3 weeks old

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#2

Brea Rose Shaver
December 8, 2009
10:39am
7lbs 10oz

Now that she's almost 3 weeks old, I finally have some time to type up some of the details of her exciting debut...

At 38 weeks pregnant, we went to the doctor to see if our little baby was still in the breech position or if she had flipped to the head own position. Luckily she had flipped, so we scheduled an induction so that she wouldn't flip on us again.

On Monday, December 7th, we said goodbye to Eden and headed to the hospital to start the induction process. It was 8pm so we were prepared for a looong night. We got off to a rough start when it took over an hour to get my IV started. A couple of different nurses tried, but my veins kept blowing. They finally had to call the anesthesiologist to try and finally, after laying practically upside down (to get my blood flowing better?) , he found a cooperative vein. So then came the pitocin. It wasn't until about 2am that I could finally start feeling some contractions. We couldn't keep a steady heart beat for the baby, so the nurse attempted to put an internal monitor on her head but instead broke my water. THEN, I could feel some contractions! After about 20 contractions I asked for the epidural even though I was only 3cm dilated. Haha, I'm a baby.

After getting the epidural, we slept for a few hours since things were progressing pretty slowly. It took me about 10 hours to go from 2cm to 6cm but once I hit 6cm things went really fast! At 10am, the nurse checked me and I was 10cm and ready to push. We did 2 practice pushes and then had to wait for the doctor because she was ready to get out of there. Once the doctor came in, it was only about 5 minutes until I had her. It was so easy! My Mom and Sister were in the delivery room with us and we all cried as soon as she came out. She was so perfect! The nurses laid her on my chest and let me hold her for a good 30-40 minutes before taking her to get all cleaned up. I felt great and had no tearing or stitches. As soon as the epidural wore off I was up and walking and haven't felt any pain since. I never thought I would feel so good after delivering a baby.

After we got to our post partum room, we had tons of visitors. That night, a nurse had come to take some of the baby's vital signs and she was concerned about a little murmur she heard with her heart. They took her to the NICU for observation for the night and I tried to get as much sleep as possible while being woken up every 2 hours to go feed her. The next morning, they did an EKG and an echocardiogram on her heart. They pediatrician said that a little heart murmur is normal and that he wasn't concerned and released us from the hospital. We were so happy!

After leaving the hospital, we drove straight to my parents house to pick up Eden since she wasn't allowed to be in the hospital at all. I missed her SO much! We finally get home, get all situated and put Eden to bed for the night. As we were getting all tucked into bed for the night(at 11:30pm!), Craig's phone rings and it was The NICU from Banner Desert (the NICU from the most advanced hospital in the area) saying that some of Brea's blood had tested positive for an infection and that we needed to go to the NICU right away and admit her. Of course, I was a wreck. That was probably the most evil thing you could do to a Mom the night she brings her baby home! Craig gave Brea the sweetest blessing and I just knew everything was going to be ok... but I was still scared to death!

We get to the hospital and they immediately hooked Brea up to some monitors and started her IV. They had a little room that I could stay in since I had to be there 24/7 to feed her. We were in the regular NICU for that first night then they moved us to another part of the NICU where Brea and I could share a little room so that I wouldn't have to be away from her at all. Being in the NICU was really depressing and I hope that I never have to go back! They had taken more of Brea's blood to test it again for infection and we had to wait 2 days for the results to come back. Meanwhile, they had started her on antibiotics to fight the infection. Luckily, the test results came back negative, which means that her first test results were contaminated. The doctor's had assumed that was the case because Brea looked and acted so healthy, but it was still scary not to know what was going on for 2 days! Somehow, Brea's blood got contaminated with bacteria after it had been taken from her. It happens in about 1 of every 500 blood draws. So, we were released from the hospital on Friday night (we had been in the hospital since Monday!) and we've been home ever since and she is healthy as can be!

She is such a good baby and we love her to death! Eden is such a little Mother and wants to help me do everything! She even breastfeeds her dolls while I'm feeding Brea. She wants to be a part of every single diaper change, every bath and she thinks that she needs to help dress her too. It's pretty cute. She calls her "Baby Beeba". She has been sleeping so well at night and has been giving me 5 hour stretches at a time lately! If she's not sleeping, she's eating and she rarely fusses. I hope she stays this good!

