June Compliation

 6/3 - Fuzin Dinner at BJs Brewery - My sisters and our cousins (Dillon, Tyler, Ally and Andrew) refer to ourselves as the Fuzins (Friend Cousins). Hopefully this was the first of many Fuzin dinners!

 6/8 - These girls are already fast friends

 6/8 - Derek has lost so many teeth, it's hard to figure out how he eats anything!

 6/9 - Heidi is so smiley now! I love it!!

 6/9 - My friend, Holly Duenas, came back to Prosper to visit! It was so fun to catch up with her a bunch of other ladies from the former Prosper 2nd Ward at Frontier Park.

6/9 - First official date night since Heidi was born! We went to McKinney Moviehouse and Eatery to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. It was awesome! We got so many wary looks walking in with a tiny baby but she slept the entire time. Three people came up to us afterward to comment on how impressed they were with our sweet, well-behaved baby. She's a keeper, haha!

 6/10 - This is a very common occurrence. Heidi "helps" Bama in the kitchen when she decorates her cakes. 

 6/13 - This was such a sweet moment for me. Juenessa was one of the counselors at Hope Women's Center who helped me when I found out I was pregnant with Heidi. I was one of the very few women who come to the center excited about a planned baby. She saw Heidi on the ultrasound screen at 14 weeks gestation and it was such a sweet, wonderful experience to share my blessing with these ladies. Juenessa had stayed in touch with me throughout my pregnancy and is such a blessing to the women who come into the center. I'm so glad I met her!!

 6/14 - Back is best, right? Not for this kid. Bama expertly figured out that Heidi is a staunch belly sleeper and she taught me how to safely arrange blankets in Heidi's bassinet and on the couch so she can get some good rest. She's getting so big already!

 6/14 - Oh boy. These two boys are professional toad hunters now. They catch toads in the backyard at least twice a week. Today's participants in the toad hunt were less than thrilled and I couldn't help but laugh at the boys' enthusiasm contrasted with the irritation of the toads, hahaha!

 6/15 - This really happened. The boys, Derek in particular, feel a little left out when I paint Clara's nails and they often ask if I can paint their nails too... and then ask why boys don't wear nailpolish. tired of the constant nagging, I gave in today and painted their nails. Derek had dark blue with a layer of glitter on top and Bryce had light blue with the same glitter on top. They wore it for about a half an hour til the novelty wore off and then sheepishly asked me to remove the polish. Lesson learned, lol.

 6/17 - Heidi is rocking her fluff-hawk as we call it (instead of a mohawk, get it?) and an adorable double chin.

 6/17 - Heidi is 2 months old today!! Slow down!!

 6/22 - Here is the walking definition of Bro-mance. These two are best friends and it is so cute!

 6/23 - Milk drunk after a 2 am feeding, lol. Love those chubby cheeks!

 6/24 - "Take me a picture, Mom!" Puzzle pieces can also be used as blaster guns, haha!

 6/27 - After weeks of 3 hours of sleep at night or less, some days you just have to put your game face on. "Put some color on" is a common Southern antidote for dwelling on your problems.

 6/27 - Derek loves to build things. He was very proud of this car he made, even though he didn't have any instructions to go off of. 

 6/29 - Mitchell asked me to bring Heidi to his workplace so he could show her off to his coworkers. After much deliberation about my outfit, I chose one of my favorite shirts and set off. One of Mitchell's coworkers said upon seeing me, "Oh wow, you match your carseat cover!" Oops. Totally didn't see that coming since I ordered the carseat cover off Amazon and bought my top from LuLaRoe. Guess I really like English roses, haha!

6/30 - Heidi occasionally makes this creepy face when she sleeps. Aunt Bella makes the same face, to this day, haha. 

Coming Home!

Heidi's first night on Earth went really well! She slept for 6 hours, then woke for a marathon 2 hour feeding at 4 am. My postpartum contractions were still pretty rough, but Dr. Rajala decided to send us home that morning. The morning and early afternoon were a flurry of paperwork, final checkups and packing up our gear, but we finally got our discharge and headed home about 24 hour after Heidi's arrival! The kids were absolutely thrilled to finally see Heidi outside my tummy and be able to snuggle her. Tammy was happy to be the first to lift the blanket and see the sweet newborn face. I'm so glad the kids were so excited to welcome their new sister with open arms and nothing but love.

 Nurse Esther completed the final checks before we were given the green light to get Heidi dressed and ready to go home!

 Surprise!

 Everybody loves her soft newborn cheeks

 "Look at this Teeny!"

 Hand sanitizer for everyone

 Clara assumes the baby-holding position, haha

 Heidi has such a Derek face here!!

 My 4 babies! We are so blessed!!

 Our sweet Teddy Bear has such a tender heart. Bryce spoke sweetly to Heidi and we can tell he loved her from the moment he saw her. 

