Birth and 6 Month Comparison

It is amazing how different 2 sister can be! I was just thinking about them and decided to do a quick comparison. Here is Elizabeth at 1 day...

Here is Carla at 1 day...

Here is Elizabeth at 6 months...

Here is Carla at 6 months...

Wow are they ever so different! Carla was a string bean, then she exploded! Poose was a chunky monkey at birth and then thinned out! Crazy crazy!

Poose turned 1...a few months ago...

Oops. I know it has been a while since she turned 1, but I want to write about my little angel.

Her Birthday-
We went to the zoo, which she and her sister both love to do. In the afternoon was her party. Let me tell you, it was a PAR-TAY! We had a balloon artist who also does magic tricks come. She loves balloons so we thought that would be perfect! Zach and I made Salvadorean Tamales, rice, beans, salad, and for dessert... a chocolate fountain and cake! I know, I know, we really went all out. But hey, we weren't just celebrating that she turned one, but that we made it a whole year with two children. That IS something to celebrate! Back to my baby. She loved the food, and especially the cake! It was so much fun to see her interacting with her cake. At first she didn't want to touch it. But as soon as she figured out what it was she ate the ENTIRE piece! It was great. She wasn't too sure about her pinata either, she'll learn though. Oh yes, and I also made her dress and matching hair bow!

Her Person-

She is growing up so fast! She is walking...well running! She LOVES to laugh, especially at her sister, or is it with her sister??I guess it doesn't really matter, all I know is that she laughs and that her laugh makes me smile. She is starting to talk more. Her favorite word is "no," of course she probably learned it from her sister...or me. She folds her arms when we pray, as the matter of fact, a couple days ago she said her first prayer! I didn't understand it, but she folded her arms, closed her eyes, and started babbling, then she said, "amen" and opened her eyes. I am blessed to have her in my life. She makes me so happy. She is definitely a cuddler, and I love it! She will walk over to me, sit on my lap and lay her head down on my chest. It is so sweet! She still prefers to be held over walking. She may be spoiled, but oh I love her snuggling with me! She LOVES to nurse. I finally weaned her about 2 weeks ago, and she STILL asks for it. Not with words, but she will get a pillow, put it on my lap and lay down, yeah little lady I can take a hint. Sorry but the answer is "no." She loves her daddy also. When she sees him, she squeals and starts running to him and gives him a great big hug. It just melts your heart.

Life as we know it.

I love Iowa for so many reasons. We have felt right at home. As I was stating in my last post, Poose has started to walk, but the silly girl will only take 5-7 steps then sit down. She will take a couple steps, stop, look around, take a few more, stop, look around, then another, then sit down. Yeah, I think she is just too lazy to walk. Just like she still is not talking. Crazy girl. She either squeals, yells, or simply shakes her head. She loves to be outside, and amazingly enough she loves to crawl up the slide, then slide back down, and yes, she goes up the stairs on the slide by herself. Seems to me like I have another daredevil on my hands. She is such a sweet girl though. She will crawl over, put her head down on my lap, shoulder, arm, or head. Snuggle in for about oh, 2 or 3 seconds, then go play. A couple minutes later, she returns for another short lived but sweet snuggle. Oh yes, one thing that she does say is "Hi Mama!" Yes, TWO words. She probably thinks they are one though.
Zach got her up from bed one morning, and when they came into the room, she squealed and said, "Hi mama!" I thought it was Carla because she said it as clear and day. I turned to look and it was my little pumpkin! I couldn't believe it! Zach couldn't either! She is growing up so stinking fast. Grrr! I don't like it. I am so guilty of not taking advantage of every moment, every second soaking up her giggles, smiles, laughs, cries, and times of sheer contentment. I try look look at her, examine her as much as I can every day so that I can commit her perfect little self to memory. A memory so ingrained in my mind that even when I'm 102 I'll be able to think back and see her as clearly as I see her today. I love my little baby more than words can express. Poose, you are so dear to my heart sweetheart. Know that you and your sister are my greatest treasure.

CRAWLING!!!

