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Pictures of Amara from my phone

Here are some pictures I've taken the last couple weeks, with my phone, of Amara:

Tutu Cute!

She loves her gym Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa DeHart got her for Christmas.

Wide-eyed baby.

Daddy and Amara watching TV.

Grabbing her souska (Russian for pacifier).

It's A Wonderful Life!

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Birth Story

It's been 2 months today since our daughter was born and time had just flown by! I finally found a moment to post her birth story:

Amara Zion Hayes was born Wednesday September 23, 2009 via Cesarean Section. She weighed 7lbs 9-3/4 oz and was 18" long.

David and I spent the night before making sure that her nursery was completely ready for her. We went to bed around 10:00, but because of our excitement didn't fall asleep for another hour or so. I again needed to refrain from any eating or drinking for at least eight hours.

It was to be a balmy 90 degree day, but we were up well before that. Our alarm went off at 4:30 and we got up to pack the car and get ready. Since I wasn't going to have to go through normal physical labor I decided to this would be opportunity to put makeup on and do my hair because I wouldn't really have to worry about it getting messed up. :)

We stopped to pick Amy up first and she had already been up for hours. It really felt more like we were going to catch an early flight at the airport rather than prepare for a baby arriving. We arrived at Kaiser Sunnyside around 6:00am and checked ourselves in.

We went to wait in a labor room and they got me all set up with an IV again. They were expecting me to be wheeled into the O.R. around 8:00am.

They got David prepped in scrubs. He was just dying to walk around to see if anyone would confuse him for a doctor. (After the baby was born he wasn't allowed to wear them anymore for that very reason!)

Amy was working feverishly to finish the blanket for her before she was born (the one she had been wok ring on since January... :P). My parents arrived a little while later. They had originally planned to go to California for a business/vacation, but Mom cancelled going to be here. Pop needed to go ahead, but he didn't need to be at the airport until noon so we thought he would have a chance to see her before he had to go.

My memory is a little blurry now, but eventually Doug, Lisa and possibly a few others showed up. I remember it being crowded...I just don't remember all who was there beforehand. :/

As I mentioned they thought I was going to be going in around 8:00, but there was an emergency C-Section so I got pushed back. Then my doctor was sent to to the ER (not sure if it was related to emergency C-Section) and I got pushed back again. This continued on all morning. My dad had to leave and when my mom got back from dropping him off I was still waiting...then around 12:30 or so my doctor came in and told me she had several C-Sections still waiting for her, but a new doctor would be coming on shift at 1:00 and he could get me in at 1:30. Thank Goodness! (In all honesty I really didn't like the original doctor when I had done my meet and greet with her a few days beforehand, so I was happy to switch her for someone else). I got to meet the anesthesiologist, nurses and new doctor and I was really comfortable with all of them.

You may not be able to tell from theses pictures, but as the time drew nearer I began getting more nervous. This was becoming real...I'm going into surgery! (GULP!) I asked for a group prayer before being taken away, but my nerves just got worse as I began to walk down the hall. Reality was just hitting me. When I went through the doors of the OR (the one room we did not get to tour beforehand) I almost lost it. They took David to a separate room while I had to get numbed up. The nurses took me to the surgery room and it was the scariest thing I ever had to face. It was stark white with sharp silver instruments along the wall. There was a loud beeping noise and a bustle of 6 or 7 staff people ready to go. My heart was racing and I was seriously considering running out. (But really where would I go?) They got me on a bed and I remember telling them I didn't like the beeping noise, but they said it was to just monitor my heart rate. I was having a hard time keeping my nerves down, but the nurses were great. While I got my anesthetic they held my hands and told me to keep looking at them. (Unbeknownst to me David was able to see me from the room he was in and he said I looked really scared). The anesthetic was painful, but the pain didn't last long. They laid me down and I began to feel very drowsy (I had been up since 4:30 after all). They drought David in and set up the curtain so we wouldn't be able to see the operation. I kept wanting to fall asleep but David kept talking to me telling me to wake up. They said I might feel tugging or pulling or sensation of being "unzipped," but I really don't remember feeling a thing. Then at 2:00 on the dot the doctor proclaimed, "Here she comes!" and we could hear the wail of a little baby. She was here - Amara Zion Hayes was finally here.

