Last few days

Things are crazy with a newborn! Not as "bad" as I thought, but definitely time consuming. All I do is feed, sleep, change her, wash bottles, and wash clothes; however, I absolutely love every minute of it. It's weird how your life changes when you bring a baby into the world. ALL for the better though.

On Saturday a good friend of ours got married. Yes, we brought her and yes, she was only 9 days old. No one touched her though. Look at how cute she was!

Every little sound she makes I freak out. Good thing for our video monitor so I can watch her every move! 

We are getting newborn pics done on Thursday! So stoked.

Rylee

As promised here's an update of the last 4 days.

First, a few pics of the pain I was in.

Come to find out Rylee has jaundice and it was high. They ended up keeping her in the hospital an extra day because of it. She had to do phototherapy and she looked so pitiful. We could only take her out to feed her. Although I was discharged the hospital let us stay the extra night and set up the equipment in our room.

poor baby girl. 

Our first family picture.

We left Sunday around 6pm. At first she didn't like the car seat..

 Then....she did... :)

Did I mention how amazing Jeremy is? He helps me feed, changes diapers, and the list goes on and on. He is so incredibly in love with his daughter. I'm so lucky to have married such an amazing man & now an incredible father. I'm blessed.

Love.

Labor & Delivery

The past 4 days has been a whirlwind. Absolutely, 100% crazy! 

Wednesday night, 10/06/10, we arrived at the hospital around 6:15, yes we were late because we went out to dinner with Jen & Jackie for the last supper. They started cervidil around 7:00pm and contractions started! They were regular and all between 3-5 minutes. The nurse thought I would have Rylee that night, but it didn't happen. My mom came up there and ended up staying the night and of course her nor I slept, but Jeremy did! 

Thursday, 10/07/10, they started the pitocin around 6:30am and contractions immediately intensified.  I was about 1-2cm at that time. They rechecked me around 10am when I asked for stadol (A narcotic pain used as an aid to anesthesia during labor and delivery) because I needed some relief from pain, but it wasn't bad enough for an epidural. Then, I was about 3-4cm. They gave me that and I ended up passing out. Contractions started getting worse and I told Jeremy to call my dad and let him know so he could come up. Around 11am my nurse said he was going on lunch, about 15 minutes later the pain was so bad I was laying on my right side and told my sister to get the nurse because I needed an epidural. They came in to check me and I was 8cm, and there was no way I was getting an epidural because it was too late. Another 15 or so minutes passed and I  told her to get the nurse because I felt like I needed to push. The nurse came in and sure enough I was 10cm! 

My dad was there in the room and the nurse said "anyone that doesn't want to see her vagina, get out" so everyone gets out and it's my mom, Melanie, and Jeremy. At first I didn't want anyone else in the room, but I think everything turned out for the best. Around 12pm they told me not to push, but to breathe through them. Okay, ladies for anyone who has never been in labor when you need to push it is SO incredibly hard not to. Your body knows and you just have to do it. I ended up pushing through them because I couldn't help it.  I'm glad I had them in the room because they were there pushing me on. Going through labor without an epidural is intense, but incredibly amazing. 

I started pushing at 12pm and she arrived at 1:06pm!  I ended up having a 2nd degree tear (Second-degree lacerations go deeper, into the muscles underneath. These tears need to be stitched closed, layer by layer. ). The only thing that really hurt the most was the crowning. For some reason every time I pushed she could slide right back up. Then she got the hiccups and that didn't help any. My blood pressure was also really high and they told me "you're about 3 pushes away from a c section." Those words helped me push even harder. When I say push I mean you are pushing between contractions, 10 seconds each, and 3 pushes. It's harder than it sounds. 

Rylee arrived and it's been amazing ever since. Jeremy is an awesome dad and is SO completely involved. He even cut the umbilical cord which at first he refused to do! I love my family!

I was going to make this one huge post, but I decided not to. I have so much more of this story and it will have to continue on another post when I have the time. So, for now, I will leave you with one of her very first pictures. =) 

Last full day of being pregnant!

It's 2:42am as I sit here and write this. I'm up. Why am I up, you ask? It could be because I went to bed before 10pm, or it could be my mind won't stop racing from all of the thoughts I keep having about tonight/tomorrow.

I'm getting scared, anxious, nervous, happy, excited..a HUGE list of mixed emotions. I don't know what to expect. This time tomorrow, Thursday, I will be a mom and have another human being to care for. Holy shit. Yes, this is all just sinking in now. I mean, I knew I would eventually have Rylee here, but everything flew by so incredibly fast.

 I still remember February 21, 2010. The day I found out & told Jeremy. Only 3 1/2 months after we got married; however, I wouldn't have it any other way. See, he is 34 so we thought we need to have a baby somewhat soon because we both don't want him to be in a wheelchair trying to care for a child. He didn't really ever want to "start" trying, so we just banged and it happened. We're very lucky.

On this day, aunt flow should have showed up. I was nervous about taking a test the same day, but I did it anyways to ease my mind. I went to CVS and bought tests. I finished 1, and it was +..I started shaking. I had to take 2 more to ease my mind, of course all +.

I could not believe it. 

I went to Target and bought Jeremy a little surprise.

He LOVES fishing.

So, today, Wednesday it's my last full day of being pregnant. I still cannot believe it! I am glad to say I have gained exactly 40 lbs. I stopped gaining in September; although, I did have a few high spikes in weight gain for a couple weeks. I think it was mostly due to all the swelling from preeclampsia, but since the swelling went down I haven't gained anymore. Yippy!

I hope my delivery/labor is fast & easy. Oh boy. Here we go!

Top 2 Tuesday- Dream kitchen

Click to link up

We are really wanting to buy a new house with much more space, but that won't happen until the market goes back up since we do have to sell the one we're in, or rent it out. These are my dream kitchens!

I love the view of this one, but not all the black and red. 

This one is just huge & gorgeous. LOVE it.

Happy Halloweenie!

I'm a little early, but I figured I would still have a bump by Halloween this year & could dress up..plans changed. Loni painted a pumpkin on her bump a few days ago and I just had to copy, hers looks better though! :)

Don't mind the crooked mouth. :)

Or the lack of make-up..or even caring what I look like at this point.

The glitter actually looks much better in person. 

Today, we decided to go to Publix for some shopping and since I'm not supposed to be walking Jeremy decided to push me around. He wanted me to get a motorized cart, but I refused. He pushed me around in the kiddy cart!

Everyone I see always tells me how small I am. I had to take this picture just to show people I am NOT small. Stop trying to flatter me. I sure hope she's not hiding a little brother or sister in there! 

36w5d

And D just loves laying on my tummy.

And finally, this is what my stomach looks like during a contraction! Totally weird.

Dining Room/Kitchen

Go on over to Kelly's Blog to link up! 

We don't really have a dining room, since it is in our kitchen as well. So, this is going to be my kitchen before and after & where we eat! We've done a lot of work to it since living together. When I first moved in all I could think about was "holy bachelor pad" and of course I had to fix that! 

I couldn't find many before pics, they were lost somewhere (ugh), but just note we've done A LOT of work and there's still so much more we want to do.

Somewhat before...

After: different flooring, lighting, table, and windows

Somewhat before..

After: different appliances, back splash, counter tops, decorations

Don't mind my messy counter. I'm normally a clean freak, but since I've been on bed rest I can't do much and I have to leave it up to Jeremy and well, let's just say he doesn't clean like I do. 

New lighting, windows, and table again.

That's all folks!