Labor and Delivery story

I'm going to give an overview of what happened so I don't forget. I won't get graphic or anything but if you don't want to read about it, skip this post, pictures are below on the post before this.

We got to the hospital at about 6 am on Thursday, October 24. At about 7 am and they started me on the pitocin. Before we started I was dilated to a 2+, which I had been that same way for 2 weeks so I was very nervous that labor would be super long and slow. I was also very nervous when they started the pitocin. I had felt contractions before but not contractions that I knew would lead to the baby being born so that was very scary to me. Contractions started but they were pretty small which surprised me for some reason. I expected it to hit me like a ton of bricks or something since they were giving me pitocin but it didn't at all. We put on the newest Batman to help pass the time. At about 8:00 the doctor came in and broke my water. I didn't expect that to feel so weird either, it was like I was peeing my pants. Then every time I would move, more kept coming. The nurse came in to check me and she was shocked at how much fluid I had, it had soaked the towel and was dripping on the floor. Anyways, after they broke my water the contractions got a lot stronger. At about 9:00 I was at a three, then at about 10:30 I was at a four. At this point I'm thinking, oh my gosh this is going to be the longest day of my life. If it took that long to get two centimeters, I'm gonna be in labor forever! The contractions were super strong and the nurse had said I could get the epidural any time I wanted, but for some reason, I thought I'd be weak if I got it too soon. When she checked me at 10:30 I asked when people usually get it. She wouldn't answer but watched me through a contraction and told me she thinks I should have gotten it about an hour before. Well the anesthesiologist was putting someone out for surgery so he didn't get there til about 11:15. I stayed really calm during the contractions, but I'm not going to lie, in my head I was thinking, "Oh my gosh I can't take this anymore, where the heck is he!!!" Ryan was so good to talk me through them and help me stay relaxed as they came and just kept coming. By the time the anesthesiologist got there I didn't really have "down" times anymore between contractions. The pain never went away, just would get stronger for a bit. When I was scrunched over as he was working on my back Ryan was holding both my hands with his forehead on mine doing so good to keep me calm and still. When the dude was like "Okay I'm putting in the needle, do not move," I'm thinking, "How am I supposed to hold still through this pain!" But I guess I did enough because he got it in. Well right after he got it in I started to feel really super dizzy and lightheaded and my vision would come and go like I was going to pass out. I guess my blood pressure dropped to the floor due to the epidural so they gave me a shot of something to help it go back up and put me on oxygen. Eventually I stabilized and just had the shakes from the shot but I felt a lot better. It was a crazy feeling to know there was a contraction from the pressure, but not feel all the pain I was just feeling a couple minutes before. When all the chaos was over from the epidural the nurse checked me, which was at about 12:00 and I was at a 8+!! She was like, wow you shot right up there. The doctor came in at about 12:30 to go to lunch and I was at a 10. He said I should just try and relax for a bit then I could start pushing in an hour or so but most first time moms push for about 3 hours. I really tried to focus on relaxing through each contraction but it was hard to not push, almost painful to not push. At 1:00 the nurse came in and said that I could start pushing if I wanted or I could relax for a bit longer and let the baby come down on her own. I was like I am so ready to start pushing. I couldn't move my legs from the epidural (another super weird feeling) so her and Ryan helped me pull my legs towards me when I needed to and I pushed with each contraction for 3-10 second intervals. The doctor came in at about 2:00 if I remember right to get her delivered. At this point Ryan said he could see the top of her head so I was just hoping that she would come soon because I was getting very tired. Again my blood pressure dropped so I had to get on oxygen for a couple minutes but kept pushing with the contractions. (oh by the way with all the drops in my blood pressure, baby stayed consistent with her heart beat and all. She did so so good) At 2:26 little miss Paislee was born, so 7.5 hours in labor. Ryan cut the cord, which he swore he wouldn't do and then they laid her on my chest. She only let out one cry when she first came out and then just looked around and didn't make another peep. She just kept looking from me to Ryan, then searching for food :) We got to hold her for about a half hour then they weighed her (8 lbs 0 oz) and cleaned her up and gave her a couple shots. She didn't even cry with the shots just whimpered a little. I think she cried more with the bath than the shots, she did not like that nurse scrubbing her down. Anyways, she has brought so much to our family already, and I love her so much. It is super scary to think about taking care of her but I just hope that Ryan and I can raise her in a way that makes Heavenly Father happy.

