Nightly Routine

Every night around 9:00 we start Hayven's nightly routine. I've been pretty big on this schedule, and it has been working! I read somewhere to start a baby on a nightly routine, like a bath, then bottle, then bed so they relate bedtime to something. So when she gets a bath, I think she knows bedtime is coming & she falls asleep easier. We start with a bath. Usually Bull or I get the water ready in her bathtub and put her towel in the drier so its warm when she gets out. Spoiled much? Maybe, but anything to not have her screaming crying. She is NOT a fan of the cold at all. She used to hate even getting in the bath, but now she loves it. She still doesn't like getting out, but it's getting better. We still give her a bath in the sink. It's so much easier to reach her.

 

 

Daddy always gets her towel out of the dryer and quickly wraps her up.

 

 

Then, we get her dressed. This is her least favorite part. She does not like changing her clothes or putting on clothes one bit. 

Now, it's off to the bathroom. We then warm her up with the blow dryer a little bit. When someone gave me this advice to keep her from crying I was a little apprehensive at first, but she LOVES it. It usually almost puts her straight to sleep. Of course we make sure it's on warm and low and doesn't get it too hot.

 

After that, we swaddle her. She used to be able to not stand her hands away from her face, and I'd have to make sure her hands are right at the top, but she doesn't mind much anymore. She usually does get mad right when I start to swaddle her, but I think it's because she just got comfy after being blow dried and gets mad.

 

Then, it's time for a bottle & she usually can barely hold her eyes open by the end of it.

 

Finally it's bedtime. She usually falls asleep by the end of her bottle, but usually ALWAYS wakes up when I lay her in her bassinet. I think she knows that her paci puts her to sleep, so she spits it for a little while on purpose, and I have to put it back in. I always crack up because right when she starts to doze off again she ends up spitting it out. Eventually after playing this game for about 10 minutes, she's usually out. She is the best sleeper, praise the Lord. I guess she loves sleep like her mommy. By around 11:00 she's asleep. She sleeps through the night and will usually wake up around 7:30. Of course, there are nights where this doesn't always go as planned, but for the most part it does. I couldn't imagine my life without this little munchkin. She's such a blessing.

 

Thank you!

On Memorial Day we went to my parents to grill & hang out with my family. My sister & her bunch were there also. We spent a lot of time outside & ate some yummy food. Bull Bull can grill some awesome food. Hayven was stylin' in her romper and jellies. Thank you to all who serve, have served, and those killed in the line of duty. We are so grateful!

 

Graduation & a Birthday

On Thursday, my family went to go see a sweet little munchkin, my nephew Colsen,  graduate from pre-k. As he walked out, he had the biggest smile on his face & kept that smile the whole time while he waved to us from the stage. They sang songs & showed a video. That little stinker didn't sing a WORD! He had pepped all of  us up all week about how he was going to sing the B-I-B-L-E & the rest was a secret. We kept mouthing for him to sing from the audience, but couldn't help but laugh when he'd just smile with his charming smile & wave. I may or may not have cried a little because it seems like just yesterday he was Hayven's age. It all hits so close to home with having Hayven now. I know I'll blink & it'll be her turn.

 

Hayven and daddy had to get a nap in before we left.

See, they are all singing & dancing, but he just sat there. Rotten!

 

 

 

On Saturday we celebrated Colsen's 5th (How is he FIVE?) birthday at Joe Tucker Park. We cooked out in the pavilion while the kids played on the playground. Hayven of course got a bunch of lovin'.

 

Spoiled much?

 She loved the balloons!

 

Happy Birthday buddy!

Hayven's Birth Story

 

On Thursday, 3/13/14, I went to the OB & my blood pressure had been creeping up. I had also been extremely swollen for several weeks. I didn't have pre-eclampsia, but they were worried it might develop. When I went to the doctor,  I had left my phone at home & hadn't had it all day. I was 1/2 cm dilated & was thrown into all kinds of emotions when the doctor told me that I was to come back in on Monday afternoon to check my blood pressure, & they would more than likely keep me to be monitored/induced if needed. He also told me I was on orders to rest until then & that I was lucky he wasn't taking me down there right then. He told me to come to the doctor's appointment with my bags packed for Monday.

