Updates Updates Updates

I have decided that now with five kids it is extremely hard to keep up with blogging like I use to do. However, I love having our family blog, I just need to get caught up and maybe make it a once a month sort of blog. Anyways since it has been over 8 months since I last posted and A LOT has happened I am going to update it in chunks rather than in chronological order starting with baby news.

 

 

36 Weeks Pregnant

Okay so we last left off on me clearing the 35 week mark!!! Well I am please to inform you that I continued to stay pregnant another 2 weeks. My dad drove into town on the 17th of February to be there for the birth of Adalyn and of course see me and the kiddos. We had a blast with him in town and stayed busy almost every day.

37 Weeks Pregnant- Full Term

It was actually quite shocking to both me and my Dr when we hit 36 weeks 4 days and I seemed to be pretty stable, as sad as I was that my dad may actually miss the birth because we had anticipated another early delivery it was a neat feeling to be so close to full term.  As the days went by my contractions seemed to disappear completely and I started to feel as though I may actually be pregnant for  the full 40 weeks..... then the day came I hit full term 37 weeks, I felt great and was pretty sure this little girl was quite cozy in there. Unfortunately my dad was planning to leave the next morning so we had some serious discussions with miss Adalyn about making her debut so she could meet her grandpa. We decided to just continue to spend a fun day together cleaning house and fixing a few things up around the house...

 

Here is the story of Adalyn's Birth that I wrote explaining what transpired from the morning of Saturday February 25th on.

 

All day Saturday I spent celebrating the fact that I had made it to 37 weeks and was still pregnant. I spent most of the day just sitting around while my Dad and Hubby did some handiwork around the house. I kept making jokes about how I was the pregnant one but they were the ones nesting by cleaning the wood blinds and vacuuming out all the air ducts. It felt like any normal day I had had a few sporadic contractions but they were not painful just uncomfortable. Honestly the only thing that seemed off was the fact that I had really lost my appetite, I had a large citrus chicken salad for lunch and that was it for the day nothing sounded good and I wasn’t hungry at all.

Around 9pm we put the kids to bed and I was feeling really flushed and exhausted so I just lay down while my dad and hubby finished a movie. I got up a few times to use the bathroom as suddenly my stomach was super upset. At 11:45pm I came out of the bathroom to find my youngest Preston in bed with my hubby because he was crying and wouldn’t calm down. I climbed into bed and was laying there for what seemed like just a few minutes when I felt a very distinct pop. I got up and went to the bathroom to see if it was my water that broke. I had some cloudy water trickle out but nothing more so I got up to walk around to see if more would come out.

At this point I was sort of in a state of shock trying to figure out what was going on, if I needed to wake up my hubby, call the hospital, or have my friend Amy come over. At about 12:10am I started to get these low cramps so I decided to text my friend to come over and called the hospital to let them know I thought my water may have broken and we were coming in. The contractions were really strange they were centered really low and radiated around my back and into my groin. They felt like they were right on top of each other as I spent most of my time bent over on the bed rocking my hips from the pain. I managed to finish packing my bag and wake up my dad in between contractions.

 At about 12:40am my friend showed up and we left for the hospital. The car ride was intense as the contractions were very regular at every 2-3 minutes and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath between them. Finally at 1:06am we were checked into a room and I was asked to change, that was a task. I crawled into bed and my nurse Peggy checked me and said I was at 3+cm and 100% effaced. The contractions continued to intensify so they hurried to get my IV in and called for the anesthesiologist. At around 1:20am they had placed the IV and had given me a shot to help take the edge off… however all it really did was make me a bit dizzy and groggy between contractions.  I guess I was looking really uncomfortable so my nurse checked me again and I was at a 6. She kept reassuring me that my epidural was on its way. Finally at a little before 2am the anesthesiologist showed up and placed my epidural and told me it would be about  15-20 mins before I would start feeling its affects and within 30 min I would have full numbness. After he left the room, I started shaking during contractions so I was checked again only to find out I was complete and ready to push. Unfortunately my epidural was not working yet and I still had all feeling in my lower body and legs.

Peggy my nurse was amazing she just took charge and said okay you can do this and just helped me breath through the pain. The on call doctor, Dr. Kirkham showed and had me do a practice push. That is when things got a bit crazy; baby’s heart rate dropped really low and wasn’t recovering so it was time to get her out. The Dr. tried to use a vacuum to help speed things along as I was struggling to push hard because of the pain… and let me just say placing the vacuum on her head was almost more painful than pushing her out. Anyways, he tried the vacuum but it slipped off as he discovered she was facing upward. He then just said “okay I need you to just push her out.” Since we couldn’t wait for contractions it was just deep breath in and push… again deep breath in and push. I can’t really describe the pain at this point because it was such an intense pressure and burning that mentally I was just pushing through the pain to get it to stop and to get her out. My nurse was amazing just telling me I could do it and to push the pain away, which is something I needed to hear at that point. Dave said I didn’t scream or anything but was clearly focusing through the pain. Then at 2:18am she was out screaming a teeny tiny 5lbs 2oz and 17 ½ inches precious bundle and the pain was gone.  They placed her on my tummy as I was stitched up (my previous tear had retorn). Shortly after I delivered the placenta and they discovered that I had a small abruption which was likely why her heart rate dropped. She scored a 8 & 9 on her apgars and was with us the whole time. After I was all cleaned up and sent up to the mother and baby room my epidural decided to kick in and I was numb for several hours, go figure.

She has been an angel since, nursing like a champ and passing all her tests with flying colors. I feel so amazingly blessed to get the full birth experience with my last baby and to have her here safe and sound. It was I think the most intense ~2 hours from first contraction to delivery of my life, but so worth it.

Happy Birthday Adalyn Peggy Yates

Born 2/26/2012 at 2:18 am          5lbs 2.2oz and 17 ½ inches

 

Coming Home :)

Sisters are soooo excited to hold newest baby sis.

Coming home was quite the adventure too as all the kiddos were excited to see and hold their new baby sister.  What a thrill to have all of our family together in our home for the very first time. We definitely feel complete now.





Now, since it has been almost a year (*hangs head in shame*), I decided the best way to catch up on Adalyn's life is through picture collages. I will try to add her milestones in as we go but honestly I think the majority have been captured in pictures. Ready or not here we go......

The first few weeks

Month 1

 

Month 2- Adalyn's Baby Blessing May 20th, 2012

3 Months Old and loving the Texas Sunshine

4 Months Old- Trying Baby food for the first time.

5 Months Old- Swimming with Daddy!

6 Months Old- Growing into her personality.
*started holding bottle by herself.
*loves to giggle and squeal

7 Months Old- Everything goes into her mouth.
*teeth are starting to appear.

8 Months Old- Still working on sitting up.
Visiting Washington Family and Celebrating the Fall Holidays.



9 Months Old- Nothing but Smiles!
*sits on her own
* two bottom teeth
*first Christmas = loved it!!
 

Our family has been so blessed by this little sweet heart, it is crazy to think she wasn't always apart of our family. Her smiles are infectious and she has a way of brightening up anyone's day no matter how hard it has been. There are definitely more pictures as she is now 10 months old but I will hold off on those until I get more caught up on my posts.