Introducing...

Janie Lynn Knuckles

arrived Monday, April 28, 2014 at 12:44 a.m.

weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches

Just like with Aiden, we narrowed our names down to two.  I like to have 2 names just in case the baby comes out and doesn't seem to match the name picked out.  For a while we thought we were set on Lexi, until I came up with Janie.  Then we struggled.  Trent was really leaning toward Janie, but because we had been kind of set on Lexi I was having a hard time officially switching over.  Probably around 35 weeks I decided to start asking Aiden if he liked Lexi or Janie and kept a tally.  Well for the first like 8 days he said Janie and then he suddenly switched to Lexi for 8 days.  Then I decided to stop asking..haha.  Although my family continued to randomly ask him and he continued to say Lexi.  I was feeling a little panicked because now I was starting to lean toward Janie too.  Anyway, when she came, she honestly looked more like a Janie to me than a Lexi, but I was so worried Aiden would come in and we'd say "Aiden, this is Janie" and that he'd respond with "No, it's Lexi" (he had told us very definitively a few times in the weeks prior "It's Lexi", nodding his head when we asked him).  Thankfully when we introduced Aiden to Janie, he had no problem with it!  He is so great!

We chose Lynn for her middle name because we like to use a family name and Tanis's middle name is Lynn :)  My mom doesn't have a middle name (well now it's her maiden name - Whitmore), so she was out of the running ;)

Now for the labor story.  This'll probably be long ;)

First off, apparently little Miss Janie was waiting for her grandparents Christensen to make it back from Utah before she made her debut.  They had been up there during the week from Wednesday to Sunday for Amy's graduation from BYU and for Jen and Jill to go through the Draper temple.  Yay to all!!  Can't believe I had to miss such big events, but I guess I had a pretty good reason for it :/  So my parents got back Sunday afternoon and I went into labor later that evening!

While my parents were gone I had made up my mind to "ignore" baby girl and just continue to live my life until her due date May 7th.  I'm sure many of you saw my Facebook statuses over the final weeks, but I was confused and getting very frustrated by the progress I seemed to be making with absolutely no contractions to show for it. At my 36 week appt. I was 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  A few days later I lost my mucus plug, or so I thought.  Over the next few weeks I learned there's A LOT of that stuff..haha.  At my 37 week appt. I was 3.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  And at my 38 week appt. I was 4 cm dilated and still 80% effaced (maybe that should've been a sign).  The problem was that I was comparing my progress to when I had Aiden, so now I know, every pregnancy it totally different!!  With Aiden I was only 3 cm dilated when I went into labor.  Although it is interesting that I had Janie at about the same point in my pregnancy that I had Aiden.  Janie was 38 weeks 5 days and Aiden was 38 weeks 6 days!  So yes, like I said, I had decided to "ignore" her because it was too frustrating to wake up every morning and think "today's the day!" and prepare myself mentally and physically and then go to bed and wake up thinking the same thing again the next morning..haha.

So anyway, Sunday evening, the 27th, we had our cute neighbors, the Moon's, over for dinner.  Trent made homemade pizzas (his specialty ;)) and we were having great conversation.  Probably around 7 though I started to have some crazy pelvic pressure, but I kind of just passed it off as gas, so I had to excuse myself a few times to let it out - you get every detail of the story..haha.  Passing the gas helped a tad, but after about half an hour I started to think maybe this is the real deal.  The Moon's headed out around 7:30 and I told Trent I was going to finish packing my bag and get Aiden's packed.  I decided to start timing with an app I downloaded because I was pretty confident now that this pressure was actually contractions.  And it turns out they were only like 2 to 3 minutes apart.  This freaked me out!  Trent called his mom (8:12 p.m.) and she hurried over (luckily they live like 5 minutes away) and I was so anxious to just GO!  I was SO worried I would miss my opportunity to get an epidural.  I am ALL for them!!  That ride to the hospital was so uncomfortable and I was officially having to stop what I was doing during contractions.  They were coming fast!!  

