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!