What happened to first impressions?

What has happened to my easy going calm baby? I think finally now that she is almost 2 weeks old she has let me know that she is a High Need Baby. If you don't know what that is, do an Internet search and there is my little girl. I thought it funny when I read through the characteristics of a High Need baby and it described Hailey to a tee. My first hint should have been how active she was in the womb. I know that she doesn't have colic, but at night now she is so demanding. She will fuss till about 1 or 2 in the morning now and nothing will get her to stay asleep. Sure she will fall asleep while I am holding her upright. But who can sleep sitting up? I am not a horse. So Corey and I took turns with her last night. Corey stayed up till about 1am and then it was my turn to try and calm her till about 3am. Gabe was just like this and so I can only imagine what type of personality she will be unraveling within the next couple of months. Demanding and high strung...YES. It is a good thing that this is our fourth and Corey and I both seem to have developed some patience along the way. Even though I am dead tired by 3am I have to admit she is still just as cute. Speaking of my little bundle of joy, she is just waking up and demanding me once again. They say this will dwindle about 3 months of age.....that seems like a long time away to me.

One Week Old

Today my little Hailey Sophia is one week old. This first week just seemed to fly by, as I am sure the next couple of years will as well. I am already so in love with my sweet little baby. She is so agreeable. She only fusses when I give her a sponge bath or when I change her diaper. I am almost thinking she would rather stay dirty than go through the torture. Corey feeds her at 11 before he goes to bed and she only wakes up around 3 to eat and then sleeps in till 6. Did I mention she is only one week old!!! I can't tell you how blessed we are. She loves to be held on your chest. We are suckers and so far she will only sleep in bed with us. Yes I know they say co sleeping can be dangerous but I feel like she is perfectly safe with us. But I know this could become a bad habit so we are setting up the crib this weekend to start trying to get her to sleep in there. I never want to give up my 3am feeding. I feel the quiet of night along with her sweet sounds are blessings to me. I am trying to reveal in my last baby and I am really enjoying her. She sleeps without a sound most of the day and when awake she will just sit and look around. I can't wait to see what kind of person she grows up to be. I already think of her as our little peacemaker and I love how the other three love her and protect her as well. She will never have to worry about being hurt around our house. What a beautiful sweet spirit we are blessed to have in our family.

She just looks so good in pink with those chubby cheeks
Hailey and I, I wonder after looking at this if Lexie got it right. "Mom, you are squishy."

During awake time. Just sitting and hanging with the fam.

Here We Go Again

So here is another start to my post baby body. I once again joined Weightwatchers. I know that no one wants to hear about weight loss, fat and complaining but I am actually excited to start. Ever since I had Gabe I have joined WW afterwards and have lost all of my baby weight. So I am just carrying on tradition with this. Stepping on the scale after having a baby is a little depressing but knowing that I am taking the steps to make my way back to being healthy always takes the edge off for me. Plus in another four weeks I am training for my marathon and I am so anxious to get that started. I was going to start in two weeks, but yesterday I had a run in with Gabe and had to drag him to his bedroom. I forgot that I just had a baby and boy was I hurting for a little while. It just reminded me that maybe the Dr's said to rest for a reason. Who am I to argue with the Dr's!!

Daddy Daughter Dance

On Saturday Corey took Lexie to our Stake Daddy-Daughter Dance. She was so excited to spend alone time with dad. Plus you get to dress all up. They had a really great time and I am sure Lexie got her fair share of cookies and ice cream. Another couple years and he will have two little girls to take with him.

Lexie doing craft time
I love these pictures.

Look how cute they look.

Announcing Hailey Sophia

Don't judge, this was right after and I felt horrible. My blood pressure was 50 over 20.
In the warmer after she was born
Corey with the boys

Before labor began, I looked happy.

Hailey the day after. She is so cute.

She is finally here!!! Hailey was born on Wednesday the 18th at 2:19 pm. She weighed 7lbs 14oz and she was 19 inches long. This was the weirdest delivery for me. My mom didn't blog about it, I guess she wanted me to give all the lovely details. Everything really was going fine, but when I received the epidural he had to do it twice because he went too far the first time. When he gave me the meds I did notice that I was numb all the way up to my chest but it was bearable. After a little while it wore off and I started feeling the contractions just on one side. So they called him back in and he gave me another dose. He must have given me a lot because right away I noticed there was something not right. I was numb on the right side of my body all the way up to my right eye. Nothing worked on the whole right side of my body. The worst part was that I felt like I couldn't breath and my nose swelled shut. So I had to have an oxygen mask and breath through my mouth for pushing. If this was not enough, Hailey decided to come out face up. I still only pushed about 10 minutes before she was out. The Dr. just kept saying it was a good thing she was my fourth so that I was able to still deliver her quickly. But my legs would not work until late into the morning hours of the next day. I didn't know it at the time, but I guess it really scared my mom. But she kept her cool really well the whole time. But the best part was Hailey herself. What a wonderful baby and she is so sweet. She does look like Corey though. We are really blessed that everything went well. You can also see more pictures at http://www.bettyrollins.blogspot.com/

