Chelsea's Birth Story

Well, Chelsea just turned 8 months and I am finally getting around to her Birth Story! I seriously want to be better at blogging again. :)
Chelsea's due date was October 28th. The last month of pregnancy was rough. I was so ready to not be pregnant anymore. I was tired of everything aching, and not being able to sleep, and still having morning sickness. It was nice that I didn't have Carpal Tunnel this time, and wasn't AS swollen as with Lyla, but still a bit swollen. I didn't want to do anything or go anywhere during that month. ;)

Lyla came on her own 3 days before her due date. and even a few days before that I was showing signs of going into labor soon. But with Chelsea, she was just fine staying in my belly. She was not budging. I was just disappointed each time I went to my Doctor's appointments that month. No dilating, no contractions, nada! So, I decided to be induced! I was done being pregnant, and wanted to meet her! So we scheduled for Monday October 26th.

We went in to the hospital at 7am that day, and were so excited! I got all hooked up and was ready for her to come. :) I was at a 2 when I got there, and by the time everything was up and going it was 8am! They started the Pitocin, and then we were to just wait. Wait for the contractions to start. Wait for me to start dilating. Chris and I just sat there, talking, watching TV for a few hours. :) And I texted a lot of people I think. haha Right before lunch time I was starting to feel the contractions, so I got my epidural! That was so nice not to have to feel the contractions anymore. :) My doctor came at his lunch break to check on me and break my water. I was at a 4 when he did that. After like 5 1/2 hours, I only went up 2 cm! I was thinking this was going to take all day!! I was in labor with Lyla for 16 hours, so as long as she came in less time than that I would be happy.

 

It was amazing how fast things went once he broke my water. Two hours later I started feeling some very intense contractions. The nurse came in and noticed I was cringing in pain. I thought it was really weird how much I was feeling since I had gotten an epidural. They had the anesthesiologist come and give me more juice, but it basically did nothing. :/ Then she checked me and I was at a 10! Luckily my doctor had just finished delivering a baby at EIRMC (the hospital right across the street), so he came right over to deliver mine! :)

The delivery was a little rough. Since my epidural wore off, I was feeling EVERYTHING! And apparently my body doesn't like pain very much. Between each push I had to throw up. I felt pretty dizzy, and my mouth was so dry I could barely even talk. The nurses kept giving me ice chips, putting a wet rag on my forehead, and holding a bag for me to throw up in. ;)

Luckily it didn't take very long and she was here! Chris also got to help deliver her! It was awesome. They pulled her out and set her on my chest. It was the greatest feeling. I loved seeing all her dark curly hair, her chubby little cheeks. I also loved that my friend Kendra was there to take pictures of everything! I wish I would have had someone come when I had Lyla. It was so nice not to have to worry about getting pictures, and she got some awesome shots for us. Thank you Kendra!

 

 

When Lyla came to the hospital to meet her new baby sister, she was a little unsure about everything. She actually cried a lot each time she came. I don't think she really liked the hospital. She doesn't like seeing anyone hurt or anything like that. She even freaked out when we went to see Chris getting a cavity filled at the dentist, so we had to stay in the waiting room. :) She felt much better about the baby once we got home.

 

 

 

Chris gave Chelsea her first bath and did such a great job!

 

 

We were so happy to meet our Chelsea Nicole. She was perfect. 7lbs 14oz, 21 inches long, born at 4:18pm on October 26th, 2015. We enjoyed the next couple days in the hospital just snuggling our sweet girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015

Lyla was 7 months the last time I did a post on my blog! I seriously need to stay on top of it better. But things have been a little busy lately. 2015 was a very busy, stressful, and exciting year for us. At the beginning of the year we decided that it was time to add to our family. We both felt from the Lord that there was another spirit up there waiting to come down and join our family. Once we made that decision, we actually got pregnant RIGHT AWAY! Haha it definitely didn't take the 3 months like it did with Lyla. We felt very blessed, and were so excited to meet our new addition in October.

Another decision we were going to have to make was our living situation. We had been at Eileen's house for the past year while she was on her mission. She was going to be home in July so we needed to figure out where we were going to live pretty quickly! Before that time, we thought we were just going to go back to our apartment that we were in before Eileen's. But after living in a house and knowing we were going to have a baby by the end of the year, I really wanted us to be able to buy a house. To be able to have our own space, to do whatever we wanted with it, and we could also have a mortgage less than what we were paying for rent if we could find the right house.

