Wrapping up the year 2012!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours! Just wanted to update you all on what's going on here :)

Lyndsey: Well, It's been official since July but no more childcare job for me! Photography is my new passion and allows me to stay home with my kiddos as well as enjoy using my artistic side to help people have great photos at a great price. If you are interested, please check out my page on facebook (Melrose Photography). Today I reached 300 likes (in 5 months!!) so I am hosting a free shoot giveaway. I am really grateful to have a thriving business in today's economy. I really love what I do!! (And I make more than I ever did in childcare- BONUS!)

Dustin: It's been a bit of a tough few months for my honey. He lost one of his best friends, his grandma, a couple of months ago, and at the same time lost his parents to their mission in the Congo. He is a great man and is so sweet with our girls. He's been so strong through all of this. Love you honey.

Melody:  Our sweet Melody was diagnosed with severe classic autism in August. I am now doing a blog for her, "Hope for Melody" http://www.hopeformelody.blogspot.com if you'd like to follow her progress. Her birthday was in October and she started preschool about a month before that! She is a little teacher's pet (though it was a rough start) and absolutely LOVES school and her teachers! We are so lucky!! She loves Elmo still and loves pretty things :) The other day we bought her new purple shoes and she insisted on sleeping in them Hahahah. 100% girl! Favorite foods are toast, yogurt, bananas, and rice.

Brooklyn: Brookie will be 10 months old on December 4th and this little lady is really growing up too fast! She is walking now, though still usually crawls since she is SSOOO fast at it (haha). She says "Dada, Hi dad, I did it, Mum, and Baba". She has been bringing out more speech in Melody which is SO amazing. She also taught Melody to climb up the slide (lol!!) She is such a little spitfire and has the sweetest smile. She always is sticking her little tongue out like her daddy did at that age. It's really funny and cute. Her favorite foods are eggs, bread, bananas, baby food in the squeezy tubes, and chewing on anything and everything in sight! Still no teeth and just enough hair to put in to a tiny pony on top :) Just like her sister in that way but her hair is darker than Melody's.

Our Family We spent Thanksgiving with the Wright family siblings in Idaho Falls- so fun! We are just enjoying life and taking it a day at a time :)

Lately in the Wright home...

I just posted my birth story of Brooklyn but I wanted to do a family update as well! We've had quite a bit transpire lately.

First off, Brooklyn is 4 months old and is such a little rockstar. She has surprised us with her quick development and knack for learning. She's very alert and always has to be sitting up- and has been that way from birth. She loves to watch her sister, Melody, and is always trying to snatch her toys away from her :). They will be pulling each other's hair out in no time.

Melody is doing well- she is having weekly therapy and it's hit and miss but I can see progress. She will be attending special education preschool in the fall and we couldn't be more excited. I believe it will be great for her. She has a love/hate relationship with her sister but is overall very sweet and loving and patient to her. She will give her random kisses and often goes over and pets her head. It's very cute :) She is still not speaking but can say a few words with prompt (Mama, wawa, open, hi, Elmo). She can definitely hear better now which is great. She loves to sing and it's quite comical to hear her.

Dustin and I are doing well- I have just started my photography business and it's been amazing how well it's going!! I've been booking 3 months in advance and I just started a month ago. Awesome. I have a new boss at work so it's been an adjustment, but it's getting better each day.

Look for more from us soon and hopefully pictures!!

Welcome Brooklyn!