We got to the hospital (probably around 8:45) and a couple walked in like 2 seconds before us, so we had to wait for them to get checked in before we could, and that felt like an eternity.  Finally we get into the office to check in and the old lady's like making jokes filling in all of our information (thankfully we pre-registered b/c it would've taken longer) and in my mind I was totally freaking out, about ready to bite her head off..haha.  They got me into triage to check my progress and could tell I was in pain, so thankfully they kept things moving quickly.  I was about in tears, actually Trent just reminded me I did cry a little..haha.  Turns out I was dilated to a SIX!  I was so scared! Like I said I was so worried we'd run out of time for an epidural and then I was also worried about actually getting the epidural..haha! Thankfully, right then our labor nurse, Rachel, asked if I'd like one so they got the IV going (I was so nervous about that too) and before I knew it I was being wheeled to our delivery room and the anesthesiologist was in within a few minutes.  Everything was just happening so FAST!  I was officially panicking with every contraction and Rachel and Trent were having to help me breathe through them. I was even grabbing both of their hands..haha.  It took a few minutes for the anesthesiologist to get everything ready and I just kept telling Rachel and Trent how scared I was.  My contractions were coming like 1 to 2 minutes apart and I was so worried I wouldn't be able to stay still through them while the epidural was being placed.  But of course everything was totally fine and within a few minutes I was feeling SO much better!  Oh I am so grateful for those things!!

We finally had a chance to call my parents at 10 p.m. and let them know we were in labor and admitted with the epidural.  That was probably a little shocking for my mom..haha.  Rachel checked my cervix again and I was at a 7.  With rushing out the door, we had forgotten some things at home, including my glasses, so Trent actually headed back to grab them!  Looking back, I can't believe I let him go!  Rachel told me to just rest and call her in if I felt any kind of pressure and need to push.  A little before midnight I felt this pressure and like I could probably push 3 different times so I called her in, and sure enough, I was dilated to a 9.5!  My water still hadn't broken though so Rachel called my OB to have him head over and get things going.  I called my mom (12:04 a.m.) and she headed over as well.  My mom rushed in around 12:30 and Dr. Huish followed right behind her.  He immediately broke my water and I started pushing and Janie Lynn made her debut at 12:44 a.m.  I didn't even push for 10 minutes. I'm still shocked by how fast everything went!!

Just like Aiden, Miss Janie was pretty quiet at first, which had the nurses a little concerned, but once I got to do some skin-to-skin contact with her, she was just fine :)

I have to give a big shout-out to Dr. Huish.  I love him! Seriously, when I got to see him again when we got pregnant with Janie, it was like I was seeing an old friend!  He is almost reason enough for us to stay in AZ..haha. I would love it if he delivered all of my babies!  I give him full credit for the reason I didn't tear with either Aiden or Janie. All of my nurses seemed so surprised - I guess more women tear or need an episiotomy than I realized!

We probably headed to my postpartum room around 2 a.m., so of course we waited to have Aiden come meet Janie ;)  But I thought about him the rest of the night!  I was so anxious to see him!  We had wrapped up a gift for Aiden from "baby sister" (Spiderman action figure) and brought it with us, so when I had Trent go pick up Aiden from Tanis and Kent's, they quickly went out to get a little gift for Janie from Aiden.  He picked out a little dog that looks a little more boyish, but it was his choice ;)  I think that was really helpful for Aiden :)  He took everything so well!  I actually got video from their first meeting, so I'll post that in my next post (it'll take a while to download to YouTube).

And that's the story!  While I was writing this it stood out to me that I called my mom at 12:04 to tell her I was at a 9.5 and Miss Janie arrived at 12:44!  So crazy!!

Anyway, life is so good.  We are feeling so happy!  And I continue to tell Trent how precious I think Janie is :)  When she was discharged she was 6 pounds 10 ounces (babies always lose a little in the beginning) and we had her first appt. yesterday and she was up to 6 pounds 13.5 ounces.  By next week she should be back to her original weight.  I say this all because it's so funny for me when she pulls her knees in and I think, "Just last week this is how she looked curled up inside of me"..haha.  

Aiden is doing great.  Sometimes he seems a little sad to us because we can't give him our full attention anymore, but with each day he seems to do better.  Today we actually went out with just him, and my mom and Amber watched Janie, and I think he really liked that :)  He still hasn't wanted to try holding Janie, I think he's afraid, but he does like to check in on her throughout the day and peeks in on her in the morning while she's sleeping :)

And now for the pictures :)

Proud Daddy :)

Proud Grandma :)

Proud Mommy :)

My mom got Janie some teeny Toms - totally cracked me up when I opened them!

