She's Here!!

Britta Cathrine Black was born March 26 2009 at 1:42 pm. Measuring in at a whomping 5lbs 1oz and 17in long. She has a lot of Kierra's facial features but is as blonde as can be.

Wednesday my doctor stripped my membranes and at one in the morning labor began. It was a lot more rough than it was with Kierra but I dealt. We got to the hospital at 5:30 and by 9:00 I was dilated to an 8. Once they broke my water, she came quick. This time I only pushed for 10 minutes. She is just a little peanut.

I am recovering remarkably compared to last time and feel great. Britta was admitted to the NICU last night though. She can't keep her temperature up and her oxygen levels keep dropping. I have been really impressed with the nursing staff here and how they have taken care of me and Britta. They have kept me up to date on her progress so well and are actually taking care of my concerns.

Here are some pics.

We are still alive

I know it has been a while since I posted anything on here so to those of you who are faithful readers, I am sorry. We recently lost the privilege of using Richard's work computer for anything therefore we have gone without the internet. So, Friday we went out and bought a laptop. I am currently mooching off of someone's unsecured connection in the neighborhood.

So, the countdown is on for the baby. She is now at the point of practically falling out on her own. Not many people thought it was possible that you could walk around dilated to a 4 but apparently you can. There have been a few false alarms which has gotten me depressed and more anxious. It is now hard not to think about when it will happen.

Some good news though that I didn't think would happen is that Kierra is in a toddler bed now. We decided to stimulate the economy and support commercialism and bought her a princess bed. The moment we got it, she loved it. There hasn't been a transition at all which was the part that stressed me out a great deal. However, now that we have painted the baby's room with flowers, she is obsessed with it. We might have to change rooms since the baby obviously won't care.

It has been so nice to have Richard at church with me these last few months. But it looks like we only have one sunday left. His schedule will go back to what is was before in April. I think it has helped our family grow spiritually but we will have to continue to work harder at it.

Other than that nothing exciting has been going on. We have no pictures to post yet again and hopefully the next post will be of baby Britta's arrival.

What's going on?

I don't even have any pictures to post that's how exciting our lives have been. We gave up on the big girl bed thing. We think she is just too little and I think that it's more that Richard and I don't want to give up our control over her sleeping. So I guess we have to buy another crib. Shopping for one has been really hard. Either I am really picky or I am just stuck on the great deal that we got on Kierra's at NPS.

Kierra had her face lasered again this month. They changed the laser to who knows what setting to do who knows what to her face. It seems to have healed a lot faster this time though. I think it was the hardest trip to the hospital yet. She put up such a fight when we were trying to put the cream on. She just screamed bloody murder and kept ripping off the plastic. I wish there was an easier way. She definitely noticed that something was done this time. It really hurt her and she knew she had an owie.

All of us got that crappy stomach bug that's been going around again. Well, again for me, first time for everyone else. Kierra started it and ended it. She never gets sick and so I am really proud of myself for how I handled it considering the crappy month I've had emotionally. It has however made her a bit more of a needy child. She always wants her binkie now. She only wants crackers and cereal and just won't eat much else except for the odd random thing like beef jerky. The eating problem has developed an evening tantrum since she won't eat her dinner. I don't want to be the parent that makes a separate meal for each person so we are sticking to our guns and only offering her what she didn't eat at dinner when she cries for food after dinner. One day I hope she will give in.

I had a doctor's appointment today. Things are fine. Surprisingly enough I gained 2 pounds after being sick last week. My weight gain this pregnancy is up to 7 pounds. Woohoo!! However, I am measuring 4 weeks behind. We aren't too worried because I was the same with Kierra. The doctor says he will only be worried if I stop growing. Maybe the kid is burning off stuff since she is kicking so much. Maybe not.

Big girl bed

Does anyone have suggestions on how to do this smoothly. We put a mattress on the floor and she was excited at first but when it came to bed time, she was scared. Richard has been laying with her for the past hour on it. Is that what our lives are going to be like now, sleeping with her? This seems like the hardest thing we have had to do with her in a very long time. What do we do if she wakes up? She doesn't know how to open doors yet so I guess that is a plus. Do we just leave her in there to work it out and eventually crash?

