Lulu Bean the Queen

What do I say besides... WOW!  My Girl is gorgeous and here is the proof!!!!

Big shout-outs to Megan for taking the beautiful pictures.  She had to work for her money because Lulu did not want to sleep or cooperate in anyway.  Also to Andrea, who made the cute crochet flower and leg warmers!  And to my mom who bought the wings.

Megan also took the time to take a few family pictures.  Of course it was mid-day so it was so bright outside nobody could open their eyes fully, we picked out the outfits that day (we were not prepared) and this was 2 days after I gave birth so my stomach was still HUGE!  But, they are family pictures and  I will always cherish them!

#1 Baseball Player

Arlo finished up his first season of little league baseball and he now has proof that he is a fantastic baseball player.

He is the owner of his first (of many) TROPHY!!!!!!

Seeing him with it, it is easy to see that he is so proud of himself, but not as proud as me!

Here is Arlo with his cousin Grady!!!

 Here is his team, the Athletic A's.

And his baseball card picture...  What a handsome kid:-)

Arlo, I am so proud of you and how great you played!  I cannot wait for soccer!

Nicole "Lulu" Laurelle Gooch

She has finally arrived!!!!

And our Lulu Bean is more beautiful than I ever imagined!!!!

Here is HER story...

Monday morning (April 21st) my wonderful sister took me into my OB's office for my appointment to finally start being induced.  The procedure was simple, my ob used a cook balloon to dilate my cervix and start contractions.  It has a great success rate of putting women into labor.  The balloon is filled with fluid to dilate me to 4 cm, which should put me into active labor.  So when the balloon falls out, I should be ready for the hospital to admit.  IF, by chance it does not fall out on its own, I need to go to the hospital after 12 hours to have it removed.  Well, after the balloon was placed I could tell it was going to work.  Within a half hour my contractions started and with each one they got more and more painful.  My sister was not willing to take chances on the balloon working on it's own so she decided we had to go shopping and walk around to help it out.  After only an hour or two, my contractions were starting to get painful enough where I had to stop walking and concentrate on breathing.  Because I am a wimp, I told my sister we should take a break and get some lunch.  Well 5 minutes after I sat down to eat delicious Pita Jungle nachos, the contractions stopped... completely.  I only had 2 more contractions for the rest of the 12 hour period.  And, for that entire time my sister made me walk, still without contractions.  I was devastated when the 12 hour period was over and I had to go to the hospital to have it removed.  The balloon did not induce my labor!  At the hospital, I was in triage where the nurse removed the balloon and told me that it did work because now I was dilated to 5 cm.  I could not believe it or understand, but still they would not admit me because I was not having contractions.  So I went home.  The following day I spent walking, and walking some more, and walking some more!  But no matter how hard I walked, contractions would not start.  I tried more home remedies for inducing labor but nothing worked.  But it was ok because my Dr informed me that she put me on the hospital inducing list for that night.  The hospital was supposed to call at 12:05 or anytime after to let me know there was a bed ready.  The night came and went and I received no call, the next day we all sat around waiting, watching tv and playing on our ipads waiting, but no call ever came.  I know I might seem impatient, but when you are expecting to have a baby on the previous Thursday and it is now wednesday, the waiting is horrible no matter when my due date was.  I was desperate to get this baby out and because of a phone call made earlier to the hospital and finding out that for thursday I was being pushed back 2 spots because there were 'medical inducements' that come before me, I knew I had to go into labor on my own or this baby would never come.  At least not before my Aunt and Sister had to go home.  So, I called my brother to get his ex-girlfriend's number, then I called his ex-girlfriend to get her sisters number (I was calling my brother's ex-girlfriend's sister) who was a midwife.  I told her my story and I asked for her advise.  She gave it to me and so I tried it.  I am not going to actually say what the home inducement was but, it worked.  (if you really want to know, call me)  After about 10 minutes I started having contractions.  I kept at it and after a half hour my contractions were painful and about 3 minutes apart.  I decided to stop the home inducement and see if my contractions would continue.  They did... for a while... and then they started to slow down and hurt less, so I started back up with the inducement.  I kept at it for about another 20 minutes until my contractions hurt so bad and were 3 minutes apart again.  I knew I was already dilated to a 5 so I called my mom around 1AM and let her know that we were going in to the hospital to have this baby.  On our way to the hospital my contractions slowed down again but I did not care, at this point I was having regular contractions for about 2 hours and I decided I was going in anyways.  When I got to the hospital and into the triage room, the nurse told me that I was now at 6 cm and because I was supposed to be induced the previous day they decided to go ahead and keep me.  The great part was that by the time I got to the labor and delivery room, my contractions had once again become regular and were getting stronger every time.  I told the nurse that as soon as possible I wanted my epidural.  And within the hour I had my epidural!  After my epidural my sister, mom and dad all arrived at the hospital to wait for Lulu.  