Elizabeth officially started 4 point crawling today! I am so happy! I can't believe how fast she is growing. Zach was able to be here for it also. He got out early from school and decided to stop by the house before going back to work. Lo and behold, in those few minutes, she started to crawl. So sweet! I'm so proud of my little lady. She is a very determind baby, who loves to explore. She is trying to pull herself up on furniture now also. Luckily she hasn't gotten there yet. I love you Poose!

Papoose's milestones

I have been horrible with keeping track of Poose's Milstones. Here is a brief summary with a resolution to do better!

Roll Over December
Coo November
Laugh December
Blow Bubbles December 20th

Sit up March

Say Mama Mid May

Say Dada End of May

Wave "hi" May 28th

Scoot!! May 29th

I can't believe all of the things that my little baby is doing! She is getting so big so fast. She makes me want to be a better mommy. She deserves a better mommy. But I am trying. Every morning I pray for more patience, but sadly I've used it up by breakfast time.

Papoose- the official nickname

When Elizabeth first came home, we used to wrap her up nice and tight. She loved it. If ever she was crying we would bundle her up and she would stop. I though that papoose was the word that Native American's use to describe the tight wrapping of the baby. I started calling her papoose because she liked to be all wrapped up. One night Zach asked me why I called her papoose. I told him why and we started wondering how it was spelled. Zach got out the dictionary. Low and behold, to both of our surprise, papoose is a Native American baby! We thought it was sort of cute because Carla is our baby, and papoose can be our Native baby. Besides, I am Native American- Mayan, from the Pipil tribe. A couple times I called her papoosinga, I don't know why, just something to add on the end I guess. The funny thing is that now Carla only calls papoose, papoosinga. Sooo cute how she says it too! Adorable. So Elizabeth's nickname is Papoose or Papoosinga or sometimes just Inga.

Coming home

Dr. Young came to see her before we went home and I got a picture of them together. The man who got her out, and kept me safe during the pregnancy. Thank you Dr. Young for all you did.
Before we were able to leave, they checked her bilirubin levels, which of course were not where they needed to be. So they put her under the lights. Poor baby. She didn't mind it though. She was in heaven because it was nice and warm underneath the light. I took her in every other day to have her levels checked for the levels to stabilize. Luckily I only had to do this for a week. Poor baby getting poked on her little foot.
Anyways, then we were able to get ready to go home. I got her dressed and we were off. When we got home, my parents were waiting for us. It was so sweet of them. I love them so much, they are always there when we need them. Oh yeah, and they took me flowers, Gerber Daises, my favorite, in the hospital. We put her in her bassinet to sleep. That didn't last long though. She wanted to be snuggled and cuddled. She was an amazing sleeper though! She slept for 5 hours straight, then woke up to eat. Good girl!

The sisters meet.

The next day Carla came over to meet Papoose. She didn't meet her when she was born because she was already sleeping. She came over and even wore her "Big Sister" shirt. It was adorable. As soon as she saw Elizabeth she was in love with her. She wanted to hold her, which she did so nicely with daddy's help. She loved on her and even gave her kisses. So sweet! And we also took our first family photo.

Papoose's first bath...

Zach was able to give the baby her first bath. We bathed her the next day. It was nice to see him so involved in the care of our new baby.

The long birth story...

