Everyday Life

Niah has a very busy day. On most days Niah and I arrive at the office for work a little bit before 8 am. So that means mommy gets up at 6:30 to be ready in time. Niah eats between 6 and 7 and again at 8:30. She usually goes back to sleep by 9 and sleeps till about 12:30. Then she spends time exercise those legs and gets frustrated she can't move, she also loves to look around. She eats again and goes back down for a nap until 3:30 or 4 depending on how long she stayed away. We leave the office between 4 and 5. The evening usually consist of a walk if the tempature is not to cold or too hot. She loves her stroller if it is moving. So we usually walk around camp and do small projects and make sure everything is going well. She will spend most the evening awake until about 8 then she will eat and sleep till 10 and wake up and eat again and sleep till 7ish. We are working with Niah sleeping by herself on a flat surface. She sleeps in her bouncer at night, carseat and swing during the day. So now during the day we will put her down on cushion on the floor and see how long she last. Then we move her to her car seat or swing when she wakes up mad. I have been working with her on tummy time. I am also trying to get her on a consistant schedule, she has bedtime down flat and has for 3 to 4 weeks its during the day that fluctates for her.She can actually pick her self up with her arms and she bobs her head quite a bit. Niah's neck is getting really strong and picks her head up quite a bit.
This is Niah at work today enjoying her swing


Niah still seems to get fussy and want her Mommy at times. Which I actually love, I may not always love it but she is my first and only child. I love having her with me and taking her on errands and to the office. I have only left her 2 times, once with daddy and once with mimi.

My sister is coming on saturday for most of the week for my birthday week!! Which means the babies will get to spend some time together. We have lots of activities for the cousins to do together. We talked about trying to get them out in the pool and see how they like to swim. They will probably be doing alot of sleeping together. I can not wait till they get old enough to play together.
This is what Niah and Kyah do together now but they still enjoy being together!!

Growing Up too fast

Our little girl is 6 weeks old and it has flown by way too fast. Niah is having more awake time and loves to be talked to and she tries to talk back but usually it is not so much of her talking back but moving her mouth and tongue trying to get sounds out. It is so cute. She loves to just lay and watch everything around her. Niah is falling into a schedule. Niah wants to be in bed by 10 pm and does not wake up till 7. She takes several naps in the day but has awake time between her naps. She gets very fussy is she is passed around and held at her bed time. She knows what is comfortable and will move and make noises till she gets in a comfortable position where ever she is. She has started a fake little cry, and I know I shouldn't like it but it is adorable and she is just showing that she doesn't like something. Niah is going through a stage when she is tired she wants mommy and will fuss till she gets her and then goes right to sleep. I can't lie, I love that she knows me and loves to be in my arms. She seems to get fussy with strangers when they hold her until she gets comfortable with them.
My adorable baby girl on a walk with mommy.


I love being a mom so much and I just wish that I could look and watch her all day. I always knew that I would love having children and use to say that I wanted a 100 children but I had no idea that I would love it this much. I realize she is my first child and I am probably considered an overprotective parent but I guess I get to be that way because she is my baby. No matter how overprotective I am, Matthew is way more than I am. Daddy still adores Niah and always wants to get in as much time with her as he can. He always says you see her all day at work, I want to hold her. Daddy always stops by work several times a day to say Hi to his little girl.

The house has several small projects going. The basement is waiting for me to paint it which I will start in between youth and kids camp when I am not so tired. We had some flower beds built in the front with rock. Matthew has been working on the landscaping the yard. It looks really nice.

Kyah came to visit this week. Here is a picture of both babies while we are shopping. Niah is only about half pound bigger than Kyah but she is not a newborn anymore and I realized that after being around Kyah.

1 Month already

It is so hard to believe that our little girl is one month and growing up way to fast already!! She had her 1 month dr. appointment today. She weighs 7 pounds 11 ounces. She has gained 36 ounces since her last appointment when she was only 6 days old. She is 21 inches long which means she has grown an inch and a half. Her head circumference went from 9 cm to 13 cm. She just started wearing newborn size clothes but still fits in her preemie pants and jackets.

