Slade's Birth

I knew I would be in labor within a few days when my doctor said that I was dilated to 3cm on March 31st. Every day I tried to have everything ready to go and cleaned up to head out the door for when my water broke and/or contractions started. I didn’t want the baby to have an April Fool’s birthday, and that day came and went thankfully. But then I didn’t want the baby to come during General Conference weekend a few days later, but of course this baby had an agenda of its own!

Saturday, April 4th, at about 8:30AM I noticed I had been leaking some fluid. Not nearly enough to be considered my water breaking (that’s a LOT of liquid) but enough to cause concern. I texted my parents to let them know that it might be today. The water breaking can happen in a slow trickle so I just paid attention to see if it happened again, and it did an hour later. I texted my parents again and said come on over! The girls were very excited to see them!

We arrived at the hospital at noon and the only available entrance was outside the emergency entrance. There was a shade set up and a few security men with masks on and a few small groups of people waiting to get in. They were asking each party if they had been experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms and if they had traveled within the last 14 days. While we were waiting for our turn (there wasn’t a line with the social distancing rule in place just the groups of people all spread out), we saw two people walk up and one of them fell to the floor. The other person said that she was having a seizure so they were taken in immediately. The person that let us in told us that the person experiencing the seizure had COVID symptoms so it’s a good thing we weren’t standing in a line! 

We went to the labor and delivery check-in window and they told us that Rainier had to be in another room while I was confirmed to be in labor. They checked my dilation and I was at 4cm and I told the nurse that I had been leaking fluid (and continued to leak) which is the reason I came in. She said that she could still feel that my water hasn't broken yet, but it could be slowly leaking, or fluid from on top of the baby (hence the slow speed of it) so she took a sample to check what it was. While I was waiting, alone, Rainier texted me and said he heard a nurse talk to another nurse about my current condition (leaking fluid, 4cm, and 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant), and the other nurse told her to admit me. I guess she wasn’t going to check me in! It would’ve been awful to get sent home after all of that! This “checking” took about an hour and a half!

We needed to wear masks during the delivery and I had to take it off during contractions because it was so hard to breathe!

We went to the laboring room and got settled in. Everyone in the building was wearing masks because of the virus so it was difficult to understand what they were saying sometimes. They put my IV in and gave me pitocin to get things going and I got to 6cm pretty quickly after that. They could feel something else inside of me and said it was lumpy, so they had the OB check and he said it could be placenta but it turned out to be nothing (or it was the placenta and they just didn’t tell me). The contractions weren’t bad yet and they knew I wanted an epidural so they went to contact the anesthesiologist and I could hear them saying that he wasn’t answering his phone. They told me he’d be here in 10 minutes, then 15 more minutes, and the contractions were really hurting and happening every 2 minutes. We found out that he was stuck in the OR and couldn’t have his phone on him because he was in a hospital suit so he got here as quickly as he found out. (There is usually a back-up anesthesiologist but he wasn’t there that day.) As long as I can get it in time then I’m happy! I got the epidural around 4:20PM and it seemed like it was more painful than the last two times. It felt like 4 different shots and they all hurt versus one shot that wasn’t as painful. I’m probably remembering wrong but I am still so happy I was able to get it! Soon after the epidural I was at 8cm and once it was fully kicked in the nurse had me do some pushes to get the baby down further. During my pregnancy they could see through an ultrasound that the baby’s head was already super low (37 weeks) so I knew it wouldn’t take long to be ready. A few minutes after those pushes the nurse took one look and said frantically to herself, “We need the team,” and she ran out the door and said loudly, “We need the team!” Everyone rushed in like the baby was falling out and the baby was out within 10 minutes!

I asked Rainier to stand by the doctor so he could tell me the gender and the doctor said to stand by me and as soon as the baby was out he held the baby up like a reenactment of the Lion King! It was a boy! 

Slade Joshua Frost

04/04/2020 at 5:31PM

7 lbs 1 oz 18 inches long

I only tore a tiny bit but still needed some stitches so recovery should be pretty mild! We ordered dinner as soon as we could because we only had until 6pm to do so until they were closed for the night. I’m so glad he came out fast or I would be starving! (I had snacks in my bag just in case of course!) I ordered chicken strips twice during our stay and I had chocolate milk at every meal. It was nice! Slade struggled to eat at first, but when he was hungry he knew exactly what to do!

