Christmas in Texas

This Christmas, we spent our time in Texas with my family. It was really nice to get away for a little bit and enjoy (slightly) warmer weather. We took a day to go to Dallas and eat at a few of our favorite spots, but unfortunately the weather wasn't too great, so we didn't do much else there. It was still fun to go and it made me really miss living there. My sister and her family were also able to make it down from Iowa, so we got to spend some time together.
We decided to put together a little video of Wren's first Christmas. Everyone says that newborns are boring, but I've loved this stage and I haven't really felt that way. Watching some of the videos that we took did make me realize that it probably isn't so exciting for everyone else to watch, but i'm glad that we have it to remember.

                              

Newborn Photos

A few weeks after Wren was born, we arranged to take some newborn pictures so we could remember this stage that passes so quickly. My good friend Michelle, who also shot our engagement and wedding pictures, does amazing film photography. She doesn't normally do newborns pictures, but made an exception and they turned out amazing. These were all taken when Wren was almost 3 weeks old, on November 21st, 2014, her real due date.

Photos by Miesh Photography

1 Month

Somehow it has already been a month since Wren was born. It feels more like a week and I already wish I could slow time down with her. We have spent a lot of time visiting with family and friends this month. My mom came to visit a few days after we got home from the hospital and my dad, stepmom, and brother came out to spend Thanksgiving with us. We have been trying to get out a bit, so of course Wren has already been on a couple shopping trips, out to watch my family sled, to the festival of trees, to some restaurants, and on a lot of errands. She has also been able to spend some quality time with Morgan's parents, who live pretty close and have watched her a couple times while Morgan and I got out for a little time together.
All in all, it has been a pretty great month and we have decided to keep her around for the long run.



At one month old, Wren:

Has been bulking up with the help of premie formula that has double the calories and extra protein and calcium. She now weighs over 6 pounds.

Is almost outgrowing premie clothes and is big enough to start fitting into newborn size clothes (with some room to spare).

Likes taking baths, unless it involves soap (she gets a bath every night as part of her bedtime routine, but we only use soap a couple times a week).

Sleeps for 5-6 hour stretches at night, which means we only have to get up once with her.

Hates being buckled into her carseat and enjoys chewing on her hands, typical baby stuff around here.

a birth story

We found out around 35 weeks that I would have to be induced because I had developed gestational hypertension that was turning into pre-eclampsia. It was pretty weird to all the sudden have a set date that was less than 2 weeks away, but after all the testing and multiple trips to the Labor & Delivery ER for monitoring, it was kind of a relief.

I was scheduled to be induced at 8 pm on Sunday, November 2nd. After being admitted, they started me on Cervidil at 8:40 that continued for 12 hours and had very little effect. I did start having contractions around midnight, but I thought they were cramps. I probably should have known the difference, but I never get cramps so I didn't really know what the difference was.

The next morning around 10am, the doctor came in and explained a couple different options to move forward with and we decided to do a cook catheter. It's basically 2 water balloons that are placed in your cervix that are slowly inflated to cause you to dilate. I got an epidural and then started the cook catheter at 11am.

We spent the next 3 hours watching Netflix and eating a late breakfast. Around 2pm, one of my contractions pushed the balloons out, which meant that I was dilated to a 3 and could finally start Pitocin.

Our doctor made sure we knew that the induction process would most likely be a long one, so we came into it knowing that it would be slow. When the nurse started me on Pitocin around 2:15pm, she told us that typically you can expect to dilate 1 cm per hour and then take a couple hours or more to push. So we were expecting another 9 or more hours.

Since we thought we had a lot of time left, we decided to try to get some sleep while we still could. Morgan fell asleep pretty quickly, but I had a nurse that stayed in the room doing constant monitoring on me and the baby, so it was a little more difficult to get any rest. I started getting pretty strong contractions, but I thought I was in for a pretty long wait so I didn't wake Morgan up.

Two hours later, my doctor stopped by with a resident to check my progress before she left. She had the resident check me first who was pretty surprised and said that it seemed like I had progressed a lot. Things became pretty hushed between her and my doctor, because my doctor thought she probably had made a mistake and didn't want to get my hopes up if she was wrong. So she checked me and realized that the resident was right and I was ready to start pushing. She called her husband and told him she wouldn't be able to pick up her daughter from preschool while everyone else started quickly setting up the room for delivery.

That last part all happened so fast. I thought I still had a lot of hours left before all of that would start happening and then suddenly I had gone from 3 to 10cm and was ready to push. It was really shocking for me. I had a bit of a melt down. The doctors and nurses said they would give us a few minutes alone. I cried for a little bit and Morgan gave me a Priesthood blessing. I guess I expected more time and to feel like it was "time". "Time" to push, that pressure that everyone talks about, anything. I guess looking back on the couple of hours before, I was having painful contractions, but they felt like they were only on one side so I thought it was a problem with the epidural, not that they were getting stronger and closer together.

I started pushing at 4:58pm. I think labor is just different for everybody. You never know what you are going to get. Some people get epidurals and feel pressure, some still feel all of the pain, some people go all natural. I didn't feel any pressure and I stopped feeling contractions before I started pushing, It didn't feel like I was pushing anything out, just pushing at nothing. The doctors coached me on when to push through a few contractions and the next thing I knew, Wren was born at 5:07pm. 

I don't really think there are words to describe how amazing it was. She didn't cry at first, they had to encourage her. But when she did, it was the best sound in the world and a relief. They handed her to me and she was tiny and perfect and beautiful. I couldn't believe that she was what had been wiggling around inside of me for so long and that she was actually here and ours to keep. I'll never forget that moment when she was laying on my chest and our eyes met. Or watching Morgan hold her for the first time. Being left alone for the first time after she was born, just the three of us. It wasn't scary or foreign, it was peaceful and felt complete.

We knew from my last appointment that she was measuring a few weeks behind, so when she was also born a few weeks early it wasn't too surprising when she only weighed 4lb 13oz. She was tiny but had no problems and we couldn't be more grateful for that. We are pretty in love with her.

                          

thirty seven weeks & a nursery

I thought since I'm now 37 weeks I should finally put something on this blog to document it. I've been really terrible at taking pictures and now that it's almost over, I regret it a little. We finally managed to get the nursery all ready to go, so now all we need is this little girl to make an appearance! 

updates from my iphone

It has been a long time since I've updated this, because I really just have felt like I don't have anything to say. Now that so much time has past (we have been in Utah for over 4 MONTHS!) I'm not really sure where to start. I figured I would just share some pictures of what we have been up to since moving. 

       

         

                                          

                                          

                                              

               

                

1&2: just a little fishing with Morgan. 3: The first of many summer snow cones. 4: boating with Morgan's family. 5: Roswell UFO Festival. 6: Four Corners with the in-laws. 7: Reunion with a friend from China 6 years after working together. 8: Celebrating our 4th anniversary with a little staycation in SLC. 9: A selfie so I'll never forget how I have suddenly started to like sandwiches during pregnancy. 10: The most delicious pizza ever, with blackberries on it, at Pizzeria Limone. 10: A view from Red Butte Gardens from our staycation.