1 plus 1 makes 5: Birthday

Showing posts with label Birthday. Show all posts

Monday, September 16, 2013

Ivy Kathleen Seymore joined our family on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at 2:09 in the morning weighing in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long
Ivy was born exactly on her "due date" (the day before our wedding anniversary)! I had been having contractions months before and still nothing was happening so I just went on thinking I was going to have her past 40 weeks.
Friday the 13th, was just like any other day. We had just moved to an appt in Oceanside and we were barely getting through boxes to unpack. Chris was having his car shipped from Virginia and it was being delivered to our old location in Riverside that day (about an hour away from Oceanside). So I drove out there to sign off the paper work and pay the guy. To kill some time while we waited, my mom and I, and of course my active toddler duo, went shopping at a few of our favorite places then met up with my sister and her boyfriend for lunch. Time past when I finally heard back from the shipping company saying they are running behind and will be getting here tomorrow morning instead. So rather than driving to Oceanside that night and then back to Riverside again the next morning, I decided to spend the night at my mom's house then drive back home early the next morning.
We spent the rest of the evening at my grandparents house when I started having some pain with my contractions. I wasn't having very many contractions but they were starting to feel different than the ones I had been previously having. Still so far apart, I wasn't going to get my hopes up and think that it was the night (because truthfully, I had been thinking every night was going to be the night for the past month). I went to the bathroom and noticed I was bleeding, not just spotting but actually bleeding. That was really unusual for me so we decided it would be best to go to the hospital and have things checked out. We got the kids together and dropped them off with my sister so that my mom could stay with me at the hospital. It was about 11 pm when we got to the labor and delivery. I sent Chris a text message about 15 minutes before telling him what was going on and that I would let him know if I think he should drive out from Oceanside (he was in the field the night before and was exhausted so I didn't want him to drive out so late at night if it was nothing serious). This whole time I was barely having any contractions and they were far apart without any pattern and the bleeding wasn't as bad any more so I was feeling kind of bad about setting off a "false alarm". After filling out all the paper work and finally getting into a room the nurse comes in, asks me a ton of questions, checks the consistency and intensity of my contractions, and checks to see how dilated I am. Turns out I'm only ONE centimeter dilated, the baby is still really high and she says it doesn't even look like I'm having any contractions and apparently the bleeding is just from my cervix thinning and opening. Then Chris walks in the door and said he couldn't sleep so he drove out to be with me. The nurse said they couldn't admit me into the hospital unless I was at least 4 centimeters dilated. She suggested I walk around the hospital for an hour and see if I progressed at all. My mom went home now that Chris was with me and we were all thinking it was going to be a long night of labor...if it even was the real thing.
As I was trying to get out of bed, I was having such intense pain I couldn't even stand. I've had two babies before and I've never felt this kind of pain before. It literally felt like my insides were going to fall out. None of my previous labor contractions felt like this so I had no idea what was going on. It was a little past midnight when I was finally able to get myself out of bed and start walking around with Chris. We talked and joked around a bit with more of those painful episodes. And like a light switch, I was no longer in a joking mood. With every contraction I thought I was going to die. I really thought my insides were all just going to come out. My contractions didn't have any kind of pattern to them, all I know is that they were long and very intense. I would hold on the Chris and just shake with pain. It got to the point where I just couldn't walk anymore and I all I wanted to do was rush to my bed to lay down. Now it was constant pain, no break in between contractions, and I was just holding onto Chris crying. I don't even remember how I got back into the room and back on the bed. I was greeted by another rude nurse with more rude remarks like "well you didn't get far" and "you're going to have to do better than that" referring to not walking for very long and thinking I'm just exaggerating my pain. Just 30 minutes ago I was only 1 centimeter dilated so I'm sure they thought I was exaggerating. Chris told her I wanted an epidural and she came back with, "we'll she's going to have to wait an hour because the doctor is busy with another patient." That was the worst thinking I'd be in this intense pain for another hour! She repeated herself and said, "you need to walk around more..." Chris told her to just check how far along I was so she did. Thats when she started believing that I was in a lot of pain and quickly admitted me and offered me some other pain medications. I was ready to push! They told me that there wasn't a doctor available yet but I didn't care. I felt the urge and I was confident that I could deliever my own baby if I had to. Thankfully, the nurse seemed experienced and she didn't try to stop me. She just stood by my side letting me do my thing, and I really appreciated that.
With only a few contractions of pushing, my precious baby was born. The nurse laid her on my chest and I just felt so much joy and relief. The doctor walked in not much later and then I heard faint comments about how blue she was and Chris was asking why she wasn't crying. I didn't think too much of it at the time. Everything felt right to me and just so natural. I was at ease with my baby laying on my bare skin. She brings me so much joy. Words can't express the love I have for my beautiful little Ivy.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

the Latest on Ella {2 years}

An update on our little Ella-Bella:

She is wearing mainly 18 month clothing and some 24 months and she just grew out of her size 4 shoes.
We've been cloth diapering her since about May and she loves picking out which color and pattern diaper she wants to wear.
She self weaned off of breast feeding at around 18 months old. I'm so happy she completely did it on her own!
She's got 16 teeth in and we're just waiting for her back molars.
Her hair is still really short but absolutely beautiful. She has beautiful golden brown hair with the greatest curls all over.
She has been sleeping through the night for a while and even slept in until 8 am...then, something changed, and now she crawls into our bed around 6 am. Every night, and during naps, she goes to sleep with her baby, two large dolls her great grandma gave her, a cup of water, and her favorite "blanky" that her grandma Seymore made for her. (She really really has to sleep with all of that).
She now naps at the same time Lincoln does but they don't last as long as his do.
Ella loves a variety of food! Some of her favorites include broccoli (but only the florets), carrots, avocado, hummus, greek yogurt, cream cheese with bagels (not bagels with cream cheese), for that matter, she actually likes all kids of cheese! She loves eggs and almonds and all kids of fruit.
And she's a talker! She talks so much and so clearly! She's got the cutest little lisp. She is so loud and demanding and tends to do a scary monster voice often. she counts so well and sings her ABC's.
her favorite movie right now is Dumbo. She wants to watch it every single day.
She's such a daredevil! She climbs up onto everything and jumps from couch to couch to ottoman to couch. She loves the pool and beach and never wants to get out of the water.
Ella is such a mommy's helper! She helps me wipe down the table and windows. She helps pick up toys and always puts her dirty clothes in the hamper.
She is the biggest girly girl by nature! She loves her baby dolls and always sings to them and rocks them to sleep. She changes her clothes like three times a day and she always chooses the frilliest skirts and twirls around saying she's a princess. She's a great dancer too!
She is so squishy! She gives the tightest hugs and longest kisses (they're now closed mouth kisses) and the latest, "mugga-mugga" aka Eskimo kisses!

I love Ella's spunky personality! She brings so much light into our lives.

PHOTO BOMB TIME!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

pirate party

today was my nephew Zack's 9th birthday! My sister-in-law Nicole did such a great job decorating and hosting his pirate party. I'll have to post some pics...but in the mean time, here's a little film of Linc and Ella enjoying the party! (Ella couldn't get enough of the trampoline)