Two years ago...

Two years ago…

I had some pretty consistent contractions starting around 3pm.

Of course, we were preparing for company who only traveled 1500 miles to see US!

(No, really they were here for the Hill Cumorah Pageant and they just stopped by since they were close, but I like to say it was for US! :))

So we threw them a pizza and said, “See ya later, gotta go have a baby!”

Just FYI, the Wren family is pretty fantastic.

They not only cleaned up after themselves, but they left money for the pizza we were supposed to be providing and even took our trash out to the road before they left!

Gosh, I <3 Mormons! ;)

So, Steven and I took the kids to my parent’s house and we were on our way to have a baby, who's name still remained a mystery.

We arrived at the hospital around 5pm and were sent to a L&D room.

I was put on monitors and started eagerly looking at every wave on the screen.

I was hoping this was IT!

Steven, the kids, and I walked up and down hills for weeks, I was eating fresh pineapple (what seemed like) 2 at a time, I was taking all sorts of natural labor inducing herbs, and using other “techniques” that were “proven” to induce.

We were ready to meet our little girl!

… She was a quiet little girl from the time she was in the womb.

She liked to play at night, but for the most part she was pretty calm.

(It was probably from all that walking! She was worn out! :))

I felt a different kind of bond with her.

Not a better, or a more magnificent, or a more amazing bond then I did with the others, just different.

It was like I knew her forever.

Like we were old souls together once before.

I KNEW her.

Back to the labor…

I was contracting consistently but not consistently strongly.

I was given some cervidil and not much happened with that…

Because of my previous c-section, the OBGYN was taking things pretty cautiously.

(Of course, my OBGYN was on vacation at the time! How dare she leave me with a stranger! :))

So, I was given some pitocin to speed things along.

Then a little more…

Then a little more…

Finally around 3am I started contracting FOR REAL!

I could only sleep on my left side because she was lying on that side.

If I moved to my right it was like she was tearing apart my hips fiber by fiber, even with the epidural.

(I was a strong girl and didn’t need any pain meds until the 2nd upping of pitocin, then I crumbled.)

So, the nurse would come in and check me every 30 minutes or so.

I was starting to make progress little by little.

Around 4:30 she checked me and I was at 5cm.

At 4:45 the baby’s heart rate went down.

The residents on call were worried.

The nurse reassured them that she had just checked me 15 minutes prior and I was only 5cm dilated.
She came in and explained that the residents were worried, “even though she told them that the baby was probably just moving down the birth canal and her heart rate just wasn’t monitoring. It’s normal. These residents just over react sometimes!”

Then…

“Don’t move!”

“Don’t push!”

“Get the Dr..”

“Move the table.”

“Jennifer, don’t move or your baby is going to fall on the floor!”

“Her head is out!”

The doctor runs in.

She doesn’t even have time to put her apron on.

She literally catches the baby.

We have a girl!

And she is beautiful!

Soft and wrinkly.

Warm and snuggly.

Her eyes are wide open and looking directly into mine.

I’m in love.

She goes to her warmer and gets weighed and measured.

She almost falls off the scale!

Well, it IS her play time, you know! :)

Her apgar scores are 9 and 10

Finally, we’re all cleaned up and ready to cuddle.

“What the heck are we going to name her,” Steven says.

“I don’t know, I like Leah.”

Leah was NEVER mentioned before.

Steven says, “Leah?”

“Yeah, she looks like a Leah. It’s a beautiful name.”

“But I don’t know, how about Sophia?”

“Not Sophia. We’ll find something, let’s not rush it,” answered the new Daddy.

We sit there in awe and in love with this little love muffin laying and watching us both watch her.

"Who does she look like?"

"Maybe a little like Emmanuel."

"It's so hard to tell when they're this little."

We do know, however...

She is amazing.

We are proud.

We are blessed.

Happy Birthday Leah.

My lil' dare devil

We have a new teacher!

And, she is incredible!

You know how you just "click" with someone, well we did!

Whew...

I'm going to try not to boo hoo about Leah anymore (or as much) on her blog.

I know there will be trials and stress but when Leah is grown and reads this, I want her to see the good part of her childhood, not just mama whining! :)

So, Leah's been lil' miss social butterfly lately.

She has her play group on Wednesday's, a play date with her buddy once a week, and 2 hours of nursery every Sunday at church.

I've been assigned to one of those hours and it is so nice to watch her play.

I think all of this peer interaction is benefiting her a ton!

Her language has exploded!

Words and phrases are coming out of nowhere!

She has been saying EVERYTHING!

Things like, "bless you".

Sit Down.

Go outside.

Jessie (my sister's annoying pomapoo). ;)

Get up.

Grandpa.

Thank You.

Please...

There's a ton more, but I'm sure you get the point.

She is doing all of this completely spontaneously and appropriately! She says them all at the right times! :)

Lil' smarty pants.

She's also becoming more aggressive physically.

Not the hitting and mean kind of aggressive, but more confident in herself.

She is trying her body a little more then she used to.

She's climbing on EVERYTHING!

I'm the kind of Mama who lets my kids fall a few times so they figure out they need to be careful.

I am a little more careful with Leah because of her neck and joints, but I still let her fall from short distances.

And you know what?

She figured out that falling is NOT fun and has learned how to get down and not to stand on furniture all on her own!

No formal instruction on how to protect herself.

Do you know how hard it is to sit and watch your baby fall and try NOT to stop her?

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I let her go up a flight of stairs and let her fall down them, I just might let her slide down a few steps.

Or, I move the coffee table out of the way so when she falls off the couch she doesn't hit her head on the wood.

And then I'm right there to comfort her when she does fall.

The other day she climbed up her Little Tykes slide, maneuvered her body to sit on top of it, and slid down.

I was about 10 feet away when she did that and I was biting my nails the whole time.

But, she slid down all. by. herself.

So then she had the cheering Mama right there to scoop her up and give her a big hug and praise!

Little moments like those are definitely ones to keep in the books! :)