Gracie baby is here!!

We finally had our second precious girl!! Gracelyn Emma was born on July 13th at 6:42 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. I was so surprised by how big she was. Belle was only 6 lbs. 3oz. That is a big difference. I went in at 12 at night to be induced. I actually went into labor right before I got there. I was so grateful because I was really torn about getting induced. I had not slept the night before, and was super tired. They gave me an epidural around 3 in the morning. It was not fun to get, but I felt so much better afterwards. I dozed a bit deliriously for a couple hours after that and then around  4:30 they checked me and my water broke. At 6 or so they said I was completely dilated and could start pushing. At that time my wonderful midwife came in, She made me feel so comfortable and relaxed. She even let Ben catch the baby. I only pushed a few times and she was here. It didn't hurt at all and I didn't tear or have to have an episiotomy!!! She is such a good baby. She eats nonstop. I am crazy tired of course, but I feel pretty good. It was such an easy birth especially compared to Belle's. Belle is pretty indifferent to Gracelyn but has had to adjust to sharing our attentions. We are working on it, she seems to be doing better now that she is back on her schedule. We are so happy and can't wait to see Gracelyn grow, so far it seems that she has none of Belle's difficulties, or any of her own. We are so grateful. So now without further ado, I introduce Gracelyn Emma!!! There are a lot of pictures just fyi!

Just born

She has good lungs!

Daddy <3

Going home

little smile

Grandpa

Grandma

I love them

Precious

Family.

Uncle Christian

Belle loves her

Gracie loves her too

Silly cousin Luci and Auntie Shirley

Gracelyn and cousin Amy Lyn 2 mo

Fourth of July baby?

Happy almost 4th of July!!! Anyone have fun plans?! I just want to get Gracelyn out of me already!!! I have been trying everything, I did lots of speed walking today at the mall. I am waiting for the Hubs to bring me a fresh pineapple to devour. Supposedly it has a hormone that is supposed to induce labor. My Dad and Ben both have the rest of the week off so I am really hoping she will come tonight or tomorrow. Plus my doctor wants to induce me next week, which I really would rather not have done if I can help it. I had to be induced with Isabelle and I think it was so much worse that way. I went from a 2 to a 10 in a matter of a few minutes. The strength of the contractions in order to do that were off the charts. So hopefully Gracie will cooperate and come naturally. All prayers are greatly appreciated! My dad took a couple pictures today before I went speed walking. I will try to be better about taking more. I am not feeling my most attractive these days ha ha. Plus my camera needs a new battery, so I only get to take some when I visit my parents. Oh on a side note, I got my hair colored a dark auburn yesterday. It was so nice to be pampered, and now my hair is all one color. Yay!!!

Ha ha I am massive !

She is forward facing finally!!! She loves it :]

Still pregnant...

Sorry I have been MIA these last few weeks. We have had a lot going on and it's hard to find time to get somewhere with internet and write a post.

Things of late:

Our car's engine completely died. It is currently in the shop getting 3,000 dollars worth of fixing done. I am so grateful to have been following a budget that allowed us to be able to save up an emergency fund. Being prepared has made this sucky situation very bearable. I know without the emergency fund we would be stressing out a lot right now. I will be sad to see it depleted. We will just have to tighten our budget up again in order to replenish it.

Isabelle is doing really well with her crawling. We are so proud of her. She is also standing while holding things better. She has been off the NG tube for about a month now, but she I still slowly gaining weight. She is almost 22 lbs!! We have had a ton of tests lately and I am hoping we will get some answers from them . She has another MRI scan this Monday. I hate this test. She has to be put under for it. She hasn't had one for over a year. We are going to check and make sure that her myelination is improving and if it is delayed enough to play a big part in her delays or not.

I am now just about 38 weeks pregnant. My belly is massive. I think Gracelyn will be bigger than Isabelle.  My doctor didn't think I would go past 38 weeks. I pray she is right. With my luck, I will still have a couple weeks left. I am pretty miserable at the moment. I am nauseous again, not sleeping, and the baby is pressing on my sciatic nerve. This makes it so that I am unable to walk the majority of the time. I really hope I have her soon. I am doing everything the doctor has suggested!! I guess we'll see. Babies never seem to do what you want them to.

Ben is doing really well at work. He loves being an electrician. It uses both his body and his mind. It's a good fit for him. He also just switched our hive over to a grown up box. Now they will be able to grow and hopefully make us lots of honey next year!! He says they are the most gentle bees. He never puts on gear to check on them and they have never stung him.

