(While Kenna was throwing a fit, and Daddy was trying to help.)
Quinn: When I cry, I always call, "Daddy!"
Mommy: No you don't. Sometimes you yell, "Grammy!"
Quinn: Yeah, because sometimes my whole family is being mean to me.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter Saturday!
It used to drive me nuts that Utahans do all their egg hunts on Saturday. I grew up doing most of the egg hunting at home, but if we did go to an Easter event, it was always on Sunday. But Utahans and Mormons do things differently, and usually kick against the pricks for awhile before I see the good sense of it all. I hate to admit when the Utahans are right, but it happens.So here we go, it just makes sense. If we try to do Easter stuff on Sunday morning, we will have about 5 minutes before we have to get ready and go to Church (when Church is at 9 a.m.). Plus, Tim is the choir director and needs to do other stuff to prepare for church in the morning. So we could wait to find baskets and hunt for eggs until after church, but for the next 7 years or so we will have somebody napping at that time. So that pushes all the Easter fun until about 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, which does not make any sense.
Then our good friends invited us to an egg hunt at their house on Saturday morning, and suddenly, it all clicked and I had every desire in the world to celebrate Easter on Saturday from now on.
We had a great day which started with too much candy and ended much later with quite a bit of throw up on my carpeted stairs. Darn it! But we had a nice time.
A butterfly egg for Kenna!
3 Baskets this year!!
Quinn Found Lizza's basket!
Kenna in her new Easter clothes
Ready for the practice hunt!
Megan and Wes getting ready for the real hunt!
Lizza missed most of the show
Hunt!
Lucy, Quinn and Ella scored BIG time!
And Lizza just kept sleeping.
Lizza poses with all her loot from her first Easter basket!
Friday, April 22, 2011
3 Kids in the Car
Well, my first outing with 3 kids was a total flop. It took forever to pack the car and get everyone in. And we managed to get to the Dino museum without mom's wallet OR the diaper bag! U turn and a lot of sad faces. Oh dear!! We ended up at the park on a cold afternoon. The girls thought it was great, and I thought it was cold and horrible. I also had to concede to an ice cream dessert for Quinn .. oh, and we are going back to the museum tomorrow. I suck. And I am a sucker.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Play Time
Playing with baby Lizza after I pushed the rest of the team out the door for church. Can't get enough of her!
Magical Baby
I'm not all that sappy. And I am not really a newborn person. But OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS BABY. I am totally crazy obsessed with her. I cuddle her and stare at her and poke her little checks as often as possible. She kills me and brings me a euphoric joy that has completely blindsided me.
She's got this super grumpy face, and it looks like she is scowling at you. And think this made it twice as exciting last night to see some little happy faces from her little lips. Gas or no gas -- she looked happy and it melted me. I think she is going to look like me with a nasty scowl when she wants one (or when something is confusing) and then -- and just let me toot my own postpartum horn here for a minute -- one awesome smile!
Oh and she is so sleepy and I love it. I found this annoying with my other babies because either I was trying to feed them or trying to play with them and neither activity works so well with a snorer in your hands. But it is different with Lizza. She finishes eating, and I am holding her and loving her little eyes. And the next think I know I am loving her little eyelids and I just keep staring and I can't put her down. And her little checks get all puffy after she eats and it looks like her skin is going to just drip off her body while her head is starting to bob and weave. Again, I declare, I can not get enough of this baby.
(FYI: just took a 1 minute break from typing to take another 25 pics of Elizabeth Marie Fellow while she stares at the monkey on her mobile)
Like I said, I am not usually a newborn person. I think they are boring , they don't do anything, they are too small, they cry when you change them, they have awkward movements, they spit up, they fall asleep when you just got out of bed to feed them or refuse to sleep when you really want to get back in bed. The list goes on and on. I was excited for Lizza to come because I wanted a new little person in our family, and I was even excited for the newborn stage because I like the schedule, it is not that hard and the clothes are cute. But in general, I was really just excited for a 5 months old to come along this fall when the going will finally get fun. But I stand corrected.