Around 8PM we were taken to the postpartum room. It had a few chairs and one chair turned into a bed for Rainier. Normally he would go home to sleep, but because of the virus he would have to do the screening again so he just stayed. It was really nice to have him there and help with the baby for that long night! The epidural wore off around 11PM which was awesome! With the girls it took much longer to wear off because I needed more of it since their labors were longer. I was really impressed with the nurses! They were very attentive and quick to get me everything I needed. The uterine contractions started that night and they were intense! At first they were bearable, but they became really painful within an hour. These were just as bad as the birthing contractions but they lasted longer and the epidural wore off so I was in a lot of pain! The nurses gave me Motrin and it helped for a few contractions but then it wore off way quicker than it should so I got stronger medicine. Those contractions are NOT fun!

At around 6AM I started the paperwork for the birth certificate. I was awake and able to sit up so I wanted to get it done. We still hadn't decided a first name so I left it blank until a few hours before we left. We were never told why, but every time we called to order food, Rainier had to tell them which meal was going to be mine and which was going to be his. They could probably figure it out by looking at the amount of food - I ate almost twice as much as him at every meal and I loved it. It's so nice to have food delivered to me and I didn't have to share!

Slade had swallowed fluid so sometimes it was difficult for him to eat. We had to keep him upright and use the bulb to suck it out. Once he got enough out he would eat!

Because of the virus, the discharge class was done a little differently. The educators came into each person's room to discuss everything and we also watched a video about safe sleep. The hearing test was done around lunch time and we also had our "celebratory meal" for lunch. (We brought home one of the Martinelli's for the girls to try!) We told the nurse that we wanted to get home as soon as we could and they made it happen! At 5:30PM was Slade's 24 hour mark and they got him all tested and done quickly! We were eager to get home early so the girls would be able to meet him before they went to bed. We also wanted them to be the first to know the gender and name. (When we got home, they weren't even mad that he's a boy! Heidi had been saying for months that she wanted a girl baby but all of that went away when she saw him.)

We ate an early dinner in between all the nurses and doctors coming in. We were able to make it home by 7PM and we let the girls stay up until 8 to spend time with Slade and we could hang out with my parents. Heidi was a bit nervous to meet him but Haylie was instantly in love! The next day Heidi warmed up to him and loves him so much! We are so happy to have him in our family and to be home!

Pregnancy #3

I'm pregnant again! Baby number 3! Here is my experience with this pregnancy:

First Trimester

Symptoms: tired, sweating a ton while working out, moody, and a little nauseous. I never threw up but I felt sick for a few weeks. Since I wasn't very nauseous I could still do dishes and bend over without feeling like barfing so that was really nice.

I took the pregnancy test on August 17, 2019 and I left the test on the bathroom counter for Rainier to find!

My first appointment was on August 27 and the doctor used the hand held ultrasound machine to hear the heartbeat. He was looking at the screen and laughing and that definitely concerned me. I said, "What's so funny?!" And he said, "There are two sacs!" and he showed me. TWO WHITE BLOBS = TWINS. I about peed my pants. He said, "Let's do the more accurate ultrasound to be sure because it could be something else." Waiting in the ultrasound room was the longest and sweatiest 5 minutes of my life. When they did the ultrasound, they discovered it was one baby and a blood clot. What a relief! The doctor gave me two ultrasound pictures (of the same singular baby I was pregnant with) to try to convince Rainier that it was twins. I'm terrible at lying so he didn't understand my joke. Oh well! They told me my due date was April 13th, but then the next appointment it was changed to April 12th. 

 The first ultrasound at 7 weeks and 1 day.

Second Trimester

I finally started showing around 14 weeks which was strange because with both my girls I was showing much earlier. I was still really tired and my maternity pants were too big but I couldn't fit into normal pants either. At one of my appointments they informed me that my placenta is positioned in the front so I wouldn't feel the kicks as much. I started feeling them at about 23 weeks so there wasn't anything to worry about. Most of my weight was carried in my stomach instead of all over like it was with Haylie. It's funny how different each pregnancy is! 

We decided to not find out the gender of the baby since this is most likely our last baby. Rainier wanted to know the gender but he had to stay home with the girls during my appointment so it was ultimately my decision. I've always wanted to find out the gender of a baby when it was born and I finally had the courage to do it! I had a few people give me boy clothes in case it's a boy so we were set!

The last ultrasound was at 19 weeks and 6 days.

24 weeks

Third Trimester

At this point I developed dry patches on my cheeks next to my nose and overall my face was so much drier than what I'm used to. Drinking a ton of water helped but it was still insanely dry. I also developed dark freckle-like spots all over my face. They weren't super noticeable unless you looked really close. I had heartburn but it was mild.

The baby loved being on my right side! 

