Welcome to the World, Juliet Rose Amador!!

Juliet Rose Amador
October 15th, 2017 at 2:52 PM
Weight 8 lbs 6 oz | Length 21 Inches long

Well, I guess my babies are pretty comfortable in my tummy and are in no hurry to leave. Both Olivia and Juliet were born a week late and I had to be induced with each. This go round was so different than Olivia's birth though! I think it helped to know what to expect and go in with an idea of what we wanted to do differently than last time. Plus, I was so uncomfortable at the end of this pregnancy that I was so excited to have Juliet that that kind of trumped any fears or anxiety about actual labor.

My mom came into town on the 11th to be here just incase I went into labor naturally. I was so grateful and I think it helped me relax going into the weekend. The week before Juliet was born I was having some mild contractions and I really thought that I may go into labor on my own this time. In fact, Saturday, the day I went in to get induced, I was having some intense contractions that I had to stop doing what I was doing to get through the pain.

Playing with new toys thanks to Lolly!!

Unfortunately, I did not go into labor naturally and had to get induced again. As much as I wanted to experience going into labor on my own, there are some benefits to being induced. I was able to pack everything we may need and double check everything in a calm manner as I didn't have to rush out of the house. Both my parents were able to be in town and I was able to leave Olivia knowing she was in good hands. I also appreciated being able to say goodbye to Olivia before we left for the hospital...Though I may have cried my eyes out while Olivia tried to wriggle away from me to go play with her grandparents. Oh man, pregnancy hormones haha. I had so many mixed emotions about bringing a new baby home and how it would effect Olivia and change our special relationship. As expected, it's been so much better than I could have imagined though!

Miguel and I left for the hospital at 4 PM on Saturday the 14th (sooooo grateful we narrowly missed having a baby born on Friday the 13th!!) . The plan was similar to what we experienced with Olivia's birth: cervidil overnight with the plan to start pitocin in the morning.

We got checked in and got me all hooked up and settled in for the night. We turned on college football, ate some dinner, and took advantage of an early night of sleep. 

Contractions didn't start with the cervidil overnight. Early in the morning the doctor checked me and I was only 1.5 centimeters dilated, so they wanted to start pitocin. I asked the nurse to ask the doctor if she could break my water instead. My body didn't react well to the pitocin during Olivia's induction and things only picked up after my water was broken, so I was hoping to cut to the chase this time around. The doctor came in after making her rounds at about 9 am. She said I was close to 2 centimeters and said she might be able to break my water. I was so surprised and hopeful! Dr. Price was able to break my water and I was so shocked and happy!! They started me on pitocin too, but I didn't really care at that point!

The pitocin and my broken water really started to move things along. I started having pretty consistent contractions. They were uncomfortable but manageable. Even though I had eventually had an epidural during Olivia's labor (at 27 hours in), I was still scared to get one! Losing the ability to move my legs was a challenge for me mentally and I wasn't exactly excited about repeating that experience. I knew I was eventually going to get one, but was putting off the inevitable. The super awesome and sweet nurse, Jessica, encouraged me to go ahead and get it so I could stop fearing it and let my body relax. This was easier to consider as the contractions got more intense. When I was around 4 centimeters dilated I went ahead and got the epidural.

I think I was the top middle screen

Working through mild contractions...

I wasn't a huge fan of the anesthesiologist who administered my epidural. I could definitely feel it and had to tell the Dr. to "go right" or "go left" depending on where I could feel in my back. Ick! Once the epidural was in, the nurse told me we could keep the amount pretty low and could up it depending on how I was feeling. I was grateful because I was able to keep it mild enough that I could still move my legs. However, it was definitely stronger on one side than the other. I could feel a good deal on my right side, including contractions and pressure. 

The afternoon was kind of a blur. We watched the Falcons game (they lost, boo) and my dad stopped by, brought Miguel some food and sat with me for a while. When my dad was there I started noticing a good deal of pressure, especially in my right side. I remember thinking that I wanted to talk to my dad but I was finding it difficult because of the pressure. After my dad left I tried to get some sleep but wasn't too successful, again because of the pressure. 

The nurse came in I guess maybe around 2 pm and asked me if I was feeling anything interesting? I said, "um yes, a great deal of pressure!". She checked me and I was close to 10 centimeters (woo hoo!). Juliet was turned upside down (sunny side up) which wasn't ideal, so they turned me on my right side with my left leg help up to try and turn her around until I was actually at 10 centimeters. 

