Welcome to the world, Abby!

Our little princess, Abigail Grace, arrived on Sunday, July 13, 2014, at 10:51 p.m. I went to the hospital a little after 4 a.m. on the 13th with contractions. As soon as they got me into triage and on the machines, it all stopped. They decided to monitor me for a few hours to see if the contractions would pick back up. While being monitored, Abby had some heart decels and this caused concern. At one point five nurses walked into my room at the same time and immediately started watching the monitor and checking the machine's history. Doctors decided to admit me in order to keep an eye on her and possibly induce. After a few more hours of monitoring, doctors gave me the option of going home or induction. Matt and I went ahead with the induction. I don't think I would have felt at ease going home and knowing that Abby might be having decels at home and I would never know it. I was in labor with her for about nine hours or so, but when she decided to come it all went quickly! I pushed for less than ten minutes and she was here! She only weighed 5 lbs 13 oz -- a full two pounds lighter than Nate. She was a tiny tot, but considered full term at 39 weeks. Her body temperature and blood sugar were a little low so we had to immediately feed her and then she was taken to the nursery to rest under the heat lamps. They moved Matt and me to my postpartum room around 1 a.m. where I was finally allowed to eat after 28ish hours or so without food. The hamburger I scarfed down was very delicious!

She's here! 

Our first picture together.

Since I had her so late in the evening, family got to meet her the following day. Nate was super excited to meet his baby sister. He came into the room and immediately started looking for her! 

Nate loves his little sister!

Abby's temperature leveled out and her blood sugar tests started coming back normal on Monday. She was a champion eater at the hospital chugging 1+ ounce every two hours. Since she was so little none of the clothes we had would fit her. Matt's mom ended up buying her a few preemie outfits including a dress for her to wear home. She was originally supposed to wear my old dress home, but it was going to act more like a tent than a dress!

Snuggle time with Daddy 

Hanging out 

She has hair! Hopefully she'll wear all of the headbands and bows she owns.

Thankfully she was not as jaundiced as Nate and passed her test Tuesday afternoon. We were both discharged and the real fun began!

Daddy was in charge of getting her dressed to leave the hospital.

 Abby was not a fan of her new dress.

Abby's first car ride!

Nate was very supportive of Abby on her ride home. He would check in on her and tell us she was sleeping and if she started to fuss he would tell her it was all going to be okay.

Abby had her newborn appointment at four days old and was a little jaundiced. We were told to put her in the sun and we did.....

Ready for her sun time 

She doesn't seem to amused by the walk in the sun! 

Nate was a great helper on our walk!

We are settling in now as a family of four. Things are definitely different and we are all sleep deprived, but we're working on figuring it all out! Abby is a very welcomed addition to our home. Nate loves to give her kisses and helps out when he can. 

Holding baby sister 

Kisses! 

One of our first trips out as a family and she is rocking the headband! 

Our first family photo

Finally, on a lighter note, I want to include a little bit of the hospital ambiance that I was able to experience while in triage and the delivery room. The hospital had lovely cloud covers on the fluorescent lights directly above the beds. After staring at them long enough I was able to make out some cloud animals. These lights made me laugh and I just thought I would share them with you!

Hopefully, as things begin to settle down around here, I will be able to blog more about the craziness of our lives. Until then, I will use my free time to sleep!

Nate turns three!

As I was doing my blog updating several weeks ago, I left out a very important milestone in Nate's life -- his third birthday!! We kept it pretty low key this year and only invited family and a few close friends since we took him on the Disney cruise. We had the party at the same park where we had his second birthday. All of the kids who came seemed to have a fun time and enjoyed themselves. Our theme this year was robots!

The birthday boy! 

Party Time!  

Matt's mom made a robot topper for his cake. 

Gift opening came to a stop when he opened the Peppa Pig book. 

Nate's golf clubs were a hit!

I got crafty and made robot party favors!