Up to this point I had wondered how connected I would feel to her. I had a wonderful pregnancy, and I knew I loved her, but I wasn't sure if I was going to have the instant bond with her. I was wrong. The moment I saw her I knew she was mine. She was perfect. :) They got her cleaned up and weighed and let me hold her for a little bit while I was being stitched back together.

After they were done with that they took me into a recovery room where she was given first bath.

We were there for about two hours while we were being monitored. Then they took me back to the labor room because the postpartum rooms were all taken at the moment (we got moved later that day). Their we introduced our families to our daughter. I don't have a picture of everyone that was there or came and went, but we were truly blessed by everyone's presence.

Here I am recovering. I was so hot that they gave me a cold pack for my head. I probably went through three of those. :) I hardly remember this time at all. In fact I don't even remember telling people her name.

One of the nurses showed David how to change a diaper.

A little while later they asked me if I was hungry yet- YES! I was only allowed a little something so I got apple juice and graham crackers. I tell you it was heaven! The best thing I had tasted in a long time. For the rest of my stay I kept requesting more that they eventually just brought over a big pile of grahams and a couple bottles of juice. :) In fact it became a sort of comfort food for me during my six week recovery. (Okay I'm still eating them) My mom brought in a strawberry flavored yogurt spread to put on them and it just topped the flavor for me.

The first night we didn't get any sleep since Amara kept waking up every hour and a half. Then the nurse at 6:00 am wanted me to try to get out of bed an walk to the bathroom which was all of 5 steps away. Wow that was incredibly hard! I could barley move myself but I somehow got myself out (with the nurse's help) and walked to the bathroom. Then I started feeling really dizzy and felt like I was going to black out. I told this to the nurse and she got me onto a stool and scooted me back to bed. Ahhh much better! She checked my blood level and apparently I had lost 10 points of blood during the surgery, so that's why I was still weak.

The next three days were great. I got waited on hand and foot. People came in and out to visit and the three of us got some great family time too. I started to feel better each day, but still not in any condition to walk around. I did try to get up and walk with a walker or wheel Amara in her bassinet on the recovery floor a couple times.

Then Saturday morning they told us that I could now be discharged. We got our stuff all packed up and the discharge nurse gave me some final instructions.

I changed Amara into her coming home dress which was an experience she did not care for.

Until I wrapped her in a cozy blanket.

We were ready to go!

We had to figure out how to get her in her car seat.

All set.

We got home and were welcomed with a surprise waiting for us.

A gift box from Classic Pianos. (This is actually a picture of the many gifts received while at the hospital as well as the gift box).

Welcome home Amara, you've been worth waiting for!

Nursey Decor Finished!

Yay, with only 4 days to spare we finished decorating the nursery! When I first found out I was pregnant this was one of the first things I started trying to think about, but I got so stuck. When I thought it was a boy we were going to go "neutral" with monkeys but when it turned out to be a girl I really had no idea what to do. I thought I still wanted to go neutral, but it so much fun to look at girl stuff. :) I knew I still wanted to do green and brown, but aside from that I had no idea. After we got the crib bedding things slowly started to come into place. I didn't really want a theme, but we kind of stumbled upon a nature theme drawing inspiration from the crib set. Anyway, here are the results. Not too shabby considering we really had no budget. :) Many thanks again to all who helped bring this room together.

View from the door.

We already had this rocking chair. David refinished it to match the crib.

Changing station. Masha created the picture for us, isn't it cute?

David also made a little foot rest to match the rocking chair.

We have pink letters that spell her name that goes over the crib. They are set up and ready to go. We just took them down so people wouldn't see her name. We left the first letter up though. :)

Closer view of the collage.

Closet.

Her closet is all set up! :)