I needed to wear a belly band every day because I was carrying very low and it made my back sore. My stomach was drooping below the waistband on my pants and if I wasn't wearing the band it felt like my stomach was going to fall off. Every time I stood up the baby pushed down and almost made me sit back down. The kicks were painful at this point and the doctor predicts that it will be a big baby! 

During my 36 week appointment we set an induction date for April 12th and 13th just in case I didn't go into labor on my own and we would have a room scheduled at the hospital. 

At the 37 week appointment my due date was moved again to April 10th. The doctor used the hand held ultrasound machine to see where the baby's head was and it was very low and ready to come out! I could definitely feel that! 

At the next appointment (38 weeks 4 days), I was told that because of the COVID-19 one person can be with me but once that person leaves the hospital then that's it - he/she cannot come back in. So it looks like Rainier will be sleeping at the hospital! (On the way home from this appointment I got a phone call from the doctor saying that my one visitor could leave the hospital but only leave twice. This could change by the time I go into labor so we'll see!) The doctor also told me I was almost 3cm dilated and almost 90% effaced. He then canceled the induction. Now we wait!

Heidi 3 years old; Haylie 14-15 months old

An update on the girls! They grow and change so fast!

Heidi
"Lellaphant" - elephant
-"Shimmers" - swimmers, like fish fins or Ariel's tail
-"Tastes like good!"
-"Oh-hay" - okay
-"Oppo-pus" - Octopus. One of my favorites!
-"Sleeping blew-dee" - Sleeping Beauty
-"Heidi, are you hungry?" "No, I HEIDI!"
-"Heidi, you're cute." "No, I HEIDI!" She's very protective of her name.
-"Flone" - phone. One of my favorites!
-She'll say "Love you" and I'll respond "I love you too" and then she says "I love you too" too. It's hilarious.
-"I love you boobies!" And she'll slap them. Thankfully it's only happened a few times!
-"I nay-id!" - I'm naked. She loves to disappear behind the piano, rip off her diaper, and proudly announce that she is nay-id.
-"I want a one hug." I'm not sure if she is saying that or, "I wanna one hug" but it's funny that she specifically says "one" every time. I like to say, "Well I want five hugs," and it throws her off.
-Mommy Mickey (minnie) and Daddy Mickey (Mickey) - this is funny because she used to call Minnie mee-nuh and then she started saying Minnie and it somehow turned into Mommy Mickey.
-"I fine!" She says this when she gets hurt or falls down. I'll ask if she's ok and she says, "Yeah, I fine!"

-"Mash-ah-lows!" - marshmallows
-"Lellow tup" - yellow cup. She gets particular about which colors she wants to use.
-"Foik" - fork
-"Shoon" - spoon
-"No you do it!" Sometimes she's sassy when I ask her to do something like pick up a toy.
- "Lem-a-lem" - lemon. She only said this a few times but it was adorable!
-"Do I love you? Yes, yes I do." "Do you love me?" - I don't know where this came from, but it's cute!

We have attempted potty training multiple times and it all depends on the day. She is definitely that kid that needs to decide on her own that she is going to do it. She understands how, she has taken off her diaper and peed in the toilet all on her own, but she is very stubborn about doing it full time. She has never pooped in there yet, and I know that will be a different story. Or maybe not. We'll see! When she is peeing in her diaper she will tell me. "I'm peeing long time!" Or when she already peed and I'm changing her she'll say "I peed long time."
She can count to 10 and knows a bunch of numbers after that but is iffy about the order. She knows a few letters and we work on that every day. She knows A, O, E, and a few others. She loves the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and an alphabet puzzle she got for Christmas so she will learn them fast! We also sing the ABCs every time her teeth are brushed. (We've been doing that for 2 years now so she can sing it!) 
She loves music and she can memorize things quickly. She can sort of pray and it's SO CUTE. We are working with her on that more (she likes to say "the end" sometimes and start with "Jesus Christ, Amen." It's cute!)
She loves singing, "I Love to See the Temple" every night. We encourage other songs, but she likes routine and so we normally stick to that. In the car if I'm singing along to one of the princess songs and Heidi doesn't like it, she says, "DON'T SING! It's MY song!"
She loves princess movies and likes to act out different scenes. One day when we were playing in the back yard I caught her screaming, "... are not a very nice old man!" (From Enchanted). She still loves her princess dresses!

