Going Home

All packed up and ready to go home! We are excited to take Pieper home to her brothers and sister and to be in our own space together as a family. We had great nurses and great care while we have been here, but we are just ready to be home, (and lets face it, why pay for more use of the hospital than you need!)

Bathing Beauty...in Blue

The night before we were planning on leaving the hospital, we noticed that Pieper was looking a little jaundice. So we had the nursery take her back and check her levels. And sure enough, they were in the 14's! Which is pretty high, high enough that they wanted to keep her in the nursery under the blue lights for the entire night. Which, allowed me to get a fairly good night of rest, but I was worried about how my little girl was. In the morning, after I had eaten breakfast, showered, and watched some TV, I was wondering when they would bring her back to my room. They finally showed up and said that her levels had dropped a little bit, but that they wanted her on a portable light for the rest of the day. I had been cleared to go home, and now we were waiting to see if the baby was going to be able to go home as well. After talking to the pediatrician, he agreed to let her go home on the condition that we take a bili light home with us and keep her on it as much as possible. After making arrangements for the light and doing all the paperwork to check out we were finally on our way home at about 2:30.

Photo Shoot, 1 day old

I couldn't resist taking a bunch a picture of Pieper when she was just 1 day old! How sweet is this new precious baby! I wanted to make sure and capture her teeny tiny features right from the start. I am so in awe and amazement with this new miracle we have have been blessed with that is straight from heaven!

More Visitors

Aunt Tara and Macee and Race came to visit on the second day as well as

Aunt Lydia and Makayla

Grandma Linda

Uncle Josh

 

We also saw My friends Melissa Pariona, and Karla Hillier. It was so fun to share our sweet little angel with our family and friends. We are so in love with her and cant wait to show her off to everyone!

The Visitors

Grandma and Grandpa Christiansen were the first visitors we had. They were super excited to meet their newest granddaughter!

We had to get a picture with Mommy

Tiny toes!

Grandma Yancey

Big brother Parker

Proudest big sister Paige! She was so excited for a girl!

Auntie Charyn

Grandpa Yancey

 

Paxten, checking Pieper out, deciding if he likes her.

He does like her after all!

My 4 kids with Grandpa Yancey!! I have 4 kids!!!!

The Delivery

After finding out that we were indeed going to have the baby in that morning it was a crazy rush to get me into the operating room. Matt and I hadn't brought in any of our things from the car because we didn't know if we would be staying for sure. After finding out that we would be here for a few days he made a trip to the car to get clothes, the camera, and all the things we would need while staying in the hospital. Meanwhile, while he was gone, the nurses got my IV in, I talked to the Anesthesiologist, signed the paperwork for the C-Section and Tubal, and talked to my doctor. They were just about to move me from the room to the operating room when Matt finally walked back in the door. For a minute I thought he wouldn't make it back for the delivery. While he was changing into his scrub clothes, I was in the operating room where they put in my spinal block, which I think hurts less than the IV. It took affect pretty quickly and I was numb from my chest down in a matter of minutes. Dr. Leavitt came in, painted my belly with  iodine, and was ready to get started. A minute later Matt came in to sit by me. They pulled the blue sheet up and the surgery began. This time it seems like it went more smoothly than the precious C-Sections. it seemed like it was quicker, less painful, and I didn't experience the nausea or light headedness like I have before. Within a few minutes, the Dr. said they were about to pull the baby out, Matt stood to watch and she seemed to be a little bit stuck in there. They had to use a vacuum to help pull her out, and she had so much hair that the vacuum didn't get a good suction on her and slipped right off. After the second attempt she was out and they pulled her out and said "Happy Birthday" and showed her quickly to me before handing her off to the nursery. She was born at 7:30 A.M. As the surgery was beginning Matt and I took guesses as to what we thought she would weigh. I said 6 lbs 14 oz. Matt said 6 lbs 9 oz. She ended up weighing 7 lbs. and was 19 inches long. After they got her cleaned up a bit Matt was able to take her and hold her right by me as they were finishing up the surgery. She was so beautiful and I couldn't wait to hold her. It took the Dr. about 30 more minutes to do the tubal and get me all sewn back up. After that I was wheeled into the recovery room where I was able to hold our new little girl for the first time. Pieper Jo Christiansen. She was absolutely adorable! We were able to feed her for the first time and Matt was able to go with her back to the nursery to help with her first bath while I recovered from the Anesthesia. It was about another hour before I was taken into a regular room and almost another hour before I was able to move my toes. It is the weirdest feeling to be telling your feet to move and it not responding. After getting settled into our room we were able to let friends and family know our good news. I was completely exhausted after being up the entire night and then having to go through the surgery, but I was not able to sleep because of all the excitement. Pieper got her first set of shots, passed her hearing test and everything looked perfect! She spent the majority of the first day in our room meeting friends and family as they came to visit. The kids were so excited to meet her, Paxten was a little hesitant at first, but then he decided that he wanted a turn holding her as well.

