1 week and 1 day old

So Rachel had a doctor's appointment last week on Wednesday. They told us then that she weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and that she was 21 inches long. At her doctors appointment today she weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces and is 21.5 inches long. She has grown a whole inch since she was born and has gained 7 ounces in the last 5 days! Wow! I can't believe how fast she is growing already! She is just the sweetest little baby! I'm so glad that for now at least she has her days and nights in the right order. She only woke up twice during the night last night, and she was awake for about 2 hours this morning! It is hard to think about anything else besides this little one! I just love her so much! I look at her and think about how incredible it was that she grew all of those months inside my tummy into this perfect little angel. We are so happy to have her here in our lives.

So I'm not sure if I ever posted about this or not, but we found out for sure that we will be going to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tuscan, Arizona after we are done in Texas. We were actually quite excited to find that out and Jacob also found out from someone in our ward who just moved from there that he will probably get deployed a lot less from there than if we had been assigned to Nebraska like we thought we were going to be. We aren't exactly sure what his job will be like when we get there, but we are excited to be a little closer to home than we thought we would be. Jacob is going to try to take his paternity leave starting the middle of next week and then he has his Christmas break right afterwards so we will probably be moving out of this house and going and visiting family either sometime next week or the week after. Jacob just needs to get his orders and get things scheduled with the movers so we will know when it will be. It kind of snuck up on me what with our baby coming when she did! I could hardly believe it when Jacob told me today that his paternity leave starts next week! I totally don't feel ready to move! Oh well, I guess I will get ready fast!

Lots and Lots of Pictures and my birth story! (It is a long one!)

So I have been wanting to post pictures on here for days, but I've just been adjusting to being a mom! It is crazy how busy such little child can make you! My Rachel is just the sweetest little thing ever and we just love her so much! I know I should have put these pictures in collage or something so that this post wouldn't be quite so long, but oh well! Remember that I'm not the best a taking pictures. I really wish my sister Caralee could be here to take pictures of my little one!

So Friday morning I woke up around 2:30 in the morning from some pretty painful contractions. They kept me awake and I had them regularly until about 8:00 in the morning. I though for sure our baby was going to make her appearance. After 8 o'clock though my contractions fizzled out until around 7 o'clock that night. After that they were pretty regular and constant. I was up all night long Friday night with contractions. Saturday morning I called my mom in Utah to let her know what was going on. My mother has been in to see all of her grandchildren born, but we didn't think she would be able to make it to this one because we were so far away and she already took as much time off as her boss would let her to come and spend some time with me earlier this month. When my mom found out I was in labor she did everything she had to at home and then decided to make the drive and see if she could make it in time. I had contractions all day long on Saturday, but to me they didn't feel like they were quite close enough that I could justify going into the hospital to be check out. Around 4 pm on Saturday my contractions started coming about 5 minutes apart and they were getting pretty painful, so at about 6 we decided it was finally time to go get checked out. Jacob gave me the sweetest blessing before we left for the hospital and I know it is what helped keep me strong during the labor. When we got there the nurse said I was dilated about a 3-4 and they would check me in an hour to see if I was progressing. When she checked a little later they decided to keep me and I was moved to a more permanent room. My mom showed up (after driving 10 1/2 hours) around 11:30 that night when I was dilated to a 6 and our Rachel was born at 2:10 the next morning. It was so special to have her in my arms at last. I just feel so much love for my little girl. My mom went home early Monday morning and we went home on Tuesday. It was nice to get to stay a little extra time in the hospital and heal up a little more before going home. We couldn't have asked for better nurses during our stay. Everything was just perfect. Okay so enough with all of the words, on to the pictures.

I think I was dilated to an 8 in this picture, but I'm not exactly sure. The details are a little fuzzy! I really like what they nurses called "the throne position." The bed folded down til it literally looked like a throne. As long as I could be sitting up like that I was okay, what was really hard on me was when the nurse would come in and check me because I had to lay back on the bed and it hurt worse and it was harder for me to keep my focus.

Here I am completely worn out, but completely in love with this little baby in my arms. It is so nice to have her on the out side of me.

This past week has been full of a lot of firsts for our little family. Here is one that we couldn't pass up getting a picture of though. This is Jacob's first time changing a diaper ever. That is the pediatrician teaching him how to do it. He has been such a cute dad and has helped out so much since this little one came! I really don't know what I would do without him! I'm glad I don't have to find out!