She is getting old enough to help me stir things in the kitchen and she LOVES it.
She is understanding who are girls and who are boys. Recently I listed off people in our family and she told me if they were a boy or girl and she said my older sister was birthday cake. She loves making people laugh!
She loves to sit in my lap and snuggle. Every night she needs "a one hug and kiss" and it's so precious. Sometimes she will ask me to rock her! I love it!
She can open the fridge and it drives everyone crazy. She's very independent and wants to do everything herself. Her sneaky self will move one of the dining chairs so she can reach the marshmallows (or chocolate chips) in the pantry while I put Haylie down for a nap. She wasn't even sorry. She was so proud. But I am happy that she is tall enough to get her own water from the fridge now! 
She likes to work out with me (as best as she can). She is still so sad that she isn't allowed to use my weights. She usually uses her princess toys as weights or goes without. Sometimes she will pretend to be the instructor and hold her hand up as my guide. Since she's 3, I have to alter whatever I'm doing to make sure she's involved. 
She loves the number 3 since she's 3 years old. 
Sometimes when I walk in her room in the morning she says, even though she's clearly awake, "Get away from me! I sleeping!" 
Every time we walk into the garage (or another dark room) she says, "Where my eyes go?!" It's hilarious every single time!

Haylie
She finally eats real food and finally sleeps all night. YAY. I did the TakingCaraBabies program for her sleeping and it has seriously been a miracle. I was going insane and couldn't function. We are all much happier! 
She only nurses before her two naps and at bedtime and when she wakes up. Except if she's teething she will want to nurse more often and pull my shirt down.
Her favorite foods are grapes, most muffins, blueberry oatmeal, anything made with banana or blueberries, cottage cheese, PEANUT BUTTER, bread, tortillas, peaches, beans, and more peanut butter. If she's sad and we can't figure out why then we give her peanut butter and all her sadness disappears. Sometimes she will slap the pantry because she knows that's where it is!
She gives the biggest smile when we say something that she likes. "Haylie, do you want some peanut butter?" BIG CHEESY SMILE and sometimes a squeal. It's so funny! If she doesn't want something, she turns away and/or continues crying. She's already super opinionated! She will even do this when I ask if she's ready for a nap. When I ask it's because I notice that she's tired and I'll say, "Haylie, are you ready for a nap?" and she gives me a big smile. It's so cute!
She loves playing peek-a-boo, patty cake, and being chased around the kitchen island. Her new favorite thing is to be on the couch. She will put her arms on the couch and whine so someone will pick her up and put her there. Then she gives us the cheesy smile and crawls/walks around and she's so happy. She isn't super graceful coming off the couch but she's getting better!
When we FaceTime my parents, Haylie will get sad and put her arms out and wants my mom to hold her. It's so sad and cute!
She gets sassy and throws herself back and/or tries to hit her head on something. 
She's ticklish on her feet, belly, and neck and it's so fun!
She can clap, wave, sort of sign the word "more," and blow kisses. She's the cutest. She will also give me nice open-mouthed kisses... sometimes with her tongue sticking out. I'll take it! 
She can say "mama" but not much else yet. She can sort of say "baby."
She has a bunch of teeth growing - including the back molars. She HATES getting her teeth brushed! It's a fight every morning and every night!
She knows how to throw diapers away and it's so nice!
She loves sitting on my lap on the floor. That's how she prefers to play with her toys... on my lap.
At my parents' house she will point to their big radio to tell us that she wants the music turned on. My mom has a CD in there of classic kids' songs. She dances to it by bouncing her knees and it's adorable!
She's already in 12-18 month clothes and her arms are the same thickness as Heidi's!
At bedtime, Heidi goes to bed first and Haylie will give her a kiss. Heidi will be lying in bed and I put Haylie on top of her and she gives her a kiss (sometimes a hug too). It melts my whole soul!
When she hugs me she squeezes me tight! Sometimes she will pat her dirty face on my shoulder and play with whatever food she left there. Gross.
She will walk around and kiss things like Sophie, my leg, Rainier's foot, her toys, it's pretty funny.
She loves "running" away from us and evil laughing. She has a low grunt/laugh and it's hilarious.
Nicknames: muffin, heffalumps, chubbalubs, squishy, boobies
Favorite toys: books, the piano, legos, rocks, a baby doll, anything Heidi plays with

Things they like to do together:
scream
run
play outside
laugh
roll around and laugh
fight over legos
eat

Heidi is slowly learning that she cannot be rough with Haylie and their play times usually end up with Haylie getting hurt. But now that Haylie is bigger than a baby she doesn't get hurt as easily, but her feelings get hurt more often now if Heidi takes a toy away from her. They are learning to take turns and they really enjoy playing together! They have the cutest bond and I'm glad they're so close! I'm excited to see how their relationship grows!

