Nana and Papa Come to Visit

We where all happy when we found out that both Papa and Nana where able to come and see baby Gracie. I had Grace on Tuesday and Friday night my parents came down from Colorado. This is the soonest they had been able to come down to see any of my babies. They got here pretty late on Friday and since we are living with Blaine's parents my parents went and stayed with my Gma. We went to hang out and wait for them there my Gma had tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance so we let the kids stay up late at Gma Birds house. Ryan of course wanted to stay the night since that is where my dad was so we took an air mattress over so he could sleep on that.

Nana with baby Gracie.

Papa Bird with baby Gracie

They did say hi to the boys before they took over the baby so that was good so that the boys didn't get jealous.

Nana and Papa are the greatest. They stopped in Payson to get the boys some really cool noisy trucks that they LOVED!

The boys didn't take long till they got Papa to do what they wanted. Reading stories and trying to stay awake. All of them where super tired especially papa.

We had to take Ryan's bike over to my Gmas on Saturday so he could show Nana that he knows how to ride his bike without training wheels. Papa already found this out the last time he came down.

Cameron had fun playing in his rocks. He did show off his bike ridding skills as well.

Nana wanted to get a picture of Grace and didn't notice her headband. Papa said that it looks like she is ready for the firing squad. Since the band is covering her eyes. Even still she is super cute.

 The boys even got Nana out on the trampoline. They had her going good I think they where out on it for like an hour. Needless to say Nana was pretty pooped after that especially since it was 80 degrees that day and when they left home the day before it was 14 degrees.

How could we not throw in a trip to the park. Ryan was so excited because the week before he had gotten really good on the Monkey Bars. Blaine took my parents to get there car that was getting some work done on it. Yes it was something that most likely Blaine and my dad could have done but my dad wanted to spend time with the kids so they took it to Gunnells instead.

Got to love this little cheese ball. He loves the slides at this park and he wasn't going to be outdone by his brother when it comes to pictures.

Ryan and Nana on the swings

Cameron's first time on the big swing and he loved it.

Cameron loves to swing high. Nana and Papa didn't know this was his first time on the swing so they thought he was a pro since he said he wanted to go higher.

Skyping with her uncle Matt and Dan

Nana and Papa had to leave early Sunday morning to get back home and to beat the huge snow storm that was on there way home. We had dinner after everyone got back from the park and stayed for as long as we could before I was pooped from a crazy weekend and just having a baby 4 days before and knowing that they had to get up early to leave. As I was helping clear the table from dinner my dad had Grace and was singing her songs the same ones he use to so sing to my brother and I and we are going to chalk it up to hormones but I had to stay out of the room because I started bawling my eyes out. She was a little fidgety but as soon as he started to sing to her she calmed right down. I love the way she is just looking at her papa.

Nana had to get some cuddling action in before we tried to pack up to leave.

I wanted to get at picture with all the kids with Nana and Papa. This one turned out good with Ryan and Grace. Cameron hadn't had a nap in three days and it was 10ish or after so he wasn't thrilled about doing pictures.

This is the best one that I could get. Grace is waving Cameron is actually looking at the camera and Ryan is doing his weired face cuz he was trying to look at the camera smile and watch TV all at the same time.

We where so happy that Nana and Papa could come down even though it was a super fast trip and they got stuck in a snow storm on the way home. We can't wait till you come down again in April for Blaine's graduation and Gracies baby blessing.

Model Gracie

I met a lady in the lobby of church one day while I was still big and prego. She asked me what I was having and said that she needs baby models a lot. So I gave her my number and she said that she would keep track of me and after I had the baby she would use her. The thing is that she gets products from mostly online boutiques. They need models to have there products on so she takes the pictures of the babies and you get some really cute pictures in really cute outfits for free. On Valentines day Grace was a week old and we went to her house for a photo shoot.
She had her living room very nice and warm I think almost to warm but when you take pictures of the newborns in not a lot of clothing you need to keep them warm. She got to model some cute tutus and bows.

I love all of the pictures it was hard to decide what ones are the cutest.

She got some of the cutest shots ever. I love this one of her yawing and by this time she was getting pretty tired of us trying to make her move into positions that are just not natural.

My super cute baby girl. You can't do stuff like this with boys. Not that I didn't get pictures of my boys but you can't do all the frills with them.

