Welcome Rhylee Kai

Well Novemeber 25th started just like any other day... oh wait, no it didn't. That was the day that Dr. Alejo was set to induce me. The morning right after Thanksgiving. I went to his office, that was closed, with excited daddy-to-be and my sister-in-law Anne. Dr. Alejo was going to insert a cathetor into my uterus and see if he could inflat it to try and naturally induce me. But after a good long time of pain and trying, that didn't work. So we were set to check into the hospital at 7pm. We spent the day running last minute errands, and I did a lot of walking hoping to start myself into labor. We packed our bags and went to wait for our lives to change.

After we checked into the hospital, They got me all hooked up to the machines, and IV's. I was only dialted to a 1 when we checked in. They started my induction with citosen, which is a pill that dissolves on your uterus and starts contractions. Let me tell you I was contracting pretty hard too. Mindy, Alex and Chris's dad Sam came and were hanging out. I labored pretty uncomfortably for quite a few hours. I couldn't lay on my back and the only way I was comfortable was leaning forward with Chris or mindy rubbing my back, since I was having back labor. But if I did that Rhylee would fall off the fetal monitors so I had to lay on either side which was super uncomfortable. After about 10 hours of labor, it was around 5am, I decided to get the epidural. Not becuase I couldn't handle the contractions any more, but mostly because I was only dialeted to a 2.5 after all that time and it hurt so bad when the nurses would check to see how dialted I was. I couldn't handle one more check. So I got my epidural. Right after that Dr. Alejo came in and started me on pitosen which goes through your IV and he broke my water to try to speed things up. I was so tired, I hadn't slept for about 2 nights before we checked in, due to anxiety about impending labor and baby, and obviously hadn't slept during labor. Mindy and Chris were taking turns being awake with me. After the epidural I was shaking quite a bit from the drugs but with Chris's help was able to calm down and try to sleep. only slept a few minutes though before I was woke up for more checks.

Then around 7am Carla showed up and was able to let Chris and Mindy both rest for a little bit. We all talked and hung out, and honestly though I was pretty delirious from sleep deprivation, I had the most fun with Carla, Chris and Mindy. We were laughing and joking though its a little fuzzy to me, I remember it was actually the most fun I had had in a long time. We were laughing till we cried. We had the "what happens in the delivery room stays in the delivery room" attitude. LOL. Finally around 9 or 10 am I was debating whether or not to get a C section because I was so tired and didn't want to be in labor for another day, and was waiting to see if I was progressing or not, and when they checked me I was at a 6. We were so surprised because that had actually gone pretty fast. So I decided to wait it out. Then around 2pm they said I was at a 9.75 and would be ready to start pushing soon. Once I started pushing I was on a mission to get that baby out. I was a pushing machine, so much so in fact they had to stop me and have me wait for the Dr to get back there, he had to run to his office for a appointment. But he got back in time for the last 3 pushes. I told everyone ahead of time the first thing I want after I have her is a Coke with lots of ice. Hospitals have the best ice and coke. I had had nothing during my 20 hours of labor except ice chips, a little water and the occasional lick of a lolipop, to keep my blood sugar from dropping. My first words after having her though were "oh wow I can breathe" Strangest feeling ever suddenly all that pressure is gone and I could take a deep breathe. Then there was Carla standing there with a coke and a straw. Best friend ever right there.

Chris then had to call Grandma Margie and tell her Rhylee was finally here. Chris's family was already in the waiting room, or actually Anne and Judy were listening at the door. LOL. Then I got to hold my little punkin for the first time and have some skin to skin time while they sewed me up. I will say my labor and delivery was actuallly not bad and pretty easy, although long. But the recovery was brutal. I tore really bad and had to have about 19 stiches inside and out. It was a long road to recovery on that one. You know its going to be bad when you look down and the Dr, your BFF, and your husband all have mortified looked on their faces as they stare at the gaping hole that used to be you. But she was worth every painful stitch.