38 Weeks

I went to the Dr. on the 29th of August. I was 37 weeks and 6 days. Past the days that I deliverd Paige and Paxten. I hit 38 weeks on Friday the 30th and each night I kept hoping that my water would break like it did with Paxten. The 31st rolled around, the first day of the fair, and I was feeling pretty good, big and tired, but normal for 38 weeks pregnant. Carla, Rachel, Sarah, Blake, Sophie, Caleb, Laura, Evelyn, and Adam came for the fair and I decided that I felt well enough to go with Matt and the kids. Charyn and Zander came down as well and we went to the fair. My thoughts were that if I went and walked around the fair that I would put myself in labor and have this baby sooner than the 10th. Or wishful thinking at least. As we were walking home from the fair I was thinking that I might regret walking around in the hot sun all day if I didn't go into labor and that I would be so sore the next day. After we got home we rested and visited with all the family, had pizza cooked on the trager and had homemade popcorn. We enjoyed the cool fall weather that evening and then said our good byes and Matt and I got the kids into bed.

As I was laying in bed I began to have contractions. Nothing new at this point during the pregnancy. I had regularly been having contractions, especially during the evening when she is most active. After they had been steady for over an hour I told Matt that it felt different from the other nights. We started to time them and when they were happening every 2 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds we decided to call the doctor.

When I called the doctor, he had transferred the phone lines to the on call doctor at the hospital. After telling him my history and what was going on, the only advice he gave was to go into the hospital and have them check me. It wasn't at all what I was expecting to hear, and I knew that if Dr. Leavitt had been the one that I talked to he would have given me better direction and advice on what to do. Do I had mixed emotions about whether or not to go in, I didn't want to drive all the way to Idaho Falls and have them tell me it was false labor and send me home. Yet I didn't want to wait too long and then something happen on the way to the hospital. So at about 1:00 in the morning we made the decision to head to the hospital. I called my mom and woke her up and told her that all that walking did something because I was having regular contractions. So she came over and Matt and I got all our things together just in case this was it. I had had my bag packed for over a month, Matt had to frantically get his packed and he insisted on taking a "quick" shower before we left. I was kind of annoyed that here I am in labor and he is the one that wants to take a shower. I just finished getting last minute things together, making sure we didn't leave anything behind that we would need. Matt gave me a Priesthood blessing before we left and I was comforted in knowing that the Lord was watching over us and our family and the doctors that would care for us. I was nervous and excited at the same time. Anxious and also worried. Matt had to stop on the way out of town for a drink to help him stay awake and then we were finally on our way to the hospital.

We walked into Labor and Delivery and got right into a room. I got my hospital gown on and they hooked me up to the monitors to see how the baby was doing and the timing and strength of the contractions. At this point we heard that Dr. Leavitt was back into town and would be available if anything happened. Yay!! We had arrived at the hospital at about 2:00 A.M. After answering the pleathera of questions for about an hour, I was left to just sit there in the bed waiting....wondering....waiting.....to see if anything was going to happen. I had been checked and was only dilated to a 1 and my cervix was very thick. Not really what I wanted to hear. At this point Matt has now been asleep in the chair in my room for about 1/2 an hour, so much for a drink to keep him awake! Hahaha! So the rest of the night I sat there contracting and playing Candy Crush and Facebooking on my phone (What did I do without and IPhone before with my other kids?!) The nurse came in about 4:00 AM and said that she had talked to Dr. Leavitt and he wanted me to get hydrated and see if that would effect the contractions. I drank 32 oz of water over the next 30 minutes and then we waited some more.  The contractions kept on coming and were becoming a little more intense. The nurse checked me again, still a 1, but my cervix had thinned out quite a bit. At 6:30 She came back in and said that Dr. Leavitt had decided that I really was in labor and I had progressed enough to convince him to go ahead and do the C-Section. After that things went very quickly.

Fair Time

Fair time again this year. We were all able to go together this year despite me being huge and pregnant! First stop of course was the food booths! I had the trout and Matt had an outlaw burger (a bacon cheeseburger on a donut bun) the kids wouldn't eat anything. After lunch we went right to the rides and let the kids get that out of their system. Each ride was at least 3 tickets and the tickets were a dollar a piece! One ride where Parker, Paige, Paxten, and Zander went on cost $12 and it lasted litterally 2 mintues. Such a rip off!! Next year we decided that we need to save to buy the kids wrist bands that were $30, then they could at least ride 10 rides and make it worth it. They for sure would have ridden 10 rides each if we had had enough tickets and time for them to do so! After the rides we continued walking around the circle and Parker and Paige convinced Grandma Yancey into letting them get into these big balls that were in a pool of water. They Loved it and it lasted longer than any ride they rode. After they got out Paige exclaimed that was "the best ride ever" she had a great time and that made both their days! We looked at a few animals, got one last treat and went home. We were there about 3 hours and that seemed to be enough for me. I would have liked to see more, eat more if I hadn't been so pregnant. Walking around sure made me sore!