I am finally getting around to this (4 months later), but on February 4th we welcomed Brooklyn Sandra Wright in to the world! This is my birth story that I put on facebook, plus below I have some more comments about that day and the following days! :)

Friday morning I woke up extremely crampy and with a lot of back pain. I was 3 days past my due date and so this was a positive sign for me that something might be picking up! At around 2 pm I headed to my sisters house and noticed light, but regular contractions. They were starting at 10 minutes apart and were not painful. I had been having contractions like this for almost a month but these just seemed different to me and I told her I was almost sure I was in labor! But they were not bad at this point. By the time Dustin got off work and came over around 4, they had moved to 4 minutes apart but were still not painful to me, just becoming more consistent. I told him I was sure this time! He was very excited and became quite OCD about timing them which we did- though someone had told me that isn't the greatest idea because you could still be timing them for a long time!! But he really was excited so we did and it ended up being a good thing. We headed out to a late lunch and came home to get things ready. After my birth experience with Melody I knew that I wanted to have a natural birth this time with no interventions or medication. I had studied and practiced some techniques and felt very confident that l would do this! Part of my plan was to labor at home as long as possible. I didn't really know when this would be and just figured I would go by how I was feeling. I wanted to eat and move at will which the hospital isn't the best place for. So when we were at home I was packing for Melody and getting everything ready. My mom came and picked up Melody for the night and we headed to the store to get some snacks and some new clothes for Brooklyn. In the store the contractions were every 3 minutes and still very manageable but getting more difficult. We would walk, and I'd say "stop" and lean against the cart until the contraction was over and we would keep going. We got some food for dinner and rented a movie and headed home. At home we had dinner and at this point they were 2 minutes apart. We were watching a funny movie and between contractions I could still laugh and enjoy some pizza. I called my mom and mother in law for advice because my labor was getting much closer together but I didn't feel like I was dying or even in much pain at all. They both said it was probably okay to continue to stay home. At this point (about 8 pm) the intensity of the contractions was picking up and so I went in to a bath that I filled with some lavender oil and soaked. As the tub filled up, Dustin and I sang some songs and I sang through some of the roughed contractions. I got in the bath and was able to relax, which for me kicked labor up another notch and when the bath was over and Dustin had jumped into the shower, things changed quickly and the intensity of these contractions made me a bit nervous as pushing was already on the brink of my thoughts. I grabbed him out of the shower and said, "Hurry!!" I knew it was time now. He ran around like a crazy man and we packed the car and took off. The drive there was not fun at all. It was becoming increasingly hard to focus between contractions and they were a minute and a half to two minutes apart now. When we arrived I was wheeled to l and d because it was after hours and I realized that this delivery was going to go fast. I got to triage and they hooked me up to the monitor. My contractions were 1.5-2 minutes apart and hitting the very top of the chart. I was 5 cm and 90% effaced. I was expecting less so that was exciting but what I didn't expect was what would happen next. It was about 11 that they checked me at 5 and 11:30 when I got to my room. They had to monitor me because the baby's heartrate was dropping when I first got to triage but with some IV fluids it picked back up. During my contractions on the bed I was really hurting and felt I needed to push. She seemed doubtful but checked me. I was at 6 and 100% at 11:40. Ten minutes later I was at a 7. I was telling her that pushing felt like a relief at this time, and she urged me to not push as I was nowhere near complete. They finally allowed me into the tub and everyone left me alone, where I relaxed so much from the wonderful water that I knew I didn't want to get out. With each contraction I bore down as it felt a huge relief for me. I told Dustin the baby was coming soon but I wanted to spend more time in the tub. I asked him not to tell the nurse because I wanted a few more minutes. He disobeyed, seeing that I was beginning to push almost without effort. She ran in to check me and all hell broke loose as my contractions came back to back and I pushed so hard my water broke in the tub. I started screaming as my body pushed over and over without stopping. The nurse realized this and rang the emergency bell and suddenly I am surrounded by nurses yelling at me to get out of the tub because they were not equipped for me to give birth there and the doctor wasn't there. I yelled "no!" and that she was coming. My lead nurse shut the tub off and drained the water so I was able to stand up. I felt spasms in my back and pressure and so as I leaned against the doorway of the bathroom I asked the nurses to please not make me lay on my back to push her because it was so painful. One of the nurses (possibly out of desperation) told me I could give birth however I wanted- just get in the bed! I somehow crawled on the bed (my body was pushing on it's own the whole time) on my hands and knees. There were 3 doctors and 8 nurses surrounded me. The lead doctor told the nurses to get me on my back stating that he "didn't catch babies like this"- unfortunately for him as said that I bore down and pushed her out all at once. I was in my own world at that point and so focused I never heard him or anyone else ask me to flip over!! But out she came quick enough that he barely caught her and she slipped out of his hands on to the bed. As soon as she came out I felt the greatest relief, such an amazing high. I heard her cry but being on my hands and knees I did not see her. They cut her cord and I turned on my back and held her to my chest. She barely cried at all and was very calm and snuggled right in to me. I was so happy and elated and now very much myself again! I was so grateful to have her safe and sound, I was cracking jokes and smiling right away and all my pain was gone. My iv had fallen our during the insanity so i had to be given a shot in my leg to stop the bleeding and did have some stitches but I barely noticed those things since my little girl was in my arms the whole time. I even got to feed her while they stitched me up. The nurses said my birth was the closest they've seen anyone almost give birth in the tub. But ladies if you want a natural birth I do highly recommend it!! It was so intense but so empowering for me. It definitely gave me an amazing new level of respect for my body- that it knew what to do and that it was capable of all of that! The end :)