Here is our first family photo

Mindy monitoring my contractions with me
me as uncomfortable as can be

Alex and Sam hanging out in the waiting room sooo bored. But I love them for staying

Carla after she got there

The love of my life comforting me and giving me a pep talk.

Rhylee getting cleaned off

Love that her eyes are open and she's looking right at the camera

7.4 lbs and 20.5 inches long

Our first family bonding

Skin to skin time

Dr Alejo

Dr Alejo posing with us. He really is the best Dr.

Rhylee and auntie Lala

First bath, I was so spaced out trying to order food, falling asleep and trying to take everything in

Proud papa

Rhylee and mommy, what a long day for both of us.

First swaddle

Fluke pic, but the cutest. she hated her first bath an quite a few after that.

daddy holding his punkin

me starting to come off the epidural

Rhylee with Grandpa Stacy

Rhylee with Stacy and Yvonne, they drove up on their bikes just to see us.

It's STILL a Girl!

So at our doctors appointment yesterday, he said well its still a girl. I am excited! Also I have a targeted ultrasound on Monday where they go through 4D and look ateverything, organs, ventricles, fingers and toes, to make sure everything is developing like it should. That will be kind of exciting.

Well I think we may finally get a crib, geez! it had been a ongoing saga trying to get a crib. Every one I have ordered has been cancelled becuase it was out of stock, and everyone I have liked has been out of stock. I finally got one the other day and it said it shipped. Grr. Margie is buying one for us and we have been trying to get one for like 2 and a half months. We have the matress, I was begining to think that was all she was gonna have to sleep on. LOL. Finally choose the paint color for the nursery. Now once we get the basement finished we can save and get the paint and bead bored for the nursery.

I can't wait to finish the laundry room. I went onto pintrest and pinned a whole bunch of laundry rooms for inspiration and ideas. We have the paint samples. We are doing a more sterile room with a pop of color. Chris promised since we couldn't and didn't want to pay hundreds extra for the colored washer and dryer that we could do at least one wall with a pop of color. We are going to do a color of turquoise. Then all of our applicances ( freezer, washer & dryer and eventually another little fridge) will be white as well as the cabinets and floor and 3 walls. I am going to measure and see if the cabinets we are trying to sell, the top part if one will fit above the W & D then I will paint one cabinet white and that will save us a lot of money not having to buy one shelf. There is this cute Martha Stewart bench that I want for in there as well, it has three cubbies for storage and a pad for a seat. Then I want to put shelving and a rail to hang clothes on above it. I am so excited for all the storage this room is going to create. help unclutter the rest of the house a bit. Especially our kitchen. In building bigger easier to access shelves in our laundry closet we can use the old pantry for all our smaller appliances, get some things off the counter, out of the basement, plus have more food storage. I am such a freak. Storage and organization are what I live for. I hate clutter it reminds me of my grandmother the hoarder. ick.

And for a random first while being pregnant, here is a humiliating story. So the other night I took a bath. Our tub is a huge jetted tub, its pretty deep and spacious. Well I couldn't get out. I couldn't get a grib on anything and was sliding all over. It's hard with a belly in the way. Chris was trying to pull me but I kept sliding. First we were laughing, then I was laughing until I cried, then I was just crying... then I peed. Pregnant bladders. at least I wasn't dressed this time. I actually peed my pants last week. I sneezed three times on the third sneeze... had to change my clothes. One thing I won't miss after I have the baby. At any rate after all the laughing crying and peeing, finally we put a towel down in the tub for me to get on for traction... glad chris was home, I could have been stuck for a while. Geez

Where I love being pregnant and the thought of bringing a little person into this world. I feel so lazy and unmotivated. So much to do, and I don't have the energy or ability in some cases. I am independant mostly, and I love refinishing furniture. I have Chris and am grateful for him, but I like doing things myself and he is having to do my spray projects. The baby dresser and shelf, the cabinets for the laundry room. I hate to be snapping orders over everything he does, but I like things a certain way, and its hard to not just do it myself. grr... it will be worth it though I have to keep telling myself. Oh man I can't wait to decorate. Pretty sure that was my calling in life. Well that is all my random ranting for the day.