Things seemed to move fast at that point. Fast and then super slow at the same time. The doctor came in and they told me I was ready to push. I'm not sure if I was anticipating a longer labor or what, but I all of a sudden felt a huge sense of fear. Not fear of pushing, more like a fear of "omg, this is actually happening! We've waited for this moment for so long and now it's here. There's no going back and my life is going to be forever changed in ways I can't even imagine!".  I started to cry and Miguel encouraged me and held my hand. 

Funny thing about Miguel is that he was my absolute ROCK during Olivia's labor and birth. That labor was so drawn out and different than Juliet's (apples and oranges type of thing) and Miguel wasn't not supportive this time... it's just that as we got ready to push, the nurse holding my left leg, the doctor ready to catch the baby, and Miguel holding my right leg... down went Miguel! Hahaha! One second he was there holding my leg and the next he was gone! On the first push he dropped to the floor. Now anyone who knows Miguel knows that he is incredibly squeamish and has fainted when he gets shots in the past. So this reaction wasn't terribly shocking except that he really rose to the occasion last time, which - to me - seemed a much more gruesome labor. 

As the nurse called for reinforcements and nurses rushed in to take care of my husband (reclining him on the sofa, giving him wet washcloths, having him drink orange juice and soda) I started pushing. Juliet was still sunny side up and I could definitely tell the difference with the amount of pressure on my tailbone. I was given oxygen to help Juliet and kept pushing as Miguel called in my mom for backup. My mom got there while I was still pushing and she held my hand. The energy in the room was amazing. Because Miguel fainted the room had filled up with all these nurses and everyone shouted encouragement at me that really truly helped me! I definitely remember singling out my mom's voice and Miguel's voice from the corner of the room saying, "you've got this!". 

I pushed for about half an hour and it was hard work. I almost got to the point of thinking, "there is no way I can do this!". I felt as if I would push and push and as soon as I stopped all the hard work I had just done vanished. But eventually out she came and the sense of relief was immediate! Juliet Rose was born at 2:52 PM. I couldn't believe it and honestly looking back on it now I feel like I maybe was numb in a sense of shock. I remember crying and being handed the baby and it all felt very surreal. 

Unfortunately, soon after Juliet was born, the doctor had to scrape my uterus as some of the placenta stayed attached (ick! gross I know) and that HURT! I was so distracted by the pain when all I wanted to do was hold my new baby! 

So weird things tend to happen to me medically speaking, and Juliet's labor was no different... After the birth, while we were still in the Labor and Delivery room, the nurses were cleaning things up and I guess they have to count everything to account for all the objects they used during labor. Well, anyways, when they got around to counting some surgical sponges (used for what I don't know and don't want to know) they could only find 9 of the 10. Awesome. So they "checked" ME to see if they could find the missing one. Nope. Next they used this machine to scan me, Juliet, the linens, and even the trash. Still they couldn't find this mystery sponge so they called in an x-ray machine. I then had to maneuver myself onto this really flat, cold, and uncomfortable plate thing only half an hour after pushing a baby out of my body. Not fun ladies and gents, not fun. X-rays came back and still no sponge. 

After the sponge ordeal we were allowed to get packed up and were moved to Mother and Baby. They wheeled me out holding Juliet and Miguel followed. The nurse had Miguel press the "daddy button" which made a lullaby play throughout the whole hospital. Cue crazy hormonal new mom tears. 

We settled into our new room, I ate for the first time since the night before, and my dad came to meet Juliet. I don't remember much of the rest of the day, I think I drifted in and out of sleep? Juliet took a three hour nap on her daddy's chest for some skin to skin which of course melted my heart. 

The night was pretty uneventful except for the lack of sleep which was not due to Juliet, rather due to the fact that a nurse or tech was coming in every so often to get vitals or blood work or what not. Sometime in the middle of the night they were able to unhook me from the IVs and that helped me get some better sleep. 

The next morning I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed but in some good amount of pain. I was only taking some strong Motrin as I asked for no Percocet because I learned from Olivia's birth that it makes my blood pressure really low. I missed the good meds this time!

There is something really special about waking up the next morning to a brand new baby. You just want to stare for hours and pinch yourself. I think her arrival sunk in more after some sleep. 

