Not Too Bad

I was worried, but this having two kids isn't too bad so far. Emily is remarkably easy-going. This whole newborn thing is easier this time around . . . as far as I remember. It might also be that I'm more easy-going this time around. I refuse to wake Emily up every few hours to eat. Instead, I feed her when she's hungry and leave her alone pretty much the rest of the time. Last night, she only woke up twice. Once at midnight and once at about 3:30 am. It was the best night ever except that the second time she woke up she wanted to be awake for a while. I ended up just bringing her back into bed with me and fell asleep holding her. Yeah, yell at me if you want, but Gwen slept in my bed the first six months of her life. It made it really hard to move her over to a crib when it was time, so I won't be dong that again, but I figure if once in a while I share my bed with the baby it will be okay.When she has access to her hands Emily loves to suck on her fingers or thumbs. The trouble is that she usually ends up scratching herself and making herself mad.Gwen holding Emily while watching Elmo on tv. We were so worried that she would be jealous of the baby, but so far she just wants to be our big helper and give her lots of kisses and cuddles.

We had to go see our pediatrician yesterday to get Emily's billirubin level checked. It turned out just fine so she'll be losing her fake tan look pretty soon. She feeds like a pro and has been pooping more so that usually helps their billirubin level go down faster. We've also been able to get out in the sun the last two days. It's been less than a week since Emily was born and I've only been home for three days, but I'm already going stir crazy. This morning I just had to get out some of my light hand weights and resistance bands and do some exercises and stretching. It felt so good and I've only needed motrin for pain since yesterday. This afternoon we went to play in the park area near here and to fly Gwen's Elmo kite. We bought a baby sling for Emily and she does great in it, until it's time to eat, of course. Besides being ready for a nap, I feel great even after all that.

Where's Emily? This is what she looks like from my point of view when she's in her baby sling. Seems really comfy to me.Gwen pushing Mommy and Emily in the swing. What a fun and warm afternoon we had today. It does not feel like February weather.Gwen flying high in the swing. She loves it and is great at holding on tight. Boot loves to dig in the dirt. The play area is all sand so she had a blast going from spot to spot and digging big holes. We had less fun following around behind her filling them back up.

A little bit of a long video with us kite flying today. We'd been out for almost 1 1/2 hours by this time and at the end Emily started to wake up so we had to end it.

Gwen and Daddy find the silliest things to do to keep themselves busy. No one can make Gwen laugh like her Daddy can. Uh, sorry the video's sideways, I couldn't figure out how to fix that. Just turn your head sideways to watch it.

Emily's Here!!!

Emily Marie Rail was born on Friday, February 2oth at 7:19 pm. She weighs 7 pounds and 11 ounces and is 21.5 inches long. She has a little bit of red hair, loves to scream, and all her parts appear to be in fine working condition.

Gwen and Daddy get to finally meet "Baby Sister" as Gwen calls her all the time. When she uses her name it's "Emmy". Does that mean I have a little singer in Gwen and Emily will be our actress? Emily does seem to like adding to the drama so far. Here's her story:

We went in for our induction on Friday morning around 8:00 am. After checking in and getting to our delivery room, Jonathan took Gwen over to the cafeteria for breakfast. I got my IV started and tried to relax until they came back. Neither Jonathan or I got much sleep the night before because we were so excited. Also, Jonathan's still super sick and he was up fighting with his sore throat and congestion which meant I was too.

Shortly after their breakfast, Gwen's cousin Noah and her Aunt Laura came to take Gwen out for the day until the baby got here. The plan was to take the two toddlers to the Trax station and ride the train downtown for lunch and activities. It took them over 20 minutes to walk the 100 yards to the station by the hospital because Gwen and Noah decided to rest and lay down on the sidewalk for a while. They both think that each other is hilarious. Well, turns out that Aunt Laura needed to get some cash for the train and had to walk back to the hospital to find an ATM. That took an additional 20 minutes plus an extended potty break and now it was already lunch time. Nothing was happening on my end of things, so they came back to the room to have Jonathan help move Gwen's car seat to Laura's van. They gave up on the train idea and decided on a fast food place with a play area instead and the park after. I cannot thank Laura and Noah enough for coming and playing with Gwen.