Heidi 2 years 7 months and Haylie 6 1/2 months old

Update on the girls!

Heidi is talking a lot and tries to repeat everything! Here is a list of words that she can't say correctly yet and it's hilarious. (Hum took us forever to figure out!)

Hum=hug

Wah-wer=cracker and water (so confusing!)

Hophie=Sophie

Tattoo/tastle=castle

Pin-seh=princess

Penty=penny

No-why=Snow White

Bella=Cinderella

Ay-lee=Haylie 

Bee=beast (beauty and the beast)

Choas=toast and church

Wim=swim 

Why=cry

Horry=sorry

Apple=pineapple and apple

A-you’ll=Ariel 

DDD=DVD

Haple-pahler=Harry Potter 

Buntin=button
Luh loo=love you
Low-dirt=yogurt

Phrases that she says a lot:
"Aw, Ay-lee cute!"
"No Hophie!" (Sophie, the dog)
"Mmmm! Tasty!"
"Tiny baby piece?" when she wants my food
"Cute puppy/baby!"
Whenever she sees a bunch of words she thinks the letters are "b i b i"
She will repeat words to prayers (1-3 words at a time) and loves to pray!

Other things about Heidi right now:

- She loves to laugh and is really ticklish!
- She can recognize a few letters and all numbers.
- One time I had Haylie sitting on my lap and Heidi wanted to sit there also, so they were both on my lap and I said, "One baby, two baby!" From then on when Heidi wants both of them on my lap she says, "One two baby!" 

- She loves to run and play with my hair. She always has to announce that she ran: "Heidi run!"

- She makes Haylie laugh just by laughing and being destructive (throwing things or falling over)
- She loves reading! She will grab books on her own and sit down and read. Usually when it's quiet with a 2 year old it's bad, but sometimes it's good! 

- She is totally obsessed with princesses, dresses, Minnie, being outside, Moana, sticks and nature, animals, helping me with everything, getting her nails painted, singing and dancing 

- She has mixed feelings about getting her hair done.

- Her wardrobe right now is a princess dress or she's naked. We can get her into regular clothes if we have to leave the house but sometimes it's a struggle!

- She loves hugs and kisses from mom and dad (and her ama and papa)!

- She still likes to snuggle, hug, and kiss!

- Her favorite foods are avocado, toast with butter, rice, black beans, scrambled eggs, peaches, bananas, (all fruit pretty much) and will eat any vegetable besides green beans. 

- She takes one nap around 2pm and lasts maybe 2 hours total with trying to fall asleep. She sleeps with her 7 princess toys and likes to hold onto the Aurora and Belle while she sleeps. The rest of them are at the foot of the bed.

- Her princesses are different people in her life: Belle is mom, Aurora is Heidi, Snow White is ama (my mom), Cinderella is papa (my dad), and Ariel is just Ariel. Before she knew the names of the princesses she called them by our names but now she can say all of them.
- She loves music! Singing and dancing are her favorite. She knows which songs go with each princess and she knows more words to them than she makes you think! She also loves "I Love to See the Temple" and it's her favorite part of the day. (We sing it after our scripture study and sometimes multiple times during the day because she loves it.)

- Holy tantrums. If she's tired there's hardly anything anyone can do, we just need to distract her like crazy and possibly feed her. If she isn't tired then we can usually explain to her why she can't have/do something and then quickly distract her and that works. She does like hugs when she is frustrated so we hug a lot and it calms her down.
- She's very curious and likes to do things on her own. She doesn't like her 360 cup anymore because the adults don't use them. She also tries to eat in a regular chair instead of her booster seat and she will throw dishes in the sink when she is done. It's pretty cute until she tries to throw dishes in there that will break!
- She still likes to give Sophie a hug and kiss before she goes to bed.
- Whenever Rainier leaves for work he will kiss her on the head and she definitely reminds him every day! "Daddy kiss head!" It's so cute! And then when he leaves she says it again in a bragging way. Super cute.
- She likes playing pretend with her toys and pretends that she is a dog, cow, cat, and lion.
- She can be very sweet! One time I was frustrated with something and Rainier hugged me and said, "Aw Mommy needs some love," and Heidi hugged both our legs and said, "Luh loo, Mommy! Luh loo, Daddy!" It was so cute!
- Her favorite TV show is Little Baby Bum and sings along with every song. Her favorite movies are any Disney Princess movie (both versions of Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, etc.), The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Enchanted, and anything with animals or princesses. She has seen the first Harry Potter a few times but has decided it's too scary for her. We'll try again in a few months!
- The first Disney Princess Heidi fell in love with was Moana. She is scared of the beginning of the movie, but loves the rest. Whenever she sees anything small, roundish, with lines on it, she thinks it's the heart of Te Fiti and says "heart titi!" It's so funny! So far the heart has been any rock, gem stone, the end of a loaf of French bread (it's twisted so it has the lines), anything really.
- Some of my favorite sentences from Heidi: Sophie rolled over and she said, "Hophie nasty butt!" Another time I was feeding Haylie and she said, "Ay-lee eat mommy boobie!"
- We had to take away the bar stools at the island because Heidi keeps getting up there and feeding herself whatever fruit we have sitting out.
- Since we took those chairs away she's getting really smart and moves the dining chairs to climb up and get things from the bookcases AND the kitchen island! Now we really need to watch out!

