Milaina Marie Wright ~ 2/12/2016

Our sweet baby girl has been a part of our family for two months now, so I figured it was about time I blogged about her birth before forgetting all of the details! Am I the only one who is a sucker for reading birth stories?? I don't know what it is, I just think it's crazy how every story is unique to that person and to that baby. If you're not a fan of birth stories, you can stop reading now and scroll to the end and look at the pictures. :)

With Landon, I was pretty spoiled and I was induced at 37.5 weeks. My Doctor in Kirksville found a "medical reason" to take him early (polyhydramnios aka- too much amniotic fluid). I was not so "lucky" with Milaina and the hospitals in Utah are pretty strict, so I was unable to be induced until I was 39 weeks along. I had an ultrasound at 37 weeks to check fluid levels and the size of the baby. My fluid levels were on the high side, but still within the normal range, so our "medical reason" for an induction flew out the window. When the doctor measured her, he guessed she was about 8 lbs. 7 oz., give or take 8 oz. And his words for me were, "Yeah, she's measuring about 8 lbs. 7 oz. so... good luck with that!" Haha thanks, doc... Anyway, at 38 weeks he checked me and I was dilated to a 2 and he stripped my membranes and set the induction for the following Friday. Stripping my membranes did about as much as I expected it would... NOTHING. I was MAYBE a little more uncomfortable and crampy, but that could have all been in my head, so whatever.

Fast forward to the morning of Friday, February 12th. My doctor told me to be at the hospital by 6:15 because the nurses changed shift at 7 and he wanted the night shift to get things started before they left. So my mom got to our house at about 5:30 or 5:45 to stay with Landon and we headed out. The hospital in Payson is typically only 15-20 minutes away, but that morning there was HORRIBLE fog and we couldn't really see where we were going, so we had to drive much slower. So we got there later and by the time we got all checked in and everything we got caught in the shift change... Haha it wasn't that big of a deal to me though. When they first checked me, I was dilated to a 3, but still only about 65% effaced. Since I was GBS+, they like you to have antibiotics in you for at least 4 hrs before the baby is born. I knew my labor would probably last longer than 4 hours anyway, but they didn't want to take any chances, so they started antibiotics without giving me any pit. By 8 AM, they started my antibiotics and they broke my water. Breaking my water actually didn't even start the contractions either, so I was just hanging out for the first 2 hours. Two hours after starting the antibiotics and breaking my water, at about 10:30 AM, they finally started the pitocin. I was still only dilated to a 3, but I was about 75% effaced. I didn't expect to be any more dilated than the first time they checked me, but it is still frustrating to have no progress when they check you!

Contractions started light and I was able to manage them pretty well. At noon they bumped up my pitocin and kept coming in over the course of the next couple of hours to get things moving. They knew I wanted an epidural, so around 2 when I was starting to really have to focus during the contractions, the nurse came in and said "don't you want an epidural? Why are you punishing yourself if you are planning on having an epidural??" Haha she definitely had a point, so I asked for the epidural. I swear, the time between asking for the epidural and actually getting it goes by SO SLOW!! Time had been moving fairly quickly up until then, but the half hour it took to get the epidural was crawling on by. So by 2:30, the anesthesiologist got there and got things all set for the epidural. They checked me again and I was only at a freaking 4 and so frustrated, but I was completely effaced, so they said things would move more quickly... Yeah right, like I believed them on that one! :) So placing the epidural went without incident, but I could tell right away that it was stronger on my right side than my left. Sure enough, within about 10 minutes my right side was completely dead and my left was feeling everything. So I laid on my left side and complained for the next little while because I was supposed be numb and I wasn't! Eventually, my left side became more numb, and my right side stayed completely dead. When I rolled over on my left side, my right leg even stayed behind me and I burst out laughing and asked Matt to put it on my left so I could lay on my side more comfortably. It was pretty funny.

