2 weeks old

Im about a week late posting this. Time just flies by when you are having fun .

Having 5 is tough, yet its easy. I guess I can say its easy cause the kids are on summer vacation so we dont have to even get out of our pajamas most days. we can just stick to home doing whatever. Yet its tough because Phoenix is so cranky and so needy that its hard to even sit her down. She is now to the point where she will sleep anywhere from 10 mins to an hour either in her swing or on the couch with her boppy. but when she wakes up you better run cause she is maddddddd

I have been weighing her on her "week birthdays".

Birth- 8.12

Day 1- 8.1 (my mw came to do the newborn screening)

Week 1- 9lbs even

Week 2.2- 10lbs even. I tried to weigh her right at 2 weeks but my scale was being stupid and try to say she was barely over 8lbs so I tried again the next 2 days and got consistant weights. Maybe daddy was just adding wrong since it does ounces too. I dont know.

So she is getting huge! Chunky little monkey :) She is all upper body, just like her daddy.

I see her getting little smirks on her face like she is about to start smiling. Love! Jamison's first smile was at 3 weeks so im just waiting patiently to see that gummy little grin

her sleeping at night hasnt gotten any better really.

She still falls asleep between 9-10pm and will sleep until about 2-4am. She will be pretty restless from there on out. On days that daddy is working though we get the bed to ourselves at 4am so I put her on his side of the bed and she seems to really like that. She will sleep better that way. Yet she barely likes being held by him. go figure.

We go to the doctor tomorrow for a general checkup and to see if she might have reflux. Seems to be a fine line between colic and reflux. I can see that she is spitting up to the back of her throat where she makes a bad face, sometimes it will come all the way out and it smells so bad. Just like curdled milk. blah! you can tell by her faces she makes it doesnt feel very good either.

She isnt pooping very much nor is she very gassy either so im sure her belly hurts. and the fact she likes to nurse all.the.time. I am just wondering if she is nursing to help soothe her belly or if she has reflux, helps soothe the burning sensation.

she got so mad when I put the headband on. She took her hand and grabbed at it until it came off. and the goofy face lol.

she was starting to get really mad here. slowly building herself up

Sweet little lady sleeping. such a bad quality picture but it was at night, with my cell phone. She was laying so close to me I could barely maneuver enough to get the picture. But with her little hands resting on her face <3

Birth Story

May 31st- my due date
4:30am
I was laying in bed and just not feeling right. I was getting contractions on and off. Nothing consistent like its been the last few days. I managed to fall back asleep for a very short time before the kids had to wake up at 7am so we could take Malikai to school.
8am:
When me and the kids were on our way home from dropping Malikai off, Jamison started singing "Happy Birthday". Its the first time ive ever heard her sing it and I asked her who was she singing it to. Her response was that she was singing to the baby cause the baby was coming today. Sweet girl!

early afternoon I get a phone call from my midwife saying she needed to cancel our evening appt because she was up for the last 2 nights doing births at the hospital and needed some rest. No big deal. There was no real reason she needed to be here. Everything was fine.
3:00pmish
I managed to make it through the school routine. While waiting at the kids' school I even posted on facebook that I wasn't feeling 100% so when the kids got out of school I was sticking to home the rest of the night.
There was comments about the baby was going to come that night. But yet I had been feeling really off the last few nights so I just figured same old crap again today.
Evening was a little bit of a blur. I wasn't feeling well. I was just really tired and had a stomach ache. my back hurt really bad. I was hungry but couldn't really eat. I was trying to stay hydrated but even that was difficult cause I was nauseous. I was on edge. Luckily I wasn't going to be home alone with the kids for very long.
I managed to eat a banana around 8:40. I remember that because I was texting my friend Amanda cause she kept texting to check up on me :)

approx 10pm
I started having some cramping. I would have a contraction here and there. nothing out of the ordinary, but I was feeling off. Something wasn't "right". I remember being on the phone with my brother Tory and I was pacing my kitchen to see if something would start. He had just got done asking me if there was any labor pending and what would happen if the baby wouldn't come seeing it was my due date. It was funny because about a half hour before I talked to him, my other brother Casey sent me a text asking me how the baby situation was going and I told him there was nothing to report yet.
I remember looking at the phone when I hung up from Tory and it was 10:12pm.
At 10:15 the first contraction hit. I was in the bathroom and I had just stood up and it hit me and it HURT. I knew at that time to be safe I was going to start timing them. I got back downstairs and 6 mins later another one hit. It was short, but still painful. I kept pacing the kitchen and dining room. Making trips here and there up and down the stairs cause I knew that movement would help things along too.