Here are a few pictures of Rachel in her going home out fit. We didn't actually take the pictures until after we got home, but she is still cute! We were so excited to get out of the hospital and take our little one home! The hospital staff was awesome and everyone was so nice, but there really is no place like home!

Life is so hard when you are only 2 days old!

She does this peek with one eye "pirate look" all of the time. She has too peek and see if the view is worth the effort it is going to take to get both eyes open.

My sister Caralee made me so many little bows to put on this little girl. She doesn't keep them on very well or very long, but I've tried to get a couple of pictures with them on because she just looks so cute!

Rachel makes some of the funniest little faces! It makes me laugh to watch Jacob with her because he will just start laughing and when I ask him what is so funny he tells me she is just making funny faces. Her daddy is pretty smitten with her! Here are a few examples of the funny faces we have been able to catch on camera.

I think she looks kinda gangster in this one!

Rachel's fingers are so long, and she is constantly putting them in her mouth! She seems to want to suck on something all of the time. She kept putting her hands in her mouth so much that Jacob made the comment that it is a good thing she wasn't born with teeth, because then she wouldn't have been born with hands! Her hands are busy all of the time. I can't keep them swaddled in her blankets, she always figures out how to get them out and up by her face. Sometimes her hands get so wiggly and busy that I think it kinda scares her and we have to put our finger in her hands to calm them (and her) down.

So my little child has a love affair going on with her binky. When I gave it to her in the hospital, all of the nurses told me I should give her a binky until she was at least a couple of weeks old or else she might not breast feed very well, but she has such a strong little sucker on her, that we fortunately don't have that problem.

So I just had to post a few pictures of her feet! She has the biggest little feet I have seen on a baby! I'm not sure these pictures really do them justice, but I tried!

So in this picture you can see where her heel is supposed to be normally. These socks are 0-3 month size and they are still too little for her long feet!

So sleepy. . .

Here is a pictures of our cute little Rachel-girl in her cute little bed! Ever since we bought her little bed and Jacob set it up next to my bed every time I saw it would get so excited thinking about putting her in it! It is so fun to actually see my little one sleeping there!

Here is a close up of my cute sleeping baby! I just can't get enough of her!

Being a mom truly is the best job in the whole world!

Welcome Rachel Elizabeth Bulloch!

This morning at 2:10 am a wonderful gift was given to us! We were able to finally finally finally see, hear, and hold our sweet little Rachel-girl! She was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20.5 inches long and 5 days overdue! After 31 hours of labor we were blessed with the sound of our little babies cry. I cannot even express the love that I feel for this little bundle of joy that we have.

It is so fun! Today is actually my oldest niece Gracie's birthday so these two cousins get to share the same birthday. Gracie was so excited when she found out I was having a girl (she has 3 younger brothers) and was even more excited when she found out she was going to share a birthday month. I think our Rachel girl just wanted to be like her Gracie cousin so she decided to wait a little longer so they could have that extra bond!

I am so happy to finally have this little girl in my arms where she belongs!

Here is a picture of Rachel with her Grandma Banks! We were so glad that she was able to make it here in time for the birth. She got here to the hospital at about 11:30 pm and our Rachel was born at 2:10 am the next morning, so she was only here for the last 3 hours of my labor, but she was a big help, especially when the doctor was sewing me up after I tore! She let me squeeze her hand while I sent Jacob over to see what the nurses were doing with our Rachel-girl.

She is just loving her fingers. She can't seem to get enough of them. She has even tried to stick them in her mouth while we are trying to breastfeed which to her dismay she is finding out doesn't work very well.

These next two pictures are of Rachel's first bath! She certainly didn't like it at all!

Look at all this hair! It is so cute! It is about an inch long in the back, but it is shorter in the front. It looks like it is a light brown color and just oh so cute!

We just love this little girl and we are so happy to be her parents!

Well, this is my baby girl! This is Jacob posting by the way, Mary is kinda busy bonding with baby, and since I can't feed her, I'm posting these few pictures we have so far, we will have more soon for sure!

