Izzy's Birth Story

I won't give you too many gory details of Izzy's birth story, but just enough so you know how she got here!!

Last Tuesday night I started having really consistent contractions at about 5pm.  They were five minutes apart when I finally went to bed at midnight... but disappeared sometime after I went to sleep.  Bummer. 

Wednesday I had some on and off throughout the day, but nothing very consistent.  Went to the doc that day and was dilated to a 3!  Progress!!  That night things picked up again and we ended up going to the hospital... where we walked the halls and stairs (we figure we did about 16 flights.  Ha!  May as well get some exercise) of the empty hospital until 3am trying to get me to dilate a little further - I was a 4 though.  The contractions were painful, but I wasn't progressing... so we went home EXHAUSTED!!  (And maybe a little bit discouraged... was I actually going to go into labor on my own or just pretend?)

Thursday morning we slept in a little and then walked across the street to breakfast at Panera Bread and then to Target to wander around while Grandpa had the kids for the morning (thanks dad)!  My cute hubby knows how to cheer a discouraged pregnant lady up!!  Still had some contractions off and on but just went about doing normal stuff with the kids the rest of the morning and early afternoon.

But Thursday night was the night!!  We ended up at the hospital about 3:30.  Since I decided to have a natural delivery this time I didn't have to have all of the monitors, so since I normally get stuck dilated at about a 5 so I walked the halls trying to get my body to get things moving.   After a few hours of hanging around with only fairly painful contractions, things started to pick up.  I had a couple of hours of painful, but not unmanageable contractions.  Then another hour probably of having to really focus through them and breathe.  Then about 30 minutes of really, really painful contractions.  Then about 10-15 minutes of "somebody kill me!" and it was time to push!!  I pushed through 3 contractions (oh... and felt the most pain I've ever felt...) and out she came.  She was beautiful!! 

Aaron was the best birthing partner anyone could ask for.  He basically just acted like a yoga instructor, which really worked for us since it is so familiar to us already.  He had me so relaxed between contractions I remember thinking "I really think I could fall asleep right now."  He helped me regain control when he saw me starting to lose it.  He was amazing.  It was a really cool experience for us and a really different one than with our other 2 kids.  He was really focused on me, keeping me focused and calm, and didn't really watch her come out like he did on the other 2.  It was really cool way to really bring this baby into the world together.

That being said... holy cow did it hurt!!  We'll see if I decide to do it again! Regardless, I'm glad I did it at least once!  All you girls who normally do it that way are super women!

waiting for another contraction - they were getting bad at this point

counter pressure on my back felt really good when the contractions started getting worse

look at the air in those cheeks!!  this must have been a pretty bad one!

Aaron was the best birthing coach ever.  He had me so relaxed between contractions I seriously thought I might fall asleep.  I'm thinking of hiring him out if anyone is interested.  :)

Holy cow, natural birth is a beast!!  I think my face is a combination of - "Oh my gosh, my little girl!" and "Oh, I'm so glad that's over!"

look at all that hair!

the birthing team!  my doctor is AWESOME and my nurse was too!

Daddy and his little girl

Grandma and her newest grandbaby.  It was really neat having my mom in the delivery with us for this one.

Van was actually really sweet with her when he met her.  He walked into the room, looked at her, looked at me, and said "Izzy came out!"

Kisses for "tummy sister"

1st family of 5 shot (BTW.... I really have 3 kids?  How old am I?  Is this really my life?  I am so, so blessed.)

The girls.  Emery obviously loves her.  She spends all day asking to hold her. 

ready to go home

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkinson came down for a day to meet their newest little lovey

More details on the cute little baby face to come.  She really is a sweet, sweet baby and we all adore her!

Meet Our Little Izzy

 Izzy Jean Wilkinson

(named after both of her paternal great grandmothers, Margaret Elizabeth and Norma Jean)

Born May 31, 2012

9:24pm

7lb 6oz

19.5 inches

We are all smitten, to say the least!

In recent news...

Our big girl got a BIG haircut!!  She has so much hair, but it's so fine (just like her mom's) that it gets crazy tangled and takes forever to comb out... usually resulting in tears.  She finally got fed up (and got over her Rapunzel complex) and asked for a haircut a few weeks ago.  It took mom a few weeks to emotionally detach from her hair, but I'm so glad I did!!  It looks darling and it's going to be sooooo much easier!  Especially for the summer.  And it felt good to let her make a big girl decision.  She loves it too!

Chronicled in pictures for your convenience.  Lots of hair = lots of pictures! 

Before

Love that face when she saw a big chunk of her hair in my hands

all done - wet

a 3-minute blow dry later - VIOLA!!!  cute, cute girl!! 

Oh, and Van tried out a new eating style when we had friends over for dinner last night.  Not bad, buddy.  I like how you roll.

