. . . and the rain came down

So, Andy fell through the ceiling! Ok I will give you a moment to get all the laughter out. And yes he is okay. It was actually really scary but after we realized he was alright it was quite hilarious.

So the whole story is that Arizona got hit with tons of rain last week and the roof at my parents house started leaking. The first leak was directly over our bed. So my dad sent Andy up into the attic to see if he could see where it was coming from. When I saw Andy climbing up the ladder I warned him that I didn't think it was a good idea (a lesson that you should always listen to your wife. But he went up anyway. Meanwhile my dad and I were cooking dinner and then all of the sudden we hear a loud crash. My heart raced when I realized it had something to do with Andy and I ran across the house. Running down the hall I came to the scene of the accident and saw a pair of legs hanging from the ceiling and insulation covering the room. I was freaking out because he was lying there motionless and I thought he was unconscious. We then had this very brief but informative conversation,

Me: ANDY!

Pause

Me: ANDY!

Andy: Yeah . . .

Me: Oh, How are you?

Andy: I've been better.

My dad had been mustering all his strength to move the huge ladder directly under Andy and then he safely came down. All in all we are very grateful that he was not seriously injured. He does have some pretty nasty bruises on his legs from when he broke through the drywall and probably from all the wires he was tangled up in. But we are a little frustrated with the house falling down. The leaks continued to spring up and caused another piece of drywall to come falling down in Zach's room. We are hoping it is all fixed now.

Happy Holidays!

It seems like this holiday season was full of activity. From Matilda's birth to the New Year we have been busy. A lot happened but at the same time it seemed to fly by. I didn't mention in my previous posts my little brother Zach came home from his mission only 2 days after Matilda was born. He got home just in time for Thanksgiving. He is our new roommate at my parents house and it has been fun having him around. He brings a whole new dynamic to the house. Staci and her family also came out for the holiday. Despite being overly tired from just giving birth it was really nice to have the whole family together.

Andy and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary on Dec. 17th! We had a good anniversary aside from the fact that we spent the whole day driving from one doctors office to the next. Avery had fallen off a bench in my mom's room the night before and broke her arm. So we spent the whole day doing x-rays and trying to figure out if it was broken or not. It was weird that she broke a bone falling only about a foot and a half onto the carpet. Anyway, she was a trooper and hardly complained about it. On a side note, our last two anniversaries have seemed to bring bad luck. Last year I was in the beginning stages of a miscarriage and this year Avery broke her arm. We are hoping this is not the beginning of an unfortunate trend.

Next came Christmas. This was one of the best Christmas's ever! Not only because it was the first year that Avery was really able to enjoy it but also because Andy and I made out like bandits as far as gifts go. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with the whole family including my aunt Melanie's family. It was a lot of fun. We did a gift exchange, a nativity play and had lots of good food. My parents bought presents for everyone this year. To our amazement they bought Andy and I a flat screen tv! Best present ever! Then when we went over to my mother in laws for Christmas day, we unwrapped a blue ray player from them! Needless to say we are pretty excited about our new set up. I finally feel like we are catching up with technology.

Before heading over to my mother in law's, Avery had Christmas morning here. She was so funny! She didn't want to open any presents until everyone in the house was in the room watching her. Then she insisted on going at her own (very slow) pace. If anyone tried to speed her up by telling her to open another present she would shake her finger and say "Not yet, papa (or any other name), Not yet." We have a picture of her in the middle of saying telling Papa that.

We had New Year's Eve at my parents house as well. All the brothers and sisters came over and it was a lot of fun. Rachel made some delicious potato soup and jalapeno poppers. We played games until 2am. Avery, being the party girl that she is, was the only small child to stay up with us. I definitely don't win the best mom award on that one.

All in all we had a great holiday season and feel so blessed to have so much support surrounding us. It is so nice to have family close by. Happy belated Holiday's everyone.

