Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2008! The years just keep on passing. As a kid, i would always here adults around me saying "the older we get, the faster the years pass". Gee that will be the day! when i was in school i could only WISH the years would pass by. but now here we are...25 years old, 2 kids later...and the years just keep passing by :-) this was Elle's first New Year and we are so glad we got to share it with Randy, Meggan, and little Sophia Goff. the girl were best friends starting in the womb!

Fall Festival, Rhema's First B-Day, and Christmas!

here are a few pics of the wrap up of 2007. Elle's first Fall Festival (and really her first time out of the house for a period of time!), and Rhema's b-day celebration and balloon release, and then of course her very first Christmas! great pictures and memories! Enjoy!

My little Glow Worm!

Poor little Elle had jaundice really bad when we got home. so, we had a billi blanket for her for about a week. even though it was such a minor thing for her to have, i still had so much anxiety about there being another machine at our house for the baby. with Rhema we had the apnea machine and the oxygen and back up oxygen. but i just had to keep reminding myself that it's no big deal. poor girl had to go everyday for a week and get her foot pricked to test her levels. and at her 6 week check up, her levels were FINALLY down to 3! so glad that was over.

October 16, 2007

apparently i didn't quite make it!!! I can remember like it was yesterday... It was monday, Oct. 15 (grandma sewell's birthday!) and i was at the church helping joel get the youth bulletin board done. i was up and down off of a bench while stapling things up. i finished around 11:30am and headed home for lunch. after i ate, i started to have contractions. but they were so irregular i didn't think much. (but i knew they were feeling a bit different than braxton hicks) after about an hour or so, i called joel just to let him know that i was feeling funny. he told me to start writing down my contractions just to keep track and to call Dr. Golden to let her know. so after about an hour of that, i did call. some were 3 min apart and some were 10, so i was told to just keep keeping track! hours passed and we had a meeting with a couple at church to go over kids church while we were going to be out with the baby. still having contractions, i got a sub at firehouse and just kept writing down my contractions. (it was becoming more like a game to me at this point) after dinner, we continued our night with a meeting at church. i didn't have much energy, so i stayed in the back and kept walking around to try to relieve some of the pressure from my back. i had a few people tell me to just go in and see if i had progressed, but of course i didn't want to be one of "those" people that they send on home! lol we went home after the meeting, took a bath (shaved my legs just in case!) and then layed down for bed. contractions were getting stronger, so i had joel keep track of them since i was so tired and in pain. when they got to be about 4 min. apart, we went ahead and left. i almost didn't bring my suitcase because i thought for sure it wasn't really happening! long story short...within 3 hours of getting to the hospital, Elle Evangeline Sewell was here! 5 lbs 6 oz, 18 inches long. and as healthy as can be born at 4:59am. and it was a totally different experience. what a precious gift she is!

Will I Make It?

today was my weekly check-up (yes, i'm finally on my weekly schedule!). today marks 33 weeks...and boy am i feeling it :-) so, lets just get to the facts: baby girl is still measuring a few days ahead of schedule. my tummy is measuring a whole week ahead..that should give you a good heads up that my tummy is STILL growing. i've gained a whole 27lbs...but like i said before...she's worth every pound. (i just sure hope it goes away!) as for labor in the near future...well, lets not hope too near. i am 70% effaced and 1 cm dialated. my doctor said that whether we make it to the amnio at 36 weeks or not; baby will probably be here by then! i think today was the first day that joel and i actaully believed that WE ARE HAVING A BABY! there is a light at the end of this ever-so-long tunnel. she's almost 4 1/2 lbs, so we are guessing about 5 1/2 lbs at birth...but lets just keep our fingers crossed. i had to make a trip down to the hospital today (and will have to go back tomorrow) for steroid shots to help speed up baby girl's lungs JUST in case we meet her earlier than scheduled! We are getting soooo close!

tossing and turning...all night long

another sleepless night....and only about 5 more weeks to go. it's 1:15 in the morning, and joel is sleeping soundly next to me. i'm up because of the non-stop heart burn (from i don't know what!), the pressure in my lower back from baby girl weighing down, the stomach ache and soar ribs from her pushing off of me to swim around more; not to mention the many, many thoughts running through my head about her soon-to-be arrival day! what will it be like when that day finally arrives?! even more than that, what will the NEXT day be like? i picture myself getting up early, taking a shower...of course, and rushing off to see my new daughter in the nursery :-) i picture holding her ALL DAY LONG as people come in and visit (and bring her presents!) what will her noises be like? what will be her favorite spot to lay on? daddy's chest perhaps?! will she have a lot of hair? (she better with all this heart burn i'm having!!!) so many things i'm curious about, and that will remain a wonderful mystery until she's safely in my arms. and until that day, i think the anxiety will remain. i am feeling so close, but yet so far away from that highly anticipated day.

6 weeks left!

so, 30 weeks along....and only 6 to go. we scheduled our apt. for an amnio in october. they will be checking to make sure baby girl's lungs are developed enough to deliver. and once those results come back that night, we will go back in to meet our second daughter! it's so crazy to look back at this point in my pregnancy and feel like we have almost made it to the end. when it was just a few months ago i thought i would never make it through! i think having a busy summer helped that a lot!

total weight gain thus far...22lbs. not too bad. as much as i CANNOT believe that it is still ok to gain weight when you are preggo, i just remember that 1. i lost it all last time, and 2. she is SO worth it!

we had a check up yesterday with dr. golden, and all is still going so well. baby girl is head down (since week 20!)with her body on my left side, and her booty pushing against my stomach right above my belly button. i can't believe it hasn't popped out yet! she pushes hard! her little legs and knees are on my right side, and her feet are nicely tucked away under my RIBS! her movements have been so strong lately...enough to take my breath away. not to mention the many braxton hicks i continue to experience throughout every day :-) do you think she will be here sooner than 6 weeks? well, the longer she stays in my tummy, the healthier she will be, so for that reason, i'm ok with not meeting her yet....but boy is it tempting!