I am just so amazed that we have a new little girl in our family! Rachel Elizabeth Bulloch, we love you so much! We are so excited to have you in our little family!
This little miracle is such a welcome part of our family! We are so glad to finally have her here, especially Mary, who has been carrying her for *over* nine months! Mary was such a trooper! She gave birth completely natural, no induction, epidural, or any other pain killers and although I could tell that she was in pain, a lot of pain, but not because she complained, she is so tough and she took it all and just kept on going, I am so proud of her!

Racheal baby come out

We're at the hospital and things are moving right along! Mary is already dilated to an 8 her water has not broken. She is a pro she makes it look easy! This is her mother writing I just got here. She has soft music going and Jacob is touching her foot Mary is breathing calmly and zoning out during her contraction. She is doing great, hope it wont be long now.

Due Date

Okay, here I am at 40 weeks! Today is the day! I thought for sure I would have had my baby by today, but no such luck. Our Rachel is content where she is for now! At our doctor appointment today my doctor checked me and said I am still dilated about a 1-2 cm and that I am about 50% effaced. He stripped my membranes which I was a little nervous for because Jacob's mom told me, "Don't let him strip your membranes, it kills!" Fortunately it wasn't as bad as I feared so we will see if that gets things going at all! We also scheduled an induction date for next Monday, November 22, if Rachel hasn't come by then. He considered having me wait until the Monday after Thanksgiving to induce me but thankfully he relented and had mercy on me! It is nice to know that at the most I only have one week left of being pregnant. Sometime in the next week we will be meeting our little Rachel-girl and I can hardly wait!

6 more days?

So I only have 6 more days til my due date, I really wonder when this little girl is going to come join our family. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and when he checked me he said I was dilated to a 1-2 which I have been rounding to 1.5 in my head. He said that I probably won't dilate anymore than that until I am actually in labor whenever that happens to be. My next doctors appointment is going to be next Tuesday which is my due date. I'm really hoping that I won't have to go to it because my Rachel will be here, but I guess we will just have to wait and see. My doctor says that his policy is that he usually won't induce until one week after the due date. I really hope I won't have to wait that long!

Jacob gets a 4 day weekend this weekend because of Veterans Day! I'm so excited to be able to spend a couple of extra days with him! He actually wasn't going to tell me about the extra days off this week and he was going to try to surprise me, but I remembered he got Veterans Day off last year so I asked him about it and he couldn't lie to me. He is so cute! I'm so in love with that handsome husband of mine!

Other News

So I just realized that I never posted how Jacob did on his Spanish tests last week. We found out on Tuesday, but then my mom was here and we were busy having fun so I forgot. Jacob got a 2 on the listening portion and a 3 on the reading portion of the test which is passing and means that he will start getting and extra 300 dollars a month for passing those tests! I married such a smart boy! He hasn't really used his Spanish since his mission so it is really awesome that he was able to do so well after only a week and a half of reviewing it.

Now that he has passed those tests, he has been spending his time at work looking over Portuguese. He wants to see if he can pick that up and eventually take the Portuguese DLPT as well. He says it is quite a bit different than Spanish, but the reason he decided to look in to Portuguese next is because the military actually offers two different Portuguese DLPT tests. One for Brazilian Portuguese and another for the Portuguese they speak in Portugal. We'll see how this works out for him. My husband is just so smart and it makes me laugh how he just wants to be able to speak all of the different languages! I know that if he works at it he will be able to do it! He is smart and just has a knack for picking up languages.

So last week at my doctors appointment, I was dilated to a 1 which I was pretty excited about! I had never been dilated to a one before. This week while my mom was here we walked and walked and walked and walked. We even sang as we walked like the pioneer children! (Speaking of pioneers, we both decided that we are so very grateful we didn't have to walk across the plains pregnant like so many of those women had to!) It will be interesting to see if all of that walking we did made much of a difference. I'll find out when I go to my doctors appointment later today and he checks me again. I just wonder when our little Rachel-girl is going to make her appearance! I wish we knew! I am so excited to meet her and be her mommy! We keep hoping that she won't take too long to get here because we would really like to go home for Thanksgiving to see our family, but Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away so if we are going to be able to make it she needs to come soon! I love this little girl so much already! It will be fun to actually get to see her and hold her and take care of her! I can hardly wait!

