And Then There Were Two

Every baby is a miracle. 

When it’s your own baby, that statement is magnified by a thousand.

Taya Kimiko Manning was born on May 31^st at 10:52 a.m.
She is gorgeous and wonderful and everything that makes this world right.  We are crazy about her.

I tried and tried to go into labor on my own.  I walked and walked and ran stairs and bounced on a yoga ball and snuck onto our neighbor’s trampoline in the middle of the night.  I felt SO ready to have her here, but other than exhausting  myself, nothing happened. 

So finally my Dr. agreed to induce me.  I drove myself to the hospital early on Thursday morning.  It was the weirdest feeling; knowing that my baby would go from a wonderful idea, to a screaming reality in such a short time.  I got checked in and set up a little after 8.  Chris took Milo to my sister’s house, and then met me at the hospital.  By the time he got to our room, I had been hooked up for about fifteen minutes.  He bounced around the room and started to unpack his suitcase.  Then he decided to change clothes. He was so relaxed and excited.  I didn’t want to sound like a baby, but as he was doing all of these things, I was in some real pain.

 When I checked in, I told them that I would like to try to have this baby naturally, but there I was, twenty minutes into it, and I wanted an epidural…BAD! I wonder how many women come in saying that they are going to go natural… I bet the nurses laugh in their heads every time that they hear that. I gave in, pushed the call button, and told her that I would like the good drugs stat.  She had to have thought I was such a spaz.  Then she checked me and looked surprised.  “You’re an 8+.  You need to decide right now what you want to do.  If you get the epidural, it will slow things down and give us some time.  If not, then I need to call the doctor right now or else I am going to be catching this baby.”  I had about ten seconds to decide.  I just kept saying, “That was so fast.  Wasn’t that fast?” I had ten months to sit and stew over this delivery and then after twenty minutes they were telling me it was go time.  Yes it was fast, but you would have thought that I would have been completely prepared. I wasn’t.  Finally I said, “Call the doctor, and tell him that he better hurry.” 

By the time that the doctor got there, I was VERY ready to push.  I made Chris fan me (but not during severe pain moments).  Give me ice chips (but not too big or too small of ones).  Give positive encouragement (but not say anything stupid or get in my space bubble).  I was super nice to the nurses, but Chris and the Dr. definitely heard exactly what was on my mind.  I like full out yelled at the Dr. (several times).  I told him I had to pee, but he didn’t take me seriously… so I peed on him, while yelling at him… The nurses enjoyed it. 

Having a baby naturally is like running a marathon.  Except instead of going home with a T-shirt, you go home with a baby.  It is the biggest natural high you can find.  Yes, it hurts like crazy, but somehow in the end it is all worth it.

When I had Milo, the room was packed.  There were two, ten person teams.  One set for me, and one set for Milo.  When I had Taya, it was one nurse for me, one for Taya, Chris, and the Dr.  Everything was so normal and calm.  It was nice, to say the least. 

Taya was beautiful from the first moment that I saw her.  I didn’t know that a newborn could look like she just got off of a ten day cruise, but she did.  Her skin is beautifully smooth and tan.  Her hair is super dark and really long on the sides and back.  Even her head is nicely shaped for a newborn. 

Every man knows that he is going to be crazy about his boys, but I think that Chris was very nervous about having a girl.  He just kept making comments about how he wouldn’t do “those leg things” (tights).  But when Chris first saw Taya, I knew that he was in love all over again.  It was written all over his face, and I could see him fill with pride as they handed her to him.

Within twenty minutes, everything was cleaned up and Chris, Taya, and I were alone in our quiet room in the hospital.  It was crazy.  I kept thinking that someone needed to come and check blood pressure, or temperatures, or something, but I guess when mom and baby are healthy, it really is that easy.

We were so blessed to have our family so close.  So many people came to visit in the short 24 hrs. that we were in the hospital. It was fun to share this wonderful new blessing with them.

Note me eating in the background.  .  . I didn’t even miss a meal J.

When I found out that I was pregnant with Taya, we were very nervous.  The doctor’s told me that I had a 33% chance of getting the same thing that I had with Milo, and the death rate with that disorder in the level that I had it is 20%.  It also comes with a 10% death rate for the baby.  Those are crazy scary odds.  Odds that I never could have accepted risking.  Luckily it wasn’t up to me, and Heavenly Father blessed us with Taya.  Everything about the pregnancy and delivery was textbook and normal.  We know that we were protected and blessed during this time.  Taya was meant to be with us and we are so grateful for her.

Our family is one bigger now, and I’m sure that it will come with its’ challenges, but for now we feel like we won the lottery.  

The Crazy Weeks of Pregnancy

Milo was born at 33 weeks.
At 36 weeks I was so ready for our baby girl.
I mopped the floor.
I did all of the laundry.
I even had the hospital bag in the trunk.
When the Dr. said that I was at a 1, I wanted to slap him.
I was READY. 
Come to find out our baby girl knew what she was doing.

