2 months!

I can't believe my sweet pea is 2 months old!!! I love my Emma bean and I'm SO glad she's mine. :)

She's the sweetest baby ever! We go to the doctor tomorrow, and then I'll post her stats and all the little things she's been doing in her 2nd month of life. Happy 2 months baby girl!!!

Merry Christmas!

From my family to yours. :)

1 month!!!

Where has the time gone? Our Emma is already 1 month old today. Goodness, it seems like her birth day was just the other day, but it also seems like it was such a long time ago.

Emma is our little angel baby. From day 1 she's been the most peaceful and content baby. She only really cries when she needs something or when she's super tired...but really, she's such a dream girl. And the cutest little one!

Things she's done within the past month of life:

*she grunts ALL the time...so funny!

*in the first couple of weeks she would cross her eyes and do the Elvis lip curl just before tooting.

*She puckers her lips up, and makes me want to kiss her all over, cause it's so cute!

*she's got SUCH a strong neck! All the nurses noticed at the hospital, and people will comment whenever they see her about how strong she is. Her legs are super strong too.

*she loves to stretch and we LOVE to see her stretch. SO CUTE

*she sounds like such a girl when she cries. They're cute little kitty cat cries. And she'll make little wimpers that sound like she's talking to us. I only wish I knew what she thinks about.

*she is good with just about anyone. We've had visitors and she behaves well with all of them.

Anyway, to wrap it up, Emma is our little love bug. She's the sweetest angel and we are just so grateful she came into our lives 1 month ago today. I love you Emma bean. :)

- Mommy

Blessing Day

Our little Emma girl was given a name and a blessing yesterday at my old family ward at 9am, by her daddy. What a beautiful day! And she was SO good! I thought for sure she'd cry during the blessing because she took a long nap beforehand...and we thought she'd get her dress all dirty because she was poopy just a half our before as well, but she did wonderfully, and the dress was spotless by the end of the day. She slept during the blessing and was very reverent during sacrament. At one moment I just looked at her and cried. She knew it was a time to be quiet and peaceful, and she was just that the whole time.

My mom made Emma's dress, Jamison's mom gave us Emma's blessing blanket, and I made her little headband. So the whole outfit was really special for us, and I'm so excited to use it for our next little girl. :)

We had family and friends that came to support Emma on her big day, and I am SO grateful they could all make it.

We are loving our Emma bean. Jamison and I can't get enough of her. She smiles ALL the time, and now she's also got the puppy dog lip down so good....breaks my heart to see it, but it also makes me smile cause it's just so darn cute! No picture of it yet, but i'm working on getting it.

Thanks to all who came! We love you all so very much. :) What a happy, sacred, spiritual day for our growing family.

Emma girl the morning of the blessing. :)

The group

Jamison's brother and his fam. :)

Daddy and his little princess

MY Emma bean

Grandpa Grandma Staheli :)

Grandpa and Grandma Fernelius :)

My two favorites!!

My smiley girl!!! I LOVE her! :)

We love you Emma girl! Always and forever,

Mommy and Daddy

Emma Bean

It is SUCH a joy to be a mother. I still can't believe that I am a mother..... weird!

Our little one brings so much happiness into our lives, it's so hard to put into words just how happy Jamison and I are to have her around. And frankly, we don't really remember what life was like without her. It feels like she's always been around.

Goodness I love her so much! I can't wait to see her grow and develop, and learn and play. We are so anxious to hear her little laugh for the first time. She already smiles ALL the time. (melts my heart every time).

In every single ultrasound we had of Emma she had her hands in her face in some way or another, and we secretly hoped she'd keep that habit once she was born, and she definitely has! She loves putting her hands in her face, especially when she sleeps. Here are a couple of recent pictures of her. I will jot down little habits and such in a later post. It's time to put my little angel to bed...so I'm off for now! :) :)

MY Emma Girl

She's here!

And is 2 weeks old today. :D

*warning...lots of details here...I want to have this to remember everything.*

The Tuesday before Emma was born (11/1/11) we had a doctor's appointment. According to the doctor her due date was that day...according to her measurements and ultrasound, her due date was 10/29/11.

3 weeks prior to the 11/1/11 appt. we had our last ultrasound wherein the technician said Emma weighed about 7 pounds already. This worried my doctor a lot. Throughout the entire pregnancy he expressed his concern that I wouldn't be able to deliver Emma vaginally because I have a small build. So, he recommended either *trying* to deliver vaginally by inducing, or going into it with a scheduled c-section.

I opted to avoid a c-section at all costs..so at our 11/1/11 appt we scheduled the induction for 3 days later, on Friday the 4th at 9am. The doctor was pretty confident that even my induction would result in a c-section. My nerves were all over the place to say the least....

