Here she is!

Birth story time! Feel free to just skip through and look at all the pictures if you don't feel like reading the whole thing, but as soon as I got pregnant, I became enthralled with birth stories, so now I feel inclined to share my own, just in case there are others like me. :)

First things first- even after all the research and scary stories I read online, I chose to be induced- my doctor brought it up on one of my last visits- since I was "semi" high risk it was within the realm of possibilities and he was actually going on vacation the week of my due date. So after weighing the options, I decided that I would rather be monitored and watched through the whole process, and know that David would be around for at least a week before being sucked back into the vortex known as dental school. So we set the date for the 27th of December. It was a Saturday and my doc was on call all weekend, so we were able to get in and scheduled at the hospital.

I'll admit, I'm kind of sad that I don't have one of those spontaneous crazy labor stories to share about my water breaking in walmart or something, but on the other hand, it was extremely nice knowing when things were going to happen, especially with family not being super close, we could plan for when everyone could come and stuff, so in the end, I am totally okay with the fact that I was induced, no matter what all those judgmental mommy boards say about "unnecessary" medical intervention.

Okay, now on to the good stuff! So since it was an induction, we went in on Friday night where they gave me a pill called cytotec to basically get things moving before jumping into the harder drugs, basically tricking my body to think it was in early labor before starting pitocin which triggers the more intense contractions. It was a little annoying, we got there at 10 so the pill could work over night, but they were super busy and understaffed as it was the day after Christmas, so they didn't get around to us until like 2 in the morning. So it was a long and uncomfortable (very unrestful) night. But we survived and by 11 that morning, contractions had started on their own! They were regular, but not super strong, so they gave me a little bit of pitocin to amp things up. A little bit later my doctor stopped by and broke my water. What I've learned when it comes to induction is that slow and steady wins the race, pushing things too quickly is when problems arise, so while things took alot longer than I had imagined, it was fine. We spent the day just hanging out, it was a little annoying having to consistently be hooked up to monitors and IVs, but it was a Saturday which meant college football! No huge games, but we passed the time by watching two football games and the new Thor movie. By about 4 o clock I was pretty exhausted, having not really slept the night before, so when they said I was only dilated to a 5 (halfway there), I decided to get an epidural. I was never really against them, it was always more like well if I decide I need it, I'll get it. And I decided I would rather get some sleep since I knew now that it would be a late delivery and I wouldn't sleep that night either. And I'll be honest, the second the epidural started working I wondered aloud why I hadn't done it hours ago. It was absolute heaven. Sure, my legs felt funny but I would just look at the contraction monitor and laugh as they happened cuz I couldn't feel a thing! So I was able to sleep for a few hours. My mom had left from southern Utah that morning and got there that late afternoon, so we really just hung out and slept and visited until about 930 when things started getting intense. The nurse checked me and I was at a 9, so super close, and I was starting to feel a lot of pressure, which was the coolest part about the epidural, there was no pain, but I felt I was still apart of it because I felt the pressure that came with each contraction and eventually the urge to push. At 1030 the nurse checked again and I was ready to go! They called the doctor and got me all set up. She started having me do some practice pushes, which ended up being super effective because she had me stop and wait because if I pushed anymore, baby would be here! So it was a little frustrating, being so close but having to wait for the doctor to show up, but show up he did a few minutes later, and it was really all a blur from there. He put on all his garb and gloves, they lifted me way high on the bed, the nursery nurses came in and literally 2 contractions and a few pushes later, she was here! At 11:04! It was such a wonderful experience, they handed her directly to me and I was in love.

Before we left for the hospital!

Look at those bags under my eyes! Haha, totally worth it though!

7lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long! This was 38 weeks 4 days, I wonder how big she wouldve gotten had she gone another couple weeks!  

Just perfect!

All cleaned up and warm!

Eyes open!

 I have loved the name Brielle for as long as I can remember- I don't remember where I heard it originally, but when we saw her, I just knew that it was a good fit. Pauline is David's late grandma's name, and it was a perfect match, so we have our little Brielle Pauline. :) She has my nose and lips and Davids ears and eyes. Her hair isn't blonde blonde, but it's definitely not brown, and I think she'll have blue eyes! Right now they're more gray, which is unique for sure, but I see a little blue peeking through more and more each day.

The rest of the hospital stay was pretty uneventful, but we needed to go back in on New Year's Eve because her bilirubin levels got too high, so she had to spend the night under the phototherapy lights. That was a pretty miserable night, she did not like it at all, but luckily it worked quickly and we were able to go home the next day.

I absolutely love being a mom. Its interesting to see how reality is comparing against my expectations. For example nursing isn't nearly as bad as I thought, we both got the hang of it pretty quickly, but no one ever told me how messy it is! Holy cow. Between the leaking and her deciding she's done and milk spraying everywhere, not to mention the spit up, haha its pretty crazy. Also, I knew the whole not getting enough sleep thing would be rough, but I didn't realize how much consecutive sleep really does for a person. Haha, oh well, we're getting into a routine slowly but surely.

