Westergard Family Adventures!: July 2016

My shirt is up because I just got done nursing Ellie; my boobs are the size of Dolly Parton's, mine feel like 10 pound rocks; even though this is my third time round at breastfeeding my nipples are crazy sore and have started to blister a little; my entire body is sore; I am exhausted; I might feel like crying but really I am so happy.
We were so not planning on Ellie joining us this soon. The house was not ready and I didn't think I was either. Now that she's here, everything is working out great. My wonderful mother was able to fly out Friday and she has been a great help with all the girls. We're still getting the boxes unpacked out of the guest room and nursery but it's all coming along fine.

Just last week we were walking around Disney World. Every day up till the day we left I would tell Kate to pray that baby Ellie doesn't come til after Disney. Well, both God and Ellie were listening. We had just enough time to unpack from our trip and get the house picked up. Actually, I'm very happy with how the house looked when Jared came over in the middle of the night. Any other day the house would have been a huge mess. Little Miss Ellie Mae picked a good day to break my water.

Which leads me to Ellie's birth story. Here are the birthing details:

Per usual I woke up in the middle of the night, 2 am, to go to the bathroom. 75 minutes later I got up feeling like I had to go again. As I walked to the toilet I felt a little bit of fluid come out. This is not per usual. I stopped walking so I could focus on holding it in. Well, that didn't help. More came out and I couldn't do anything about it. Sitting down onto the toilet I knew my water had broke. I called out to Andrew more than a few times but didn't wake him. I got up, stuffed a towel in between my legs and called to Andrew from the doorway. He got up rather quick.

Just like I'd been instructed, I called the labor and delivery, told them my water had broke and then asked how long I should wait to drive to the hospital. Not long.

With this delivery and my last, my biggest concern was what to do with my "older" children. When Abby was born we were blessed to have Grammy there to watch Kate. This time we were blessed to have Uncle Jared come watch the girls and it couldn't have been better timing. Jared had only been home for a little bit after flying a night flight when Andrew called. He was to our house less than 30 minutes later, just enough time for me to shower and for Andrew to get all our stuff ready to go in the car.

We arrived at the hospital just before 5am (it's a 50 minute drive). The doctor checked to make sure my water really had broken, informed me that I was dilated to 5 cm, and then we were moved to my labor and delivery room at about 5:30. A few different nurses came in to draw blood, put in an iv, hook me up to monitors, go over a little paperwork and ask about our birth plan. When all was said and done it was about 7am.

A little bit later a nurse came in and told me my contractions weren't consistent and that they'd be starting me up on pitocin at 8am if nothing changed. Nothing changed and at 8:30 I was put on pitocin.

Both Andrew and I were super tired so amidst all the people going in and out of our room we tried to get a little shut eye. A little while later I remember hearing two men come into the room and seeing that my eyes were closed said they'd let me keep on snoozing. 10 minutes later I had a huge contraction. 5 minutes after that I had another huge contraction. I decided to get up and go to the bathroom.

Another concern of mine when it comes time to have a baby is what all comes out of me while I'm pushing out that baby. If I can help it, I'd rather nothing stinky come out. So, while I was sitting on the john trying to get my bowels emptied I had two more contractions. I felt like I had something huge to push out which is why I didn't want to go back to laying down. It didn't even cross my mind that my body was ready to push out a baby because it hadn't been that long since I was put on pitocin and I wasn't having consistent contractions. Well, one contraction later and I knew I was having a baby.

It all happened so fast I'm sad to say that I already can't remember it very well. I do remember that after the second contraction Andrew popped his head in to ask if I was okay and if we were going to have a baby in the bathroom. I told him no, I was fine and that I just needed to go to the bathroom. Then two minutes later when the third contraction happened I started to yell, maybe scream a little bit. What's the difference really? Andrew said I was kinda really loud which makes me laugh a little. Part of me thinks it's funny because I did almost have a baby in the bathroom, and part of me laughs because I'm rather embarrassed that I was so loud.

Anyhow, the response was immediate. All of a sudden 5-7 people were in my room. Someone's hand was between my legs holding the baby's head that had already come out. Everyone was helping/herding me back to my bed. Two people lifted/pushed me up back onto my bed and then I was told to push. Andrew remembers me saying, I don't think I can, then pushing and baby Ellie coming out. 9:21 am was when Ellie was born. 6 pounds 15 ounces, 18.5 inches. Perfect in every way.

Kate and Abby came to see baby Ellie that afternoon. Kate was totally in love at first sight and still is. Abby at first was not a fan but by the time she left she had warmed up to Ellie a little. We checked out of the hospital the next afternoon, 30 hours after Ellie arrived.

