Hospital Stay Days 2-4

Day 2

Here we are chillin in the NICU.  She had to stay here for a period of 24 hours with no "episodes" in order to be released.  So every 3 hours I made the trek to the back of the nursery where the NICU babies were so I could feed her.   I got a bit of a longer break at night.  She was a trooper and got released by day 3.

Day 3
Back in my room with this floppy, snoozy new born. Falling in love with this darling more and more.

I did have some visitors. My favorite ones left me love notes to remember them by. I was smart this time and brought along a family picture for my room.  It can get lonely in the hospital. 

Day 4 and Home

Chloe took quite well to her new bed.

Again for documentations sake: one of the high lights of having to have c-sections is getting to choose a due date.  I chose April 30th because 4-30-13 is fun to say and has two of the same numbers that are in my birthday (4-13-??). We also share a middle name and a strong resemblance in the cheek department.

Chloe Ann Has Arrived

Per tradition: here I am moments before we left to the hospital for our fifth and final time to have a baby. 

My poor swollen feet! And face, and hands! 

Dave in his gear.
Truth be told Dave wore his Lucky shirt very much on purpose.  He wasn't going to take the ultra sound tech's word for it, he decided he'd believe we were having a girl when he saw it with his own eyes.
He wasn't disappointed! 

Our first meeting.  

This moment is so magical to me.  I always get emotional the first time I get to lay eyes on the precious little person I carried for 9 (ish) months!  (sorry she was still covered in placenta juice!)
THIS moment may be the one and only thing I will FOREVER miss.

We named her Chloe Ann, and she weighed 8 pounds and 4.2 ounces (coincidentally same weight as our first baby, Seth).  

I will spare the world the pictures I had Dave take of her actually arriving from out of my uterus.  But if you are interested I do have them ;).

For documentations sake, this time around was a doosie! I will try to spare you too long of a sob story, but while performing the c-section the Dr. discovered my uterus and bladder had adhered at the scare tissue and while attempting to separate them (not too gently I might add) my bladder tore.  So I got some fun stitches and staples there as well as on my abdomen, and I got to wear a catheter for a week, it came home with me and everything, good times. :) 

I could see a bit from the reflection in the lighting equipment above me and could see them jamming towels into me in order to dry me off as much as possible so they could stitch up my bladder. I actually later dreamed they forgot a towel inside me and left it in there to be found after I was healed up so I had to do it all over again.  I do have strange dreams in the hospital!
I don't usually take anything for the pain in the hospital but right around day 3 I decided to try some ibuprofen.  It took the edge off just enough and I was glad I did it.  I am not anti-pain meds, but I would do just about anything to avoid prolonging recovery, so I prefer to feel what my body is doing and not over do it because I have a false sense of mobility because I am on pain killers.  Plus I have been blessed to have a strong body, and a high pain tolerance.  Not trying to be brave here, it's just the way it is.  In deliveries past I have actually had nurses mad at me for declining pain killers... kinda funny!  But I win them over by how fast and often I get up to walk the halls.  They all love me by the time I check out! That's why I get so many extra diapers!  JK :)

Blue feet... all the rage in the nursery!
The triage nurse gave her a faux hawk and yellow hair bow. :) Her first accessory.

And as if blue feet weren't enough, Chloe revealed her inner diva, dredging up drama just hours old.  She decided to hold her breath, turning her whole self blue, earning herself a one way ticket into the NICU.  

Hummm... will those eyes be blue or brown???

Our first visitor, Auntie Kristy.  We love you!!!

Nesting Much?

Yes that is me, painting our living room on a ladder at 8.5 months pregnant.  For the record I also painted the Baby Girls nursery that same weekend.  It was my birthday weekend and our friends had our kids for a couple of days.  It was a great present to have the nursery ready and the family room all painted  before her arrival.

 Sunday afternoon nap fest...

 Just some random silly shots of Noah. 

Lunch is just so tiring some times! :)

 Oh he makes me smile!

Seth loves cub scouts!

 Out on a mommy/ daddy date with Seth.  He chose the place, Souper Salad.  :)  

Love you buddy!

The Lukiest Girls!

As I type the title to this post I regret so much the fact that I didn't take a picture of all the adorable outfits ect, that were so generously given to me by my friends in my ward.  They have been documented at some point since I have taken a million pictures of Baby to be wearing them, but they were more then a bit awe inspiring to see all together!

 What a fun and wonderful night!  