After getting the epidural, things moved very quickly. I got the epidural at 2:30, and by 3:50 I had gone from a 4 to a 10 and was complete and ready to push! Man, if there was anything I had forgotten about labor with Landon it was how freaking exhausting pushing can be!! Seriously, a woman can tell me they were "in labor" for 48 hours or something and I think "meh", but if they tell me they had to push for more than like... an hour, I feel TERRIBLE for them. Haha I pushed Landon out in 40 minutes and Mia in 20 minutes, and both of those felt like FOREVER! Mia was posterior at first, unfortunately, but my doctor was able to get her turned around so I could push her out more easily. Pushing was exhausting and frustrating and I can't tell you how many times everyone said "oh yeah, for sure on the next push she will be out!" and she didn't come out... Haha I was getting so frustrated. But after about 20 minutes of pushing, our sweet Milaina Marie Wright came into this world. To make things a little more special, she was brought into this world by her daddy! Matthew had rotated with my OB earlier and my OB allowed him to deliver. I thought that was so fun, and I couldn't have cared less if he was by my side holding my hand, so I figured why not let him deliver? :)

The doctor held Mia and guessed she would weigh about 8 lbs. 14 oz. (I think he forgot how big we were assuming she would be... haha). Well, they nurses took her, cleaned her off, and took her measurements and she weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21.5" long! Our big, beautiful, chubby baby! I got to hold her right away, of course, and she was just like Landon... calm as soon as they put her on me! She was almost TOO calm! It was crazy. She has been like that ever since, too! She has let me have it a couple of times when she was cold or when her bath was too cold, but besides that, she is SO chill.

One funny/random story that happened. At one point, a nurse from the OR came in and Matt had recognized her and started chatting with her a little bit. Then once they were done chatting she was like "okay, so we are doing a tubal ligation today?" I was totally caught off guard and all I could say was "NO!" Haha Matt just started laughing and told her that I was just there to have a baby and we weren't done yet and to talk to us in several more years. :) Apparently she had the wrong room, but it was SO random! We had a good laugh about it though.

We are so grateful that Mia came to us so happy and healthy. They are always concerned about blood sugar levels with bigger babies, but she has had absolutely no problems since she was born! She has nursed well, her bilirubin levels and blood sugar levels were great, and she sleeps well but also is awake and alert enough when she needs to eat. The hospital stay was totally uneventful. The hardest part was being away from my little buddy Landon! The hospital actually would have allowed him to visit, but he was throwing up the 2 days I was gone! I felt SO bad that I couldn't be there to snuggle him and take care of him, but I was so grateful that he was in good hands with my mom. Matthew would go and visit and stay the nights with him, and I was so grateful for that too. Landon didn't pay Mia much attention for the first several weeks, but now he loves her and hugs her and kisses her all the time. When he wakes up and comes downstairs, if she isn't down here, he is always asking where she is. He also always makes sure to remind me when she's not in the car with us yet. ;) I can already tell he is going to be such a sweet and loving older brother (Most of the time, at least)!

In case you were wondering the story behind her name, here it is! Matthew went on his mission to Brazil. While he was there, he met an adorable little blonde girl named Milena. It was a name and a little girl who has stuck with him ever since. So, even though we spelled it differently, the pronunciation is still the same (mee-lay-nuh), and her "nickname" will still be Mia.

So... There you have it! Pretty boring and uneventful, but that is our story! Recovery was a breeze, and I actually felt better immediately after labor than I did those last couple weeks of pregnancy. And the last couple weeks of pregnancy weren't even THAT bad! :) I really did have to keep reminding myself that I had just had a baby, because I felt pretty much normal! I am so blessed. WE are so blessed. Life is beautiful! I can't wait to watch Mia learn and grow the way I have been able to watch Landon learn and grow. Motherhood is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I love my kids SO much. Matthew and I really do have a good life and we are so blessed.

Until next time.

My last bump picture at 38 weeks. Look at that belly!

Proof that she really was 9 lbs. 8 oz. :) 

Delivered by her daddy!

The 3 of us. I just wish Landon would have been able to be in this picture! 

All set to go home (on Valentines Day!)

A picture of my whole world. 

