Our New Lives

Everyone says that having a baby changes your life. I always believed that what they said was true, but I never knew how much it changed your life. There really is a big difference in life before Rylee to life now.

It was so much easier to make a quick trip to the store, now I feed Rylee right before we leave in hopes that she will be happy. A weekend trip to the cabin took a lot less stuff. Now our car is so packed that the back is 100% full, I ride in the back with Rylee (mainly because its more comfortable since her car seat pushes the font seat all the way up) while Bow gets a very comfy shotgun. I have learned that getting a full nights sleep is almost impossible. Mine and Ethan's "date nights" consist of eating dinner at home and watching a movie. (Yes I know we could get a baby sitter, but I'm just not ready for that.) I have learned to take a very quick shower. Before going outside I always check the weather to make sure I have the appropriate clothing on Rylee and extras for just in case. I work like crazy while she sleeps so I can get the things done I need to. I no longer know when I will be able to eat breakfast or lunch. I am always doing laundry. And I'm sure I could just keep going on.

But even though so much has changed, I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so grateful that Rylee is in my life and that I have the opportunity to stay home with her and take care of her. I love that I get to see all the cute things she does and that I'll get to see her firsts.

Yes my life has changed and a lot of people wouldn't hate what they have to "give up" for a baby. But Even though I "gave up" things, like sleep, I wouldn't change a thing.


 Pictures from Rylee's Blessing day. Her dress was made by her Great-Grandma Sharp out left over material from my moms wedding dress and both of my sisters and I were all blessed it in.

The Story of Rylee

Well it has been almost a month since Rylee has joined our family, so I figured that it was time to share her birth story.

We really need to start on Monday September 8th at my doctors appointment. I was heading into this appointment trying not to get my hopes up but really hoping that Dr. Winn would say we can induce on Thursday which was when I would hit 39 weeks. I was so ready to not be pregnant any more. I couldn't sleep well, every night around 2 or 3am I would wake up wide awake and lay there for 2-3 hours. I had heart burn like crazy, my back hurt, my legs hurt, and so on. I could really go on about all that hurt but I wont. Needless to say I was done. I think Ethan was ready for me to be done too, he wont admit it but I'm sure he was tired of getting calls during the day with me crying about one dumb thing or another. Anyway, I go into my appointment and the nurse checks my blood pressure, then waits for a few minutes and checks it again. She then asks if I had a headache or if I was seeing spots in my vision, which I said no to both. My blood pressure was in the 140's/ high 80's. (I can't remember exactly what it was.) She leaves and Dr. Winn comes in and checks to see if I had dilated any more. Which I hadn't and was still at a 1.5, where I had been for the past 3 weeks. This just really dashed my hopes. After she was finished she informs me that my blood pressure was too high for her comfort and that she wanted me to go get some blood work done and then go to the Birth Center to be monitored. I guess she was worried about me having pre-ecalmpsia. After getting blood work done and being monitored for about an hour the nurse at the birth center tells me that Dr. Winn had called and the she was putting me on bed rest due to my BP. Another thing that I was not happy about. I left the hospital with instructions to lay on my left side or in a recliner with my feet up and that I was only to be up to eat and use the restroom and that I was to return to the hospital for my blood work and another non stress test on wednesday.

Thankfully I have loving family and friends who offered to bring us dinner so Ethan wouldn't have to worry about feeding us after working all day.

Jumping to Wednesday. As I went to the hospital I was really hoping that my blood pressure had come down and that I would be let off bed rest. I normally don't mind relaxing and not doing anything, but for some reason being told I couldn't do anything really made me hate laying around. I got my blood work done and was hooked back up to monitors for another hour. After the hour was up the nurse came in and states in a matter of factway, "You're going to be induced at midnight tonight." My heart skipped a beat as I thought "WHAT?!" It was what I was wanting but figured it wouldn't happen. I was in shock. She gave me the instructions I would need for the rest  of the day and sent me on my way. I ran down to where Ethan was working and told him that he wouldn't be at work the next day, we were both very excited and in a state of shock that we would become parents very shortly.

