a little family vacay

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.

home sweet home {Riverside, CA - Canyon Crest}

...and a little 'life lately' update

  {home #4.5}   Riverside, California (Canyon Crest & Plaza area) (staying with grandma and grandpa James)   August - September 2013  

 

home sweet home {Virginia Beach, VA - Dam Neck}

{home #4}   Virginia Beach, Virginia (Dam Neck)   May - August 2013 AIOC

Here is a little about our time living in Virginia Beach combined with a little "life lately" update of the past 3 months we spent there. We were not there long, but we managed to come out with some great memories. 

 We only lived in Virginia Beach for a little over 3 months and I can't believe how quickly it felt like home to us. Knowing that you're only going to be living somewhere for a very short period of time makes it difficult to want to open up to new people when you know you'll be out of each others lives in such a short time.

I love knowing that our church is the same all over the world! That is one place of people I know I can rely on. My first Sunday there, I went to my usual classes and the kids loved going to nursery. I tried to keep to myself, because after all, our stay there was so temporary. Towards the end of church I went into the bathroom and just cried. I cried because even though i didn't want to make friends, friendships were already being made. everyone was extremely welcoming and nice to me even though they knew I wouldn't be staying long, they genuinely wanted to get to know me and be my friend. We were invited to dinner a few times, to the water park, and to the zoo. I made some life long friends here and so did Chris. One of his friends lent us his car the whole time he was in training so that we could go out as a family whenever we had the chance and when he left VA, my friend from church lent us her car.

We loved our home there. even though most of our things stayed in storage and the walls weren't fully decorated, it still felt like home. It was so nice sleeping next to Chris again and seeing him play with the kids. Home really is wherever your family is. 

So here is what we've been up to for the past 3 months...

•walks to the beach •park days •searching for insects •splashing around in the pool •barbecuing •petting sting rays at the Aquarium •lots of baths •having dance parties in our pj's •observing animals at the zoo •buying slurpees often •dining out •making weekly trips to the commissary •and just enjoying our time together as a family

our 4th of july in Virginia Beach

I love living so close to the beach!! It is literally a 10 minute walk from our place (less if I didn't have this very pregnant waddle going on). So where else would we spend Independence Day but at the beach!   Come along with us and enjoy the VB we've come to love!  

   

home sweet home {Eastvale, CA}

...and a little 'life lately' update

 

 

{home #3.5}

Eastvale, California

(Staying with grandma and grandpa Seymore)
(...while Chris was at GIOC)

January - May 2013

some things we did to keep us busy:

• walked around the beautiful neighborhood
• walked to the park
• tried out a UCR institute class
• shopped around the Tyler Mall
• went to Disneyland with Kristen, Amelie, and Lyndsy
• went to the LA Zoo with Andi
• had fun at our ward play dates
• made ice cream with grandpa
• spent lots of time at great-grandma's house
• went to Utah
• found out we were having baby #3
• went to my cousin Roger's wedding