A Brief Intermission

I really have good intensions of finishing Avery's birth story ... but 3 kids ... they take up ALL my time.

In a good way, of course.

I love having this sweet girl in our house.  She is an angel and I love her.

I tried to take some pictures of her the other day.  Got my backdrop all ready and I was going to finally take some pictures ... but she was pretty mad and didn't want to have anything to do with pictures. 

She just wanted food and a nap instead.

I was going to take cute sleeping pictures of her, but I needed to cook dinner instead.

Oh well.

I'll try again tomorrow.

I took this picture of her this morning, asleep in my bed.  She is so sweet.

And this?  This is just Zach .. with his underwear on his head.

No biggie.

Just my life in a nutshell.

Part 3: "Boring Pregnancies"

During Zachary's pregnancy, I was labeled as having "boring pregnancies".  I was told that I could go and see a midwife through my pregnancy .. so I did.  I had great experiences with the midwives at Kaiser in Fremont, so when Wesley's company switched to Kaiser in January of this year, I knew I would see a midwife here at the Roseville Clinic.

I  met my midwife at my 8 week appointment.  Her name was Judith Nichols and she was touchy/feely, and a total "tree hugger".  I loved her right away. 

I held my breath through the first ultrasound.  I was still worried that something was going to be wrong .. no baby .. no heartbeat .. all kinds of things were running through my head.  I held Wesley's hand as we starred at the screen together.  And then, there it was.  There she was.  My baby.  A little peanut of a baby, but a baby, with a strong heartbeat and everything looked great.  I was measuring 8 weeks and my due date looked to be October 29th.  My Mom's Birthday!  I couldn't stop smiling.

3 weeks later, I was scheduled for a regular OB/GYN appointment/check up.  I was 11 weeks along and feeling great.  After the 8 week mark, I felt like a new person - no nauseousness, more energy, no complaints.  My midwife got out that little heartbeat monitor and she moved it around and around my belly in search of something .. anything.  She found nothing.  I tried not to panic.  Wesley was in San Jose for 2 days of training.  My mom was here, but I had the car .. and I couldn't call her .. she would freak out .. then I would freak out.  I just kept trying to breath.  My midwife said she would have to do an ultrasound.

As she brought the ultrasound machine in, I felt at peace before she even put the "goo" on me. I knew everything would be okay. And it was. There was the baby, moving around with a perfect heartbeat.

I guess there is nothing boring about a pregnancy after all.

Part 2: Someone is missing

Before my sister, Sondra, would get pregnant with another child, she would always say she felt like someone was missing in her family.

I was a young newlywed, with no thought of having children in the near future.  I thought that that was the strangest statement.  How could you feel like someone was missing?

It wasn't until I had children of my own that I came to understand the feeling of someone missing.  The feeling that your family here on earth was incomplete. 

In August of last year, with no thought of having more kids, I was getting ready for the day.  I was putting on my make-up and I had this overwhelming feeling that there was a little girl that was supposed to come to our family.  I could literally feel her around me.  I started to cry and I spoke outloud and I said, "Okay.  I know.  I know."

As amazing as that experience was, I was still scared to get pregnant again.  My track record isn't the best.  I had two amazing, healthy, beautiful children out of five pregnancies.  Should we really try again?  How could I deny a child from coming to our family?  In October, I decided to stop taking the pill.  November, December and January went by.  I still wasn't pregnant.

Then February came.  I found out I was pregnant towards the end of the month.  I prayed that everything would turn out alright.  I felt peace.  I felt calm.  I knew she would come and everything would be okay.

Part 1: Avery's Birth Story

Avery's story actually started long before she was born.

I didn't think we were going to have any more kids after Zachary came to our family.  I loved having my girl and my boy and I did want to have more ... but things didn't work out as I had planned.  I had an ectopic pregnancy when Zachary was one year old.  It was in September of 2010.  I had gone to Urgent Care with pain and had thought I had apendicitis.  Instead, I found out I was pregnant and was advised to go to the ER.  I checked myself in to the ER at noon, had ultrasounds and blood work and discovered I was 5 1/2 weeks pregnant in my right ovary.  (yeah .. one in a million) I was scheduled for surgery at 6pm, but at 5pm my ovary ruptured and I had internal bleeding and was rushed to the OR for emergency surgery.

3 months later, my OB/GYN told me I was young, healthy, and perfectly able to get pregnant again.  So .. we did!  I was pregnant in February of 2011 and went in for my 9 week check in April.  We went in for the ultrasound and the baby was measuring 9 weeks, but there was no heart beat.  Heartbreaking.  I waited 3 weeks to miscarry.

Wesley's exact words after all of this was, "I am ready to throw in the towel if you are."  We thought, maybe we are done.  Maybe 2 kids is enough for us. 

I decided that I should go on "the pill" for a while and just not try to have any more kids.  For the next 7 or 8 months I felt great .. didn't think too much about having more kids.  Then one day, everything changed. 

Avery Hope Cullumber

Our sweet Avery is here!!

She has been here 10 days actually ... but I haven't been able to blog about her because I have been way too busy holding her and staring at her little face.  I love every single thing about her and I have a very hard time putting her down.

She came November 1st at 2:08am.  She weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz and was 19.5 inches long.

She already has the bluest eyes ... just like Zachary.

I will blog about her entire birth story .. it might take a few posts to do the whole thing, but I will get it done.

Until then, you can look at these pictures and try to refrain from kissing your computer screen.

Bellies

This is my friend Jackie and me at church the day before my due date.  No .. we did NOT plan our outfits .. but don't we look cute together?

Jackie is one of my bestest friends .. and she is pregnant with twins!!  and due in February.  We had to get a picture together while I was still pregnant.

I am sad that I didn't get a lot more pictures of me and my belly .. but I am glad Jackie and I got these ones. 

oh .. and yes .. Jackie is ridiculously tall.  That's no camera trick.  She played Volleyball for BYU back in the day and is also married to a Giant.  They have TALL kids.  She is worried that the twins are going to be over 8 lbs each.  She should be VERY worried.

College

Mallory and I had this conversation this morning before school:

Mallory: I don't want to go to school. I just want to stay home with you.
Me: Well, I hate to break it to you, but you have to go to school for the next 12 or so years.
Mallory: And then we get to go on vacation?
Me: No. Then you get to go to college.
Mallory: I don't want to go to college! Why do I have to go to college? I don't want to get a job!
Me: You need to go to college so you can be educated.
Mallory: I don't know what that means.
Me: That's why you need to go to college.