Catching up...

I finally started a blog!  Now, hopefully this will force me to be better about taking pictures - I want to make sure I capture all of our family's big moments!  You'll have to excuse the appearance for now.  I'm new to this and need to figure out how to dress it up.

So that being said, I'm going to try to squeeze in the pregnancy highlights and Layla's first month into this initial post, so please bear with me...

First off, finding out I was pregnant.  Basically I kind of ruined it.  I took a pregnancy test the morning of Saturday, November 7th, 2009 just because I had a feeling.  I waited about 10 seconds, didn't see the second pink line come up, got frustrated, threw it away and went to breakfast with Nick where I complained the whole time.  When we got home, I happened to glance into the bathroom trash can and there it was - a positive pregnancy test!  I'd always imagined how I would tell my husband - that it would be this special moment, I would plan out a great way to tell him, maybe even record his reaction.

Didn't happen that way.

I had a mini freak-out, dug the test out of the trash, yelled for Nick, and we spent the next 15 minutes Googling "false positive pregnancy test results", since I thought the test might be wrong because it sat for so long.  Then we made a Walgreens run and bought something like eight more tests to be sure.  After those, we finally relaxed and celebrated the good news! I guess it didn't happen the way I pictured, but it's definitely something that I'll remember!

As far as my pregnancy, I was lucky and it was pretty non-eventful.  No morning sickness, which was great.  Just lots of swelling.  Here are a few bump pics.  I guess it's true what they say, the memories of being pregnant fade quickly, because I can't remember what it felt like at all!

20 weeks pregnant

34 weeks pregnant

We were thrown wonderful baby showers, and are so blessed to have such great people around us.  Alisa, Ashley, Kate and Amelia threw a beautiful shower at Alisa's house.  I was so happy to see all of my friends, the food was wonderful, and the decorations were adorable!  Also, all of the guests filled out questionnaires which have been a lot of fun to read through.

 

My co-workers at Chevron threw us a shower as well, and it was great.  Nick had already started his new job by then, so it was nice for him to come back and catch up.  Everyone was so generous, and it reminded me again how lucky I am to work where I do!

Nick's step dad's nieces also threw us a shower at their annual family reunion.  It was a great day - we played some really fun games, the food was amazing, and I was very excited to be able to visit with so much of the extended family.  Next year, we get to bring Layla!

Nick's co-workers threw us a shower as well, and of course, by that time pregnancy brain had totally taken over and I forgot my camera.  We had a wonderful time there as well, everyone I met was so nice and it was great to finally put faces to names.  I can't wait to bring Layla for a visit to both of our offices!

On to the delivery story.  On Friday, July 16th, Nick and I went out to dinner with Heather, Adam and baby Reed, who is totally adorable and about three months older than Layla.  I was having some pain at dinner, but ignored it because I had been having pains off and on for a while.  Plus, I had my 40 week check up that morning and had made no progress since 36 weeks.  My doctor was thinking that I was going to have to be induced at 41 weeks, since my body did not seem to be preparing itself for labor at all.  Heather kept asking me "Are you SURE you aren't having contractions?", but I was convinced it was nothing.  I should have listened to her...

So, that next Saturday morning, July 17th at 6:30AM, I got up for the millionth bathroom visit, but this time was different.  I won't go into detail, but again, there Nick and I were, Googling "water breaking" to figure out if that was what happened.  My doctor told us to come on in, so we each grabbed a quick shower, did a bit of last minute packing, said goodbye to the dogs, and off we went.  We were surprisingly calm, actually - I thought we would be the crazy couple like you see in the movies!

We got to the hospital around 8 AM.  We checked in to Labor and Delivery, which seemed to take forever, and then they did a test to make sure that my water had in fact broken.  Once they confirmed and we got the all clear that the baby was coming, we called our parents, sent texts to our friends, and settled in.

And that's when the real fun started.... 

I was NOT expecting that much pain right away!  It really seemed to go from pretty managable to horrible in no time. I labored for a bit on my own, then they decided to give me some Pitocin to get things moving a bit faster since my water had already broken.  I was pretty scared at that point since I didn't have my epidural yet, but what can you do?  The next few hours are a blur since they did give me some pain meds through my IV that made me kind of woozy. 

Finally I was far enough along for the epidural.  I was nervous about getting it beforehand, but by that time I just wanted the pain to stop so it didn't even phase me.  I progressed really quickly from then on, and once it was time, I only had to push through three or four contractions, about 10 minutes total. 

One funny thing I have to add - sorry honey - but Nick got light-headed while I was pushing!  After the first contraction, he had to go sit down.  All during my pregnancy, I teased him about passing out during my labor, but didn't think it was an actual possibility! After that initial one, he pulled it together and was good to go, and cut the cord once she arrived.

Layla Grace Banker was born at 4:20 PM (my birthday!) and was 7 lbs, 3 oz and 19 inches long.  It was so surreal to actually see her, but she was instantly familiar to me.  We had our bonding time with her for about an hour, then our family came in to hold her, and then we were moved to our post-partum room.

The hospital stay was one big sleepless blur as well. We had family and friends come visit, plenty of check-ups, and a couple of meltdowns from Layla! It was great to finally get home...

Layla is now seven weeks old.  She is in size 1 diapers and wears size 0-3 months in clothes, and is a little eater.  I don't know her weight yet, I'll post it after her 8 week appointment, but I will say that she has already grown up so much!  She loves being cuddled and sleeping in your arms, and is constantly glancing around with a very serious look on her face.  She just recently started sleeping for four to five hours straight at night, which has made such a difference for me. She's becoming more and more interactive every day - she loves batting at different things on her play mat, and has started making the cutest little "oohs and aahs" when she is excited.

Here are some pictures of her over the last several weeks:

Hungry baby waiting to be discharged from the hospital

Mallard and Layla

First bath

Ready for the car

Dressing up and liking it!

Six weeks old, exhausted from a long day on the play mat!

This post is long enough so I'll stop it here, I could go on forever! She's doing great - Nick and I are having a wonderful time with her and love her to pieces!