It was September 9th, about 10am. I was going in for a routine Non-Stress Test at the doctor's office. The NST went well, then he examined me and found that instead of my body progressing and getting ready for the baby to come, it was going backwards. My cervix closed, my uterus went from ripe, to unripe. It was not a good thing. The doctor came in and said that it was time for a heart to heart.
Oh yeah, the night before, I had Zach give me a blessing. It said that I needed to pay close attention to what the doctor said, and that he is a very inspired doctor. That I needed to follow his counsel, and that Elizabeth would arrive healthy and strong.
Back to the heart to heart. He said that the longer I waited, the more at risk I was putting myself and the baby. That many things could go wrong, and that my body wasn't acting like it was going to go into labor any time soon. He said that I really needed to evaluate how important a VBAC was to me, and that I should consider having the c-section. I asked him when the c-section would take place. To my complete shock, he said, "tonight, or tomorrow morning." I called Zach, we said a prayer and I felt peace. I knew that we should do the c-section. I started crying, partially because of disappointment that I wouldn't be able to ever know what labor was like, fear of labor and the recovery, and anxious that I only had a couple of hours to get ready for the baby. I went back with the doctor and told him that night would work for the c-section. He told me to be happy, that in the matter of hours I would be holding our little bundle of joy in my arms, and that some women like having c-sections (even though I know that he isn't a huge fan of them unless they are truly needed). The nurses also tried to comfort me, and get me excited. They gave me a tentative time of 6 pm and I left.
Everyone was alerted, my mom and I went to buy last minute things. We went to Motherhood Maternity to buy some nursing bras, when I got a call from the hospital. They said that they had no rooms left and if I could come in the morning at 5:30. I said that would be fine. So my mom and I got some food. I then alerted everyone again. We went home, and as I got the bag ready, I began to get more and more excited. The plan was that my mom would come to the house at 5am and watch on Carla since the actual c-section wasn't until 7am, and then she would bring her to the hospital.
That night I started spotting. I called the hospital, they said that it was probably due to the doctor's exam that morning. I brushed it off. Zach went to sleep about 11 or midnight, and I stayed awake for a while and finally fell asleep at 2:00 am on the couch. About an hour later, I woke up in sheer pain. After about 5 minutes, I was able to get to the bathroom and started gushing blood. I yelled for Zach but he didn't hear me, instead, Carla woke up. Our bedroom door was open and Carla's was closed, go figure. I finally was able to get up, and go to the bedroom and yell at Zach that I was gushing blood. That got him up quick! I was in sheer pain. I was having contractions that were lasting about 90 sec, and then they would stop for 30 sec, and another one would start up again. It was so intense. Zach reminded me to go to my happy place and to breath through my contractions. I did, and the difference was amazing. It was so much better. I was able to walk and talk. Zach called Lacey, who came over to watch on Carla until my mom came at 5am. We got to the hospital at 3:30, and they admitted me immediately. They checked me and I was dilated to a 3! I dilated 3 cm in half an hour. Two hours later I had dilated another 2 cm. At 6am they gave me the epidural and the contractions slowed down. The doctor came in at 7 and decided break my water in hopes that it would start the contractions again. When the doctor did that, they noticed that the water was filled with miconium. They started a flush and put in a monitor inside me to measure the contractions. Yup, there they were. Getting stronger and stronger, and closer and closer together. I was still dilating 2 cm every 2 hours. Talk about intense. The doctor came in at 3pm and asked me why I was still pregnant, I asked him the same question. It was quite funny. The contractions continued and with every contraction I was to push to try to get the baby to drop because she was still really high. But it was to no avail. Finally at 8 pm the doctor sent everyone out of the room and had me push. She was hardly dropping with every push. My incision was starting to hurt and after about 10-15 min, the doctor had me stop pushing and we had another heart to heart. He said the baby just wasn't coming and that it would take at least 3 good hours of constant pushing for her to come.
' 'n ;/n '/- From Carla...
That was a bad idea because my incision was already starting to hurt and I could rupture. So, Zach and I decided it was time to let go of my dream VBAC. I cried and cried and cried. But at the same time, I felt peace. They finished preping me for surgery and Zach got ready also. They wheeled me back to the O.R. I started shaking uncontrollably and got really cold. They said it was because the block in my back was blocking the pain from the contractions in the lower back which moved all of the pain to the top part of my body. It was horrible. I was crying because I was scared that I was going to hyperventilate or have a seizure. Luckily Zach was there holding my hand telling me that everything was going to be fine. The cutting took about a half an hour, and at 8:40 pm my little papoose (Elizabeth's nickname) came out. The amazing thing was that the anesthesiologist picked up my head so that I could see her coming out. It was beautiful. She looked like a strange goopy alien, but it didn't matter to me. I loved her with all my heart just the same. We weren't able to hold her right away because she had to go to the respiratory therapist because of the meconium. We were however right next to her and were able to see her the whole time. After taking her APGAR and suctioning her out Zach got to hold her. While they finished sewing me up, which took FOREVER- at least it felt like it, Zach took the baby to meet her grandparents who where outside the O.R. waiting. When I was finally done, they wheeled me back to my room and there was Zach with my alien. He gave her to me and said that he hadn't let anyone hold her because I needed to hold her first. He gave her to me, and I just held her and held her. I was shaking still, they said it would last a couple of hours, which it did, but then I was fine. We spent the night just loving on her, and recuperating.

