We had another great Christmas this year. It started on Sunday with presents over at Grandma and Grandpa Gailey's house. Grandma got all of the grandchildren Minky blankets; it was so cute to see all the littles with their fuzzy blankets to lay on.

Then we all went downstairs where there were lots of other gifts for everyone to open. We had a good time and are thankful for all the gift from Grandma and Grandpa!

On Monday we went to Nate's work for a Christmas breakfast. I absolutely love seeing these two cuties on Santa's lap. I was a little nervous that Landon wouldn't want to but he did great!

On Christmas Eve, we started a new tradition and took the kids on a drive to look at Christmas lights. Nate took us to Layton Park where they have the whole park decorated with lights, even a light tunnel you can drive through, it was really neat. However, Landon was more interested in the lights in the car most of the time since daddy let him sit in the front seat :)

Christmas morning we woke up when Landon did. We had the tree lit for him but I dont think he realized anything was different. Just another morning for him :) We opened stockings and presents and had a great time. Landon was still a little young to get the concept. Once he opened a gift he just wanted to play with it. He didn't understand he had others to open first.

After presents we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for brunch, then again for dinner with the extended family. We had a great time and got to talk to our family in AZ, too. We miss them so much! We were grateful that Grandma in AZ got to come visit when Cam was born, and Papa and Great Grammy are going to come visit soon.

(Great-Grandpa Ferrel & Great Grandma Shirley)

 

Grandma McGuire in AZ sent us Christmas presents, it was so nice of her. Here is Lanny opening his giant monkey!

 Merry Christmas from The Gailey's!

Today my baby big boy went to his first day of nursery at church. I was sad I wasn't there to take him but he had a great time and loved playing with the kids. I know it's cliche but seriously, how did he grow up so fast!? Part of me wants him to stay little forever, but the other part of me is loving seeing him grow and learn new things. He is such an amazing little boy and I am blessed to have him in our family!

Also, my mom has been in town and it has been so nice! She is so sweet for coming to help with the kids. It's always nice to have mom around when you are having babies :) We miss her so much in AZ and look forward to every visit she has with us. Hopefully it wont be too long before we get to see her again! Love you mommy!

Cambria's Birth Story

Monday, December 2nd

     I was getting a little nervous and paranoid that fetal movement had decreased but I kept telling myself that I was crazy. However, I couldn't get it off of my mind. The next morning when I woke up I noticed she wasn't moving like she usually did each morning. I finally mentioned it to Nate, and he recommended I call the doctor on call to see what I should do. I called and he told me I should go in to labor and delivery and have a non-stress test done. He also said I could wait for my doctors office to open and go there. Since he didn't make it sound super urgent, I held off and waited to see if I could feel baby move more. After talking to my sisters-in-law, I decided to go a couple of hours later. Of course baby girl started moving like crazy when I was in the waiting area at the hospital. I always feel dumb when I think something is medically wrong and it's all of a sudden better when I decide to go get checked out. But when it comes to my children, I'd rather be safe than sorry so I am glad I ended up going. They took me back and hooked the monitors up to my belly. The nurse ended up telling me that my baby was doing awesome so I was a happy momma. Then my nurse asked if I was feeling "those contractions?" I had no idea I was having contractions so I got pretty excited. After they were all finished they discharged me and I called Nate on my way home. I told him all was well and that I was having contractions, too! He first thought I was telling him the baby is coming haha. I told him what the nurse told me, it could be days before anything happens. So I headed home to my boy and went about my week. Literally, a week...

Monday, December 9th

     My due date arrived! My mom was in town and Landon her and I went to do a little bit of shopping, then came home to make almond roca. Making almond roca is something we have done for years and I'm excited to make it with my kiddos when they get a bit older. I was so happy making it (my first actual time) with my mom in town, learning the technique so I can keep the tradition going. Later that night, my mom was in bed and Nate was waiting for Jared to come over to play a game. As I was sitting in the living room, I felt a little bit of fluid, but nothing major. I told Nate and we both looked at each other like we didn't know what to think. Was it my water breaking? There wasn't enough for me to really think that's what it was. I wasn't getting a strong feeling that I needed to worry about it so I went to bed.