37 weeks

I had an appointment with Dr. Leavitt and we got a date scheduled for the C-Section. If I do not have this baby sooner she will be arriving on the 10th of September at 7:00 in the morning. That will put me at 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I will admit when I was talking to the Dr. and this is the date he said, I was a little disappointed. I don't want to be pregnant longer than I have to be and that is longer than I have gone with any of my pregnancies so it just seemed like such a long ways a way. Also I think because both Paige and Paxten were born just after 37 weeks, that I got that in my head as when I would be delivering this one as well. If I had gone to 40 weeks with the rest I may not have been quite as anxious to be done. I also thought the preeclampsia would be playing a key role in this pregnancy and delivery, but so far I have not been affected by it. My blood pressure has been great and I haven't had the protein in my urine, and all the lab test they have done to check my organs have been normal, so I have been grateful for that. The other thing that really got me about the 10th of September is that is Paige's first official day of Kindergarten. I really wanted to be able to be there to help her get ready, take pictures, and see her get on the bus. I wanted to be able to pick her up after her first days and see how it went. So I was already having Mother's guilt about not being there for her on that once in a lifetime day. But there was nothing I could really do about the date. According to hospital policy they can not do a C-section before 39 weeks unless medically necessary. Dr. Leavitt does surgeries on Tuesdays, and I turn 39 weeks the Friday before the 10th, the 6th. So it pushes me to almost 40 weeks, unless of course I go into labor on my own then they wont stop it and we will have the surgery then. At this point I think that this little girl is too comfortable and it going to have to be pulled out!! 1 good thing about going to the 10th, I will be able to go to the Fair and eat some yummy food!

36 Weeks

August 16th...36 weeks...only 28 more days to go, or less!! I can see the end in sight and it is driving me crazy. I can't wait to be able to breathe again and to not have pain in my upper legs and pelvic area. I have not seen my doctor for a few weeks and therefore have not scheduled a day for this little baby to arrive. I am hoping that since my water broke with Paxten that that will happen again and she will decide to come on her own. The chances of that really happening are slim. I have hardly gained any weight, which I am more than thrilled about I am at a weight gain of about 8 lbs and my blood pressure has been just about perfect! Go figure! The kids are getting excited as well about meeting their little sister. Paxten is still adament that he does not want a little sister or to be a big brother. It may be a hard adjustment for him when she does finally arrive. The baby is a mover and seems to be doing acrobatics in my belly. I do love feeling her move around a knowing that is a sign that she is safe, and healthy. She gets the hiccups quite often, like 3 or 4 times a day and that can be pretty bothersome at times, but it still amazes me that I can feel that and know exactly what it is. She is most active at night at about 9-10:00, so that may be a challenge if she keeps that schedule when she arrives. Although I know that we will be in for a big adjustment any way with adjusting to a new baby, Parker and Paige starting school, and having 4 kids to shuttle around and take care of. I am sure our house will become a house of chaos! But we will take it!!

Swimming Lessons

Both Parker and Paige took 2 sessions of swimming lessons again this summer. Parker was in level 3 the first session and Paige was in level 2. They both did really well, but needed some things to improve before they were passed onto the next level. So the next 2 weeks they both worked hard in their classes and Parker was able to pass level 3 and move onto level 4. Poor little Paige worked hard, but she is still so small that she had a hard time in the depth of the water. She is able to swim short distances, but has a hard time putting her face in the water and keeping afloat in the deeper water, so she will be repeating level 2 again next summer. I tried not to look at the cost of the lessons and the kids having to repeat the same class over and over. I just want the kids to be good swimmers and to be safe and have fun while they are in the water. They love to go swimming so at least it has given them the confidence to be in the water. They are growing up and turning into such big kids, I can hardly believe where the time has gone!

33 Weeks

I hit 33 weeks in pregnancy #4 on the 26th of July. I am starting to be really uncomfortable and sore. We are counting down the days until we get to meet our sweet little girl. It will be here before we know it!

Heise Fun

This year for our annual Williams family reunion Grant and Zina were in charge and they are going to be hard to beat. We all gatheres at Heise Hot Springs, I think this is our favorite place to have reunions! We met on the 4th of July and as everyone arrived we put up tents and got things settled as we visited and caught up with aunts, uncles, and cousins. SO MUCH FUN!! Grant and Zina ordered pizza from the club house for dinner and then that evening we watched the fireworks at the driving range. All these years of going to Heise, I don't think we have ever actually been there on the 4th and been able to watch fireworks there. So it was fun to be together to celebrate the day of our independance and for the kids to be with their cousins and have so much fun together. The next day, Zina arranged for a company to bring in a huge boucy house for the kids to play on. We had it in our camp site for the entire day and the kids LOVED it. Some adults got in on the fun as well. It was played on in the morning before swimming and later in the afternoon when it started to cool off. The plastic got very hot during the middle of the day, which made it impossible to play in. Our kids, especially Parker went through the obstacle course dozens of times, I think he was in heaven being able to bounce and climb around! All the kids were sad when it was time for the bouncy house to leave, but I am sure it will be something they will remember for a long time. We have such a wonderful family and we enjoy getting together each year, in fact I know that my family and I look forward to it each year and cant wait to spend time with some of our favorite people. I am so grateful for my grand parents, great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents for starting the tradition of reunions and for keeping that wonderful tradtion so that we have these great memories each and every year!