happy happy birthday to my amelya

my amelya is FOUR. yep FOUR years old today!! i can't believe it. wanna know her birth story? i shared it way at the beginning of my blogging experience. but i know most of you weren't here then. and i don't know if some of you are as anal as me and go all the way back to read all the posts. i try to do that as much as possible! (stalker? check.)

so here we go.

my pregnancy went well with amelya. we didn't find out what we were having. but the girl did say she twice, but tried to cover it up. i ignored it. and at one point near the end debated if it was a boy. but truthfully from the beginning i thought it was a girl. names were a struggle. i loved amelya from the get go. shaun didn't. my grandma's middle name was amelia. i wanted to name amelya after her. i don't remember much of the other girls' names we had. i'm sure caitlyn was in there somewhere...but she came later. :0) the boy name was easier to get. one day shaun said how about isaac. i said. yeah. except i think isaac looks weird with two a's. so we were going to spell it isac. now i got shaun to agree to amelya only because we were going to call her 'mya'. i was fine with that. until she was born. i HATED it. i made shaun tell anyone who called her that to call her amelya. when i looked at her i saw amelya. not mya. so i purposed it to NEVER say their name is this but we're going to call them that. until after they're born. hence why i'm probably fine with caitlyn being caity somtimes. weird. i know. but i'm so glad amelya is my amelya. (fyi don't call dustin, dusty. i do not like that)

my due date was march 2nd. i was anxious to have her before march 5th. my mom and dad were leaving for mexico that day. i prayed, and cried, and prayed that god would have her be born so my mom could be there. well that wasn't the case. my dr. assumed i may go early because i was measuring big, so my parents purposely planned a different trip. if i didn't have amelya before march 5th i was to be induced. my dr thought the baby was going to be a bigger baby so she didn't want me to go too long after my due date.

the night before we went in i could not sleep. i tossed and turned. and just thought about having a baby! a baby!! what!?!? it was all surreal the next morning getting up and going to the hospital. we had it all planned out for everyone being there. i don't even know how we got it to be but my mom, shaun's mom, my sister, shaun's two sisters and shaun's aunt were going to be there. two of my aunt's were also planning on stopping in.

we got things started. the gel didn't work at all (little did i know how fast it'd work on the next births though!!) my dr. broke my water around ten. then things got started. i remember thinking this isn't so bad. (he he he) contractions got progressively worse. i sat in the whirlpool for a bit. but i hated having to get dressed b/n contractions, and remembered that for the next births. it was semi-weird having all those people in the room staring at me while going through all of it. but i wouldn't have traded it for anything. it helped keep it relaxed and calmer i think. and funny. except i hate hearing my laugh on the video. my mom left me around nine to leave for mexico. her and i both did great and didn't cry. at least not in front of each other. it was all good.

i started to be able to push around two-ish. thinking. oh yay! baby coming SOON. well that was not the case...at all. oh yay...somewhere in there i also took some nubain. that helped me tremendously. it takes the edge off of the contractions. and i could rest a bit. i've never been drunk, but others have told me they hate the nubain because they feel drunk. all i know is i liked it during the labor...but it in no way wants me to be drunk otherwise. back to pushing. so. i was getting exhausted. i actually purposely skipped pushing through contractions. he he he. at one point i remember feeling one. but i was too tired to push. so i just 'let it pass'. my nurse asked me if i felt it. i thought i told her yes. i know i did. well shaun (and everyone there) said i didn't say a thing i just sat there with my eyes closed. (it was proven in the video) oops. but i was so exhausted. well around 415ish maybe my dr came in and told me if i couldn't push the baby out we'd go do a c-section. WHAT!?! all this work and you just want to cut it out of me. no way!

so onwards with pushing. i was so tired. my dr. could see it. because i DID NOT have an epidural she suggested using the vacuum to help me. so then because the room wasn't full enough already we had to have the nicu nurses in with me in case something happened while using the vacuum. it was crazy busy. and i don't remember too much of that. i do remember one nurse saying she thought it was going to be a boy. she was also the nurse who made sure there was a chair behind shaun. he hadn't eaten ALL DAY. and wanted to be sure he fell into a chair instead of the floor if he passed out. lol.

so i pushed. and i remember the nurse telling me. it's just going to burn a little bit. BURN!?! what!?! NO ONE. NO ONE AT ALL. told me about this so call burning. and it did. i make sure to tell everyone i know about the burning, so they aren't surprised like me. but what was i going to do tell them i quit!?!

so i pushed through the burning. and out 'popp'ed. AMELYA FRANCIS. she was NINE POUNDS FOUR OUNCES. 20 3/4 inches long.

i never thought i'd bawl after having a baby. i thought it was just a tv show thing. but i cried. i rejoiced. and i was relieved it was done. i was in shock. immediately after having her the pain was gone. i couldn't even remember the burning. all i could do was stare at my beautiful baby girl.

it was kind of cool because my cousin's fiance was my nurse after having her. it wasn't weird at all. and it isn't weird now after seeing her and knowing she's seen ALL of me. :0) i was glad to have someone i 'knew' to help me out. especially with the nursing thing. amelya only would eat on the left side in the football hold. but after three months of that we got her to eat the 'regular' way.

our first few nights home were 'rough' she was up from midnight to two. but after those two nights i switched around some stuff. and she was sleeping great. by a month she slept through til four AM and by six weeks she slept through the entire night. she was a great baby. after being home with her. i KNEW i could not go back to work. how could i?!? i cried for three weeks. and three weeks before i was supposed to go back. i quit. it was amazing. and scary. but mostly amazing.

i loved being home. i loved having a baby. and then a few months later shaun was 'crushed' under a corn chopper. that was so scary. god totally protected him. completely protected him. all he had was a few broken ribs and two punctured lungs. and a blood clot. he was off of work for a few weeks too...and like i said he wasn't hurt too bad...so along came pregnancy number two...which will be shared on her birthday. in JUNE. lol. that's what breigh keeps telling me today. my birthday's in june. in june. my birthday's in june. too cute.

so happy birthday my amelya. my mini-me. my precious baby girl. i love you. and will always. but always remember that jesus loves you so much more than me. :0) love, your mommy.