Tuesday, December 10th

     That morning I woke up (7:00am) and as I got out of bed, standing up I felt more fluid...this time there was a little more. Enough to (sorry for the imagery) run down my leg and on to the floor. I woke up Nate and told him. He told me to call the doctor on call and explain my situation. Days before, I had been researching what other symptoms come before you go into labor and nothing from that list had happened, besides this little bit of fluid. So I still wasn't convinced. Per the doctors orders, I went in again to get checked. This time I was asked to change into a gown since it was more than just monitoring the baby. It was a little awkward because I went in to the bathroom to change and when I came out there were two other couples waiting to change. I'm pretty sure somebody got flashed from my backside because I wasn't expecting anyone to be waiting. Ha! Anyways, the nurse went over several questions and then started the tests. Yes, tests, plural. Three to be exact. I never knew it would be so difficult to determine if my water had broke, so then I didn't feel so stupid that I didn't know. (8:50am) The first test was a strip that was supposed to turn a certain color, it came back undetermined. (9:05am) The second test was I guess just an exam, came back negative. At this point the nurse told me I was a 2+ and 60-70% effaced. I was also able to feel my contractions mildly now, as I watched the screen to confirm that's what I was feeling. The nurse then called my doctor (9:10am) to see if she wanted her to do the third test. She did, so it was a swab test that had to be sent down to the lab (9:45am). (10:15am) The nurse came back in and told me "the third test came back positive, you're going to have a baby today!" So I texted Nate that we were going to have a baby today. I called him to tell him what to bring to the hospital and we were rollin! 

Side note: the reason it was so hard to determine if my water actually broke was because it broke at the top. The nurse explained it like this: imagine if you took a filled water balloon and punctured it at the top. It's doesn't typically burst open like it would if it were punctured at the bottom, where gravity is trying to pull all the water downwards. Hence, the slow trickle of fluid I experienced.

     (10:50am) Nate couldn't leave the house right away because we had our shutter guy installing the last couple of shutters, of course. While Nate waited for him to finish, and got my stuff gathered and Landon taken over to his sisters house, they got me settled into a room and got my IV in. That was the worst part for me last time so I got pretty nervous when my nurse brought the stuff in. I told her how much I hate the IV and she said nurses hate doing it, too. She said she wished she didn't have to do it. But she was super sweet and spent a quite a bit of time checking for a good vein in my arm to try and avoid having to put it in my hand. She tried my arm but unfortunately she couldn't get it to go into my vein so she tried the inside of my wrist, just along the side where my thumb connects. She got it and even with two sticks, I didn't feel like this IV was as bad as last time. That was a good start.

(12:10pm) My nurse had to start me on pitocin. Since she was giving me pitocin I asked her if that meant she was inducing me, she said no it was just to make my contractions stronger and more regular. I also asked her if it was too late to eat anything. Unfortunately I hadn't eated since dinnertime the night before. She said it was too late, and for the future, ALWAYS eat something anytime before you go to the hospital. Ha, good advice :) (12:30pm) Nate then headed to the hospital. When he walked in the room my heart just melted as I noticed the 8ish gallon size bag full of my favorite ice he stopped and bought from a restaurant by our house. It's the little things, or big things I should say, that he does that make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be married to him. He is so thoughtful, generous and selfless. 

At this time I reminded Nate that I was mentally preparing myself for it to possibly be a boy, because I didn't think the ultrasound tech spent as much time in that area during my ultrasound at 20 weeks. So, next to where the nurse wrote " it's a girl" on the white board, Nate wrote "maybe." 

     (12:40pm) The nurse came in and checked me and I was at a 4, and a bit later (1:15pm) my contractions had become pretty strong. I asked for my epidural, which was the next thing after the IV I was dreading. Last time, the doctor could not get the epidural in and was literally forcing it in like you would a nail with a hammer. I was bawling. This time, everything went smoothly (1:45pm) and I didn't shed a tear, I was so grateful. 

