Saturday, November 2, 2013

Mamahood

I've been really wanting to write a blog entry about how being a full time mom is so much more demanding than being a full time employee.  But in the last eight months I haven't had the time to do it.  So...I guess that fact alone about sums it up.  :)



Quick addition - pretty sure my baby is the greatest little person who ever existed!  I can't get enough of her!  I could hold her and kiss her all day long and it would just never be enough.  I can't stop telling her how much I love her even though she probably doesn't understand yet.  So even though it's the hardest thing I've ever done (I had no idea just how hard being a mom would be), my daughter is the most amazing blessing of my life.  I seriously cannot get over how wonderful she is!  I love my sweet little family :)


Sunday, April 14, 2013

Photos of Claire - First Month

Here are some photos from Claire's first month!  She's growing fast.  LOVE her!!!  Motherhood is AMAZING, to say the least!  I couldn't be happier.  She's such a beautiful miracle :)


























And one of my favorites...

Aaron doesn't want her to look at screens so I positioned her facing away from the screen while I was watching my Netflix show, but when I looked down I caught her doing this!! Sneaky.. I guess she's too much like her Dad - loves screens!  :)  This photo just cracks me up!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Final letter - Birth!


Birth!
     
     Hello Claire!!  You’re here!!!  On Sunday we had your Dad’s birthday dinner, then I wrote my last letter to you, and your Dad went to take a nap while I worked on sewing a ladybug hooded towel for you.  Once your Dad woke up, we had cake and ice cream and presents for his birthday.  I was having really bad heartburn as usual and went to take some Tums – and there were only two left.  I told your Dad, “Well, we have to have the baby now because I’m all out of Tums!” and two hours later, I went into labor!  Your Dad noticed I was in labor before I would admit it.  I told him I was just cringing from the pain of you moving around, but he said I was “cringing on a schedule” and kept a close eye on me.  I ate a big bowl of popcorn and then tried to go to bed, but there was no ignoring those contractions.  

      I went into labor at 9pm and by 2am I finally let your Dad take me to the hospital.  Since it was the middle of the night, all the lights in town were blinking yellow, so we didn’t have to worry about any red lights, which was nice.  We went into the Emergency Room entrance and told them we needed to go to the Birth Center.  Someone brought me a wheelchair and I signed a couple of papers.  The girl who wheeled me to the Birth Center was a very nice, young girl and she asked us lots of questions about what your nursery looked like and how excited we were.  She seemed nervous and told me to tell her if I felt you coming out because she could always start running if she had to, haha, little did she know… we still had 21 hours of labor ahead of us!  Yikes!  The doctors and nurses kept a very close eye on your heart rate all throughout those hours of labor because there was no variation and they said that meant you needed to come out very soon.  Around 5pm that night the doctor said your heart rate was dropping and they weren’t sure what was wrong but they thought you might have a knot in your umbilical cord.  They said they could let me keep laboring if I still wanted to try to have you naturally, but they strongly recommended against it because I wasn’t progressing and you seemed to be in distress.  I looked at your Dad and we communicated without even speaking – we both wanted to get you here safely and we didn’t care about anything else.  I told them to go ahead and do the c-section they were recommending.  The doctor looked very relieved when I gave her the green light and she hurried out of the room to get things going.  

      I was suddenly so afraid that maybe my worst fears about your safety were coming true and maybe you wouldn’t be alright.  I knew I only had a couple of minutes before everything got started, so I quickly asked your Dad for a Priesthood blessing.  He immediately moved to my side with no hesitation and gave me the exact blessing that I needed.  He blessed me to be calm and for you to be healthy.  I found out later that some of my close friends were praying for the same thing at the same time.  Moments later, the room was filled with people and everyone was hurrying to get ready for your arrival.  Your Dad put on a white full body suit, a blue hair cover and a mask.  They also gave me a hair cover and wheeled me down to the operating room.  They put up a blue sheet and pinched my stomach all over to make sure I couldn’t feel anything.  A few minutes later they got started.  Your Dad was sitting on a chair to my right and held my hand through the whole thing.  I felt surprisingly peaceful and calm through the whole thing and was so glad to be able to hold your Dad’s hand.  The anesthesiologist was so friendly and talked us through the whole procedure.  I was listening closely to the commentary from the doctors as they performed the surgery.  The doctors made a lot of “whoa!” comments as they first saw you because you were twisted sideways and face up and you had the umbilical cord wrapped around your neck.  They said you never would have come out on your own and one doctor said you probably wouldn’t have made it if we had continued to labor for so long with the cord around your neck.  What a relief to know we made the right decision!  
     