Maybe it is because Quinn is 4 years old and is really mean to me or because Kenna learned from Quinn to scream NO in my face. Or maybe it is because you can love on a baby all day long right from your rocking chair and never get up. Not sure what changed, but I just don't want to put this baby down. I love her little mouth and her purple feet that I have hold to keep warm and her flowers in her hair and her little half dimples by her lips and how she grabs my fingers while she is eating and her long fingers and her toes that stay spread out like my brother's do and her nose that is bound to turn into the cutest thing in the world. I love that I want to stare at her profile all day long just like my mom used to do to me, and I love that when given the option she chose the cheaper of the two pacifiers I offered her.
And, of course, I love that she sleeps for a 5 hour stretch from 2 to 7 a.m. almost every night. What a respectful lady!
She loves her mobile just like her sisters did, and she has the hiccups for most of her waking hours. She has the skinniest little legs that I have ever seen and she actually fits into a newborn diapers, which I have never had to buy before. She sleeps for longer if the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is on in the background (a musical nap as I call it), and her squints her eyes very dramatically or pretends to be asleep when you turn the lights on brighter or open the blinds.
Tim could not have put it better last night when he said, "Isn't cool that her poop doesn't even smell yet? She's like a magical baby."
Yes, she is.
She's got this super grumpy face, and it looks like she is scowling at you. And think this made it twice as exciting last night to see some little happy faces from her little lips. Gas or no gas -- she looked happy and it melted me. I think she is going to look like me with a nasty scowl when she wants one (or when something is confusing) and then -- and just let me toot my own postpartum horn here for a minute -- one awesome smile!
Oh and she is so sleepy and I love it. I found this annoying with my other babies because either I was trying to feed them or trying to play with them and neither activity works so well with a snorer in your hands. But it is different with Lizza. She finishes eating, and I am holding her and loving her little eyes. And the next think I know I am loving her little eyelids and I just keep staring and I can't put her down. And her little checks get all puffy after she eats and it looks like her skin is going to just drip off her body while her head is starting to bob and weave. Again, I declare, I can not get enough of this baby.
(FYI: just took a 1 minute break from typing to take another 25 pics of Elizabeth Marie Fellow while she stares at the monkey on her mobile)
Like I said, I am not usually a newborn person. I think they are boring , they don't do anything, they are too small, they cry when you change them, they have awkward movements, they spit up, they fall asleep when you just got out of bed to feed them or refuse to sleep when you really want to get back in bed. The list goes on and on. I was excited for Lizza to come because I wanted a new little person in our family, and I was even excited for the newborn stage because I like the schedule, it is not that hard and the clothes are cute. But in general, I was really just excited for a 5 months old to come along this fall when the going will finally get fun. But I stand corrected.
Maybe it is because Quinn is 4 years old and is really mean to me or because Kenna learned from Quinn to scream NO in my face. Or maybe it is because you can love on a baby all day long right from your rocking chair and never get up. Not sure what changed, but I just don't want to put this baby down. I love her little mouth and her purple feet that I have hold to keep warm and her flowers in her hair and her little half dimples by her lips and how she grabs my fingers while she is eating and her long fingers and her toes that stay spread out like my brother's do and her nose that is bound to turn into the cutest thing in the world. I love that I want to stare at her profile all day long just like my mom used to do to me, and I love that when given the option she chose the cheaper of the two pacifiers I offered her.
And, of course, I love that she sleeps for a 5 hour stretch from 2 to 7 a.m. almost every night. What a respectful lady!
She loves her mobile just like her sisters did, and she has the hiccups for most of her waking hours. She has the skinniest little legs that I have ever seen and she actually fits into a newborn diapers, which I have never had to buy before. She sleeps for longer if the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is on in the background (a musical nap as I call it), and her squints her eyes very dramatically or pretends to be asleep when you turn the lights on brighter or open the blinds.
