1 week old.

coming soon...

more family pics...

alana met great grandma grace for the first time a few nights ago...
and our dog, bubba, that i'm sure she'll love as much as her sisters do!
and, papa and nema...
alana...here are just a few more people in your family who love you A LOT!

Alana's birth story.

September 23rd started like any other day.  Well, kind of. Very early in the morning (like 2:00 a.m.) Kaia & Leia came and got in bed with us, and I decided if I didn't want to get kicked or pushed to the edge of the bed, I should just go downstairs & sleep on the couch if I wanted to get ANY sleep (I was too tired to deal with getting them back in their beds & I knew that I needed some sleep if I was possibly going to go into labor soon).  I went downstairs & miraculously went back to sleep pretty quickly.  By the time 6:00 rolls around and I had to go pee so I got up & went to the bathroom to see that my mucus plug along with other signs that "things were starting" occurred.  I know that these things can happen and not have labor start for days but I thought I'd at least give Derek a "head's up" that something's possibly happening.

I headed back downstairs to get some cereal to get something in my belly in case labor started, still kinda thinking it wouldn't be anytime real soon.  I probably got 5 minutes into my cereal and as I was emailing a friend back and blogging, I felt what I thought was a light contraction.  At first I thought "surely this couldn't be a 'real' contraction so soon."  So I waited a few more minutes and... there's another one.

I went upstairs again and told Derek "it's starting."  His eyes went from closed to opened real quick! :)  We decided to call Papa Nema to tell them that we're going to drop the girls off.  At about 6:30am we get in the car (after a little 'wardrobe drama' from Leia)  and as we got in the car, I had a contraction and after the 5 minute ride to their house, as soon as we got there, I had another one.  We dropped the girls off and got back in the car, and during the 15 minute drive to the hospital the contractions were coming about every 7 minutes. We exited the freeway, and Derek decided that he needed some breakfast so we made a quick stop at Del Taco (only because it was very close).

We got to the hospital around 7:00am and I felt kinda like we were going to be sent home because my contractions weren't really getting much worse yet.  So, we strolled in and told them my "stats" and at first they kinda looked at me like "you're here way too early" but when I explained to them that my last labor went very fast and that I was strep B+ ad that I'd need IV antibiotics, they proceeded to hook me up to the "contraction/heartbeart monitor."

Sure enough, they were "real" contractions and I was 2-1/2 cm and 80% effaced.  They asked me to walk for an hour to to see if the contractions got any worse and consistent, and they would check me again then too.

So, we walked... and I squatted every 5-6 minutes or so, but the contractions still weren't excruciating.  After we walked from 9:15-10:15 we got back into the room and things started to intensify.  At 10:30am they checked me again and I was "a good 3cm and 100% effaced.  I was officially admitted.

The nurse started to ask me what I was going to want for pain meds and I told her I was going to try to go "med-free" and she looked at me like i was crazy and almost had attitude with me and practically told me I should get an epidural.  Trust me, this was NOT the time to disagree with me.  Brave lady... practically arguing with a lady in full on labor.

Anyways, we kinda ignored her opinion and asked her to just get the IV going since by then it was about 11am.  She got it in and I was starting to hurt quite a bit more.  I asked Derek to make a few phone calls... one of them being Kellie, my best friend in Hawaii (she just finished school for being a Doula so I wanted to give her an update.)  Between contractions I talked to her for a couple of minutes (if that), and I told her that my whole "drug-free" plan wasn't sounding so good anymore & that I'm not feeling as brave anymore.  A bad contraction came so I handed the phone to Derek and he got off the phone with her.

By now it was 11:15am and I started feeling the "butt pressure" and if you don't know what that means... it means "baby's coming now!"  Keep in mind 45minutes before that i was 3cm.

Just then the Dr. came in and i somehow got the words out "I think she's coming, I'm having a lot of pressure!"  she said "were you feeling this before?"  and I, not so camly said "NOT LIKE THIS!"

So they checked me again and said "she's 8cm."  But I knew that last 2cm's were not going to take that long.  Well, it didn't because 30 seconds later i was pushing.  Man, did I push with everything I had.  2 to 3 contractions and about 5-6minutes later, she was here.