So many kisses for Heidi... the first of many, many more!

Heidi's Birth Story

Unfortunately I waited a long time to get to this post (thank you retro-dating!) and I've lost many of the details of this precious day, but I want to share what I can remember. 

My heart rate has been crazy high with Heidi's pregnancy, so Dr. Bruce Rajala, my OB, decided that I would be induced the day after Easter, although I've been 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced for about 10 days now. He did tell me not to ruin his Easter weekend, haha.

Mitchell and I reported to the hospital at 5 am for my induction. I had my IV and pitocin by 7:30 and decided to get my epidural as soon as the anesthesiologist was available. He came in around 10 and Mitchell put on his headphones and focused on his laptop - the epidural needles freak him out a bit. I explained my previous difficulties with the epidurals and he said that was an easy fix by going up an additional vertebra (FOR FUTURE REFERENCE)!! I reminded him again that I have a history of heart complications with epidurals but he just poo-pooed me and told my nurse to let him know if I developed any problems. Sure enough, a few minutes later, she had to page him back. He gave me a shot of adrenaline just as my OB walked in to check on my progress. My HR/BP improved for a couple minutes and the doctors started chatting. After a couple minutes, my HR/BP dropped again and the nurse had to interrupt them with a stern "hey," haha! After another shot, I started breathing more easily and my HR/BP stabilized again. Whew! Mitchell was thankfully oblivious the whole time I was throwing up and struggling to breathe, but I'm glad my doctors were able to sort it out.

My mom, Amy and Kelly showed up about an hour later. Kelly had to head back home to teach school the next day, so we all took bets on when Heidi would arrive... hopefully before 2! I wasn't dilating though... I was still only at 4 cm at noon! Dr. Rajala came in and broke my water to get things moving at noon and, when my nurse checked me about 15 minutes later, Heidi had crawled back up higher into my uterus!! We had just been joking that Amy had done the same thing during her delivery, but it wasn't really funny to be the one delivering. ;) 

At 3 pm, I started to dilate and was 6 cm. Bella called her principal and he gave her permission to take the next day off. Woohoo! The nurse started to get things prepped to go and told me to let her know when I felt any pressure to push, since the epidural was working beautifully. Around 4 pm, I felt like there was definitely something happening and, sure enough, Heidi was fixing to make her debut!! My mom grabbed my camera and snapped all these pictures. Thank you so much, Mom!! The nurse quickly got me set up to push and the work began. Val nonchalantly strolled into the room after the second push, quite to the startled amusement of the nurses when Bella told them she was another sister. After three more pushes, Heidi was born at 4:23 pm!! She was 7 lbs, 7 oz (just like Clara!) and 20.5 inches long.

Mitchell had asked me a few hours earlier what I thought of Amy cutting the cord this time and I agreed that would be a neat experience for her. Dr. Rajala didn't even bat an eye when we asked him to hand her the scissors. It took two cuts to get through the thick umbilical cord, and her wide-eyed expression of awe was very sweet to see. 

Dr. Rajala sunctioned Heidi's nose and mouth and then the nurses set her straight on the bare skin of my chest. The hospital required one hour of skin to skin immediately after birth and I loved every minute of it!! She was so sweet and cuddly and calmed down almost the second the nurses covered us with a warmed blanket. She was content to curl and uncurl her fingers and just lay there listening to my heartbeat and the world around her. It's always a surreal experience to finally hold my babies and hear them make all the newborn snuffles and noises that I love so much. 

I'm so, so glad that my sisters and my mom were able to be present for Heidi's birth! There was a sweet spirit present as she entered mortality and I hope they were able to feel that joy and wonder. Even with the epidural removed for over an hour, my legs were still pretty dead so they wheeled my entire bed into the recovery wing. Heidi was cleaned up and everyone got to take a turn snuggling her. She is so calm and sweet and we're already smitten.  

Traditional last-time-we-have-to-hug-bending-over pic!

Bella and Amy waiting for things to get going (and soooo glad they missed the epidural, haha)

 PUSH!

 She's out and she's crying... thank heaven!

 Aunt Amy cutting the cord

 We've waited a long time to cuddle you, sweetheart

 The first time I felt the overwhelming rush of mother love and joy with Heidi

 Val made it just in time!

 She liked to snuggle her face into my chest, so I had to check to make sure she could breathe

 Shaking hands with Dr Rajala. He was very quick and efficient about the whole process.

 Mom and baby

 I love this picture. My mom and Amy are so happy, Mitchell is smitten, and I'm so glad she's here and healthy... and I get the first snuggles this time!

 Heidi on the warmer getting her shots and measurements. She cleans up nicely!

 Welcome to the big, wide world sweet girl! I just love soft newborn skin.

 Under the watchful eye of Daddy

 Daddy and his "Treasure"

Auntie Val and Heidi

Auntie Bella and Heidi