Rylie Annabelle

okay. now that my baby girl is a week and a half old im finally getting around to her birth story.

i ended up being induced 2 days early. my doctor was going out of town. it was after christmas and just before the new year. Justin and i went back and forth for a while with this decision. i know some people will yell at me and judge me for being induced without any medical reason. but i dont want to hear it. my baby was healthy, i was healthy. it was 2 days. and she is here so nothing you say can change what happened haha. anyways, it was important to me to be with my dr and having it planned the potential for my mom to be there was significantly higher and what i really wanted.

so even though i hoped to go into labor on my own i was glad to see the end coming near. my mom got here sat night. she would be here to watch ryker as he woke up and be with him during most of the day and then my visiting teacher could help watch him while my mom was helping me during the delivery. that was the plan! does it ever go according to the plan?

justin and i got up sunday morning and got to the hospital at 630 for my induction. it was pretty chill. they didnt seem to busy or that they were super full. i know that means nothing, but it was fairly quiet that morning. they got me into my room (which was freezing by the way! everyone commented that it was a cold room. apparently the heater works, but the blower doesnt.) i was checked in and given all my wristbands. i was getting anxious and nervous which of course makes me nauseous. so i was feeling like i was going to puke and i havent even gotten my IV yet. Justin helped calm me down and talk me through it. he really was such a help through all of this. i love him. my nurse (which changed half hour after we got there) tried once to get my IV started and couldnt get it. im not shocked. they tried 3 different times when i was in labor with ryker too. they called in the on call paramedic, and he got it going.

so now im hooked up to and IV and the monitors. they got the pitocin going and i was on my way! it took a while for me to start feeling anything. so it felt like things were dragging along all morning. my mom came and visited with ryker in the morning before his nap and it was good to see him. they went home for his nap and eventually to church. they were so nice to give me lunch! well. kind of. because i was "in labor" i could only eat clear fluids. so i had juice, chicken broth (which was so good compared to the cold room i was in) and jello. yummy right?

early afternoon my contractions were getting more and more intense. around 1:30 it was getting too much to handle. i had every intention of going as natural as possible. (haha even though i was medically induced. makes sense right?)  i had practiced and researched all ways to help handle the pain and everything. but the intensity with the pitocin was getting too much. so i asked for an epidural. the lady came in about a half hour later. she tried once and couldnt get it. she wanted to try again. i told her okay, but looked at justin and just about cried. if this didnt work i dont know how i would make it through. i was worried and just prayed and prayed and prayed. she got the second stick to work, but it was different. i remember with ryker i was completely numb from the waist down. couldnt move my legs, lift my hips, nothing. with rylie, my epidural worked but i could still wiggle my toes and shuffle my legs around on the bed to do what they needed me to and i could help lift my hips when asked. but i couldnt feel my contractions! so thats all that mattered at the time. then once it was in, my dr came and broke my water. told me i was 4 cm dialated (1 cm when i came in that morning) so i hadnt progressed too much, but was doing good. so its 2:30 and finally everyone could leave my room. i had my drugs, my water was broken, and we were all set to progress!

