Gabriella Mae Neighbors

As I type this I have a prefect, sweet, adorable baby laying on my chest. So, bare with me if there are a few mistakes! :)

Gabriella Mae joined our family and the world at 10:49pm on Tuesday June 8, 2010. She weighed 9lbs, 11oz and was 21.5 inches long.

In my last post I mentioned that my doctor didn't think I'd make it make to my next appointment, scheduled for Tuesday, the 8th. She was wrong and I was disappointed! But I had hopes that something would happen that day, because it was the ideal day for everyone else in our families- Jeremie's mom was off work to watch Mollie, one of his sister's was home from California and the other was scheduled to fly out the next day, my sister and mom were off work, and Jeremie needed to get through the work day to prepare his relief driver for running the route while he was on paternity leave.

I walked into the appointment, did the usual weight check (yes, I hit 50 lbs, as I expected!) and blood pressure check. My blood pressure was WAY up. It was 154/88 and I started pregnancy at a low 110/60. I also was so swollen I could barely move and had a few other toxemia symptoms. Without even checking me or the baby out, the doctor walked in and said, "well, you're inducable today." My little Gabbie was cooperating for everyone, just like I thought she would! (And I was sick, just like I suspected...)

After checking me out, the doctor said that I was already dilated to 3.5 cm so she wanted to start by having me and the baby monitored on the non-stress test on the hospital for a few hours before breaking my water. She said that she wouldn't make me go by ambulance, but I had to get a ride home from the office and get over to the hospital within 45 minutes. It was a bit scary!

I got to the hospital at 11:30, Jeremie got there from work at 1:30, and the doctor broke my water at 3:30. I thought I would be getting pitocin at some point, so I told the nurse that I wanted the epidural right away. There is no use suffering through the pain when you have pitocin- it's awful!!! The epidural was really scary this time, because I wasn't in much pain yet. My drip was never very heavy, as I could always lift my legs and wiggle my toes. I was actually happy about it, though. After all the trouble I had with nerve damage in my legs from Mollie's delivery I wanted to have a little control left in my legs.

From 3:30 to 5:00 I progressed from 3.5 to 5 cm and was a little disappointed about it. But in the next hour I started to progress the typical 1 cm an hour. We had family members from both sides of the family come up to hang out with us while I was in labor. Everyone went down to the cafeteria for dinner and got back to the room around 7:30. Around 8:00, though, I looked at Jeremie and told him that they HAD to leave. I hit transition and was starting to feel a lot of pain. When the nurses checked me at that time I was just about 10 cm and close to pushing!

When the doctor came in I told her I was in a lot of pain and said that I didn't think the epidural was doing much. She said that the anesthesiologist could come in to readjust things, but I would get the baby out a lot faster if I left it alone. She also said that she didn't think I'd be pushing for more than an hour, because she was sure this baby was smaller than Mollie (who was 8 pounds). I REALLY wanted the baby out, so I went without the stronger epidural.

Unfortunately, the doctor was wrong about both the size of the baby and the length of pushing. This led to a TON of pain for me. I'm not sure how much worse it would have been without an epidural at all, but I don't think there was much room for more pain- I think I pretty much went naturally through the pushing stage! And I am very proud of myself for that! :)

After about 2 hours of pushing the doctor asked if we could vacuum her out and I was all for it. I was exhausted! Gabbie was very stuck, not because of size, but because her shoulders were positioned straight across, rather than having one up and one down. To get her out the doctor had to reposition her shoulders, which took about 40 seconds, and then she could be pulled out. That 40 seconds put her in distress and she came out purple and limp. She wasn't put on my chest and Jeremie didn't get to cut the cord. I kept asking how much she weighed, but they weren't weighing her and she wasn't crying. Finally, though, we got to here that sweet sound and they handed her to Jeremie. Later Jeremie told me that he thought we had lost her, because things weren't looking good. But, thank the LORD, all the nurses had to do was blow oxygen in her face to get her to take her first breath! She didn't need any time in the NICU! We are so grateful for that.

Our little sweet pea ended up not being very little- she was a healthy 9 lbs and 11oz! We were all shocked! The doctor said it was a huge blessing that I got sick and we induced when we did, because we don't think I could have gotten her out if she were any bigger. She also said that if we choose to have another baby (not that we're planning!!!) she will not let me go as long, so I don't have an even bigger one. Given my natural size I am shocked that I had a huge baby, but am SO, SO proud of myself for getting her out. Such an accomplishment!