Stuff about chunky baby Haylie:

- She loves mommy the most and Heidi second! Heidi can make her laugh the best and it's adorable.

- When someone besides mommy holds her she's ok for a minute and then cries. She's ok with Rainier sometimes but she isn't used to my parents yet!
- She is starting to notice Sophie and tries to pull out/feel her hair.

- She eats about every hour and a half or so.
- She doesn't like solid food yet.
- She LOVES Sophie's water bowl and it's hard to keep her away from it. We always end up putting it on the kitchen island.

- Her laugh sounds like wheezing until she laughs really hard and then it's like a normal baby laugh.

- She is sensitive to milk and projectile vomits when I drink milk or have ice cream. 

- She wakes up 2-4 times a night to snuggle and eat.
- She always wakes up super happy!
- She's very ticklish all over! We tickle her all day long.

- She loves to grab my face and give open mouth kisses. Sometimes with her tongue.

- She naps 3-5 times a day about 15-20 min each time (in my lap or in the bouncer).

- She has a little bit of cradle cap.

- She loves to talk and smile and give cute little grins!

- She has two teeth on the bottom and army crawls.

- She can sit up with one arm of support. It's so cute with her rolls!

- She loves to be held and her favorite thing to chew on is Styrofoam type toys or anything that makes a crinkle sound.
- She loves taking baths! She has figured out how to kick around in the water and it's so cute!
- She's much more mellow than Heidi but I'm sure Heidi will change that!

Heidi's favorite princess dress right now! I love these girls!

Haylie's Birth Story

Here are the details of Haylie's birth! We are so happy she's here!

One week old!

The start of labor

I had an appointment on Wednesday, February 7th at 10:15AM (38 weeks and 2 days pregnant) and the doctor said I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Yay! That night I woke up at 3AM and realized my water broke! Of course it was the one time I was wearing Rainier's pajama pants. Oops! Mine were all dirty. Oh well! I woke him up and told him and he said, "Do we need to go right now? Do you have contractions?" He just wanted to sleep more and didn't realize I needed to go in ASAP. I’m glad I woke up when I did and not wake up 5 hours later to contractions! I called my mom so she could head over and pick up Heidi and Sophie. When we talked we decided for her to stay the night in our guest room and in the morning she took Heidi and Sophie to her house. While we were waiting for her I showered and packed our last minute toiletries in our bags. I ate Frosted Mini Wheats so I wouldn't be completely starving. I wanted to say bye to Heidi but didn’t want to wake her. It was also her first time staying the night away from home so I was nervous about that too. I was glad that labor started early enough that I could see her the same day! Oh and walking around the house felt amazing after my water broke! I had been super sore the last 2-3 months of pregnancy and I could finally walk without feeling pain. I’m guessing the water breaking relieved all that pressure I was having! 

Birth

We got to the hospital around 4-4:30ish and had to go in the emergency room entrance since it was so early. We went up to Labor and Delivery and in the “triage” room they had me dress in the hospital gown and they checked my dilation. I was at 5 cm. At that point I was worried that I was too late to get an epidural!  

We walked over to the delivery room and I got my IV in and they measured me at 6 cm and mentioned that the baby was still really high. They gave me an epidural and it was STRONG. I didn’t mind of course. As long as I had pain relief, I knew the birth would be easy ish. Soon after they gave it to me, I tried to braid my hair and it definitely wasn’t working out. The epidural really limited my ability to sit up so one of the nurses braided my hair! It was so nice of her to do that! When they checked my dilation after getting the epidural they realized that my water didn’t break all the way; they got a stick thingy and popped it and a TON of liquid came out. (They needed 2 towels and a new sheet to clean it up!) Fun stuff. Losing that extra liquid helped the baby come down more, too. They also had me shift the way I was lying down every hour or so to also help the baby move down.

