Our New Arrival

*Birth story ahead.  It is long and semi-detailed; mostly for my remembering.  Skip to the pictures if you'd like.*

Alright, let's see if I can relay the birth story of Kylie.  It started Saturday night around 11:00pm when I went upstairs to go to bed.  Scott was going to stay up a little longer and watch something on the T.V.  I tried to go to sleep, but the contractions were coming.  It was enough that I couldn't sleep and an hour and a half later, went downstairs to hang out with Scott.  We put on the movie Stardust to watch and during the whole movie, I was having contractions. We started timing them and it was around 3am when the contractions were becoming more regular. 

We made sure we had everything and left.  I was worried that it was false labor because it seemed that the contractions were very short and I remembered reading that they should be about 1 minute long for it to be real labor.  Despite the duration of the contractions, they were very consistent in how far apart they were--4 minutes.  I had been told that once you arrive at the hospital they don't let you eat or drink, so be sure to eat something before you head in.  I had actually thrown up dinner right before we left the house, but I didn't want to go in on an empty stomach.  We found a McDonald's (one of the few 24 hour restaurants) and just got drinks because I really couldn't stomach any food.

We arrived at the hospital around 4:00am and checked in.  When the nurse checked me, she said I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced, so I was staying. I expressed wanting an epidural and within an hour of checking into the room, I received it.  I was surprised at how quickly I got it, but I guess the anesthesiologist wanted to do it before his shift was over that morning (so he could also check on me during his shift instead of after).  Getting the epidural really wasn't that bad, but I became so numb!  I really had a hard time feeling the lower half of my body.  Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for it since I couldn't feel the contractions at all, but it was weird not really being able to move my legs.

I was able to get a good solid hour of sleep before I woke up and started feeling contractions again.  The nurse checked me and I had dilated to a 6 now and still 90+% effaced.  Because I was so numb from the epidural, I needed to rotate every 30 or so minutes so one side doesn't get worse.  At one point, I needed to turn over and had Scott help me.  As I turned over, I started to feel really nauseous and threw up the drink I got from McDonald's.  However, when I sat up to throw up, my water broke!  We called the nurse, she came in, checked me and I was now dilated to a 9!

She quickly called my doctor to let him know what was going on.  I swear Kylie knew that this was supposed to be the day she was born.  At my last doctor's appointment, I was informed that he would be going out of town the next week, so to try to have the baby by then.  Also, he would be on-call Friday and Sunday, but not Saturday.  Kylie came the day before he headed off on vacation and a day he was on-call.  Crazy how things work out.  I sure was praying hard that it would.

Pushing lasted about 30 minutes and Kylie was born at 9:45am and 7 lbs, 13 oz., 19 inches long!!  While the nurse was washing her off, she noticed that Kylie wasn't getting enough oxygen.  They took Kylie to the nursery and pulled out a total of 15 milligrams of fluid from her stomach!  She was only in the nursery for about 2 1/2 hours though, so she did great in coming back.  Recovery for me went pretty well, actually.  I had some shakes after delivery and was super exhausted, so I was able to rest up while Kylie was in the nursery (Scott was there with her).  The only thing that I didn't enjoy was that I was numb in my right leg (from the epidural) until about 10:00 that night.  I couldn't stand on it at all, so I had to have a lot of help to go to the bathroom.  I was stuck in bed until the numbness went away.

Altogether, labor, delivery and recovery went quite well!!  Scott & I love our sweet girl and are so excited that she is a part of our family!  I know there will be a point where we won't be able to imagine life without her...and I am okay with that.

Now, pictures for your viewing pleasure. :)

40 weeks and 3 days. Right before heading to the hospital.

Contraction!

All checked in!

She's here!  Just chilling while getting checked out.

7 lbs. 13 oz.

Done with labor and recovering.

Poor baby is on oxygen.

My mom loves the fact that Scott is asleep in the background.

Kylie with her daddy.

So sweet!

I love the cute hat they made her in the nursery.

Uncle Kyle

Aunt Brianna

Uncle Aaron

Grandma

First family picture!!

Fun surprise from my mom

Mommy and daddy love you Kylie Elizabeth Fletcher!!

Waiting In Anticipation

39 weeks pregnant!!