Were at my parents so I don't have pictures except the ones we took this weekend. Enjoy :]


Standing so well!!





This girl is obsessed with her tongue.

Her hair is finally long enough for a ponytail!!

Back to the real world

Sorry I have been so bad at posting these last couple weeks. Life has been a bit hectic since being home. We are so grateful to be home and my hips are so happy to see a real bed again though. Belle is doing a lot better. We had the feeding tube in her these past two weeks, which was horrible. She hated it and kept pulling it out. We just got the orders today, that she is eating orally well enough and gaining enough weight so we can take it out!! That makes me so happy. She was extremely sensitive to the tape on her face and it kept giving her horrible sores that she is still healing from. Now we just have to work on getting her as many calories as possible. In some very exciting news, Belle really crawled for the first time today!!! I thought she was completely unable to coordinate her arms to work with each other, but she proved me wrong. She only crawled a couple feet at a time then stopped to do something else like downward dog but it is such a huge exciting step!!!

In pregnancy news, I am now 33 weeks. I could be having Gracelyn as soon as this coming month!! My back is killing me and the Braxton hicks are quite frequent, but the doctor said I am extremely healthy which is always good to hear. I have so much to do before she gets here. It’s a bit hard with zero energy though ha ha. Tonight is yoga with Deana. I am excited, it always makes me feel better. I just read a book called fit2fat2fit it was a really good read and it makes me excited to hopefully get in really good shape after I get the doctors go ahead . It will be harder with two babies, but all the health problems I keep seeing in my overweight relatives really puts it into perspective. It’s not just about looking good, But feeling good and being around to take care of my family for a long time.

I hope everyone is doing well. Here are a few pictures of late...

Downward dog. Yoga baby!!




Big belly





Grandpa!




Piggy tails!! Finally enough hair!





Cheese!!





She can stand when holding on to things!!!



We live in a hospital now.

These last couple weeks have been stressful to say the least.  First Belle got the stomach flu and it was a long few days where she just threw up everything. It slowed down to where she was throwing up once or twice a day and we thought she was getting better. Then the bug hit me out of nowhere and it was really bad. I am used to throwing up from morning sickness, but I just couldn't stop and it was so painful. I went to the hospital the next morning and had to be stuck on iv's and medicine for the day. I felt a lot better after a couple of days and things went back to normal. I was having a really hard time getting Isabelle to eat though and it looked like she was losing weight. She was still throwing up at least once a day as well. On Monday I went to get her up and saw her whole crib was covered in throw up and she was really lethargic so I knew we had to at least take her in to the doctor. Everytime I have taken her to the hospital when she is really sick they never do anything and send her home after a few hours so I decided to take her to the doctor first. When we weighed her we found out she had lost almost 4 lbs or 20 percent of her body weight and was extremely dehydrated and lethargic. That would be bad in any baby, but with a baby with failure to thrive it is really dangerous, so he sent us straight to the hospital. We were admitted pretty quickly and got her started on iv's and medicine. We have now been here a week. It has been really hard. I have been staying at the hospital almost everynight on a hard couch thing in her room which is killer on an 8 month prego body ha ha. My parents have been a big help for Ben and I taking turns watching Belle so we can have a few breaks and shower and relax for a couple hours. Belle is still not eating hardly anything. They have put an ng tube  ( a feeding tube that goes from her nose to her stomach) in her to help her get the calories she needs to gain weight. She is a lot more energetic, though not her normal level. We are really hoping to get some answers while we are in here. We need to figure out what the overlying problem is. All of her tests have come back normal so far which is both good and frustrating at the same time. We hope to be out of the hospital sometime this week. Prayers are always welcome :)

Pregnancy note: I am almost 31 weeks now!!! It is flying by. I am getting bigger and more uncomfortable by the week but that is normal. I was having some bad braxton hicks and the baby had some distress so they gave me a shot to help me from going into labor. I am supposed to take it easy which I am trying to do. So hopefully Gracelyn will stay in there until she is good and cooked.



I love him <3



That pout kills me.



My favorite people!!



We love pizza mart!!! Maybe a little too much ha ha



She is still darling in a hospital gown and mussy hair.



Big belly!!



Those teeth!!



She is the most cuddly baby!
 



iv buises.. poor baby



Still smiley!
 



Her cute blanket and toys they gave her.



Uncle Christian