Elizabeth Jane Part III

Yesterday I had my appointment. I haven't felt her move very much lately and so I mentioned it to the doctor. Yeah, he set me up for a non-stress test at the hospital that same day and another one on Thursday. They did the AFI, and turns out that my fluid level is high, 22.5... again! Great. So of course, that is one explanation as to why I can't feel her as much. I am also measuring at 41 weeks. At least I can't get any bigger! On the bright side, I am 50% effaced, dilated to a 1, and my cervix is soft and ripe. That means that my chances for a VBAC are really good! Ya hoo! He said she probably won't come until next week, which I'm okay with, although I would LOVE for her to come Friday. I guess I'll wait.

Elizabeth Jane Part II

So, I went in for my NST and the fluid level went back up to 16. The doctor is calling it good for now. Phew! It is now 13 days before I'm due and everything is going superb. I went in on Sunday to get checked because I thought my fluid was leaking, thankfully not, but they checked me and my cervix is still closed, but at least I am 60% effaced, which is great. My body is doing it's thing and I'm super excited for her to come. WOO HOO!! This morning Carla woke up at 3:30 am and wouldn't go back to sleep. About 6 am, I started having contractions. They were pretty strong and about every 3-5 min. I was excited because I am ready to meet my young blood, and be able to hold her tiny little body in my arms and give her some good loving. Another plus is that she would be born on Grandpa Robert's birthday- which he REALLY wants, and then both girls would have been born on a grandparent's birthday. Ahhhh. But as of now, no such luck. After 45 minutes of contractions, they stopped. Ah poop. Another day it will be I guess. Lizzy, we are super duper excited for you to come sweetness!

Elizabeth Jane

Baby #2 will be arriving shortly! We decided to name her Elizabeth Jane Roberts. She will be named after both of her grandmas, just as I am. My mom's name is Georgina Elizabeth and Zach's mom's name is Jane Agnes. So we decided to put together Elizabeth Jane, instead of Georgina Agnes. Tee hee hee. Everything has been going great. At 20 weeks we found out that our baby was going to be a girl. It was a shocker because I was positive that she was really going to be a "he." When the Ultrasound tech said, "Looks like a girl!" We both were in shock, especially Zach. The tech even said, "looks like dad is in disbelief, lets see if we can get another angle. Yup, just more labia." When we were walking to the car, Zach finally said, "Its a girl." I just laughed. Then of course he blamed his shock on me because I was the one that convinced him that we were having a boy. Yeah, nice one honey, blame it on the pregnant wife. Very nice. Tee hee hee. Anyways, we are ecstatic to be blessed with another princess in our family.
About a month after that, I started measuring big, every couple weeks Dr. Young would have me come in to recheck me and yet again, my uterus was growing and growing. He had me take the glucose test, and I passed with a 97%. I had another ultrasound done and low and behold, I had very high fluid level. Normal is 6-18, and I had a whopping 22! I started to freak out because of all of the complications that it could bring. Luckily the baby is a lot bigger than what she should be. The is measuring three weeks bigger than normal. They considered changing my date, but decided not too, although the date according to the baby's growth and the due date according to my last menstrual cycle is the same, August 21st. So we'll see when she comes, anyways back to the complications... the next day, my daddy and Zach gave me a blessing. It was a wonderful, calming blessing. In it I was promised that I would sleep...YAY!!!! Also that Elizabeth Jane was fine and that the labor would go well and smoothly. In it, Father also said that I needed to have the courage to get the rest that I needed and to protect the baby. So that is what I have done. I have tried to eat more than once a day, because I just don't get hungry, and drink a lot more liquids. I am trying very hard to eat healthy and to take care of my body as much as possible.
The next week, which was last Monday, I went in for another Non-Stress Test, and low and behold, the fluid level went down 6 points! I was at a 16, the only downside was that she moved and is now in breech position.
Today, I went in for my supposedly last NST. Elizabeth was moving like crazy, probably because I drank 22 oz of KoolAid before going to the appointment. Cheese! Then we, Zach got out early and was able to come to the appointment, went in for the ultrasound, and the doctor said, even before measuring all the fluid, that there wasn't very much fluid around the baby. Sure enough, there wasn't. The fluid went down 8 points. Now I am only at a 9. Great. Anything under 6 and I can't have a VBAC anyways. Great. She is at least head down, sort of. Above her head is her hand, holding the umbilical cord, which I guess is a bad thing because she can't come out vaginally that way because she would be pulling the cord out with her.
Now the doctor is concerned because my fluid level is dropping too fast, so I'll be going in next week for another NST to make sure that the fluid isn't too low. If all goes well, I will be able to skip a week then I'll be going in weekly for my appointments because I'll be in the last month of the pregnancy.
I can't believe that everything is going by so fast! This pregnancy has just flown by. Obviously by my lack of writing about everything that is going on. Soon enough we'll have our little Elizabeth Jane, our butterfly here in our arms. We are anxious for her to join our family. We love her so much already!