Aiden came to visit!!  Janie got Aiden Spiderman and he was loving it! Oh and I forgot to mention earlier that Aiden seems so huge to me now..haha.

Another proud Grandma :)

First family-of-four photo :)

Proud Grandpa :)

Oh I love newborn yawns!

Can't stop kissing those little cheeks!

More yawns :)

I actually keep forgetting about this, but Janie was born with a skin flap hanging from her left pinky finger. So she's officially had her first little "surgery."  They just snipped it right off.  It's kind of hard to notice, but you can see that bulgy skin flap just hanging there.

We got to head home Tuesday afternoon, and boy were we anxious to get out of there and be home with Aiden!!  I sat back with Janie to support her little head :)

Aiden helping Daddy "hold" Janie!  Love them!

Love this little nightgown of hers :)  Too bad the lighting's so bad.

It was so wonderful to have Trent off for the week!  I'm so grateful for paternity leave!!  I'm already feeling anxious about Monday when he heads back to work :/

Yesterday was Janie's first outing.  We went to the doctor's and then with Aiden to get a haircut.  I may just try to match Janie all the time ;)  I am having so much fun dressing her and putting accessories in her hair :)

Love to snuggle her!

Here's Aiden's labor story if anyone's interested in comparing ;)

Getting Close

I thought it would be nice to get a blog post in as my pregnancy is winding down.

How cute is he with his arms up like that?!

I got this picture of Aiden Sunday evening when I went in to check on him.  Every night when I check on him I leave thinking something like "my sweet boy" and this night I actually started to cry (just call me a hormonal pregnant lady!) and I'm teary while I write this post..haha. For the last month or so it's just really been hitting me that he won't be the only one anymore, and in some ways it makes me really sad.  Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled for the arrival of baby sister and I really can't wait to meet her.  But I'm also worried about how Aiden will feel. I don't want him to feel any less loved.  I know he will be puzzled when he walks into the hospital room and sees me holding baby sister, and it breaks my heart a little bit.  I do know, though, that the adjustment will be quick.  And I am excited for Aiden to come to the hospital and to finally be able to tell him, "THIS is baby sister!" and see him piece everything together.  Such mixed emotions!! We have really been trying to prepare him and talk about baby sister often.  And we've been trying to spend lots and lots of quality time doing everything he loves before she decides to make her arrival.  We are treasuring every moment with Aiden :)  

Enough of that, no more crying for me.  Now for the funny.  Aiden will randomly come up and just start patting my tummy and say, "Baby sister."  It's stinking cute!  But there was about a week a while back where he'd pat my boob instead..haha.  Don't feel embarrassed reading this, just laugh about it!  It was always when I was lying down, usually in the morning when he'd come wake me up, so my tummy was covered and all he could see was my top half.  When I was telling Trent I said, "Whoops, wrong bump!" :)

Anyway, it's been several weeks since I've posted about this pregnancy, in fact the last time was at 30 weeks after an ultrasound.

I got to have a final ultrasound about a week ago at 36 weeks.  Back at 30 weeks she was breech, but at this last one she was head down.  YAY!!  During the ultrasound the tech actually found that she was measuring more like 37 weeks and 3 days.  Of course no one knows the exact date of conception so the due date is just an estimate.  So it sounds like my due date is actually probably earlier than May 7th!  During the ultrasound it also looked like baby was weighing approximately 6 pounds 11 ounces!  What the heck?!  Aiden was 7 pounds 5 ounces (he was born at about 39 weeks) and we were surprised by that!  How do I have such big babies (for me at least!)?!  I guess the ultrasound always measures a bit high because they're mostly using the head as reference.  But apparently I really am "all baby" as everyone always tells me..haha.  I'm hoping she'll be about the same size as Aiden, but she may be a bit bigger!  The tech also printed off a few 3D sonograms for me, which I never got with Aiden, so that was kind of fun :)

This was also the appointment where I get to start having the dreaded pelvic exam where my OB checks my cervix.  And it actually wasn't as uncomfortable as I remember it being, thank goodness!  So last week I was 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  Leaving the appointment with all of this new information I was thinking, "Well dang, she could come any day now!"

Then Friday (the 11th) I lost my mucus plug.  With Aiden I lost my plug about a week before he was born, but I read that it could be anywhere from a few hours later to several weeks before anything happens, so I haven't been dwelling on it too much.

