Birth Story (2 weeks late!)

So I'm finally finding some time to blog about the birth of our baby girl. It was a WONDERFUL birth! With Talmage, he came exactly 2 weeks early, weighing almost 8 lbs! So, naturally, when 38 weeks rolled around, I was anxious and good to go! Then 39 weeks rolled around and still nothing. My doctor was kind enough to schedule an induction for me at 39 1/2 weeks. Well, that day came and went out the door. I was scheduled to be induced on Saturday, December 11th at 11:00 am. Jacob had taken off work to be there. We had our bags packed and were heading out the door when my cell phone rang. And, lo and behold, it was the hospital! They called to tell me they were way too busy and would call when they had a bed available. Soooo.... we waited around all day for a call...nothing. Sunday came and we waited...all day and nothing! I was getting so frustrated and even mad that the hospital would even schedule me to be induced if something like this was going to happen. Anyway, Jacob decided to call the hospital around 5:15 pm, Sunday night, to see what the status was and if we were next on the waiting list. They told him no and unless I could go into labor on my own, it'd probably be Monday. Well, at 5:30 pm, my water broke! I was sooooo excited! Finally! I knew that there was NO WAY I could be turned down now! It was an answer to many of our impatient prayers.

We arrived at the hospital around 6 pm, got checked in, changed, etc. They hooked me up to the IV (after 3 painful and bruising tries!) and checked me. I was 5 cm dilated. I was also contracting every 2-4 minutes and in pain but not bad. They gave me some medicine in my IV to take the edge off and ordered for my epidural. It was so nice to have the epidural already ordered and in progress before I was in immense pain. I received my epidural at 8 pm and was feeling great! My nurse checked me and I was still at 5 cm! Boy was I discouraged. I pretty figured we'd be there all night and deliver sometime Monday. The nurse said she'd check me 2 hours later since I was only at a 5. 1 1/2 hours later, I started to feel lots of pressure but thought it was nothing. So I decided to just wait another 30 min until the 2 hours were up when the nurse was going to check me. At 10 pm, the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated at 10 cm! Holy cow I was shocked! I had no idea that in less than 2 hours my body could go from 5 to 10 cm...with an epidural. They called the doctor and got everything prepped for delivery. I only pushed through 3 contractions! She was posterior so during the pushing process, the doctor had to turn her face down for delivery. Emma was born at 10:32 pm on Sunday night, December 12th. And the best part of the delivery...I didn't tear...at all!! Woo Hoo! It only took 5 hours from the time my water broke to her delivery. It was awesome!

I have been feeling so good and recovering great! With Talmage, I was in soooooo much pain and had countless stitches from tearing. After Emma, I'm happy to say that I have felt ZERO discomfort in that area. The worst part was the after birth contractions and a few days of mood swings. Other than that, I'm great! My body is getting back to its normal size very quickly, which I am so excited about!

I love my baby girl! It's definately been more challenging with 2 kids but I'm learning.

1 week old

She's Here!

Emma Maren Lewis

12.12.10

10:32 pm

7 lbs 7 oz

19 in long

More details and pics to come...

39 weeks

Yes, I'm still pregnant!

3 1/2 cm dilated

80 % effaced

-1 station

No Baby Yet!

Almost...but not quite! Saturday morning, around 6 am, I started contracting regularly. I timed my contractions for an hour, then called my doctor. They were coming every 2-4 minutes and starting to hurt. My doctor said to head over to the hospital. Being my second baby, I was totally convinced that this was REAL labor. It was pretty painful. Once I got to the hospital, the nurse told me I was contracting like crazy and I'd probably have the baby that day. After about an hour, I dilated from 2 cm to 3.5 cm and from 50% effaced to 80% effaced. Again, I was convinced that I was going to have a baby. Then, my contractions got really irregular and I stopped dilating. I went for a 45 minute speed walk around the hospital and still, no change. I was discouraged. The nurse figured out that the baby was in a posterior position, meaning she was head down but her face was up, instead of pointing towards my back. This is what caused my irregular contractions and stopped dilation. I'm still -2 station because she won't move down until she turns. Soooo, I was sent home with pain meds, still having contractions. That night the contractions stopped and I've had hardly ANY contractions since! I guess I should get used to being pregnant because she's not coming anytime soon. I'm just hoping I can be induced on my due date and not have to be overdue. So there's my sad story of no baby. I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow so who knows when she's going come! Her timer's almost up!