Moving, moving, moving

The baby is moving! I love it because it makes the pregnancy seem so much more real. I can't believe how fast time is flying though. I am 16 weeks today! At my next appointment on April 19th, we find out it he is a he or a she. Obviously I think that he is a he, so we'll see if I'm right. Although I do have to admit that sometimes it crosses my mind that he might be a she, but that is probably because we have a she already and I can't imagine life with a little he. I know that it is going to be wonderful, absolutely amazing. The first time I felt him move was on Friday, March 12. He kicked for the first time on Monday. There is such a difference with him and Carla though. Carla was a wiggler. She was always moving and kicking and doing somersaults. This one, he barely moves at all. I really have to pay attention to see if he is moving. He has only kicked once and is content being a lazy boy, which is fine. That way he probably won't leave me bruises like Carla did! I am so excited for our new babe to come and to hold, squeeze, kiss, and love on him. Oh life is bliss. Jam packed with blessings!

Baby's Heartbeat!

Since last Wednesday, we started looking for the baby's heartbeat every other day with our doppler. It was so exciting to listen... nothing... listen... nothing... listen... then Sunday, 120! It was wonderful, and so exciting. When we heard it, Zach's face lit up and he perked right up. We listened to it for about 5-10 minutes, and then went to bed. Oh the joys of being pregnant. I honestly love most of the emotions and stages that come from pregnancy. I don't like the nausea, dizziness, cramping, emotional roller coaster, but everything else... well, or the stretch marks, or not being able to walk properly, but everything else is a blast!! YAY FOR BABIES!! It really is amazing that an innocent beautiful babe is come about by the love of two people. What a blessing it is to have such power. Power from our Heavenly Father. He has entrusted us with the care of his most sacred possession, His children. We are given the opportunity to raise these sacred children. What an honor! I am so in love with my children. Both the born and the unborn. They complete our life. I am so grateful to be able to carry another little miracle and to provide everything that he will need. I am grateful to Zach for giving me the opportunity to be a mother and a wife. It is what completes my life.

