Monday, February 9, 2015

Milestones

Shaylee is growing so fast! She's been rolling now for about 2 weeks. She rolled tummy to back 2 times one day. But I think those were on accident, because she hasn't done it since. But the next day, she figured out (after about a week of trying), how to roll from back to tummy. She does it all the time! Then she'll get angry after a few minutes because she still doesn't like her tummy very much. So she'll cry and try to fix it. But she ends up just scooting herself with her feet all around, trying to push her body back over! I'm telling ya, she's going to crawl before she figures out how to roll back over! hahaha
She hasn't for a little while, but she went through a phase where she would stop feeding, look up at me and just talk to me! I call them our "girl talks." She just coos and smiles instead of eating! hahaha I love when she just talks to me.
Her favorite position to be held in is standing up on my lap! She's very sturdy and supports herself well. She LOVES standing! She also loves to be held over my shoulder or facing front. She loves to be able to see everything. She learned how to hold her head up very quickly because when I hold her over my shoulder she likes to look around, so she'd sit up really straight to see what was behind me. I love to look in the mirror when she does that. When she gets her little straight posture like that, it's pretty adorable!
She starting to love eating her hands. I think she's going through a growth spurt because she constantly wants to be chewing on them, and is becoming very needy. I'm wondering if the neediness is hunger a lot of the times, and I'm just stubborn and make her hold off! She's not the best napper. I haven't been able to figure out consistent times she likes to sleep, other than a catnap at around 8:30pm. If there is any consistency during the day, I try and go with it, but she only sleeps for maybe 45 minutes TOPS, unless the nap began in the car and she's in her carseat. I think she could sleep in there for a LOOOOONG time! hahaha But if I ever try to lay her in her bed during the day when she's asleep, she wakes up crying LITERALLY the second her body touches the bed. I don't even have to let go. She knows she's in that bed, and she doesn't want it! hahaha
I'm noticing she's very similar to Zack when he was a baby in her mannerisms. She's such a sweetheart. People are always telling me how beautiful she is, and I can't wait for her to continue to grow!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Happy Birthday

Oh my dear, am I behind on this little lady's life! It makes sense that the first post in her journal should be her birth story. I'm a little fuzzy on specific details, but I'll do my best!

I was due with Shaylee on October 21, 2014. As the day got closer, my doctor asked if I'd want to be induced because he was going to be out of town on my due date. He said I didn't have to, but he'd really like to be there for her delivery. And let's face it, I'd rather have my doctor there too, instead of some random person at the last minute! :) Along with that, Clayton had been so busy at work and would half-jokingly say that he hoped he'd be able to be there when she was born. So I figured if I set an induction date, I'd please everybody and make life a whole lot easier for everyone involved. So, I was set to be induced on October 15 at Orem Community Hospital. The boys were both born at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, but I'd heard wonderful things about Orem and my doctor had changed his preference to that one, so I decided to try something new. And I'm so glad I did! :)
So, on Wednesday morning, October 15 at 6:30 or so, we went to the hospital. My mom was home taking care of the boys, so we were completely at ease. (And yes, Clayton got work off! Although, for much of the wait time he was working from his computer. Which I was fine with, just as long as he was there!) Apparently 2 people had come in in labor on their own, so the nurse who was assigned to me was a bit busy. So we hung out in my room until about 9:00am until she was able to come in and get me hooked up. We'd told her that my labors with my boys had been very long, so we really didn't anticipate having a baby until tomorrow morning. She took that as a challenge, and said I would have a baby before the day was over! And seeing as Dr. Berry would be leaving town the next day, we were really hoping she could get the job done.
So each half hour or hour, she'd come and raise my pitocin dose, which is apparently very fast increments. Once I'd reached the highest dose and was having some contractions she called Dr. Berry to come and break my water around 11:30. The contractions started getting stronger very quickly after that, and I got an epidural. That was at around 1:30. Our nurse then came to check me again at 2:30, and I was doing fine. I'd only progressed from 3cm to 6cm the entire day, but she told me to not get discouraged. Before leaving, she said "Now, if you start to feel any pressure, just call me back in and let me know! Otherwise I'll be back in an hour." How relieved I was that she said that!
About a half hour later, I started to feel something. I didn't know if maybe the epidural had worn off (like it had with Zack), or if this was "the pressure" the nurse had mentioned and I'd heard so many people talk about. It was almost like she was pushing herself out! I told Clayton I didn't know, but I thought maybe I'd been feeling pressure. So we called the nurse in. Sure enough, I was at 10cm and Shaylee was trying to come out! So she rolled me over, told me to keep my legs together and called Dr. Berry to come over! Fortunately his office is only 2 minutes away from that hospital, so I didn't have to wait long.
I warned everyone that during labor and delivery with my boys, I'd thrown up during the process. So we made sure there was a bag ready! I did get pretty nauseated while pushing, but I kept it in! :) I only had to push through maybe 3 contractions, get an episiotomy as I always have to, and she was here!
The first thing they did was hold her back side up and say "She's still a girl!" As lame as that sounds, I was really relieved to hear that! I'd been afraid that I'd made up the whole thing about actually having a girl, so it was a relief to know she was still a girl, and I officially had a daughter! 
Shaylee was born at 3:49pm. That nurse sure kept her promise! Shaylee weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 19in long. We were so in love! The boys came that night. Zack was so excited, and Max was a little unsure, but happy. He didn't really want to hold her, but I think it was because he didn't quite understand what to do, not out of dislike. I think he was just confused, but they were both so happy to welcome her into our family!