 

I let Bull know & ,of course, was an emotional mess because I wasn't ready. Hayven's bag was packed, but mine wasn't. I still had some things to get ready for my maternity leave sub. (oh my word, being out of work with a substitute for a day is a lot of work, but going on maternity leave for the rest of the school year...nuts!), I had to get my hair done & I wanted to really clean the house over the weekend. Sunday was our one year anniversary also & we didn't really plan much. We figured we would just do something simple like go out to eat, which is what I really loved doing at the given time. Ha! We hadn't much talked about gifts with everything we had been buying for the baby & decided we would get something for each other next year & just spend time together this year. 

 

On Friday, Bull went to pick up Isabella & I, thankfully, decided to stay at school late and get some things done after many reprimands from my coworkers. I had planned on staying for the school talent show, but my feet were so swollen, that I decided to not go/participate & just work instead. I knew Monday could be my last day so I had to plan & organize everything that I hadn't already. My maternity leave substitute had planned on coming to watch me teach on Monday to see how I ran things in my classroom, but that didn't exactly work out. I guess it really did because she ended up being there to greet the students. On Friday night, I was having some Braxton Hicks contractions, but they weren't that bad. We put Isabella to bed, & I was so glad to go to bed as well.

 

I woke up earlier than everyone on Saturday around 5:00 AM. I was 37 weeks on the day & considered full term. My stomach was hurting a little bit, & I just put it off. I tried to go back to sleep & did for a little bit. I woke back up around 7 with my stomach hurting again. It still wasn't that bad & I didn't think I was having contractions really. I rolled over & told Bull my stomach was hurting. He told me to roll over & he would rub my back. As I did, I told him I thought I had to go to the bathroom & got up to go. I went to the bathroom & came back. As I stood there, I still had a little trickle running down my leg. I told Bull, & he was as calm as ever. I've always seen water breaking & there being a big gush of water. Uhm. No. Somehow that rarely happens, & I was clearly unaware. The trickle continued as I began to freak out. I knew I wasn't using the bathroom on myself. I swear it took forever for me to find the labor & delivery number that I had packed away in a place I thought I'd remember...and of course didn't. I'm crying, scared to death, texting my sister while looking to see if that's what had happened. I still wasn't having bad contractions, but my stomach was a tiny bit achy. The nurse told me to drink some water & eat some breakfast & if the trickle continued, then I had to come in. It continued. I calmed down & knew it was time. I still got in the shower, shaved my legs, got ready, & straightened my hair while Bull got Isabella ready. She was supposed to go with my dad, sister, & nephews to their baseball opening day to have fun on bounce houses & what not. I packed my bag & Bull packed his & got everything in the car. We took Isabella to Helena to drop her off with my sister & dad & went on to the hospital for them to check if my water had actually broken.

 

 

When I got there, they did a test to confirm it had indeed broken. I was 1 cm dilated, & they admitted me. This was around 10:00 on Saturday morning. I let my family & Bull's family know. He had told them we were on our way to have a baby before it was confirmed, & I didn't want him to freak everyone out! Ha! The nurses told me that my water had broken before I had actually gone into labor, which only happens a very small percent of the time. Usually when your water breaks it will throw your body into labor. We waited a little while to see if this was going to happen. My contractions were getting a little more intense, but not moving that far along, so around 3:00 they asked me if I wanted to start the Pitocin & I agreed. That stuff don't play! It wasn't long until I could definitely feel the intense contractions that people had been talking about. I had never really had an idea about what contractions felt like. The nurse at the OB would always ask me if I was having contractions & I would tell her that I didn't think so. Even Braxton Hicks...I wasn't sure I was having those until about 2 weeks before I had Hayven. Anyways...back to the story. My contractions were something serious by around 5:00. By this point I'm guessing I was about 3 cm dilated. The nurse told me I could have my epidural whenever I wanted really. They said I could also have some pain medicine to maybe help first because the first dose of the epidural was the best. I decided to get Demerol to see if it helped any before I got the epidural. This was a mistake. If ever in this situation, do not get the pain medicine & just go for the epidural. It just made me feel extremely loopy, the room was spinning, and I still was in major pain.