Tim could not have put it better last night when he said, "Isn't cool that her poop doesn't even smell yet? She's like a magical baby."
Yes, she is.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Welcome Baby Lizza -- All the information you always never wanted!
She is here and beautiful. Baby Elizabeth Marie Fellow was born on Monday, April 11 at 3:31 p.m. and weighs 7 pounds and 13 oz. She is at least a pound smaller than Quinn or McKenna, and she just seems unbelievably tiny to us. Her labor was easy, breezy. I was induced at 7:45 a.m. with pitocin. It took me about 5 hours to get to 4 cm dilated, and then she was born about 2 hours later. I went from a 5 to a 10 in about an hour and a half. I had an epidural, but I could feel a lot of the pressure. I enjoyed knowing that things were progressing, so I did not ask for more drugs. I just sat there in the room with Tim, and we played Scrabble together on our iPads. He kicked my trash. Next thing I knew I felt like it was time to push, and I was right.
It was awesome. They set up the room for the delivery, and after one push, my mid-wife was telling me to slow down because she was coming so quickly. Everyone was looking at the babies head and getting all excited, and I was just laying there confused since I has not done any work yet. I push a once or twice more full pushes and few mini pushes and out she popped. She turned pink right away and screamed like a dying cat. Tim and I laughed (and continue to refer to her as our kitty when she pulls out that cry.) She had a bowel movement before she was born so the breathing specialist was there to check her out and help her clean out her lungs. That took awhile, but we were all just hanging out and talking and taking pictures. She was little mucusy, so the nurse (Deb) wanted me to breast feed right away. Lizza was pretty much a champ at it. She wasn't totally into it at first (and neither was I), but we got on track within a few times.
At first Tim thought Lizza looked like Quinn, but of course now we are not sure. She nose is more Quinn than Kenna, but she just has her own look. Her eye brows are white, and her short hair is very light brown. We can't agree on her eyes, but I have a feeling they will be brown or very dark blue. Her feet are long and narrow, and when i saw the foot print they did on her after her bath it reminded me of my brother's feet with the big toe sort of sticking up and out. I loved it and laughed at this.
So, that was how labor and delivery rolled for baby number 3. I only had one stitch on a very small tear, and I was feeling fine. An hour and a half after the birth, they brought in all the equipment to do her first bath and get her all ready for life. By that time Lizza Nelson and Brandon Cummings had joined us. (Brandon brought a burrito for me, and Lizza brought pretty long stem red flowers.) We all laughed and talked during the intake and for about an hour after. I was joking that I felt like I was peeing on myself, and that I was so sorry to pee all over myself in such good company. At about 6 p.m. my nurse Deb came in to check my bleeding one more time and say good bye for the night. We checked me, and it turned out, I was not peeing on myself. I was bleeding out huge clots that were not stopping. She told Lizza and Brandon to leave and explained to Tim and that this could get scary, but they we need to take things seriously and get this under control. Lizza and Brandon said good bye, and I asked Lizza to do what she could, meaning that I wanted her to use energy work to help stop the bleeding or help me if I needed it. From the doorway, she said she would of course help, but she also said something like, "You know you can do it too. Remember no fear. You do not need fear." This really meant a lot to me, (especially since Lizza had a horrible hemorrhage after her second birth) and I did take this to heart. I was not afraid, and I did what I could to bring positive energy to the room and to the people helping me. I probably prayed too, but the exact request escapes me. I never thought I was going to die, but as it got worse, it did occur to me that I could lose my uterus. But still I felt peace. It was strange. I felt gratitude for my 3 children and husband, and I felt no fear or sadness. I would not have placed a bet on that emotion I promise you that, but that was the reality of the moment -- I was surprised but proud of myself.