Matt's sister, Trisha, actually had a baby 5 days after Mia was born. Here is the first picture of the two of them together. Mia is HUGE! haha

Proud big brother holding his sister for the first time. :)

Quick Catch Up

I haven't posted on my blog in a very long time. I just haven't found a way to get better at it! We have been up to so much since I last posted, but at the same time, sometimes life is just a lot of the same! Since I last posted we:

- Moved to Springville, UT

- Matt started his 3rd year of medical school

- Landon has grown and grown and GROWN

- I got pregnant again! :) Baby GIRL is due February 18th

- Lived, laughed, and loved our way through life

Moving to Utah has been a change, I'm not going to lie. I actually had an easier time adjusting to moving to Kirksville than I did moving BACK to Utah, which I never thought would have been the case. After all, we were coming HOME. That aspect of it has been wonderful! I love being able to go to all of the family events, drive up to Salt Lake for Sunday dinner, etc. It will be so nice to have family close when I have this baby and when Matthew has to be away for military rotations, etc. but I miss my friends too! I wish we all could have moved to the same town for the next couple of years of medical school, but when does life ever work out like that? :) I am starting to make some new friends here though. My ward is great and so down-to-earth and I am starting to make some friends at the gym too. I was definitely spoiled in Kirksville with the way I was able to have instal-friends. We met and immediately clicked and hit the ground running. Friendships like that are... RARE. :)

So far third year of medical school has been good! It's been so nice for Matt to get into the hospital and clinic to learn instead of just in the classroom. He still has to take a test about once a month (he's tested about the specialty he rotated in that month), but it's still nothing like the first 2 years of school. So far he has rotated in Family Medicine, OB/GYN, Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology, Radiology, General Surgery, and Psychiatry. Coming into 3rd year, he knew he wanted to specialize in something that was primary care, but didn't have a direction beyond that. Well... As of right now he has basically decided he is going to specialize in OB/GYN and we are moving forward in that direction. It's kind of crazy to make the commitment to that kind of a "schedule" (can you even call it that?) for the rest of our lives, but... He's got to go with where his passion is! I think he can make a great OB, so I will support him in whatever he wants to do! I mean, I wouldn't want to deal with crazy, hormonal, pregnant women all day every day, but to each their own! :)

Landon is as cute as ever and is starting to get a little bit of attitude as well. It's definitely not the attitude that little girls can get, but there are times I see how much fury my little 19 month old has stored in that body... :) I am still enjoying being with him every day, so that is good! We have gotten into a good routine, and he is well-behaved enough that I actually enjoy getting him out of the house instead of dreading it. ;) He loves anything that has to do with cars and trucks. He loves sitting outside and watching all of the cars go by. He loves nursery at church (so does his mama!!) and luckily he loves childcare at the gym too! Those hours away from each other have definitely made our relationship much better. He loves "reading" books (aka: sitting on my lap and pointing at things saying "dat?" or pointing to things when I ask him where they are). As much as he loves books, cars, and trucks, the kid has one main passion... BALLS! haha He points to anything round that may resemble a ball and says "Bop" which, for some reason, is his version of "ball". I am really excited for Christmas with him this year. He's still a little young to really get into it, but he surprises me sometimes!

As for me, I'm just sitting over here growing another tiny human in my belly. :) First trimester was rough (for my pregnancies, which is a cake walk compared to what other women go through!) but mainly because I had NO energy and I felt like a terrible mom and housewife because I just wanted to lay down ALL THE TIME! Once I hit 2nd trimester, I am golden though! I am feeling great now. I am large and in charge, that is for sure, but I am healthy and so is our baby girl, so that is what matters. She was measuring a week ahead at my 20 wk scan, but there were no surprises there! My belly is, unfortunately, measuring significantly large again, so I assume my fluid levels are high again, but that isn't too much of a cause for concern. Just to give you an idea, last week I went in for my 29 week appointment and I was measuring 34 WEEKS! Haha so that's what I mean when I say "measuring big". I'm not kidding. :) I guess that just means we've got another chunky monkey coming, and I am completely fine with that! We go big or go home in this house. I am super excited for this little girl to join our family. I am nervous about the typical second-time mom things... Sad about needing to split my time and not being able to offer my undivided attention anymore, scared of going through the newborn stage again, worried about not knowing how to handle a GIRL!, etc.. But I know I will love her with everything I've got and eventually I won't be able to even remember life without her! She's got an amazing daddy and brother, so I think she'll be ok. :)

So there we go. There's a quick update. Maybe I'll blog about Christmas later or something and actually keep this blog up and running, but I'm sure my next post will just be a birth story or something. Haha I'm keeping my expectations real here! ;) Here are some pictures from our summer to keep this post fun.