They were coming between 5-6 mins apart. I told myself I would wait until about 11pm to call the midwife. I wanted to make sure this was real. 11pm came and I knew this was it. I told him to call the midwife and he suggested to wait until 11:30 to make sure these were going to stay consistent. With each contraction which were now coming every 4 minutes and lasting anywhere from 45-1min in length I knew she needed to be called NOW. They were so way beyond painful. Definitely my most painful labor yet! With each contraction I kept thinking to myself that I didn't know how I was going to make it through the next one, it was horrendous. No position was helping ease the pain. I couldn't even cry, and I tried! Anything to try and distract me.
11:30pm- the midwife was called, FINALLY. She was on her way.
my contractions jumped down to 3 mins apart and the intensity went right along with it. I started shaking so I knew I was going into transition. I knew once I hit transition it wouldn't be long. I always progress quickly when I get to that point. I begged for the pool to be set up. It seemed like it took forever!

I said that the photographer needed to be called too but he wanted to wait until my midwife got here to check me before we called her since she was being paid hourly and didn't want to waste time/money. Boy should he have listened to me!
Time was a bit of a blur at this point. Judging from what I was told, it was right around 12:45am (June 1st now). I was sitting on my couch and I had a contraction and my body did a little push. I was fighting it, trying to hold it back since nobody was here yet. I said that the midwife needed to be called to see where she was at cause I feel like pushing. She just happened to be in my driveway :)
I made it through 1 more contraction and made my way to the bedroom so I could be checked. I no longer got on my bed and had another contraction so she quickly checked me and I was already 9cm!!
THANKFULLY the pool was ready enough for me to get into at this point so I quickly got in there just in time for another contraction to hit.
I had 2 contractions and my water broke. It broke hard too. I never really felt it break with my other kids so this was a new sensation. the second it broke the baby seemed to FLY down the birth canal. It was so intense and so painful that I could barely speak (I was trying to tell my midwife my water broke).
Right after that I had another contraction and my body started to push. I let into it. I pushed right along with it. In the past pushing helped the pain, I didn't feel pain when pushing. not so much this time. I felt everything!
By the 2nd push the baby was crowning. I managed to reach around to feel the head. It was the first time I had ever been able to do this too so that was exciting and it helped distract me from the pain a little bit. I remember thinking that it didn't feel like a head. It was squishy and I could feel a lot of hair.
By the end of the 2nd push the head was out. Next contraction felt like it took forever to come, when it did I had to push for the shoulders. Those were tight. At one point my midwife practically lifted me up trying to get them free. All I had to do was focus and push harder and they popped right out. I was able to grab the baby and pull up and out of the water. Another thing I always wanted to do.

June 1st at 1:06am she made her way into the world!
So labor was 2 hours 52 minutes long. It was fast and furious! before then, my next shortest labor was 4 hours 6 mins with Tiler. She was my first homebirth. My midwife made it to that birth with 45 mins to spare. With this one she managed to be here for 24 minutes I think I was told. talk about cutting it close!