Around noon I got my epidural which was the most painful thing I've had done. I was mostly grateful for it later, but oh boy it was not fun getting it. The anesthesiologist had a hard time getting the needle between my vertebrae and I could feel him grinding it back and forth on my spine. Then it kept making shooting pain go down my right leg. When it did finally work, it numbed my right side twice as much as my left. This became an issue because later Emily's heart rate would drop if I moved off my right side, but then gravity worked against the epidural and I could feel everything on my left. Not a good experience at all. I talked to my nurse who said that "natural" childbirth is nothing compared to having pitocin which makes the contractions come really hard and fast. So, in the end, I'm glad I had the epidural because when I could feel my left half it really hurt and made me nauseated.

Heidi and her two girls came and took Gwen off of Laura's hands and took her to our house for her nap and dinner. Again, she deserves a million and a half thanks for all her help. My other two older sisters have kids with dog allergies and can't spend any time in our house because of Boot. There was a lot of sitting around and waiting, or in my case laying on my right side with an oxygen mask on and trying not to be too worried about Emily's heart rate. Around 6:00 I started to dilate faster and Emily started to have more drops in her heart rate. It ended up being a rush to get her out before we had to resort to a c-section. Luckily, all my crunches at the gym paid off because I only had to push once to get her head out and once more for the rest of her body. Emily came out screaming and didn't stop for about 10 minutes. She was mad, but that's it, nothing was wrong with her and they don't know why her heart rate kept dropping so low.

Our hospital stay was uneventful. Jonathan went home each evening to be with Gwen and to take care of himself. We came home yesterday (Sunday) and things have gone pretty smoothly. It will be easier if Jonathan ever starts feeling better. He gets this bad tonsillitis a couple times a year and it puts him out of commission for about 10 days or so. So, right now I'm taking care of a needy two year old, a newborn, and a sick husband. Today I made an appointment with an ENT doctor to talk about getting his tonsils out. Might as well do it this year because we already met our insurance deductible with having a baby. Ugh. Luckily, I feel pretty good. Again, I think all the exercise over the last year has helped because my body has been able to recover nicely. At times, I tend to do too much and push myself a little too hard, but after a little rest I feel better.

We got Gwen and Emily matching outfits for going home from the hospital and to wear later for family pictures. They say big sister and little sister on them.

Gwen demonstrating what the bulb suctions are used for. What a silly girl I have.

Gwen modeling her big sister shirt. I love her smile in this picture.

My little sister, Megan and her fiance Joel. They came over to visit last night. Gwen is in love with Joel. No, really, she's got the biggest crush on him. She "calls" him on the phone all the time and always wants to know if when we're going out if he's going to be there. It's so cute to watch her flirt with him.

The Due Date

My little starlet. Earlier this week, she wanted to wear all her flower hair clips, her sunglasses, her Elmo panties, her apple shirt, and her Elmo socks (which you can't see), but no pants since it makes potty training a bit easier. She got up on the coffee table and used the thermometer to sing along with Sesame Street. She loves to sing but prefers to use whatever is laying about for a microphone.

Yeah, I'm not that big, I know. I FEEL really big though. This was taken at my appointment last week at the OB. I'd only gained 14 pounds (closer to 12 now because I lost 2 this week somehow). I still measure okay meaning that the baby should be pleanty big. It's just been funny to watch my belly get bigger as my maternity pants get looser around the hips and thighs. I'm probably one of the only people who needs to buy new maternity pants at 40 weeks pregnant because they're too big now. Jonathan hasn't done as well in the weight gain department- he put on 28 pounds since May. At least he's coming to the gym with me more often now. He doesn't have a good excuse not to anymore. I think he loves having a very pregnant wife because then he gets to finish my meals as well as his own.

Gwen's favorite part of the "baby doctor" is after we're all done we measure her tummy and "listen" to her guts. She's very serious about it all. She's so good when we go and just sits and plays with the toys they have in the room. I think it's helped her to realize that she's getting a baby sister sometime soonish.