Heidi wanted to see a picture of me and this is what she got!

Heidi was very happy with her Minnie and a balloon while hanging out with my mom at their house! (My dad was out of town and returned that night.) 

I stayed at 6 cm for awhile and my OB came in and told me that I was going to get pitocin to speed things up. He wasn’t totally surprised that I was at the delivery room not even 24 hours after seeing him from my appointment. 

There was a lot of waiting and once we were settled Rainier ate at the cafeteria since he didn’t have breakfast. He also had time to go back to the car to get my overnight bag and do stuff for work. I was able to nap a few times and it was awesome. (With Heidi I was too nervous to try!)

My luggage was half empty so I could take home as many diapers as possible!

I got to 9 cm at 11AM and I started to feel the pain of contractions so they gave me more of the epidural and it lasted up until delivery. The anesthesiologist lectured me about what I should and shouldn’t be feeling with the epidural like I assumed it was a cure-all for everything terrible in the world. In all fairness he walked in all sassy and said, “So why do you want more?” And I said, “I’m feeling contractions and I don’t want to.” I guess I was a little sassy too.

Soon I was able to do some “practice pushes” with the nurses to help get the baby down further since I was at 10 cm. I couldn’t feel a thing and it was awesome. Even when they checked my dilation I couldn’t even feel pressure. Right after a contraction they asked, "Could you feel that contraction you just had?" I said, "Feel what?" Haha. I was half asleep the whole time too.

Once the baby was as far down as possible, and after another quick nap, they called in Dr. Harter a little after 1PM so we could get her out. 

He came in with his student who was also at the appointment the day before. I only needed to push a few times before she came out at 1:31PM. Rainier cut the cord and he didn't feel sick at all this time!

She came out purple! She had some bruising and the back of her head was swollen a bit but she’s out! I had minimal tearing (I had more tearing with Heidi) and it was the easiest birth. I would have 10 kids if they were all this easy and I thought Heidi’s birth was easy!

We couldn't decide a name until the next day!

I was REALLY puffy in the last trimester!

They gave her a pink hat!

They threw the purple baby on me and the purple-ness kind of freaked me out! They kept saying she was a good sized baby and that scared me too! They finally weighed her and she’s 8 lbs 4 oz! Holy cow! She was born a professional eater; she latched on quickly and easily and we had no issues. They gave me lunch right there in the delivery room - gross meatloaf but the veggies were good. They released me to the recovery room around 3-4PM.

Hospital Stay
They wheeled me into the recovery room and the epidural was still kind of strong, especially in my right leg. They gave me dinner right after Rainier had already grabbed us Subway. I was definitely able to eat the Subway and most of the dinner they brought me. My parents and Heidi came around 5PM to see Haylie and we still didn't have a name for her. Heidi had no interest in seeing me or the baby! I was so sad! She said, "Baby?" a few times and that was it. She wouldn't even come near me in the bed - she was way too interested in everything else in the room. She just turned 2 a month before so I figured she wouldn't be too excited yet.

Tip: bring your own waterbottle! It was so much easier to drink out of my Hydro Flask than those giant cups!

They left after 30 minutes or so and then Rainier went home a little after 6PM to get some sleep. I was able to sleep off and on but the nurses had to come in every 2 hours to check on Haylie and me. Haylie had some checkup at 10PM and then something else at 2AM. I watched a lot of "My 600 lb Life" to pass the time and it totally motivated me to lose the baby weight and stay healthy!
They were able to give me Motrin to help with the pain and when the nurses switched the new nurse wouldn't give me any since I wasn't currently in pain. I wanted the medicine for the cramping that happened while I was breastfeeding Haylie because it was AWFUL. Like, not being able to breathe kind of pain. The cramping stopped the next day though so that was nice. (I didn't have any cramping with Heidi so this was all new to me!)
The next morning Rainier came a little before 9AM and he went to the discharge class at 10AM so I wouldn't have to get up and walk. I was able to walk but my right leg was still feeling weird and I couldn't put much weight on it. It felt better as the day went on.
At this hospital they do a "celebratory meal" for 2 so we had it for lunch and it was okay. The dessert was my favorite! Rainier had a steak.

We took the Martinelli's home and Rainier drank them both a few days later. I tried but the carbonation is just too much for me!

She had her hearing test after lunch and had to do it twice since she kept moving!