So our birth went very well and I am very grateful for that! But unfortunately, things took a down turn. The second night we were in the hospital, I let the nursery have her for a few hours-- I always seem to go in saying I don't want to use it but I usually give in the second night. The first day I was up for 37 hours and then went to sleep for about 4 broken hours. When I sent her to the nursery, she aspirated on spit up, turned blue, stopped breathing, and her heart rate dropped scary low. So while I was sleeping she was rushed to the NICU. They woke me and I went down right away. They were concerned about her apnea episode and wanted to check all the bases. They had suspicions that she may have an infection. They also noted that she was jaundice and so they put her on the bilirubin lights.

Honestly, the next 4 days were hell for me. I don't know how people do that with much sicker babies. Every 3 hours and usually less I came down and breastfed Brooklyn in the NICU for about an hour, went upstairs only to be called to come down again. On the third day of no sleep (I think I got maybe an hour in 3 days), I became delirious in my hospital room and called my husband. While I was on the phone with him I walked to the bathroom and collapsed out of exhaustion. I don't remember much but that he said he was coming over. I remember being on the floor felt good and I didn't want to get up. A few minutes later my nurse tried to come in and realized I have fallen almost in front of the door. They brought several nurses in and got me back in my bed. A short while later my husband was there and he was my saving grace. Thanks to him I was able to finally sleep for a few hours thanks to his calming presence. We were blessed that Brooklyn was always a great eater and never needed supplmentation like I did with Melody. I had a lot of sadness about not being able to fully breastfeed Melody and I was able to right away with Brooklyn. She was a little fighter in the NICU and kept beating all the odds. She hadn't been peeing and they were going to have to catheterize her and so during our feeding I whispered to her to please pee for mommy and the next time I went to feed her they reported that she peed so much that she went through her diaper! Woo hoo!

By the last 2 days she was eating so well that they could take her off the IV and no longer had to test her blood sugar so much (by poking her I might add). Poor baby really didn't enjoy her stay in the NICU and on our rooming in night she was up all night needing comfort. 

Finally we were able to go home. Brooklyn is 4 months old now and she is a joy. She is a very happy and emotional baby. She is a little higher needs than Melody was at her age, but we love her to pieces. She is reaching all of her milestones very quickly. She can currently roll over both ways, get in to the crawling position, grab things and bring them to her mouth, and says "baba, mama and dada". With everything we've been through with Melody it's something I'm not used to! She is still on breastmilk though she no longer likes to nurse (as of a month ago) so mommy is pumping like a madwoman to keep up. It's going well :)

Anyway, there's Brooklyn's birth and life in a nutshell right now! I love my girls :)

No baby...yet!

Our due date has come and gone! I had actually predicted to Dustin that I would have the baby February 2nd so it could still happen, the day is young, but until she decides to make her debut I am going to get some stuff done I think! I woke up with some energy which is hopefully nesting for me, but I am not going to get my hopes up! Luckily I did some of the heavy cleaning a few weeks ago but there are definitely a few things that still need to get done.