So, actually, my pregnancy counter thingy is off by a day because today is really my due date and it should read 40 weeks pregnant - no more days to go. I wish that meant something to my body. I keep telling it that I should be going into labor any moment now but it seems to have other ideas. I saw my OB today who checked me and I'm still not making any progress down there. I begged him to schedule my induction for this week and he was nice enough to do it for Friday. So, if my body remains a slug, I at least have a light at the end of the tunnel and will have a baby on Friday the 20th. Not too shabby. I really thought that she'd be here by now considering my day and night last Thursday, but apparently my body likes being pregnant so much that the only way I know how to have the baby is to help things along artificially. Plus, I love being in control and an induction makes me feel like I'm one step closer to having control over this whole thing. I can plan for it at least and see what life throws us.

Really I'm okay that she's where she is because I know it's much easier to care for her this way, just increasingly uncomfortable. Also, Gwen's still getting over her sickness and has shared it with Jonathan - though his is more of the cough and congestion type virus instead of the vomiting and diarrhea type. I was getting worried about bringing home a newborn into that mess of illness. Now everyone has a few days to feel better and I have to keep avoiding getting their sicknesses. That might be the hardest part. The following video is of Gwen and Jonathan out stomping bubbles in our front yard. It's like 30 degrees and has been rain/snowing all day but that doesn't stop them. It's one of Gwen's potty rewards and if you can't tell, she loves playing with bubbles.

This Post Brought to You by the Letter P and the Number 2

Okay, I'm still here and still pregnant. Not for too much longer though. I'll get to that later. The other big event at our home these days has been Gwen's decision to potty train. It wasn't my idea I promise. We had gone to the store one day and they had little potties on sale so we decided to let her choose one and use the time at the end of my maternity leave to work on potty training. We brought it home and put it away hoping she would forget about it. Well, she didn't and she found it and demanded to get it out right then and use it. She's been using it almost every time since. Except for a set back the last couple days involving the stomach flu. Speaking of which, Gwen is crying about her stomach hurting again which means we're probably in for more vomiting. I'll try to find a moment at work tonight to finish this post.

Phew, she just needed to be snuggled down for her nap, which gives me a few minutes to work on this. Okay back to the potty training: she has really done most of it herself. That's a good thing because I don't know how much effort I'm willing to put into it right now. She has her Winnie the Pooh Poo Chair that sits in our living room and she'll declare that it's "Potty Time!" and run over to it and pull down her pull-ups and pants and use it. She'll even dump the pee in the big toilet, rinse out the little seat, put it back in the chair, and wash her hands, all without really being asked. We're still working on getting her to "make stinky" in the toilet which she still prefers to do in her diaper right before bed for some reason.

Well, like I said things were going really well until Thursday when she woke up with bad diarrhea. That kind-of threw potty training out the window, and my gym plans for the day. Instead, I really worked hard around the house to get things ready for Emily. I moved furniture around, washed baby clothes, and cleaned the carpets. I probably did too much because it set off some pretty strong contractions after lunch and I started to get excited. It was nap time though so I put Gwen down to bed and went to lay down myself and the contractions stopped. Bummer. So, I ended up going into work last night and actually felt the best I had all day even though we were pretty busy there. Yes, we're seeing a lot of stomach virus (vomiting and diarrhea), RSV (congestion and cough), and the real influenza (cough and fever) now. It seems that the flu shot is doing it's job this year and it's the kids that didn't get it that are really sick. That's re-assuring to me because my whole family got the shot so we should be good as long as we keep Emily away from people who have it. So, no visiting if you didn't get the flu shot this year, sorry.