Between 35 to 39 weeks, I feel that I have grown a lot.  It will be surprising to see how much this baby girl weighs when she is born.  I had another ultrasound at 37 weeks to make sure that everything was measuring well with the baby since she measured the same twice in a row.  We asked the ultrasound tech how much she thinks the baby weighs and she said about 7 lbs 2 oz, give or take a pound.  I remember Scott being shocked at hearing that number.  He was so set on this girl being as tiny as he was at 5 lbs.  And he was the biggest in his family!  Now, if at 37 weeks she was measuring about 7 lbs and I am now 5 days away from my due date, I'm thinking I might have an 8+ lb baby. 

I have absolutely no clue when this baby is coming.  I have had no signs that there is any progressing.  I am dilated to 2 cm and 60-70% effaced, but that's been the same at my last two doctor visits.  Apparently, it's good that I'm already dilated to 2 cm, but I feel that this baby might be late.  I have not felt the Braxton Hicks contractions, which can be a helpful sign that something is happening.  It doesn't matter what I read about labor or what I hear from others about labor because it is so different for everyone.

I am part of this mommy group on Facebook where advice is given and questions are answered about anything.  I thought it was weird at first when a friend invited me to the group (because I'm not yet a mom), but I actually love being a part of it now.  I haven't asked any questions on there, but it's fun to see other people ask questions that I didn't realize I had as well.  People give their honest opinions about things and it's just another way to find out more information about whatever.  A lot of the group members live in Utah too and it's just a great support group.

There are a few girls in the group who are due days apart from me.  One girl, who is due the 9th, asked about how to progress her labor as nothing seemed to be happening and the responses were so different.  Some people gave advice to do things like stretch or eat pineapple (I didn't know that was something that could help...maybe because of the acidity?), but the majority just said that labor will happen on its own.  There were responses saying that contractions didn't occur until the day they were due or the only sign of labor was their water breaking.

It will be interesting to see how everything works for me.  I know this baby will come when she is supposed to, but sometimes the waiting gets hard.  Anyways, here is the last time I will be doing this fun questionnaire!

How far along?: 39 weeks! 5 days to go!
Total weight gain/loss?: I think in the end, it was between 25-30 lbs.
Maternity clothes?: Yeah. I only have one dress that I can wear to church too.
Stretch marks?: Nope! Lucky me! :)
Sleep?: Sleep happens when it can. There are nights where I sleep fine and then other nights where I have to sleep on the couch because of my back. I take tons of naps throughout the day now. This growing baby inside of me is wearing me out!
Missing anything?: A good nights sleep! Haha.
Movement?: Yup.  She doesn't kick as much as there's not much room in there, but just rolls around.
Food cravings?: I like anything cold. Popsicles, ice cream, water, snow cones, smoothies, etc.
Anything making you queasy or sick?: Not anymore!
Have you started to show yet?: I'm going to say yes. :)
Gender: Baby Girl!!
Labor signs: No. Sigh...
Belly button in or out: It has popped out, but not very much. You can't even see it through a shirt.
Wedding ring on or off: On, although my fingers swell from time to time and it gets a little tight.
Happy or moody most of the time: I'm happy. :)
Looking forward to: Meeting our sweet girl, Kylie!

What's In a Name?

Naming our baby girl actually turned out to be harder than we thought.  When we were engaged, my sister-in-law Rebecca threw me a bridal shower and asked Scott & I both the same questions for people to guess who answered what.  One of the questions asked what names we would like for our kids.  Without discussing this beforehand, Scott & I both answered with the name Kimberly for a girl. It was quite surprising to realize that we had both said the same name.

When we found out that we were having a girl, it made sense that the name Kimberly was at the top of the list on what to name her.  Figuring out a middle name that flowed took more time, however.  We both couldn't really agree on a middle name.  Since it took some time to figure that out, I started realizing that I just wasn't sure about the name Kimberly anymore.  I've been told that the best way to know if you really like a name is to say it out loud and I had a hard time saying the name Kimberly out loud.  It just didn't seem like the right name anymore.  Scott was a little disappointed and I did feel a little sad because we had both agreed on the name before we were even married!  How can this not be the name anymore?  What to do now?

Scott & I started looking at baby names in books and online.  It was a little difficult to figure out what I was looking for since Kimberly really was the only name we had in mind.  Also, being a teacher, there were a few names that were definitely out.  Looking back now, I'm pretty sure there are more boy names that I don't enjoy because of past students rather than girl names.  I also had opinions about which names are popular based on the number of students I've had with that name.  Spelling was big too since I've seen a lot of weird spelling.  I love this comic because it is a funny representation of names.