4th of July fun

Matthew's Spudman Triathlon this summer! Forgot to update about that. He did like 3 triathlon's this summer and he is more into that then running now! Just as I was starting to like running... ;)

Fun at the zoo with cousins! Landon was awake for most of it, I promise! Haha We just wore him out!

This was taken back when we were moving in. We love the cousin time that we get!

Family picture at Cornbelly's

Love these 2 more than anything. They are my world. :)

Until next time.

Landon is ONE!!

Oh my goodness, I blinked and it happened! My baby boy turned one! I am still in denial. I swear every day that he is not old enough to be doing the things he is doing. He is growing up so fast. His developmental milestones still amaze me. It has been so much fun watching him learn and explore and just figure things out.

I am such a lucky mama. Landon is the sweetest little boy in the world. His smile shows on his entire face, and I swear his eyes have a little twinkle too. He has this belly laugh that is so contagious. He loves his dad so much! He always crawls to Matt's study room and bangs on the door, begging to be let in. Matt and I are both suckers and give in to him far more than we should. He just has this face when he wants something, I can't resist it! He is such a friendly boy who will usually smile at anyone, and he even gives "five" now!

At one year old Landon...

• Is a speedy crawler! I'm still convinced he can walk already, but he's a chicken and lowers himself down.
• Weighs 24 lbs.
• Is 31" tall
• Wears size 24 mo.
• Almost made it a full year without any trips to the doctor (besides his well child visits). Story to come later
• Waves when you say hi, bye, and goodnight. It's a super adorable hand wave and not a full arm wave anymore
• Loves clapping when he knows he does something good
• Comes to get a kiss when he sees matt and I give each other a kiss
• Eats like a crazy kid! I actually bought him his own cheeseburger the other night when we went out to eat. I couldn't believe that we are basically past the point of just sharing our food with him... Apparently he needs his own!
• Has 2 teeth completely in on bottom and the other 4 coming in on top. 3 are broken through finally. He went so long with only 2 teeth, I wondered if he even had any more!
• Loves going for walks and being outside. Whenever he is being grumpy, I just load him in his stroller and we walk and it cheers him right up! He's a great running buddy (as long as matt is pushing the stroller.) 
• Dances whenever we turn music on. He loves being in primary with mom during singing time.
• Loves "going on a lion hunt"

I'm sure there is so much more, but that's all I've got for right now! This little guy has made me such a happy mama! I love spending my days with him and can't wait to see what year 2 has in store. I just wish he would stop growing up so dang fast!

9 months old!!

My little guy is growing up so fast! He is officially 9 months old, and has been out of me longer than he was in me! So bittersweet. I figured I need to blog about Landon, since I haven't dedicated very many posts to just him. I feel like I have tried so hard to keep this as a "family blog" and not let it turn into a "baby blog" that I have swung the other direction completely and don't post nearly enough updates of our little guy. So here is all about Landon at 9 months old.

• He is the sweetest little boy you could ever meet. He is friendly and loves standing on our laps and looking over our shoulders at all of the people behind us at church.
• He doesn't crawl on his hands and knees, but he gets where he wants to go via and army crawl. It's super adorable and he's actually very speedy!

Now that he's mobile, he usually ends up in the kitchen, especially when I'm making dinner. So I grab some tupperware and he chases them all around the kitchen. It's cute. :)

• He is the best sleeper and napper. I honestly don't know how I got so lucky with this kid. He doesn't fight me to go to sleep at all and he sleeps 10-12 hours at night and takes two 2 hour naps during the day. 
• He LOVES his daddy. He has figured out where Matthew's study room is, and he always "crawls" over to the door and yells. He also gets excited when I pick him up and take him in to "visit" dad. 