Last night, after work I got home and read for a while finding it hard to fall asleep for some reason and just as I put my book down and walked out of my room to use the bathroom, Gwen's door opened up. I went to pick her up and felt that she was slimy and smelly, covered in vomit. We spent the next couple hours in the yucky cycle of cleaning up throw-up and waiting for the next round to come. That lasted until 3:00 am when I remembered that I had some left-over zofran (anti-nausea) dissolvable tablets from the beginning of my pregnancy and gave her half of one. I love that medicine. Within about 10 minutes her color was back and the vomiting had stopped. Since her bedding was in the wash I had her sleep in our bed. For the first half hour she wanted to go downstairs and eat breakfast (did I mention that I LOVE zofran?) because her tummy felt better. I talked her into laying still and she was out in a couple minutes. That's when my contractions started back up again. It was about 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning by this time. This time they were a lot stronger and getting closer. I said a little prayer that I didn't think I could deal with having a baby after being up all night and Gwen had just fallen asleep and was so sick right now. I just wanted to cry. I was about to wake up Jonathan (who managed to sleep through all the fun) when the contractions slowed down and went away. Gwen still woke us all up at 8:00 this morning and after explaining what our night had been like to Sleeping Beauty (aka Jonathan) I crashed on the couch for a good part of the morning while he and Gwen put puzzles together and watched The Muppets.

Now they're both upstairs asleep while I finish this then I'm going to go join them. I really think that this baby will come in the next few days, I hope that it's not on Valentine's Day because I think it would suck to have your birthday on a holiday. I have to work tonight and have one last huge 11 hour shift tomorrow, then I'm on maternity leave for the next 8 weeks. I promise to call and let people know when the baby gets here.

Sledding Fun

We took Gwen sledding for the first time the other afternoon. Jonathan and Gwen had gone out the day before and tried out this little hill at our near-by Junior High School. The next day, I got to go with and take pictures. Even though I'm having a baby in 3 weeks, I couldn't resist going down with Gwen a couple times. I know, I'm bad. Don't worry, everything ended up okay and it was only a tiny little hill. In other related baby news, all that prayer must have worked because after spending two days sideways (I thought upside down was painful) Emily turned over the right way and is now head down. Yay! Hopefully, that means we'll avoid a c-section.
Gwen cannot wait to get up the hill and go down again. As soon as the sled ride is over she jumps off and starts up the hill going "again, again." Boot has always loved the snow and her favorite part of sledding is attacking the sled and sledders as they come down the hill. Gwen thought that was hilarious. Enjoy the videos. I'll keep trying to find things to post about in the next few weeks.

Time is Just Flying By

Gwen's been into puzzles and letters lately. We found these magnetic letters at the store today and she immediately matched all the letters up. We didn't realize what she was doing until she was done and we were looking at it. I can't believe how smart she's getting these days.

Yesterday, I was really sore and couldn't imagine going to the gym so we stayed in our jammies all morning and cleaned the house together. It was actually nice because today I have the day off and don't have to clean. I get to nap and just hang out with my favorite people. Oh, and watch Pushing Daisies. We rented it on NetFlix and just started it last night. We love it so far. Gwen and Daddy being super heroes. Gwen likes to fly "up, up, and away!" just like Super Grover and then crash into things.

Gwen and Mommy up close for the camera.

Cleaning is hard on Boot. She hates the vacuum and doesn't like any of the other parts of cleaning either. She likes to find a hiding spot and hang out there until we start to get too close.

Gwen helps with the laundry.

Okay, I swear, this last month has gone by so fast. I can't believe that we're having a new baby in less than a month! I'm not ready for that yet. I just can't imagine what it's going to be like having a 2 1/2 year-old and a brand new baby. It was hard enough last time with just the baby. Gwen's getting more excited about having a baby. She loves to put her head on my tummy and sing to the baby. She tells me the baby tickles her and talks to her too. She also still insists that there's a baby in her tummy too. We're working on that. She loves to come with to the OB appointments and hear the baby's heartbeat. She climbs upon the table after my visit and Jonathan pretends to measure her tummy and listen to her guts. I'm sure that's probably just leading her along in her whole baby in my tummy idea.

Everything's still looking good with Emily. She's breech though and has been that way for the last 4 weeks or so. My doctor says we'll see if she turns on her own in the next two weeks and if not we might try to manually turn her at the hospital using ultrasound. There's a risk of rupturing the uterus or tearing the placenta when you turn them so it's something to really think about. I'd rather not have a c-section, but that might be the safest option if she doesn't turn on her own. So, pray that this silly little one decides to behave before much longer. Also, it's not very comfortable having her hard little head under my ribs. I've had to cut back quite a bit at the gym because I can't cycle without it causing too much pain with her head pressing under my ribs when I bend over to grab the handle bars. I still go to the weight lifting classes and feel better if I've had some physical activity. My due date is February 17th, but mentally, I'm preparing for a late delivery again. Hey, if I get to have a c-section I'll get to pick her birthday. Any suggestions? No, we're not even considering Valentine's Day. I have to work that day and I can't imagine having a birthday on such a terrible holiday.

