Lila Ann's Birth Story

  On Monday, March 23rd I had an appointment and my OB/GYN, Dr. Hebert, said I was dilated to a 4 and 75% effaced.  She said to come back on Friday, the 27th, and if I was at a 5 or 6 she would send me down to Labor & Delivery and break my water.  I would only be 38 weeks 1 day on Friday but my last baby, James, came really fast (like 45 minutes fast) so we were hoping to avoid an unplanned home birth. 
  I spent the week hoping I would be at a 5 by Friday.  We finished a few last minute items (refinanced our house to get a better interest rate and bought a car that would fit our growing family). I had babysitters lined up and my bags packed when I went to my appointment on Friday but was trying not to get my hopes up.
  At 12:15 on Friday I went to my appointment and hallelujah! Dr. Hebert told me I was dilated to a 6 and I could head down to Labor & Delivery.  I called Matt (who was waiting at work on pins and needles) and told him the good news and then called my parents. 
  I checked into Labor & Delivery at Intermountain Medical Center around 1 pm and Matt arrived shortly after.  My nurse put in an IV with fluids so I could get my epidural and hooked up the baby heart rate and contraction monitors.  I was having Braxton Hicks contractions about every 4 minutes but they didn't hurt, I could just feel my stomach tighten. 
  Around 2 pm the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. That's right, before I even felt any painful contractions I got an epidural, I feel like I totally cheated and am proud of it! Around 2:30, after the epidural kicked in, my nurse checked me and I was at a 7.  I think maybe when my doctor had checked me earlier it got things moving, or maybe I would have had Lila that day either way, I'm not sure.  Whatever the reason, I was having contraction every 3-4 minutes and dilating on my own without any Pitocin.
  So Matt and I just hung out in the room watching TV and texting family for the next few hours.  Around 5 pm Dr. Hebert came in and checked me.  She said I was still at a 7 so she was going to break my water.  She broke my water and then the contractions started coming closer together.  She came back about a half hour later to see how things were going and was surprised that I was still only dilated to a 7.  But then after further exam she could tell that Lila was posterior (her head was facing the wrong way) and she said that was probably why she was having a hard time coming down.  They got out a huge yoga-ball type thing that they called "the peanut" because it was shaped like a peanut.  They rolled me over onto my side and had me put the peanut between my legs.  They covered me with a huge blanket (since I was looking pretty awesome) and told me when I felt pressure to let them know.  About ten minutes later I could feel a lot of pressure so I called my nurse.  She came in and checked me and said the peanut had done it's job and I was at a 10 and ready to push!
  Dr. Hebert came back in and told me when I felt the next contraction (I wasn't feeling any pain, just pressure) to push.  I felt pressure and pushed while my nurse counted to 10.  Dr Hebert told me her head was out so I didn't need to wait for another contraction I could keep pushing.  I pushed for 10 seconds about 2 or 3 more times and at 6:02 pm she was out!  I heard her little cry and the feeling of happiness was indescribable. The first thing Dr. Hebert said was, "wow she is big!" She had been predicting that Lila would be around 7 pounds like James was. 
  After she was out they suctioned out her mouth a little bit and quickly rubbed her down and put her on my chest.  We did skin-to-skin for about 45 minutes, nursed, and then they weighed her and gave her some eye drops.  She was 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 20.5 inches long. Then we headed upstairs to my new room.  When we arrived to my room I was happy to see that my parents were there waiting to meet baby Lila!  After they left I nursed again and then my CNA came in and got Lila all cleaned up and washed her hair.  We were amazed at what a full head of hair she has!
  So there you have it, Lila's birth story.  We have just been in heaven getting to know our sweet baby girl and soaking in all her cuddles.  Here are a few pictures that my amazing friend, Valerie Bateman, took the day after she was born.

 

Baby Girl Nursery

Last weekend we put together baby girl's nursery. I painted my old baby furniture with white chalk paint but I was too lazy to mess with the rocking chair. Now I just need the baby! 

House Tour

A few people have asked me to post pictures of our new house.  We moved in last October and I kept putting off posting pictures because I wanted to decorate first.  I've realized decorating is going to take me a few years, not a few months, so I decided to just do it now.  I feel kind of weird posting a bunch of pictures of my house on Instagram or Facebook because most people probably don't care so I thought I'd post them on my sadly neglected blog.  I love seeing other peoples' homes but if you don't I'm not offended :)

In case anybody cares, I got most of my inspiration from my favorite design blogger, Maria Killam.  The walls in the main areas are painted with Benjamin Moore Alaskan Skies and the boys' rooms are painted with Benjamin Moore Soft Chamois.  All the cabinets, trim, and ceilings are Benjamin Moore White Dove.

Let's start with the kitchen because it's my favorite room :)

Spencer eating breakfast

I love having a BIG sink that hides the dirty dishes

The pretty view out my kitchen window

I love turning the cabinet lights on at night, Matt couldn't understand why
we needed them since they serve no purpose other than looking pretty :)

Here's what it looks like most nights, just to keep things real 

Next is the family room off the kitchen:

James already broke one of the subway tiles on the fireplace,
I super-glued it (and my fingers) together and you can't even tell

It's been fun having bookshelves

Next are the Boys' rooms:

My two year old still has a total baby room

Spencer's Room

Next is the entryway and railing (the basement is unfinished still):

Matt thinks the light looks like a solar system model, I think he's right

Next are the bathrooms:

Spencer and James' bathroom.  Matt and Co. did the tile.

My bathroom (and also Matt's I guess, but mostly mine)

The floor tile and walls look beige in this picture but they're really more gray

Here is my room, the light was really bright so I didn't get any good ones.  

I wasn't sure about having double doors but now I love them, my boys are always
in and out of our room (especially since the only TV in the house is in here) so it's nice
to have it all open.

We had to put the laundry room, office, and mudroom all in one place to fit our budget :)

The floor is vinyl composite tile, it's like what you see in most hospitals, it's nice
to not have to scrub grout and I don't have to worry about it getting wet like the wood.

And last, here is a little of the exterior (I don't want to post a picture of the whole thing since my blog isn't private).  I know I'm boring but I've always loved red brick houses. 

This is while it was still under construction because I'm too lazy to go outside and take another picture, plus Matt still hasn't taken down our Christmas lights. Ghetto, I know.

Well if you've made it this far, congrats! That's all :)

Trains

Spencer is a bit obsessed with trains. It's rivaling his garbage truck obsession. We go hunting for trains probably 2-3 times per week. Luckily there are plenty of trains in the Salt Lake area and also a train museum in Ogden.

The Haights Visit

My sister-in-law and her 5 kids came to visit for a week in February. Spencer was in heaven playing with cousins all week long!

Valentine's Day

We had a fun V-Day! We brought Matt red-velvet white chocolate chip cookies in the morning. Matt and I went to dinner at Pago in Salt Lake and were so impressed that we became the type of people who take pictures of their food.