Facebook

I finally gave in and joined Facebook a few days ago. I have already found a bunch of Matt's cousins, my best friends from my high school days, my friends here in town and where we use to live, some of my mission companions, and my college roommates, one of which I didn't think I would ever hear from again who has joined the church and been through the temple since I last saw her in '93. That was exciting to hear about. Now my days consist of checking email, checking my facebook wall and checking my blog and my friends blogs and if I so desire, adding to or commenting on blogs and walls. I have got to learn to not let this occupy too much of my time because I certainly have a ton enough to do with my house and my kids; but I really do enjoy my communication with others outside of my kids.

Ridin' Cowgirl!

Matt's aunt Rosemary got this onesie for Jileigh when she was a baby and we've enjoyed putting it on all our girls. She's too cute to not take a picture of her!

Our Saturday at the Ranch

Matt and Dave came up with an idea to have light put up in the pavillion at the Ranch. So they bought a solar panel, wired it up to a battery and then wired it to the lights. I am sure it is more complex than that, but that is how I understand it.

1 week old Bear picture

My friend Hydee took a picture of her baby with a bear every month and posted it. Then when her baby was a year old, she posted all the picture in chronological order so that we could see how she grew compared to this bear. I loved the idea so here is her first one at 1 week old. She really hasn't grown yet. She lost 9 ounces and now she has gained it back.

My kids decided that we needed to gather all of our stuffed bears around her for her picture. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Laundry room construction

Matt went to Home Depot yesterday to get the shelving he needed to put up in the laundry room. So today he has started on it. These are the before and after pictures of today's work.

My glowing baby

We have spent the week taking Elody to the local lab to get a blood draw and then to the PA to decide what action to take next to get her bilirubin count down. The count continued to climb until yesterday when it finally went down into the low risk section. We have been seeing the Physician's Assistant all week and finally yesterday my doctor, Dr Dave Grygla (Matt's 1st cousin), finally was back to work. At our appointment yesterday (Friday), the PA was there first and he wanted me to keep her on the lights for the weekend and take her into the nearby city (30 minutes away) to the lab at the hospital on Sunday. We told him that we have had enough of this and that she is fine, she's out of the risk zone. He still argued his position until Dave finally came in. The PA told him the situation, his position and mine, and then Dave said, "You can tell her what you want, but she is going to do what she wants to do." With that, the PA walked out. Dave said that she is fine and not to worry about it anymore. Dave respects us and trusts us to do what's best for her. I will still take her out into the sun for a few minutes a day until all the yellow color is gone. I had to give her formula as a supplement until today now that my milk has evened out. It is hard for her to get out the colostrum and then the milk when I go through the engorgement stage.

I love this little outfit on my little girls. It is a preemie size so they only get to wear it once or twice the first couple of weeks.

My parents visit

My parents and brother Nathan came on Tuesday night. My mom spent Wednesday doing all my laundry and Thursday washing all the bed sheets. Angelique was a little trooper. She was right by her Grammy helping her and directing on whose clothes were whose. Jileigh took off on Wednesday morning for her first Girl's Camp. Angelique has done this amazing transformation becoming my helper, rescuer, baby and toddler caretaker, dishwasher loader and unloader, etc. My parents left this morning (Friday) to go back home. It sure was nice having them here. I got a picture of me with my mom and Elody. All three of us are the youngest in our families, My mom was the youngest, I was the youngest and Elody is my youngest and we are all girls. I just thought that was cool and it is not something you see everyday.

She's here!!!

I would like to present Elody Elizabeth Heaton. Born on June 7, 2009 at 3:03 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 3 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Sunday morning at 5:16 am I woke saying, "My water just broke!" I ran into the bathroom and cleaned up. My adrenalin was going and my thoughts were scattered. Then I heard a little voice outside my bathroom. Beauchene had just woke up and came into our room. Of all the timings, of all the mornings. (My first thoughts were, Elody came and woke him us telling him that she is coming!) I tried to cuddle him for a few minutes, but he was not being sleepy. Matt finally went in and got Jileigh to come in our bed and cuddle him. He accepted that and we continued to get ready to go. I had only had a couple of contractions, but history tells me that I only have a couple of hours after my water breaks to push out the baby. (That wasn't so in this case.) Matt called his mom and off we went to the hospital.