Ok, so it got very crazy. I was basically naken on the bed and bleeding like crazy. The nurse called for a "staff assist," which basically says that anyone who can should come in a help. The nurse warned us that it was about to get very hectic, but again that this was necessary. So about 8 nurses and the anesthesiologist came in. They started added IV's, hanging bags of drugs, pushing on my tummy, weighing the blooding towels, calling more doctors and basically running around like crazy. I was calm in the bed, and Tim held Lizza calmly in a chair on the other side of the room. Nurses kept asking Tim if they wanted them to take the baby to the nursery. We would say, "No, Thank you," and then look at me for confirmation. He'd kind of whisper, "are you ok?" and I would reply, "Yeah, fine." We would find of shrug or laugh because there was nothing we could do, but we were both so calm. We kept making eye contact from over this little tray by my bed. It was grateful to have a mellow husband in a stressful situation. Later the nurses would talk about how we were the calmest and most good spirited people to ever go through that situation.
So, like I said, they were pumping me with drugs and calling in more backup. They were talking about how I looked so pale, and I was losing so much blood. They set my bed back so I would not pass out, and finally they took Lizza away from Tim and sent her away. Just then I started to get very cold and shook uncontrollably for the next few hours or drama. They could not get the hemorrhage to the stop. I guess it became a bigger issues because my uterus did finally start to contract, but the bleeding was not stopping. The midwife came in and worked on me, and then the doctor from the midwife practice came in to start helping. They put a drug in my rectum and a shot in my leg. The the doctor needed to check me to try to understand the source of the bleeding. Long story short she basically did a D&C with no tools and no narcotics, and it hurt so badly that I start screaming. They pumped me with more drugs, and I finally passed out. I guess i work up 30 minutes later and started apologizing to the very quiet doctor who I yelled at. Eventually the bleeding slowed from the drugs and all the pushing on my stomach. But I had lost a lot of blood and my red blood cell count was down to 8, which I guess is really low. They decided to start a blood transfusion -- and that was the 5 hours after I had Lizza. It was totally crazy. She was born at 3:30 p.m., and I didn't see the recovery room until 11:30 p.m. never been that tired in my life. As they were wheeling me from the labor wing to the recovery wing, every nurse we passed by said something like, "Oh, you've got color in your face." So, again, I guess a lot of people were part of the drama. It was really funny.
So, in the end this hospital stay turned out to be a lot more like the stay after Quinn was born. IV's, catheters and no freedom. Makes coming home all the more amazing!!1 I stayed 2 nights, and came home this morning. I didn't have many visitors, which was fine because I was so tired and felt busy even though life in the hospital felt slow. I could never seems to finish a phone call or finish a Facebook post. In our intake paperwork on Monday morning, they made us fill out of a list of visitors that might come and see us during our stay. We thought of everyone we could think of, and it was only 8 people!! So we started adding dead people and famous people to the list. We got a kick out of ourselves. We have fun together.
As for Lizza, she is doing great. She sleeps well and eats well, but she had some serious reflux and spit up issues. She has looked pretty angry for the first 2 and a half days of her life. I got her some medicine today, and things seems to be calming down. But it was pretty crazy there for awhile. She would squirm and cry and then a volcano of orange mucus would squirt out and go everywhere. It was nuts. Sometimes she would turn purple first and get all mad. And most of the time she would pass out right after and take a 10 minute power nap before eating or continuing to eat. It was sad and adorable both at the same time.
Last minute thoughts and details:
The food at Timpanogos Hospital isn't great, but it is a lot better than AF.
I ordered a burrito from Costa Vida every day to supplement the food. Loved it!
It was awesome. They set up the room for the delivery, and after one push, my mid-wife was telling me to slow down because she was coming so quickly. Everyone was looking at the babies head and getting all excited, and I was just laying there confused since I has not done any work yet. I push a once or twice more full pushes and few mini pushes and out she popped. She turned pink right away and screamed like a dying cat. Tim and I laughed (and continue to refer to her as our kitty when she pulls out that cry.) She had a bowel movement before she was born so the breathing specialist was there to check her out and help her clean out her lungs. That took awhile, but we were all just hanging out and talking and taking pictures. She was little mucusy, so the nurse (Deb) wanted me to breast feed right away. Lizza was pretty much a champ at it. She wasn't totally into it at first (and neither was I), but we got on track within a few times.
