Having FUN with our new camera..And guess who my favorite model is...YUP JEMA! :) lol

The problem is as soon as I get her to smile and get the camera up and ready to snap...the smile has faded into her notorius look of worry and concern....LOL Enjoy some of the pictures I've been taking since yesterday afternoon!

Jema's First Contest!

We decided to enter Jema into the Mix 100.7 Baby Idol contest. The winner receives a $5,000 savings bond for college...And we WANT that college money soooo bad. So we shall see how our little princess does in the contest. As soon as voting is available next week we will post a link of FB and ask for votes from our FB friends and Family to support us with this! Fingers Crossed!!!! Here are a couple of our favorite pics that we will use for the contest!!!!

Jemas Birth Story - Long overdue!

Soooooo... Its Aug. 30th and we were so ready for Jema to come. We had been saying the whole pregnancy that we wanted her to come before Sept so that she would be in the same school grade as some of our other friends babies :)  By Aug 30th we were starting to come to terms with the idea that she was going to be a Sept baby! **Another HUGE reason I didn't want to have her on or right around her due date is b/c her due date was on the actual date that my little brother passed away last year 9/4...So to say the least it was not a great day in my mind...Although whenever she came was going to be great!
    So back to the story, At 10:30pm I mixed 1 tablespoon of castor oil in a cup of orange juice....I know crazy... But so many people had told me it works if your body is ready for labor - It kind of jump starts things... And your suppose to take between 2-4 tablespoons so I was very conservative in only taking 1Tbls.That was ONLY b/c of the fear of having a #2 accident during labor! **Did not happen thank goodness** So 10:30 I drink the gross mixture and by 2AM I was having contractions...who knows if it was the oil or not... I like to say our princess was just ready!
    After timing my contractions **1 contraction every 4 min** for an hour or so we decided to call my Dr. - She said I could either wait at home for them to get a little closer or go ahead and come in - We opted going in being how we lived 30 min. away from St Joseph's. After arriving at triage and getting checked out they found my blood pressure was fairly high, and I was 1.5-2 cm dil...After our AWESOME nurse pleading with my Dr to let me stay we were admitted at 10am!!!! We were so excited to know that we would soon be meeting this incredible baby we had been dreaming and praying for!!!!
    We get to our birthing room and waited for Dr. Brown to make her rounds.Ofcourse out of all 8 Dr's at my Obgyn I had never met her...probably only 1 or 2 I had never met, Turns out I LOVE HER! lol
     Ok so Dr. Brown comes in and checks me and says I am 4cm Dil and before I knew what hit me she broke my water! Carl swears she warned me that she was going to, but I have no memory of that part. So basically I dialated 2-2.5 cm in a matter of an hour or so! That should have prepared me for the next venture of D day, but it didn't!
    After she broke my water we were all nervous and scared thinking Jema was coming anytime...WRONG... we spent from around 11:30 till 4 just waiting...First I got an epidural **they had to stick me twice to get it** Then is was the pitocin that wasn't working... So when Dr. B came back around to check me it was around 4pm, she said I was still at 4 cm...NO change since that morning...so she explained that she wanted to give me more time to dialate before more meds and that she would be back in 3-4 hours to check me. About an hour later I had a horrible sensation that I had to use the restroom...since I had the epidural and my water was broken all ready, I was not aloud to leave my bed and there was NO way I could use the bed pan...I kept laughing and saying I can't do it...but the pain was horrible. My mom goes and grabs the nurse **ofcourse they had just had a shift change so it was someone brand new** And she turned out to be AWESOME!!!! She came in and said I bet your 10 cm ...we said no way Dr. B. was just here and said I was at 4cm - She continues to check me and says YEP your 10 and ready to start pushing............OK here is where I lost it and got sooooooo scared! After planning on just having Carl in the room with me I changed my mind and wouldn't let my mom or sister leave the room. I was so upset and scared of pushing something so big OUT... So they grabbed my Dr and we started to push - the first 2 pushes were basically wasted attempts b/c I was learning what they wanted me to do...by push number 3 I was a pro and we only pushed a few times to get her out **I only pushed for 32 minutes before meeting our princess** Let's just say that once I understood how to push I did it like a champ...I wanted her OUT - lol!!!!  She weighed 7.5 oz and 20in long born @ 5:52pm Aug 31
    Well the scary part came as they set my beautiful girl on my chest and we gazed into each others eyes for the first time...My nurse says that we have a gymnist on our hands, when I inquired why she said that Jemas cord was wrapped around her neck twice and that her vitals were dropping. So they had to get her out even faster resulting in a natural tear and a nice episiodomy...But hey I'm all healed up and anything was worth it to have my girl here safe and perfectly healthy!!!