She loves to eat. We started giving her 1 bottle a day. She takes a bottle pretty good. Sometimes gets very frustrated with a bottle and will only nurse and refuse the bottle. She will not even drink from a bottle after the 1st bottle so mommy never leaves her for long amounts of time (honestly how could you leave her, she is such a doll). She sometimes gets fussy when she is passed around alot but calms down when she gets in mommy or daddy's arms. She is not a huge fan of a pacifier, she will sometimes take it in the car but most of the time she turns red and spits it out if you give it to her. Most nights starting about a week and half ago, she sleeps from 10 pm to 5 or 7 am. The dr. told me not to let her sleep through the night but she gained over 2 pounds in month so I am not concerned with her not eating at night.

Niah is a wonderfully baby that is hardly fussy at all. She does not like to be ignored. Her favorite times in hanging with Mommy and Daddy at home. Daddy adores his little girl and spent the last weekend basically just holding her all day and talking to her. Niah has always been full of expressions but she is now smiling. It is so funny because she smiles when you talk to her at just the right moments like when dad gets her poop on his hand or when you tell her she is cute. Niah already enjoys story time and worship music.

Mommy and Daddy are adjusting well to baby now. Mommy has learned that the house will never be as clean as it was before she had a baby. I just work on keeping it clean and organized but I may not get to clean the bathrooms several times a week or get steam the floors several times a week and just focus on making sure the floors are clean and the bathroom gets done sometime. Daddy now takes directions in the kitchen to help with dinner. He also spends alot of time trying to figure out the best way to soothe and hold Niah. We love Niah and can't imagine life without her.

My baby is almost 2 weeks old

The last 12 days have flown by, it does not seem possible that my baby could be 2 weeks old this week. We love every minute with our precious Niah. In fact Matthew and I go back and forth on who's turn it is to hold her and he is convinced that I use nursing as a reason to hold her :-) I find myself just wanting to look and watch this amazing little being all the time.

We brought Niah home from the hospital the day after she was born Thur, May 5. We walked her through her home and introduced her to her room. Our first diaper at home ended up in a wadrobe change and a huge mess. Daddy was changing her diaper and it just so happens the cold made her pee all over. Daddy who wore surgical gloves at the hospital to change diapers could not understand why we did not have any. The diaper resulted not only in a change of clothes, but we had to change blankets and the changine pad cover. That was not the last time an incident like that happen, just yesterday she was not done pooping when her diaper was being changed then she managed to pee as well. Daddy is getting use to getting a little bit of it on him now and his reaction is not quite as dramatic.

Niah hates to be cold and tends to shiver when laying by herself no matter how much clothes she has on and how many blankets she stays swaddled in. She loves body heat. We had to figure out a night time routine because she would just shiver in her bassinet. So now we rotate her from the bouncer seat (not on because it rattles her bones and hates it on), to her bassinet, to the carseat so that she will sleep through the night with out being held. She does really well at night now, at first she was waking up every hour but now she eats about 10, 1, and 5. I wake her up at 9. Sometimes she will have have a later feeding than 10 and not wake up till 4 and then gets up at 8:30.

Niah is a calm baby and only cries when she is cold or hungry. It takes awhile for her to work up to a cry and it is more like a high pitch squeel that is not very loud. Daddy hates it when she cries and when she was very upset with a bath, he said we are never giving her a bath again. I have to remind Matthew that sometimes she will cry, unfortunately. Matthew adores her and can not help but hold her when he sees her. Niah was laying on the ottoman and I was sitting next to her, Matthew said, "What are you doing?" I said, "Trying to see how long she will lay on her own." He said, "Well we don't have very much longer to hold her." Then picked her up.

Niah has had a well Dr. visit and a not well visit. The well visit went good, she weight 5 lbs 7 oz which the dr. was impressed she had not lost more than 2 ozs. She is healthy and the dr said she is beautiful. The not well visit was just this last Friday. Wednesday, her eye had discharge coming out of it, we called the hospital 2 and the dr.'s office twice. They assured us it was just a clogged tear duct and would get better. Friday, we called and made an appt just to make sure it was ok. They took a sample of it to make sure there was not infection and checked her over. Niah had gained 2 oz and now weighs 5 lbs 9 oz. She also lost her umbical cord at the Dr.'s office when I took her clothes off for the weight check. Dr. said she looks good.