Here again the Lord blessed us. We had looked at quite a few houses but they all either needed so much work, was not quite in the neighborhood we wanted, or was too expensive. When we first looked at our house, we weren't too sure about it. It was $79,000. A foreclosure that had been sitting empty for a few years. It was also February so I felt that maybe it was too early to move as well so Eileen's house wouldn't have to sit empty so long. But then I couldn't get it out of my head. I kept thinking about it, kept watching it on Realtor.com. It was in our ideal neighborhood. A few weeks later, I noticed that the price dropped $10,000! So I thought that we should go look at it one more time and see how we feel about it then. We called our realtor and got to look at it again. This time we looked at it during daylight, Chris's parents also looked at it with us. After walking through one more time, I knew that we needed to put an offer on it. Chris was hesitant and wanted to wait a few days before deciding, but I told him we needed to do it that day! With a little more encouragement from Esther, Jared, and our realtor, Chris finally agreed to put in an offer! And I am so glad we did cause it was accepted! We were buying our very first house which I was so excited about, and even better, our mortgage is $75 less than what our rent was in our little 2 bedroom apartment!

We closed on our house the end of March, and moved in April 3rd! Being a foreclosure, but also being owned by a government program, not just a bank, the process was a little more demanding than a regular sale. Which made it a little more stressful, but totally worth it for the deal we got, and when Heather handed us our keys, all that stress went away. :) We have been in it for a little over a year, and it was been awesome! They actually had done a bunch of upgrades on it right before we bought it. All new flooring, paint, windows, redid the kitchen, new appliances, an additional bedroom, and brought in the washer/dryer hookup inside the house instead of being in the garage. We love living right across the street from our church building. We love living right down the street from Tautphaus Park which has the Zoo, Ice Skating rink, and playgrounds. We also love living right down the street from where the 4th of July parade route is. :) I have loved putting my own touches on it and making it look a little more presentable. Here is a little curb appeal I have done the past few weeks:

We also found out we were having another girl! Lyla was going to have a little sister and we couldn't be happier! They will be best buds, and be able to do all the fun sisterly things!

 

Summer was full of fun and flew by very quickly. My mom came out for Mother's Day. It was fun showing off our house to her and having her help me fix it up a bit.

 

I took Lyla on a plane for her very first time in July to visit my sister Bethany and her family in Kansas City, Missouri. They moved there the year before for Doug's residency. I was nervous how Lyla would be on the plane, but she was awesome! As soon as the plane started moving she crawled in my lap and fell asleep.
The trip was lots of fun! Teri and Heather and Heather's kids drove out from Indianapolis too so that was so nice to see them as well! It had been many years since I had seen them last, so it was a great little reunion. We had loads of fun together. Went out to eat, did lots of shopping, went to an awesome amusement/water park, and a fun place that had farm animals, little tractors you can ride on, goats you can feed, and a cow you can milk. Lyla loved it! She loved all the time she got to spend with her cousins.

 

 

August came which meant Lyla's birthday! We had a fun party with a few of her friends at the Apple. We ate dinner, swam, opened presents, and ate cake! Lyla was so happy which of course made me happy. We even got a visit from Stephanie and Lyndon who were in town that weekend for a family wedding!

Chris and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary! Chris had to work that night, so we celebrated the day after (which was also my birthday). I had a birthday lunch with Esther and Jared and some of Chris's cousins which was really nice. Esther surprised me and had our porch all decorated when we got home from lunch! Then that night we went to dinner at Red Robin and then went to Dain and Tiffanys to watch Cinderella! It was a great day! And I can't believe I am 30! :)

The month that we were waiting all  year for, October, finally came!! We were finally going to meet our little girl! I was so ready to be done being pregnant. I was in a lot more pain this time around. More aches and pains, more tired (probably cause I was also chasing around a toddler ;), more heartburn, more everything! Yet I didn't get as swollen or have Carpal Tunnel which was nice. But I can tell you, I was so ready by the time I hit October. My due date was the 28th so I still had to go through the entire month. My doctor was Dr. Allphin. He is actually one of my hair clients. But I will save my birth story for another post.

My Mom was able to come out again for Thanksgiving! That was really nice. She was such a big help with the new baby, played with Lyla, did our dishes and laundry. My house is always a little cleaner when she is around. ;) I was very sad when she had to leave. We got to spend some nice time together, eating out, shopping. Thanksgiving Day was great. We went to Esther and Jared's. Ate lots of yummy food, played some fun games, and just enjoyed all being together.

December was great! Always my favorite month, and Christmas with 2 kids made it even better! It was so fun to be in our own little house for the holidays. Lyla woke us up nice and early Christmas Day. Opening presents was a lot more fun this year too cause she was finally old enough to know how to do it. She loved helping pass out the gifts. Then she loved opening her gifts, as well as helping us open ours. :) After we got all ready we went over to Chris's parents house where they spoiled us with some great presents, yummy candy and treats, and a delicious Christmas dinner. It truly was an amazing year!