Miguel and I both showered, ate breakfast and anxiously awaited Olivia's arrival to meet her baby sister! While we were waiting on Olivia, the pediatrician came in and gave Juliet the a-okay to be discharged later in the day as long as her bilirubin test came back in the normal levels. 

My parents brought Olivia to the hospital to meet Juliet around 10 am. I was so excited to see Olivia! I felt like I hadn't seen her in ages and I truly missed that little stinker! And of course I was really excited to introduce the girls to one another!! As expected I was also curious to see how that interaction would go. My whole pregnancy people (family, strangers, the pediatrician, etc) had been warning us about how the interaction could go sour quickly, so I had pretty low expectations. However, Olivia impressed us all!!

Olivia was pretty excited and just kept saying, "baby!". She was all smiles and just so cute and excited! Of course, I don't think she understood that baby was coming home to live with us permanently and wasn't just a real live babydoll. ;) Either way though, I was tickled with her reaction and so thankful that there were only smiles and giggles and zero tears! 

On her way out the door, Juliet gave Olivia a "big sister present". A little bribing never hurts when you're almost 2 ;) 

I'm so glad my parents were able to be here and watch Olivia while we were in the hospital and of course meet Juliet the day she was born! So special!

My dad took Miguel to get some lunch and for a break from the hospital and my mom and the girls and I hung out for a bit. When the guys got back Olivia needed to go take a nap so the grands and Olivia headed back to our house. 

At some point while my parents were at the hospital (my timeline on that is a little fuzzy) Juliet had her hearing test and didn't pass her right ear which was a little alarming. We were told, however, by multiple nurses that this was really normal and probably just due to fluid in her ears from birth. We had her retested a week later and she passed with flying colors. Woo hoo! 

The rest of the afternoon was mostly Miguel and me just waiting for Juliet's bilirubin test results to come back so that we could be discharged. I felt like we had been at the hospital for days and days at that point and could not wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. It took forever though. We didn't end up getting discharged until well past 8 PM. 

Bilirubin test

I had cute outfits picked out for all of us to leave the hospital in and take "leaving the hospital" photos in, but by the time we were discharged we just wanted to escape the hospital and were so over everything that we all stayed in our jammies. I did, however, remember to ask the nurse who wheeled me out to the awaiting car to snap a photo of Juliet and me.

Oh goodness. Is there anything better than the MIRACLE of birth?! It's just amazing. It's amazing that a whole new LIFE and PERSON is on the planet now. I cannot imagine our family without Juliet and am so so so so so so so grateful that the Lord chose us to be her parents. God is so good to us. It is our prayer that we raise our girls to seek after him and be a light for the Lord.  We thank God daily for Juliet and thank him for the smooth delivery and for both of our health. 

Welcome to the world, sweet baby girl! Mommy and Daddy LOVE YOU SO MUCH! 

Olivia 21 Months

Oh my precious girl. We are coming up on the last few days of being a family of just us three. I think you're going to be a great big sister and I pray that our transition bringing home a new baby will go as smoothly as possible. It breaks my heart slightly, though, to think about this season of life with you as our one and only baby coming to an end. You have enriched our lives so much it makes me tear up just thinking about it! You made us parents and we are so grateful to the Lord that he blessed us with YOU! Nothing and no one could ever make us love you less. 

You're a big helper at the grocery store and always get rewarded with a cookie from the bakery when you ask politely. 

You are a handful and a hoot right now. You are SO busy and into everything. You have no fear and like to push your boundaries and test your abilities. Mommy freaks out the majority of the time you are experimenting with your boundaries because this often includes you throwing yourself off of various objects. 

Since you were about to throw yourself out of your crib, Daddy and I went ahead and transitioned your crib to a toddler bed. You've done... um... okay with this? Honestly the first couple of naps and nights you rocked it! But, then, you discovered your freedom and it's been an adventure that's for sure. Some nights you've run around for hours before you finally collapse onto the floor. For a while you were climbing all over the rocker and tumbling off in all sorts of manners. Your poor little legs have bruises all over them from your late night adventures. This week I think you've finally started to put together that your bed is more comfortable than say, the floor, and we've found you've tucked yourself into bed under your blanket. 

You're becoming more and more verbal and I'm glad you can communicate using your words more often. You like to say, "oh no!" and hold your hands up on either side of your cheeks which is pretty precious. When you're in another room we will often hear, "mamma?" or "daddy?" and when we answer, "yes, Livie?" you reply with "what ya doin'?".  You're just checking in on us. Pretty cute. 