Paislee Ray

This is a week and three days before having Paislee. I forgot to take anymore after this.

This is right after they started the pitocin. I hadn't felt a contraction yet from it but I was so so nervous at this point.

This is a couple of minutes after she was born. They hadn't cleaned her up yet but we didn't care. Ryan and I just wanted to snuggle her for a bit.

After they got her cleaned up they took a pic of us. Our first little family picture with Paislee. So weird but so fun :)

Uncle Brett (Ryan's brother) and Aunt Shanelle came and visited that evening after she was born. Paislee was still awake but starting to fall asleep if I remember right. She was awake for so long after she was born.

My family also came and visited that evening after she was born. I'm still in bed because I still couldn't feel my left leg. It took a little over 12 hours to come back. Ryan had to lift my leg up to even have it bent like it is in this picture.

These were taken a couple minutes before we left the hospital on Saturday afternoon. It's her first time in her car seat. She looked so so little in there I was laughing so hard.

 On Halloween, so she was a week old. I love the poof ball in her hair, you just can't see it very good since she is on a black blanket.

Uncle Ricky and cousin Lily visiting when she is a week old. (This is Ryan's other brother and niece.)

Bath time. She really loves baths now that the cord came off and she can get all the way in the water, but I guess she really didn't like Ryan taking her picture because she sure gave him a dirty look for it.

 Paislee's aunt Staci, Ryan's sister who is on a mission, crocheted this blanket for her. She is so creative, I'm sure Paislee will love this blanket always.

Inside the House

 So here is a video of the upstairs of our house. Hopefully it works. I promised Grandma Gregory that I would take pics of the inside a long time ago, I just haven't gotten around to it until now. I don't know how well you can see anything but at least I finally tried. I don't have everything up that I want up, but with me and Ryan working full time and him going to school and me being pregnant, everything takes forever to get done. It may be awhile before everything is how we'd like it to be, but I'm pretty happy with how much we have done so far so here you go :) Then below are some pics just in case the video is hard to see.

 This is Ryan working on painting Paislee's wall, and a finished pic. He drew it on how he wanted it with chalk first then painted it. Once it was dry he just took a cloth and wiped off any chalk that was left. I love how it turned out.

 These are the crib bumpers and crib skirt that I made. Never really sewed anything besides in a sewing class in high school so if you look close I'm sure you could find many many mistakes, but I'm just glad to be done with them. It was actually a lot of fun to at least attempt them.

 Pic of our bedroom. The letters on the canvases and those shelves Ryan cut out and made for me last year for Christmas. So fun to finally have a place to put them up.

 These are pics of the basement living room. I love the fact that we have a wood burning stove. Its pretty outdated down there, but everything is in great condition. Sorry everything is such a mess. I haven't worried about the basement at all. We'll get to it someday though.

 Lots of storage in the basement. All these shelves were here, and Ryan wants to build shelves on the other wall to the right of the picture someday too.

Sorry again for the clutter and stuff everywhere in the pic. This is the "big workroom" downstairs. It used to be 2 bedrooms, but the guy who lived there before us tore it down and must have added that work desk thing in the middle. Its a nice storage space for now, then if we need more bedrooms someday, Ryan will put a wall back up. There is also an unfinished bathroom downstairs that we could finish someday if we ever wanted to.

Fly Boarding

We had the opportunity to go fly boarding at Utah Lake. My parent's neighbor has the equipment and he takes people out as a side job. They gave us a way good deal. I obviously didn't get to participate since we don't really want a baby born quite yet, but it was fun just to watch. Hopefully next summer they will still have the stuff and I'll get to try it then. Here is a video of Ryan and Ashley fly boarding, and a few pictures. (My parents, Ryan, Ashley, Stephen, and Juliann all tried it.) I didn't get very good pictures of my parents because I took a lot of video, but they are quite long and take too long to upload.

