Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Best of the Best

 Robbie is the best. Serious.

Also my sister/doula, Talya.  She pretty much rocks.

My dad worked hard all day.

Light-touch massage is heavenly.

Fresh goopy baby is the best feeling in the world.

Baby Adelyn being de-gooped.

8 lbs. 1 oz.

Also the best?  My midwife, Machel Knowles, and my ridiculously rockin' nurse, Renee.

Better than the best?
This.
'Nuff said.



PaMa and PaPa kisses.



PaPa is a total sucker for his grandbabies.

Grandma Allred is too.

 Dax seeing baby Addie for the first time.

 He LOVES her!

 Not kidding.  He wouldn't stop giving her loves.  He still does this.

Eventually, he got bored and played "Wosie"
(Ring Around the Rosie) by himself for a while.

 Our little exhausted family.  Don't worry, I really looked that rad.  Not even scared.

 I love this shot.

Addie's first bath.  Apparently, parents aren't allowed to help anymore.
So this is us, taking pictures through the thick glass.

 We're diggin' the blonde.

The view I had all day.  It pretty much ruled.

Daddy can't get enough of her, either.

Addie all ready to go home the next afternoon.

Here we are....a family of FOUR!!!

Birth story to come....but some people (ahem....Erica) were getting impatient for pictures.  :)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Unexpected Blessings








The past few weeks have gone differently than I had hoped or expected.  Originally, I had planned to come up to Salt Lake to stay only about 2 weeks before the baby was due.  Mostly, because I didn't think she'd come all that early, and also because I knew I'd go stir crazy away from home/hubby/friends/things that need to get done.

September 24, I woke up from a nap having consistent contractions.  Between 10-15 minutes apart, consistent.  Don't get me wrong, these were not super-intense contractions, but Robbie and I had been praying for weeks that we would know in enough time and be able to make it to Salt Lake in time for the baby.  We both felt that this might be the warning we had been praying for.

Seven or eight hours later we were at my parents' house in Sandy, and the contractions slowed to between 20-30 minutes apart so that I could sleep.  When I woke the next morning, and pretty much ever since, the contractions have been still going...and going.......and going........and going............with little to no change.

The next Monday at my appointment, I was devastated to hear that literally nothing had changed.  Robbie had to go back to work, the baby was showing no sign of coming, and I was moved up a week and a half earlier than I had wanted or planned.  With still no baby.  Or husband.

That week (week 37 of the pregnancy), both Dax and I had a rough week.  Dax woke up during the night and far too early in the morning...to say nothing of his horrible naps.  I couldn't sleep at night, was missing my husband, and desperately wanting this baby to come to make it all end.  We were both losing it.

The next week, at our appointment (week 38), we were only a 2+ and still 80%.  Barely any progress, but somehow I was at peace.  I felt good, and things were somehow more easy to manage.  Dax still has daily tantrums, but he is SO lovey otherwise.  For instance, tonight, we watched Toy Story together on the couch, and he gave me countless kisses out of nowhere, and kept snuggling up to me and the belly, smiling all the time.  He gives me "loves" (hugs) and slobbery kisses without me asking for them, and is always holding my hand.  Even a week ago, all these things were QUITE rare.

I think he senses that something is up.  I know he misses his daddy like crazy (I've become the replacement parental jungle gym, he's always asking, "Where Dad-dy go?" and talking about daddy in every picture he sees, among other things).  But relatively speaking, he's been such a good little boy, I couldn't ask for anything better to keep me sane right now.

The other night, driving home, Dax kept pointing out every chapel he could see and saying, "Dempo!  Dempo!"  I tried a few times to correct him by saying, "Sweetie, that's a church."  To which he would respond, "Dempo!  Dempo!"  I could see it was going to be difficult to change his mind, so I went with it, and asked, "Daxson, would you like to sing a song about temples?"

"Beas?"

My heart melted and I began to sing "I Love to See the Temple".  When I finished, he immediately said, "Dempo.  Seene."

"Dax, would you like me to sing the temple song again?"

"Beas?"

So....I sang it again.  Over and over again, until we reached PaMa and PaPa's house.  It was the sweetest moment....and my heart melts a little more every time we get in the car and he asks me to sing to him again.  I love that he is so enamored by temples.  I love his sweet little spirit.  He's my little angel.....tantrums and all.

In addition to the blessings of feeling more at peace and Dax being so sweet, another huge tender mercy came at our last appointment as well.  I have been stressing majorly about Robbie.  He's been working so hard to finish his current class (it ends next week) on top of working 50-70 hours per week and he's living 4 hours away from me and Dax and 5 hours from the hospital we plan to deliver at.

I am certain labor will be long enough that we can get him to the hospital in time, but if I happen to go in to labor in the afternoon/evening/night, I seriously worry about Robbie being too tired to drive.  This stress mixed with my great desire not to be induced do not mesh very well, unfortunately.  I have been going back and forth and back and forth about what would be best for our situation.  At our appointment, we went ahead and scheduled an induction for Tuesday morning, October 12.  Up until that moment, I was stressed out beyond belief as to what I was going to do, but I felt suddenly so at peace with it.  After all, my babies need a daddy, not a victim in a car accident somewhere on Highway 6.