And apparently this works with kids older than 6 months

Happy Humpday!!

The biggest hump around here is my big belly.... but besides that there is lots to be happy about!

• I'm happy because I really think I'm going to go into labor this time.  That would be lovely. 
• I'm happy because I nailed down a preschool for Emery next year.  Hooray!! 
• I'm happy because my SIL Lindsey had her baby last week.  They have 3 little boys and didn't find out the gender on this one.  It's a GIRL!!!  We are so, so, so thrilled for them and so excited that our little girl will have a cousin-friend so close! 
• I'm happy because we met Aaron for lunch.  We had almost-free sandwich coupons for Jersey Mike's.  Whoa yum.  It is seriously so good. 
• I'm happy that text messaging exists... I just mass-texted reminders for something for Relief Society.  So much better and faster than calling. 

Have a great rest of your week.  Cross your fingers my next post will have baby pictures!!  :)

Camping and hiking in Mt Charleston

We headed up to Mt Charleston this last weekend to make sure we got one last camping hurrah before this baby comes.  We camped at our favorite camp site there, Old Mill, where we took a walk and saw deer running through the campground (Van gasped and said, "I see horse!"), ate dinner, laughed and played games, and kept the kids up hours past their bedtime.  Then Aaron and I stayed up for another hour and a half just talking and staring at the stars.  Heaven.  :)

The next morning after we giggled in the tent for a bit and ate breakfast, we headed to hike Mary Jane Falls.  The kids were SOOOO slow at first we weren't sure we'd make it, but as soon as we hit the switchbacks they turned on the juice.  It's a pretty tough hike but they both made it (with a tiny bit of assistance at the end due to a minor blister problem and a loss of motivation)!  We had so much fun and they were so cute all day.  We ate at In-N-Out on the way home and then made a quick trip to REI and then home to swim.

Add that to my cute hubby pampering me all of Mother's Day and it was absolutely a perfect weekend! 

action shot

cut girl on top of the world!

 

36 Weeks

4 more to go!!  Wow, that went fast!  Can't wait to hold this little girl!

Happy Humpday!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  We're happy over here today because...

• ...we've been eating LOTS of veggies!  And successful ones... ones where everyone cleans their plate and asks for more.  That makes me a happy mama.  Made Mexican Chicken and Rice (the rice is cauliflower... no one at my house was the wiser.  It was sooo yumnmy!  Only prob with this one is it will have to be a side dish.  Skinny bovine is too hungry eating just cauliflower and lean protein for dinner...) and Stacked Chicken and Zucchini Enchiladas with Creamy Green Chili Sauce on Monday and Tuesday.  The enchiladas were to die for.  And I can't believe its possible to put that many veggies in there.  Made The Ultimate Veggie Burger tonight... which was not the ultimate veggie burger.  Black Bean Mushroom Burgers still have that award, but it was fun to try something new.  And sitting in my fridge... just so you think I'm crazy.... 3 pack of romaine hearts, big bag of spinach, cauliflower, a couple pounds of broccoli, a bunch of asparagus, 3 red bell peppers, carrots, celery, 4 huge artichokes, 4 zucchini.... hmmm... I think that might be it.  Whoa buddy.  We'd better get eating. 
• ...had a doctors appointment yesterday.  At a little over a month from my due date I'm DILATED to a 1!!!!  I don't dilate, people.  At least not without help.  And she's head down and dropping already.  I'm elated!  Is it too much to ask that I might go into labor on my own?  Not that I don't love waking up early in the morning on induction day, getting ready and then looking at Aaron and saying - "Okay, let's go have a baby!"  I'd really like to go into labor...   :)
• ...we are having some real spring weather!!  Like still sleeping with the windows open, not dying during the day yet kind of weather.  Its a miracle.  We eat breakfast with the sliding door open.  It's just lovely.  
• ...freezer meals for after baby comes are in the works.  Crock potted a bunch of chicken to shred... meat defrosting in my fridge... gathering ingredients.  Now I have to start making some because there is absolutely no room for anything else in there. 
• ...my kids are being so good.  I can't think of a single thing I'd rather do - ever - than be their mom.  I even miss them if I go get my hair done for a couple of hours or something.  Emery is in this really funny stage of asking all of these analytical questions like, "How do the police know when someone is in trouble?" or "Are the people who sing this song still in this world?" or "Why are some people handicapped?"  She loves to sing big kid songs or country music from memory and still memorizes things after hearing them just a few times.  Van is talking like a little boy now instead of a baby.  Full-on sentences.  And he thinks he's a garbage truck.  If you call him anything else he'll remind you, "I dabage duck".  If I ever forget and call him baby he reminds me "No, mom, I brudder (brother)".  "Tummy sister" (as named by Van) is the only baby around here.  Not him.  :)

Have a great rest of your week!!