Samantha Marie (Sammi)

She's here. Samantha Marie arrived on April 18th at around 6:30pm. We have quite a story. Sorry it's so long. I tried to leave out gross and uncomfortable details.

My mom flew in the day before to be here. We had plans to get some shopping done but Samantha had different plans. I had a regular doctor's appt the next day (on the 18th). The doctor had informed me the week before that since I was measuring small (on the belly), she wanted to do a non-stress test. At the appt we discussed inducing as mom was here and it would make things a little less stressful with Jake's end of the semester schedule. She said the company didn't like doing inductions before 40 weeks so we would have to wait until Monday but she would do what she could to help, especially since I was fairly dilated.

After I finished talking with her, I went back to be hooked up to the monitor's to measure contractions, heart rate, and baby movement. Having been on the machine only about 10 minutes, the technician said she needed to take the results to the doctor. At that point the doctor came back and told me to head straight to the hospital. She wanted them to monitor me for a little bit and decide what action to take.

I walked out to the waiting room to grab Ellie and my mom so we could head to the hospital. At this point Ellie started having a meltdown about waiting to go to the doctor's office. She did not want to go to the hospital. I think she knew what was going on.

I called Jake, who was at work, and told him what was happening. I wasn't too worried or expected too much as I wasn't feeling many contractions and they definitely weren't painful.

The nurses and doctors at the hospital ran a few tests, did a little monitoring, and then told me I wouldn't be leaving the hospital until the baby was born. This was at about 12:00-12:30. They set me up in a labor and delivery room. After a short time, they administered pitocin. This was to regulate and strengthen the contractions. I think it was around 5:00 when I asked for the epidural. Leaving out gory details, Samantha was born at 6:30 with only about 5 pushes.

She weighed 7lbs 7oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. Ellie and Grandma Wendy had just gotten back to the hospital after heading home for naps.

Our little family.

 After the delivery, there were some complications. The placenta had been weakened and was not in good condition. This lead to problems with hemorrhaging and blood clots. Eventually they decided to do a D&C and found a piece of the placenta still attached. Through all this, I lost a lot of blood. They said about half; my hematocrit level was around 7.9 vs the normal almost 14. Luckily, I was in good hands and was well taken care of.

Ellie and baby Sammi

Happy Grandma

We were able to come home on Friday. I think Ellie was a little sad as there was a playground at the hospital and she liked playing there and meeting new friends.

Sammi ready to come home.

Ellie has adjusted to having sister at home and loves to hold and kiss her. She thinks it is funny when Sammi is hungry and tries to eat her or when Sammi opens her eyes and looks at her.

Still trying to figure out how to hold baby Sammi.

Sammi was sunning so Ellie wanted to do it too.

Sammi is a great baby so far. She sleeps fairly well through the night. She has started to stay awake a little during the day between feedings. She has the funniest little coos and squeaks.

Daddy, Ellie, and Sammi napping together.

Actually, Ellie and daddy were just pretending, as you can tell by Ellie's snoring face.


We love having Sammi here and are so blessed to have such great girls. I think we'll keep them. 

What do you sleep with?

Ellie likes to sleep with certain items. Generally it is just Winnie the Pooh, Dolphin, Minnie, and Pretend Minnie, or any combination of those toys. My nephew Braden at one time slept on 3 pillow pets. As I child, I had several blankets or stuffed animals.

The other night we could hear her walking around upstairs. After a few minutes we could hear that she was also playing with stuff although we weren't sure what. I called up the stairs and told her to get into bed. That seemed to be the last of it, or so we thought. When we went to bed and stopped in to kiss Ellie goodnight, we found some unusual items on the floor and in her bed. The top 4 items (from the bathroom) were what we saw and cleaned up. The next morning as Ellie and I were making her bed, I found the items at the bottom of the picture still in her bed. She must have slept with them all night long. Silly girl.

Shortly after this incident, I was watching a VeggieTales movie with Ellie and saw this song. I couldn't help but laugh. Goodnight Junior.

Easter Festivities

Our Easter weekend was packed. A bunch of families from the ward get together and have an egg hunt at one of the local parks. Ellie was so excited.

Heading off to find eggs.

Since daddy helped hide eggs, he helped Ellie collect the "good ones"

Ellie with her booty.

