Sylvie June Radford

So... I kind of have this disease where I can't put my newborn down...I think it should be a rule that no newborn should have to be put down except for night time.  So yes, that will be my excuse for not telling the world about my perfect baby girl.
But here it is. (First, the short version).

Sylvie June Radford
Wednesday, August 14, 2013

born at 12:45 p.m.

6lb. 15oz. 19.5 in

16 hours of labor

6 days early

Perfect features. TONS of RED HAIR.

{{Astoria's clone}}

(now for the very long version and a lot of iphone pics)

I had my last Dr. appointment on Monday the 12th. They did another ultrasound because I was measuring 3 weeks behind and they were concerned that the baby wasn't growing. I had been having weekly ultra sounds to make sure things were going well--and they always were. But on that last Dr. appt. they noticed that my fluid was really low and they didn't want to risk it getting any lower and having it affect the health of my baby. So the Dr. left the room and came back 5 minutes later and said "Well I scheduled you to be induced tomorrow night at 8 p.m." 

Say what?? Tomorrow?

I thought I had a whole week left. 

I was pretty shocked/nervous/excited.

So to celebrate we went to Red Robin.

I spent the next day cuddling with Stori and pretty much spending every minute with her. I was feeling guilty I would have to share my attention starting the next day.

When Dan got home from work on Tuesday, we packed up about 7 bags and headed out to my mom's house to have Stori stay the night. 

It was my very first time being away from her and I was kind of struggling with that. I knew she was in great hands though--she LOVES granny's house!

We checked into the hospital a little before 8 p.m. and I was supposed to be put on a light medicine to help start contractions. Well when they hooked me up to the monitor I started having contractions all on my own about every 3 minutes. So they skipped the first medicine and they decided to put me on Pitocin a little after midnight. I decided I needed my epidural around 5 a.m. because I wanted to try and sleep---Dan was snoozin on the couch and I was jealous. 

Sadly I wasn't able to fall asleep because the nurse had to come in every 30 minutes to manage my medicine for Group B Strep. I also had to be put on oxygen for a little bit so the nurse had to be with me for about an hour straight. No Sleep.

Around 11:30 a.m. I called the nurse because I felt like I had to  go to the bathroom. She said that it usually means the baby is getting ready. And she was right. I was complete and the baby was ready to be born!!! The trickiest part was NOT PUSHING! The Dr. wanted me to "Labor Down," which meant that I let the baby work it's way down and not push until the end. It really was SO HARD to not push. Like actually painful. The Dr. finally came to my room around 12:30 and got everything set up. 

I literally only pushed 3 times when the Dr. said, "Wow SO MUCH RED HAIR." I hadn't even seen her yet but I was crying because I was filled with so much love for this tiny human. 

Dan cut the cord, they handed her to me, and I said hello to Sylvie June. When she heard my voice she opened her eyes and looked right up at me. It was such a tender moment. She knew I was her mother. 
I had a hard time believing that I would actually be able to love another tiny human the way I loved Stori. I really didn't comprehend it until the exact moment that the Dr. told me one more push and I could hold my little girl. I instantly knew that my heart had managed to explode and triple in size. {much like the Grinch}. And just like that, I loved another tiny human EXACTLY how I loved Stori Rose.

I couldn't wait for Sylvie to meet her older sister, and I was missing my girl terribly.

My mom brought Stori in right after Sylvie was born and Stori asked to hold her and gave her a "special kiss" without me even asking her to. It couldn't have gone any better. It felt so good to be a family of 4!!!!