But she is absolutely precious. We are so in love with this little blessing! She's getting more and more alert everyday, and I swear this morning I got half a smile out of her, so its progress. :) We all think she's going to be tall. Not only was she long to begin with, but she has HUGE feet. That was one of the first thing I noticed about her, was how big her feet are and how long her toes are, so she probably will have her mother's huge feet. But, there are worse things. :)

Well I think I'm done blabbering, so here are some pictures to enjoy! Believe it or not, David probably actually takes more pictures than I do, and I haven't gotten around to getting them off his phone yet, so I may do another photo post later, but here are a few of the ones I have!

Also, a big thank you to all those who have helped and are so willing to help during this fun, but crazy transition!

Hopefully I'll be back in a week or so with a one month old update! One month already, I can't believe it. It's been the longest, yet quickest month of my life. Haha, til next time!

These pictures are pretty much in chronological order, ranging from going home, to yesterday. :)

Going home!

You can kind of see how yellow she  was getting!

I love this outfit!

Our poor ducks didn't win the title, but they had one cute cheerleader!

And we can't forget our Alma Mater! Go cougs!

Look at those long legs! And chubby cheeks!

This is one of her favorite faces to make

And the official countdown begins!

Well it's official- we're down to one month before D-day. I'll be totally honest though, this little girl is due on the 6th of January, which just so happens to be the day that David starts back up at school after Christmas. So I am hoping and praying and hoping some more that all the stories of first time moms going way past their due date doesn't apply to me! I would much rather daddy be around and not have to worry about school or other commitments for a few days at least! We'll see though! As long as she's happy and healthy, I guess I can't complain.

I would say we're getting pretty adjusted to Arizona life, although we went to a Christmas concert this afternoon and it was wonderful! Totally got me in the Christmas spirit, that was until it was over and we walked outside and the 75 degree weather totally ruined it. Haha, I don't know if I'll ever get used to a warm Christmas entirely, but that's okay!

David's been busy busy with school, and I've been working part time, but we've found time to do some fun things! David's school had a white coat ceremony where they symbolically welcomed him into the medical profession- I guess it's the thing to do these days, but it was fun! His dad and my parents were able to come out and we got to spend the weekend with them, yay family!

We had a fun halloween as well, We carved pumpkins although they didn't last very long with the heat, but it was okay! They were cute while they lasted

Midwestern gives it's students a 3 week Thanksgiving break, so November was absolutely wonderful for us! We started out by celebrating my birthday, nothing too crazy, just a nice dinner and some presents :) We also took not one but two trips back up to Utah, as well as a trip to Sedona and to Las Vegas!

The first trip to Utah was for a wonderful baby shower where we had tons of support from our friends and family! It was so fun! We were able to see most everyone (if we missed you, sorry!!) and it was great.

The trip to Vegas counted as our "babymoon" our last biggish trip as a couple before baby comes and changes everything! It was way fun. We stayed in the Luxor, ate delicious food, saw a show and just enjoyed the sites! As part of my birthday, David took me to see the Siegfried and Roy animal garden, where they have lions, leopards and my two favorite animals of all time, the white tiger and dolphins! It was so fun! I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Vegas anytime soon. Its a little spendy, but then again what isn't in that town... haha

Viva!

We were close enough to get splashed!

We just took a day trip up to Sedona, which is about a two hour drive north from us, it's basically Arizona's version of Zion's in my opinion, and absolutely beautiful. David convinced me to do a couple of small hikes and we drove around and saw some spectacular views

We were originally planning to just stay in Phoenix and have our own Thanksgiving because I was a little worried about travelling at 34 weeks and work conflicts, but after the go ahead from my doctor and a work schedule that magically worked out, we decided to head back up to Utah and spend it with my family! We drove to St. George, and then carpooled with my mom to Northern Utah and had Thanksgiving with all of her family. It was really fun, and all of us siblings were able to be there which was way nice!

Now, we're back and getting so excited for Christmas! We are definitely sticking around here this time because baby girl could just decide to show up here any day! Although I still have a month to go, I'm already starting to get antsy and freak myself out about making sure everything is ready. I'm nearly there I think. We took some pre-baby classes at the hospital, the nursery is about halfway ready, we have the carseat and the stroller, and the crib is on its way, and my hospital bag is packed with the absolute essentials, just in case... haha. Now to just decide on a name for this little princess... haha we'll see if that happens, but chances are it'll be when we see her.

