Coming home

 December 17, 2012 We got to bring our little bundle of joy home. It turned cold while I was trapped in that hospital room. Brrr.. It finally felt like winter. The boys were gone at school, but boy were they thrilled to come home to her.

 Brock couldn't wait to get his paws on this little sweetie-pie.

 She is pretty much getting smooched and smothered to death.

Jaida wasn't feeling very well, good thing Grammy was there to give her lots of snuggles.

Meeting Their new Sister

 As you could only imagine the kids were all so excited to some and see their new baby sister at the hospital. Trent was a pretty good sport and even managed to get Jaida's hair done in pigtails. They all wanted to love her to death and fought over who got to hold her.

 Brock, not surprisingly was VERY protective of that little thing. He was micro-managing every single move I made. " Mom are you feeding her right?" and "Mom are you sure that is how you change her diaper?" Pretty sure I have it down, buddy! The best part was when she began to cry and he was upset that she was upset and ran out in the hall and yelled at the top of his lungs," May Day, May Day, We need some help in here my sister is crying!" Oh yes, the joys of Lumpy. The nurses sure did get a kick out of him.

 Pierce stepped right in as a great helper, also not a surprise. This kid is pretty amazing I tell you.

 Oh and these next 3 pictures of Brock are simply for your entertainment! Because he really is a nut!

 Those are some serious eyebrows....

 This is one proud daddy, pretty much smitten at this point!

 Oh, and just because my mom is fabulous she came right out on the next flight to help and to see this little muffin.

 We also have some pretty incredible friends that took our kids at the last minute and helped so much. She even made Trent and I a hospital survival kit! Awesome. They had to come for a visit too, we loved it.

We really couldn't be more thrilled! We love you Baby Allie.

my oh my, I am so behind!

I hate when I get behind on my blog. It makes life harder than it needs to be when i try and get things caught up! Having #4 in the mix has been crazy. It seems like I have had no time to myself and sometimes not even enough time to breathe. I feel like I have finally gotten all the wacky hormonal melt-downs out of the way and things are finally started to get back to "normal". Everyday brings something new and always different challenges. It is a good day when I actually get up and shower and am ready before taking the kids to school. Our morning breakfast schedule has yet to resume and so far we haven't had any major melt-downs with that. Brock has noticed me being a little off and one day said to me, "Mom, why are you being so evil lately?" hahaha. Pierce prayed several times that, " Please help mom not cry so much!" Jaida has been acting up more than the usual and Allie is just as sweet as ever. I really don't know how I got so lucky with her. She really is such a delight. I promise I will try and catch you up on more happenings here at our house.

December 15, 2012

 On December 15, 2012 I turned 37 weeks. After 2 weeks of being in labor and laying around, this meant I could finally get out of bed and do normal things! I got up and cleaned my house and by 2:00 was not feeling well at all. I simply just thought I had probably over done it, since I had been such a couch potato lately. I am one of  those crazy ladies that cannot feel my labor pain until it simply is just too late. So by 3:00PM when I still wasn't feeling well and fear starting to set in that I could be in labor and not know, Trent suggested that I go to the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital I was really thinking that they were just going to send me right back home and tell me that I was nuts. You see it's not very convincing to nurses that you are in labor when you are walking around with a smile on your face and just complain of not feeling right. Sure enough when they checked me out I was dilated at a 6 and 100% effaced. The doctor couldn't believe it and told me that a baby was on her way! I called Trent and he took our other kids to our friends the Haretuku's and came and met me at the hospital. After walking around for an hour and still not feeling anything I opted to go and get my epidural, because I just didn't want to chance not getting it! It ended up being one of my longest labors ever and I was really getting bored! Finally the doctor gave me the option of having some pitocin to kick the labor into full gear. That seemed to do the trick!

 At 9:32PM we FINALLY welcomed sweet baby Allie Arleen Belliston at a whoppin' 7lbs and 19 1/2 inches. We couldn't be more in love and happy!

 Such an awesome feeling to be a mom! I really can't think of anything better than this moment here. My face is speaking pure happiness!

Welcome to our family sweet angel baby.

Big Belly

Here is a picture of me at 36 weeks. I was pretty much feeling awful and fat and the biggest I had ever been with any pregnancy. I had started going into labor at 35 weeks and so the doctor had put me on bed rest to try and keep this little munchkin in until she could be a little more healthy. So I had 2 weeks of labor and laying around. That pretty much proved to be almost impossible with 3 other kids to take care of. I did try pretty hard to take it easy because really I just wanted a healthy baby. My body was just not feeling it! I could hardly wait until I reached the 37 week mark!

So Long, Farewell

December 10, 2012 was a monumental day at our house! It was officially the day that we got to say goodbye to Jaida's oxygen! She had her last sleep study about a month ago and she did much better than we ever anticipated. Usually they don't go very well. They are very restless and she doesn't preform very well. This last study went pretty smooth and she was such a trooper. In the morning the tech, whom we know very well unfortunately, spilled the beans to me that she had gone the whole night without oxygen a HUGE deal! I had to keep my emotions in check but just wanted to burst! When I got out to me car the tears just flowed and I felt so overwhelmed with gratitude!
We got the results of her study December 6, 2012 and that is when the doctor informed me that she had in fact kept her oxygen levels at 91% for the night! She still is having apnea events, an average of 4 every night when she stops breathing for 20 seconds or more. So we will keep her on her monitors and in 6 months we will be repeating a sleep study to see if she has improved.
this has been quite a challenging 2 1/2 years to say the least, but it moments like that are direct payoffs for all the bad times. We really have been so blessed and will continue to be optimistic and pray that she will continue to improve. We feel so grateful to all those who have prayed, fasted and simply lifted us in these last 2 1/2 years on behalf of our sweet little Jaida. Thank you.

Straight Hair

 One night I had the urge to straighten her hair just to see what it would look like. Her hair has always been pretty curly and so it looks a lot shorter than it really is. Jaida loves to have her hair played with so she sat super still while I straightened it and combed it. She was in heaven.

After we finished I took her to show her in the mirror. She gave a funny face and said,"Eww I don't like it!!" I couldn't believe how long and full her hair was. I thought it looked really pretty too, but I found myself missing the curls. She just isn't the same without them. I love her crazy lion's mane!