Not many pictures

I am starting to gradually pick up my game with the pictures, but the first few weeks, I was a little busy recovering from surgery, in addition to about two hundred other things that I didn't take many pictures.

I was lucky enough to have a bunch of family come into town the last few weeks.  My sister Briawna came into town for the day of Wembley's birth.  I felt a little bad because Bri had mentioned how she had never been to anyone's birth and really wanted to.  Well even though she would have been able to, my placenta sort of ruined her plans.  She was still nice enough to come down to meet her and help take care of Briz.  She had a fun day spoiling Brizzy. It was a treat for Briz to have some one on one time with her aunt (normally she is surrounded by her own kids).

Next came McKenna and Dane.  Again no pictures.  She flew in last minute mostly because of her serious FOMO (jk, kind of), but also to meet her newest niece.  She brought along Dane, which was great, because his freakish ability to read really sparked some interest for Briz to try to pick up her reading game (Briz is slightly competitive).  

Next came Sierra and Tanner.  They came into town for the Oregon Epic Relay, but came just in time to meet little Wembles.  They got a lot of cuddle time and were constantly commenting on her size, as most people do.

She of course has been getting a lot of attention from Papa and Nona as well.

Next came the Cottles, but they deserve their own post.

Wembley Woo

Finding a name for a third daughter is no easy task!  The whole pregnancy, anytime Nick and I attempted to find a name we agreed on, it usually led to an argument.  We continued to postpone having any real conversations about our little girl's name up until two nights before we went into the hospital.  

Leading up to her birth, I felt like a negligent mother because people would always ask me what I wanted to name her, and while I of course had thought about it, I had no serious prospects. I liked the names Geneva and Matilda, both family names.  So I held onto them thinking that maybe eventually Nick would give in.  But of course he didn't (we are both very stubborn people).

The night before, we finally settled on two names.  I have always loved Sabrina and Nick has always hated it, but in an attempt to be nice he put it back on the table.  Our other choice was Wembley.  It was a name Nick had brought up months ago, but I dismissed it, saying it was too weird.  But as I started thinking about my girls names, I thought about how I love the meaning behind them.  With Briz in particular, I've never LOVED her name.  But often at night, Nick will put Briz to bed and tell her stories about his mission.  And I LOVE that.  She thinks its pretty special and awesome.  So after thinking about that, I put Wembley back on the table.  

Wembley has sentimental meaning for both of our families.  Its the name of the street that Nick grew up on.  This house was a house his grandfather built and that his dad grew up in.  Right around the time that I got married to Nick, my parents purchased the property next door to this very house on Wembley Park Rd.  They still there.  It also happens to be an area of London which I have been to, and the name of the stadium where Wimbledon used to be played (the name is a triple threat).

When she came out, she had lighter hair than I expected and this sweet and sassy little face.  She didn't look like a Sabrina to me, so Wembley Anne it was (Anne is after Nick's mom).   

With my babies' names it takes me a while to get used to it.  Particularly since we pick such strange names, I have to practice saying it before I fully accept it and love it.  Wembley Woo is now often: Wembles, Wems, Emme, or just Woo.   We love our little one, weird name and all.

Delivery!

Normally after delivery, I am excited to document the new arrival of my little one.  I want to show off my sweet little baby and share her with the world.  But I have not been extremely motivated to take pictures or to document anything.  I'm pretty sure its the drugs, because in most of my spare moments, I just want to sleep.  However, I know that I will appreciate it later, so here it goes.  

This was such a completely different delivery experience than my first two.  I had learned early on that there was a fairly high chance that I would have a c section, so I made my peace with it a while ago.  But in the back of my mind, I was still hoping that I could deliver vaginally.  As it came closer to my 37 week mark, things became somewhat hopeful.  The placenta moved slightly, but just not at the rate that it needed to.  I had one last ultrasound on Monday, June 9th to make sure everything was healthy.  Up until the last minute she was still moving around a ton.  She looked like she had some chubby cheeks, and weighed in around 6 lbs. 15 oz.  Since those measurements at the end can be really really off, I was guessing she would weigh about 7 lbs. 4 oz.  (Nick and I both made bids - his was 6 lbs. 13 oz.)

That night, I tried to finish all of my preparations.  I was trying to get my house clean, do laundry, etc. and eventually gave up because I was having way too many contractions and there is just not enough time in the day (I may have also opted to take Brizzy swimming with her cousin).  We went to Dad's softball game, dropped Briz off at Papa and Nona's, received a blessing, and went home to try to sleep.  I thought my mind would be racing way too much to sleep that night, but I felt surprisingly calm. I still didn't sleep, but it was because of pregnancy discomfort. 

We woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning, headed into the hospital ready to rock n roll.  I was surprised at how busy I was,  getting prepped for surgery the whole two hours before.  When I have been induced, they have asked me to get there two hours before, but most of it is just waiting around.  But I was constantly having someone come in and talk to me/ask me questions, and getting something poked at me.  About 30 minutes prior to surgery, I started feeling like I was going to pass out.  I'm not sure if my fluids were low or what, but I started to feel nervous that I already felt nauseous, nothing had even happened!  Luckily, about five minutes prior to heading into the OR, I started feeling normal again.  I was still really nervous because I had no idea what to expect.  

