Welcome to the world, Paige Marie!

At my 36 week check up, I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  She said I could go into labor that weekend or it could still take a few weeks.  I was so ready to have her, but wasn't sure when she would come.  I worked out all week and had a few moments when I thought maybe I was having a contraction, but wasn't sure.  Tuesday, I had a dream that I went into labor and when I woke up at 3am, I was so sad to find out it wasn't true.  I went to Nabors at 37 weeks (and two days) at 9am, and got my check up.  I begged her nurse to have her just somehow send me into labor.  However, she checked me and I was 6 cm - active labor!  She told me to go to the hospital, in which I asked if I could go home and shower and pack my bag.  She said I could get a bag but not shower, to hurry to the hospital.  I called Cody and told him to come, so he just walked out of class with about 10 minutes left, knowing that someone would take care of it.  Buddy came over to watch Harper so we could go to the hospital.  I told him I was in labor, but I guess he thought I was joking because when he got over, he asked what I needed from him.  Seriously, I'm in labor.  

I quickly showered and packed a bag.  I was headed to the gym and was smelly and looked like crap, so I did it quick!  But after about 30 minutes at home, I could finally tell that I was in labor and it started to scare me.  So we rushed to the hospital to go meet baby Paige.  When I got there and signed in, all the nurses made fun of me that I was at a 6 and on the way to the gym.  They thought I would have had her on the gym floor.  I got all checked in around 10:30am, and Dr. Nabors came and broke my water at 11am.  I got my epidural at 11:30am but it never really kicked in.  My right thigh was completely numb, but not my left leg or my belly.  They kept trying to give me more meds, but it never really worked.  They eventually started my pitocin at 1:50pm because I was only at 7 cm and not really progressing quickly.  I told them that the pitocin worked well and quickly with Harper, and that I only needed a little.  Within 15 minutes, I was having serious pain with my contractions.  They were huge and long and I was not able to breathe during them.  After about 5 minutes of being in extreme pain, Cody called for the nurse.  Sadly, the nurse call button didn't work and she didn't come for 15 minutes.  I truly was in the worst pain.  I couldn't move or breathe, I just wanted to push her out.  The nurse finally got there and when she checked, she realized that Paige was right there and coming any second.  She called Nabors, who got there in about 30 seconds, and we started pushing.  Sadly, the epidural never really kicked in and I felt every single contraction and pain.  My nurse, Leah, called it the "ring of fire" when you deliver a baby naturally.  The name definitely suits.  Thankfully, I only pushed two times and Paige was here.  They asked Cody three times if he wanted to cut the cord and me once and both of us were a little overwhelmed and didn't want to.  I was definitely exhausted and still in pain and couldn't take anyone talking to me or asking anything of me.  I can't believe how bad Paige and I's first picture together is, but that face is exactly how I felt at the time.  A little like death.  

Paige Marie Hempkins was born at 2:33pm.  She weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces.  She was 19 inches long.  Her head was 13 1/4 inches around.  She has super long fingers and feet.  She has a full head of dark brown hair that is a little fuzzy.  She has dark, dark grey/blue eyes.  Since she was born 3 weeks early, she also has a coat of down on her that was keeping her warm inside.  It is the reason she was grey/purple when she was born and a little gross.  She is absolutely perfect and absolutely beautiful.  I honestly can't believe she is so new, it feels like I've known her my whole life.  After the delivery, I did give Dr. Nabors a big thank you for getting me un-pregnant finally.  I can't believe she actually came early!  And I will say, it was worth it - she is amazing (however it won't be happening again!). 

Paige's Room

It took me until 8 1/2 months pregnant, but Paige's room is finally done.  I knew I wouldn't even start her room until we picked out her name, and that took until 8 months for us to agree on.  We literally wrote out a list of about 50 names we liked and then eliminated them one by one until we were down to our top 10.  Then we prioritized them.  Then, there were only two names in the top 5 that we both liked.  Delainey and Paige.  I was set on Delainey at first because it was a little different, which is what I was going for.  However, my sisters said they didn't like it and would call her by a nickname.  Since I am a victim of having a nickname since birth, I just didn't want my kids to get stuck with a nickname that they didn't like.  So sadly, Delainey was a no go and Paige was the winner.  Once we settled on Paige, we picked colors and I got started on her room.  We tried to incorporate a few things that same from Harper's nursery.  She got an open frame with her name painted on her wall.  She is using Harper's mobile for her crib.  And she got a scripture just for her made on wood planks.  All things that Harper had too.  I made her crib skirt and recovered her glider chair.  We found the rug at Ikea less than a week before she was born.  We had an old gold mirror of Nana's that we painted and I recovered my old memo board again that used to hold Harper's bows.  I got an idea of pinterest for the wooden embroidery hoops with fabric in them, which was a simple and cheap way to add art to the wall.  And my favorite, her confetti curtains.  I love them and they actually turned out pretty good compared to the pinterest edition.  It's a much simpler room this time.  She will only stay in it for about a year until she and Harper start sharing a room.  Plus, I was 8 1/2 months pregnant, and even this little amount of crafting was a bit hard to do.  But we love the end result and think it fits Paige perfectly!