The rest of that day seemed to drag on. After taking Bow to my parents that night, we came home and got ready to go to bed, well more like take a nap. As we were getting ready to go to sleep, I began to become more and more nervous about what was about to happen. Thankfully I have a loving husband who holds the priesthood, and was willing to give me a blessing.

12AM- We get to the hospital and get all checked in. After they got us signed in Ethan wheeled me down to the Birth Center, cause apparently if you have a high BP they don't want you walking too much. I get changed into the beautiful gown that they offer you and get settled into the bed. The nurses came in to get me all hooked up and ready to start the induction. While one was asking me questions about my health history and pregnancy the other was getting my IV started. Do you know where the worst spot to get an IV is? If you don't know, its in your wrist. Which is exactly where mine had to be placed. It felt as though she was digging into my bone, and to top it off I felt as though I could no longer move my wrist. Anyway, after they finished that they gave me something to help get me to dilate, like I said before I was only at a 1.5. After which she came in to check on me every few hours to see how I was doing and if I was progressing. I tried to get some sleep, but since I had so much running through my mind I couldn't sleep. I even turned on a baseball game just so I had something to listen to as I tried to fall asleep, which means I was desperately trying to sleep.

Around 8 am Dr. Winn came in and broke my water. That was quite the experience. I will never again have to wonder if my water has broken, cause there is not mistaking it.

A few hours later I was only at around a 3 (I think), so they started me on pitocin. That lovely medicine to help get me to have contractions, and boy did I start having contractions. It wasn't too unbearable to begin with, then they slowly got more intense.

I can't give times for the rest of the day because it was to much of a blur.

Early afternoon contractions began to be very uncomfortable. To the point that I couldn't talk or walk while having one. I would just hold on to Ethan until one passed. When the nurse came in to check me I was at a 5 or 6. She informed me that if I wanted an epidural, now would be the time to get one. I had went in thinking that I wanted to try to give birth with out an epidural, not because I wanted to show how tough I was, but because I was scared to death to have a needle put into my spine. After Ethan reassured me that I would be ok, I decided to get one. Did you know that it is really hard to hold still during a contraction? Well it is, and that's what I had to do while the anesthesiologist worked on getting the epidural started. Which felt like it took forever.  Poor Ethan's hands must have been killing him because of how hard I was squeezing them. When he was finished (finally) I quickly began to feel my lower half go numb which is such a weird feeling. I also felt so helpless.

Shortly after having the epidural started we realized that my IV was no longer working. My arm had gotten so swollen that it had stopped working some how. So, about 4 people were in the room, not including Ethan and I , working on getting another IV started. I was really hoping that I would get it in the back of the hand or in the crook of my arm. In fact one nurse poked me in the crook of my arm to see if it would work. Unfortunately, the only place that would work was in the other wrist. Yay me.

Things seemed to be going well after that. Until they weren't. Because of my epidural, my BP came down to where it normally is. Which I would normally like. However, Rylee did not like that my BP was lower. Because of this her heart rate dropped which was a concern. It really bothered me when I could hear the monitor of her heart beat slow down. Thankfully I had a great group of nurses that were monitoring me very closely. The nurses began to flip me from one position to the next in hopes that Rylee would like one spot and her heart rate would go back up. Which it did. So for the next few hours, whenever her heart rate would drop the nurses would come in and flip me to another position. I have never been tossed around so much in my life.

Because Rylee's heart rate had dropped they had to back me off of and finally stop the pitocin which really slowed my progress down. After a while of being off of it they slowly started me back on it, while watching Rylee's heart.  I was finally at an 8 when Dr. Winn came in and the nurses adjusted me one more time in hopes that Rylee would tolerate it. She seemed to like the position I was in for the time being. Dr. Winn said "We'll see who wins, the baby or me." I'm not 100% sure what she meant there but I'm assuming that since they wouldn't let me eat anything since lunch, that meant she was close to taking Rylee C-section. I looked at Ethan and just said "I really hope the baby wins". I did not want to have a C-section.