 

At about 6:00 I decided to go ahead and get the epidural. The pain started to subside some, but my right side was still hurting a lot. I was turned to that side to try to get my epidural to go to that side, but there was no luck. My epidural had only taken on one side. I decided to get the epidural put in again to see if it would take on both sides & thank God it worked. My left side ended up feeling more numb than my right side if that makes any sense. We knew it would still not be until after midnight that I would have the baby. Time went on  & family was in & out visiting & what not. Later on around 11 or so, everyone decided to go home or sleep in the waiting room so we could maybe get some rest for the last time for awhile. 

 

My sister & Bull stayed in the room with me. We realized that sweet Hayven was going to be born on our one year anniversary, & we were going to get the best gift for each other after all. We all tried to get some rest, but right as I would get comfortable enough to maybe fall asleep for a minute, I would feel like I couldn't breathe & I'd bug Bull & my sister about it. I think the epidural just scared me because I was numb from my bellybutton down. It was SUCH a weird feeling. (Don't get me wrong, I was all for the epidural & will do it again. The pain was not fun & I'm thankful for modern medicine. Those women who do it naturally must be related to Superwoman!) I couldn't fall asleep & just decided to play on my phone for a while until maybe I was ready to push or well I don't even really know. It was hard getting sleep knowing that I was about to have my life changed forever for the better anyways.

 

Around 2:00 I woke my sister up again because I could not stop shaking. I was so cold & shaking a ton! The shaking was crazy! I was also very nauseous & got sick twice. I hadn't eaten anything except a few bites of a muffin, popsicles, and ice chips since Saturday morning (I was STARVING & didn't know they wouldn't let me eat when I was admitted or I would have made Bull take me to get some big junk food meal..haha). I got a dose of Phenergan & it made me feel so much better. I actually was able to fall asleep for about 30 minutes.

 

At 4:00, I was 10 cm and ready to push. Bull, my sister, and my mom stayed in the delivery room with me. When we first talked about it, Bull didn't really want anyone in the room with us when Hayven was born. His mind changed when we went to the childbirth class & the nurse talked to everyone about having someone in there, if possible, that's been through childbirth as well. I'm so glad he didn't mind because during delivery he did not say.a.word. We laugh now, but I think he was in total shock. The only thing he said was that the doctor was probably stepping on Hayven's hair because she had so much. Haha! He's a man of few words. After pushing for 40 minutes and by 4:40, I had my sweet baby girl & my life will never be the same. She weighed 7 lbs. even and was 19 1/2 in. long. I fell more in love than I had been with her already in my stomach instantly. I can't even express how much love I have for this child. I've always been told that you don't know love until you have a child, and everyone was so right. We are more blessed than I could ever imagine. How people don't believe in God is beyond me. She is a perfect gift, & I am so grateful to be chosen to be her mommy. It's so miraculous to know that she was growing inside me. I (with the help of God & Bull) made that! She's taught me so much already. I am not in control & God is. It's hard to put everything in God's hands. I'm a major control freak & like to have things planned out and know what's coming. I quickly realized to let go & let God. He's got this & I couldn't ask for anything better.

Now get ready for some an overload of pictures!

 

This was when we found out for sure that I'd be having Hayven & our family got to the hospital. I am so thankful that Isabella got to be with us on the weekend her sister was born. She was ecstatic & I love seeing them together. She is an amazing big sister & Hayven adores her already!

I was 10 cm here at 4:00 AM about to push. I'm pretty sure I was about to slap my sister for taking my picture, but I'm thankful now even though I look a hot mess! Ha!
 

 

She has my long second toe! Bless her bones.