So... Today's plan...

• Do all the laundry- including bedding
• Organize each room- namely the bedrooms, the other rooms are fine
• Clean out the fridge- I think there are a few things that need throwing away in there
• Meeting with the nutritionist today and coming up with some meal ideas that are quick and easy for when the baby's here
• Tidy up the van and maybe install the carseat.
• Do a quick deep clean of the bathrooms
• Bathe Melody
• Mop the kitchen

Alright, so that is the plan! I haven't been super motivated to clean this week, as I haven't been sleeping very well, but today is a different story. I am super crossing my fingers for a baby sometime this weekend. We are eating away into my maternity leave and the thought of less than 4 weeks with Baby B is terrifying right now. Plus on Monday I have an appointment where they test her fluid levels, non-stress test, and ultrasound and I really don't want there to be any cause to worry- so baby girl, if you want to come out before I will give you a treat or something :)

I had packed some preemie clothes in the hospital bag for Miss B but now that we are full term and moving forward I am thinking they may or may not fit her. I will leave them just in case though, maybe just take a few more newborn sizes.

I CAN'T WAIT!! And I am not very good at being patient but I am trying!! :)

Baby #2 to be here soon!

>>Warning: text heavy with no pictures- I will post some soon promise :)<<

So I thought it would be a good time to write an update on our lives. Melody is down for a nap right now and in my nesting fury I've gotten the majority of everything done and really just awaiting Brooklyn's arrival now.

It has been crazy crazy in the Wright home. Christmas and Thanksgiving were low key, spent with family. This was a blessing, since the end of December brought us news that our baby girl Melody is hard of hearing. Hearing tests revealed moderate hearing loss, and a lot of built of fluid. Our first plan of action was to remove the fluid via placing ear tubes for her and also remove her adenoids. So in January we had that surgery completed and it was rough for poor baby girl. She was traumatized for a couple of days and didn't seem to understand who to trust. She fought off the nurses and doctor who put her under for the surgery and kicked one square in the face :-O. But it has been a week and a half since the surgery and I am finally beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel- she is sleeping better now and seems to generally be FEELING better which is so important. I have noticed an immediate change in her balance and gradual changes in her hearing. She has been a bit more vocal in the last week, but we will not test her hearing again for another couple of weeks. Today she was upset that I was teasing her and I told her "Say no mama!" and she surprised me by saying, "No mama!" :) I don't know if it was a coincidence as it sometimes is for her but it got me to chuckle quite a bit.

As far as little Miss Brooklyn, my pregnancy has been worlds different from my pregnancy with Melody. With Melody I gained no weight and with this one...yeah. Granted I had no appetite with Melody and with this one I gain 5 lbs looking at pinterest but that's another story. I have had many contractions with this one, but as my cervix of steel has been quite apparent I have not gone into labor quite yet. At 32 weeks this baby measured around 4 lbs, which is about what Melody weighed at her birth at 37 weeks. In my last trimester I have measured ahead so we are expecting a larger child this time, though who can say for sure? I have been much more uncomfortable and generally looking and feeling like a big ox. I am certainly grateful though that this baby is low risk unlike Melody. I have only been to L&D once with this one, thinking maybe my water was leaking. (Nope. No more story there. Haha..)

Also with Melody we had plans for me to be a stay at home mom when she was born. Financially that didn't work out and so when Mel was 10 weeks old I started my current job (part time) and have been there since. I get 6 weeks of maternity leave and so I had to decide if I would work up until or start at a certain time. I really weighed this out in my mind because I knew if I were to go overdue or anything and take time off earlier it would cut in to the time I had with my little Brooklyn, but in light of the surgery and all that which has recently happened I decided I would start my leave at 39 weeks and have a little break before having 2 little girls- the oldest is still very much a baby in many ways. As I am ending my first week of leave I wonder if I made the right choice but I just have to be confident that everything will be okay. Whether or not I have the baby before her due date, my contractions are always at night around 5 pmish and that's when I would be at work so for that reason I am glad I decided to wait.