January Updates

January has been basically uneventful.  I am 8 months pregnant and kinda starting to lag behind in all things.  Harper has been great, we still go to the gym and all of our activities so she gets out of the house most days.  And when she doesn't, she just plays in her playroom for hours, dressing up and playing make believe.  She can spend an hour sitting at the table playing with the last spaghetti noodle and making up stories about it.  It's pretty funny to sit and watch.  

The threes are quite possibly going to kill us.  I finally broke down the other day and just bawled my eyes out (yes, I know I'm pregnant and that had quite a bit to do with it).  Cody was in class so I called my sister and said "I just can't handle her right now and a new baby."  She laughed and we talked about Grayson when he went through it and some things to try.  So we made a new reward chart and put obeying, listening, and talking nice on there.  We also made punishments a little more severe because they didn't seem to be working lately.  She did pretty good for the last few weeks that we have been working on them.  She usually only gets a sticker for obeying or listening every other day or so.  But there has been progress.  We are struggling with saying no and throwing fits every time we ask her to get dressed, change out of dress up clothes, take a bath, take a nap, stop playing to eat, etc.  So like, all day.  But, baby steps.  

We finally got her glasses in and she looks SO CUTE!  I wasn't sure what I would think or what she would think, but it's so good!  She didn't want to wear them the first few days, but has been totally fine ever since.  And I honestly can't get enough of her, she is just so precious in them.  Now, her face looks naked without them.  And all of our family and friends have been wonderful, telling her how beautiful she is and how much they like her glasses.  She kept asking for dark blue, and we told her that if she wanted to change the frames next time to dark blue she could.  Then, she got her new boots in from Christmas and they have the same light blue color in them so she loves them now.  She wore them for the whole month of January and when we went back to the doctor, he said her eyes were not better and that the glasses weren't doing their job.  So we will have to have eye surgery sometime this year, which is a total bummer.

No words here except that she got herself dressed.  

Harper has been into hoarding lately.  She fills something up with a ton of toys and carts it around the house.  A wagon, a basket, a blanket all folded together.  It's a little insane and takes forever to clean up afterwards.  But her imagination is crazy and you can't say no because she has a very specific and clear need to cart all this stuff around (or so she says).  

We have all been good lately.  Cody had a cold, then I got it.  Harper has been well this winter which has been nice.  She loves making sure her "fusor" (diffusor) is on at night and we love that the oils seem to be helping keep up relatively well.  I am pretty proud that I'm still going to the gym everyday because I definitely am getting huge.  Harper and Cody play everyday together.  Magna Tiles, tag, chase, etc.  They absolutely are the best pair and seriously make me so happy to watch.  Dixie and Maggie have survived the winter and are getting somewhat better about not barking all the time.  Dixie is a crazy dog though.  She can't catch food that you throw to her.  She likes to sit on her dog house and the bench.  She chews on old bones.  She chases all animals, big or small.  And she attacks Maggie everytime we get home.  

The Perot Museum

We wanted to have a fun family day before Paige came and celebrate Harper's last bit as an only child.  We decided to visit the Perot Museum on the last Saturday of January, even though we had a few weeks till Paige was supposed to arrive.  We got there when it opened and did the children's floor first.  She was shy at first and wouldn't really play around.  They had a camping area, a grocery store area, a water table, an arts and crafts area, and a jungle gym.  She kinda walked around slowly and just observed all the other kids playing.  There were a ton of kids there (they were having multiple birthday parties - yikes) and it was a bit overwhelming.  Cody might have actually hated that part, he doesn't really like other people's kids, especially when they are undisciplined and unwatched.  But Harper had fun.  She didn't want to leave the grocery store but Cody finally got her to go see the rest of the museum.  We went up the 4 story, all glass escalator that you can see from the highway and Harper thought it was awesome.  Then we visited the top floor which was all about dinosaurs and fossils.  She didn't really understand but liked looking at all the animals.  It was lunchtime after that so we headed to Klyde Warren Park to eat at the food trucks and play on the playground.  Harper had a blast rolling down this astroturf hill and running back up.  It got cold and misty after awhile, so we headed back to the museum.  We saw the last two floors about the galaxy and motion and those weren't as interesting for Harper.  They did have computers and Harper kept wanting to play on them, but all they did was show a video of someone lecturing about that particular level.  They were boring and she kept asking how she was supposed to play.  She did have fun though and she didn't want to leave.  We promised her one last ride up the escalator and then we headed out.  It was fun to just do something different and enjoy Harper one last time before our life changes big time.  

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Harper takes dance class with Lucy Piazza and plays with her some days at the gym.  Kari and I have gotten to be great friends because we seem to have hours to talk while our kids play and tons in common.  Our girls also get along well so it has been a nice match.  Lucy turned three and had a gymnastics birthday party.  Harper loved running around the gym and playing on all the equipment.  She has asked numerous times when she gets to go back.  I think next year, we will have to sign her up for gymnastics instead.  She also loved the long trampoline.  She would jump all the way down it and then play on the equipment along the way back.  She never really went to the end of the line either.  She would cluster in the middle and then slowly make her way to the front as other kids weren't looking.  She probably jumped three times more than any of the other kids.  After the kids played for awhile, they had snacks and cake.  Lucy picked a Sheriff Callie theme and Harper loved it.  We had a great time and can't believe Lucy is finally three!