At this point I still didn't know the gender. My midwife was trying to get the baby to react. The baby was just hanging out in my arms. Eyes wide open just looking around. Simply didn't want to cry. It was amazing. Finally after some more prodding the baby cried and I looked to see it was a GIRL!I was really shocked. For the most part of my pregnancy I felt it was a boy. towards the end I couldn't make up my mind. When we were having trouble with the middle name everyone joked that since we didn't have one for a girl, we were definitely going to have a girl. hehe.
We waited for the cord to stop pulsating and daddy cut the cord. I immediately got out of the pool so I could deliver the placenta. As im standing there waiting for another contraction that would bring that out, the photographer showed up. She was about 10 minutes too late :(
Baby was perfect, she was quiet but very alert. Daddy walked around with her for a bit while I got cleaned up in the bedroom. He tried to wake the kids up to come watch the baby being born but they didn't want to wake up. So about an hour after she was born he went upstairs and they all woke up to meet her. They were very excited!
Recovery has been the best so far. The post contracting was very minimal. Maybe 2 days at most and even then it was only a handful of cramping.
Nursing is going very well. She likes to eat all.the.time! if she is awake she is nursing. As of being 1 week old she was back to her birth weight. She had gotten down to 8.1 the next afternoon when my midwife came back to do the newborn screening test.
the upside to her nursing so much is I havent had to pump yet. Usually by now I am pumping at least 1 whole side. the downfall to it is I am hungry all the time. I cant get enough to eat. Luckily it hasnt caused me to gain weight, but im not losing it either. I lost 13lbs from delivery and ive held onto everything else. This is typical for me. i was hoping it would be different this time around since I started out so healthy compared to the others. Its going to be a long summer!

Having 5 has had its challenges. only because she is so needy. Just the last few days she has allowed me to put her in her swing to sleep. but the second I lay her down I need to run and get things done cause when she wakes up she is not happy. I know this will be short lived and luckily the older kids are being very patient with me.

Its a GIRL!

BABY IS HERE!

ITS A GIRL!!

Phoenix Kinsley
June 1st, 2011 at 1:06am
8lbs 12oz
20.5 inches long

pictures are a little scattered. just how they uploaded. Im going to post a birth story in a little while. Got to get on that before I forget something!

She was 5 days old here. We were getting ready to go on a field trip with Malikai

She was about 2 hours old here

She was 1 week old here. My plan is to take a new pic at each new week

another 1 week pic

40 weeks

40 weeks today. yuck yuck yuck! I have to say i am quite surprised I have made it this far. With all the aches and pains I have had this pregnancy, wow!
I have been having bouts of false labor for days now. Talk about discouraging.
Judging from my 38 week picture and my picture this week I have grown even more. yikes!
these past few days I have been sooooo hungry and nothing will curb it so that makes me wonder if the baby was having 1 last growth spurt before letting loose. Ive gained 1lb in the past week so I dont know where else all this food is going :/

I have an appt with my midwife tonight at 7:45. Kinda sucks that its so late but its better than nothing I guess.
I am having a battle within myself to try castor oil late tonight. Its always worked, yet I told myself I wanted this to start naturally. Wonder if my body knows how to jumpstart naturally since ive always done castor oil. once I get that first dose in, my body just takes over and does everything it should. It just tastes so gross. eh eh eh
We'll see.



This is the timer I got out for the kids to keep track of when the baby was due. and this is what I woke up to this morning. Yup baby, if only YOU kept track of it too then you would know that you are not on time!
the kids are all confused still even though I explain it to them daily. They thought when it hit zero the baby was coming out right then. It was cute at first but then it grew into something annoying cause they all asked a million times a day for weeks now.
Plus I put the due date on my calender on my phone and that went off today saying it was Phoenix's due date. Great reminder. Like my body isnt feeling this.

Here is the final picture taken today. 40 weeks.
im tired, my body hurts. its getting hot outside and my maternity wardrobe does not reflect the weather change. HELP ME!

39 weeks

I had an appt with my midwife on Monday, May 23rd. I was 38.6 weeks. BP was perfect, HB was 140 I believe. I was measuring smaller which meant that the baby had dropped and from where she picked up the HB he/she had dropped ALOT. I knew I was able to breath better and walking was more challenging. Now it makes me really nervous that labor will go super fast.
My next appt is in the evening of the 31st. I am hoping to go before then. By Sunday evening would be perfect as I will have to resume the school routine on Tuesday when the kids go back to school after the holiday.