Happy Day! I Two!

Happy Birthday Kierra!! Two days late! Guess what we did for her birthday? Nothing! She did have a party at my parents house on Sunday so we aren't the worst parents. Besides, she doesn't know the difference. Here is one highlight.

She did so good trying to blow out her candles. I ran out of memory on the camera and at that point she trying to blow so hard and fast that she looked like she was going to hyperventilate.

Mama and Papa Gee came over on her birthday and brought her a birthday balloon. She was so excited and ever since she has been walking around saying "happy day". Thank you for coming over. I know it meant something to her as it did to me.

Tis the Season for Presents and Puking, fa la la la la

Ah the Christmas Season. Toys, power outages, and family togetherness. Maybe too much family togetherness what with the stomach flu. Mmm, yummy. We had Richard's family over for christmas eve in our newly finished basement. It was actually quite nice and low key. The kids had fun playing and didn't bother us too much so that makes it nice. Christmas we woke up to no power. This has been happening quite frequently lately. I was really disappointed because I wanted pancakes and hot chocolate. Nope, cold cereal. We took Kierra downstairs to open her presents. She wasn't really into it. I think she got bored but once she figured out what they were, she got excited.



Kierra taking George for a walk with her purse and hat (bucket)




The day after Christmas we went over to my parents for the festivities there. Of course my parents spoiled us with grocery money (which we already spent) but Kierra got a laptop. She loves the thing and can actually play the games on it. She calls it her puter.


Kierra just being cute




Sitting with daddy and the puter


That night I started to feel sick, and spent the night pooping and puking. Some of which simultaneously. It was not fun especially when you are pregnant. When you are up all night, so is the baby and she was definitely making herself known.

So, that was our holiday in a nutshell. Richard and Kierra didn't get sick so I am so grateful for that. I hope everyone had a good holiday.

Drats!

So today I broke out my maternity pants. I am not too happy about right now because it just makes me feel more pregnant. I forgot how uncomfortable they were but leaving my jeans unbuttoned was not an option anymore. My zipper kept going down then the pants would go down. I am not sure what I am going to do about church clothes though. I don't remember what I did last time. Maybe I was just extremely uncomfortable for those 3 hours. I do have a maternity dress but it is still way too early for that. My belly button is already starting to poke out too. It actually looks like a gnocchi to me.

New Calling

I hate getting a new calling. Especially when I have been the assistant librarian for 3 years. So they called me to be a sunbeam teacher. There are a ton of people in the ward that don't currently have a calling. I don't know why they wanted me especially with how complicated our lives are. Richard's schedule does change in January making it possible for him to come to church, but it is not guaranteed that it will stay that way for the next quarter. They didn't know that I was having a baby either. So they will release me on Sunday and they are going to give me until January to get Kierra settled in nursery since she won't go by herself. I am not looking forward to doing it so hopefully it will be some sort of blessing in disguise.

The dreaded Bishop's office

So, you get that phone call that a member of the bishopbric wants to see you. I hate the waiting and wondering of what it will be. If I am going in there, I am most likely being released from my current calling. Will I get another one? Or are they going to give me one in addition to the one I have. Kelly, if you are reading this, did you know anything about it?

It's a...Baby

Girl to be exact. We had an ultrasound today and it was confirmed. The baby is good although she measures a week behind. Kierra was the same way so it doesn't worry me. For those that didn't know I was pregnant, sorry. This entry probably explains a lot about my mood and other feelings in previous entries. It is weird being pregnant this time since it is a bit different than it was with Kierra. I am not sick any more which is a nice plus. Dealing with another kid at the same time has made me realize that the uterus is definitely made of steel. Yes, when I was preggo with Kierra, there was a huge amount of heavy labor but I never had someone stepping on it. I am starting to look more like I am fat than pregnant though. I have an upper bulge rather than a lower one. I am hoping that everything goes as well as it did with Kierra and that I don't get huge.

I forgot to add that the due date is April 14th. I also hope that none of you are thinking "that's the last thing that they need is another kid." We are excited and especially to have another girl. Richard doesn't know what to do with a boy. I guess he likes being extremely outnumbered.