My Dad

My Mom

Ryan

Ashley and Stephen

Stephen

Juliann

Brad Paisley concert weekend

On August 2 Ryan and I had tickets to the Brad Paisley concert at USANA amphitheater. It was so fun. I just love concerts, and Brad Paisley is my favorite country singer. To be honest it was my fourth time seeing him in concert, but Ryan had never been to him live and also really likes Brad Paisley's songs. Since concerts usually go until late, we decided to get a hotel and stay the weekend.

 I love Brad Paisley concerts because he gets so into it and the stage is always so flashy and he has tons of animations in the background that he actually does himself. Kinda cool.

We stayed in a hotel right there in Murray called Pavilion Inn. We went for a hike that was called Bell Canyon hike. It was pretty but was very steep. Not too bad under normal circumstances but with a big belly poking out the front of me, I had hard time stepping over some of the big boulders in the trail. It was a half mile to the reservoir, then another mile and a half to a waterfall, which I didn't make it to. We got to the lake and I didn't think I'd make it that much further so we just walked around the lake and went back down. Was very pretty though, I really enjoyed it.

Next we went to Sheels Sporting Goods store. We had never been there so we just walked around and took some funny pictures. I'm sure people thought we were crazy but I thought it was pretty fun.

 Last we went to the Salt Lake temple, and did sealings for family names that Ryan's mom had. Neither of us had ever done these before so we really enjoyed being able to go and do some of Ryan's family names.

It was a pretty laid back and close to home vacation, but we had a lot of fun.
Also as a side note, Ryan finished painting last night so as soon as we get things put back together, I'll post pictures of the inside of our house. Maybe even a video if I can figure it out. :)

Belly Shots

So I have been taking somewhat weekly belly shots since I started showing, and since I haven't had a blog or a place to really put them, I'll just post them all at once.

This was when we found out. Actually this was the next day because the day we found out, I'm not gonna lie, I was so nervous I was crying and didn't really want any pictures.

 This is at 16 weeks, I didn't think to make a sign or something yet.

 We found out it was a girl on Friday May 17. Our families were both coming the next morning to help us move out of the apartment so we bought a bunch of pink balloons to announce the gender.

 Here is us letting the balloons out of the boxes. It was kind of windy so it didn't work out quite like I pictured, but it was still fun.

This is where I am at right now. (The turquoise wall behind me is one of the walls in the baby's room. Ryan is going to paint paisleys and such on it. I love the color so I'm excited to see what it looks like when he is finished.)

Starting a blog

     Hey all! So one of my favorite things to do online is to check the blogs of all my family. I love seeing pictures and reading stories of what they are up to, and watching the littler ones grow even though I don't get to see them that often. (At least not as often as I'd like to see them.) Well, since we are going to be adding to the ever growing list of little ones around, and since my siblings will become aunts and uncles for the first time, I thought I'd start a blog for our little part of the growing family. Since I'm terrible at keeping a journal, I hope it can be a place that I can look back and remember things better, even if no one else reads it.
     I'll start with a little basic background. Ryan and I have been married for 2 years, wow does not even seem like that long though, and at the same time longer. We dated for a year and a half before his mission, wrote each other while he was in Charlotte, NC, and were married 4 months after he got home. Some say its fast, but we knew we were going to get married, so why wait? We just bought our first home and are working hard to get it ready before our baby girl gets here, due October 28. Well the rest people either know or they can figure out as I post.

Here are a couple pics of the house from the outside. More will come of the inside as we get it ready, but we aren't done painting the bedrooms, and there are boxes everywhere. I really like the inside set up and the big yard (.4 acre), and Ryan LOVES the garage. Its a 2 car entry, but its 2 cars deep so it could fit 4 cars. Well really it will end up fitting the car and the truck, and his blazer will take the whole back half so he can work on it if he ever has time. (Not sure he will, but if its a possibility it will keep him happy). Well that's all for now.