New Grandbaby

On Saturday we went up for Lexie's Baptism! Yup yup, after 2 months of planning and plans falling through, she was finally baptized and Melissa was there! It was so sweet to see all the kids waiting to be baptized. She was baptized along with 4 other Primary children at the Stake Baptism day. Zach gave a beautiful talk on the Holy Ghost, in which he compared the Holy Ghost to the ink inside a pen, and that once you are baptized, the ink goes into the pen, and dwells there. After the baptism, we ate cupcakes that were in the shape of a rainbow.
We went to mom's house for a little while, and when we were getting ready to leave, I asked Zach to ask mom to she if she wanted to change Carla's outfit. Underneath her white sweater she was wearing the "big sister" shirt. So mom and dad came over and mom took off her sweater. She didn't really notice the shirt so I said, "Mom, Carla wants you to read her shirt." When she read her shirt, she got this perplexed look on her face and said, " Big sister... really?? You are?!? I want all the details!" Dad was excited also, then mom asked him if he had read the shirt...."no... big sister. Oh wait, you're expecting???" I laughed, oh yes, I laughed. He was excited, but he didn't know why. I told them that I was about 6 weeks a long, and that I was going to see the doctor as soon as possible to make sure that everything was going smoothly. I also told them that I felt as if I was having a boy. Dad of course gave me the thumbs up, and mom said, "Oh good, I'll start shopping!" That will be nice since we don't have any boy anythings!

New Baby News!!

One New Year's Eve, we watched movies and ate junk food all night. At midnight we put the movie on pause, gave hugs, then resumed the movie. Once it was done, we went to bed. The next day was a bit more eventful... This new year has definitely been a welcomed one. Life has changed so much, and for the better, during the course of the year. There have been many challenges, and joys this year. I have learned so much about how to be a mom, and a better wife. I have learned where true joy comes from, which is from being with the ones you love. As long as we have family, and God, we can overcome anything and everything. There is a popular quote that states, "We begin and end with family." This small and simple quote is the bearer of all truth. We begin our lives, born into a family. They support us, they teach us, they love us, they inspire us. Then, the time comes for us to form our own family, and yet again, new births bring new joys into our lives. Then one day, the time for our farewell will come. Who will be with us, our family. Family is the one thing that WILL NEVER change. Learning to love altruistically with all that we have in us is no easy task, but that is why we were sent to a family. Our family is always with us, through the good and the bad, they are there to encourage and support us. We learn how to apologize, and forgive in our families. I believe that those are some of the greatest virtues one can obtain and perfect. I guess that I am thinking a lot more about families because we have been trying to expand our family for the last year.

Well, once again, I am PREGNANT! This time I even found out that I was pregnant before I miscarried. We are taking this to be a good sign. I have been feeling that I was pregnant for a couple weeks now, but when I took a test of the 24th of December, and it was negative, I was confused. I figured that I was just low on iron or exhausted from life. Especially since I haven't had a regular period since I miscarried in July. Well, this morning I woke up early, sneaked the test to the bathroom, and within a couple seconds, both signs appeared that I am pregnant. I was SO excited. I called my mom, my dad, and my sister, but to no avail, there was no answer. I wanted to surprise Zach with the news in a special way, so I didn't want to tell him just yet. A few hours later, I got a hold of my parents, and I gave them the great news. They are SO excited for us. Then I told Kitty Kat the news on our way to the mall. She was very excited also. We went to buy tickets to watch "Princess and the Frog" and then went to walk at the mall.

My ingenious plan was to buy a shirt for Carla that said "Big Sister" on it, and then present her to Zach. Well, lo and behold, the first store that we went to had one! I bought the shirt, went to the back to change her, and brought her out. The whole time Zach was utterly confused. He didn't have a clue what was going on. So, I came out, and turned the baby around so that he could see her. He gasped and then just stood there for a minute with his jaw dropped, and finally said, "Are you serious??" I told him that I was, he grabbed Carla, then I asked for him to give me a hug. Yup, he was in a state of shock. I was fun to see his face full of excitement. Kitty Kat took a picture of us while we were both trying to hold back the tears. It is so exciting to know that another baby will soon be born into our family. I feel confidant that my little one will grow and develop properly. I also feel like it is going to be a boy. We have already started the name search. So far, William _______ Roberts is what we have established. I love the name William, and it is Zach's middle name, even better!! Oh was a wonderful day. We finished the day off with watching another movie, going down to see my parents who got back from El Salvador at 2am, coming home, and I am writing (obviously) while Zach is preparing his talk for Lexie's baptism tomorrow, and Kat is txting someone. Yup yup, our eventful and oh so exciting New Year's Day.