just a start...

Its finally time I started our blog! I have been trying to find the time to start one so that we can share our daily adventures with everyone.. To start I suppose I should explain about our family. I am absolutely head over heels in love with my best friend. We are engaged to be married on May 7th, 2011. Derick and I have known eachother since 2005 and were friends until 3 years ago. Since then we dated for about 8 months then split up for about 8 months and got back together after really finding ourselves while being alone. He is so amazing to me. We both know God and keeping him in our relationship is what makes it so strong. Together we now have a daughter who is 5 weeks old today! I can not even believe it! But.. he is also so amazing with her. We are so lucky to have one another and her. I love watching him look at her, its like hes already proud of her and she cant even do anything yet except eat, sleep and poop :) Derick has really taken charge and taken care of us since the day I told him I was pregnant.
Now.. on to my pregnancy...
Derick was out of town one weekend and I had just picked up one of my best friends to go out to dinner. We wanted to get a drink with dinner, but I had been paranoid about the possibility of pregnancy so I told Sandy I had to stop and get a test just to make sure... Soo I am in D&Ws bathroom (tacky, i kno) ;) and Sandy had been staring at the test because I made her look first, so I grabbed it and looked and saw two lines. I had soo many feelings go through me at that point. I was terrified because I wasnt married but at the same time I was so excited to bring a new life into the world. Gods plan for me in life was to be a mom and wife and I know that now more than ever.
So I left the store shaking. I had to call Derick because it was the beginning of the weekend and I could not wait for him to come home. I was a nervous wreck and he just kept reassuring me that it would be okay. Since then I started researching and learning how to be the best mom.
My first trimester was a cake walk. I was terrified for the blood draw and more tired than I thought I could ever be, but other than that I didnt start the nausea or anything until later. We chose a gyno in the beginning but werent completely satisfied with her so I got a referral to Dr. Brad Irving with the Womens Health Center in downtown GR. He made my pregnancy so much more at ease. I was so happy to find someone who made me feel so comfortable... My second trimester was really hard. Thats actually when the nausea hit me. I have struggled with vertigo attacks since I was 18 and the second tri of my pregnancy brought that on everyday until I was about 30 weeks along. When the 30th week hit, I was getting very ready to meet her but it wasnt until around 34 weeks that things got really uncomfortable. This time it was a different type of uncomfortable.. I had to go to the hospital because of false labor pains.. I was terrified because I just knew she was not ready to come yet. I was told to take a week off of work and relax, I did that and she stayed put! I made it to the safe point of 37 weeks and went off of work for the rest of my pregnancy. After that it was a waiting game, a miserable waiting game. The stretching skin and round ligament pains are annoyingly painful. The worst week of my pregnancy was definitely the 41st, the last. I was just annoyed at that point and tried literally everything. The night before I went into labor my sister in law told me to try a natural oil called primrose oil and I wont ever know if thats what finally put me into labor but I was so happy I tried it. I started having strong contractions every 5 minutes on October 12th at around 3:30 in the morning. We called the doctor and went into the office that morning and he said I was 90% effaced and only 1 to 2 cm dilated. Around 11am, the contractions were about every 2 minutes and I couldnt take it anymore. We got to the hospital and they said I was still only 1 to 2 cm.. SO I did the walk of shame and had to go home. I was in so much pain at that point, I only had a short break every 2 minutes. When the doctor sent me home she told me that I would notice the difference between those contractions and the contractions that would put me in real labor, I never noticed a difference so I waited until I literally had no break in between contractions. I was screaming in pain. I got to the hospital and I refused to even fill out the paperwork again, I wanted to know if i had progressed at all. I got checked and was at 5. They said okay lets go to the delivery room and I was so happy. I ended up getting the epidural and am soo glad I did because as soon as he gave me the medicine I literally went from screaming in pain to laughing and relaxed. At this point I was only at the hospital for about 20 minutes. I went from 5 to 9 cm dilated in that short time and about a half hour of being at 9, I felt the pressure to push so I just pushed through to 10. By this time it was October 13th at around 3am. I was sleeping in between pushes because it had been 24 hours at this point and I was exhausted. The pushing time ended up being about an hour and a half and she was here.  I definitely want my next labor to go the same way. I was so blessed to have it be such a perfect delivery.
During my last push I knew it was the last. I felt her head push all the way through and the feeling when they put my daughter on my chest was indescribable. I was a crying mess :) Derick cut the cord and helped her get cleaned off.. I then started breast feeding shortly after. Its amazing that when you birth a child you forget about every pregnancy pain and every labor pain that you just went through. I was so happy.
When Charlee Rae came into the world, my love for her is astounding but it also did something to Derick and I.. We felt closer than ever almost instantly. We have this precious person that is equally ours together. She is seriously the most amazing little person in the world. She was 8 lbs 3oz and was measured at 22.5 in long... we wonder sometimes if the length was correct but she is really really long :) she lost a half pound the first night of life and has been gaining since! Breast feeding is really tasking but such a fulfilling feeling. I know she is getting every nutrient she needs right now. Today she is 5 weeks old! I will weigh and measure her before my next post!
I can not wait for my 6 week check up so that I can tone this flabby skin I have. I have lost all but 4 lbs of my baby weight so far but still have a lot of work to do. 5 weeks ago I never thought I would have been back in my size 3s but I was able to put them on two weeks ago and am greatful for breastfeeding and good genes :)
Derick and I love being parents to Charlee. Right now we can not figure out who she looks more like. She definitely has Dericks hands, feet and hair line. She has my eyes and nose but sometimes I see his eye and hair color and sometimes I see mine. I guess we will find out when she is a little older. She has already changed so much! She went from being our little squishball to a little girl already. Sometimes I think she is a little colicy but its just bad gas most of the time. Bed time is really hard, she is a screamer for at least two hours before she falls asleep. Every day is different though, She is not great at sleeping for long periods but I feel rested enough so I suppose thats all I can ask for. Right now she will do 4.5 to 5 hours then 3.5 then is up every 2 toward morning but she eats for about 10 minutes and falls right back to sleep so its not too hard. I think her growth spurt is slowing down so I think we will see a change in her habits again here in the next couple weeks.

So this is a preview of Derick, mine and Charlees life. Keep up with our posts to learn about our parenting techniques and our little life!
oh and ill add photos next time too!