Welcome, Allyson Gray

Baby Allyson Gray was welcomed into the world on April 23, 2010 at 8:15 pm. She weighed 7lbs 14 oz. and 21.5 inches long. She is doing great!

What a great experience! I was admitted into the hospital at 7am to be induced. At 1:30, Dr. Simonsen broke my water. The epidural was given a little later and then we waited...and waited....and waited! At 8pm, we were getting set up to push! At 8:10 we started and Ally arrived within 5 minutes! She was placed on my stomach and JC cut the cord. She was cleaned up and my parents were able to join us in the room. Within the hour, she was nursing! Misty and Joey came to the hospital also,with our older daughter Kiley. (A big thank you to Misty and Joey for helping us with Kiley!) Kiley was so excited and welcomed her sister with open arms. All she wanted to do was hold her. She even became upset when the nurse came to check Ally and give her a bath. Luckily, Kiley was able to watch the nurse's every move. It was a great night and we are anxiously waiting for Kiley and my parents to visit us today!

Baby Update

Here are some new belly pictures that my good friend, Jennifer, took last weekend (39weeks) What great keepsakes these will be. After looking at my belly, I believe I look much bigger with this baby than with Kiley. Only time will tell if she is bigger or not. I have only gained 27 lbs. this time and 36 lbs. with Kiley. What a difference. It has nothing to do with my eating habits that is for sure. Must be that I chase a 2 1/2 year old around!

I guess these will be some of my last pregnancy photos. I am, at this time, sitting in my hospital bed with an IV of pitocin and penicillin. My progress has remained unchanged for the last 3 weeks, so this morning we elected to be induced. This morning I was dilated to 4 (1 cm more than yesterday) 50% effaced and around a -3, which I was at a neg. two yesterday (strange). We even had to double check that the princess had her head down! In just a few minutes Dr. Simonsen will be breaking my water. We are so looking forward to meeting the new addition to our family...a complete family of four!

It Happens

I feel so bad for my sweet daughter. While standing at our granite kitchen counter eating Apple Jacks, her step stool slid and she fell. Apple Jacks flying, Kiley crying and when I got to her, her lips were glossed with blood. I just knew she hit her teeth and was expecting them to just fall out when she opened her mouth. Thankfully, to my surprise, they were all intact and no puncture wounds on the outside of her face! She did, however, completely rip the tissue that attaches the teeth to the lips. I was amazed at how quickly she stopped crying, drank water and asked for more Apple Jacks. I am so thrilled that she is not injured as badly as I thought. However, I do just feel horrible for her. I know this is minor, and just a slight glimpse of some the blood we are going to see in the years to come. Maybe that is why I have this horrible guilt and knot in my stomach—because these kinds of things are going to happen and there is nothing we (parents) can do about it.