Last Pregnancy Picture

I thought since tomorrow is the big day, and this is our last baby I would take another picture of my belly. Everyone keeps saying enjoy it because it is your last one. In a way I am going to miss the little thumps and bumps inside my belly. And how amazing it is that there is a baby inside of me growing and becoming part me and part Corey. But they say you know when you are done, well both Corey and I agree that four is a good number for us. And you can't beat the numbers...2 boys and 2 girls. So here are the pictures. One is a lovely shot of my stretch mark infested belly. But you have to get at least one naked belly shot. And I have to keep reminding myself that they will fade. My next post will be pictures of Hailey.

Don't believe it, nothing works

Well I will be in labor in two days from now. I am glad that I actually have a day to look forward to. This waiting business is killing me. I have had pre-labor symptoms for the past week with nothing REALLY going on. We had to take our van in to get fixed, the idle was messing up and I didn't feel comfortable driving around with load of kids and no cell phone. So we did that this morning, and then what else is there to do except really clean my house. I figure I won't be able to deep clean for a couple of weeks after baby comes, so I might as well get some of that out of the way. I did my kitchen and living room today and I will tackle the bathrooms tomorrow. You would think with all the walking, moving and yes mopping the floor on my hands and knees would give me some labor pains....nope. In fact I feel pretty great today. If it wasn't for being induced I would honestly think I would be pregnant forever. I went with my mom and Sally yesterday to see Heidi's little one. He is so little and sweet. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I have one of those little ones curled up in my belly right now. Not to mention I look like a barge. Yesterday at church I got a lot of comments on how huge I looked. Let's just hope after baby I won't look huge anymore.....

Don't worry, still pregnant

I haven't posted since Wednesday and I am sure some who live far away were wondering if maybe I had my baby yet...nope. Still chugging right along. I get those irregular contractions that don't amount to much and I figure since I can still walk, talk and keep doing what I am doing they can't be that bad. I only have four days left before it doesn't matter, but I am getting really anxious here. I guess this is what I get for being a control freak, even my pregnancies are in a control and set order.

And We Have Progression

I am so happy to say that I had my appointment this morning and things are moving along. Yes I know that it still might mean a whole week till I get induced, but at least it is better than hearing there is nothing going on. I am dilated to a 3 and thinned out 1/2. The baby is all the way down in my pelvic area. I knew I felt a bunch of pressure down there lately. He said I could possibly go by myself before next Wednesday, but the most important part is I don't have to wait any longer than 7 days. I am actually getting a little nervous thinking of having another little one. I know I will be fine, but still it is a huge change. I will try to keep everyone informed. After my appointment I met Corey at Panera for lunch and enjoyed one last sandwich before I have the baby. I will keep everyone posted. I probably won't be able to post pictures till I get home from the hospital.

The Beast In Me

I know that I have heard it said that pregnancy does weird things to your personality sometimes. I am usually such an introvert that I really didn't get the urge to socialize. Well I find myself wanting to chat a little more with Danielle when I see her. Maybe it is her rubbing off on me. I want to smile at others more often and try to open lines of communication that were maybe cut off at one point. Now don't get too excited because I am still a long ways from being a bubbly Heidi!! ;) And there have been recent times that I have tried to talk to someone, or write a little note and still have gotten not a response. I can't help but be annoyed by people who I feel are deliberate in avoiding me. It almost makes me want to be even more persistent and annoying.

Mom told me I need to find a hobby. How do you find a hobby? It is not like you just wake up one day and say oh I think I will become a great seamstress or maybe I will just take up cooking. I have tried to do many things and after I try them I think that was ok, but I wouldn't want to do it all day long. The only thing I really enjoy is working out really hard and pushing myself, but at this point that is not an option. So I am trying to think of something that I could do all day long and find accomplishment from it.

I wish that I were more of the crafty type. I don't have a craft bone in my body. All of my stuff turns out looking like my 6 year old made it. So I end up throwing it away. I am honestly stumped on this and I just hope I make it through this weekend without dying of boredom before I find something for me to do. So if you have some suggestions that would be great. If not, then I guess I can always keep pushing play on my VCR or picking up that book.

February 18th

So I knew I would have my Dr. Appt today and that he would check my cervix for progression. So I walked extra hard this morning thinking it would help. I go and it is even worse than I had predicted. He looks at me and says, well it is soft and you are dilated to maybe a 1. I was thinking, great hardly any progress. My body is really hanging on to this one. But I did get my induction date. February 18th is the big day. And by the looks of it I will have to wait till then. Two weeks isn't that bad I guess. Now if I can just distract myself this weekend while Corey is gone the whole time. It will really drag. But I am excited that the end is almost here and I can hold Hailey.