The contractions were coming very slowly, about 1 an hour. I finally consented to having a pitocin IV put in my arm. I was still at 3 cm dilated. At 4 cm the contractions started getting hard. I spent about an hour with Matt and the nurse pushing on my knees during the contractions and I was listening to my hypnobirthing CD. After I had had enough of that, I was barely at 6cm. So I went into the shower on my hands and knees with Matt spraying the water on my body and pushing on my hips during the contractions. After an our of that, she checked me again and I was at 6+ cm. The contractions were as painful as if I were 9-10 cm, but I wasn't and I had a long way to go before I would be. That's when I threw in the towel. I got my very first epidural. I still went another 4 hours before I was dilated to 10 cm; but instead of being in murderous pain, I took a nice nap. After my first push, the doctor realized that the baby was indeed posterior. He tried to turn her, but she turned right back. So I pushed a couple more times and she was out. My doctor was rather amazed that I pushed her out so well and that I didn't tear or damage my perineum at all. She cried when he was cleaning her out, but she settled right down after he gave her to me. She already likes her momma. She nursed really well on both sides and was quite content. It was so weird for me to have my lower half total numb. Once I made a slight turn and my leg fell off the bed but I didn't even know it until the nurse picked it back up. After they moved me to the recovery floor and the numbing wore off, I surprisingly felt really good. This is the best I have felt after giving birth to a baby.

Mom and Dad and Grandma H with Elody

"Trying" to leave the hospital

My doctor released me first thing this morning, but Elody's doctor wasn't about to release her. Her bilirubin count was too high too fast. They had to put her under the bili lights all morning, bring her too me only to nurse. I've never had a baby be under the lights before. They did another test later in the morning and the count had gone down enough for us to take her home, but we had to rent what is called a bili blanket. It is a rectangle pad that shines the lights that we can put on her bare back or belly. The little pink nightgown is same gown that I have brought home all of my girls, except for Safia because she was born at home, from the hospital. I love to take a picture of the back of my baby's heads because that hair usually doesn't stay there.

First Family photo

The first thing we did when we got home is take a family photo. My family is compete!

Why women who are 9 months pregnant shouldn't cook!

Today I am making a potato salad for a luncheon tomorrow after Candy's baby blessing. I put the eggs in a pot of water and started the fire. There was one cracked egg in the carton so I took it out to the dog. All of a sudden I feel my belly burning. Matt was outside by the dog's kennel and I call out, "Why is my belly burning?" At the same time he is staring at me saying, "Why are you on fire?" I quickly put it out baffled at how I did that. I guess I was just standing too close to the fire after I lit it. I really liked this maternity outfit too!

Angelique's creativity

This afternoon Angelique decided that she wanted to make some Barbie clothes. So she found some of her old holey socks and made some clothes out of them. She hand stitched them with needle and thread. She did a pretty impressive job, if I say so myself.

Boysenberry season

The boysenberries in our patch out front were ripe and ready to be picked. I decided this year that I want to try boysenberry freezer jam. We were able to pick almost 6 cups of berries to make a pint jar plus three 1 1/2 cup bags of jam. It is so tasty and yummy.

Like sister, like brother

Beau has learned from the best how to make messes. I left Jileigh to babysit one afternoon this week and Beau escaped out back and managed to dump fertilizer all over the picnic table and the ground. Jileigh got to clean it up.

One miserable night of False Labor!

Yesterday afternoon I started with some contractions but very inconsistent, like 1 per hour. So I made bread, prepared the song list for Relief Society for June, and figured out and downloaded my hypnobirthing CD on the new MP3 player that I just bought yesterday on the way home from my appointment. I knew I needed to take care of some priorities. By the time I was ready for bed, I was having contractions 10 minutes apart. I fell asleep from 11:30 to 12:10 and woke up to a hard contractions. Again they started coming between 20 and 5 min apart. I slept from about 3am to 4am and then had some more painful strong contraction 10 minutes apart until 5:30am. I lost my mucus plug at 4:30 and thought that just maybe they would be more consistent, but they weren't. Matt left to work at 5am and I slept again from 5:30 to 8:30am. So here I am at 9:30am still pregnant and no contractions. I we move on. Now I get to clean my kitchen from yesterday's baking and cooking. I was looking forward to not having to do it, thinking I would be in the hospital holding my new baby.

almost 39 weeks check-up

Well, I am almost 39 weeks and my doctor says it could be anytime now. I am dilated between 2 1/2 and 3 cm. He went ahead and stripped my membranes. Hopefully I will be done being pregnant soon.

Sunday afternoon fun

All I can say is that my kids are goofy.

Baby stuff ready!

Saturday I went to Target to buy some Cheer Free and spent the rest of the day washing baby clothes and blankets, the car seat, the swing, and the bassinet. Now I feel a little more prepared and that this really is going to happen soon. I filled up one bin with 0-3 month clothes and the other with 3-6 month clothes. I think I'm good on clothes!

Progress report at 37 1/2 weeks

Today was my doctor's appointment. Matt was able to go with me because it was 45 minutes before he had to be to work. Anyway, my belly measured 37 cm. I was 50% effaced and dilated to almost 2 cm. My blood pressure was normal and I gained 3 pounds in a week and a half. I ate too many carbs this past weekend. I have been having a lot of braxton hicks lately. Again, progress is good and exciting. I guess I should start thinking about pulling out the baby clothes and baby paraphernalia from the attic and get them all washed and ready.

(Picture taken at 38 weeks)