So, Friday came, we arrived at the hospital a few minutes late, and got going with the induction. After getting me all hooked up to the IV's, the nurses gave me a pill and told me to wait. They said contractions shouldn't start with the pill, but would come later after giving me pitocin. BUT...I was definitely having contractions with the pill...so, early labor had begun. My contractions were irregular and inconsistent for the next 12 hours, so I knew we'd be at the hospital for quite some time. After giving me a second pill ( yucky) AND a (as my doctor called it) barbie girl tampon (haha), the doctor noticed little improvement, though the pain had definitely increased...so he gave me a sleeping pill and told me to rest throughout the night. The sleeping pill didn't work (but not much of anything they gave me worked...seriously), and the contractions continued, so it was a pretty long night.

By this point....I was READY to be done. haha....

The next day, Saturday, at noon the doctor decided to start with pitocin, and to start it pretty strong. He had noticed that any medications they were giving me weren't really effective, so he up-ed the pitocin so we could really get things going.

The next 9 hours and 34 minutes were not my favorite. The anesthesiologist came in when I was about 6 cm dilated and gave me an epidural. It didn't work. :( He ended up giving me a total of 4 doses, and I still felt all the pain and the intense urge to push. {It's the worst thing in the world to have the urge to push and to be told not to. } Emma's heart beat kept dipping with each contraction, which worried the doctor (and Emma's mommy) immensely. At one point my obgyn came in and told me that it was looking like we'd do a c-section because of Emma's heart beat. He said he'd monitor closely and if she had another big dip (one of the dips went from a 150 down to 60) we'd go back to the OR. I was heartbroken to say the very least. But, it motivated me to do everything possible to make sure her heart beat didn't dip again. So I focused in remaining calm during contractions (at least, as calm as I could be) so my body wouldn't tense up, thus, so Emma wouldn't tense up.


The time *finally* came for the doctor to step in and help us bring our baby girl into the world. And we were going to try vaginally. :)

I was SO glad when they told me to push. But, with every push, Emma's heart beat dropped. I saw the look in my doctor's eyes, a look I hope to forget. But, with a lot of silent prayers, and a couple of hard pushes later, my daughter was born.
The doctor later told me that we almost lost her. We almost lost my baby girl. It makes my heart sink just thinking about how that was a possibility.

My body took a beating with the delivery, and it took just under 2 hours of surgery to fix me up. And the nurses had taken Emma to the NICU just seconds after she was born, since she had some dips in her heartbeats. I didn't get to hold my baby girl until 4 hours after her birth, just before 2am...and it was a moment I will not soon forget.

Daddy with Emma :)

I couldn't believe how tiny she was. We were told she'd be just under 9 pounds, and my baby was 6 pounds 11 oz....um...the ultrasound techs were off. haha. The first thing I thought of when the nurse handed Emma to me was that she was like a little doll. Tiny tiny! Her pictures make her look big, but she really is so small.

From first sight I fell so deep in love with Emma, and that love just continues to grow every day. I love to see her facial expressions (she's got lots! haha), I love to hear every little sound she makes, and to hold her close to me and know that she is mine. She is such a blessing in our lives, and Jamison and I are so grateful, and SO in love.

False alarm.

I am 38 weeks along on Saturday, and am READY to have my little one in my arms. Jamison and I dream about delivery and the days following our baby's birth SO frequently, that we often wake up thinking it was real and she's in her bassinet right beside our bed. I know most first-time mommies take a while to have their babies, but at our most recent appointment, last Thursday, the doctor said that my body is really getting ready, and it could really be anyday now.

Exciting!!

Yesterday I got to work in the early am, already having had contractions throughout the night, and feeling super tight in my belly area. I told Jay when he work up that I was definitely feeling really different - a feeling I had not felt my entire pregnancy - and that she could be on her way soon. :) I figured, why stay at home with these yucky contractions. I might as well go to work and stay distracted.

By the time I got off work at 2pm, I. was. done. I had had contractions all morning. From 10am to 11am they were about 10 minutes apart and lasting for about 1 minute each. Then, 11am hit and they were not as frequent, and not as intense. I was VERY bummed. I mean, they hurt like crazy, but it meant progress, which is something I'm ready for. There's going to be pain at one point, and I'd prefer it to be sooner than later.

Nothing else happened the rest of the night, though I went for a number of walks throughout the day, hoping to get those contractions going again, and I even bounced on my exercise ball, hoping the baby would get the message and just pop that dang water bag already! :D But, nothing.

I've had a few contractions here and there today, but nothing like yesterday. I still feel a tight sensation in the belly region, and some pain in my lower back...but, again, nothing that would make me believe it's time to go to the hospital.

Next doctor's appointment is tomorrow at 5pm...and I'm HOPING for some good news. Jamison and I (not to mention the rest of our family) are beyond ready for her to be here. We're ready to greet our little angel, and see her little face. Exciting times!!!

Wish me luck. :)

P.S. Amanda McKee, my best friend since we were about 1 year old, took some maternity pictures about 2 weeks ago...so I'm EXCITED to see those! Everything's going great. Life is still as hectic as ever...but we're loving every precious minute we have together as a family, and are ready to tackle the ups and downs of parenthood! :)