Fun family weekend

Well this last weekend was a blast! Friday night Lee and Malynn came to stay with us. We BBQ'ed, chicken for dinner and had corn on the cob and huge green salads. Sooo much food. We were all soooo full, but I still made a big pan of bean dip, but that wasn't enough so we went for a ride and rented some movies. We went to Smith's and bought all kinds of ridiculous junk food as well. Lee bought a huge bag of taffys. We bought drinks and ice cream bars, and the fixings for Malynn to make her famous french toast cassorole. We had quite the adventure at Smith's.

We came home and pumped up our air mattress and put it in the floor so we could comfortably watch movies, since my couch upstairs is super small and the basement is still a wreck so we can't use the couches yet. It was so fun like a big slumber party. We were all soooo full and it had been a long day and we started the movie late. We are all old cause I fell asleep and woke up at one point during the movie and we were all passed out. What I did see of the movie was great though. I had so much fun at our little slumber party. Then the next day Malynn and Lee made us breakfast since we had made them dinner, a nice yummy breakfast that I didn't have to cook... I'll take it. LOL

Saturday after our glorious breakfast we headed up to Franklin Idaho to visit Sue and Roy. They do a craft show up thier every year for Idaho days. Its such a beautiful drive up through Logan, its about an hour and a half but seems so short cause you get lost in the scenery. We had a fun little visit with Sue and Roy as always. Sue also made me an adorable quilt for the baby, it was white and lime green fleece, sooo cute. Love those guys wish we could see them more often.

Sunday was pretty eventful for me. Chris was working at home, and I was going through every room in our house and pulling stuff out for yardsale. Man I feel like I weeded through a lot of stuff. It feels great to clean out and get rid of stuff I have just hung onto. I went through my books, which for me is hard, I am then type that loves having books around. they are comforting for me. My mom had bookshelves full of books, and so did my grandpa. So all my favorite childhood places had tons of books. But I managed to think objectivly and get rid of books, I didn't want to read, didn't like, or would just never read again. Honestly I got rid of quite a few, which is great cause I just bought a new series at the used bookstore a couple weeks back and was wondering where I was gonna put em. Plenty of room now. I also went through my movies again, went through my jewlery, I had jewelry from like Jr high all my chokers and such, never gonna wear em agian need to get rid of stuff. I did about 6 boxes of stuff and marked them all. I still have quite a bit to go through though... I have a ton of clothes I need to wash fold and mark. Also we have a huge pile in the garage I need to go through, but it was stacked high and heavy and I couldn't do it by myself so I have to wait for chris on that one. But I finally decided on a date we are gonna have our yardsale on July 8th and 9th.

We put our old dryers (yes plural.. long story) and the old cabinets in our house on KSL last night. I am hoping to get them all sold, make a little money to finish our basement. We need to relay the carpet, frame and drywall the laundry room and tile it. But then if we can make some good money at our yardsale man alive we can have the basement finished, the pantry finished and get the paint and beadboard for the babies room. I don't want to get too ahead of myself but we havc a ton of yarsale stuff and good stuff too. Margie donated a lot of her stuff some of it still brand new and in packages. I have a few things like this as well. I think it will do pretty good. I am not sure where to advertise though. we really need to do well though to fund getting our projects finished. fingers crossed.