Kate LOVES holding Ellie, feeding her bottles, giving her kisses and hugs, talking to her about what's going on in the house and telling her little secrets. I absolutely love how sweet she is with Ellie. Abby has no problems with Ellie anymore. She talks to her, says how sweet baby Ellie is, and even asks to hold her.

I'm loving my life right now. I could hold Ellie for hours and just watch her sleep. When I'm not holding or nursing Ellie, Abby likes to get some snuggles in. I love the stage Abby is in right now. She's still learning words but she knows plenty to be understood by most people and I love how she can't pronounce everything just yet. Her little voice is so sweet, she's starting to smile for pictures again with the cutest cheese face, and she's so proud of herself when she's able to do something by herself. Oh, and she showers you with kisses when apologizing for being naughty. So stinkin' cute!

Kate is such a wonderful big sister to both Abby and Ellie. Whenever Kate and Abby play together off by themselves, my heart overflows with love for them and gratitude to my Heavenly Father that I get to be their mother. My goal is to soak up this next year, to enjoy it as best as I can before Kate starts up school. I'm already missing being at home with my three babies, being able to get up and do whatever we want every single day. Right now these are the best days of my life. I know it'll get better, but dang, I'm going to miss my toddlers.

This past week Kate and Abby's wish came true. We went to Disney World!

Back in February when we were told that our orders had changed from New Mexico to Florida, Kate was bummed. We had talked New Mexico up so much that Kate was really looking forward to moving there. To convince Kate that Florida was a good thing, we told her that Florida is where the princesses live and that once we moved we could go and visit them at Disney World. Needless to say, she was convinced.

Our trip was wonderful. We drove out July 4th and spent our first night with the Strongs. We hadn't seen them since they moved last August and man was it great to see them! We grilled and did fireworks with them and then were off to bed.

Tuesday through Friday we spent at Disney World. We did two and a half days at Magic Kingdom, half a day at Epcot, and one whole day at the Animal Kingdom.

Here are a ton of pictures documenting the fun we had:

Even though we were at Disney World, pools seem to hold a special place in the hearts of all children, including ours. Every day we were at the hotel the girls begged to go back so they could swim. I'm glad they had fun at the park and at the hotel.

We had fastpasses to the new Frozen ride in the Magic Kingdom, however it was "temporarily closed" when we went to go wait in line. We were told that a few doors down Anna and Elsa were doing a meet and greet. Even though we knew there would be a huge long line, we figured we would give it a go and I am so glad we did. It was maybe a 15 minute wait and the girls were thrilled to see their favorite Disney Princesses. Overall, Anna was my favorite princess that we met. She was super sweet, as were all the princesses. Maybe it had something to do with the chocolate party she invited the girls to.

Anna must have been Abby's favorite princess too because she ran over to her after meeting Elsa to give Anna another hug. It was super sweet!

Mickey was Abby's favorite Disney character. It was not easy keeping her happy in line as we waited our turn to see Mickey. Mickey was supposed to be taking a "cheese" break right before our turn to switch out Mickeys which, of course, Abby had no idea. When she ran up to Mickey, his handlers were trying to tell her that Mickey would be right back but when Mickey saw how happy Abby was to see him, he waived to his handlers that it was okay. He was wonderful and Abby was in Mickey heaven. It was super sweet to see her look up at him and give him a great big hug. It was definitely one of the big "trip highlights" for Abby.

We rode on the Merry Go Round a few times while in the Magic Kingdom. The first time both girls were in tears. Kate wanted to ride the horse that was sparkly/had glitter (none of them did) and Abby did not want to get off her horse once the ride was over. This happened on the first day within the first hour when we were still brand new to the whole waiting our turn in line and then letting someone else take a turn once the ride was over. The following turns went much better. :)

Our second day in the Magic Kingdom we had lunch at Be Our Guest/the Beast's castle. It was great food and a beautiful castle. We told the girls that if they misbehave while eating their food, the Beast gets angry and might eat them. ...the threat didn't really work, but we still had an enjoyable time.

Wednesday night in the Magic Kingdom we stayed to watch the Electrical Parade. The girls loved all the lights and dancing. It was a long night but we were glad we stayed.

Most of the Animal Kingdom the girls enjoyed. "It's Tough to be a Bug" was one of the shows not enjoyed at all. It was a little scary for Kate who hid in my arms for the majority of the show. She sure looked cute in the bug glasses though.

In the Animal Kingdom there is a dinoland part of the park where kids can dig for fossils. We spent a good amount of time there as the kids loved digging and playing in the gravel.