After a couple more hours in this position, which was a sitting up kind of position cause Rylee liked that, my back began to kill me. But because I was hooked up to so many monitors and those stupid IVs in my wrists I couldn't press the call button. So I tried to wake up Ethan. I kept getting louder and louder trying not to yell, but he wouldn't wake up. Thankfully the nurse came in and I told her I was uncomfortable. So she decided to check me and see where I was at. Thankfully I was ready to start pushing.

By the time she got all set up it was about 11:15PM when I actually started pushing. The epidural must have been slowly wearing off because I began to feel contractions which I had thought were Rylee's feet in my ribs. After pushing for about 45 minutes Dr. Winn said that she was almost there and to just push really hard one more time. I closed my eyes and pushed as hard as I could and all of a sudden I could feel something moving on my stomach. I opened my eyes to see my beautiful baby girl. It is amazing how instantly my love for this little girl grew. I would do anything to protect her. I looked up at Ethan through my tears and could tell that he felt the exact same way I was feeling.

Rylee Johanna Hill was born at 12:06AM 9-12-14 weighing 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. After a very long 24 hours Ethan and I were parents. Almost a month later and we are even more in love with our little girl. I love to watch Ethan hold her and take care of her. I am so grateful for him and for the support that he is to me.

4 More Weeks!

Well I am down to 4 weeks until my due date! Thank goodness cause I'm ready to meet our little girl. I am at 36 weeks and will now start seeing my doctor every week until the baby comes. I am hoping that since I will have something going on each week that it will help the time go by a bit faster. At my last doctors appointment I found out that our little girl is measuring about a week big so maybe she will come a week early(or sooner!!)! I would be more than ok with that! Other than that there really isn't much new in our lives. We have the baby's room all ready so we are ready for her to come! The closer and closer we get to the due date the more excited we get. I had a wonderful baby shower thrown by my sister Jill and friend (adopted sister) Mary. I had so many wonderful friends and family show up that I felt very loved and knew that my little girl was loved just as much. At the baby shower everyone joked about how after the baby comes I wont get any sleep. I don't know what they were talking about, cause I'm not getting much sleep now. Between heartburn and waking up to switch sides every hour I think I average 5-6 solid hours of sleep. However many times, including last night, it is much less than that. Oh well I suppose its just helping me get ready for sleepless nights. I really shouldn't complain, I have had a very healthy, easy pregnancy thus far and I know that I have been blessed. Anyhoo, here are some pictures of the baby's room!

33 Weeks 

She already has 25+ cute headbands and lots of cute bows!

8 weeks and counting!!!

In 8 short weeks, mine and Ethan's lives will forever be changed. We are so excited to welcome our little girl into the world! It is getting closer but I really just wish that time would speed up a lot! Anyway here is a break down of what we have been up to for the past couple of months.
In mid June I graduated from Blue Mountain Community College in the Dental Assisting program, and was able to graduate with honors. (YAY!) I was also able to pass the last couple of board test and now I am just waiting for my certificates to be mailed to me so that I am no longer thinking and stressing over what I still need to do. I really did enjoy my time in the program but was so ready to be done.
Around the same time Ethan and I found out that we would be able to move into our own place! We are, and will always be, grateful to my parents for allowing us to live with them for almost a whole year. We are so lucky to have such wonderful parents. As grateful as we are to them, we were excited to get into our own place and start getting things ready for baby girl. The really cool thing is that we have been able to fix our place up (which is still in progress) and in fixing it up we have been able to choose paint colors, carpet, and what not. So really it has become our own little place.
It took Bow a little while to get used to a new place and I still think that she feels more at home at mom and dad's. Oh well she will just have to adjust.
For the 4th of July we were able to go up to Wallowa Lake with my family for a family reunion. We had so much fun. It was really fun to watch all the grandkids play together. Ethan and Mitch took the time on Saturday of that week to climb up to Ice Lake and then on to the Matterhorn. Ethan was able to get some amazing pictures from being up that high. He absolutely loved it. And they are now trying to find another ginormous mountain to climb.

