Blakely Joy

Our sweet Blakely is here. She was born on Friday,  April 29, 2016 at 4:22pm. She weighed 8lbs 14oz and was 21 inches long. What a chunck! We love her! 

So here is the story:

I started nesting around 20 weeks and got the nursery totally done, I was also having contractions early on in this pregnancy and my milk came in at the beginning of my 3rd trimester. I kept feeling like I was going to have her a little early. It made me a little anxious because I am a planner. I don't like not knowing when things are going to happen. What stressed me out most was work. I didn't know how far out I should schedule myself. And since I pay rent even when I am on maternity leave I wanted to plan it out perfectly so I would pay the least amount in rent and still get at least a month off with her. I didn't want to have wasted days by taking off too early and not having her. So I scheduled myself until April 26th (one week before my due date). By the weekend before my last day I was feeling ready. I was already dilated 3-4 cm and thinning out. I was so achy and crampy and having contractions pretty regularly. I was really hoping I would go into labor and not have to do my last day of work. Standing on my feet all day was exhausting. I just didn't want to do it. But I had no luck. No Baby. I had an appointment Monday afternoon. When she checked me I was still only at 3-4 cm. I had made no progress since the week before. (Typicall, I was at 4cm with Nixon for 2 weeks before I had him.) 

My doctor had been asking me my whole pregnancy if I wanted to schedule an induction but I had been reluctant. I really wanted to go into labor myself. My labor with Autumn was so hard and I was induced. My labor with Nixon was a piece of cake and I went into labor on my own. So to me it just made sense to wait and go on my own. The only problem was my short maternity leave and not knowing when I was going to have her was killing me. Well, she asked me again that day if I would like to schedule an induction. She had a patient the 29th who had her baby early, so I could take that spot. I decided to schedule it.

The next day was my last day of work and it was brutal. I was scheduled for 12 hours (I am crazy, I don't know what I was thinking.) I was having a hard time sleeping so I was already tired. But the whole day I just felt off. I was hoping it meant I was in labor, but again, no luck. By my last appointment I was dead on my feet. Even my client made a comment about how tired and off I seemed. I was so relieved when we finally finished and went home. I was asleep the minute my head hit the pillow. Unfortunately, I wasn't asleep for very long. I woke up a few hours later feeling very sick. I spent the rest of the night back a forth between my bedroom and the bathroom. I got the flu. Worst part was, Logan had it too. The next day was terrible. We were both so sick. We were hoping it would just be a 24 hour bug. By Thursday morning we were both feeling a lot better. But I woke up early Friday morning with flu symptoms again. I didn't know what to do. I did not want to be in labor and have the flu at the same time. I also was worried about having the flu and passing it to the baby when she came out. The hospital called and said to come and I decided to go. I didn't tell them I had the flu because I was afraid they would tell me not to come.

We got there and got checked in. I changed into my gown and the nurse came in to get an IV in so they could start me on pitosin. She started looking for a vein and just kept looking and feeling. I knew she was going to have trouble with it. She tried three times before calling the charge nurse to help. I felt terrible because she just kept on apologizing and saying how embarrassed she was but it really had nothing to do with her. I was completely dehydrated from the flu. The charge nurse tried a few times as well and then started numbing me before trying more. I was so thankful she started numbing me. I HATE getting IVs. But honestly, I shouldn't complain because that was the worst part of the entire experience. Everything else was pretty dang easy. They finally got an IV working around 10:30. My Doctor came around 1:00 to break my water and the anesthesiologist was right behind her with my epidural. (That was a bit uncomfortable too.) I actually got pretty nervous for my epidural this time. I don't know why, but I just kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong. I was pretty comfortable once the epidural kicked in. Logan and I watched a few of our shows we were behind on on Hulu and I ate a few popsicles. Logan left for a bit to get some lunch and I watched another show by myself (The Grinder, if you haven't watched it, you should. It's stupid and hilarious). After a couple of hours I felt like I was probably ready. I told the nurse I thought I might be there. So she checked me and said I was close. She had me do a practice push and then told me to stop. She said "I have delived a baby before, but let's just get your doctor in here" She called Dr. Wood and a few minutes later she was there and we started pushing. I don't know how long I pushed for, but not very. It was only a few contractions and she was here. She did get stuck on her stomach, I thought she was out because I felt her head and everything, but the doctor was like "one more big push" I was confused, but I did it and then felt the rest of her come out.

She didn't cry right away and I was a little worried something was wrong, but no one else seemed worried (Logan told me later he thought something might be wrong too). Then she started to cry. They handed her to me and I just felt very content. 

I couldn't believe how much she looked like Baby Autumn. She had that little frowny bottom lip and everything. She was so squishy and fun to cuddle. I loved it. I feel like everyone prides themselves on how tiny their babies are. The smaller, the better, right? But man, I LOVED having a big baby. I don't feel like she was any harder to get out than my 7lb baby, but she was so fun to hold. She just felt/feels so cozy. I never want to put her down. And it's a good thing too, because she never wants to be put down.    

Rachael came to the hospital first and she brought her camera and got some awesome pictures when the kids got there. I'm so glad she came.  

Autumn couldn't wait to put that hat on her. She picked it out with Grandma Joy while I was at work one day and she would ask to look at it everyday the last couple of weeks before I had the baby. She couldn't wait to give it to her. 

See what I mean about squishy. I just want to squeeze her when I look at this picture

Dad was pretty happy. After everyone went home he got to chill with the babe and watch the supercross. Doesn't he look so comfortable on my bed? 

Here are a few pictures of our sweet baby girl from the last few weeks.  

Blakely and her cousin Daila

Those are moms old PJs

Two weeks ago Logan named and blessed Blakely at church. He was really nervous and kind of froze right at the beginning. But, he gave her a beautiful blessing. Some of the things he blessed her with were:

*You will bring joy to those around you

*You will have a strong relationship with your family

*You will find your passion at a young age

*You will be loving and compassionate

*You will have your own testimony especially a testimony of God's love for you.

*You will be healthy, your body will function as it's supposed to and you will have a strong mind

* You will have a strong relationship with your Mother, Your sister Autumn, and your Brother Nixon

Becca and Jake blessed Finnegan yesterday too, so we had a combined dinner at their place after. All the cousins (and Uncle Danny) were lovin' on our girl. They all took turns holding her and just kept saying how cut she was. I think her cousin Derrick was especially taken with her. 

We finally got a picture of the 3 newbies together. Blakely was born first, then one week later Finn was born, then two weeks and a couple of days after that came Daila.

Here are a few pictures of my pregnancy progress this time around

4 Weeks

20 weeks