She's Here!

Abbigail Keith

Saturday July 26, 2014 

8:22 AM

8 lbs.  5 oz.

20 inches

I can not believe that Abbi is already 10 days old!  Time has flown by and it has been the most amazing, tiring, and memorable days of my life!

After such a long, uncomfortable pregnancy, I was feeling rather frustrated that I was past the due date and still had no baby to hold in my arms.  We went to the doctor 2 days after her due date and he said that he could induce us either on Friday that week or Monday the next week.  He sounded like he wanted to wait til Monday but this momma was pretty determined to get her baby out before then.  Dr. Swift said we were lucky because there was an opening on Friday morning at 8 am!

We were so excited!  I couldn't sleep the night before but we woke up around 6:30, got ready and headed up to the hospital.  We got there and they told us that they left us a message saying that they couldn't have us come in because too many people had walked in already in labor.  It turns out that they had the wrong phone number for us and they said to call them back around 10.  So we begrudgingly went home and waited patiently until 10 to call. We called, they said sorry but to call back at 11.  We called, they said sorry and to call back by 1:30.  We were trying to be understanding but we just wanted our baby to be here.  We went out to lunch to kill some time and then cam home to call.  We called, they said sorry but to call back at 3pm.  ugghh... alright.  we patiently tried to watch some TV hoping that time would fly by.  Right before 3 I got a call from a nurse saying that they could start me at 4 and that we should be there early just in case because they kept having people walk in.  YAY!!  

We got ready, headed up to the hospital (again) and they got us right in.  I changed, and they checked me and then hooked me up to the Pitocin.  I will never forget the excited feeling I felt as I sat in bed feeling contractions and would look over at Justin sitting on the couch next to the bed and he was just smiling.

We really couldn't wait to hold our baby girl!

After family visiting, the doctor came in and broke my water.  Justin and I were so excited thinking that we were going to have a baby soon.  Right after the doctor left, the contractions got more and more painful.  I felt like such a wimp because I was crying and moaning.  It felt like one big contractions for an hour and a half.  I have never been in so much pain.  I felt like I was going to pas out at any moment.  I started to vomit.  Justin was so good, he stood by my side saying how good I was doing.  He felt pretty helpless seeing me in so much pain.  the nurse said she would page the anesthesiologist to get an epidural.  As I sat there and moaned thinking any minute I was going to pass out or the doctor would walk through the door. A LONG 35 minutes later the doctor came in and hooked me up.  Instantly I felt relief.  It was the juice of the gods that they were pumping inside of me!!!

It was a very long night of people checking on me every 30 minutes, and no sleep.  Finally the nurse came in and said that we could start pushing.  I pushed for an hour and she said that it was time to call in Dr. Swift.  He came in and we started pushing again.  My epidural was starting to wear off but I didn't care.  I wanted my baby girl!  

At 8:22 am on Saturday July 26th 2014 my life changed forever.  I heard the cry of a precious baby.  they had to take her away for suctioning as soon as she came out. As I laid there watching them clean her up on the warmer and seeing Justin standing next to her just smiling, I started to cry more than my baby.  I couldn't believe that she was here.  They finally brought her over to me to hold.  In that moment, I felt the love that my Heavenly Father has for his children.  I don't know how anyone that has had a child can not believe in the Lord and feel of his love.  Holding that precious baby in my arms and kissing my husband at my side, I KNEW how blessed I was.

It was really cool, but really weird to be a patient in the unit that I work.  Everyone was so incredible!  When I would send her to the nursery and Justin would go and get a drink, he said when he would walk by the nursery window everyone was passing her around and holding her.  We definitely got some special treatment while we were there.  It was awesome to have my little family were I felt like my second family was. They took the time to decorate our room and make us feel pretty darn important. To have the women that sat and coached me through my pregnancy every night I worked take care of my little girl was amazing.  

Footprint time

Abbi has been such a blessing.  Life definitely has changed dramatically for us!  Night time is still a battle.  She wants to eat every 1-2 hours.  I can't believe the amount of diapers we have gone through.  We have had to go to the pediatrician way too many times to have her poor little heels poked because of her high jaundice.  Luckily she has been gaining weight like crazy and her levels have gone down. 

Everyone has been so excited for her arrival.  Abbi will be the 4th grandchild for Justin's parents, and the 4th grandchild for my parents (their 1st granddaughter)

All 4 Keith grandkids

Abbi and Grandpa Wade

Being a mom is the most amazing experience.  I can't stop staring at her.  She is the most perfect little baby.  I love hearing her little noises that makes, I love having her look into my eyes.  She probably gets annoyed with all the kisses I give her.  she has the most kissable cheeks!  I could just sit and stare at her for hours. I love seeing how much Justin loves her.  He is always worried about her.  at times I have to tell him that everything is fine and not too worry about every little thing.  He just REALLY loves her. 

We are still adjusting to life with a precious baby but wouldn't trade it for anything.  I can't believe how much love there is in our home now. It's hard to believe that I have the two most amazing people in my life now.  Justin has been the biggest help!  I really could not do this parenting thing without him!  He rocks her to sleep when I am too tired, he has taken over all house hold duties an still goes to work to support us.  We are two very lucky girls!  And Justin and I are the luckiest parents.  So thankful for my happy little family! 

Baby Girl

It's hard to believe that just 9 months ago we were just two naive newlyweds and now we are two naive people about to become parents!  It hasn't been the easiest 9 months for either one of us, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel!  