Below is Jema's 1 month Pic!

   Now it's 2 months later and she goes for her 2 month checkup and vaccines tomorrow and she weighs around 12lbs.  I love being a mother more than anything else in this world..I just want to love and protect her and be her best friend!!! Thank You for caring enough to read Jema's birth story..If you haven't met her I hope you get to soon!!!!!

                                                             Jema 2 Month Pic

Nursery Part 2 !

Ok so here is the chair rail installed....almost done now, just have to paint and caulk the rail and waa laa! Thank goodness for a VERY handy big brother and Hubby!!! :)

Decorating the Nursery!!!!!

We finally decided on a "theme" for our baby girls nursery :) After lot's of shopping around and googling ideas we decided to go with a light pink and brown color scheme!
We took off work this whole week and istead of going away for a vacation we decided to have a "staycation" and work on projects around our home - Baby's nursery being at the top of the list!

I promised a few of you that I would post picstures of the preogress of the nursery - however we are far from complete - Basically we have only finished the painting and we bought the chair railing today and just got done painting that - as I'm typing this poor carl is fighting with a stud finder in the other room trying to prep the room so we can start hammering some chair rail in - and once thats complete it's time to move some furniture in the room...However Carl was so excited the other night at like 11pm that he decided he wanted to put the crib together  LOL... so you will catch a glimpse of that in some of the picstures :) I will post more pics as we near completion!!!We are enjoying all the preparation that goes into becoming new parents and CANNOT wait for her to get here...time has flown by with this pregnancy.... and even with the severe aches and pains I feel so incredibly blessed to be a mother :)

Going to the Chiropractor

I am having really bad lower  back pain with this pregnancy, and was referred to a chiropractor by my OBGYN - I have never been to one before.
So I went in for my appoinment today and just to do the consultation and WOW they were impressive!
They gave me all this information about how getting adjusted while pregnant can help the labor process become easier and quicker - Sign ME up!
So anyways I have another appointment tomorrow to go in a actually get adjusted - I am kinda nervous and don't really know what to expect. Have any of you ever been to a chiropractor?? If so what were your experiences like? The office I am going to is called Living Temple Chiropratic in Seffner Dr. Stoltz - I am super excited already seeing how they gave me a Dr note to leave work early tomorrow to make it to my appoinment...Too bad my Obgyn won't give me a Dr. Note for ANYTHING.....lame.
Hope everyone is having a great week!!!!!!

20 week belly!!!!

I finally feel like I am to the point where I can put up a picture and not get laughed at by the shape of it or the lack of roundness of it. So the trick??? Well I just stick out my stomache and taa daa it looks rounder and less pudgy!!!!
I am so excited that I have made it to the half point of this pregnancy - The first 4 months were horrible, but I finally feel a calmness when I sit down and think that I AM GOING TO BE A MOM - Ahhhhh
And if thats not a little scary it's going to be to a little ME (Girl) I think that is the scarier part... I have a BIG job ahead of me. I am so thankful for all we have been blessed with in our marriage and I am super excited to see Carl in action as a father. I know she will be Loved and Spoiled :)

Thank you guys for stopping by our blog - I appreciate any feedback on becoming a new mom that you would like to share!!!! XOXO