I never had to be put on pitocin, my labor was progressing perfectly on its own and at 6:30 the Dr was called to come in.  At 7:30 am my Dr arrived and broke my water.  She waited for me to have a few more contractions and then she had me push.  At 8:17AM I delivered the most beautiful, perfect baby girl.  She was placed directly in my arms.  (I have to be honest here...  I have never had the baby placed in my arms right after they came out.  The times before they get a quick 1 minute wipe down and evaluation before being placed in my arms.  It was a little weird and slimy and at first I did not want to touch her, but then my heart took over and I could have cared less how slimy and blue she was, she was perfect and she was mine.)  And really she was perfect, she scored a 9, 9 on her APGAR scores.  

Timmy cut her cord...

And then she was whisked away to be cleaned, measured and evaluated.  And so... Nicole "Lulu" Laurelle Gooch was born on her due date at 8:17 AM.  She weighed in at 8.1 pounds and was 20 inches long.

After the torture she was put through it was time to introduce her to her family.  Lulu was introduced to her daddy...

Her auntie Nicole, notice how their names match?

Her Grandpy...

and Grammy!

I also snuck in as many holds as I could.

Then, it finally got to be time to introduce her to her brothers.  

Here is a picture of my beautiful and wonderful Shellbabe!  She lives in Kentucky and came to AZ to meet her new great niece and help me out.  Both my wonderful mother and Shellbabe have been watching my boys since Monday when I was induced.  And when I say 'watching' my boys what I really mean is SPOILING my boys.  I can not tell you all the wonderful things these two women did for my boys and my family.  I am truly blessed to have them in my life and have them as examples and mentors.  I pray each day that one day I become half the woman that these two are!

Here is our first family photo!  I want to give credit to Scottsdale Shea Hospital for loaning me the beautiful gown!

After Lulu was introduced to the most important people in her life it was time to celebrate her Birthday! And what is a birthday without presents?  First the boys opened their presents from Lulu.

Then it was time for Lulu to have her brothers open her present (that they picked out all by themselves!)

After all the excitement it was time for Lulu bean to get her 1st bath.  But first, she had to raise her body temp under the warmer.

And become official with feet prints.

She hates being cold but she loved the warm water and was absolutely silent during her bath:-)

And here is Miss Lulu Bean in her first outfit. After her first bath. 

The following day we had a few more visitors, here is Grandma GG adoring our bean.

And although this is not a flattering picture of me I had to show a picture of how much hair Lulu has.  I am so grateful she was born with hair, now I just hope she gets to keep it and it does not all fall out.

Later that day we were released to go home, and here is our sweet love bug all buckled in ready to go.  

It was a crazy few days, and now that it is over I am so happy with our family and I am so excited that Lulu is now ours to enjoy for forever!!!!

I'M OVER IT!!!!!

***Warning this post contains the rantings of a pregnant woman.***

Today was a bad day.  But before I go into why it was bad, I need to give some background information first.  Tomorrow (April 19th) is my due date.  It is my due date based off of my last menstrual cycle and conception date, and I am about 99% sure it is right.  However, according to my doctor and my first ultrasound, my due date is not until the 24th of April.  Yes, she had the audacity to push it back a full 5 days.  I also need to say that with my previous pregnancies, I have been induced because I have never... ever... ever...EVER shown signs of going into labor on my own (even after being a week late) and having a 9lb 10oz baby.

Now... back to today.

Today, I had my 39th week doctor appointment.  An appointment I was supposed to have had yesterday.  But, because my husband had school that night and could not miss it if I went into labor, he asked if I would move it to today.  I agreed because the reason for this appointment (besides all the regular stuff) was to start inducing my labor.  So, I went into my appointment today with all the hopes of having this baby today or at the least starting labor today.  I was completely devastated when the doctor informed me that she could not start inducing me today because her birthday was tomorrow and she was taking the day off.  However, if I had come in yesterday like I was supposed to, she would have.  Just not today.  It may not seem like a big deal, but when you are this close to the end and you start planning and expecting things to happen and they do not... well let me just say it was comparable to someone telling me my dog had run away.  I was crushed!!!