I know that these things may seem so small to many of you, but to me.....it's proof that Heavenly Father knows me and loves me.

I'm still praying like crazy that Adelyn will choose to join us without the help of pitocin, but if not....I know that everything will turn out ok.  I've done this before, and I have the best midwife, doula, and support system anyone could ever have.  I am so grateful for it all.  But mostly, I'm grateful for the peace I feel.

I guess the fact that I get to see my husband again in T minus 33 hours or so helps a bit too.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Just For Fun....

Adelyn's due date is a mere 3.5 weeks away!  We're super excited for her to join our family, and can't wait until she actually arrives.

Just for fun, we thought we'd see what everyone else thinks....

Comment on this post what you think our little girl will be like.  Categories are as follows:

Day of Birth (Due Oct. 18):
Time of Birth:
Length of Active Labor:
Weight (lbs and oz.):
Length (in inches):
Hair Color/type (curly, straight, etc.):

Closest guesses may (or may not) receive a fun surprise!  Whether or not you get it may, in fact, be part of the surprise.....

May the best guesser win! ....and also be the soonest date from now (fingers crossed)!

For a little help, Dax was induced 6 days early, labor was 12.5 hours, weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz, was 19.5 inches long, and had lots of straight brown hair.  And, at my last appointment (35.5 weeks), I was dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Simple, Yet Profound, Tender Mercies

I have a ridiculous amount of things to catch up on (blogging about Summer included), but many will have to wait...at least until I can get this one down.

Yesterday (Sunday) was quite a tender mercy.  First of all, being able to serve in Young Womens is a blessing in and of itself.  I learn so much and am so humbled by those little teenage turds that I sit in awe of them often!

Yesterday I was to teach a lesson on The Importance of Life and Procreation.  Slightly daunting, but not that big of a deal.  When it came time for YW to begin, my great friend Nicole (who was to teach the Mia Maids) approached me with the thought to combine the Laurels and Mia Maids (there was only 1 MM there that day, and though she's the youngest one, she's also more mature than most of the Laurels) and to team-teach.

Sounded good to me!

The gravity of the lesson started to exhibit itself shortly afterward.  Nicole is one of those people who you can't help but love.  She's fabulous at EVERYTHING.  She's beautiful, talented, super-spiritual, nice to everyone, funny, lets me be ridiculous and immature, and a fantastic mother.  Problem is, she's never been blessed with the ability to carry a child.  She currently has a darling three-year-old whom they were able to adopt, but since, have been unlucky in the adoption world, though hoping desperately to add more to their family asap.

So here I am, nearly eight months pregnant, about to teach a bunch of teenage girls that one of their most divine roles in life is to bring children into the world.  With someone who had never done so.

The Spirit was incredibly strong as we were able to share our different, yet so very similar, stories about the importance of motherhood and how these girls are Heavenly Father's greatest creation.  We all cried at some point, but I am certain that those precious daughters of Heavenly Father will not soon forget the lesson that they learned that day.

I hope to not forget.

Hence the post.

On a related note, Nicole and her husband were selected a few hours later by a birth family to adopt a sweet baby girl in just three short weeks.

I am still in awe.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I Have A Million Things To Do Today...

...and they'll all get done (well, the important ones, anyway).  But instead of making myself sick bending over and reaching/putting away things I can't reach, I am hanging out with Addie. 

She's quite a playful little fetus....Dax would stop moving the second I would touch my belly, but Addie likes to perform!  We play little games, and she occasionally lets me move her leg/foot around. 

THIS is the only thing I like about being pregnant.  But it is something I do love.  Three-ish more months until we get to officially meet our little girl.  Hooray for the 3rd trimester!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

My PostSecret


photo taken from e-shirt.com


Robbie used to check a site often called "PostSecret".  It was a social experiment started by a man who wondered whether people would be willing to share their deepest secrets with a complete stranger.  It turned in to a complete phenomenon.  I have often wondered what my secret would be.

Today, I figured it out.

I know pregnancy is a blessing.  
But the truth is,  
I never feel more fat,  
ugly,  
incompetent 
or  self-conscious 
than I do when I am with child.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Curiosity....

What do you people think???  Will it be a baby BOY, or baby GIRL??

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Who's Paying Attention?

So, I realize that I have been HORRIBLE at updating since our move to Moab, but I just want to release the news here first....just to see who checks this thing out.  I haven't had a comment on a blog post for MONTHS!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

More Un-Pregnancy Happiness!

44 lbs in 2 weeks, and counting!  I'm currently 16 lbs. under my pre-prego weight...only 20 more to go!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Labor Day??

We went in for another appointment today, and Machel says that not a whole lot has changed.  I'm at a 3 and 80% effaced.  What's new??

Anyway, she has been really worried about my swollen legs and feet and the fact that my blood pressure is still slightly high every time I go in.  She called Ogden Regional Hospital to talk with them about it, and 'viola!' we have an appointment with our baby on Monday morning at 6am.  