At first Tim thought Lizza looked like Quinn, but of course now we are not sure. She nose is more Quinn than Kenna, but she just has her own look. Her eye brows are white, and her short hair is very light brown. We can't agree on her eyes, but I have a feeling they will be brown or very dark blue. Her feet are long and narrow, and when i saw the foot print they did on her after her bath it reminded me of my brother's feet with the big toe sort of sticking up and out. I loved it and laughed at this.
So, that was how labor and delivery rolled for baby number 3. I only had one stitch on a very small tear, and I was feeling fine. An hour and a half after the birth, they brought in all the equipment to do her first bath and get her all ready for life. By that time Lizza Nelson and Brandon Cummings had joined us. (Brandon brought a burrito for me, and Lizza brought pretty long stem red flowers.) We all laughed and talked during the intake and for about an hour after. I was joking that I felt like I was peeing on myself, and that I was so sorry to pee all over myself in such good company. At about 6 p.m. my nurse Deb came in to check my bleeding one more time and say good bye for the night. We checked me, and it turned out, I was not peeing on myself. I was bleeding out huge clots that were not stopping. She told Lizza and Brandon to leave and explained to Tim and that this could get scary, but they we need to take things seriously and get this under control. Lizza and Brandon said good bye, and I asked Lizza to do what she could, meaning that I wanted her to use energy work to help stop the bleeding or help me if I needed it. From the doorway, she said she would of course help, but she also said something like, "You know you can do it too. Remember no fear. You do not need fear." This really meant a lot to me, (especially since Lizza had a horrible hemorrhage after her second birth) and I did take this to heart. I was not afraid, and I did what I could to bring positive energy to the room and to the people helping me. I probably prayed too, but the exact request escapes me. I never thought I was going to die, but as it got worse, it did occur to me that I could lose my uterus. But still I felt peace. It was strange. I felt gratitude for my 3 children and husband, and I felt no fear or sadness. I would not have placed a bet on that emotion I promise you that, but that was the reality of the moment -- I was surprised but proud of myself.
Ok, so it got very crazy. I was basically naken on the bed and bleeding like crazy. The nurse called for a "staff assist," which basically says that anyone who can should come in a help. The nurse warned us that it was about to get very hectic, but again that this was necessary. So about 8 nurses and the anesthesiologist came in. They started added IV's, hanging bags of drugs, pushing on my tummy, weighing the blooding towels, calling more doctors and basically running around like crazy. I was calm in the bed, and Tim held Lizza calmly in a chair on the other side of the room. Nurses kept asking Tim if they wanted them to take the baby to the nursery. We would say, "No, Thank you," and then look at me for confirmation. He'd kind of whisper, "are you ok?" and I would reply, "Yeah, fine." We would find of shrug or laugh because there was nothing we could do, but we were both so calm. We kept making eye contact from over this little tray by my bed. It was grateful to have a mellow husband in a stressful situation. Later the nurses would talk about how we were the calmest and most good spirited people to ever go through that situation.
So, like I said, they were pumping me with drugs and calling in more backup. They were talking about how I looked so pale, and I was losing so much blood. They set my bed back so I would not pass out, and finally they took Lizza away from Tim and sent her away. Just then I started to get very cold and shook uncontrollably for the next few hours or drama. They could not get the hemorrhage to the stop. I guess it became a bigger issues because my uterus did finally start to contract, but the bleeding was not stopping. The midwife came in and worked on me, and then the doctor from the midwife practice came in to start helping. They put a drug in my rectum and a shot in my leg. The the doctor needed to check me to try to understand the source of the bleeding. Long story short she basically did a D&C with no tools and no narcotics, and it hurt so badly that I start screaming. They pumped me with more drugs, and I finally passed out. I guess i work up 30 minutes later and started apologizing to the very quiet doctor who I yelled at. Eventually the bleeding slowed from the drugs and all the pushing on my stomach. But I had lost a lot of blood and my red blood cell count was down to 8, which I guess is really low. They decided to start a blood transfusion -- and that was the 5 hours after I had Lizza. It was totally crazy. She was born at 3:30 p.m., and I didn't see the recovery room until 11:30 p.m. never been that tired in my life. As they were wheeling me from the labor wing to the recovery wing, every nurse we passed by said something like, "Oh, you've got color in your face." So, again, I guess a lot of people were part of the drama. It was really funny.