my mom was texting me and saying that they were on their way to church. (we have it at 3pm) i told her that after sacrament to check in with me and i would let her know how things were going and if i needed my VT to take ryker for a little bit. so i hunker down to try and take a nap now that im comfortable. i was still fading away when i notice i can feel my contractions again. gah! the epidural is wearing off already? but this is different. its not so much pain as it is pressure in my perinium. it started out being just noticable, but with each contraction it was getting stronger and eventually more painful. i told justin that i was feeling really uncomfortable again. now i undrestand what everyone talks about feeling the pressure and need to push. we decided to call my nurse in to check and see what was going on. (new nurse. shift change at 3pm) conveniently she walked in so we didnt even need to call her. but we told her that things are feeling intense and i dont know whats going on since i shouldnt be feeling anything. she said she would check me. its like 3:30 pm by the way. she checked me and told me i was complete and we could start practice pushing. im sorry... complete what? dialated? effaced? i was at a 4 an hour ago what do you mean im complete? that was crazy fast. i just looked at justin and i was told him we need to call my mom! or something! and my VT to tell her about taking care of Ryker. but no time. justin texted my mom saying hey they are telling her to push! my nurse got everything ready and around 3:40 told me to push with this next contraction. she was a little askew so my nurse wanted to see if she would turn the right way on the way out. with that first pushed she turned right and moved on down. i rested and my nurse said push with this next contraction and she moved more down. she told me to stop and that they were calling in the dr. okay! this is intensly fast! no response from mom. im freaking out and not just because im mid delivery. the pressure is intense. i was moaning while i pushed because of all the pressure. dr got there and told me okay we are going to deliver on the next push. what?!?!?!?!?! so i pushed and when i was done with my 10 sec he told me to keep going and push through it! im pretty sure i blacked out. i remember what the dr said and then my mind went black. i couldnt see (not just because my eyes were closed) and i couldnt hear anything. i was not aware of anything going on in the hospital room. i tried shaking my head to come to so that i could pay attention to what the dr was telling me to do, but when i opened my eyes they were placing my little girl on my tummy. 3 pushes and she was here. born at 3:55pm. weighing 7lbs 11oz. 19  1/2 inches long. beautiful little girl.

still havent heard from my mom. she is still in sacrament meeting with ryker haha. justin and i were in love with rylie from the start. we were loving the time to be with her just us 3 for a little while. justin was able to cut the cord this time. she was so perfect. my mom ended up texting back around 4:30 when she finally looked at her phone. we texted her saying hey she is here! and it still took a while for her to respond. but it was church! and i wasnt supposed to go that fast! i was actually really sad she wasnt able to be there for the delivery. i wanted her there. but i was also glad that she could be with ryker so i didnt have to worry about him at all. so her and ryker rushed over to see the new family member.

she has been so great. we were able to come home monday night and my mom was here to help out for a little over a week. alicia came to visit as well for a while. it was so nice for them to come and help. it was so great for me and great for ryker to get some good attention as we adjust to rylie being in our family. i do miss my sleep haha but i love having her here with us. welcome rylie annabelle!

you know me. you know the pics are never in order... dont judge. also i am trying to coordinate getting them from like 4 different phones.

playing a game way too late the night before we go to the hospital. 

yay IV. go pitocin go!

ryker at his morning visit. 

she is here!

his own little baby to play with!

apparently she had a major blowout in her blankets before her first bath. she mad a lot to clean up!

but she got a cute christmas hat

love my little girl

dad and ryker hanging out while we wait for rylie to get back

he misses his infant carseat i guess. he wanted to try it out again. 

getting ready to come home from the hospital

fixing his elmo with his own tools. just like dad!

he is still happy even though things are changing

first night with aunt lisha! she loved to cuddle and talk to rylie

at least one of my kids wants to cuddle with me haha

family of 4!

first time holding baby sister

he was much calmer holding her than he was with Ryker

such a natural. most attractive thing ever right?

grandma with Rylie!

getting her hearing test done

when grandma came to the hospital. first time holding her. 

on our way home!

first bath. she was not that thrilled. ryker will have to teach her to love baths

Ryker gave her his grover to play with. she was sleeping so we gave it to her as a pillow. its the thought that counts!

ryker loves to come over and hold her. its so sweet. 

he can even juggle 2 kids. man he is perfect. 

first time with aunt lisha

look at those beautiful brown eyes! gah! i melt every time i look into them

aunt lisha introduced ryker to winnie the pooh. he LOVES it! he always wants to watch pooh. 

he loves to watch and sit with grandma too. 

see i can juggle 2 kids too! ryker does love to sit with us when rylie eats or needs a cuddle. 

we tried to dress her up a little bit and get some cute pictures. it was hard because she wasnt super thrilled. but they turned out so cute! 

i love this outfit. i wish it was warm enough to wear more often. but its negative always right now so short sleeve and no pants are a no go. 

awesome hat from aunt carlee! thanks!

she purses her lips after eating just like Ryker used to. 

this is the blanket i made for her birthday. so warm and fun. im so happy with how it turned out. 