We took Niah on her first road trip 2 hours away to Springfield for a wedding. Not so sure she was a fan of it. I think she was a little overstimulated. It will be awhile before I am ready to try that again. She did great friday but Saturday she was fussy for the first time ever. Matthew was at the point he said, "Let's go home she never cries at home." After the morning she did much better. We did learn that you have 3 times the amount the luggage you normally do and the trip takes twice as long with a baby.

We love Niah so much and can not imagine our lives without her now!!

The Birth

Tuesday, May 3, we went to see the dr. to evaluate what the plan of action should be. He was either going to admit me that day to just prepare me to be induced or I would have to go in Wed. morning to start the induction. The dr. came in to check me and he gave me a face and I thought, "Oh no 41 weeks pregnant and I can't even dialate to a 1!" But the dr said, "I do not have bad news, your a 1, that is just enough for me to break your water, tomorrow morning!!" I was so relieved that one I made progress and 2. I did not have to spend an entire day in the hospital and not even be in labor. I finished my day with working, taking advantage of the warm weather by walking around the camp taking pictures, and painting the tabernacle bathroom. I do not think Matthew or I could sleep very well because we had to get up at 4:30 am but at 2:30 am I woke up to contractions. For the first time in my pregnancy, I had contractions, I never had braxton hicks or false labor but tonight I started having a few contractions and I lost my mucous plug.

Wednesday, May 4, we left for the hospital at 5:00 am, I was still having contractions, they were pretty far about and really short. We got to the hospital, I think we were both nervous, anxious, and excited all at the same time. We filled out our paperwork and took us to our room. They started pitocin around 7:15, they started with a very low dose and the contractions were not bad at all and were around 4 or 5 minutes apart and about a minute long. Around 7:45 the dr. came in and checked me and I was between a 1 and a 2. He then broke my water, which took about a minute and felt very weird. At that point my contractions were getting much stronger and closer together. The part I hated most was that they had to have this stupid heart moniter on the baby and everytime a contraction came on and I moved the heart moniter or the baby would move and lose her heartbeat. So they would come in my room and tell me about how it had to stay on the baby. By this time my contractions were 2 mins apart and 120 seconds long and they were very painful. I would usually jump out of bed with the contraction and try to get in a comfortable position standing leaning on something which then brought a nurse to my room due to the heart moniter. The heart moniter made me stressed and very irritable (well probably the contractions made me irritable) The babies heart rate started dropping lower with some of the contractions which made the nurses worry. By this time I was having some contractions right on top of each other with no break and then I would get like a minute break. The dr. came in and decided to put an internal moniter on the baby to keep her heart rate and get a better reading. Let me tell you having to lay on a bed through several contractions not being able to move was very difficult, I was almost in tears. At this point he checked me and told me I was a 3 or maybe between a 3 or 4. I was horrified that it had not gotten further than that with such strong contractions. The baby was face up and it needed to be face down so he tried to see if he could move it with his hand. That was very uncomfortable especially with having contractions while he was doing it. The contractions started to make me sick and I then began to throw up. I had gone through almost 4 hours of terrible contractions of being 2 minutes apart and 120 seconds long and decided to get the epidural. I got the epidural around 11ish. The nurses were very happy because as soon as I relaxed the babies heart rate stayed consistantly higher. The dr. came in around 12 or 12:30 and checked me again. He told me I was between a 7 and an 8 and he thought we would have a baby by 3:00. The baby was still face up but this time as he was trying to aide in moving her I couldn't feel it thank goodness. I was now in transitional labor.