Not every mom gets to have more then one baby shower so not only is my baby girl, as the recipient of the adorable outfits and blankets and shoes, and on and on... the luckiest girl I count myself in that category also!!! As I said many times that night, my baby definitely has a better wardrobe then me!

The YUMMY food!

The Hostesses  (we did not pre-plan our color coordination)

 My running partner, (obviously it has been a while for both of us! :)) due less then two weeks before me.  Me having my first girl, her having her first boy!

Easter

Easter Hunting in our neighborhood park.

Noah is at such a fun age for hunting! The age where it takes him 10 minutes to pick anything up and then 10 more minutes to play with it, totally not caring that there are several more things to pick up with in his reach, and more then content to sit down and just play with his basket!

But these hunters mean business!

Owen happy to get several... Seth hungry to get tons...

Isaac ecstatic getting most!

Letting this hunt tide us over till next year since I was 8 months pregnant. :)

Peek-a-boo cute Noah!

Happy Easter everyone! Hunts are great but we are glad for the knowledge that Easter really celebrates our Savior, He rose to raise us when we are not meeting our full potential.  I am grateful for his forgiveness, and a perfect plan the lets me strive for an eternity with those I love the most.  

BSA Pine Wood Derby

Our First Pine Wood Derby! :) So fun, Seth has always been quite the project man, so it was easy peasy to get him to pain, and decorate it all himself.

Seth after his first place/ first race.

His luck didn't keep up but he wasn't last and he had fun, so that is a win in my book.
It was a fun time for sure, Seth and his daddy did a great job on his car! 

Camping In March

Dave gets cabin fever if he cant get outdoors every so often, so he and a good friend of ours decided to go camping.  Our kids are all same ages so they have a great time together!  

What good daddy's!!!  They had a great time as you can imagine with the combo of kids and mud! :)  

Seth's Baptism

Disclaimer:  I have regrettably forgotten some of the details of this day, so if you were there and read something that was not right or left out, please let me know! :) I blame pregnant brain.

Seth turned 8 this year!!! :) It happened to be on a weekday when his Daddy couldn't be there so we celebrated by having a yummy dinner and then blowing out a candle in an air head candy.  He chose to have a cake later at his after baptism lunch.  

He did get to go to  cub scouts for the first time on his actual birthday so that was fun!

 This was such a special day! Seth is such a special boy, he is naturally perceptive of the spirit and has a beautiful testimony already of many important things.  

We (and by we I mean his grandparents from Utah, his grandparents in Az, our close friends the Clarks, the primary pres. and his primary teacher) met at the stake center.  There were talks given by women in the stake presidency and then we sang songs till it was our turn to go.  Thankfully we were second and I could stop fighting Noah to behave!  

Funny story: Dave got a bit lost on his way to the font.  We were all in the font room waiting and wondering where he and Seth were till someone found him. It was so beautiful watching my boy be baptized and the spirit was so overwhelming. I was in awe that my own son was taking on such a sacred covenant with his Father in Heaven and doing so with open arms ready to be accountable. Words can't really describe I guess. It was amazing!  After the ordination, we went into our own room for a short talk by Seth's Granddad (my dad), and the confirmation.  Seth's Granddad gave a short talk about accountability and the atonement and then recited the poem The Old Violin.  I admit I cried.  Such a day so full already of beautiful things, then the confirmation welcoming the Holy Ghost into Seth's life for a constant companion was the icing on the cake.  

I am sad that due to my poor hearing and a fussy baby I didn't get to take in all in as I would have liked, but I learned a few things and will do things a bit different next time to make it more about those special moments and less about other things, (like lunch!) :)  

 It was a bit tricky getting a family picture after all that (attempted) forced reverence but all our eyes are open so that's gotta count for something!  I wish I had more pictures of this precious day!

 The man of the hour.

 The cake back at the house.  

This is a picture Seth drew days later all on his own accord of his memory of his special day. 

The Rest Of February

Another one bites the dust for Seth.  It seemed to take forever for this baby front tooth to come out and when it did the permanent tooth was already visible.

 Owen was so proud of his lego ship.  I wonder which has more color to it, the ship or his outfit. :)  Rest assured he picked this one out himself and we had no where to go, so I went with it! :)

Spontaneous nap! Love it!  He fell asleep watching his new favorite show, Baby Einstein.

 Night of hail. 

Seth was the only one brave enough to get out in it.   

 Isaac, hanging in there with Seth in the loosing of the teeth. Funny how different brothers can be!  

 Seth took karate as a reward for good behavior in school.  To say he loved it would be a huge understatement. Good job buddy!