We are all adjusting to our new family of four, but all in all things are going well. Mollie adores her new sister and Gabbie is an amazingly sweet little girl. She is so peaceful, exactly what I was hoping for! We are very much in love with both our girls and feel like that "missing piece" in our family is now found. We feel so complete!

Nine Days and Counting...

So I thought I looked huge in the pictures I posted at nine months, but boy was I wrong! My belly is so gigantic at this point. I keep getting comments like, "I can't imagine that being a small baby." Being that I'm not naturally a large person, I am pretty shocked that I get so big when I'm pregnant. I thought I wouldn't gain as much weight as I did with Mollie either, but again I was wrong! If I go a full 40 weeks I will definitely hit the 50 pound mark again. I am so swollen I can barely bend my ankles or walk for that matter. Jeremie isn't home at the moment to take a picture of me, otherwise I'd post a picture to prove it. I'll have to have him take one tomorrow and I'll post it then.

I was supposed to continue working through tomorrow afternoon, but I got to work today and realized that I'd hit my breaking point. The decision to leave today came after spending all evening with contractions and then not being able to sleep through them for the first hour and a half after I went to bed. After they finally died down I was able to get to sleep, but woke up every hour on the hour after that until I got up in the morning. I am totally worthless at work at this point, so I decided to just be done! I am so happy about it, too!

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. She told me to make another appointment for next Tuesday, but she didn't think I'd make it until then. I sincerely hope she is right. I can't imagine making it all the way until my due date. However, babies have their own agenda and don't cooperate with what we want all the time. Praying that I can mentally handle it as long as God intends for her to be in here!

Nine Months

I am 36 weeks today and I am OVER being pregnant!!! I feel ready for Gabbie to arrive and am getting super excited to meet her. Although, I am very nervous about being a mom of two. It's scary to think about balancing my time and attention between both girls and making sure that both have all of their needs met. I know it will happen, but the transition is a bit overwhelming... In just one short week I will be considered full-term and she can come any time after that. I want her to stay put until at least June 1st. For some reason I really have my heart set on a June baby! We will see what God has in mind... He knows the plans He has for us. Whatever that plan is I know it will be perfect.

Gabbie's Baby Shower

I had a family/friends baby shower for Gabbie today. It was great to get together with loved ones and celebrate the upcoming birth of our new baby girl. She got lots of great gifts- especially clothes and diapers!!! Both will definitely come in handy! I am finally starting to feel ready for arrival. Four weeks to go... The count-down is on!

Eight Months

So, I'm almost nine months pregnant and obviously a little behind in getting my monthly update posted. Nevertheless, here is a picture of me at about 8.5 months.

My baby related growth started out a little on the slow side this time, compared with my growth from Mollie's pregnancy, but made up for lost time this past month. At 33 weeks I had an every-other-week doctor check up and was unhappily surprised with a weight gain of six pounds! I was pretty depressed about it, because I had been doing so well. Right after that appointment I started noticing a lot more swelling, which instantly made me nervous about developing toxemia again. But so far, it has just been a little bit of swelling and no high blood pressure. I am very thankful for that!

Also, I was put on full bedrest at 35 weeks with Mollie, due to the toxemia, and just had to take off my wedding ring today at 35 weeks, 1 day with Gabbie. So, although I have gained more weight than I would have liked, I still am in way better shape than I was with Mollie.

Our good friends just had their second baby this week, which has made Gabbie's impending arrival quite a bit more real to both Jeremie and me. It put me into full-on nesting mode, because I don't feel ready at all!!! I have a super long list of things I want/need to get done before she arrives. Obviously, none of it really needs to be done, but I am pregnant and really feel like it does! :) My goal is to be completely ready in the next three weeks so I can relax about being prepared for the last couple of weeks, just in case she makes her appearance early. We will see what happens! :)

Mollie and Me

Here are two of my favorite pictures taken recently. My friend, Lisa, took a few maternity pics the other week and I ended up loving the ones of Mollie and me together best. She is such an amazing little girl. Can't wait to meet Gabbie and get to know and love her just like I love the girl I already have. I truly feel so blessed to be given the chance to be the mommy of two girls. I couldn't ask for more!

It's Official!