Im having daily contractions. Most evenings I get to the point where I think "this is it" but after a little while everything fizzles out and I just end up going to bed and have a miserable night of trying to toss and turn.

Last night (may 26th) was my last day working. bittersweet. I like the ladies I work with yet working was becoming a huge challenge. Just being on my feet that long was torture. Im glad will have a chance for a little bit of "rest" before baby comes.

I didnt take a belly pic this week. didnt feel like it. If I am still pregnant on my due date then I will take a pic then. It will definitely be the LAST picture too! Me and this baby are going to have a long talk if he/she doesnt come by then.

38 weeks

holy crap, ive got 2 weeks left until im due. providing I make it that far. I don't think I will but we'll see. besides Malikai, who was induced at 38.2 weeks, the earliest I went was right at 39 weeks for Tiler.I have 5 more shifts to make it through at work before I am done. My 2 I had over this past weekend were very difficult. They were only 5hrs and 5.5 hours long but being on my feet for that long was causing alot of pain. So much that I had all I could do to keep my composure. I have a 7hr and 7.5 hour shifts this coming weekend. I am hoping to get those dropped down to around 4 hours a piece. I dont think I can do the full shifts and I refuse to put myself into labor cause I am working too much.

Ive been having alot of swelling still. It hits me pretty early on in the morning and sticks with me all day. My shoes are quite tight and uncomfortable. Contractions are coming and going but mostly in the evening time when I am trying to relax for the night. I end up going to bed so they will stop but then that raises another issue of my hips hurting SO BAD. I feel like a 90 year old woman trying to walk around especially during the night when I have to use the bathroom. I can barely move. Ahhh I dont miss this part of pregnancy at all! Its amazing how much you forget!

the fatigue is outrageous the last few days. Ive done the whole school routine for the last 5 days and im feeling it! By the time I come home from bringing Malikai to school (and towing the other 3 with us) I am beat. I try to take a rest on the couch but with Jamison running around I cant really fall asleep so I just feel like a zombie all day long. I should get a bit of a break for the next 5 days so I am looking forward to that. But after that Im back to full on school duty until after im due. ive got major anxiety over all of that. Just these simple tasks wear me out and cause alot of discomfort but its for my kids so mama has to suck it up


Finally got the babes diaper stash done. Its a mix of fitteds, covers and pocket diapers. Its so tiny compared to what I had for Jamison. But we will be using sposies too until I know if I really want to handle cloth full time at this point. I still use cloth with Jamison but having 2 in diapers is alot different!


then here is another belly pic.

37 week appt.

I had an appt with my midwife yesterday. Even though I love my midwife, I am looking forward to being done with my appts. Mostly because that means the baby will be here and I.AM.DONE. im SO over being pregnant now. DONE DONE DONE.
BP was 110/60 so its staying normal now
im up 2 pounds. Its water. im soooo swollen. I have no ankles and my toes look like little sausages.
I am measuring about a week ahead.
Babes heartbeat was 140 and still head down! I keep getting told that I have dropped but as far as my lungs are concerned, I have not felt that yet. I do know that the movements are getting extremely painful to the point where they bring tears to my eyes. It got bad last night. I barely could keep my composure :(
People keep saying that I will go early. My luck I will go to the very end. Its best if I do anyway seeing that there is conflicting schedules right up until the day after im due which SUCKS! Plus your mind can be an amazing thing, if you dont have the right mindset it can taper things off and i dont want that yet I cant inconvenience anything either. blah.

my next appt isnt until the 23rd. I dont mind it being further than a week out. Its not like I have intense appts and if something is going on then of course I would just call my midwife.

I have all the babys diapers done and made. I still have to wash 3 of them that I just finished last night. I will have to take a picture. Its a pretty pathetic stash compared to what Jamison had but its still enough. Plus we are going to use sposies part time.

Finished picking up the last 2 things for the birth kit last night too, so that was a huge relief! the only other thing that needs to be finished is a shirt for the baby to wear right after birth. Daddy is going to make a homebirth shirt. one in blue and one in pink. Once those are done then EVERYTHING is all set and baby is more than welcome to come any time.