At 2:00 the nurse came in and started having me push, the dr. would be in soon. He thought it would be awhile of pushing since she was face up. I did hard pushing for 15 mins and she was not moving down and I had to put oxygen on because the babies heart rate was not recovery after the pushing and I took a couple minutes off from pushing. The dr. came in and realized that the baby did not have enough room to come down and began to cut the skin that was blocking her. I was so glad that I had an epidural at this point. After he was done cutting, I began pushing and she still had limited space so he decided that we would need aide in getting her out and they had to use the vacumn after I had pushed for 20 more minutes. Finally, after 10 more minutes of pushing her head came out. The dr. then told me one more push, after him telling me to push so hard for the head I started to push and he was like woa not that hard. There she was laying on my stomach crying, it was a very emotional wonderful moment for me and Matthew to finally see our little girl After Matthew cut the cord they took her over next to my bed to clean. Then I began to lose an extreme amount of blood. My room filled with more nurses and activity than I ever thought. All I remember was the dr. who is usually a patient calm man was giving quick orders and the nurses were not moving fast enough for him. Finally after 45 mins, the dr then began to fill me in on what was happening and that they may have to take me to an operating room if the bleeding did not stop. I just began praying, thinking the last thing I want to do is leave my baby and go to an operating room. Again, thank goodness I had an epidural for all of that!! Then within ten minutes then told me the bleeding was under control and as long as it stayed that way, there would be no operating room. Praise the Lord!! The room calmed down and I finally got to hold and feed my baby.

Somewhere in there Matthew was holding our little girl and said, "She has to be Niah, she does not look like any of the other names on our list." Niah Beth King was born at 3:02 pm, weighed 5 lbs 10 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. She is doing very well and we both love and adore her.

This is a picture of her that I took just today. I realize she is my baby so I am partial but I do believe she is the most beautiful baby.

Due Date

Well today is officially my due date and as of yesterday I am no closer to delivering than I was 6 weeks ago. Somedays I actually think this little girl is climbing up my stomach instead of dropping down lower. I have been officially scheduled for an induction next tues/wed, if I do not go into labor. So my prayer for the rest of this week is that I do go into labor!! You may ask why tues/wed, well that is because I am headed to the dr. tues morning for him to check me. If I am in the same place I am now which is not even began to ripe, he will admit me into the hospital and begin the whole process of trying to make me ripe. It is pretty funny to me that you measure a baby by fruits and vegetables and then they tell you how close you are to delivery by how ripe you are, again fruits and vegetables. Apparently, the ripening can take awhile and then he will start the induction process. He pretty much told me that it would be wed. before I had her. So as you can see that sounds like a long lengthy process and if you think of it send some prayers that this girl will come before then!!

I am going take one of the pictures from our maternity session and put it on the wall in the nursery and I am going to either put the verse: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. ~ Psalm 139:13, or The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name. ~ Isaiah 49:1"

Now, knowing that either way I will have this wonderful baby in my arms by early next week makes me so excited. I have dreamed about her coming and prayed over her life for the last 8 or so months (I was 6 weeks along when I found out) and now she will actually begin life in this world. I am anxious to see her personality, and the wonderful person God created and what amazing things HE has in store for her.

Until she comes I am going to work on things at the house. Last night I cleaned all the windows, screens, and window seals and washed every blanket sheet and towel. Now on to removing every trace of dog hair off the furniture. Poor Addie will not know what to do when baby comes. She got kicked off the furniture but we did buy her a very nice dog pillow. She is well aware she is not allowed in the nursery and will stand at the nursery door watching me in there. I will have to get her lots of treats and bones so she does not feel left out.

Here are a couple more pics from our maternity session

Antsy Pantsy

My due date is around the corner and our baby girl is not showing any signs of wanting to come out. What can I say, she must enjoy warm environments as much as I do. I prefer the temp of the house to be high 70's where as the husband likes it at high 60's (even while I have been pregnant). Weeks ago, the dr informed me that she could come any day and now he is not so sure when she will make her appearance. The last few appointments she has not made any progress of exiting the wound. It's a good thing I didn't get my hopes up.

I continue to prepare things for our little one and with each passing day, I think of new things to get done at home and work. My thinking is it is easier to get things done now while there is not a baby to care for as opposed to when my attention will be on her. I get more excited for her arrival everyday!!

We got to preview our maternity pics. If you would like to go to them just go to this link it's a video preview.

Here is one of the pics from our session.


Well, a baby coming has not stopped progress in the basement being finished. Matthew and his dad have been hanging drywall all week in the basement. Matthew says his motivation to finish is so he can have a quiet place to go after the baby comes :-)