     As soon as I started to hear that they could see you, I began to feel very anxious to see you, I had to know you were really okay!  I remember fixating my eyes on the edge of that blue curtain, anxious to see you come around it.  Your Dad saw my face change and started to try to tell me to relax, but a few seconds later, they brought you around the blue curtain and we could see you!  Your Dad was up in a flash to be close to you and help cut the cord and take pictures.  As soon as I saw you I melted into tears and could not stop crying.  I was so relieved that you were really here and you were okay!  I just cried and cried and stared at you.  You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.  All I can remember thinking at the time was, “I know you.”  It was amazing to me that you were so familiar to me.  You weren’t some random baby that I was seeing, you were mine and I knew you.  We’d spent a lot of time together the last few months and that bond was still there even though you were outside of me now.  I was not expecting that feeling, but it was incredible.  Your Dad brought you over to me after a few minutes and I got to touch your face and kiss you for the first time.  It was such a powerful experience and I will never forget that moment.  I knew in that moment that all our prayers had finally been answered and that all the heartache and pain of the last few years was worth it because our miracle was finally here.  We love you so much and we are beyond thrilled that you’re here!  

Love, Mama






Sunday, March 17, 2013

For Block 5 :)

Claire's got her outfit all ready to go to join Daddy at work ;)

Friday, March 15, 2013

She's here!!!




Claire Irene Robinson 
arrived March 4, 2013 at 6:03pm at 6lb 12oz 20in.  





 She's amazing!!  And she's HERE!!  :)  
I can't get over what a miracle she is and how blessed we are.






Baby Claire arrived via c-section after 21 hours of labor, so it was quite the task to get her here!  My "birth plan" was for the baby to arrive safely and be healthy, so I'm 100% happy with how things turned out!  The baby's heart rate had been a concern the entire time I was in labor, but when it suddenly dropped and became a more serious concern, I thought all my worst fears might be coming true.  So I didn't hesitate when the doctor strongly recommended a c-section, and we had her out within the hour.  It was a good thing too because she was face up and twisted sideways in such a way that they said she never would have come out on her own.  And the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck so continuing to labor would have been dangerous.  Regardless, I was just so thrilled to get her here.  Seeing her for the first time was such an emotional experience for me and I'll never forget that moment.  I couldn't believe she was really here!






Although it sounds fairly awful to go through hours of labor only to have a c-section in the end, I actually had a very positive and wonderful experience and wouldn't change it.  It was insanely painful and I can't put into words how painful contractions are (still in shock over how unbelievably painful that was!!) and c-section recovery is so much harder than I ever anticipated, but the actual experience of laboring with my wonderful husband there to support me, and then having the c-section with my excellent doctors and nurses making it so positive, and then finally seeing Claire for the first time was all just so incredible and the best experience I'll ever have.  I felt so strongly that my Heavenly Father was in every detail of my experience and I'm so happy with how everything turned out.  She's a beautiful baby and Aaron is an amazing dad already - I'm so blessed!  Thanks for sharing in our journey!  I can hardly believe we finally made it and my beautiful daughter is here!!  




Sunday, March 3, 2013

Our Baby Photos - yikes!



First of all - HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY to the most amazing guy around!!



Okay and now for our funny baby photo experience today...


So Aaron and I frequently have mentioned to each other how cute our baby is going to be because we were both such cute babies!  I mean c'mon, how can these two cuties not have a super cute baby?!  ;)
                 Janae




Aaron             





Well... today we looked at photos of us on our actual day of birth and our "we were so cute" bubble is shattered, lol!  Aaron said we both look like offspring of Yoda-- haha!  It's not pretty!  


We have officially changed our tune from "our baby is going to be sooo cute!"  to, 
"uh oh..."




    Janae






Aaron



(I should add that we noticed that our parents still looked excited and happy in the photos, even though they were holding Yoda babies - so I think we'll be just fine, lol.  We're not actually worried, we just thought this was pretty hilarious!)  :)

Week 40!


Monday, February 25, 2013

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Week 37


(Sorry for the editing!  Can't always post everything!)  :)

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Craigslist Finds

I've done some craigslisting this past week as we've tried to find good deals on the last few baby things we need.  Thought I'd share my victories!

1. Side table with space for books in the bottom...
$45 retail, got one in perfect condition for $20!



2.  Baby Trend Snap N Go...
$75-99 retail, got one in good working condition for $5!!

Baby Trend Snap N Go EX Universal Infant Car Seat Carrier


3. Chicco car seat base for Keyfit 30...
$75-85 retail, got one in great condition (one owner, not expired) for $25!
Chicco KeyFit & KeyFit30 Infant Car Seat Base - Anthracite

So we saved about $150 thanks to craigslist!  Woohoo!!  :)

---

And here are my tips to "Craigslist Responsibly":

1. Choose a reliable check-in buddy who will be near their phone and a computer during your pick up time
2. Give your check-in buddy all the information you have on the person you're meeting (link to the listing, name, email address, phone number and location where you are meeting)
3. Call your buddy just before meeting the seller and give them a reasonable time frame for when you'll call back (usually 5 minutes)
4. Call your buddy back as soon as the transaction is complete to confirm you're still alive ;)

Happy Craigslisting!  :)