Molly Sage Abel...

She is so flippin' cute! I love little babies! I just want to cuddle her up and love her forever. I know it goes fast, so I am trying really hard to enjoy all the little moments. It is kind of difficult to divide my attention between River and Molly. But, like Deric said, at this point my main priority is to take care of the needs of the newborn. He has made sure to play with River whenever he can. I also make sure I read to her at nap time and bedtimes. She is jealous of Molly, so it's a bit tough when I have to hold and feed her during the day.

Molly Sage Abel was born August 7th at 2:34am, she was 7lbs and 19.5inches long. She came out wide eyed and looking around. She cried only a little bit when they started rubbing her to get her to cough. She had inhaled a little bit of amniotic fluid when she was coming out. So, they had to put her on some oxygen for a couple minutes.

I wasn't able to have her naturally because they had to induce me. It was a terrible ordeal...I was battling depression and the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I screamed so loud during every contraction that I couldn't scream loud enough to satisfy the need. I am not a screamer, so this was pretty terrible. Deric was nearing mental breakdown. He really tried, but it was too much for both of us. I went from 4pm to 1am without the epidural. When I got it I took a nap. (The epidural was the worst part of the whole experience due to a cocky anesthesiologist and being manhandled during intense contractions and shaking.) When I woke up about an hour later my stomach was flat, like she was gone! I was worried that I had given birth without realizing it and they had either taken her or she was there. I couldn't feel anything at all, not even an urge to push. But, Deric ran and got the nurse and she checked me quickly since Molly was about an inch and a half away from being born. I breathed her down. Then at the last minute the monitor died and they got worried so Julia yanked her out. Ouch. The placenta wanted to stick around, so she pulled it off...also ouch. Then because I wasn't contracting down she had to knead my stomach. HUGE ouch. The experience was a lot better in a lot of ways though, being able to watch, no tearing, very little pain down there afterward, caring nurses, and a perfectly healthy baby that I got to bond with in the first few moments of her life. Next time it will be even better.

I hope that I can get to the point of going to bed at a decent time so I get more than 4 hours of sleep each night. I am dying.

still waiting...

yep. We are, come on contractions! I am ready, and willing, lets go!

"False Alarm"

Well, we went into the hospital last night because I was having regular contractions from 9:50-about 1am. I was having 4 minute apart contractions for the last hour and a half. Deric got really excited so he made us go. Plus, he was getting mad he was losing sleep since he had to work today if she didn't come. Unfortunately, as soon as we went to go to the hospital they slowed down to 9 minutes apart. I kinda had a feeling that would happen. I had to have them check me anyway, which is so very unpleasant...and nothing had changed since Thursday at my doctor's appointment. Figures. At least they didn't take my blood before they knew for sure I was going to stay. :-P They called my doctor and she decided that the 4 minute appart rule wasn't appropriate for me so I am now to come in once I have had 2 minute apart contractions for a few hours. So, There we go...more waiting. I hope that it happens this week...

I'm hoping to have this baby soon...We tried walking last night to get things going, but it didn't do anything. I'm hoping by Wednesday I go into labor. I just don't want to go to the doctor again.

Camping

So, we went camping up at Monte Cristo (where we normally go snowmobiling) with the Snowflakes Club. The ride up was terrible, River got car sick and threw up, and I was nearly blacking out from the bouncing and turning. Everyone was constantly asking "when are you due?" I would reply, "Like today". In hypnobirthing you aren't supposed to focus on your due date since it will happen when you are both ready to go through the birthing process. Everyone kept saying "We have an EMT and two nurses here so we could have this baby on one of the picnic tables or something." I was thinking to myself...uh, I have a trailer I would rather be in, with a decent bathroom, and a bed...Silly people. Anywho, we had a potluck dinner and then sat around the fire chatting with everyone. Alaris, Gena (a girl our age we met through the club), and I played the s'more game for a little bit too. We then spent the night...unbelievably. I was having contractions 9 minutes apart while trying to go to bed. I was up until about 1:30 timing them...but they just got further apart, so I finally fell asleep. We got up and Deric went 4-wheeling with the Sharps on their new toys. Then we went shooting, and sat around and relaxed (well, that's what I did the whole time). It was rather enjoyable, and in the end it was nice that we went. I could have cut out the sleeping part and the ride up though.

Today is my birthday....and I am 24. Weird. I don't know if we are planning on doing anything interesting. We'll see...

Getting there...

Well, I went to the doctor today and she checked me so I would know whether or not to go camping. I am a strong 1+ and 75% effaced. Her head is also so far down that Julia had to maneuver around it to get to the cervix...which was unpleasant. So, anytime now I could go into real labor.