3 weeks old

Matilda is now 3 weeks old and already getting too big. She already has grown out of most of her newborn size clothes. It makes me so sad how fast they grow up. She is more awake lately and will smile and coo at me. Sometimes I will catch her just staring right at me and as soon as I look at her she gives me a big smile. She is so sweet and much more mellow then her sister was. We are so happy to have this sweet spirit in our family.

I thought I should post some pictures of Matilda where you can actually see her face. My brother Zach and I tried our hand at amateur photography. He was the photographer and I was the art director. Or at least that is what we were claiming.

I have taken some pretty cute pictures of Avery and Matilda but they are on my cell phone. I will have to work on getting those uploaded or taking some with the camera.

Matilda's Home Birth

Matilda Elaine arrived on Monday November 23rd at 8:44 pm. She weighed 7lb 15oz and was 19 inches long (I only make short babies I guess).

Here is the birth story. As a warning to the readers this is more for me then anyone else so it is really long and detailed.

Birth Story:
On Sunday night I went to bed sure I was going to just be pregnant forever. I had been having a few contractions here and there but never anything strong or regular. Despite being 5 days overdue, I still wasn't feeling overwhelmed. I just figured she was planning the perfect time to make her entrance into the world.

Avery had a cold and was feeling pretty lousy all night. So I had a pretty restless sleep. Around 6am Aves was fussing and I was trying to comfort her back to sleep. I started feeling some contractions but they were so mild that I didn't think anything of it. However, at 7:30 Andy was leaving for work and the contractions were still coming pretty regular so I began to think this could be it. I let Andy know what was going on and he responded with a high five and then reluctantly left for work. I sat with Avery all morning while she just watched TV and I timed contractions. They were still very mild and about 15-20 minutes apart.

I went about my day as usual and tried to get last minute things ready for the birth. Since the contractions had not stopped, I was sure this was it but I still didn't want to announce that I was in labor until they got stronger. Around 2 my mom and I went out for a relaxing lunch. Afterwards my mom came with me while I ran some errands. The contractions started getting closer together while we out but still were not painful.

Once we got home we decided to take a walk to see if that would help things progress. While on the walk the contractions were coming closer and closer together and picking up in intensity. Rachel and her kids met us back at the house and we just sat around and talked for a while.

At 530 Rachel suggested that I call my midwife, Pam, to let her know what was going on. I was starting to have to concentrate through the contractions and they were about 7-10 minutes apart. Pam said she would get her things ready to go and check back with in another hour or two. During this time my dad got home from work and then immediately left for the gym. We apparently forgot to tell him I was in labor. Rachel decided to leave and take her kids home but wanted me to call her when things picked up so she could come back. My dad got home from the gym around 6 and to his surprise found me in labor. By that time things were noticeably different. The contractions were strong but still not hard.

Everything went really fast from here on out. I was not sure of the time frame but after talking with everyone about it I think we figured it out. I was sitting with Andy watching TV and breathing through contractions while my dad was timing them on his laptop. They were about 3-5 minutes apart. Around 630 I had my dad give me a blessing that the birth would go smoothly. He had to time it perfectly so that it was in between contractions because the worst position for me to be in was sitting. I spent the majority of active labor on my knees because that is what felt best.

After a couple hard contractions, I decided I needed to try something else. So I walked what seemed like a mile across the house to my parents bath tub. Around 7pm, my dad called the midwife to tell her to come over. She was shocked we didn't call sooner and rushed over. While in the tub i began to vocalize through the contractions. It is something I had heard and read about but never thought I would do. I was really surprised at how much it actually helped me focus through the contractions. It gave me something to do other then focus on the pain. Pam arrived at 740. She came in to the bathroom and checked me. To my shock she told me I was almost complete. Shortly after Pam got there Rachel and the apprentice midwife arrived.