One last thing I did on Thursday that was super exciting. I sold my old sewing machine last Wednesday, and took that money and found an awesome dresser on KSL that I can repaint to match the nursery furniture and bought that and still had money left over. It's prefect cause that dresser has the perfect measurements for a changing pad. So since I can't condone spending so much on a changing table that you probly won't use for very long. I can still use the dresser for a changing table then use the dresser for a long time after that. I can't wait to prime it and get it ready for chris to paint. I can prime it but I can't spray paint it. Spray paint will hold up better than regular paint in a kids room, I think, but since I am prego I am limited on what I can do. But I am gonna take the wood knobs and have Chris spray them and make them look like metal hardware till we can afford nicer hardware and I think its a great start. Our crib has been on backorder for a couple months but its coming in stock on the 5th of July so hopefully we can finally get it. I am so excited for all the things that lie ahead. Also Chris's 30th birthday is this coming weekend, July 2nd, the same day as my Grapo's. If that's not fate I don't know what is. LOL. I feel bad that we are poor and can't really do anything for his birthday. I am gonna make him cupcakes and a dinner and invite his fam over. Hopefully that will be an okay birthday. I hate that money is o tight, but hopefully things will get better soon. Well better go for now.

Love this pic cause you can see my baby bump

awe so sweet.. my other parents

Chris making the paste for the French toast cassorole and getting mugged

Making the paste for the cassorole still

A good cheesy picture...Lee is chewing...and Myn looks decievingly innocent

our air matress slumber party..

Lee's huge bag of taffy

Myn and Lee

So much to do, So little time and money...

Well I am done with school for the summer. I am excited to catch up on some reading and relaxing. There are so many summer projects Chris and I have planned or going. We need to finish the laundry room in the basement. Then once I don't have to hike over the grand canyon I can go to my craft/sewing room and work on the many projects I need to accomplish before summer is over. I call it the grand canyon cause there is a trench down the middle of our family room from the laundry room to the mechanical room where they laid pipe for the new drain. the concrete is still dug up and its a nightmare down there really. But the good news is its almost done. They just need to repour the concrete, then they can start framing and drywalling. Then once we put tile down we can move the washer and dryer down there. I am just excited to clean. It is an unbelievable mess. dust from sawing the concrete is everywhere. Then they will patch up the holes in the cieling in the guest room and we can finally move the guest room back downstairs. As of now the bed is in the baby's room.

Once we move the guest room back downstairs we can start on the baby's room. I am so excited. We created a couple registries for baby stuff already and that made me super excited. I know its early still but I wanted to see what all babies needed for must haves and all the things in between. I am hoping chris and I can put 100 dollars each month into buying stuff for the baby so we are stocked up and ready to go when it arrives. It may seem hard to do all of this already since we won't learn the sex of the baby until next week, assuming it cooperates. But I already know my colors. Green and brown. I am not a pink person if its a girl and really not a blue person if its a boy. so I figure that is a happy medium and they have so many sweet cute things in those colors.

After the laundry room is finished and the guest room moves back downstairs, We are using the laundy closet in our kitchen for a new pantry. So we will build new shelves in it and have way more room and way easier access. Then eventually we will put french doors on it to give a homier feel. Also we are using our now pantry for small appliances and all my pans and dishes that are now stored in the cabinets We are trying to sell that were in the soon to be laundry room and the garage. So many plans so little time and money. We would have had the alundry room done already had we not had to step back and rebudget again first. Things have been super tight lately. I just can't wait until my basement is no longer chaos. I miss my comfy couch. LOL. Plus I am dying to clean downstairs... I hate dust and the carpet is gross where they have tracked dirt and dust everywhere.... Plus my mantle is coverd in dust... The little OCD in me is going crazy.

I am excited to be able to work in my craft room though. technically I could now. But where the basement is all closed off and seems desolate due to construction it kinda gives me the heebie jeebies. I mean I am in a little corner room with about three doors between me and the upstairs, what f I cut a finger of or sew it to something. My husband is deaf when I am sitting right next to him, I would hate to think about an emergency that tucked away. I know sounds irrational. Just gives me the heebie jebbies as I said before.

