Piper's First Bath

Today, we gave Piper her first bath since she is already having explosive diapers.  She didn't really care for it and used that set of pipes that she was destined to have with a name like Piper.

Even though she didn't really like the bath, she was absolutely adorable all wrapped up in her towel.  See for yourself the cuteness...

Welcome Piper!

Piper Jane Bills

September 23, 2012

1:50 PM

8 LBS 7 OZ

20.75 INCHES

We have finally welcomed our little baby girl into our family this week.  She came out so beautiful and full of life.  She also came with a strong set of lungs as she cried for about a full hour after she was born.  (I would too if I came the way she did.)

READ ON FOR HER BIRTH STORY---(Pictures are at the end if you want to skip the whole story.)

For about a week before Piper joined us, at least once a day I thought my water had broken, but I would give it about an hour and then I would be dry so I concuded that it was just sweat from the hot days we have been having.  I went to the Doctor on Friday and she checked if I was progressing and said that I was at 4 cm dialated and 90% effaced.  She said that she was really scared that she was going to break my water while she was checking and that she would be shocked if I lasted to the next appointment.

My mom came into town on Saturday night, and I was wanting to be sure to have the baby at the beginning of her trip instead of toward the end.  So I walked around the parking lot at IKEA for abot an hour while waiting for my mom's plane to land.   Then Jason suggested that we shouldn't be walking so much because I wanted to be able to go to Emerson's first Primary Program the following day.  So I stopped and was going to continue walking a lot the next day after church. 

I slept the whole night on Sunday and woke up at 6:57 AM needing to run to the bathroom and when I was done, it wouldn't stop.  My water definately had broken!  So I woke everyone up, and we headed to the hospital. 

On the way to the hospital, I started having some minor contraction, but not very bad.  We arrived at the hospital abour 8:00 am.  Once I was at the hospital, they took me to Triage to be sure that I was in labor and that my water had really broken...as the gushing amounts of water wasn't enough.  They checked me while I was in Triage.  I was at 6 cm and still 90%  effaced, and my water had definately broken according to their test, so it was time to take my to the Labor and Delivery room at about 8:45 am. 

Once I was in my room and the got the dreaded IV in (which was the best one I have ever gotten), came the big question that had been looming over me my whole pregnancy...natural or epidural?  I realized at that point that I hadn't done any realy research on the topic, but knew that the epidural was so scary before.  So, I decided that I was going to try it with no epidural as long as I could handle it in hopes that I could do it naturally. 

At 11:30 am, they checked me again and I was still at 6 cm and 100% effaced and in a WHOLE LOT of pain!  So I decided that I would try to IV pain meds before moving on to an epidural. Those drugs we fantastic!  I was able to rest and not be a huge amount of pain. After about 45 minutes the pain started coming back and it was full force again after an hour.  I got a second round of the meds at 12:30 and was able to rest again.  Then at 1:15, the pain started to come back and this time a whole lot more painful than before. 

My doctor came in at 1:20 and decided to check my progress.  I was still at 6 cm, and my contractions had become a lot less frequent and irregular during the last hour.  So, she decided to give me a whisp of pitocin in hopes that it would make me progress a little faster.  With the dreaded news of still being a 6 after 6 hours of labor, I asked for the epidural.  They had me use the restroom before I got the epidural.  While using the restroom, I had a couple contractions and  I felt really constipated and needing to go.  I decided that I didn't want to deal with that I would use stool softener after and deal with all that after the baby got here.  So, I went out to get my epidural.  At that point they kicked my mom out of the room and had Jason go hold my legs.  I had a couple terrible contractions while they were explaining the epidural and practicing putting it in.  Then she started the epidural.  In the middle of her putting it in, I just had to poop and it wasn't going to stay in until after the baby came.  The anesthesiologist finished up putting the catheder in my back while I was crying and the most painful poop I had ever had was coming with no way to stop it!  As soon as she finished, the nurse got me on my back and took off my pad and said "the head's here!!!"  This is when the chaos started!  I must have gone into a shock of some kind because I could not stop screaming because of the extreme pain. 

*This is the point where Jason had to tell me the details because I didn't really get them outside of the constant screaming.*

The nurse pulled the emergency cord and flocks of nurses came running in and the doctor came rushing in.  When the doctor came in, Piper's head was already out and all she needed to do was get me to push the body out.  Before they could get the bed broken down,she had me push three times, and Piper was here!!!   

Since my Mom was in the hall, she has a different point of view.  I will get her to write it and I will add it too.

After arriving, Piper screamed for about the first hour of life.  They went and cleaned her up before they gave her to me and then she just laid on my chest crying.  I didn't really even see what she looked like until she was about a half hour old.  But when I did, I saw such a beautiful baby!  I am already so in love with this sweet little Piper Jane.  I am so lucky to have her as my daughter and to get to raise her and watch her grow. 

Welcome to our little family Piper Jane!

A Long Time Coming...

It dawned on my today how long this little baby girl has been in making.  Today is my little nephew, Grayson's, 2nd birthday which means that it has been 2 years today since Jason was at the same hospital that we are going to be having our little baby within the next couple weeks having a surgery trying to make it possible to be able to have more babies.  That surgery took place after about 2 years of trying to concieve before that. 

That means that it has been 4 YEARS since we started this long process of bringing a second child into our home, and the day is so close that she will finally be here!  I am so incredible thankful for Emerson the past 4 years.  He has gotten me through a lot of rough patches, but I am so excited to welcome our new little girl to be apart of our little family. 

Preschool

Emerson started preschool on Tuesday at a local church preschool.  He has loved his first week.  He loves that he gets to take his BATMAN backpack.  He loves getting to play outside with other kids his age.  He loves getting snacks (though this week he got cupcakes everyday since they have been catching up on the summmer birthdays).  Since it is a church Preschool, they learn a lot about Jesus.  They sing songs about him and learn how to pray.

Everyday when Emerson gets to school he has to find his cubby and hang up his backpack and then he finds his name and gets to practice writing his name.  It is awesome the improvement that I have seen even this first week in his name writing.  I can't wait for the end of the year to see how much his writing will improve.

 

Some fun things about Emerson:

 

He loves anything with letters and numbers on it.  One of his favorite things to do in the car is read all the license plates as we pass them. 

He is starting to be a great reader.  He is getting really good at sounding out words and figuring out what they are supposed to say.

He is becoming great at playing pretend.  He loves playing pretend "Lego Batman" and going arond fighting all the bad guys and saving the day.

His favorite pass time is playing the Wii with Daddy.  It is the best part of the day when he convinces Daddy to play Lego Batman or Lego Star Wars with him.

He is a great friend.  He is always ready to give a friend a hug when they need it.  He is the best hugger too by the way.

He is so excited to be a big brother.  He is always talking to the baby and telling us what he is going to share with her.  He also prays for her everyday,

He is the sweetest most energetic kid I know.

Nearing the end...

 I am so excited for my baby girl to get here! I have loved this pregnancy, but I am so ready for her to be here in my arms. I am excited to share her with Jason and Emerson. I can't wait to see what she looks like and what all her temperments are. I will miss my big belly and feeling her in me, but having her in my arms will make me forget about all that pretty quickly. 

Pictures taken at week 36.