I had the opportunity to go to girls camp again this year but on the ward level. Unfortunately I was unable to stay the whole week. The Wednesday of camp was so hot, and I was unable to cool off. I have never seen my feet and ankles get that big before. I was drinking water so much that I'm pretty sure that before noon I had over 100oz. It just got to be too much for me. So after about 4 hours of fighting with myself about whether or not I should stay, I decided that I need to  be home. I called Ethan and told him what was going on and as soon as I got off the phone with him I instantly felt like that was what I need to do. I felt bad that I was leaving the girls in my ward, but it felt so good to get into an air conditioned car!
And that pretty much brings us to now. Ethan has been super busy at work. With how hot it has been they have been getting a lot of calls from people saying that their AC isn't working for one reason or another. So in order to get their house cool Ethan gets to be really hot working outside. I am so proud that I have a husband whose not afraid to work no matter how hot it is. However, he is enjoying the cooler weather this week. And so am I! It has been so hot lately that we have had to have our swamp cooler on full blast all day long. Poor Ethan doesn't think that it needs to be as cool as I do, so I am always reminding him that our little girl is making sure I stay nice and warm. Normally I would be fine at 70 degrees but now I find it way too hot. I have noticed many times at night that Ethan will have the blankets pulled all the way up to his chin and I am laying on top of them trying to cool off. Thankfully he doesn't complain and lets me get as comfortable as I can.

Yesterday I was able to work on the baby's dresser I think it turned out super cute! Now I have a place to put all the cute clothes she has already gotten and focus on getting the rest of her room ready. I just really really want it to be september already!

Bow getting used to protecting her little girl. 

My Cousin Courtney and I at our other cousin's Wedding reception.
Courtney is about 4 weeks  a head of me. 

24 Weeks 

31 Weeks

We Are Tickled Pink!!

IT'S A GIRL!!! And we couldn't be more excited! Ethan and I both began to feel like we were going to have a girl about a week before we had our ultrasound. It was so fun to find out. Our little girl however was not being very cooperative. She was facing my back and therefor the ultrasound tech couldn't see everything that he needed to see to make sure that everything was developing well. He did inform us that what he could see looked great so that made me feel a bit better. So because we have an uncooperative child we will be going back in at the end of the month for another ultrasound. I'm really ok with it cause then I get to see the baby again, yay!. But she better be facing the right way so we can get a good look at her. We really couldn't see much of anything besides the fact that she's a girl, so I have no fun pictures of her to share with you :( Maybe in 3 more weeks. But until then here is a more updated picture of my baby bump :) And how we announced to the world that we will be having a daughter :)

Bow wasn't sure what to think, she just wanted to chew her new toy.

19 Weeks.

Our Growing Family

Well our little family is growing! Ethan and I found out that we were expecting at the very  beginning of January, and it was the best late Christmas present that we could ever ask for. With news that exciting we couldn't hold it in for very long. We told both of our parents first then waited a while and began to tell family members after the first doctors appointment. At 12 weeks along we had our first ultrasound. It was Amazing!! We got to see the baby's head, it's little arms and legs, and right as the ultrasound tech was taking one of the pictures we got to see it's little leg kick. We were both in awe as we got to see the little human being growing inside of me. I am still in a little shock that I'm pregnant. Besides feeling a little nauseous here and there and being incredibly tired, I have been feeling pretty good. I am now in my second trimester and am feeling much better and not nearly as tired, in fact I would say that I have most of my energy back. In about a month we will be able to find out if we are having a little boy or a little girl. We will love and be excited for whatever we are having (but we are both kinda hoping for a little boy). We feel so blessed that our family is growing and that we get to become parents. Yes we are also scared to death a little. But our excitement out weighs that fear. Little baby Hill will be joining us September 18, 2014. Well at least that's the due date we'll see when he really comes. :-)

12 weeks on left 14 weeks on right