     Things continued to progress. I was at a 5+ (2:30pm) then a 6 (3:30pm) which was when the nurse had me lay on my side with one leg resting up on a stirrup. She said this position usually speeds things up. This was also about the time I began to get pretty itchy from my epidural. I wasn't itchy last time but I did get nauseous last time. No nausea this time. The nurse checked me again (4:30pm) and I was between a 7-8. She came in again (5:15pm) and checked, I was a 10! She had me try and push one time before the doctor came in and said "I can see the baby, it's time for the doctor." I couldn't believe that happened so quickly. Last time I pushed with the nurse for at least an hour I think before the doctor ever came in.
     The doctor arrived and the pushing began. I kind of forgot how to do it so when they told me to push and started the counting, I started laughing and pushing and asking how haha. The whole experience was so different from last time. This time there was lots of laughing and joking around, I felt so comfortable like I was just hanging out with my friends. I only pushed through about 3 contractions before she was out, I was so confused. I kept asking, is that really it? She's already here?? This time I kind of decided halfway through that I wanted a mirror but things happened so fast there was no time. I'm kind of glad that was the case because I really don't like seeing that kind of stuff, I think I was just in disbelief that she was already coming out that soon. 
     Our beautiful baby girl was born at 5:39pm. They placed her on me and I was so happy. I felt so blessed to have my family of four. Mommy, daddy, brother and sister. But then more confusion set in when I saw her head of brown hair haha. I wasn't expecting brown at all. After Landon being born with a full head of blonde hair and me having blond hair I thought for sure she'd have blonde, too. She also had more olive skin rather than fair. If I hadn't pushed her out myself I would have questioned if she was actually mine. But of course she was!

     She is beautiful and I am so excited so be her mother. She is the daughter I always hoped for, the sister to my favorite baby boy Lanny. I love every 21 inches of her, from head to toe. 9 pounds and 2 ounces, which again, another surprise. I thought she would be smaller than Landon was at 8lbs 9oz, but she had to surpass apparently.
     I got to nurse her soon after she was born, and I think it went fine. After, they transferred us to the postpartum ward where we were able to have visitors. We had my mother-in-law bring Jimmy Johns because I had missed sandwiches so much during pregnancy (I read somewhere that lunchmeat can be harmful.) It was the best turkey sandwich I had ever eaten! Probably because it had been a full 24 hours since I had eaten a thing. It was so good, I had them bring another one the next day :)
     That night we decided on Cambria Jade, two names I have always loved! And she sure does get lots of compliments on it :)

  

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, December 11th

     Speaking of the next day, sometime in the afternoon we could hear some type of announcement going on on the speakers outside our room. Nate opened the door to try and make out what they were saying and this is what we heard: "Code: Active Shooter. Please stay in your rooms." The nurses at the nurse station then told Nate to close our door and stay in our room, that we are on lock down. Um...scary!? Yeah, that's exactly the situation I want when I've got my brand new baby. 
     About an hour later our nurse came in and briefed us on the situation. She told us that there was a lady on the first floor that had threatened her doctor to kill him, and herself. It turned out that she didn't even have a gun. Thank goodness. But really, there wasn't even a second that I was panicked. I felt peace, and knew we were going to be fine when we heard the announcement.
     That night we were really hoping to get discharged, since our insurance sucks so bad we didn't want to pay for another day. But, unfortunately with Cambria's weight, the pediatrician made us stay another night so they could monitor her blood sugar in case it spiked. It never did, but that wanted to make sure of it. 

Thursday, December 12th

     We got to go home! I was so excited to see my baby boy, I missed him tons! We didn't have him come to the hospital at all because he had a bit of a cold. So this was Landon's first time meeting his sister :) It was wonderful. He was so interested in her and wanted to just be by her and look at her. He has been such a great big brother, he loves his sister so much. It fills my heart!

     I am soooo grateful to have my healthy little family. We feel blessed beyond belief. I couldn't ask for anything more, I love my family with all of my heart. Cambria is such a wonderful addition to our family and she just brightens our day. Landon can't get enough of her, he is constantly going up to her and kissing her, hugging her, and bringing her things voluntarily. It's the sweetest thing ever :)
     I am also so grateful for my amazing husband, Nate. He is so good to me and knows exactly what I need during this whole process. He is the best daddy I could ask for, for my kiddos. I am so excited to see us all grow as a family!