Two Weeks

Adalyn is now two weeks old! We spent almost that whole week at home relaxing and adjusting to life at home with a baby. Adalyn has such a mild temperment and is mostly happy with anything as long as she gets to eat when she's hungry.

We did make a trip out to babies r us to pick up some preemie size diapers and a few preemie outfits. Here she is in one of my favorites. A tiny, tiny pink and white stripe sleep sack with a cute little lamb on the chest.

All snuggled up in her strawberry PJ's

Mom is recovering really well and has been enjoying lots of cuddle time.

Close up!

That went fast and took forever at the same time

As many of you know, Matt left for deployment to the Pacific with the USS Reuben James in January. It seems like forever ago that he left and I've been counting down the days since we said our goodbyes. At the same time I can't believe it is almost over already. We are getting down to the final countdown and I am getting so ansy to get my arms around him when he walks off that ship. I must say that this has been a very crazy time in my life. When Matthew left we were 26 weeks pregnant and I was attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Since I was pregnant and in charge of taking care of Emma, the dog, my good friend Erika moved in to help me. I have really enjoyed having a roommate for these past few months. I never thought that I'd be living with anyone other than Matt, but I think that it was definitely a blessing to have her company.

In February I was able to make it home to Washington for a few days and I enjoyed a beautiful baby shower thrown by my wonderful friends Brooke and Loralei. Thanks ladies, you're the best. And another shower thrown my mom. I was so wonderfully blessed to be loved on by so many people. I was even lucky enough to spend a little bit of time with Matt's mom, sister, brother, niece's and nephew who traveled all the way from Montana and Idaho to see me. That was one jam packed visit home.

Brooke, me and Loralei

Deb and me

Mom and me

I celebrated my 27th birthday on March 1st. This was my first birthday since Matt and I have been together that he has missed. So, I enjoyed an evening out in Waikiki at PJ Changs with some girlfriends.

Me, Erika and Lindsay

In March my Hawaii girlfriends Erika and Lindsay threw me a third baby shower at the beach at Hickam Air Force Base. In all my life I never imagined that I would have a baby shower on the beach in tropical paradise. It really shows you that you never know where life will take you.

Amanda, Lindsay, me and Erika

On April 4th our baby girl, Adalyn Rae was born.

That was one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had in my life and I hope that if we expand our family that Matthew will be there, instead of on the phone, to share in the joy.

I spent the next month getting used to motherhood with the help and guidance of my mom. It was absolutely wonderful to have her company and her help was very much appreciated. It was so great to be able to put all my energy into bonding with and taking care of Adalyn.

Mom and Adalyn

After my mom left at the beginning of May I celebrated my very first Mother's Day as a mom. It was just Adalyn and I and we just enjoyed each other.

Mid-May my friend Brooke came out to visit and help me with the baby. It was great timing since she was able to watch Adalyn for me while I had finals at school. We had a lot of fun during her visit which included three trips to the beach and two hawaiian shave ice.

Adalyn and Brooke

Since Brooke's return home to Washington, Adalyn and I have been getting ready for Matt to come home. I don't have very many days left and I feel like I have so much to do to prepare. I want everything to be perfect for him so that when he walks in the door he can do nothing but relax and enjoy his family. I'm can't wait to hug him, kiss him, and hear all about the time he spent on the ship, in The Republic of Nauru, Palau, East Timor, the Phillipines, and Japan.

Welcom home Dad!

One Week

Adalyn Rae at one week old. Her she is in her cute strawberry preemie outfit.

Wow, this was a very crazy week adjusting to a new family member in the house. We took Adalyn to her first check-up the day after we were released. We were very happy to see that her weight dropped within the normal 5-10% range to 5lbs 3oz. She did have jaundice and was at risk for it to get worse because she had some extra risk factors. We made sure to give her lots and lots of sunlight and after a few 'sun' treatments she looked fabulous! I don't think we left the house for the rest of the week and we just stayed home and enjoyed Adalyn.

Snuggle time, well, I think just about every minute of everyday that week was snuggle time.

Adalyn is laying on the table top helping me with homework.

It was a great first week of mommyhood!

34 Hours

Here's my baby bump at 36 weeks pregnant. Silly me, I thought it would still be growing for another four weeks.

A few days after this photo was taken I had a ultrasound appointment to check Adalyn's growth. The umbilical cord attached onto the side of the placenta resulting in a decreased amount of nutrition reaching the baby. So, needless to say she wasn't growing as rapidly as many other babies. I was devasted to find out that at this appointment they were not satisfied with the growth that she had made since my last ultrasound two weeks prior and that they felt it necessary to have me induced right away. I had spent my entire pregnancy preparing to have a natural childbirth with minimal medical intervention and now I no longer had this option. The doctors wanted to admit me right away that afternoon, but I was not in a good state of mind with the news I had just received and I was able to convince them to allow me to go home for the evening and return the next morning.

Here I am after admission to Tripler Army Medical Center at 10am on April 3rd in the room I will be spending plenty of time in. The first day went pretty smooth and I was able to have some visitors and watch TV. Around 2am though, the contractions really started to kick in and I was very happy to use some of the laboring methods I had learned in my Bradley Method classes. Of course the fetal monitor and IV really limited my mobility and made my body pretty sore. Shortly after that around 5am it was evident that the woman in the room next to me was about to deliver her baby when Erika, my birthing coach, and I were awaken by the loudest blood curdeling screams I had ever heard in my entire life. They really should make those rooms a little more sound proof.

Everything continuted to progress well and I was slowly having some progression. Around 4pm on April 4th my midwife informed me that I was at 4 centimeters dialated and that I would need to have my water broke to continue to progress. Between my water breaking and the pitocin my contractions became so unbelieveably strong I really had no control of my body because the pain was so out of control. At this point my midwife informed me that it would most likely take me another 6 to 8 hours before I would be ready for delivery. I was sweating buckets and I felt so out of control that I decided it would probably be best to take an epidural. Very shortly after that, about an hour, I was having pain very low in my torso and thought that it may be time to push. None of the nurses or my midwife believed me when I told them I thought that it was time and they didn't want to check again so soon to prevent infection. Finally my midwife gave in and was surprised to discover that I was at 10 centimeters and 100% effaced. She told me to go for it. I'm guessing that my body dialating so fast may have been partly to blame for the intense pain I had been feeling. I pushed for about 30 minutes and Adalyn Rae was born at 8:19pm, April 4th, 2010 I was very pleased to have had her on Easter day. She weighed 5lbs 9oz and measured 17.5 inches in length.

Proud mom and daughter after delivery.

Matthew was on deployment with the USS Reuben James. We were fortunate enough that the ship was in port in Japan, allowing him to call me in the hospital.

So, my mom caught a flight to Honolulu on Sunday and made it there just in time to hold her while she was only an hour old.

Hospital policy requires all first time mothers to stay in the hospital for 36 hours after delivery. That meant I stayed in total 3 nights in the hospital. Needless to say we were ready to head home that Tuesday morning. I recall thinking that all the newborn clothes I had shopped for looking so small. Well, they weren't small enough for this little peanut. She's wearing the dress I had picked out for her to come home in, but I think it just might be bigger than her.

I had to get a photo of us in front of the big pink hospital on the hill,

and one with some hibiscus flowers too. I can't believe how tiny she is!

Welcom to the world little Adalyn, we've been waiting for you for a long time!