My tiny little doll baby came out crying loud and clear.  There is NO feeling like seeing your baby who has been inside you for the last 39 weeks.  Seeing that she's healthy and that the pain is OVER!

It's crazy to think that she wasn't even due until tomorrow...I can't imagine life without her.  It's so great to have her home and seeing her with her big sisters.  We are all so in love with her & so thankful for her. Thank you Jesus.

The Last 2 Days

Alana Bella Paulo

11:27am, 09.23.09, 5lbs 12oz, 19" tall

i think...

something's starting to happen...not to be too graphic, but i just woke up & went to the bathroom & the rest of my mucus plug came out (along with a little blood...so i KNOW that's what it was).  and, now i'm starting to feel light contractions.  i think it's the "real thing", but i guess we'll see.

we (derek...if i'm in pain) will post more later.

can't sleep.

yes, it's 4:19 in the morning here & i KNOW i should be sleeping, but i CAN'T.  SO frustrating...i go all day so tired the last few days and then at night, after very few hours of sleep...i'm up.  and then to top it off, i think i'm getting a cold...my throat hurts.  which isn't fun, but it's really not gonna be fun if that's still hanging around when i go into labor.  i haven't been sick in SO long.  

anyways...i guess i'll just blab a little.

~derek's prediction is that the baby will be born tomorrow...his b-day is feb. 22nd, so he thinks it'd be  cool if the baby was born on the 22nd too.  he's usually wrong about the baby's due dates, though, so i don't think he's right.  we'll see.  i told him, "tomorrow afternoon works for me", cuz kaia has picture day tomorrow & i'd like to be the one who gets her ready for that & since leia only has pre-school twice a week (tuesday & thursday) & she looks forward to it SO much, i don't want her to have to possibly miss out on her school day.  so, we'll see if baby goes along with "our plan".  ha.

~oh, and kaia has her soccer picture saturday, so i'd like that day to be "freed up".  okay, i'm done with my requests.

~my hormones/moodiness has been at it's peak...especially last week.  poor derek, i wasn't very fun to be around, huh?  sorry babe.

~oh, i forgot to blog about the fact that derek had to take leia to urgent care last friday night.  the girls were playing and leia got on kaia's back when kaia was layng on the floor, then kaia stood up, leia slipped off her back onto her head & couldn't move her head to the left at all.  (yeah, that didn't help with my emotional-ness).  to make a long story short, they were at the hospital until midnight...she had to get a neck x-ray & (thank God), it was only a neck strain on the muscle on the left side of her neck.  poor baby still couldn't move her head very easily all weekend and it's finally kinda getting back to normal.  

okay...i'm gonna try to sleep, since i have to be up for the day in less than 2 hours now.  that's probably be a good idea.  wish me luck. :)

thanks to the team mom...

kaia had her first soccer game of the season a couple of sautrday's ago...and believe it or not, i forgot the camera. i know...that doesn't happen often. ;)
luckily the team mom is a photographer...so she e-mailed some pics she took.
btw...no baby yet. ANY day now...i feel huge & ready! if we make it to wednesday without going into labor, we'll have our 39 week appt. that day. i'll keep ya posted!

38 week update...

(please ignore my "bad hair day" hair)...thanks.
okay, so i kinda have a little adrenaline pumpin' right now...here's what happened. my 38 week pre-natal appt. was originally supposed to be tomorrow, but our hospital called this morning & said that our dr. wasn't gonna be in, so they needed to re-schedule my appt. so, they had an opening for this morning with someone else, so we went. i don't remember if i blogged about this before or not, but my usual dr. said that she doesn't "strip membranes", so i just thought that that option was "out the window"...but (sneaky me) thought i'd go ahead and ask the dr. (midwife) i saw today. so i asked her, "i know some dr.'s won't strip membranes anymore, but do you ever do that?" not only did she say "yes", but she said, "SURE, do you want me to do that?!" with the most relaxed demeanor about the whole thing. the SECOND she said that, i got a hot rush all over my body and really sweaty & i look over and derek looks a little pale. poor guy. :) so, she did it (around 11:00).
see, when i was 39 weeks pregnant with leia (and 1 cm. dialated), that dr. stripped my membranes and 12 hours later, she was born, so, anyways...this means that things might start to happen soon (or maybe not). she said that it's only gonna start labor if i was gonna start labor soon anyways (on my own).
i hope this is making sense...i'm kinda crazy right now.
well, i guess i should go pack (no, i still haven't done that yet).
here are a few other details from the day:
~i haven't gained any more weight...so, still at 22 lbs.
~1 was dialated 1 cm. today.
~i was measuring 34 cm. (still 4 cm.'s small)
~oh, and i was strep B positive (so, i things DO start happening, we need to get to the hospital in time for the i.v. antibiotics.)
okay...so, if things start happening, i'll (or derek will) try to do a quick post to let you guys know.
we'll see.....