I can't believe we're winding down to her being here! I'm definitely in that, "Oh I still have so much time, but holy cow I really don't" phase, so I'm just trying to enjoy what I can while I still can. Honestly, I don't have much to complain about this pregnancy, its definitely had its downs, but compared to the horror stories I've heard, I've definitely had it pretty good,

As an end note, here are some maternity shots my dear friend Natalie took for us! She is so amazing with the pictures she takes, and managed to make me look good although I feel like a cow these days. :)

Next post, who knows, may be filled with baby pictures! Either that or me ranting to the world how ready I am for her to finally get here. Haha, only time will tell! Until next time!

A summer to remember!

Well this past summer has marked a lot of ends and tons of new beginnings, its hard to pick where to start! I guess we'll just head in chronological order and go from there! So in April, David graduated from BYU in Biology. It was kind of a cheat graduation because he hadn't officially finished all his classes, but they let him walk, because we wouldn't be around for him to walk in August. So his family came out, and mine did too, and we just celebrated all of his accomplishments! He achieved quite a feat, coming out with such a high GPA, I definitely admire his dedication and hard work to get all the way through!

 

 Right around that same time at the end of April, we received some more happy happy news, that we were expecting again! It was a very personal decision for us, but we decided that it would be best for us to start trying for another baby sooner rather than later after losing Audrey, so it wasn't too big of a shock, but we were and are super delighted to welcome this new addition to our family at the beginning of the year!

I told David by bringing him cinnamon rolls in bed with the positive test and a note saying that we had our own little "bun in the oven!" I thought it was pretty clever, and he was so excited!

 This time around I've definitely been a lot more paranoid about things :/, but luckily, I've had some great doctors who've made sure I've gotten lots of attention, and care, and so far everything looks great! We found out fairly early on that we're having another girl, and she's looking as healthy as ever, with a due date of January 6, 2015, so a New Year's baby! David's kind of worried that she'll decide to come on Christmas, but I really don't think that would be the end of the world! As long as she's healthy. Since I've gotten so much attention, we've gotten to see our little girl quite a few times, here's a few snapshots!

13 weeks!

16 Weeks

20 weeks

22 weeks!

Baby bump at 22 weeks!

 I'll admit, it's been a lot harder this time around to get excited about everything, but now that I'm almost past where I made it last time around and I'm feeling her move all the time, it's slowly becoming more and more real! Plus I know with the holidays right around the corner, she'll be here before we know it!

This summer also marked the end of our Provo/Utah days as we prepared to move to Arizona for David to go to dental school. We kind of were in a weird transition, we sold our contract in Provo at the end of June, but we didn't need to be in Arizona until the end of August, so we had two months of kind of a limbo period where we stayed with my parents and just kind of hung out. It was actually really nice, it was the first and probably one of the only times where David was out of school with nothing to do, and I wasn't working, so we had a whole two months to just be together and do fun things! We took tons of trips, went to a couple of family reunions and just hung out! We were actually able to go to all five National Parks in Utah, as well as Goblin Valley, Cedar Breaks, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We hiked and camped and explored, all favorite things of ours so it was really great. We took tons of pictures, but here are a couple just to give you an idea. :)

Angel's Landing- Zion National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Yellowstone!

Delicate Arch

Kolob Cayon, Zion National Park

Canyonlands National Park

 After all of our Utah adventures, we actually split up for a week, I went to Wisconsin to see my sister, Tess get married, and David went to Oregon to see his family. I drove with my parents to Wisconsin, which was super long and full of corn, not too exciting, haha. But it was for a great cause and I got to be a bridesmaid and see lots of family and see my baby sister all grown up!

Mom and siblings night before the big day!

Siblings the day of, Jacob is finally taller than me!

I didn't get a ton of pictures because I was involved in lots of other things, but I'll put more up if and when I get them! But trust me, Tess was a beautiful bride!

After the wedding, I flew out to Oregon to meet up with David and see his baby brother get back from his mission and his older brother get married! We got to stay for about a week, and it was really fun

All the boys back together!

Outside the Medford Temple

After our Oregon trip we finally made it to Arizona, just in time for David to start school! We found a lovely little apartment about two miles from campus so David can bike to school. It's a two bedroom with a washer and dryer (finally!) So there's lots of space for us and our little addition here soon! Arizona has been great so far, definitely a change from Utah, the heat is the biggest thing that's taken some getting used too, but as long as you don't stay outside for too long, its bearable, people keep telling us that the winter makes it worth it, so we'll see! David's school schedule is pretty intense, so he spends the majority of his time either in class or studying. I've picked up some part time work to keep me occupied before the baby comes, so we've slowly gotten into a routine and making our schedules work so we still get some time in together!

Overall, we've been super blessed! I'm super grateful for the chances we had to see all those amazing places and to get to spend time with all our family and friends before we moved away, and I'm excited to see what Arizona has in store for us in the coming months and years! I promise I'll keep this more updated, especially in the New Year when I'll have tons of adorable pictures to post!

Thanks for reading guys, enjoy your week! Until next time!