Now for some pictures. If you want to see the entire album, Click Here.

Just waiting...

I've made it to 38 weeks. I'm tired, and hurting... but I see the end in sight! Even if the end isn't quite how I planned on it happening. At 36 weeks, I went into my regular checkup and had my first internal check done. I was 1cm and 50% effaced. She was head down and engaged so nicely. At 37 weeks, I went in to get checked and we couldn't find her heartbeat. She had hiccups while we were trying to find it and she was moving like crazy so I wasn't worried, but after 3 nurses tried to find the heartbeat, they finally let the doctor give it a try. The doctor checked me first and said he couldn't feel the head anymore. He put the doppler at the very top of my belly and we heard her heart pounding away. She's breech!

Que the crying. I knew just what that meant... C-Section. We did a quick ultrasound and confirmed that she's in the footling breech position with her head on my right side, her butt on my left side and her feet straight down. No wonder I've been having these crazy back numbing spasms lately. We go back to the doctor on Wednesday to see if she's still breech. I am pretty positive that she is since her movements are so in line with her position. If she hasn't moved, we'll head on over to the hospital and try to move her by an external version. I've heard these are pretty painful, but I think I'll do just about anything to avoid a C-Section. If the Version fails, we'll schedule a C-Section in the near future.

I am pretty freaked out. A C-Section isn't what I had in mind at all! I have gotten a little more used to the idea, but it's still not what I want. I loved Labor and Delivery with Eden and remember leaving the hospital saying that I couldn't wait to do it again. I was just expecting to have the same experience this time. We're praying pretty hard that she flips and we avoid having the C-Section. I think Craig is secretly excited that he might be able to watch a pretty cool surgery.

Now if only Craig and I could agree on a name....

Eden is doing great. She totally knows what's coming. She says "hi baby sissy" every morning to my belly and has to kiss it. She's getting extra clingy to us and wants us to carry her everywhere. She watches A Baby Story with me just about every day and gets so excited when the babies are born. She yells, "Come out baby!". She's pretty hilarious. She's putting 4 words together at a time and it seriously blows us away how she is learning everything so quickly. She thinks she's Queen of the house and she is seriously treated like one. There is no lack of attention here.

My Pretty Princess!

I can't wait to have TWO little princesses! It is going to be so much fun and it is approaching way too fast. This pregnancy is going well. I am feeling better now than I have for the last 15 weeks, which is nice. It's not painful to sleep anymore so I can't complain! Eden is already protective of the baby in my stomach, although she always answers NO when I ask her if she is excited to have a new sister. Interesting.

Eden is into everything girly right now. Ever since she was 8 months old, she HATED wearing bows in her hair. I struggled with it for a YEAR and just recently she has started asking me to put bows in her hair. it's crazy! I love it! She also loves wearing her bracelets (which she used to rip off as soon as I would put them on) and she throws a fit when I try to take off her necklace for naptime or bedtime.

She's talking like a champ. She's putting 2, 3 and even 4 words together now. She knows the sounds of all the animals, shapes (circle, heart and star), and she absolutely loves to color. She keeps herself entertained for hours with only a notebook and a pen. Her other obsession is her babies. She has 2 baby dolls that she takes care of all day long. She puts them down for naps, feeds them, wraps them up in their blankies and even wipes their butts with her baby wipes. Such a little nurturer. Her favorite time of the day is when Daddy comes home from work. She dances down the hallway and does this crazy little hopping/skipping thing. She has quite the personality.

Pictures!

A few weekends ago we went and stayed the night at a cabin up north with the Stewarts and Trey and Amber. We had tons of fun!


Exhausted!


messy face. Half dirt, half cheese.



Love him!



Eden's new friend she made

The kids

Eden got mad at me when I told her we had to go in the cabin. I got slapped.

having so much fun by the fire

Quick Trip to Utah

On Thursday night I was talking to Brooke on Facebook. She nicely reminded me that I hadn't been up to Utah to visit her and that I should come soon. I sent a text to my Dad that night that said, Want to go to Utah tomorrow? He called and said let's go! So, we were on our way early the next morning... just me, Eden, my dad and my little sister, Annie. We drove all day long (11 hours) and were in Provo, Utah just in time to meet Brooke and Sam for dinner on Friday night. Eden did SO good on the drive. She didn't cry once. I was so proud of her!