So, in the end this hospital stay turned out to be a lot more like the stay after Quinn was born. IV's, catheters and no freedom. Makes coming home all the more amazing!!1 I stayed 2 nights, and came home this morning. I didn't have many visitors, which was fine because I was so tired and felt busy even though life in the hospital felt slow. I could never seems to finish a phone call or finish a Facebook post. In our intake paperwork on Monday morning, they made us fill out of a list of visitors that might come and see us during our stay. We thought of everyone we could think of, and it was only 8 people!! So we started adding dead people and famous people to the list. We got a kick out of ourselves. We have fun together.
As for Lizza, she is doing great. She sleeps well and eats well, but she had some serious reflux and spit up issues. She has looked pretty angry for the first 2 and a half days of her life. I got her some medicine today, and things seems to be calming down. But it was pretty crazy there for awhile. She would squirm and cry and then a volcano of orange mucus would squirt out and go everywhere. It was nuts. Sometimes she would turn purple first and get all mad. And most of the time she would pass out right after and take a 10 minute power nap before eating or continuing to eat. It was sad and adorable both at the same time.
Last minute thoughts and details:
The food at Timpanogos Hospital isn't great, but it is a lot better than AF.
I ordered a burrito from Costa Vida every day to supplement the food. Loved it!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Waiting
Well, I am 39 weeks along and waiting as patiently as I can for this little one to join us. I am really excited for her to join our family, but I am starting to get grouchy. My hips hurt so badly, and I have to take Tylenol to get through the night. But luckily work is done for now, and so I don't have to sit and try to get through phone calls all day. Toward the end my foot was tapping, and I just wanted everyone to hang up. I've been taking baths everyday, and trying to take a few short walks a day to keep my body limber. But today it is snowing, so I might stay inside. I had a nice lunch with Bridget and friends on Tuesday to celebrate Heidi and my new babies, and Bridget gave baby Lizza the cutest white sandals for next summer. I've been taking the girls out to dinner a lot because I am too lazy to make food or clean the kitchen. They do not seem to mind, and it passes the time for all of us.
Tim started a new schedule last week, and now he is home all morning until 2 p.m. We've been deep cleaning the basement and getting some other jobs done. I've been throwing away a whole landfill of junk. It feels nice. I found 3 or 4 boxes that I have actually been looking for for about 4 years, so that was fun.
Here's a thought. Will I be board in the hospital? I have not invited friends to the birth. Will Tim and I run out of things to talk about? I have a book, iPad and iPhone. That should keep me busy. Maybe Tim and I can have a Scrabble marathon? We'll see. When you sit around waiting for something for 40 weeks, you have a lot of time to think about it.
Just waiting.
Tim started a new schedule last week, and now he is home all morning until 2 p.m. We've been deep cleaning the basement and getting some other jobs done. I've been throwing away a whole landfill of junk. It feels nice. I found 3 or 4 boxes that I have actually been looking for for about 4 years, so that was fun.
Here's a thought. Will I be board in the hospital? I have not invited friends to the birth. Will Tim and I run out of things to talk about? I have a book, iPad and iPhone. That should keep me busy. Maybe Tim and I can have a Scrabble marathon? We'll see. When you sit around waiting for something for 40 weeks, you have a lot of time to think about it.
Just waiting.
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