Our baby girl has a name- Gabriella Mae Neighbors! This is not a name I've though about a lot, but suggested it because Jeremie liked it when Mollie was a baby and thought it would be a good name if we had another girl. Originally I wanted to call her Ellie, but the more we talked about Gabbie the more it felt right. And, the more I prayed about God giving us the right name for her the more I felt at peace with it. I love it and just know it is the perfect name for her. Gabriella is the female version of Gabriel, which means "God is my strength" and Mae is my grandma's middle name. We are getting so excited to meet this little girl!!!

Seven Months!

I have officially hit the third trimester and so far, so good. Although I'm starting feel like my legs and ankles are swelling a little, it is nothing in comparison to what I experienced with Mollie by this point. My blood pressure is staying low, which is also a huge blessing. We also are 95% sure of the baby's name. I'll posted it as soon as it's 100%. Mollie says it really cutely!!!

Please Vote!

So it's down to two names-Jordyn (Jordy) Mae or Josephine (Josie) Mae.

Josephine means "God will add"
Jordyn means "From the down-flowing river" and is the river in which Jesus was baptized.

We are torn between the two, so help us decide! Cast your vote here and we'll post the results!

Six Months

Here is a picture of baby and me at 25 weeks. I'm finally starting to "feel" pregnant these days. I'm getting tired more easily and having more difficultly carrying Mollie. I'm also starting to really enjoy my daily treats... It's not feeling so good to feel chubby from them, though!

We started our house projects to get ready for the baby's arrival, too. We moved furniture around last weekend to start Mollie's new Big Girl room. The walls will be pink and the bedding is light green with pink, yellow, blue, and lavender flowers. Mollie's nursery will become the baby's room. Although the theme and bedding are staying the same, enough of the decorations are being moved to Mollie's new room to allow us some space to freshen up the nursery for the new little one. I'll be sure to post pictures when everything is complete.

By nature I am quite the "nester". As you can imagine, as a pregnant woman I'm REALLY a nester. It feels really good to me to be getting these projects done. It makes me feel ready for the baby's arrival, even though I know that it is a false sense of readiness. I can only imagine the craziness that my life will be for quite some time after this new little one arrives!

This Baby Needs a Name!!!

"Baby Sister" is about as close as we have come to an official name for this little bundle of joy. Before our ultrasound I told Jeremie that I wanted us to come up with a girl name, just in case, so the baby would have a name as soon as we knew the gender. Because we were having such a hard time coming up with something Jeremie suggested that we wait until we knew if we needed a girl name. I agreed, because I was so sure it was a boy. And here we are, 16 weeks to go, and Baby Sister is no closer to a name than she was a month ago. The search is on!!!

I started by checking out babycenter.com's list of top 100 names. Aside from the most popular names, like Olivia and Ella, there isn't much there that Jeremie or I like. From that list our top choices are Lucy (for me) and Jordyn (for Jeremie). I have also looked at other naming websites, but nothing has been helpful.

Recently, I picked up a name book from a friend. It has over 50,000 girl names! I hope to be able to find something that both Jeremie and I love. (And yes, I am doing all the naming research- Jeremie doesn't read AT ALL!)

Our naming requirements are:
1. It has to flow with Mae, because that will be the middle name. (My grandma's middle name.)
2. We would love to pick a "J" name so that the baby has both of our initials, just like Mollie June.
3. We like old-fashioned, traditional names that are timeless. Unfortunately, names like this are currently popular.
4. A name that is at least 50 or lower on Top Baby Name lists. Anything higher than that will be too common.

When we have some new ideas I will be sure to post them. Meanwhile I will be reading, reading, and reading some more!

Five Months

Here are a couple of shots of my belly at five months. I'm not as big as I thought I'd be with baby #2 at this point, but found out at the ultrasound it's because the baby is laying sideways instead of straight out. In one of the pictures you can see Mollie trying to be like me by posing the same way. What a little sweetheart! And I included a picture of me at five months with Mollie for comparison's sake. Pretty close to the same size! The biggest differences are my hair (so poofy- what was I thinking?) and I am starting to look "older" now. I guess that's what two years of motherhood does to you! :)

Ultrasound Date!

