Well Blogger isn't allowing me to upload pictures right now for some reason. SO I'll have to add pictures later- but just wanted to announce the safe arrival of our little Kinzley Marie!
She decided to come on Friday, August 12th! It was funny because I had texted Joseph Thursday afternoon after I finished cleaning our bathroom and told him that I "finally felt ready for this baby to come." (I had cleaned- better than usual- each part of the apartment that week and our bathroom was the last thing.) So Friday morning I woke up at 2 am and was bleeding a little bit- thought it was just part of the "losing your mucus plug" thing, but when I kept going to the bathroom every 30 minutes and had more and more bleeding, I thought something was a little abnormal. So I spent the rest of the night calling my doctor and labor and delivery every hour asking more questions. No one seemed TOO concerned, but they kept telling me I could go in if I wanted. I didn't want to go to the hospital though just to be sent home.
SO a little background- I was supposed to be induced on Tuesday the 16th, but I had an appointment on Tuesday the 9th where my doctor stripped my membranes. He had told me he'd do it at that appointment to try and speed things up and hopefully send me into labor on my own rather than having to be induced. I mentioned that my doctor had done that when I was pregnant with Alyssa and that it didn't do anything- he assured me that they "didn't know how to do it there" and that he knew how. I informed him that it didn't hurt when they did it last time, so maybe I didn't want him to. haha- but no pain no gain right? So he did it and I thought I was going to give birth right there in his office. It was WAY more painful- but I think it definitely worked!
So by 7:30 am Friday morning, we decided we should go in. I was losing a lot of blood and my contractions were ten minutes apart and had been for a couple hours. So I called Aleasha, we dropped Alyssa off with her at 8:45ish, and then headed to the hospital. My contractions weren't TOO close together- about 7 minutes apart at that point- and they were definitely more painful than usual. We got to the hospital about 9am and checked in. I had to wait for a while- which was weird to me- but they finally called me back. I had the SWEETEST nurse!! Oh my goodness she was SO kind and so sweet and just made us feel right at home. When she checked me I was dilated to a 3 or 4 (which I was surprised by because on Tuesday I was at a 2) but I still wouldn't let myself believe that I was having a baby that day. So then the mystery to be solved was, "What was causing the bleeding?" I had "placenta previa" (where the placenta is blocking the cervix and you have to have a c-section) earlier in the pregnancy, but at 32 weeks, they had determined that it had resolved. Well this nurse thought that there could possibly still be a little piece hanging down that was the cause of the bleeding. So for the next 3 hours, we waited (and prayed- a LOT). Two different people came in to do ultrasounds and neither could determine what it was. (I did ask the nurse something about having to be sent home and she said, "Oh no, we wouldn't send you home when you're bleeding like this." I thought HURRAY- I REALLY AM HAVING A BABY TODAY!!! :) I was still worried about her though and hoped everything would go smoothly. If something tore my placenta it could've been extremely dangerous to both her and I. So we continued praying and hoping things would work out.
Finally my doctor came in. He said the best thing to do would be to break my water so that some of the pressure on my placenta would ease up and hopefully speed up the contractions. Joseph had left to get something to eat because we thought the doc. wouldn't be there for a while so in the time he was gone (just down the hall), the doc had come in, talked to me, and broken my water. So Joseph came back and we packed up our stuff to move to a delivery room! So at this point it was probably a little after 1:00 pm. And after about 15 minutes of him breaking my water, my contractions were really becoming painful. So as soon as I got in the room and onto the bed, the nurse checked me and I was at a 5!!! I could feel the tears coming and told her, "I HAVE to have an epidural!!!" She kept assuring me that he was on his way- but it felt like an eternity before I got it. Good news is I did get it though and things got much better after that!
I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure (right after the epidural) and she checked me again and I was at a 7. She called my doc and he was in SURGERY, so another doctor delivered our little one. She was really nice and I didn't mind at all. (My doctor was very apologetic and later told us that was the first delivery he'd missed in 8 years! haha)
So by the time the doctor was all ready, I was dilated to a 9+, but she said since I was bleeding a little more than usual we were just going to start pushing! So the next contraction, I pushed 3 times and her head was out- we waited for the next contraction, pushed again 3 times, and she was born!!! 2:54 pm! They handed her to me right away and Joseph got to cut the cord (that didn't happen with Alyssa). They were concerned that she would've swallowed too much blood, but she knew it was yucky and spit it all up!
It amazed me how even after giving birth once before, it was still as much of a miracle this time as it was with Alyssa. The neat thing about this time was that I knew a little more of what to expect so I felt like I could focus more on Kinzley rather than what was happening. Joseph and I both agreed that she has a very sweet and special little spirit about her and I think we all felt it the second we saw her.
So she weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 19 and 1/4 in. long. She looked VERY similar to Alyssa when she first came out, but we're seeing more of "Kinzley" as she's growing. She DEFINITELY got Joseph's head and it is MUCH smaller than Alyssa's was! :)
So I apologize there aren't pictures, but I'll get them up as soon as Blogger will allow it! :)
Pretty in PINK! 
My mom has been here since the 15th of August and is staying until the 7th of Sept. It has been SUCH a huge blessing to have her here with us! She cooks and cleans and entertains Alyssa all day. She makes Joseph's lunch, irons his shirts, does our laundry, and anything else she can to help us. We are SO grateful for all the help she's given us, especially in this time of MAJOR transition! (Speaking of transition- Joseph has started classes and is enjoying what he's learning. The days/nights sure are long when he's gone, but we sure have fun when he's home with us!)
We also tried "banana ice cream" for the first time. Here's the recipe:
Other exciting news from the end of August: we have family living here now! :) David and Aleasha and their two kiddos made the move to AZ and we are so glad they're so close. We're even in the same ward and Alyssa and Caleb think that it's pretty amazing. This is the face Alyssa makes every time we ask her if she wants to go play with Caleb and Livvy...