We have always talked about wanting kids, but we decided that we wanted at least two years of it being just us.  And I am so glad that we did that.  I have learned so much about Justin in the past two years, and I've learned a lot about myself.  I learned that marriage isn't always bliss.  I have also learned that anything worthwhile is worth fighting for.  We may have rough patches, but I am so glad to say that the good times have most definitely outweighed the bad.  Who knew that going on a date with some guy over four years ago would lead me to this day.  The day were I can sit and hold my husband's hand who is about to become a father to my child. :)

When I first realized I was pregnant i just felt...weird.  I could tell something was off.  I went to the store and took 2 pregnancy tests.  Both showed those two little lines that would forever change our lives.  I wanted to make sure before I told Justin, so I hid the tests and went back to the store a few more times.  14 pregnancy tests later, 13 of them being positive, I couldn't deny the fact that I was cooking a little Keith inside of me.

  

 I may have been a little nervous, at least nervous enough to take this awkward selfie.  Not sure if I was about to cry, laugh, or faint.

I was scared to tell Justin.  I knew he would be excited, it just scary to have to tell someone that their life is about to change drastically forever.  Knowing for a few weeks without telling anyone began to make me crazy.  One day, I woke up unusually early after working a graveyard shift.  It was a Thursday.  Every Thursday Justin goes and eats breakfast with his grandpa(adorable I know!). For some reason he didn't get home until later that morning.  I was getting so frustrated.  (hormones taking their ravenous toll on me!)  He walked through the door and said that he was surprised to see me up so early.  I questioned where he had been for so long.  He said that he stopped by to talk to his sister for awhile because he thought that I would be asleep still.  I usually am able to suppress anger, but not this day.  I laid into him!  I started crying, saying things like he loves his sister more than me (once again, please remember the hormones).  He was trying so hard to understand where I was coming from.  He finally had to leave for work and he said that we could talk about things after he got home that night.  

It took me all of two seconds after he left to realize how crazy I had acted.  It was then that I decided that he needed to know that his wife was acting like a psycho for a reason. Thanksgiving was the next week, so me being the cheesy person that I am made signs to put all over the house that were reasons why I was so thankful for Justin and all that he does.  I listed all the qualities that make me grateful for him and then I handed him a box when he got home.  I told him that it was for being so rude and that the present was hopefully going to make our next Thanksgiving a better one.  Inside was a baby's camouflage jacket and a Thanksgiving onesie.  Then, a note saying that he has all the qualities that are going to make him a great dad, and of course my plethora of pregnancy tests that I had saved throughout the weeks.  One of the best moments of my life was the embrace he gave me after he said, "I'm going to be a dad?!".  We both cried and spent the rest of the night talking about the future.  It's one of those nights that will bring a smile to my face for rest of forever.

We went to the doctor a couple weeks later and he confirmed that there was most definitely a little jelly bean swimming inside of me.  We decided to tell our families on Christmas.  I mean, even if we gave them a crappy gift hopefully the good news would make up for it right? 

This is the gift we gave to my sister Jenna because she made me promise her before I was even dating anyone that she would be the first one to know when I was pregnant and she reminded me of that promise pretty much everyday since I have been married.  So this was me keeping my promise..

You know those women who tell you how beautiful is is to be pregnant?  How amazing it is to have so much energy, and are always happy, and are overjoyed by the miracle inside of them?  Yeah... I wanted to tell them that they are full of it!  I was nauseous from the very beginning.  I kept waiting for the first trimester to over with because apparently normal people start to feel better after that.  Of course that wasn't me!  I lost 25+ pounds in the first half of my pregnancy.  I threw up with every smell, every meal, every time I got into the car, I would wake up in the middle of night and run to the bathroom.  I finally strategically set up different buckets for me throughout the house for when I tossed my cookies.  Poor Justin...  He helped me out as much as he could.  He would come into the bathroom and rub my back even when I repeatedly told him to get out.  He would wash my clothes if anything got on them.  He has been such an amazing help and this pregnancy has been rough on him too.  He always feels helpless when I get sick and I know he wishes that there was something he could do to help me feel better.

I'll never forget the night that scared both of us pretty bad.  I started bleeding and didn't know what to do. I will never forget that night that we both were in our front room and he began to pray.  That is one prayer that I remember feeling like everything was going to be ok.  The Spirit helped calm me through the prayer he offered. Luckily, everything turned out to be ok over time.  

So here we are, 38 weeks into this and excited, scared, nervous.  I use to want things to slow down because I didn't feel ready. I am now to the point to where I feel like I'm constantly melting form the heat, my legs resemble an elephant's,I waddle like a penguin, my body is doing all sorts of weird things, I can never be in a comfortable position, sleeping is pretty much impossible and contractions come and go. 

 We have debated on names ever since we found out we were having a baby girl.  Of course we had a name picked out for a boy before we ever even got married.  Justin would come up with names he loved, I didn't like them as much.  I would come up with adorable names and of course, he didn't like them.  We went back and forth for months.  Finally, about a month ago, Justin was going through the list of names we had written down and said that he like the name Abbigail.  I liked it too and so we decided no more debating, Abbigail it was!

We have most everything we need for our baby girl... I think.  How is a first time mother to know everything she needs?  Justin talks to her every day.  He kisses my belly, tells me to stay out of their conversations, and even tries to dance with her as he holds my belly and sways side to side.  I think that is what I am most excited for.  To see my baby girl in her daddy's arms.  He is going to be the most amazing dad!  I can't wait for he to get here!!!