(*Warning: next paragraph talks about birth, skip if you don't want to hear details)

My hope for this birth is to have a very different experience from my experience with Melody. I don't have regrets because Melody is healthy and was fine at birth but I felt like I missed out on the kind of birth I wanted to experience. With Melody I was induced early for IUGR (looking back, I am not sure this was the best choice but I won't go into that) at 37 weeks. With this one, I told the dr straight up, "No pitocin for me this time!! I don't want to be induced. I am okay if I go over...by the way, how many weeks will you let me go over before you have to induce me?" (Answer: 42, most women don't make it that far though). I honestly hated my pitocin induction. I knew going in to the whole thing that my body wasn't ready, so even though the blessed staff at St. Lukes let me try Cervadil and walking, nothing but pitocin was going to do the trick for me and even with pitocin my body fought and fought (highest drip for 19 hours) it took 15 hours for me to even move past a 1 and that was possibly because they knocked me out with my epidural. I had secretly been hoping to go without the epidural and the odds were stacked against me last time. Like I said, I don't regret my choice. In honesty the epidural probably allowed me to have a vaginal birth last time. I don't know if I would have progressed without being able to completely let go of the tension I had at the time without it. However I vowed that if I were low risk this time, I would not get induced. So here I wait at 39 weeks for little Brooklyn to arrive. Each day I am anxiously awaiting some signs but I really have no idea to what to look for either. I think I will know though when it happens :)

Dustin and I will be starting a blog as soon as this baby is born related to our combined journey to lose weight this year! Let's just say we have a great support team this time and some professionals to help and I am VERY excited to let you all in on our journey!! :) We are making it a number one priority for our lives and though we are making some sacrifices I know it will be worth it!

More to come soon...hopefully the birth story of Brooklyn Sandra Wright!!

Dad Posting

So I thought that is was about time I (Dustin) did a post on this blog. It has been a while since I had even checked it myself, and come to find out Lyndsey has been posting. I was happy to find that out, but at the same time saddened that we haven't done more posts this year.

We have had an exciting year this year. At the beginning of 2011 I decided to take on a second job to help supplement our income a little. This was only a temporary thing as we needed to pay off some things so we could feel more financially comfortable. I had only planned on taking a part time job so as not to overload myself, but turns out thejob I got required around 68 hrs a week on average. That was in addition to the normal 40 hours I was working with my normal job. : ( My schedule was Monday Tuesday and Wednesday I would work Summit (My normal job) from 5:30am-2:30pm. Then on Wednesday night at 5pm I would go to work at my second job (Working with adults with developmental disabilities) from 5:00pm-9:00am the next morning. Then I would go straight from work to my Summit job and work from 9:15am-4:50pm and head straight back to my other job to work 5pm-9am. This continued on into the weekend and I would then work the weekend until Sunday morning when I could go home @ 9am. As you can probably imagine this limited my time away from my Family and caused stress.

I would usually get to spend Sunday day with my Family then start work again Monday morning. I only had Monday night and Tuesday night to spend the evenings with them and accomplish what we needed to before having to work again on Wednesday and not see my Family again until Sunday morning. whew!!!

October of this year came around and Lyndsey and I decided that it was a good time to drop the second job and be able to spend more time with the Family. We were able to pay off what we needed to and felt comfortable with our decision to go back to our ordinary lives! : ) October 20th is my last day at job #2 and we couldn't be any more excited than we are. It was a very large sacrifice that we had to make, but it was worth it to us in the end. I am so thankful for such a wonderful wife who worked so hard during these past 9 months (while working a part time job I might add) to make sure that our little Melody was cared for and healthy during my time away. I know that it was hard for her to feel like a single mother, but she did an amazing job and I am so grateful to her for that.

