Friday, April 26, 2013

Bea Kalli Vanderwalker

It all started last week, with Ivy feeling like this: 
 She started to get a fever and some sores in her mouth. So I took her to the doctor because I wanted to get it all gone before a baby was coming on Thursday the 25th. So she was MISERABLE! She couldn't eat or sleep or brush her teeth (whoah...a good 5 foot radius was necessary to avoid her death breath). Her gums were read and sore and her tongue was worse. It wasn't hand foot and mouth disease, but it was ROUGH.
 So Saturday, this was my view from the top of my belly. I was due on Thursday, but at like 1:30 started having contractions and they were getting more painful and stronger. I called the hospital and they told me to drink lots of water and lay down. Even though I was scheduled for the 25th, Saturday was about 8 days before my actual due date. I drank and laid down and felt like they were getting stronger. So I called the hospital and they said to come in and they'd check it out. So, being that my parents were not coming until Monday night, and we have no family, it got a little tricky here. I went to the hospital (which is about 20 minutes away) by myself and got hooked up to a monitor. The contractions were more like cramping when I got there, but as I was there they started to get stronger and more frequent. The nurse called the doctor and he said to give me a shot of medicine to try to stop them. Tim is still at home waiting with the kids. We had our friends (and home teachers:) "on call" in case something happened. So with the medicine, the contractions continued so the Doctor decided to go ahead and do the c-section. By this time, the kids were in bed and so Tim called our friend over to spend the night. Poor guy, Ivy was miserable and had a potty accident while he was here. I think it was a rough night for them. We are so thankful for good friends who were willing and able to help us out. Tim got to the hospital and they did the surgery. At 9:46 Bea Kalli Vanderwalker was born. 
 She was 6lbs 14oz and had a knot in her umbilical cord. The surgery went well and I got my tubes tied so I guess Bea is the last of the Vandy's. She had lots of hair and does not look like any of the other kids when they were newborns. The c-section was actually my best yet as far as recovery goes. I am very happy with my doctor here and think he did a good job.



 Tim slept that night with us in the hospital. The next morning, he had to go let the Halls get back and get the other kids to bring them to see their new sister.


Bea is our first baby EVER that takes a pacifier and likes to be swaddled tight. It's a whole new world.



The first time the kids saw her, they were so happy (except sick Ivy). Andy held her on the couch and sang a  song to her.






Having four kids is crazy...I remember thinking that we can't all fit on the hospital bed?!?! Uh Oh...



Bea has the funniest hair, it seriously looks like she got a haircut right before she came out. Andy said her hair makes her look like a boy, so I thought we'd take care of that with the hugest bow I could find. Our kids have TINY heads (always 25th percentile or less) so it makes it look even crazier!





I went in the other day to check on her and her pacifier had fallen out, so she made a peace sign with her fingers:) She is the sweetest baby and been really good so far. 



Monday, April 15, 2013

Kaci's visit

My sister came to visit last weekend and we had a great time! I am lucky to have a husband that will let us go whenever we want and take a break from the mom life. We went to the beach on Thursday with the kids. Then Friday we went to Fort Walton to check out the Pier.



 The Pier is fun because you can walk out and see all the fishermen and see dolphins and other sea life. We saw a dolphin ride a wave! It was so cool and something I've never seen before. We also shopped for souvenirs and ate lunch on the beach. This is the view from the Pier...


 My kids love to see Cranes on the Pier. Usually people that are fishing will feel them their tiny fish and they drop down and eat it whole. We didn't see it this time but there was a tall Crane walking by us. They are cool.


 Eating lunch at the Pier...

 Ivy trying a lemon...
 Friday night we went to the Harbor and did a Dolphin Cruise. I love them but unfortunately this was the least amount of Dolphins we saw. Luckily we saw some at the Pier and the Beach so I didn't feel so bad.
 One of the things you do on the Dolphin Cruise is feed the birds popcorn. It is so fun and cool because they eat it off of your hand and they will catch it in the air if you throw it. But, then they follow the boat FOREVER and we were real nervous we would get pooped on! Luckily, we were safe!


 Kaci caught some great sunset photos on her good camera. Saturday we went to the beach all day with out the kids...it was a beautiful thing! We took a nap, ate snacks, ordered fruity drinks from the beach restaurant and then went to Baytowne Wharf for dinner. It was so nice and such a well needed break for both of us...




Kelli, you are up now:)