This one was a killer. She wasn't very happy with us because before this shot we tired to stick her in this very odd shaped basket. So you know if the basket was odd shaped then the baby had to be in an odd position. She really didn't like it cuz the basket scraped her skin a little. My hands where so tired holding her up by this point. I am sitting on a stool with a black sheet over my head making it very hard to breath and lets remember it is like 90 degrees in this room. I am holding her in the air trying not to drop her as my hands where shaking. Didn't like the way this one turned out as well. If she would have cooperated on the first couple of takes it would have been a lot better. I think this is after holder her like this for like 3 minuets I was done. I have a new found respect for the cute poses you see babies in for pictures like Anne Geddes. Those poor babies sometimes and then you have to stop and feed them for these few pictures it took us an hour.

This is my favorite. I have no idea how she got this one timed just right. I love her little smile and she does it a lot and we love it.

Gracie's Birth Story

The earliest that I could be induced was on the 7th so I told my doctor then lets set it up. He told me he wasn't going to be at the hospital that day and I told him that I was okay with that. I had my appointment for 7am. We got there a little before 7 got checked in all that I had to do was tell them my name since I was already in the system. We got taken back a little before 7 they hooked me up to the monitors and said that they would call the doctor and see what they wanted to do. I was dilated to a 4 and about 80% effaced. I was thinking great they will start the pitocin I'll get my epidural sleep for a little while and then we would have a baby. That is what kind of happened with Cameron. Cameron we went in at 11:00pm and had him by 9ish the next morning and the nice thing is I didn't feel a thing after I got my epidural. I figured this time would be the same boy was I wrong.
They finally got doctors orders at 8:45ish that they are going to start pitocin. They asked me how soon I wanted my epidural and I told them as soon as we can get the two bags of fluids in. Since I have been in this hospital before I knew how the anesthesiologist worked. Got my epidural and after that Dr. Balk came in and broke my water. This was the first time meeting Dr. Balk and if Dr. Wilson couldn't deliver I was glad it was her she was so nice she knew my case and we weren't going to be taking any risks. I guess I should say before I got hooked up to everything she ordered an ultrasound to see how big the baby was. We went and did that and the baby looked good head down and she said that the baby was most likely going to be close to 9 pounds. Oh goodie she also said that we could add or subtract a pound. I figured we would be on the bigger side especially since my belly was so big.
After they broke my water that just kept coming and coming and coming I figured this would all be over soon. When all was said and done 11 1/2 hours later we had a baby.
Gracie wanted to keep my nurse on her feet. She kept falling off the monitor and her heart rate kept falling. After a while the doctor wanted to try to add more fluid meaning I had lost so much fluid when my water broke that they wanted to add some back in. Yep just how you think it was not through my IV. Anyway after the fluid was in Gracie got happy so we figured all was good her heart rate went back up. They did this three different times. I had the worst back labor ever even my epidural that they came back and topped off twice wasn't really helping that much towards the end.
They came in once because they couldn't tell how strong my where so they put in an internal contraction monitor. About an hour later they came running in cuz they couldn't find the baby's heart at all. So they ended up putting a monitor on her head.
At 7:00 they came in to check me and said that I was ready to start pushing. So they had me push twice and then said okay you can stop now. You have to love hearing that. At this time I was in so much pain I was screaming I can't stop I can't. They said that my doctor was on her way but we just had to wait. Now the doctor was at the hospital because with the practice I go to they have a doctor at the hospital 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The nurses really hadn't started to set anything up yet. They had the table out and broke down my bed but that was about it. I had two nurses one was the one kind of running things and it was her first time. We knew this because the other nurse said this is all you. You tell us when to call the doctor and tell her what you want her to do.
Everyone was still wondering where the doctor was. Found out that she got the page at 7:08 and I had the baby at 7:12. She figured she didn't have to run to my room but I guess she should have. The nurse that was "running" the show was the only one in the room with gloves on. All they kept telling me was don't push I told them I wasn't but she was coming out. The doctor walked into as the nurse was yelling at the "nurse in charge" to grab her head you are the only one with gloves on. She caught her head as the rest of her body kind of fell onto the table. The doctor had gotten on one glove on and was trying to help since the cord was wrapped around her neck.
They got her untangled and threw her on my chest and she was doing a good job of crying. The doctor got the rest of the way gowned up and they finished setting up the the doctor did what she had to do. Come to find out the reason I was in so much pain and had so much back labor was because she came out sunny side up. She was facing the wrong way and it was not so nice for this mom.
Normally when this happens they come out bruised and stuff from the trauma of coming this way but not in her case she was perfect. She didn't have any breathing problems she didn't poop like her brothers did so everything was good.
I on the other hand was still having a lot of pain after delivery a lot of back labor still kept going most of the night. Since you continue to have contractions it wasn't nice it seemed like this time it took forever for things to calm down. That is one of the reasons why we didn't want the boys to come down that night and they waited till the next day.
They took us upstairs and we got situated Blaine went and got himself some dinner. I was in two much pain to eat. They gave me some very nice percocet that helped. We got to our room around 11:00 and the nurses where great. Gracie was having a hard time eating and the nurse came in to help force feed her. She had to eat so much in a given amount of time otherwise they where going to have to take her to the NICU. Thank goodness the nurse got her to eat. After she left Blaine and I passed out. Gracie did to. I think she was pooped after her hard day of giving us a hard time. The nurse came in at 4 to check on me and said she would be back at 4:30 to check on Grace. She came back in at 4:30 and asked if I wanted her to just take care of her and feed her. I was more than willing so she sat with the door cracked and let Blaine and I sleep. Blaine didn't even know she came in. It was so nice of her to do that because I don't think I could have done it.
The next morning Dr. Balk came in to check on me and I told her that I wanted to go home if it was okay with her. She said that she was good with it and would have my discharge papers ready so if Gracie's doctor said she could leave we could go home later that day.
Gracie's doctor came in and checked her out and said that he heard we wanted to go home. I said I hate this bed and my hubby doesn't like sleeping in the chair so if we could yes we would like to go home and sleep in our own bed. He said that she had to stay for 24 hours because at 24 hours they need to run two tests and as long as her jaundice test came back fine that as soon as they where done we could go home.
At 7:00 they came in and got her did her tests and we left right around 9:30. It was so nice to be in our own bed that night. So that is Gracie's story she wanted to make sure I would remember her story so she made it super painful. Would I do it again yes but I would demand a c-section. Not that we are going to be doing this again. Blaine and I both feel that our family is complete. We will make permanent decision on that later but I got so sick this time and I have such hard pregnancies I think we are done.