3 generations! 

mom helped me learn my sewing machine that i got for christmas. my first project, i made a blanket for Rylie. i mistakenly picked the 3 hardest fabrics to sew together. but that aside it turned out great! thanks momma!

we found a channel on youtube that plays a whole bunch of nursery rhymes. he loves to dance to them. this is him dancing to head shoulders knees and toes. 

Happy Holidays!

whew! so much has happened since I have last blogged. I might do less talking and more pictures. but i have said that before and still write more than i think i will.

Dec started out great with Carlee coming to visit. surprisingly i have no pictures? what the heck? well we had fun while she was here! and she even kept all of her appendages and didnt get frostbite. it was close though.... haha. she got here friday night and got to say hi to Ryker before he went to bed. then we spent saturday doing some more christmas shopping but mostly lots of christmas wrapping. she gave us some more clothes for baby girl that dani was passing on. so nice of her to bring them to us. then she stayed with ryker as Justin and I went on a date. it was nice to get out for a bit by ourselves. really it was a pretty chill weekend. sunday was a lazy day. we hung out all morning. then carlee helped me with my primary class for church. it was fun to have her as my second teacher for the week. we played more on monday and then she headed home. it wasnt crazy busy but it was fun to have her here to play and be with ryker. i secretly hoped to go into labor... but i knew it was still way early so it probably wouldnt have been good to do that anyway. baby didnt come! so we just played with ryker.

after that the next few weeks have gone pretty smooth. its getting colder. we still have snow. its icy. the usual haha. primary has been interesting yet fun. I had a really good lesson last week that actually lasted the whole hour. i was so proud of myself. it was about how Christ is with us and he organized the church the same now as he did when he was on the earth. we played a matching game. they earned some muddy buddies. they made a christmas chain to count down the days till christmas. it was fun. and they enjoyed it. I have a new teacher now! i was with her one week and then last week we had our christmas program and didnt have primary so not that week. one more week and we get new kids! new year. all the sunbeams come up to our class. yay!

Ryker is doing okay. still nervous in nursery. but if someone holds him than he is okay. but it breaks my heart to have him scream as i leave. we tried to have justin go with him once. but he was still super clingy. darn.... we are trying! he is still understanding a lot. he can sign more, food, drink, thank you, and say hi, bye and getting so close to other words! he can say and repeat most of the vowels, but is still working on the consonants. i think when it starts it will click and he will just explode with words! we work on it everyday. he has officially gotten attached to hi care bear. the one that used to be justins. he needs it to go to bed for nap and at night time.

christmas came! we missed being with family, but it was fun to just be us for once. we made it work. justin and i had an epiphany when we were making christmas goodies. we can make them however we want! we dont have to put in the ingredients that we always pick out. or we can put christmas candy in our stockings that we want to eat instead of eating the not as good ones and leaving the chocolate ones for last. we are adults! this is our house! haha. it was kind of hilarious. but we have never been in our own home to really think about it.

christmas eve was fun. we opened one gift like we did in my family. after ryker went to bed we played santa and put out the stockings. justins parents sent us some more of justins old trucks to give to ryker so we set those out and got those ready for him. then we rented 2 red box's to watch. we saw the new teenage mutant ninja turtles. its really hilarious. i really liked it. and then we saw the giver. also really good. i dont remember much from the book. great christmas eve right! totally christmasy.