It seemed like an eternity to me but it was only another hour till she was born. At some point my water broke and I felt the baby moving down. Pam told me I could try pushing. It was really weird to do something other than breathe through the contractions but once I started pushing it gave me a new purpose which I enjoyed. Pam checked me again to make sure I was complete and found that there was still a little lip of the cervix. She said I could continue to push and she could hold it out of the way. After trying that for 2 contractions Pam thought it would best to breathe through a couple more contractions and see if the cervix would move. This seemed impossible but I knew I needed to try. The pushing contractions were a lot more intense and really hard to get through. I was only able to breathe through 2 more contractions before I HAD to push.

At this point I was feeling really defeated. I was tired and just wanted to be done but didn't want to do the work anymore. Luckily with in the next few contractions I pushed with my body, the head descended and she was born. I looked down into the water and saw her sweet face looking back at me. I pulled her up to my chest and just held her in amazement and relief. The cord was around her neck when she came out so she was kind of blue. But she was breathing perfectly.

The funny thing is that no one saw her actually being born. I was on my knees so no one was able to see her head come out. It was a very modest birth. I also didn't have a single tear! All in all it was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I could not have asked for a more peaceful and gentle birth. My whole support team was amazing as well. Andy was more then I ever expected and exactly what I needed.

Here are some pictures of right after she was born. Avery was being so sweet, she just kept saying "oh, so cute!" and "she likes me, Mommy!"

The midwife is doing the newborn exam and weighing her.

Pregnancy Update and Pics of Aves

So I will start by saying yes I am still pregnant. That is for all the curious minds out there. You know who you are! I am now 391/2 weeks pregnant. My official due date is this coming Wednesday. I have not been having any pre labor and as far as I can tell no signs of anything happening. I am predicting this little one will come around the 25th. But she is always welcome sooner ;)! I am still feeling pretty good physically. However, the end is always hard thinking any day could be "the day" and examining every single twinge I feel wondering if that was anything. I am just saying it can really drive a person mad. So as of now I am trying to practice patience and enjoy the little bit of time left with just Avery.

Since I never did do a Halloween post her are some pictures of the night. Thanks again to Rachel for hosting all the festivities. The kids had a blast and the next day Avery woke up saying she wanted to go trick or treating. Unfortunately she has to wait a whole entire year.

Here she is getting excited to go.

The kids showing off their costumes.

Scarlett and Avery playing nice together (a rare sight).

Don't mind the 37 week pregnant lady in the picture. FYI that's the only belly shot I am going to be posting so get your fill now.

Collecting candy!

Home Visit

I am now 36 weeks pregnant which meant it was time for the home visit with my miwife. I have been curious about this allusive home visit pretty much since I deided on a home birth. My curiousity grew as I would ask my midwife a question and she would respond by saying "oh I won't cover that till the "home visit". I thought what possibly goes on at this appointment. There is no way we cover every possible concern from the pregnancy.

So last Saturday was the day and I have to say it was kind of a let down. While I suppose the information was useful, it wasn't worth all the hype I had given it. My midwife just went over the ins and outs of what to expect during labor and after. All information that I have read elsewhere and learned from Avery's birth. She also had me do the Group B Strep swap. I was able to do it myself which is always nice.

By far the best part of the visit was that my mom sat in on the whole thing (about 3 hours long). I was happy to include her because she has been apprehensive about the home birth since I brought up the idea. And I think now that it will be in her house she is even more nervous, lol. But being able to meet the midwife and see how she does things really put my mom at ease. I am sure she will still be nervous during the actual labor but at least now she feels more confident in the whole process.

Now I am just ready for this little one to make her debut. I realize that I still have about a month left maybe longer but I can't help getting excited to finally meet her. To be honest we are actually not even close to ready yet. So hopefully she stays put a while longer.

Cousin Time

One of the best parts about being in Arizona is that Avery gets to spend time with her cousins or tuzzies as she calls them. We love having them so close and being able to see them on a regular basis. Even though Scarlett and Avery have a hard time together, they still always want to see each other. If you ask either of them they will say they love each other and are best friends. But that doesn't stop them from screaming violently the next second. I think it is a 2 year old thing.

This picture is a perfect depiction of their relationship. Scarlett is happy and carefree while Avery looks really concerned about sitting so close together.

We love you guys!