This last Wednesday was my 37 week appointment and I was dilated to a 3 1/2 and 80% effaced.  Pretty crazy because I was only dilated to a 3 when I went into labor with Aiden!

It's weird because I keep having these little signs that labor will be soon, but I haven't had any contractions or anything.  I am definitely ready to be done being pregnant, but I'm not necessarily anxious for her to come, if that makes sense.  I'm using all of the time I can to continue getting things done around the house, preparing for her arrival, and spending time with my boys :)  And now that it's Friday we'd almost like for her to just hold off until after Easter because we have some fun plans with Aiden for Sunday ;)  But of course, I have no say!  So when's the big day baby girl?! ;)

Just to close with a picture.  We took this Sunday before Church since we all had some navy going on :)  The camera was on a tripod and ended up a little crooked, whoops!  This was 36.5 weeks.

30 Weeks

Yesterday marked 30-weeks of pregnancy, and I got to have another ultrasound!  They were specifically looking to see if baby girl's cord is still wrapped around her neck and it is NOT!  So that's good news! Now she's breech though (bum down instead of head down)..haha. Little stinker! Luckily we have several weeks, so hopefully she'll just keep moving around and get her head positioned down by the time I go into labor.  It was so fun to see her and the tech could already tell that she has a lot of hair!!  I was so surprised by that!  I never thought they could tell!  She also seems to be weighing in at about 3 pounds 8 ounces!  I can't believe how much more informative this tech has been than the one I had with Aiden.  It seriously amazes me! And it sounds like I'll get to have another ultrasound around 36 weeks!  What the heck?!  I only had 2 with Aiden and it sounds like I'll get to have FIVE with little missie!  Not that I'm complaining!  This pregnancy has sure been different than with Aiden, in lots of ways actually!

• I've mentioned this before, but heartburn has been quite a bit worse this pregnancy, and I get crazy acid reflux :(  It'll come shooting up my throat (sorry to be graphic) and it seriously often wakes me up out of a dead sleep at night.  I finally decided to try something besides Tums (my doctor gave me a whole list of pregnancy-approved medications) and Zantac seems to help much more.

• I've also been struggling more with low blood pressure.  I guess during pregnancy your blood pressure drops anyway, but mine gets to the point where I often feel like I may pass out.  This is something I've struggled with my whole life, but particularly during this pregnancy.  It happens most often right after I've showered, but it happened the other day while I was driving, which really freaked me out.  I thought I was going to pass out behind the wheel.  I seriously was just about ready to pull over, but I was in Tanis's neighborhood so I knew I could at least make it to her house to drop off Aiden. She actually has a blood pressure cuff at home and took my BP and it was like 79/52 which is really low.  I asked about it at the doctor's yesterday and I guess mine averages like 90 for systolic (top #) and I can't remember my diastolic, so it is naturally pretty low.  Anyway, the doctor said to make sure I keep up on my fluid intake and small snacks and maybe consider an iron supplement.

I actually can't think of anything else that I haven't mentioned before, but just all-in-all this pregnancy feels quite a bit different than with Aiden.

I am getting very excited to meet our baby girl though, and a bit anxious/nervous, naturally :)

This may seem a little off topic, but it has to do with big brother ;)  I had to get this picture of Aiden sleeping the other night because it reminded me of how he'd sleep with his arms above his head when he was just a newborn :)  I must be feeling a little bit nostalgic.  I just can't believe Aiden won't be our baby anymore.  Makes me a little sad, but excited at the same time for him to have a sibling :)

Baby Girl's Sonograms :)

Here are some of the sonograms from December 11th when we found out we are having a baby GIRL!  I also put up 2 videos - they're super cute :)

Very exciting!!

Crazy how clear her hand was!

I love these videos because you can see she had the hiccups :)

In this one you can see her moving her hand/arm around in the back :)

I had another ultrasound at my last appointment (this last Wednesday, the 8th) because they wanted to get a closer look at her spine.  During my December 11th appt. the tech got the measurements and everything she wanted from the front, but then had me go "empty my bladder" (ha) in the hopes that baby girl would flip over so that she could check out her spine and count her vertebrae.  Well baby girl did not flip over, so lucky me (really!) got to have another ultrasound on Wednesday and she was in the perfect position to see her whole spine - yay!  Everything looks great!  It was a quick ultrasound and I didn't get any sonograms from it, but I was happy to see her again and confirm that she's still a girl..haha.