We are going up to the Snowmobile club camp out tomorrow. It is about an hour drive to the hospital. So, that would be an interesting scenario. :-P I don't think I want to spend the night, but we will see how I feel when I get there.

Contractions...?

I am having more frequent contractions. I have timed them at 30, 18, and 9 minutes apart. However, they never last longer than a couple hours. So, I dunno what to make of it except that my body is warming up. I was afraid my water broke this morning, but nope. I was happy because unfortunately I have to be on an IV as soon as my water breaks because my Strep test came back positive. So, I have to be on antibiotics through an IV to keep Molly from contracting it. It is really a scary thing...it is life threatening for her to contract it. I also can't be in labor more than 12 hours after my water breaks because it increases the risk. ARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! Why can't it just go perfectly well? It's unfair.

Deric is so bored and disappointed with everything; me, his friendship with Justin, etc. He is itching to do things, and really wants this birth to work around it all. I feel like an inconvenience sometimes. It's getting harder and harder to be positive. I just want to be done with this pregnancy, it is putting a lot of strain on my emotions and body. I feel so heavy physically and mentally. Oh well, such is life sometimes.

I feel like I am being a bad mom because River and I have been watching TV everyday for the last couple weeks. It has been really hot and I haven't wanted to go outside at all.

Pioneer Day...

We got the electrical problem fixed. :-) Now I can run all the appliances I want with the AC. I wish we would have been smart and suspected the breaker was bad years ago!

We have been tossing around the idea of getting a new furnace too. Sadly ours is about 30 years old and very out of date. (they don't even use these type anymore) It is also putting off 12 parts per million of carbon monoxide when it is heating our house. Scary when you think that a tiny baby or a child is a lot more susceptible to the deadly effect of this gas. If we were to get one the tax credit would not help us more than about $400 because we never owe taxes at the end of the year (Deric makes sure that only the necessary taxes are taken out throughout the year to give us the most money each month to utilize.) So, we are tossing it around...I am mostly worried about the kids and their little bodies. I also think it would help with how worn out I am during the winter to have our air filtered better and have no noxious gases in the mix. So...we are thinking this may be beneficial. (Since we don't know at what time it will totally die on us too! It is a ticking time bomb...) Tuesday they will be coming to give us a quote on it.

Also, Tuesday we are having our fridge towed away for $30, and we got a $20 rebate from the electric company for getting a new fridge. It seems we are spending a lot of money. :-( We are utilizing all the "deals" though, since these are unfortunately necessary costs. Yay for being a responsible adult with a house! haha.

Today is Pioneer day here in Utah. Which means Deric had the day off, and he helped with the Ham Radio communications side of things for the parade in SLC. He had a good time, and was on tv several times. Fun stuff. We didn't really do anything else that was interesting. I suppose we could go to a rodeo tonight if we wanted to. I went grocery shopping. I got shredded cheese for 99cents a package today and stocked my freezer for the next 6 months--that's a better deal than case lot! I also stocked up on cereal for the next 6 months for $2/box. Which is pretty good considering most name brand cereals are about $4/box. Again, what an interesting life as a Mom and responsible adult. ;-) I love it though, I wouldn't change a thing. Ooo, I also got a raspberry Entenmann's danish today. Heaven.

I stepped on a ridiculously gooey wad of gum in the Walmart parking lot today wearing my favorite flip flops. Gah!

I painted mine and River's toe nails today and shaved my legs. Haha, maybe I subconsciously know I am bound for the delivery room soon...haha!

Electrician

Today an electrician is coming to replace our breaker. We have had issues with not being able to run the dryer and washer at the same time with the AC...or the oven and the dishwasher with the AC...and it is getting *obnoxious*! So, hopefully this fixes it now. :-) We also think it might have been the reason for the fridge going bad...all the power failures that happen because of it. (surges might have made that part bad.) Anyway, so that's fun.

Got music for the blooper reel; some royalty free silent movie music. Fun stuff. Today I am starting on the "finale" of the video....off to work!

Ginny has a boyfriend!?!

Okay, I am totally shocked at the sudden development of my very guy-stubborn sister, Ginny, finding herself the *girlfriend* of a 25 year old guy named Wayne Jackson! WHAT HAPPENED? I really am in shock. I had a hard time focusing on starting my segments for the Trek video last night. Wow...the funny thing was that she confided all this information to Deric and not me...huh. We will see how things develop...

Today, I deep cleaned the bathroom, am folding laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and will be looking for my breast pump, bottles, and boppy cover in all the boxes downstairs. Maybe I will even get to finishing the packing up of Deric's junk. (probably not, considering I need him for the final stuff and he is only interested in doing the Trek video when he gets home. So...yah.

This could very well be the last full week we have as a 3 person family. Wow.