"it's SO quiet"

you wouldn't believe how quiet our house is right now with no kids home...
i'm upstairs blogging and derek's downstairs on his computer working and you could hear a pin drop. anyways... both of the girls are officially in some sort of school. today was leia's first day & she was so cute this morning getting ready. first of all, last night, i asked her what she wants me to make her for breakfast in the morning and she told me "mickey mouse pancakes", just like kaia had on her 1st day of school. then, she went upstairs to get dressed in the outfit she picked out last night (she already...and has for months, has to pick out ALL of her own clothes), she didn't go along with what i was trying to get her to wear, she was set on this dress. so, hey...pick your battles, right? i think i'll insist on picking out what she wears for picture day, but until then, i don't really care.
then, she had to bring a backpack (since she sees kaia take a backpack to school) & last friday, her teacher told her that she can bring any toys she wants to put in her cubby...so, off she was to load up her backpack. here's what it consisted of: a plastic toy piece of pizza, a plastic waffle, 3 leggo's, a barrett, her stuffed animal dog (of course) & a sweater that i put in there in case she got cold. she was SO proud of her treasures. i told her "go show daddy what you're taking to school", 'cuz it was so cute and as she was showing him, i could see her sitting on the floor unzipping her backpack and for some reason that made me tear up. i was fine dropping her off at school, but justr watching her show derek all her treasures she SO carefully chose to put in her bag made me cry a little. oh, those ol' hormones again! ;)
so, she was SO ready to head off for school & we drop kaia off 1st & she said, "i want you guys to take ME first"...needless to say, she didn't have any "separation issues". when we got to her classroom, she immediately got to work...some little plastic people on a table caught her attention & if we hadn't gone over to her and knelt down to give her a hug & a kiss goodbye, she would have never known we left.
to say she had a great day is an understatement...she said "i love my school!" i'm kinda sad (for her) that it's only 2 days a week cuz she's not gonna be happy when we drop kaia off tomorrow & head back home instead of taking her to school. i'm sure she'll be very busy VERY soon helping me with the baby though. :)
anyways, enjoy the pics...
here's leia about to eat her pancake until she realized that her food is gonna mess up her lip gloss...what a girl!
all ready for school (and yes, it was actually kinda sweater weather this morning...thank goodness!)
in line waiting to go in to her first day of pre-school...ahhhh.

and...here she is outside her "bouncing bunnies" classroom, little miss independent!

9 hours

i know this is a little silly, but i had to blog about how long leia can hold her pee. she has a "bladder of steel", as derek calls it. today she went from like 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. without going to the bathroom. how does anyone do that, much less a little person who has a tiny bladder? and she drinks a lot during the day. does anyone else's kid do this?

my baby...i mean "big girl".

4 more days for leia...pre-school, that is. she got to meet her VERY sweet teacher, mrs. wilson today. derek and i met her last night at the parent orientation and we already love her. you should have seen leia checking out her classroom, she was like a little tazmanian devil zippin' around that room! she's gonna have a great year!
i know i got a little carried away with all the pics on here, but she's only gonna the baby (don't let her know i called her that) for a few more days/weeks.
she's so funny...she hasn't really been bringing her little dog around with her the last few months, but the last couple of days, she's been wanting to bring him places with us. well, today when we got to her school, when we got out of the car she left him there. then, on the way into the school, she saw another little girl with her little stuffed animal dog, so leia says, "hey, i wanna bring my dog like that girl has her dog"...so, daddy went back to the car and got "bubba" for her. ahhh, my baby.

oh, something else that i thought was SO cute...we've been telling her that her school's starting soon, but i guess she didn't put 2-and-2-together that she's going to kaia's old school (which she LOVED)...so, as we were walking up the ramp from the parking lot, she says (with SUCH excitement), "i didn't know i was going to this school!!!" oh, i love her.
here's leia and her teacher...
leia's 1st cubby EVER!
and, she's off!


please ignore my roots...

check out that girl:boy ratio...Lord, help us. (j/k)



i know she's gonna seem SO much older when the baby's here, please don't grow up too fast, my love.