We scheduled our 20 week ultrasound appointment for Friday morning, January 22nd! Hopefully we will be able to learn the sex of the baby... You never know if they will cooperate, but hopefully he or she will. I still have a strong "boy" feeling and will be very surprised if they say it is a girl. I have even started thinking in terms of "he" whenever I think of the baby without realizing that I'm doing it. Hopefully we will have details to share soon!

16 Weeks

Everything has been going well so far this pregnancy. I still struggle with a lack of food cravings, believe it or not. It has been frustrating to not feel like anything sounds that great, or when something does sound good to have it not taste as good as I thought. With Mollie I craved food like crazy- and my weight gain proved it. (50 big ones!!!) Looking on the brighter side, at least I'm not tempted to eat more than I should. Hopefully that will translate into lower total weight gained!

I started feeling the baby move on December 23rd. The kicks are already starting to get stronger and I think Jeremie may even be able to feel it soon. I feel most of the kicks on the right side. With Mollie I felt most of them on my left and she even managed to push out the left side of my rib cage permanently. Maybe this baby will even me out!

I am also having pains in my very low back area that shoot down my legs occasionally. I think it is a problem with my sciatic nerve. Jeremie got me a body pillow for Christmas and I think it is helping a little. I never got one with Mollie, because I only saw the super expensive ones made especially for pregnancy. Being that I am a tad on the cheap side I wasn't willing to spend $50 on a pillow I only needed for 9 months. A friend of mine, who is also pregnant with her second, recommended a much cheaper pillow from Fred Meyer. So far I would recommend it, too!

I have my third OB appointment next Thursday. At that appointment we will set our 20 week ultrasound date. I will be 20 weeks on Saturday the 23rd, so I am hoping to be able to set the appointment for Friday the 22nd. We plan to find out the sex of the baby and I will post it when we know. I still feel like it is a boy. Jeremie doesn't have a strong feeling either way, but says he feels more like it's a girl than boy. Mollie always asks for a baby sister, so we will see if I am right or if Jeremie and Mollie are right. Any guesses???

PS- the picture of me is awful, but I am determined to post a new one every month and this is all I have! I promise I don't look that bad all the time! :)

12 Weeks

Here is the first pregnancy picture I've taken this time around. I figured I needed to since I'm starting to feel a little snug in my regular clothes! So far, this pregnancy has been way different than when I was pregnant with Mollie. I have been so much more sick! :( The constant nausea subsided a couple of weeks ago, but I still have major food aversions and feel pretty icky by the time evening rolls around. Just one more week until the end of the first trimester, which is always a good feeling, no matter how great you feel. I'm just hoping the complete end of my morning sickness comes around soon, too!

Baby #2 is in the Making!

About six weeks ago I started having MAJOR food cravings (pizza!). When I would sit down to eat, I wouldn't be able to touch a thing. A classic pregnancy symptom!!!

That night, while Jeremie and I were getting ready to put Mollie to bed, Jeremie urged me to take a pregnancy test. (I wasn't excited to take one, because I had just tested four days earlier and got a negative result.) I used the same generic Walmart test that I used with Mollie and was familiar with the readings- plus sign for positive, minus sign for negative, and a neutral test line to indicate that the test was working properly. The outside packaging was exactly the same as always, but the test itself looked different. I didn't think much of it as I watched for the result. Immediately I got a test bar line (good, it's working) and a "minus sign". So I said to Jeremie, "well, it's negative". He responded with a large sigh of relief, even though we were both surprised. Of course I bought the "three pack" and had the rest of the package to put away. As I was doing so I happened to notice the reading directions on the box- one line for negative, two lines for positive. So this time I said, "oh my goodness... I read the test wrong. I'm pregnant!" I never thought I'd be one of those women who reads the tests wrong, but boy was I surprised!!! I am one of those women!

Just like with Mollie, we were not quite planning a baby yet. But again, we are very excited and thankful for this little blessing. (And I'm very thankful to be able to get pregnant without trying, instead of enduring the pain of infertility. I can think of few experiences in life that would be more painful.)

We had our first ob appointment this morning with ultrasound and all. We got to see a nice, strong heartbeat. (The doctor says it was about 150 beats per minute- boy???) The doctor dated the baby at nine weeks, six days gestation, giving me a due date of June 12, 2010. We are having the same doctor with this pregnancy as last and feel so good about it. I feel like this baby and I are in such good hands.

Keep checking my blog for pregnancy (and Mollie) updates. I'm sure there will be many to come!!!