I'm not in love with the idea of being induced, but she's been worried about it for a while now, and wants to make sure that the baby will stay healthy.  I still don't completely understand why swelling (even if it is really gross and bad) would be such a worry at this point, but I trust her judgment and know that she knows better than I. She has promised me that we would be at the lowest dose of pitocin possible and would take it off as soon as I started having regular contractions.  

However, she did strip my membranes when she checked me, which caused some pretty significant contractions for about 7 hours or so (moreso than the last time we went in to the hospital), and we thought that maybe that would do it instead of having to wait until Monday, but they have tapered off a lot in the last little bit.  

Hopefully we will go into full-blown labor this weekend and avoid being induced, but if not, at least there's an end in sight!

Friday, August 22, 2008

I Feel Like I Talk About Nothing Else....

...and it's probably true.  This pregnancy literally consumes my life.  We had another appointment today, and he's still healthy.  Still having light contractions (though the past few days have been on the stronger side of things), and we are at "a tight 3" and still about 80% effaced.  She says things are moving forward, just much slower than I'd prefer.  Again, my blood pressure was slightly high, and my feet have swollen beyond belief, so she's again taking "pre-eclampsia precautions," which means that they drew some blood to see if we need to speed up nature at all.  We'll find out on Monday what the results are.

In the meantime, in the words from Ocean's 11, we're "waiting, sweetheart, just waiting."

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

An Update for Those of You Who Like Updates

This picture is old-ish.  It was taken at the end of July, at about 34 weeks or so.

Saturday was....special.  Why, you ask?  It was special because it drove me crazy.

Saturday morning, I woke up and was having regular contractions about every 5-7 minutes for almost 2 hours.  They quieted down a bit, and we went about our day.  We headed down to Ogden to meet up with Talya and Ryan so we could go to our Business Development Seminar in Salt Lake, and the contractions were still happening, but they were honestly pretty wuss.  

We were seated at the seminar at about 5pm, at which time the contractions picked up and became pretty regular and were increasing in strength.  By the time we got back to Talya's at about 10pm, they were still happening about every 3-5 minutes and had still been getting a bit stronger.  Since they had been going on this long, we opted to spend the night there and see what happened (they are about 15 minutes from the hospital we will be delivering in, as opposed to Logan's 55 minute commute).  A bit before 3am, I felt like we needed to head to the hospital, so Robbie, Talya, and I all climbed in the 4Runner and headed to Ogden Regional.  

Once there and registered, they hooked me up to the electronic fetal monitor and checked me.  I hadn't dilated much, if any, and was still about the same effacement. Contractions had slowed to every 7 minutes on the monitor, and after about 25 minutes, stopped completely.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't imagining the 10 prior hours worth of contractions.  It was pretty frustrating.  

Robbie and I went and walked around a bit and came and hooked back up to the machine.  Still nothing.  We decided that if our stubborn son was going to mess with us like this, we'd leave the hospital now and at least get some sleep, so Talya went and told the nurse that nothing was progressing, and that we'd like to go.  

It took the nurse almost an hour to get into us (they had shift change at the time we wanted to leave), and about 15-20 minutes before she did, the contractions started again, but still only every 7 minutes.  I swear, he just likes to mess with us!

We were discharged, and not much has changed since.  Like I've been telling myself all along:  He'll come when he's ready.  

Friday, August 15, 2008

Ok, fine.

The newest baby info (as of yesterday):

Still at a 2 and about 80%, though I'm slightly more dilated.
He's dropped some.  Not enough, but some.
He's now posterior (which explains the large amounts of pressure on my lower back and side, as well as the increased alien-like movement in my belly).  
Machel thinks he has hair.
He's still big (7 lbs. 5 oz., give or take) and measuring early.
I wish that meant he were coming early for sure.  

That's all I got.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Gotta Love Tawny!

When I got put on "bed rest" a few weeks back (thankfully, it was a false alarm and we're ok), my friend Tawny told me that she would come keep me company and read me stories.  She brought me by this book tonight...what a doll!

Newest Baby News

We had another appointment with Machel today.  I'm dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced, so there's definitely progress being made.  Dax is currently weighing in at about 6 lbs 12 oz (2 weeks ago, he was about 5 1/2 lbs), which puts him weight-wise at a little over 37 weeks (2 full weeks ahead of schedule).  If only that meant that he would for sure come early....

When Machel measured his head, she said,"Whoa.  That's a big head."  Awesome.  She thinks that if he keeps growing like he is, and if I go full-term, he'll be easily around 8 1/2 lbs when he's born.  I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Goodbye, My Love!

Unfortunately, we had to leave Lake Powell at some point, but here are some of the highlights:

Rylee....are words necessary?

Sunrise over Bullfrog Bay

Cute little Audrey
Tyler on the slip-n-slide--check out his facial expression!
Keagan looking all handsome
Another one of Audrey
Shaelynn on the slide
Tyler swimming back to the boat
Robbie being manly (digging anchor holes)

Engineering the slide
Grandpa on the slide
Eric looking GQ
Robbie and I...look at that belly!
A few pictures at almost 35 weeks

Naptime
Robbie's big splash
Eric's pose for the camera