At any rate for my birthday Carla had given me a crib size batting for a quilt and some funky quilt pieces to make a quilt. I have all the squares cut and pinned and my pattern drawn and measured. I am super excited to start sewing it, and finally use my new machine I got for my birthday. Plus I finally found the last color I wanted for my owl quilt. So I need to cut those squares and finish that quilt. I made matching pillow cases for that already, and I decided since the quilt will be our TV blanket I want to make a matching one for the baby. I have more than enough material for it. When it was on sale I got like 8 yards just for the quilt and I already had the two yards for my pillow cases. Seems overboard but it is adorable material. Now I just need the space to lay out queen sized quilt batting and figure out how many squares and the pattern I like so I can make sure I have enough cut. But I need my living room space that is under construction for that. Also there is furniture hanging out in my craft room becuase of the construction. Blah... I have so many patterns for things I can make for the babies room I am so excited to make them. I am going to make the bedding and curtains, and the bumpers and the dust ruffle for the crib. I have somany aspirations, we will see how many I get done, thinking about them all makes me want to take a nap. LOL

I am randomly going on and on, but the point is this is what we are busy with and working on. I am wanitng to get all my stuff gone through as we are going to have a big yard sale and have so much to put in it. And the money earned will be going towards our basement/pantry/ baby room fund. And hopefully we can get them all finished before the fall. Also today is Chris and I's 3 year anniversary. WOW, seems like yesterday but at the same time so long ago. Its funny cause our 6 year anniversary of being together came and went on May 8th, and about 5 days later we were like wait a minute, neither one of us remembered. funny how life gets so crazy and when you slow down for a minute you realize you missed something. LOL. Since we are doing an anniversary on a budget, I am making homemade pizza pockets for dinner and Chris is making homemade ice cream for desert. I still think its just being together that makes the day. Well I will write again when we find out the sex of the baby. I am so excited. I have a hunch its a girl, I have always thought I would have a girl first, but I could be wrong so we will see if I have been calling it the wrong name all this time. Until next week.

The Best is Yet to Come

Well I have been so ecstatic to share this news on my blog! I have been impatiently waiting until we had shared with our close family. Chris and I are EXPECTING! and we are due ON Thanskgiving. We are so over the moon. We were cautious still at first, because we had a miscarrage a few years back. So we wanted to wait until we knew we were out of the woods so to speak, not that you ever really are. We have seen the heartbeat! Nothing can ever prepare you for how amazing that little blessing is.. a heartbeat..... We get to go and hear the heartbeat on the 17th, I cannot wait. That was my New Year's wish and resolution. I knew this would be our year.

Luckily for me, I have not been super sick. Not to say that I have felt great cause I certainly haven't. But you hear about all these women who can't keep anything down and are so sick and miserable. I feel lucky that I have still been able to work. I will tell you though I have felt so queasy most days though that I feel like I could be sick at any moment, I just never get sick. The thing that is killing me the most is I am hungry and tired ALL THE TIME. I have to take 15 min power naps on my breaks sometimes just to get through the day. Also I miss coffee. Coffee and me we were tight. Now even thinking about coffee really kind of makes me queasy. I think about how good it used to be, and then I think about how sick it makes me now. blah..

I feel like all my dreams are coming true. I have wanted a baby since I was like 20, though it was obviously never a good time. LOL. I know it sounds weird, but I always worried I would die before I had a baby. That scared me becuase then there would be no one to carry on part of me or my memory. I know this stems from my mom. She died at 32 years old. I was an only child, and her legacy. I have been terrified of 32 since then, and have gotten anxious as I have aged over the years. I will be 32 next year, and though it is irrational to think I will die at 32 as well, I have always wanted to have a child before then, so if the worst did happen, I had someone to carry on my legacy. 32 is my scary age. I will then, God willing, live longer than my mother did and that actually seems wierd to me.

Anyways, I am so excited! I cannot wait to find out if its a boy or girl. I have so much sewing to do. We told Chris's family mothers day weekend, and they were ecstatic. We told the Aunts this last weekend, and Margie's reaction almost ruined my day but she actually was happier than she seemed at first and she is all excited. Sue and Sparky were super happy as well. Sue even gave me some of her children's books. This meant so much to me as I lost all the childrens books I had saved from my childhood in the great storage unit debacle. She had some of the older little golden books. She also gave me some super cute newer series. Gonna have to start reading to the baby everynight. Well that's it for now. Been bursting to share.