Happy Birthday Katelee!

(This is a long post and I go into detail just so I have it one day to share with Katelee when she decides to have a baby)

One year ago today we got up around 7 or 7:30 and got dressed. I showered and did my hair ate a granola bar and sat around home for a bit. Grandma Nelson came over to watch Ethan and Chris and I headed over to my Mom's house to pick her up. We then headed over to Valley Hospital, getting there around 9:00. We walked into the Maternity Unit and met my delivery nurse. She had me strip down and put on my all time favorite outfit ever, the sexy, fashionable hospital robe that you could fit about 4 people in. They got me all ready to go with blood work, Pitocin and a smile. This time we were smart and brought the Wii with us just in case we got too bored. Chris and I played some Wii for a while until I couldn't really drive the race cars anymore because I couldn't concentrate whenever I got a contraction. After a while they informed me that I could get an Epidural, which I quickly agreed to, only to find out that the anesthesiologist had left the hospital and wouldn't be back for about 30-45 minutes. Now for all of you women out there that have been in labor and gotten an epidural you can feel my pain of being told you can get one and then told that you will have to wait another 30-45 minutes. Any who he finally came in and we got that going. The pain went a way for a while but then out of nowhere the left side of my body began to feel all of the pain again. That was actually quite interesting only feeling the contractions on half of my body, I compare it to cutting the pain by 1/4 and only having it on one side... Very interesting. Needless to say the nurse came in and pushed the button to get more medicine in the epidural and soon I couldn't feel anything.... Not even when my leg feel off the bed while being examined. I saw my leg fall off the bed but it took a minute to realize that it was actually my leg because I couldn't feel a thing! Once I got to a complete 10 they had me wait a bit because I had no desire to push and couldn't really push because I couldn't feel anything. So after having the nurse turn off my epidural and waiting for about 3 hours I finally told Chris and my Mom that I still didn't feel like pushing but that I was SICK of being in that silly room so I was going to tell the nurse I wanted to push. The nurse came in and said "okay, lets try giving us a push!" we got all set up and waited for a contraction.... and then we started pushing. After one round of pushing the nurse told me to stop and that she would go call the Dr. I laughed thinking this lady was crazy! I pushed for 3 solid hours with Ethan and just knew it couldn't be that easy. Chris just smiled and told me that he could see the baby's head and that she was ready to come out. After hearing this I got really excited. Perhaps it could be that easy! The Dr. came pretty quick and after he was all ready to go we gave it another try. I pushed for two sets of 10 and then the Dr. told me not to push any more. And pretty soon there she was. I remember Chris not getting to cut the cord and them taking Katelee right over to the baby bed in the room. She wasn't really crying yet and pretty soon I started to get a little worried. My mom and Chris keep telling me oh she is just fine... But I was a still a bit nervous because she wasn't really making any noise and Mom wasn't taking any pictures yet. Finally after about 5 minutes the baby started crying and so did her mommy. I was so glad that she really was okay. My mom started taking pictures and it was then that the Dr. told me that she had the cord wrapped around her neck and that she swallowed a bit of the stuff coming out. She also had her arm beside her head making it a little more difficult to get that cord unwrapped. He also said that my placenta was coming off and that had caused a bit of trouble. Chris finally got to cut the cord and they weighted her. She came in at 7lbs 6oz and 19 inches long. Her official entrance to this earth was at 6:35pm. Here is Ethan and Mommy in some of the last moments of Ethan being an only child! Here is Mommy and Katelee when I finally got to hold her! Isn't she a cutie already!

Here is our sweet little lady after her bath! She is just so cute to me in this picture! So peaceful and almost smiling as if she is so happy to finally have her body and be here on earth!

Katelee was a good baby. She picked up to nursing pretty fast and a lot less painful than Ethan. She slept good until they made me start waking her up to feed her because she wasn't gaining weight fast enough. We later found out that she was a lazy eater and just didn't want to work so much to get food. For a month solid I had to nurse her every two hours and the sessions would last about 1 hour. So I would nurse for an hour then have an hour off to do things like get dressed, clean up a bit, take care of Ethan and then it was back to feeding Katelee again. Eventually we were able to get her to eat more my giving her a bottle and that made life a bit easier. She finally started gaining weight, but nowhere near to what Ethan weighted! From a young age Katelee showed us who was in charge and that she had an opinion on EVERYTHING! She went from sleeping good to getting up 7-10 times a night. Going back to work was a bit tougher with Katelee because I was so sleep deprived that it was hard to get up for work let alone actually work! Around 7 months of age we finally made Katelee cry it out and we refused to feed her before 2am. Eventually she got the clue and started sleeping though the night. She still doesn't do well with her bottles. Sometimes she will eat them well and sometimes she will refuse to take them all together! She is very picky at who can give her a bottle, usually allowing only Me, Chris and my Mom to do so. However when it comes to solid food she will take it from anyone! And the girl can pack it down. Half the time we have to just stop feeding her because she will just keep eating and eating! Katelee has 4 teeth, the last two coming in within days of each other. She is still our small girl, we take her to the Dr. on Monday so we will see how much she weights then. I doubt she will be over 20lbs. Katelee is a very sweet girl and will randomly give us hugs and snuggles! But don't cross her or you will get the wrath of her fist clinching and yelling fits! There have been times when she has been so mad that she started turning blue and shaking. I actually got really scared when I saw the blue set in but then a VERY loud scream soon followed and I realized she was just venting her frustrations! Ethan loves his little sister especially when she laughs at him. They can really get each other going and I have a great feeling about their relationship, most of the time. Sometimes I have little glimpse into the future where Katelee and Ethan are throwing things and yelling at each other, but most of the time it seems that they really will grow up to love each other no matter how much they throw or yell! I am so glad to be the mother of my children and so glad that a year ago today Katelee decided to join our family. We definitely wouldn't be complete without her! I cannot wait to see what the next year brings because the past year has been so great it can only keep getting better and better!

Here is our little lady.... Look at those long legs, beautiful smile and cute pose!