Two days later we rushed to the emergency room.
Not for me... For Chris.












Stinkin appendix that had to be removed.
I left Chris after he woke up from surgery so that I could put Milo to bed.  When I got home he had a temperature of 104... My poor mom was watching him. He had what later turned into Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Seven days of fevers, mouth sores, poor boy.

I brought Chris home at 11 o'clock at night.  Poor guy, what a crazy day.

At my 37 week appointment the Dr. said that I was still only a 1, and I wanted to hug him.  Sick husband and sick 1 year old was all that I could handle.

BUT happy to say that now at 38 weeks, we are recovering and preparing.  Induction is sceduled for Memorial Day.  That's seven days away.  Which reels like forever, but also gives us enough time to return to normal again.

Crash Course to Becoming a Big Boy

Check out this Modern Family Clip
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/hl-40042771/modern_family_cameron_cant_stop_coddling_lily_season_3/
Ya, I let Milo stir and cook everything we eat.
I hold his hand or play boo the whole time I shower.
I haven't left him at nursery because I am too nervous...

Well, that all has to change.
With a new baby on the way, Milo is going to need some independence.
and I am going to need Milo to have some independence.
So I have 8 weeks to turn him into a big boy.
It makes me sad just to think about it.

So-Here are the ground rules.......... Don't judge me for still doing these things. I know that he is 18 months, but what can I say I'm a just like Cam, a coddler.

- No more picking him up when he cries out in the night for mom cuddles.... It's pretty pathetic when he cries until he sees me and then says, "hi mama." and points to the couch. It's even more pathetic that at 2 o'clock in the morning that makes me laugh and I pick him up and carry him over.

- No more bottles. I always make excuses for using a bottle instead of his sippee. Like, "those things are so hard to drink out of." "they spill all over." "He needs a break." He only has 2 bottles a day now, which I also use as an excuse, but not anymore. Big boys drink from cups.

-Limits need to be drawn. I let Milo play with whatever he wants. My mom is also an enabler of this. Some of Milo's favorite games, that I realize probably should be off limits are: climbing in the oven and driving his cars. Playing with the little hot sauce bottles in the fridge. Carrying the dogs food into different rooms. Diving down the stairs into mom's arms, and playing with open toothpaste containers. They are just so darn entertaining.. . .

Milo is just my little buddy. I let him get away with murder sometimes (probably most of the time), because he is just so stinking cute! But with our new house, and new baby on the way, there are going to be new rules. I hope that we can both make it through!

Happy Snow day!

Notice Milo's poor head. He ran smack into a wall when he was running around with his eyes closed.

I couldn't find boy boots, so Milo got to rock these hot pink beauties.

I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant

Have you seen this show?

Pretty ridiculous right?

Totally unbelievable?

........

Ya, I'm a believer.

Found out about a week ago that I am 11 weeks pregnant.

I was clueless.

It was a fluke that we even found out.

........

I know it sounds crazy. Like um, weren't you missing something?

NO.

No, I wasn't.

........

We hadn't pulled the goalie.

........

I had no reason to even suspect.

........

My stomach had been hurting for about two months. I thought I had an ulcer. The doctor sent me in for a C.T. and came back saying that everything looked good in my stomach. . . except there was something abnormal about my uterus. He said that based off of the images they suspected a couple of things could be going on: 1- There was a cyst growing. 2- There was some kind of tumor. 3- I had miscarried some time ago and my body was unable to get rid of it.

........

Two days later I went in for an ultrasound so we could figure out just what was going on.

Longest two day wait of my life.

........

I get there and the lady starts the procedure. She says, "Oh, there's a baby." In my mind I think, "How sad." Then the lady says, "watch it's moving." MOVING? .... MOVING? I ask the stupid question, "so it's alive?" The lady kind of laughs and says, "Ya, and it's pretty big." We heard the heartbeat and watched him squirm around. Holy cow, ready or not, here comes baby #2!

.........

The craziest part about this, is that we had decided that we weren't going to try to have any more children. Of course we wanted more children, but we found out that there is about a 8% chance that either me or the baby will die in the process. We had made this decision maybe a week or two before the C.T. It hurt so bad to think that we weren't going to get to be parents again. But we knew that we had been so blessed to have Milo, and decided that we would find a way to be happy with just one.

Well, Heavenly Father obviously had different plans for us.

We are optimistic that everything is going to be fine, because we know without a doubt that this baby was not an oops. It was an answer to our prayers. We did not know if we had the faith to take that leap again. If ever there was a clear answer, that kicking baby on the monitor was it.

Walls, Windows, and Doors... and Snow:(

We didn't beat the first snow storm of the year, but our house is coming along GREAT!

I can't wait to fill up those rooms.

It's Official

This giant hole will someday (hopefully in the NEAR future) will be our home!!!