Fall is Lyndsey and I's favorite time of year and we have been enjoying the cooler weather and beautiful changing colors that occur during these months. Melody has her costume all picked out for Halloween and Lyndsey and I have yet to decide. Dressing up for Halloween is something that we both also love. There have been many Halloweens that we have spent over a $100 just on our costumes. : ) This year we vowed to make our dressing up a little less costly, but just as much fun.

We are planning a little trip come this November to visit my sister Kassie and her Family in Idaho Falls and then drive down to Utah to visit my sister Jenny and her family. While we are in Utah we plan to get new Family pictures taken from the same Family friend Whitney Robertson that we did last year. She was so much fun to work with and she does such a nice job we thought it would be worth taking a trip to visit my sister and get pictures done by her again. We are excited for this little trip as it will be our first Family vacation this year. I am going to post just a couple pictures...they do not represent anything in particular, they are just going to be some fun pictures to look at. Thanks to all those who follow our blogs, we love and appreciate you.

ANNOUNCING...

So I am not even sure if we announced we are pregnant on here, lol! The time has gone by so quickly. We are definitely pregnant though, and we are having another little girl!!!!!!!

I found out I was pregnant early this time, as I had this gut feeling. We bought dollar store tests but we were way before the missed period so we didn't expect much. I tested early anyway because I get really anxious and impatient! I saw a very faint line but wasn't sure if it was legit so we went out and purchased First Response and later that evening after our little Melody was asleep took the test. Dustin was out in the backyard talking to the neighbor (which I didn't know) when the line came up and ran out screaming, "You're going to be a daddy again!!!" It was a little awkward haha but Dustin ran promptly in and inspected and sure enough we celebrated! We told family and friends right away. We took Melody to a family BBQ which a 'Big Sister' shirt and the rest we told over the phone!! :-D

This pregnancy has been MUCH different than Melody's. From the getgo I was so very tired. I wasn't used to that as I usually have enough energy throughout the day, but I was just pooped!! When Melody would wake up in the mornings, we'd eat bananas and saltines in bed and watch cartoons until I could get up and function. I was sick until around 15 weeks this time but I managed to do all but a week without my beloved Zolfran. I tried, but in the end it got to me! Luckily I only needed it a week! Unlike Melody on most days it wasn't all day sickness but when it came on it came on stronger and I did a lot more forceful puking. (And simultaneous peeing- tmi but this is reality people).

Melody was small and had a 2 vessel cord. This baby shares neither trait. I have also felt movement this time much earlier, beginning at 16 weeks and let me tell you, she is a mover!! :) We decided to cheat and go to Fetal Fotos to find out the gender.

But I have felt for a while that this baby was a girl. I was once again resolved to believe that with 13 nephews, Melody being a girl was a fluke and for sure this one would be a boy! But we had to have 2 ultrasounds, one at 11 weeks and then an NT scan and ultrasound at 12. Well at 11 weeks it appeared that there was a little something there but by 12 weeks it had vanished. It was at that appointment that I became convinced it was a girl :) Dustin knew deep down too I think but he played the devil's advocate and guessed boy!

I have to say that Melody having the chance to have a sister is such a blessing for me. I was really hoping I could at least have one more girl, as my sister was very important to me growing up and i loved having a little sister. I was definitely thrilled when we had our ultrasound today and our little lady showed the goods!

I have been saying I was done at 2 but I think we might give it one more go. It's hard to imagine this being our last now!

I feel like this pregnancy is so surreal sometimes but it is all setting in now! I am going to be a mom to 2 beautiful little girls who no doubt will probably be polar opposites- but I am so happy! So happy to be the mother of the bride twice, to get 2 girls ready for prom, to see my girls doing each other's hair and playing dress up together, and dressing them in matching Sunday dresses! Haha :) I can't wait to pretend this one has hair like I did with Melody and completely go all out on the bows again! Yes, double trouble :)

We are so thrilled to be parents again and feel so blessed. We love our daughters so much and can't wait to meet our little sweetie!!

-Dustin, Lyndsey, Melody, and little girl #2 :)