that it took me about 10-15 seconds to figure out what I had felt. I feel like I've been waiting for this for so long and it just wouldn't come. I kept hearing that I should've felt something by now and was almost concerned. But she's alive! It was just a small fluttering feeling, but it was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. Life is good! :)

It's A Girl!

We just found out this morning that we are having a girl. We are SO excited! We were totally shocked when the technician told us. We were both so sure that we were having a boy. The doctor had to actually point it out to us because we just couldn't believe it. We are absolutely thrilled! We were both hoping for a girl. Allan because he loved having an older sister and therefore wanted a girl first and me because we couldn't agree on any boy names, otherwise I wouldn't have had a preference.

It now seems so much more real. Now I feel like we can really start planning. We can start thinking about names and maybe decorate a nursery in our new apartment and I can start buying baby clothes! Ok, I only want to go buy a little dress or something, just because I can now that I know.

I'm starting to think that Allan is more excited than I am though. After the doctor's visit, I had to take Allan to the military unit. When I went to pick him up, he asked me to bring the pictures from the ultrasound. He took them around and showed everyone around unit. I thought it was darling. He's so proud! I think this little girl has got him wrapped around her little finger already.

Ultrasound Pics

Yesterday I had another ultrasound and things look great. Apparently I will be having a jumping bean. Baby wouldn't stop moving! Allan said that he is definitely my child. It's amazing to me that there can be that much movement inside me and I can't feel a thing. It will be pretty exciting when I do, but that's not going to be for a while. Here are the pictures that we got. The technician labeled it as "My Cute Face," but I've gotta be honest, I don't think it's a cute face. I think my baby looks like Strong Bad from Homestarrunner. I've put the pictures below for you to compare. :)

My Baby

Strong Bad

Isn't it an amazing likeness? HA!

Baby had his hands in his mouth almost the whole time. It resulted in my absolute favorite picture of him sucking his thumb.

I use "he" only because Allan decided it's a boy until proven otherwise. We'll find out for sure on Aug. 17th...if Baby will cooperate.

BIG News!

Just in case you couldn't tell by the new decor of our blog, Allan and I are expecting! Yep, that's right! I'm pregnant! As of today, I am officially at 12 weeks according to the doctor. To those of you thinking, "But, I thought you were going to wait a couple of years," our response is, "So did we!" But Baby and the Lord had a different plan. We are thrilled!

We were so scared at first because I am so high risk and so we didn't tell many people. In fact, our extended families and friends don't even know yet. However, it will be posted in my family newsletter next month and then I'll make the huge announcement on Facebook so the whole world will know. So for those of you who read our blog*, you get to know even earlier!

Yes, I'm very high risk, but I go to the doctor every single week and so far things are going great! I'm very healthy -despite being so sick & tired all the time- and the baby is doing wonderfully. We are so grateful. I'm finally getting over my morning sickness (HALLELUJAH!) and even gained my first couple of pounds this week. My doctor will be so thrilled. You now all know what was going on when I stated earlier that I started getting sick again and therefore stopped doing door to door sales. Turns out it wasn't another disease, just a parasite. ;)

It's ironic because I was diagnosed with Celiac disease only 7 months ago and my symptoms were very similar. I was ALWAYS nauseous & so tired I slept more than I was awake. But that was a bad thing. Now, whenever I'm nauseous I'm grateful because it means Baby is still there. It's amazing how things can change!

So for those of you wondering the big questions, no, we do not know if it's a boy or a girl yet. We have to wait a few more weeks. And I am due on February 1st. I've still got a ways to go, but it feels so good to know that I'm out of my first trimester! We really couldn't be happier.



*I put a hit counter on our blog so I know that people actually read it. However, I don't get any comments so I don't know who it is reading besides those who are following it. Please, please feel free to comment on this so I know who you are. :) I figure if this post doesn't get comments, none will.