• He had some pretty wicked patches of eczema on his face, but it's finally starting to clear up now. 
• He's 22 lbs. and 29" long. 
• He still has the most GORGEOUS eyelashes and his hair is getting pretty long!
• He has such an adorable smile and will usually smile for people. Sometimes he just gets "moms permission" before smiling at someone. They say hi to him and he looks at me and I tell him to say hi and he looks back at them and usually smiles.
• He loves sleeping on his belly

• He always stops whatever he is doing when he hears the Gilmore Girls theme song/credits song and "crawls" over to find the TV. Sometimes he'll even shake his head and dance to it. I am not going to tell you how many times a day he has heard that... 
• He is almost learning how to clap. He's still just slightly uncoordinated with his hands. Same with waving. He's almost there. :)
• He can actually throw a wicked fit when I take something away from him. Keep in mind, I'm not taking his own toys away from him... Usually I'm taking away a power cord or something like that.
• He loves his own reflection/seeing himself on camera. He gets so excited and it is adorable!

This is the result of a front-facing camera. Haha! Don' t mind the laundry in the background... haha such is the life!

• He loves reading scriptures at night. We lay on our bellies together and I read the Childrens Scripture books with pictures to him and he loves the pictures. He always tries to scoot closer to my iPad screen and just giggles the whole time I read. Adorable! :)
• He can't pull himself up yet, but he LOVES standing. He gets so excited when I let him stand next to the couch or in front of me. I can tell the poor kid just wishes he could walk and run around with all of the other kids here!
• He is constantly babbling now. It is so cute. This video is just one example of how he babbles. It is my favorite to wake up to his talking vs. crying.

All in all, our lives are so much better with this kid in it. He seriously makes me smile and laugh all day long. I can't even tell you how many times a day I say "Gosh, you are so cute!!".  I love being his mom. I love knowing everything about him and being responsible for taking take of him. The things that overwhelmed me before having Landon are the things that give me purpose now that we have him. I can say so many more cliche phrases like "we can't even remember or imagine life without him!" etc, etc... But just know, they are all 100% true! Happy 9 months, Landon!

This is the result of a "hair fight" between Matthew and I. Haha he makes anything look good!

Just look at that tubby belly!!

2014 in Review

Speaking of New Years Resolutions... Let's talk about this neglected blog of mine! Lately I have been thinking of how to keep up on my blog better and I realized something... I am ALWAYS trying (and failing) to play catch-up on my blog. So... Here I am making a lame bullet-point post so that I can be completely caught up and then (as a resolution) stay caught up on my blog! So here is our 2014!

January-March:

Not much happened these months! I was working, Matthew was going to school, and I was just getting fatter and fatter! :) Even though I felt awesome my whole pregnancy, I look back at pictures and laugh at how huge I was!!

Case and Point. ;)

April:

Obviously, this was the month that our little Landon came into our lives! Luckily, I have blogged about that, but it seriously was incredible! He is such a good baby and he has changed our lives forever. The rest of April was just trying to get the hang of being a mom and recovering.

May-June:

When Landon was 5 weeks old, we headed to Utah for the summer! Matthew finished up his finals (and passed! Woohoo!!) but then he had to stay in Kirksville for one week for his preceptorship and then he headed to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio for his 2-week AMP training. Meanwhile, Landon and I hung out at my parent's house and waited for daddy to join us. When Matt came to join us, we went up to Bear Lake and spent a week there with the Wright's. After we got back from Bear Lake, we got to bless Landon. We didn't bless him in Sacrament Meeting, but we just had a get-together at the church after the block with family and close friends. It worked out really well and was such a special day for our family. Matthew, of course, did a great job! It was so fun to be able to share that day with our family and close friends. We had fun visiting Utah and family for the summer and were so grateful to be able to drive back.

Bear Lake with the Wright's

July:

Back to Missouri we went! Matthew started his 2nd year of medical school and I started back at my job at Truman State University in their payroll office. We tried to adapt to our "new normal". Landon was a great baby, typically only waking up once a night (really only waking up at about 5 AM) and he made the transition and easy and a hard one. We were fortunate enough to have a great and trustworthy friend who was willing to watch Landon whenever I was at work and Matthew was at school.