37 week belly pic...

i decided to go "weekly" on the belly pics now since we're getting close & she could come any day now...so here's week 37! i don't think i've had any contractions...except for Braxton Hick's. but a couple times i might have felt a couple of really, really small ones... so small that i (someone who's had contractions twice in my life, still isn't sure if they're real ones). and, i think she's starting to move down more because i don't usually have to get up to pee during the night and i had to like 3 times last night (which i read is a sign that the baby's lightening/moving into the pelvis). anyways...i don't know what's going on, but it won't be long!
oh, and no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you...YES, my hair's shorter. i went in for "one last trim before the baby comes" and well, i got a little more than a trim...i need to remind myself to NEVER go to the salon for a trim with this many hormones running through my body EVER again. j/k/, it's not that bad, just shorter than i wanted...i guess that's what i get for going to a place where the haircut's cost $13, but seemed convenient at the time! ha.
anyways, we'll see if we get to take a 38 week belly pic next week or not? hmmmm.

officially a kindergarten-er!

well, we dropped kaia off at kindergarten a few hours ago & it went smoothly. i had kaia pick out her clothes last night, so we wouldn't have any "clothes drama" and then i made banana mickey mouse pancakes for breakfast and we actually got out the door at the time we were aiming for. i'm sure that won't always happen! :) oh, and i actually thought i was gonna get through the morning without tears, but then as we in front of her school driving home...they came :).
anyways...here are some pics from the morning...







i miss her already.

my computer geek...

derek, that is, somehow he realized that i'm a lot tanner now than i was at 9 weeks pregnant...so, he made me a little "before and after" photo shop file and e-mailed it to me last night as i (once again) fell asleep on the couch while watching t.v.
thanks babe. ;)

"The Shooting Stars"

okay...so, now i really feel like a schedule is starting...it's soccer time again. we're taking a break from dance class, so i asked kaia if she wanted to do soccer again and she went back & forth a little & then decided that she did. today was her first practice of the season and she loved it! now, if only the weather would cool down! anyways, her first game is next Saturday & the girls voted on their team name tonight and decided on "the shooting stars" because their shirts are yellow. very cute!

5 more days...

...until kaia starts "real school". kaia had her "back to school" night tonight, where she met her teacher & saw her classroom and all that fun stuff. and, it just hit me that it's real school tonight when they talked about being tardy. we never had to worry about "tardies" at her pre-school...we'd just stroll in there 10-15 minutes late on a regular basis. i guess we're gonna have to change our morning routine a little. anyways, like i said, we met her teacher, who seems great. kaia also saw where she's gonna sit, her little cup of pencils & crayons with her name on it, her name on the wall, the cafeteria...all that kinda stuff. it's so weird that she'll be gone like over 6 hours a day...i'm used to her little 3 hour a day pre-school, where by the time i get home and do a couple of things, it's time to go pick her up. oh, i'm sure there will be tears (mine) on the 1st day for sure! all these changes are happening all at once...
anyways, before i start to tear up here in front of my computer screen...check out some pics from tonight...
kaia at her desk/table...
little sis was there supporting her :)
they're gonna have a hard time being apart at first i'm sure :(...they really are best friends (most of the time).
here's kaia under her apple...
oh yeah...did i mention that kaia and her bff, ari, are in the same class (Lord help us)...
gool 'ol kaia and mama pic...
one more...
we had to try out the swings before we left...
kaia, we LOVE you SO much and we're so excited for this Kindergarten year for ya!

LeStats's

we went to watch our good friend, benja (who's gonna be a 1st time dad in a couple of months), play last night at LeStat's Coffee House in san diego. it was great to see him along with some other friends we haven't seen in a while.
it was a late night, but totally worth it...oh, and did we mention that the girls came with us? i know, we're crazy. good thing we don't have "school nights" until next week.