I spent that night in the Hospital and by the next morning the Dr. said I could go home whenever I wanted. I was so ready to be home with my family that I decided to go home that day after our Stork Dinner. :) 

A HUGE SPECIAL THANKS to my mom who helped out SOOOOOOO MUCH!!
Now for an iPhone picture overload (dan hasn't finished putting the real pictures on the computer yet. That will be another post)

First picture as a family of FOUR

3 red-headed best friends

riding over to our new room

First moments with my Sylvie June

Getting ready to go home

Bath time at granny's

 

Best friends

Capturing some smiles from my cute lil human

we call this the "Haily hairstyle"  

Chillin on Granny's deck (3 days old)

Some behind-the-scenes newborn pics

Potty training

This sassy lil thing is almost completely potty trained. She still has issues with going #2 around people so there has only been 2 times that she has done that on the potty. Even in our house she will run to a closet, hide under clothes, or find the back of our hallway to do her business. AND, if you try to talk to her while she is going, she says "look away...look away." haha she is a funny little thing, she is.

Yesterday was our first outing in panties (see pictures above). Dan was worried that she would have an accident so we took a towel with us on our walk, but she was a champ.
However...when we got back to our apt she ran to the potty but stopped just short of it and said a very sad, "Oh Noooooo." she didn't quite make it. At least she looked cool on our walk though... 7 necklaces, panties, crocs, glasses, and no pants. Classy.

So this is how I am potty training, and it has worked great:
-Designate several days of staying inside (this worked great right now because all of our friends have abandoned us during the 7 week break).
-Don't put panties or a diaper on her and only allow her certain places for her to play in case she has an accident.
-Set a timer for 20 minutes and have her sit on the potty and tell her very happily to go pee. Which she did every single time. The second day I did it every hour. The third day and every day after that, I would just have her go when I thought it had been a while or when she would tell me.
-Have her go right before and after she sleeps. She usually wakes up dry from nap time but in the morning her diaper is slightly wet.
-If we are just home hanging out, I either keep her naked with a shirt or just put panties on with her shirt so she can go easier.
-I don't use a reward like candy or stickers or anything. Her reward is getting to flush it! She loves that!!

I realize that this was a bad time to start potty training, because I'll have a newborn in a week or so, but she was the one who started talking about it and actually asking to go. So I did! If she reverts back after I have the baby, I'll just have to try and not stress about it and work on it again.

I think I turned 28, but I know for sure it's been 4 years.

Well, July 26th came again. I honestly have the hardest time keeping track of how old I am. The main reason for this, is the fact that SDR and I graduated the same year and we are the same age---but for only 2 months. So for 10 months I assume I am his age. He is 28 almost 29, and I have done my math and figured out I turned 28. Phew.

Well this year we were suppose to go to SLC for a sealing, but when that didn't work out, SDR planned a last minute birthday trip to Jackson to celebrate. We went through the park, ate our picnic, walked through stores, and then grabbed dinner at Quiznos. Stori's only request was ice cream, so Dan stopped at Maverick for some fro yo but he made the mistake of getting chocolate... the moment she saw it she said, "Nooo, not chocolate milk. White. Ice. cream." So the good daddy that he is, went back in and got her "white ice cream." She is a funny girl with some dang crazy taste buds.

some of her sleeping buddies helping her sleep on the way to Jackson.

We stopped and let Stori play in this park after we shopped and we all got a little crazy.

Oh man oh man do I LOVE this family of mine!

The day after my birthday my mom was kind enough to watch Stori while Dan and I went to lunch and then went grocery shopping. It was as romantic as it sounds! :) Then she had a cake made for me and dan got stuff for root beer floats. We had some major sugar overload!!

The very next week was our 4 year anniversary. Sadly I was 37 weeks pregs and we weren't able to dress up in our wedding clothes like the last few years. My mom volunteered to watch Stori again after she got off work so we could go to a movie. Unfortunately once we got to the theatre, the movie that we were going to see had the wrong time listed so we didn't get to see it. So we just got dinner and came back an hour after we left. haha also as romantic as it sounds! But Stori is always glad to hang out with Granny---she cries for her when she leaves. We are lucky we live so close to her! 

So happy birthday to me, and a VERY happy Anniversary to my handsome SDR! So lucky he chose me! Love you Richard, Peter, SDR, Steven, Esteban, Daniel, Dan, schmoopie!