Mom

So my mom has been here visiting for the past week and had to go home to day because she has to work tomorrow. We have had so much fun this week! We also tried almost anything we think of to get our little Rachel-girl to make an appearance so that my mom could be here to help out with the labor and delivery. Unfortunately Rachel just wasn't ready to come out and play while my mom was here. My mom and I had so much fun! We went for long walks on the beach and got completely soaked a couple of times, we went to the Old Fisherman's Wharf for some fresh fish, we played in the cold cold water of the ocean, we walked to the park and walked around a big lake and watched the duck and seagulls play in the water, we went for a long drive along the coast, we went to the produce market numerous times where it was so fun just to watch my mom because she looked like a kid in a candy store, we made lots of yummy food like guacamole and bean dip and lasagna and chicken noodle soup and sour dough bread and rolls and honey oat bread and green smoothies and pumpkin ice cream, we went out to a fun Korean restaurant to eat the spicy food to see if it would put me in labor, we sewed burp cloths and blankets and tried to bribe my little Rachel-girl to come out and play, we painted toenails and gave foot massages, we used essential oils and acupressure to try and put me into labor, we visited for hours on end and just had fun! It was sad to see her go home today and I know she was pretty sad too. Our little Rachel girl is her first grandbaby that she won't be there for during the labor and delivery. We wish that she could be here when our baby finally arrives, but it was so fun to get to spend that time together with my mom. I can't even remember the last time my mom and I got to spend so much time together just playing and having fun with each other! We had been praying that Rachel would be born while my mom was here so that she could be here to help out with everything, but I think that maybe my mom and I just needed that time for just us to strengthen our relationship with each other more. Thank you Mom for driving all that way and coming to visit me! I had so much fun and I hope you did too! I love you Mom!

Halloween Weekend

Jacob and I had such a fun weekend! We went to our ward trunk or treat to hand out candy and to see all of the kids that were in our primary class dressed up in their costumes! So we carved our pumpkin on Wednesday and we took it to the trunk or treat to help decorate our trunk and when Jacob took the top off to light the candle there was 3 inches of white fuzzy mold hanging down from the top and growing in every direction inside! Jacob wanted to light the candle anyway and just burn the mold, so he started to reach down in the pumpkin (even though I was frantically telling him not to and that it was sick) and he got sicked out when his hand touched part of the inside of the pumpkin and he found that it was squishy! I can't believe how much mold grew in our pumpkin in just three days! It really was the sickest thing in the world! Needless to say, as soon as we got home from the trunk or treat I made Jacob throw our beloved pumpkin in the garbage. It wasn't til after he had tossed it that I thought maybe I should have taken a picture. I have honestly never seen so much mold at one time in my life! It was crazy!

Also on Saturday, Jacob and I went shopping and bought a little bed for our Rachel to sleep in. I haven't been sure what to get to put her in because we weren't sure how long we were going to be in this house after she was born. I have been planning on getting a pack and play but I didn't want to buy that until after we got to Texas because we are only bringing what we can fit in our car to Texas with us and I was worried that if we bought it here, it would take up too much room in our car. When we thought we would only be here a few days or even a couple of weeks after she was born I considered making a laundry basket into a little bed for her or I even considered just using her car seat. Now that we are going to be in this house for at least a month after she is born we decided to buy a little rocker bed that we can just put by our bed for a while and it is small enough that we might even be able to bring it to Texas with us. Jacob put it together as soon as we came home and I think it is so cute! Every time I see it, it just makes me so excited for our little Rachel to come, and I just wish she was already here so I could put her in it!

Jacob and I just got released from our calling as primary teachers and yesterday was our first day not teaching. It was so fun to get to go to Sunday School and then the combined Relief Society and Priesthood meeting together! It was such a lift to be able to go and learn and feel the spirit so strongly in those meetings. We have both really missed being able to go to those classes and learning on Sundays. I'm really excited to be able to start going to those meetings again!

After church on Sunday, Jacob was so sweet and painted my toenails pink so that I could feel cute when I finally go into labor! I think I have the cutest husband in the whole world! Speaking of going into labor, I really hope Rachel is born this week! My mom is coming down tomorrow and is staying for a week so hopefully we can get things going! I have a doctors appointment this afternoon and he is going to check me to see if I am dilated or anything. I'll update later if we find out anything!