38 weeks as of yesterday!

2 cm dilated

50% effaced

-2 station

Talmage was born at exactly 38 weeks but no labor for Emma yet, despite the irregular and painful Braxton Hicks. My doctor said I'm good to go anytime and can try any natural labor inducer I want to try. We are hoping for this weekend! I'm getting pretty uncomfortable now. My heartburn was so painful last night, it took forever to get to sleep and I slept with an ice pack to try and numb the pain. Hopefully she comes soon!!

36 weeks

1 cm dilated

50% effaced

Almost done!

The Four Skeletons

We already had Talmage's costume so Jacob and I decided to make our own and all go as skeletons. We won the costume contest at our ward trunk-or-treat. Everyone loved our costumes. Even Emma had her own skeleton costume! It was so fun except that we lost our camera and all the "good" pictures so, thankfully, Jacob's parents took some pictures afterwards for us at their house.

Finally...a baby update!

Today I am 32 weeks and 4 days, which is the same as the picture above. And, I have less than 2 months left before baby Emma is here! Time is going by fast yet slow at the same time. Everyone, I mean everyone, has been telling me how small I look for being 8 months pregnant. I guess it's because I was HUGE and swollen and HUGE with Talmage. Just to jog your memory and see how huge I really was. Here is a picture of me at 32 weeks and 3 days with Talmage.


It's really nice not to have all the swelling and extra weight this time around. I'm feeling pretty good most days except for my heartburn which happens EVERY day. But that's about it! At exactly this same time, 32 weeks and 4 days, with Talmage, I was admitted into the hospital for preterm labor. Thankfully, I've only had Braxton Hicks so far. I'm hoping to stay away from the hospital until December 15th.

I've been doing some crafts lately for the baby. I made 3 burp cloths and still need to make more.

I also made this bow holder awile back and have been adding flowers and bows as I make them. I still have more bows/flowers that I haven't added yet though.

And one of my favorites, I made these Bling Binkies! I love them! They are so girly and so cute. I'm planning on making more but for now I've only made these two.

And this is Emma's bedding. The bumper pad is pink and white damask and the sheet is white with pink polka dots. The ribbons are green. Her room colors are pink and green. I can't wait to finish decorating.

Halloween Craft

I made this Halloween wreath on October 6th but never got around to taking a picture of it until now. I cut strips of burlap and tied them around a dollar store wreath. Then I modge podged scrapbook paper and glitter onto wooden letters to spell "BOO." And I added a pumpkin from Walmart. It was lots of fun to make and I love how it turned out! I especially love that I made it!

Toys

I finally organized Talmage's toys. We've had his bins for awhile but nothing really had its own place until now. I even labeled the bins so it never gets unorganized again. I love it when Talmage's room is clean. It makes the house feel so much cleaner and organized. Also, here is an updated picture of Talmage's bed. We finally put a bedskirt on. And now he has his favorite Yoda stuffed animal that he sleeps. Also, he has an Obi-Wan Kenobi bear that he made on his birthday from Build-a-Bear. These next few weeks, we are going to try to "complete" his room with wall decor, paint and chairrail.

OFFICIALLY Potty Trained!

I'm very happy and PROUD to announce that Talmage is officially potty trained! It took about 1 1/2 months to get everything down without mistakes. He still has an occasional accident bbut they are very rare. We've even started putting down for naps (3 hours) in his underwear. After about 2 weeks, he was potty trained #1 but it took about another month to get him to only poop in the toilet. He wouldn't mess in his underwear, but instead hold it for when we put him in a diaper at bedtime. Almost every morning he would wake up with a poopy diaper. Finally, after his diarrhea episode, he learned the signs and how to tell us that he needed to go poops in the toilet. It's been about 3 weeks now that he's been consistently going both pee and poop in the toilet. I'm am just so amazed everyday at how smart my little boy is. He is such a good boy and we are sooooooo lucky to have him in our family.