August:

Sadly, our "new normal" just did not work for me or our family. My last day of work was August 8th, and from that day forward I have been able to stay at home with our little guy. Being a working mom was HARD and I was not very good at it! In the end, Matthew and I decided that we could make it work financially (living solely on his military stipend and savings), and me working was only putting unnecessary stress on our family. I am so blessed that we are in a position where I can stay at home with Landon. It has been so wonderful to be able to manage our home everyday rather than just on nights and weekends when it was the last thing I wanted to do! :)

September-October:

Nothing super big to report! Our little guy just kept growing and growing and we just kept loving on him! We had our first Halloween with him and it was freaking COLD!!! We obviously didn't go trick or treating with a 6 month old, but we did dress up and go to a couple of trunk or treats and then a party with friends. We definitely made things harder by making Landon's costume a "stroller costume", but it turned out pretty cute. We were given a surgeon costume a couple of years back before we had kids, so we dressed him in that and made the stroller his OR. It was pretty cute and he was adorable, of course. Matthew dressed up as a little kid on stilts. Yes, he is always this creative... And then I kept up with my lifelong tradition of dressing up as a soccer player for Halloween. :) I guess this time Matthew made me get a little more creative and I went as Ronaldinho. Even though it was miserable and freezing, it was still a pretty fun day! This month we also found out that we matched to complete our 3rd and 4th year clinical rotations in... Provo, UT! Yay! We are excited to get to spend a couple of years closer to family before moving away again for... 8 years... haha So next May/June we will be moving somewhere in Utah County to live for 2 years! So excited!

Landon's cute friends here in KV!

It was SO COLD, but he's still smiling!

It took some people a minute, but you have to admit... That's pretty freakin funny.

November:

The beginning of this month was just normal and waiting for the end of the month to come! We had the SAA Thanksgiving dinner at the beginning of the month, which is always a good time. Then for Thanksgiving, we went to CHICAGO!! :) One of Matt's best friends from high school is getting his MBA from the University of Chicago, so we decided to make the 6 hr. drive to see them for Thanksgiving! We left on Tuesday morning and got back on Sunday and it was so much fun! Landon was so good on the car ride and we didn't have to make any extra stops for him. It was great! We went to museums, took a boat tour, went to zoo lights, ate deep dish pizza, walked the magnificent mile, and of course cooked a killer Thanksgiving dinner! I'm not going to lie, usually I HATE big cities. I just am not a fan of them at all. New York as a dream vacation for some people?? Makes ZERO sense to me. However. I actually REALLY enjoyed Chicago! I don't know what it was about it, but I was ok with it! Haha obviously parking is the same as you would find in any other city... a joke... But once you get over that it's not too bad! I'm glad we had the chance to go stay with Lance and Di. It had been too long since we had seen them, and it was a lot of fun!

December:

December is always such a fun month! Well... I guess when you're not in school it's fun! :) Matthew had his intense finals prep at the beginning of the month, so Landon and I just kept busy! We made lots of Christmas presents and visited friends and made Christmas candy. Matthew worked his little butt off and it paid off! He did awesome and is now half-way through his second year of medical school! The day after finals, we flew out to Utah for 2 weeks for Christmas. Landon did awesome on the flights and was a happy baby, thanks goodness! We spent the first few days with Matthew's family before leaving on Christmas Eve for my family reunion in Bear Lake. We spent a few days sledding, snowmobiling, snowboarding, and hanging out around the cabin for Christmas. It was fun to get my whole family together again. The rest of the time was spent bouncing around from house to house and family to family. We always love being able to come visit!

All 13 of the grandkids in my family! How fun is this!? 4 of them were born the same year as Landon! 

2014 was such an incredible year for us! We had a lot of change in our family, but it was really good change for the most part! I'm sure I missed some highlights, but that's what happens when you are an infrequent blogger... We can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for us. We know it will bring more change, but we are ready to take life as it comes and embrace every change we encounter! Until next time.

Landon's Newborns

So the way it worked out, we had my friend here in Kirksville come take newborn pictures of Landon about 11 days after I did my maternity shoot! Pretty funny. She just came to my house and we used the natural light of our windows to take the pictures. Holy cow, she did such a good job and I am so in love with his pictures! He was such a good little boy and slept basically the whole time, even when we were dressing and undressing him the whole time. He used to HATE being naked, so some of these pictures are kind of a big deal. :) So here they are for your enjoyment!

Oh man, looking through these again kills me! My little man is growing up too fast! And his hair is gone! I forgot how much he used to have… Poor kid ripped most of it out (I assume because his head was itchy when he got cradle cap) and now he looks like an old man! Oh well… He is still the cutest stinking thing ever!