Nick was majorly disappointed that he didn't get more professional scrubs.  

They led me into the OR, while Nick waited.  I loved my nurse anesthetist; she was kind and clear.  She made me feel like I was in good hands.  Getting the spinal was probably the most painful thing I experienced that day.  It stung a little bit, but still, nothing compares to an amnio!  They rolled me onto the table and I started feeling warm and numb.  Before I knew it Nick was headed into the room, and they were getting ready to slice me open.  I felt excited and extremely comfortable.  Nick was there, and just the anticipation made me start to cry.  I felt so grateful to be here, to be so well taken care of, and to be sharing this with my husband.  I also felt extremely grateful for the end of pregnancy!  

Never smiled like this during natural childbirth :)

Nick was really into the surgery.  He was taking pictures of it all, and I loved that he wasn't grossed out.  I asked him to give me a play by play of what they were doing, and he just was in awe of how cool it all was.

This picture is a little hard to see, but if you look closely you can see her head popping out of my stomach.  I tried to pick one that wasn't too gross.

Right before she came out, they warned me I would feel pressure.  One doctor pressed pretty hard on my ribs and the other doctor pushed from the other side, and out she came, like toothpaste out of tube.  It was strange not being able to see it happen.  But once I heard her cry, I was in how of how much I was in love with her.  Her cry in particular meant so much to me because that was all I got. It was one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard! She cried extremely loud and I felt overwhelmed.  My doctor told me she had a cute, pixie little face. He also shared that she was covered in a lot of varnex. 

Here is the other assisting doctor showing her to Nick after delivery and being wiped down.

Nick followed her over to the table.  She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. (technically 6 lbs. 11.8 oz.) and was 20 inches long.  Nick brought her over to me to show her to me, and I thought instantly she looked a lot like Holland.  I was just shocked at how little she was.  Even her cute little features were little.  She was SO cute.  She also had a little pinhead.  I was not expecting my c section baby to have a bit of a conehead, but apparently its because she was so far down for so long.  She of course has really really long fingers and toes, 

They placed her on my chest, but because of the curtain there wasn't a lot of room.  I loved feeling her lie on my chest and sort of tried to sit up to get more comfortable, and then of course quickly realized I couldn't move.

My sweet girl.  I wanted her to stay on my chest for a long time, but I couldn't hold her comfortably and I couldn't see her. So I passed her off to Dad and they soon left to go do some more tests back in the recovery room.

Nick was instantly in love.  

Getting her first bath.  I was sad they did this before I got back into the room.  But luckily Nick took pictures and gave me a play by play.

My family was all there to meet her, but they made them wait around for a few hours before they could see her.  The nurse let Briz come in soon after getting back though, and she was a little confused by what was going on.  She didn't seem to care too much about her baby sister.  But after coming back a couple hours later, she was obsessed.  Not sure where the 180 came from, but since that second visit she has continued to be obsessed with her baby sister.  She wants to always hold her and loves kissing and touching her face.  

Overall the c section was a pretty easy process.  I had no complications; it seemed to go as smoothly as it possibly could go.  I was worried about not attaching to the baby because I didn't go through the hard work of labor, but I just loved my sweet feisty girl and knew instantly what a strong, special little girl she is.  I felt grateful for modern medicine, because without it, there is a good chance Wembley or I could have died during labor.  Sort of daunting to think about that.  The doctor also told me that she had the cord wrapped around her neck twice and body once, so there was a good chance I would have had to do an emergency c section.  I was so happy she was here and healthy!  She is a very loved little baby.  And both her and I received many prayers and love.  I felt them during delivery and soon after.  Even though it was very different from previous labors, it felt like such an amazing miracle.

Memorial Day

Normally, I sort of despise Memorial Day Weekend.  We never have anything planned and its usually crappy weather.  But this year was a pleasant surprise.  I was bummed because I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and do something active.  We had a fun afternoon/evening with the Papworths playing baseball at the park, having a bbq, and then roasting marshmallows in our backyard.

Then Memorial Day, we continued our tradition of cleaning graves at Holland's infant cemetery.   It ended up being a party with Papa and Nona showing up, as well as the Papworths.  It's not a big thing, we aren't able to clean all of the graves, but it still feels good to try to do something nice, while also remembering Holland at the same time.   I love that Briz is familiar with this special place and looks forward to visiting and talking with her little sister.  I know that she doesn't remember her, but she will have a lot of memories of honoring and loving her.

Love Love

I have loved a lot of the classes I have put Briz in the last few years, but I think this one ranks among one of my favorites.  I enrolled her in tennis, really unsure of whether she would actually learn any tennis.  But she loved it.  She ate it up, and I love to see her skills develop.  Sometimes I don't think I give her enough credit, but when she puts her mind to it, she can be a good little athlete.  She gets extremely focused, she listens, and she hustles.  But best of all, she gets extremely proud of herself for doing anything right, and she is smiling about 90% of the time.  Oh yeah, I also loved watching her in her cute little Nike tennis skirt.  Can't wait to play some tennis this summer!

