Welcome to the World

Yes this picture is for real. And Yes, I am putting it on my blog. Since my blog is my new way of scrap booking and journaling, my posts have become more a documentation for myself, not necessarily to entertain and meet the approval of my viewers. So now that you got that disclaimer...I'll share a bit about my journey with Kaeda. I haven't really put too many updates of my pregnancy along the way because I was busy living life with my other two precious children.

To sum it up though...I was miserable in the beginning and absolutely did NOT enjoy the morning sickness. In that stage I swore I was NEVER going to get pregnant again and still probably feel that way. Then like magic, the sickness had almost completely faded by 20 weeks.  Many people suggested that we should not find out the sex, but I am not that kind of girl. So at about 22 weeks, because Cody didn't want to take work off, on June 1st after school was out we learned we were growing another beautiful female. :) The second trimester was great. We enjoyed many fun summer activities and I had lots of energy and enjoyed feeling new movements and my growing belly. The Third trimester wasn't too much different other than losing a little of my energy and many of my activities had to be altered because of my big belly. BUT this was defiantly the healthiest and most enjoyable pregnancy of all my kiddos. Almost too good because I wasn't miserable enough to feel ready to have her. I had anxiety about making the transition to 3 kids and mostly stressed about all the expenses once our little pumpkin did arrive. I knew all too well that they are much easier to take care of when they are inside. But despite my fears I knew it was inevitable and agreed to be induced four days early because Dr. Noorda was going to be out of town and Cody had his last football game. Anyway, my pregnancy overall was great. I didn't even swell in my feet once, my back didn't completely break, didn't have kidney stones like I did with Ridge, and I didn't gain a TON like I did with Saige. Ahh...I still have a bunch of work before I am getting back into my jeans though. Oh Well!

We checked into the hospital on October 5th at about 8:30 am to have labor induced. When they hooked me up to the monitor, I was already having sporadic contractions. :) I had to endure 3 attempts to get an IV started and didn't get on the PIT until about 10:30. Though that wasn't a pleasant experience, I had amazing nurses that were with me the whole time. While waiting for the doctor to come break my water, it broke on its own at about noon, then Dr. Noorda finished the job about 12:30. Shortly after I got the epidural and boy was I ready because the contractions and pressure where getting pretty intense. Kudos to those who go natural, but I am not one of those chicks. Anyway, a bit after two I was fully dilated and ready to push and when Noorda showed up I knew it was go time. It all happened so quickly! I only pushed through 4 contractions, about 10minutes. Almost without a hitch, but when her head emerged doc realized the cord was wrapped around her neck. So I immediately had to stop pushing and Cody was unable to have the pleasure of cutting the cord. He didn't mind stepping back on that one and letting the professional handle it. Then the pushing resumed and she was delivered at 2:34pm! :)

  I loved that they immediately put her on my belly to work on her and clean her up. I was so excited to finally have my little lady in my arms and meet her face to face. Her lack of color and crying made us nervous but the nurse was very reassuring and knew what he was doing and it was neat to see it all taking place. Plus I got to hold hands immediately with my little pumpkin. One of the first things I noticed were her super long fingers and toes and nails already needing to be trimmed. The nurses said I better get her signed up for piano lessons and others have made that same comment since.

Then our tiny peanut was whisked away to be weighed and measured.

Weigh in at 7lbs. 6oz. and a mear 18 in.

I knew that she was smaller than my others and even guessed that with Noorda at my last visit.

Ridge weighed 8lbs. 2. oz and was 20 1/2 in.

Saige was 7lbs. 7oz. and was 19 1/2 in. 

My mom and Cody were there in the delivery room to help welcome Kaeda to the world and her Nana was just outside. Besides me, Grandma Paulers, Nana, and Cody were the first ones to hold Kaeda in the delivery room. They let us keep her with us the whole recovery time and had me hold her while they took us to our room.

 Then the baby nurse was right in behind us to wash her on my very bed before my eyes. Yay! I have always been jealous of how they take the dads to the nursery and the mom misses that first bath, but not this time. It was awesome to watch daddy wash his little girl.

Then finally some quiet alone skin to skin time. My kids have never had a problem with nursing and Kaeda wasn't any different. She latched on perfectly and has been like a little vampire every since. She would suck constantly if I'd let her. AND a Binky wont do, oh no, has to be mom. Ugh. I love love love to nurse but boy it is painful at first and goodness I can't be a human pacifier.

 Then time for more visitors. Papa (Cody's dad) and Grandpa (My dad) were pretty proud gpa's and I could tell that she already has them wrapped around her precious little finger. So thankful for both of our families and their support.

Then who was I MOST excited to see...Saige and Ridge! I missed them so much and was so glad to see them and wrap my arms around them. They were absolutely ecstatic about their new little sister. Naturals right off the bat, so gentle and loving with her and that hasn't stopped since we've had her home. They loved checking out every inch of her and asking a million questions. Saige was really concerned about me giving birth, asking how and expressing that she didn't want me to die. She and Ridge both were really supportive during my pregnancy, asking if I was okay, etc. They cutest though...when I would wince in pain because of a kick or a cramp Ridge would ask, "What what mom? a cramp?" and Saige would be my pain coach saying, "Be tough mom, just breath, you'll be okay!" They helped put a smile on my face more than they will ever know.

We had several other visitors including Aunt Mindie, Aunt Kayla and Adam, Uncle Kent Lundgren and more. We sure appreciate everyone and their well wishes. We are super happy to have a new addition to our family...AND...we all agree that we have the "Cutest Baby in the Nursery"

Welcome to our FAMILY Kaeda Ivy Lundgren!

Our Family of FIVE :)