You like to sing and your favorite songs right now are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Row, Row Row Your Boat, The Potty Song and Baa Baa Black Sheep. You will break into song in your carseat or sing to your baby dolls and it just brightens my day to hear you bursting out your 21 month old versions of these songs. 

The dogs are still favorites of yours, though you like to terrorize them. Emma is surprisingly much more patient with you than Jackson. Emma will let you hug her and fling yourself on to her. Unless you are eating or offering Jack a treat, he pretty much tries to steer clear of you. 

Patient Dog!

You like your people - people that you know. You're pretty skeptical of strangers and give them that "look". However, if it's someone you know, you love being with them. You enjoy your playmates and love your cousins, especially Karis, who you now ask for on a daily basis. FaceTime is one of your favorite things and you love to talk to Lolly and your cousins. 

Swinging with Uncle Juan and Daddy during our Hurricane Irma evacuation

You love Baby Charlotte!!

Hugs for Samantha

Double trouble

I think we have definitely entered the era of "the twos" as you ask for one thing one second, and then are utterly offended when we deliver on your request the next second. You've started to throw fits when you don't get your way and I admittedly have a difficult time with this when we're out in public. This is probably compounded because I'm very pregnant and have little energy to begin with. This new chapter is a challenge and we're exploring some ways to combat this in a healthy and productive way. 

You are also Miss Independent and like to do things yourself. You also love to "help. You say, "help?" all the time whenever I'm doing something like cooking, cleaning, or getting ready. It's adorable and I love that you want to help and learn how to do things on your own. We recently got you a stool so you can help out more effectively in the kitchen and you love it (though, you don't understand why you can't help out with the hot things or sharp things.) You like to walk up the stairs by yourself, brush your teeth by yourself (daddy still brushes your teeth at night though, so the job is getting properly done!), brush your own hair, put your shoes on yourself, etc. You are very concerned and aware when a door is left open that is supposed to be shut. You'll shut the fridge door for us, close baby gates, and love shutting the dishwasher to "help" us. You're also really great about throwing your trash away, whether a tissue, dirty diaper, or snack wrapper. 

Recently, you've been really curious about the potty! We have a potty book that is a song and you love it, I think that kickstarted the whole potty interest. We've spent a couple of days going potty on and off on your little potties, and some days you are ALL about it. You ask to go potty and take your diaper off and actually go in the potty! We've had two accidents on the floor, but that was mild and a-okay. You'll be all about the potty one day and the next day seem disinterested. So, I think we are close to being ready, but not quite there just yet. Though you're also showing signs of being ready as in you now tell me when you have a dirty diaper and ask to get a clean one. I'm curious to see where all this leads once your little sister is here. 

At the early part of September, we had to pack up our house, board up our house, and head to Atlanta to escape Hurricane Irma. When we left Savannah, the predicted path lead straight to our home, and my OB suggested we leave before the mandatory evacuations because she didn't want me sitting in hours of traffic at 35 weeks pregnant. 

Packing up our valuables and driving to Atlanta was really stressful, but it was great to see family and you loved the adventure! 

You enjoyed some time with your Abby at dinner and then the playground!

You love being outside, though, mommy hasn't been up for many outdoor activities since it's been so hot! Daddy takes you out a lot when he is home though. You still love going to look at the turtles and riding your bike around the neighborhood. You're getting SO fast on your bike too! Unfortunately, bugs seem to like you when you're outside. When you get bitten you swell up pretty badly. The bites don't seem to bother you too bad though. You're mostly excited to tell us and show us that you have a boo-boo and get a bandaid. 

I'm sure it's going to be an interesting transition as you become a big sister. You seem to like to take care of your baby cousin Charlotte and play "mommy" with your babydoll so I'm hoping you take to your new role fairly well. You've been a big helper getting things ready for baby, even though I'm pretty sure you still have no idea about what is about to happen. 

Helping Daddy clean the infant carseat 

Testing out baby sister's carseat

Testing out sister's rock-n-play

As I write this I am a week and a half away from Juliet's due date. I am SO excited to meet baby sister, but it makes my heart ache to know that this special time with just you is coming to an end. I will always cherish these days we had together just you and me. 

And just for giggles and kicks, here is a video of what happened to me last week. Pregnancy is so glamours hahaha!