On Saturday, we went to this totally cute Farmer's Market down the street, had lunch at Five Guys (best burger ever), watched movies, made Annie a birthday cake, went to McGrath's Fish house for dinner, watched movies and played 5 crowns. It was such a fun day! On Sunday we all had breakfast together and drove the 11 hours back home again. It was a short trip, but totally worth it. I miss my sister!

Girl Trapped!

That's right, Craig is totally going to be girl trapped. (that's what my nephew, Max calls it). We're having another girl! I am so excited! I feel totally prepared since I have so much stuff from Eden. I spent so much money on her cute little clothes and I'm glad I get to use them again. I think Craig is still somewhat in shock by having 2 girls, but he'll get used to it. Needless to say, we are excited and can't wait to meet her in December.

Excited for her new sister!

What we've been up to...

It's officially Summer! That means lots and lots of swimming, watermelon and BBQ's! Nothing too exciting has been happening in our 'hood, just the same everyday stuff that makes our lives exciting.

I'm now almost 12 weeks pregnant and I'm feeling great! This pregnancy has been much, MUCH easier than Eden's and I'm so grateful! My morning sickness is almost completely gone and I don't have to worry about gagging and puking in public anymore. What a relief.

So far, this pregnancy has flown by. I know it's because I have Eden and she occupies 100% of my time. I don't have time to count how many weeks, days, hours I am pregnant anymore. I don't have the time to look up pictures of my growing baby every single day like I did the first time around. Don't get me wrong, I am just as excited for this little one, but it's not always the first thing on my mind. It's kind of nice though... it makes it go by fast.

Since it's been nice and warm outside we've been swimming a ton! Craig's parents have a beautiful pool that we've been taking advantage of as much as possible. Eden just loves the water... especially when her cousins are swimming with her. She loves using Floties and just floats all around the pool by herself while kicking her cute little feet.

Speaking of Eden... she is growing up so fast. I can't believe how smart she is! She has quite the vocabulary already... something I never expected this early. Even her doctor was impressed by her words and how clearly she says them. Her newest words are Jonah and Eli. I love how she says Eli... it's so cute! She loves those boys and they are so good with her. At her 15 month check up she weighed 23 pounds (50-60th percentile) and I can't remember her height but she was in the 90th percentile!! That came as such a shock because she has always been in the 30th percentile for her height. She had a major growth spurt! Her favorite words are baby, Nana, Papa (she LOVES her grandpas!), doggy, puppy, kitty, yucky, yummy, Jonah, Eli, cheese, tickle, mammy, daddy, shoes, cookie, yeah, no, eyes, and diaper.

Last weekend Craig and I got to go to California by ourselves... without Eden! It was the first time we have ever left her and we totally missed her the entire time but we had so much fun together. We went for Jared's (Craig's brother) graduation from Optometry School. Congratulations, Jared! We were able to see some of Craig's family and friends and we even had a little bit of time to ourselves... it was great! Eden had a blast staying with my parents and I'm sure she got endless amounts of attention from her aunts, uncles and grandparents. She wasn't even that excited to see us after we got home. She ran as fast as she could up to us, then as soon as she got within arms distance, she took off running the other way. Oh well... maybe one day she'll miss us when we leave!

Eden floating around in Nana's pool:

She loves laying on the raft to warm up a little bit:

Our date last night- the D-Back's game!

Eden hanging out at the Maxfield's:

Coming in December...

Water Baby

I love that Eden loves the water! I guess you have to love the water when you grow up in Arizona, right? Here are a few pictures of Eden having fun at Nonna and Papa's house in the water. She was so jealous that Jonah and Eli got to take a bath and I'm sure she guilted Joyce into putting her in the bath too, but look how happy it made her!

She also LOVED the Slip N' Slide! Why doesn't that surprise me? She loves everything! he's such a happy kid and thinks every day is the best day ever!

To: Funny and PJ Love: Eden

Eden's Great Grandma (we call her Funny) got this dress for Eden's birthday. Isn't it so cute? And she finally has some hair that I can play around with! Now if only she'd keep the bows in for longer than 3 minutes...