When I got home from my doctors appointment and I was talking with my husband, he very innocently asked my why a few days made such a difference.  I decided to go with the easier answer and tell him "Because it does"  but deep inside I wanted to scream and cry and yell at him all the reasons why a few days makes THE WORLD of difference.  And because I did not tell him then, I am now going to list all the reasons for those few men who read this blog, so they do not make the same mistake my husband did.

Reason #1&2:  I am over the pregnancy woes.  I have decided (because my dad reads this blog) not to go into detail about reason 1&2 because they are not something to discuss with the public but believe me when I say both reasons are painful, annoying and very hard to live with.
#3:  I am over waddling.  That is right I know I waddle but I also hate how much my hips hurt when I am out in public and trying NOT to waddle.  Both situations are annoying.
#4:  I am over heartburn!!!!
#5:  I am over Tums!!!!  If I never eat another Tums in my life I will be a happy woman.
#6:  I am over numb hands and feet.  This is a recent disturbance in my life, but about 20 times a day my hands and or feet go numb, with that tingly pins and needles feeling.  Yes, I have talked with my doctor about it and she said it is normal.  NORMAL???? For who???
#7:  I am over feeling nauseous if I do not eat often enough.  I finally stopped taking my Zofran at 7.5 months because I was not vomiting anymore, but still... to feel nauseous an hour after I eat is ridiculous!!!  I have a hard enough time gaining a 'normal' amount of weight, I do not need my body telling me to eat when I am not hungry!
#8:  I am over the hormones!  I am tired of being happy one minute then sad then angry.  I feel bad for my boys who have to deal with it every day.
#9:  I am over having to get up to tinkle 2-3 times a night.  Yes, I do know I will be getting up with the baby more often than that, but I would much rather get up to a beautiful baby girl than a toilet!
#10:  I am over having to wake up every time I need to turn from one side to the other when I am sleeping!
#11: I am over sleeping on my side!!!  I am a tummy sleeper, no more needs to be said.
#12:  I am over swollen ankles.  Who likes kankles?????  Not me!
#13:  I am over being used as a punching bag.  This little girl kicks 10 times more and 10 times harder than my boys ever did!  Add in 2-3 daily doses of hiccups and I feel that I am constantly rumbling from the inside out.
#14:  I am over getting crumbs on my belly.  And not just the outside of my shirt.  No, whenever I eat the crumbs fall down my cleavage and then sit on the top of my belly where my shirt rubs them into my skin making it itchy/uncomfortable.  And then I have to go to the bathroom and pull up my shirt to wipe the crumbs off.  So, annoying!
#15:  I am over _____ every time I sneeze.  No, I am not going to say it and I am not going to confirm or deny it if someone wants to fill in the blank... just know that pregnancy causes it.
#16:  I am over being fat!  Yes I know that pregnancy is a beautiful thing and that it is a miracle.  But at the same time I am carrying 20+ pounds of weight that I did not have 6 months ago.  And if you gain 20+ pounds in 6 months it is a lot of weight that you are not used to and things like walking and doing your day to day stuff is a lot more difficult.
#17:  I am over women telling me the baby will come when she is ready.  I think these people are stupid!!!!  The baby does not come when she is ready.  She does not decide that she wants to come out and start wiggling her way out.  It is the woman's body that gets ready.  And just like it is a complication when a woman's body decides to go into labor early.  It is also a complication when a woman's body does not decide to go into labor when it is time.
#18:  I am over complaining.  When I am pregnant I feel like I become a hypochondriac, or a negative nancy.  I hate being like that, and although I feel I hide it pretty well most of the time... there are days like today when I want to scream from the rooftops how horrible I feel and I want the whole world (AKA my husband) to pity me and tell me that it will be ok.
I could go to 20, but I feel that I have already given out way to much personal information today, so I will stop for all of our benefits:-)

I have been pregnant for just about a tenth of my life and believe me when I say, for me... pregnancy sucks!  Don't get me wrong, if I had to relive my life I would do it all over again, but for today and the rest of my pregnancy I am going to complain and whine and cry because I AM OVER IT!