Jonathan's still looking for a job. He got all his paperwork in for substituting for Salt Lake City School District. Jordan and Granite school districts are on a hiring freeze right now but I'm hoping the flu season hits them hard so Jonathan can get on with them too (is that mean of me). My mom's school also said they could use him for substituting over the next couple months. We'd like something steady for employment, but substituting could really look good on his transcripts and help him know if teaching is really something he'd like to do. There aren't many jobs around right now. I didn't really realize how dire things are out there for many people. I feel very lucky to have a good job that I like and haven't had to settle for something less.

Christmas Post

Our three foot tall Christmas tree all ready for Santa to come visit on Christmas Eve. For some reason the bottom half of the lights hadn't been working all season, then they turned on that evening. It was our own little Christmas miracle. We can't wait to get a real tree some year when we have a bit more space.

So, for Christmas this year, I was able to get three days off in a row! It's only the second Christmas day that I've had off since I turned 18. That made it extra fun and special. On Christmas Eve, I spent the morning at the gym and got a good work-out in. After naps in the afternoon, we drove up to Aunt Laura and Uncle Dude's house for a fun family party. Almost everyone was there from my side of the family. Gwen had lots of fun playing with her cousins and we got to eat a yummy ham dinner together. Jonathan and I got a really neat book that my sister Laura put together of our wedding pictures. We have the best wedding pictures but I hadn't really done anything with them and now I don't have to because she did it for us.

On Christmas morning, we couldn't wait for Gwen to get up and finally got her up at 8:30 to open presents. She got some stuffed Muppet babies and some pretend food. Jonathan and I gave each other lots of movies and video games. It was funny because all our gifts were DVD shaped. After opening our presents, we drove in the snow over to my parent's house - yay that they only live 10 minutes away, and made brunch for everyone there. Gwen opened a remote control My Little Pony toy from Grandma and Grandpa and chased the dogs around with it until my sister Heidi and her family came over. We left a few hours later and came home for much needed naps. Jonathan made us a ham dinner and we watched Prince Caspian together and stayed up late. Too bad the only part of the movie that Gwen payed attention to was the big scary battle at the end. I think it gave her nightmares because she woke up crying a couple times in the night and she's had a hard time sleeping since then. I guess we have to be more careful about watching movies at night with her now.

A few days later, the snow finally cleared enough for Jonathan's mom and step-dad to make the trip down from Preston. Still, the normally 2-3 hour drive took them 5 hours. They're so much braver than me. I'd never make that trip in anything but perfect weather. Grandma Elsie gave Gwen a little pretend kitchen to go with her pretend food and it is by far her favorite gift this year. She makes us meals and snacks on it constantly and hides things in it like Hershey's Kisses that she's not supposed to have. We went to lunch that afternoon with Elsie and Floyd and Jonathan's brother Sam and his family. It's always fun to spend time with them and Gwen loves her big cousin Charlotte. It was a fun holiday this year and the best part was that I got to spend so much time with my little girl who is starting to figure out what Christmas is about.
Gwen and her Great-Grandpa Madsen. He just turned 95 this fall.
Samantha, Noah, Kim, and Gwen playing in Noah's room on his big soft bean bag chair. You could fit 2 adults or 25 small children on there.Sam, Kim, and Noah looking so loving and quiet together. This was not always the case during the night though as you can imagine with 6 wound-up kids in the same house.The girls (except Jami who was downstairs). They pushed poor little Noah off his own chair and exerted their "girl power" for this picture. Trust me, he was pouting just off to the side.Mason spent the entire evening watching the Santa tracker on the computer. He'd alert the rest of us each time Santa moved a little closer to Utah.