Also at this appointment I found out that the cord is around her neck. My doctor says this is pretty common and that there's nothing they can do about it, so it's nothing I should worry about it.  I am really hoping she unwinds herself (we have some good time left, right?!) because I would hate to have to have a C-section in the end :/  Come on baby girl!  Keep rolling around in there!

I have been absolutely terrible about documenting my pregnancy this time around, so I'm going to recap some things that have been going on.

• During the first trimester, I craved pizza like CRAZY!!  Like I could've had pizza every. single. day.  I definitely still crave it here and there, but nothing like the first trimester.  That was basically the only craving I experienced.

• I first felt baby girl moving, around 14 weeks.  It's crazy how much sooner I've been able to recognize things this time around.

• Trent felt her kick around 21 weeks.  It would've been sooner if I had been better about telling him when she was moving.

• I feel like this pregnancy has been beating me up (well just compared to with Aiden), I know it could be a lot worse.  It could be because now I have Aiden to take care of and run after and I can't be resting as much.  But this time around I have had terrible heartburn and indigestion.  Tums are my best friend, but they don't even cut it sometimes.  I have also been experiencing some bad round ligament pain in the last few weeks.  But again, I know it could all be worse.

• Baby girl is very active and can be seen moving around from the outside.  In fact, Amber saw her kick today during Church..haha.  Also, it seems any time I have to pee she starts bouncing on my bladder like a trampoline. That sure makes me hurry to the bathroom!!

This bump picture is from the Sunday following Christmas.  On Christmas day I was 21 weeks.

Aiden was totally cracking us up because he kept jumping in the picture ;)

I am currently about 23 and a half weeks :)

Bring on the Ruffles and Bows!!!

Taking a little break from posting about Maui to announce that we are having a GIRL!!!  I'm sure you could guess from the title :) Oh and you've probably seen it on Facebook..haha.  Trent was not able to make it to the ultrasound because of all of the work he missed while we were in Maui, so I was on my own.  I have suspected I was having a girl this whole pregnancy (and everyone else too it seems - my mom, Trent, and sisters), but I tried not to dwell on it in case it was a boy.  I didn't want to have to try to change my whole mindset. Needless to say, when I found out today, I was giddy with excitement!  I could not stop smiling :)  And I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing a few times (that's how excited I was..haha) while she was trying to take measurements of our sweet baby girl :) And baby girl totally got the hiccups during the ultrasound, which was SO adorable!  She is looking perfectly healthy and we are just so excited!!  I'll have to post some of the sonograms soon :)

I wanted to announce in a cute little way (especially since I was suspecting it was a girl), so we announced with silly string - I saw the idea on Pinterest :)  I covered the pink tops so that my family didn't know until they sprayed Aiden to find out.

The lighting is totally bad in these pictures - I wish I had realized that before I had Trent take them.  We are obviously still very amateur photographers ;)

Getting FaceTime all set up for the girls in Utah.

These next several pictures were all taken within about 15 seconds.

Haha, you can see how excited my mom was!  

The minute she saw the pink, she stopped spraying and ran to grab the gift she got - a package of girly onesies :)  She was so confident that it was a girl that she didn't even bother to get any boy ones. That would've been interesting if we ended up announcing it was a boy ;)

Aiden was fine until everyone started screaming - then I think he got freaked out that something was wrong :/

Poor baby :/

So sad :(

I forgot to say that I am 19 weeks today!  At the very beginning of my pregnancy I felt like I was showing so much quicker than I had with Aiden (of course it was only evident to me).  But then I felt like it slowed WAAY down.  I can finally say I am starting to show.  I hate that whole first awkward stage.  People are still shocked that I am almost halfway through my pregnancy!

Oh and I just happened to put this outfit on today (it's a new top so I was kind of excited to wear it), but it ended up being very fitting for today :)

Anyway, as I'm sure you can tell, I'm pretty dang excited to get my little girl!  It is too fun that we will have one of each now :)  I have probably told Trent like 10 times now, "I just can't believe we're having a girl!!" because I feel so accustomed to boy with Aiden that it's crazy and exciting to me that I get to prepare for a girl now!!

Now back to Maui ;)