christmas morning was great. we kept the tree lights on for santa. so when we brought ryker down it was cool and he kept saying hi and waving thinking someone was already downstairs. we put him down and showed him where his stocking was. he was so excited about the new trucks! he couldnt decide which one to play with first. so he kept going back and forth. then we put presents in piles and we helped him open all his gifts. he was so excited with all the new toys that he lost interest in unwrapping. it was fun at first but then he just wanted to play with everything! he had so much fun though and it totally wore him out. he took a great morning nap haha. justin and i had a great christmas too. justin was so happy to get some good tools. a creeper, a jack, a dremel, some good new shirts and pants.he got an organizer for his screws and such and a tire iron. im sure there is more, but i cant remember. we were very lucky to have family be very generous to us. they have been so sweet. thanks family! my big gifts were a sewing machine! and a george forman. knowing the sewing machine was coming i have thought of a few new projects to do. im so stoked to be able to do them. but now that we are having a new baby it might be a month or so before i feel rested enough to start them haha. i got lots of great clothes for after baby. and some great clothes for now too. Carlee did let me wear those all month though. its been awesome. also got some great new books im super excited about. it really was a great christmas.

we also had a great day that was not just chocolate. mostly, but not all that. we had bacon, eggs, lemon poppyseed muffins and eggnog for breakfast. munchies for lunch. and then brown sugar glazed spiral ham, mashed potatoes, buttered flakey biscuts, green beans, and sparkling cider for christmas dinner. it was super yummy! and all the left over ham i keep snacking on has been so amazing still. its perfect. we have plans to make a yummy corn chowder with potatoes and plenty of ham. its going to be perfect.

well i guess in other news my dr is going to be out of town next week, so he told me that if i wanted he would induce me on sunday the 28th. thats 2 days before my due date. but its a light at the end of the tunnel. i have been in so much pain this pregnancy that i just want to cry everytime i move. not so great when im running after an 18 month old. he doesnt get it. but i dont expect him to. my pelvis just hurts so much. i cant walk or stand up or roll over or really move without clenching in pain and having to take a breather. i have been practicing for contractions not weeks and weeks of pelvic pain! but we have been dealing with it. so! i still want to go into labor naturally but if not then come sunday morning we will kick start things. i really want it to be with my dr so thats important to me. i still want to try to go without an epidural, but with being induced i will see how it goes. mostly im ready to meet my little girl. mom will come tomorrow evening to watch ryker so that will be so nice to have him taken care of. and by someone who will be around for a while and i dont have to worry about them needing to get back to their own kids. not nearly as time constrained. yay! im glad my mom will be here for it. it was such a blessing when i was delivering Ryker.

well of course i wrote more than i intended. oh well. next post will be all about new baby which is what everyone will want anyway haha.

we got a fun picture of the kunz family! they are so cute. we miss being so close to them

ryker trying on dads favorite shirt. haha. 

he had one day where he really wanted to wear his coat, but only by the hood. the jelly smile also makes it great

i tried a few pregnancy pics just to document a little. this is at 39 weeks

opening up his christmas eve gift. he was so so excited! watch the video below

ready for christmas morning!

the beginnning of christmas, investigating the stockings

ryker got the new trucks that were justins. he loves them so much. 

this awesome semi. it makes engine and horn noises. beeps when it backs up. justin spent one night cleaning all the insides to make sure it worked right for ryker. 

he prefers it without the trailer right now. 

we helped ryker open all of his gifts. he really just wanted to play with each toy and got distracted from opening more. 

fun tools!

new jammies!

a fun steering wheel. we can mount it onto something later. but he loves to "drive" around the house. 

new basketball! its a big step for us. 

rylie got a lot for christmas too! even though she wont enjoy for a few more days haha. 

justin loved his dremal! exactly what he wanted. 

i found this train at the dollar store. it totally worked! and ryker loved it. 

ryker trying out dads new creeper

and had to practice using the new floor jack

family christmas photo!

playing tetris jenga. it was fun!

family photo with all the siblings! we are on beez phone and dani and jared are on the ipad

more of me being very very big

ryker opening his christmas eve gift. he got so so excited.