We still didn't have a name yet and we had all the paperwork filled out except for the name. We couldn't agree on anything and we don't like a lot of names. I had a small list and we finally sort of agreed on Haylie Lynn (Lynn is my middle name). Figuring out the spelling for Haylie took awhile, too. After looking at lists of spellings we finally had it settled about 2-3 hours before being discharged.
The hospital policy is that 24 hours after a baby is born we can be discharged if all goes well but they took FOREVER to get everything done. We couldn't leave until after 5 and her 24 hour mark was 1:30! They even came to bring me dinner at 4:30 because I was there so late. (I should have eaten it! We didn't know how much longer we'd be there but now I totally regret not taking it!) We had my parents meet us at our house with Heidi and Sophie and we had In-n-Out for dinner. We are very grateful to be home and that it was an easy birth!

Such a cute face! We love her!

Pregnant with baby #2!

Hurray! Another baby!

Basically, when Heidi was 17 months old, I stopped taking the mini pill, got my period, got pregnant, and Heidi weaned herself all within a few weeks. It was my first period since having Heidi and it was gnarly - glad I only had one before getting pregnant again!

Symptoms
In the beginning I was feeling a little bloated and my pants were getting a bit tight. Then my husband and I went to the temple and I was super nauseous the entire night. The next morning I took a test and boom! Pregnant! 

June 23, 2017

First Trimester

I wasn't as sick this time. I was definitely nauseous all the time and I barfed only 2-3 times thankfully. I gained the most weight during this time because I had to eat constantly to not feel sick and even then it didn't always help. The "morning sickness" ended around 16 weeks ish and I was able to start working out. I was showing much earlier and people had figured I was pregnant way before I announced it at 13 weeks. My craving throughout this pregnancy was anything MINT! And Subway. My first OB appointment wasn't until I was over 9 weeks pregnant because they were so busy!

11 weeks and already buying maternity jeans!

Second Trimester

This is the awesome trimester! I was wearing maternity jeans at 11 weeks (I got them at Target and they're amazing!) so besides my body changing super fast I felt awesome. I was working out 4-6 times a week and trying to get back to my regular routine since I wasn't feeling sick anymore. I also had maternity photos done because the opportunity came up. I was only 21.5 weeks but definitely showing enough to do photos!

I made chocolate eclairs with pink filling! Heidi enjoyed eating them.

19 weeks and 3 days!

21.5 weeks at Mount Charleston

Third Trimester

I did NOT have Gestational Diabetes this time! YAY! I failed the first test of course and the second one was TERRIBLE. I felt worse than when I did the second one with Heidi and I passed! I had to have them read the numbers to me to make sure they didn't mix me up with someone else. I had heard that once you get it you'll have it with every pregnancy after but I got lucky I guess! The beginning of the third trimester is when I started to feel really sore. I never felt sore with Heidi so this was all new. I ordered a belly band on Amazon and it helped SO much. I wore it as much as possible. It would've been visible and bulky under clothes so I stayed home a lot just so I could wear it. My maternity pants helped with support but not as much as the band did. I also had the typical stuffy nose and it didn't stop until after delivery. Sleeping was awful too. Rolling over felt like everything from my waist to mid-thigh was ripping. And of course I can't sleep on one side for too long because it made my hips hurt so I had to roll back and forth all night. Not fun. My hands, feet, and legs fell asleep a lot too. I also had acid reflux BAD. Heartburn is nothing compared to the lava emerging from my face. Tums was not my friend this time. The last 3 weeks ish Rainier had to be kicked out of the bed so I could raise the top half with our adjustable base so I could actually sleep. (He needs to be completely flat to sleep.) It definitely helped with my soreness and acid! At my OB appointments during this trimester I was measuring a week ahead and at 37 weeks and 2 days I was measuring at 39/40 weeks! 

30 weeks at church

37.5 weeks and swollen like crazy! I had to take my wedding ring off too!

37 weeks at Grandma Leona's funeral

While waiting for the baby to come we painted the downstairs bathroom before adding shelves above the toilet (the shelves didn't get finished until after), I made about 20 freezer meals, I made bows and headbands, a bow holder for the two girls to keep in the upstairs bathroom, and spent as much time with Heidi as possible. She's going to look like a giant and it makes me so sad! When I was 37 weeks pregnant the doctor and I scheduled an induction just in case because the hospital was pretty busy. I had a balloon scheduled (a device to help with dilation) for February 18th at 2:30PM and then the induction at 2AM on the 19th, my due date. I really hoped I didn't stay pregnant that long! My last appointment I was 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant and he said I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced... my water broke less than 24 hours later at 3AM at 38 weeks and 3 days. See my next post! We are beyond happy that she came healthy and early!