I decided that I still wanted a name with the "k" sound, like McKenna or McKenzie.  After looking at a lot of names and both of us dismissing a lot of names, we finally made a decision on a name we both enjoy.

Yes, we have gone with Kylie Fletcher!  I love it and we are not changing it last minute at the hospital because I spent time and money making those letters in that picture. Haha. Now, we do have a dilemma on picking a middle name for her!  This is probably something we will figure out at the hospital.  Here are the ideas we have so far for her:

• Kylie Camille Fletcher
• Kylie Cassidy Fletcher
• Kylie Christina Fletcher
• Kylie McKenna Fletcher
• Kylie Elizabeth Fletcher

My favorite one is Kylie Elizabeth and I'm not sure which one is Scott's favorite, but he would like a middle name that starts with a "C" so our girl could have the nick-name of K.C.  Which one do you think works best?  Either way, there's only 10 days until her due date and her name will be official! :)

Painting Makeover

When we moved into our house about a year ago, there wasn't a lot of color in the house.  Three rooms had some color, but the majority of the house was either tan or gray.  Neutral colors are fine, however we thought it was a little boring and wanted to add some life into our home.  We even thought that the gray in our family room made it feel a little dark.

It has been a  year now and we have repainted four rooms now, three of them being major traffic areas (kitchen, entry room and family room).  I really like how the colors we picked brighten up the rooms.  Our house has such an open feel to it the way it's designed that it just made sense to pick colors that would pop.  Like I said in my previous post, it did take some time to find the right colors (we have 7-8 sample paint jars) and I think we picked colors that we can live with for quite a few years without getting annoyed or bored with them.

Scott & I both always wanted some sort of blue in the family room and green or yellow were an option for the kitchen.  The green we chose for the kitchen ended up being a lot brighter than we thought to where we wouldn't want it on the large empty wall in the entry room because it was just too much.  We then found a yellow that really toned down the green, but not so much that it wasn't noticeable.  We wanted at least one color to pop in our house, but not be overwhelming to look at.  I think we found the perfect combination of all three.  What do you think?

Before pictures of the entry room:

 

After pictures of the entry room:

Before pictures of the kitchen:

 After pictures of the kitchen:

 Before picture of the family room:

After picture of the family room:

Now that painting is out of the way, we can begin decorating each room just the way we want.  It will probably take another year or so, but I'm excited to work on putting our house together.  I want our place to be a home that people feel comfortable being in and a place that people want to go to.  After all, it is in the home where love is felt, laughter is heard and memories are made.

Paint, Raspberries, a Birthday and Soccer Game

Scott has been working hard at getting the house painted before the baby comes.  We had some help from family painting our family room, but Scott's been painting the kitchen and entry room all on his own.  The blue that we picked for our family room looks great and really brightens up the room unlike the gray that was there before.  We picked a green for the kitchen and a wall in our entry room, but the green turned out to be a lot brighter than we anticipated.  It took us forever to find a green that we liked in the first place so starting over from scratch didn't sound too appealing.  We settled on picking a yellow for the entry room which I think looks great and tones down the brightness of the green.  I'll post pictures once it's 100% finished.
           I am glad that the painting will be done before the baby comes, but I wish there was more time to really figure out how we want the rooms decorated now.  I feel like I don't want to hang up anything we had on the walls before because I am not sure that's where I want them anymore.  I think we might just have some blank walls for a bit as we decide how we want the final look of the kitchen, entry way and family room to be.

My Aunt Debbie & Uncle Kent have a raspberry forest in their backyard.  Because of this, they get a lot of raspberries every year and are sometimes unable to pick them all because there are so many.  Raspberries are Scott's favorite fruit and he loves fresh raspberry jam.  Raspberries are expensive to buy at the store as is, so getting enough to make jam can cost a lot of money.  Luckily for my husband, I was on top of it this year and texted my aunt about coming up to pick some raspberries. She said yes and last week we were able to head on up and pick as many raspberries as we wanted!  Scott was in heaven as he ate about as many as he picked.  Good thing I have self control or else there would be no raspberries to make any jam with.  It was very nice for them to let us come up and get raspberries for free and I think they were glad that we were willing to actually come up and get them ourselves.