Baby Grace Ella Matthews

SHE IS FINALLY HERE

Grace Ella Matthews

born February 7 2012

at 7:12pm

7pounds 14 ounces 20 inches long

Mommy and Gracie

Grace was very awake and alert after she was born. She would look for Blaine whenever he would talk it was super cute.

She is a daddy's girl already

The boys didn't come to see her that night because it was pretty late and I was having a hard time after delivery and I didn't want them to see me like that. Blaine called them and told them that she was here and that he would come home and get them tomorrow after Ryan got out of school. Since the next day was Wednesday and Ryan gets out early he was happy. I really couldn't talk even though Ryan wanted to talk to me I told Blaine to tell Ryan that I would call him in the morning before he went to school. He seemed to be okay with that.

The boys came in very quietly and super cute. I had the baby just on the bed so they could see her and this is when they first looked at her. It was so cute to see how amazed they are by her. Cameron's first words are awe she is so cute.

What great big brothers

Finally the real baby Gracie. Such a proud big brother.

Kind of an awkward pose but Cameron really didn't want to sit on the funny hospital bed and Ryan was busy watching Nick Jr. But I still got a picture with my kiddos.

We had some other visitors that morning. Huddy looks super happy hopefully he will keep that smile once his little sibling comes. We told Grace to send Summie girl vibes but we won't know if it worked for another month or so.

Gracie meeting Baba

Grace with her Great Grandma Bird. Blaine left to go home and take a shower after my Gma got there. She was able to help me for a couple of hours then I got some more pain meds and was able to sleep the baby was asleep and then she left. When Blaine came back he brought the boys and his mom so it was nice to have a little nap.

We went home on the 8th around 9:30 at night. We had to wait 24 hours so she could have a couple of tests run but as soon as that was done we got out of there. More on that later.

February Pictures

February has been a pretty busy month so I just had to throw in whatever cute pictures I have saved on the computer for now then I will have to go through my phone and transfer some over. This never happens, Ryan and Cameron this close to each other not fighting or hitting.

Cameron and I went to the mall before I had Grace just to get out of the house. Ryan was at school and there was mostly little kids Cameron's age even though Cameron was twice the size of the other kids he had a blast.

One day Blaine got home early and we had some time before Ryan got out of school and Blaine wanted a book to read while we where in the hospital.(fyi the book never saw the light of day till we got home and it found it's home on the back of the potty with the rest of them.) I thought this was so cute how Cameron wants to be just like his daddy looking at Star Wars books.

I love that this little boy wants to read books. He and I went to the kids section while Blaine kept looking for his book. Cam found a book and asked if he could sit in the green chair I told him to go for it. He had a blast just wish he wouldn't of found the train table at the other end of the kids section. That made it super hard to leave the store without a fit.

Cameron loves his baby Gracie doll. He got a lot of good practice in before the real baby Gracie comes.