Counting Down

When I was pregnant with Brizzy, the last few weeks I walked around singing, "It's the final countdown!"  (I watched a lot of arrested development during that pregnancy).  And since then, whenever I get to the end of pregnancy, I can't get that song out of my head.

Here I am at 34 weeks.  When I text this pic to my family they told me I didn't look very big.  But trust me, when you've seen me waddle it takes on a whole new effect.  I  am waddling like I've never waddled before, and it makes the belly grow about 5 times in size.  Besides the fact that my face and hands are pretty swollen now.  It's not pretty.

My wonderful ward threw me a baby shower.  I don't normally love baby showers because I don't like opening up presents in front of everyone.  But it was SO fun.  It was very low key which I love, and my friend Annette made these adorable cookies for me to bring home.  The food was SO good and I got so many amazing, cool presents.  It really helped me get excited for the baby and have a desire to get stuff together.  I felt like I didn't really need one, but I'm glad they forced me to have one because it allowed me to have some new things for just her.

I came home and opened all of my presents and spent the next two days getting all my baby crap together.  I of course couldn't walk the three days after that, but it was worth it.  We have this little room just off of our master; its the absolute perfect spot because she will be close but will still have her own space.  Nick and I keep joking to each other, "Why have we ever taken up a whole room for  a baby before!"

 Briz is getting ready.  She has a constant countdown going.   First on the countdown is how much time left in preschool, categorized by both days and weeks.  And then a much lesser priority on her countdown is how many days/weeks until the baby comes. She made a special necklace for her baby sister to wear post delivery.  And yes, it does say, "Club Glitz" on the bottom.  Perfect.

This is me at 35 weeks.  The last couple weeks have become even more miserable.  I started getting migraines about every other day, and am constantly throwing up because of my severe heartburn.  I am itching of course, and sleep usually not more than about 5 hours at night.  I pee about 20 minutes and I struggle walking, standing, sitting, pretty much all of it.  She is headbutting and punching me in the cervix fairly often which is one of the most painful things ever.  I randomly start screaming and it definitely has led to some awkward moments.  But its amazing how getting close to the end makes it feel bearable.  It helps that Nick and Briz make me laugh all of the time.  I am trying to soak up the one thing I love about pregnancy which is this baby's crazy ninja moves inside of me.  She is a hype I can tell, and while her kicking hurts me, I love to just sit and watch her be a maniac.  

I had my ultrasound yesterday and discovered that the placenta has moved slightly but still not enough, so C section here we come!  June 10th at 7:30 a.m. they will be slicing me open and pulling my little girl out (Nick has requested to help with surgery, what a weirdo). I was really hoping I could do a regular birth, but I am just so excited to meet her that I'm not sure how much I care. at this point (I may have a different perspective after delivery when I can't do the things I want to do ).  I am constantly daydreaming about her, holding her, kissing her, figuring our her cries.   This little girl's arrival has been highly anticipated  and she has so many wonderful people that will love her.  We can't wait for her to join our family!  

Putting Briz to Work

Briz was so excited to turn 5.  She talks about when she was 4 like it was ancient history.  One of my favorite things about her getting older is using it against her . . ."Oh well five year olds know how to do that."  She usually responds with a surprised, "Really?"  But either way she totally believes  Nick and I and feels like she has a challenge to rise to.   I will be sad when the day comes that she doesn't believe everything I say.

She thought the idea of cleaning my car was so great!  Until she started.  She cleaned about 1/3 of it and then gave up.

We are working really hard over the last few months on being more clean.  We have designated clean up time every morning where I set the timer and turn on music.  After trying  a few different strategies this one for sure works the best.  But she still loves having me around, even if I'm not doing anything.  Here we are learning how to match and fold socks.  We are starting to work on tying shoes, mostly because my big belly gets in the way of me trying to bend over and tie them.

Love how proud of herself she gets when she does something little.

This girl has been playing extremely hard and working hard.  She is playing all of the time over at friends houses.  She is wiped out a lot.

But never too tired to pose for a picture.

She has a few more weeks of tennis.  I  bought her a Nike tennis skirt so she always talks about how we're twins.  She is a decent little tennis player, when she wants to try, that is.  She loves to talk about playing tennis with Grandma Julie this summer.

Briz lately, I swear, has turned into a little pre teen.  Her favorite things to say are, "Seriously?!" (think teenage girl with the influx) and "What the!!!!"  all of the time.  A lot of  "Are you for real" and "like,"  A couple weeks ago I was ready to lock her in her room for a few days because she constantly had an attitude. I would ask her to do something and she started mumbling things under her breath as she talked back.  Yes  I know, this is slightly concerning.

But most of the time we have fun together.  I love how excited she gets about the baby coming.  She is very specific about not wanting to see blood or any kind of gross substance on the baby.  She only wants to see her after she has taken a bath :)  But she talks all of the time about all of the ways she is going to help with her sister.  Even when Briz is being a stinker she gives me and my belly constant hugs and kisses and tells me about ten times every day how much she loves me.