She loved finding the eggs. Some had candy, some had stickers, some even had temporary tattoos. (Side story: She wanted to put on one of the "stickers" aka tattoos so I asked which one she wanted and where she wanted it. She told me the princess one on her shoulder. Since she had a shirt on, I just placed it on her upper arm. Once it was on and she realized it didn't peel off like a sticker, she started to cry. I just laughed while cleaning it off. Jake called me mean for laughing at her heart ache. I guess it just made me happy that the idea of a semi-permanent mark on her body bothered her.)

Later that night we had a ward party. It was a pot-luck dinner. They also had crafts for the kids; using paper plates and bowls to make either bonnets or baskets, decorated with flowers, feathers, and stickers.

I don't know how this happened but there were balloons on the ceiling and some of the men convinced the young man to be apart of their cheerleader pyramid.

We came home from the party with enough time to decorate eggs. Jake and I did most of the dying while Ellie used crayons and stickers.

Sunday after church, we took a few cute pictures of her.

After naps, she had a basket waiting.

She was really excited about the chapstick and nail polish in the basket.

Then another egg hunt for the decorated eggs. Only a few were hidden as we wanted to mitigate broken egg loss.

To end the day, we enjoyed a wonderful Easter dinner with the Watterson's of Colorado. They even had some eggs hidden for the kids to find. It was so nice to feel at home with family even though we live away from family.

Hopefully one day we will be able to spend a little more time talking about the real reason for Easter, but I am sure that is the dilemma for most parents with young kids.

Creature Infestations

Apparently there is an infestation of creatures at our place. Recently Ellie has been concerned about a Silly Gilly Gumbo at our house (a fictional creature that Goofy tells scary stories about during a sleep over on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). She talks about places that it hides.

Today she was hiding in the kitchen curtains because there was an elephant. She made me hide as well. There has been talk of dogs, squirrels, and birds too. Then she decided to sing and dance on the back porch. She is singing "where is my cat? where is my kitty?"

Happy Birthday me

So here I am, another year older.

Jake took Ellie shopping the night before. It was nice for me because it gave me some time to myself and it sounds as though Ellie and Jake had a good time shopping together as well. I think this was the first time Jake had taken Ellie out by himself.  When they got home, I heard Jake whispering to Ellie that she had to not tell mommy what they bought because it was a secret and a surprise. So all while she was getting ready for bed, she did great. Then as I was walking her up to bed, she starts to say how she went shopping with Daddy and bought stuff for mommy (we hear a hey from daddy downstairs). She then told me it was a surprise and she couldn't tell me. What a good girl.

The next day Ellie helped Jake wrap presents at which point he asked her to bring him the bag with presents, so she carried them upstairs to me. Ha ha. Then because she is so helpful, Jake had her spend the rest of the time upstairs with me searching for ribbon he didn't really need.

After a wonderful dinner made by Jake, I finally opened the presents. It was a sewing machine and fabric to make baby "sista" a blanket. For those of you doubters, yes I am thrilled about having a sewing machine.

So I went to using it and made a blanket for "sista" and a hoodie towel. Sadly, that's about all I remember about using a sewing machine. I am excited to learn how to do things again and try to be crafty.

Bragging time

I know I don't do this enough but I am going to brag about how proud I am of Jake. He has been working so hard in school. This semester he was accepted on the Water Law Review (same as Law Review except strictly concerning water law). He was also asked by one of his professors to help write a paper about Water Law. He has been doing this in addition to continuing to work at the law office and completing all his other class work.

I know all this has been stressful for him, not to mention trying to entertain a crazy 2 year old and his crazy pregnant wife. I know he is working hard to do the best he can and I wanted to make sure everyone else knows it too.

Love you Babe!

Almost here.

I love my doctor's office. Anytime they do an ultrasound for any reason, I get pictures. Since there is a little less than a month left, they did an ultrasound measure fluid levels and to determine the baby's size. Everything looks good and they estimate she is about 6 lbs 5 oz, meaning she could easily be over 8 pounds at birth depending on when she decides to make an appearance.

First face shot. Can you see her fingers too?

After seeing this picture, it has made me more excited to meet her. I guess there is a little more pressure to figure out a name too.