Mom came to visit/help out shortly after Abby was born. She was a life saver! She cooked, cleaned, and held Abby while I caught up on some much needed rest. It was so nice to have her visit! Carsten, Cari, Christy and David also came down for the weekend to visit and meet Abby. She was a typical super sleepy newborn and slept through most of it.

St. Patrick’s Day! We had to do something to celebrate even though we were exhausted. We made clover shaped green pancakes and mom bought green roles and green sherbert drinks for lunch when the rest of the family arrived.

The following pics were taking on March 18th while the family was still visiting. Christy got some great shots!

The other kids are practicing for theirs!

Some Daddy Daughter time

We sure love our little Abby Lynn! Tons more pics to come!

When we got to the hospital they strapped monitors on me to watch the babies heart rate, and they also did an ultrasound. Her heart rate was a little low, and she wasn’t moving around very much, so they gave me some food and juice to see if that would get her going. I was STARVING, so I was grateful to get some food. After awhile the ultrasound tech came back and tried to get Abby to move around more using a sound machine. She still wasn’t moving much…by that point Dustin and I were thinking that I might have to be induced. Right we were! The doctor there thought it was best to start my labor even though she looked okay just to be on the safe side. My emotions were a mix of terror and excitement. I was SO ready to have her, but at the same time labor sounded pretty scary.

The next stop for me was labor and delivery. They took me to my room, told me to dress down, and started my labor using a little pill they inserted into my cervix or uterus after I had eaten some lunch (remember I was STARVING). I didn’t feel my contractions when they started. I just sat on the bed, watched TV, and got up to pee what seemed like every 10 minutes…not a fun task when I was hooked up to an IV and monitors (side note: the nurse hit a nerve in my had while putting in the IV. OUCH!).

I started to get bad back pain after awhile, which I thought came from sitting uncomfortably. Little did I know that I had back labor, and that I wasn’t having hardly any time between my contractions. Because my contractions were so close together they didn’t want to give me another one of those little pills or pitocin because it might stress out the baby and my uterus. You can imagine my frustration when after several hours I had hardly dilated…like from a 1 to a 2. The pain started to get bad and it was night time…no sleep for me! They kept giving me some drug that took the pain away and made me tired…I liked that drug After awhile they told me I could’t have that drug anymore and that I needed to get an epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and got it ready (really didn’t hurt that bad!), then realized I was still at a 2 and didn’t want to start it yet. Frustration!! It was getting painful and I was ready.

After awhile they came in and broke my water to get things going (that really hurt) and by that time I was at 3cm so they started my epidural. The 15 or so minutes that it took to kick in were brutal. After my water was broken my contractions were terrible. A mix between really bad menstrual cramps and really bad back pain. I don’t know how people do it naturally! Let’s just say I love drugs…Daddy you make so many people happy (My Dad is an anesthetist for those who don’t know).

A few hours later my epidural started to wear off…the pain wasn’t terrible, but I could feel myself dilating which was uncomfortable. I asked for more drugs, and boy did I get them! I was so numb I couldn’t feel anything and was even more uncomfortable…my mistake. Tuesday morning around 9:00am the nurse came in and told us I was at a 10 and it was time to push. Time to push?! I was so excited! It only took forever to get to this point! Dustin started getting very nervous and wasn’t feeling good…I was afraid he might not make it haha. He actually did great! At first he didn’t want to look, but when the head stared coming out (sorry graphic) he looked and couldn’t stop looking. I hadn’t planned on watching it, but they offered the mirror and I accepted. So cool! Being able to see helped me push. It was difficult because I was still so numb, but I did a great job (no really…the doctor and nurses were impressed

Little Abby came into the world at 10:05 am on Tuesday March 13th 2012. I pushed her out in a little over an hour, and would have gotten her out sooner but we had to wait for the doctor. She was so perfect and beautiful! Maybe I am biased, but I was expecting an ugly newborn and she was so cute

Getting all cleaned up!

She came out screaming!! She has a great pair of lungs that we get to enjoy often haha

She was 21 inches and 8 pounds 9 ounces…big baby!

A daddy daughter moment

So happy to have her in my arms after all those months!

Getting checked out by the doctor

Oh yes…she can scream…

Blissed out under the heater after her first bath

Wrapped up like a little burrito!

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa for the first time

They came again the second day. Three generations!

Proud Mamma and Papa! Feeling a little better after some rest.

On our way home! They let us keep her!

So sleepy

We love our little Abby soo much! More pictures to come!

 The first picture I took was at 11 weeks…I was very sick at this time haha…hence the messy hair and sweats (oh wait…I still wear sweats all the time haha.)

15 weeks…still not much of a bump…and yes still in sweats

21 weeks prego…Halloween time!

28 weeks prego…its growing!

32 weeks…a definite baby bump now.

35 weeks..getting bigger and closer!

37 weeks…so ready…

Almost 4o weeks and huge! Even more ready at this time!

I have several more photos, but I don’t think its necessary to show all of them here…it will make this post forever long.

I am so happy that our little girl is finally here! She has brought so much joy to our lives, despite the no sleeping and 24 hour job. I will show pics of her in the next post. I wanted to get the prego photos up first so that things would be in order. Read on!

The Saturday before Valentine’s Day Dustin took me to The Tree Room up at Sundance. The food was amazing! Dustin got duck (he was pretty excited about that) and I got chicken. The atmosphere was great and the company even better:)

Dustin got me some beautiful flowers! He never fails to pick out amazing arrangements.

I set up the table for the night, and Dustin made dinner. I helped a little, but it was great to have him cook for me. I have missed it! We used to cook together a lot more often, but since he’s been back in school and extremely busy I have taken over in that department. Oh I know…the green chairs and dishes match the decorations wonderfully

We had chicken alfredo with tomatoes…it was delicious!! I love it when he cooks!

My part of the night was dessert…and I decided fondue was a perfect for Valentine’s Day. We love it!

We had a great night together! I made Dustin a photo book with pictures from when we were dating up  until Valentine’s Day and filled it with quotes and things I love about him. I didn’t have it finished by Valentine’s Day, but I did show it to him online. We got it in the mail yesterday, and it turned out great!

Had to get some pics with these shoes too!

Taking pictures with Dustin insures a lot of messing around and trying to get good shots

Our shadow pics ended up making us look like saggy midgets haha.

More shoes! Probably should have taken the plastic thing off the baby shoes…

Dustin LOVES taking pictures!

Taking pictures always brings a lot of laughter…thanks to Dustin!

It just keeps growing!!

One of my favs!

He loves his baby

So, since this was a last second photography session, we tried to use a sheet to make a background…we decided it didn’t work after I got hit a few times by the cans falling off the windowsill…they were holding it up. This is the best shot we got!

There they are! I may put up more when we get the edited ones, but it may not be awhile since I’m not sure when we’ll get them. Hope baby comes soon! Mama is impatient!