Scott is nearing the big 3-0 as he is now 29 years old.  Just like my birthday this year, the celebration was very low-key.  I had plans to head up to Snowbird to chat with some cousins for a few hours in the afternoon.  I was worried Scott would be bored and I felt bad for leaving him on his birthday, but Kyle came over and hung out with him.  Scott, Kyle and Lane then went golfing and had a good time, so I'm glad that Scott went out and did something.  I was able to get home before he did and I made him cupcakes out of his favorite yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting.  The rest of the night was spent relaxing and going to bed early since Scott had to work the next day.  I usually try really hard to make his birthday super special, but I'm okay that it was low-key.  I plan on doing something big for his birthday next year since he'll be turning 30!  Happy Birthday to the man I love so much and who I know will be the best daddy ever! :)

RSL in red & Sporting KC in blue.

Saturday night, we saw Real Salt Lake play soccer against Sporting Kansas City.  My sister Brianna was brave and donned her Sporting KC gear among very dedicated RSL fans.  Kansas City won 2-1, but I do wish it was a better played game.  It seemed that these two teams had it out for one another and there was a lot of tripping, falling and fouls being called.  Either way, my home team won and I was secretly glad on the inside although I was not as brave as my sister to be so vocal about the win.  Afterwards was a fabulous fireworks show to end the night.

Maternity Pictures

Back in June, I was able to get some maternity pictures taken.  At first, I wasn't sure about getting professional pictures taken since it can be a little pricey.  However, I really wanted pictures of me pregnant that I can look back on without embarrassment.  I saw some pictures on Facebook of an old room-mate and her family and noticed that they were taken by another old room-mate's sister (Melanie), whom I had met up at BYU-Idaho.  I looked at her photography blog (http://www.melparkerphoto.blogspot.com/) and really liked her pictures.  She also had a little sale going of these mini-sessions where I can get a CD of pictures instead of having to buy some.  The price was great and since I had met her before, I felt comfortable having her take my pictures.

She lives up in Ogden, which is almost 2 hours away from Salt Lake, so I was glad that she was willing to travel.  We went to the International Peace Gardens which was very pretty.  The weather was great and it wasn't too crowded with people.  My old room-mate came with her and it was so nice to have her there to make taking pictures more at ease. 

I really do love these pictures and it was definitely worth it.

Stadium of Fire

For 4th of July this year, I bought tickets for a friend and I to go see the Stadium of Fire.  This production happens every year down in Provo at the football stadium.  There is always a little program, a concert with a well-known singer and fireworks.  It is a very popular event to go to and I wanted to experience it.  It helped that the singer at the concert was Kelly Clarkson, whose majority of songs I know.  For me, going to a concert is a lot more enjoyable when you know the artists' music.  Another singer there was Carly Rae Jepsen, who is a hit with the younger crowd and has a very well known song of "Call Me Maybe".  I actually thought about being her for Halloween this past year with Scott being the guy she talks about in the song.

Scott was working the holiday, so I invited my friend Amanda (whom I was room-mates with in college) to come with me.  We met up and had dinner beforehand and arrived at the stadium right when it started.  I picked the cheapest seats I could find, so we were up towards the top, but I think we had a great view of the fireworks.  The fireworks ended at 11:00pm, but I didn't get home until 1:00am.  Even though we tried to park on some side roads, there was still a lot of traffic to get through before hitting the freeway.  Amanda and I also stopped to get some $.50 ice cream cones from Burger King on the way back.  It was delicious.

Parachuting the flag into the stadium.

Amanda and I!

Fun dance performance.

It was pretty funny watching the dancers dance in these.

Cirque du Soleil!

Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson

The Stadium of Fire was fun and I'm glad I got to experience it, but it is something I wouldn't plan on doing every year.  I've seen much better firework shows and it just isn't the best activity for younger kids (the small kids around us were getting very fidgety and tired with quite a few kids laying down on the bleachers sleeping and this younger boy behind me plugged his ears during Kelly Clarkson and would screech every so often asking when the music would stop.).  I'm glad I was able to do this before having kids, although it was a little exhausting for someone who is 35 weeks pregnant.

Speaking of pregnant, here is my 35 week picture!

There's really no reason to do a whole post on me being 35 weeks since there hasn't been anything new going on.  I do crave anything cold all the time now like smoothies, any form of ice cream, frozen yogurt, popsicles, etc.  My belly button hasn't popped out, but it sure is close.  I've been lucky to not have really any swelling, which is surprising since it's been a rather warm summer.  My wedding ring can still fit on my finger and I get tired really quickly now.  I love that I still have a month until she is due since there is still a lot to get done, but I really cannot wait until she is born and we get to hug and play with her.