indie: 1 Month & counting

no stats because I'm living up to the hype of not documenting my 3rd child :)
or we just don't go to doctors as much as we should
she's probably about 10lbs here????
 
God knew I needed an easy baby since I was going to have a lot going on with recovering

she's a great eater

she sleeps great at night

she poops like every couple of days...{niiiiice}

but she is the gassiest baby I've ever met! not in a fussy way, in a stinky way

you would think she's a grown person with the smell of it!

and she's always gassy!! fortunately it doesn't seem to bother her too much 

I announced a prediction before she was born

Clover was very active in my belly, 

and she came out active

Crimson was very forceful and stubborn in my belly, she would stick a limb out and I would have to push it back in...she always hurt my ribs.

And Crimson came out very passionate and can be stubborn

indie was very gentle and smooth, didn't kick much and never hurt

{that's why I thought she'd be smaller, little did I know she would be my biggest babe!}

and she has come out very gentle and easy going

thank you LORD!

{these girls love to "nap" with her}

 {crimson loves her a little too much}

 {we didn't get to wear our halloween costumes because of my issues, so we dressed up another day
alice in wonderland, the white rabbit and sleeping beauty}

 {got to bond with nana a lot her first couple weeks of life}

 {first family photo}

. a hard recovery .

some of you may wonder why I'm sharing this

it's a little TMI

{you've been warned...you can stop reading now if you want}

but many of you were praying for us, without any detail

{how to share news like this on facebook without sounding over dramatic?}

and I wanted to share what you were praying for

and how it was answered

so after indie was born it took them 30 minutes to get my placenta out

 they were afraid to tug too hard because they didn't know if it was attached to the scar of my previous c-section

so they finally got it out, and I was really swollen from her coming so fast and being so big

I had just gotten to hold her when I started hemorrhaging pretty bad and pretty much passed out

the doctors were great and took care of it pretty fast

they kept me in the intensive care that night

and everything seemed fine the next day so I got moved to a regular recovery room soon after and then discharged in a regular time frame

I was feeling great, my mom flew in, indie was a great nurser and sleeper

then a week after she was born 

I was nursing indie at about midnight, talking with Brian and my mom and I started bleeding very heavily and it wasn't stopping

so we had to call an ambulance and they took me to the ER

 

 {Brian had to follow me to the hospital. the little dignity I had left after all the gross stuff that comes with giving birth was having 4 firemen take my stats while I'm sitting on a toilet bleeding (sigh) }

praising the Lord my mom was there

but I felt so bad for her, we left her with what looked like a murder seen, and she was left alone with a newborn and two sleeping girls upstairs

but thankfully the bleeding stopped on its own and they found that I had retaining tissue from the delivery.

this happens to about 6% of women, so to all my pregnant friends out there, don't be afraid!!

they said it was probably caused by the fact that it was my 3rd child so my uterus wasn't has tight and strong to do it's job, and that indie was so big and came so fast

so they scheduled me for a D&C to get it all out and sent me home

 the D&C was supposed to be a 30 minute out patient procedure

but I started hemorrhaging during that too

I hate saying it, but with each of these times, I could have died. 

it just sounds so dramatic, but that's the case

they almost had to do a hysterectomy, but fortunately they were able to stop the bleeding again

I had lost so much blood, they had to give me 2 units and kept me there over night

{right before the big ordeal}

 with each of these times, we had to deal with some serious conversations about what if I died. God really does give you grace to go through the hard trials. I didn't even get emotional until after they told me I was fine! Before that I was just praying that if I had to die, that God would use it somehow to bring my girls to salvation and that He would give Brian the strength to raise 3 girls.

again, thankfully, my mom was able to stay with indie and my in-laws were able to watch the girls while I recovered.

I'm so thankful to God for sparing my life. 

For all you faithful family and friends that took care of our kids and prayed for us.

For the emails, texts, phone calls full of encouragement

For our church family providing meals.

For Brian's co-workers for giving him time off to take care of me and covering his classes for him.

Especially for Brian, his unconditional love for me, dropping everything to take care of me, staying up late at night talking with me in the hospital, encouraging me when I was overwhelmed, taking care of our babies when I was too weak or supposed to be resting, I love you

God is so good.

I'm doing great now and feel great.

So thank you for praying, give glory to God!

{Clover loved the souvenir, she calls it her "chef hat" }

 

Indigo Lee

I need to write this before I forget the details!

It was Sunday October 13.

I had just got home from church, telling everyone I don't think Indie is coming anytime soon because I felt great and wasn't having any frequent contractions, although I had been 3cm dilated since Tuesday

my parents wanted us to go do a video tour through a home near our house, and my dad even made the joke "don't have that baby before you can send me the video!" {yea okay, she's not coming}

we pull in the driveway {1:30pm} after we saw the home and I peed my pants

yikes!

but wait, it's not pee, my water broke {I thiiiink....}

thankfully my in-laws were already at our house feeding the girls lunch, so we didn't have to call anyone. just started getting my stuff together

I had just said, I need a shower, but too late, we needed to go!

{this was a huge praise, I had never gone into natural labor before and I was kind of anxious about how to time contractions, so thankfully my water breaking clued me in that I was in labor

also,

our hospital is about 30 min away and always has traffic, so I was worried about going into labor during traffic time and not getting there in time. But it was Sunday, no traffic!

thank you Lord!}

the whole way to the hospital I wasn't really contracting, so I started thinking "maybe I did just pee my pants, that would be embarrassing to show up to the hospital and be sent home for a weak bladder!"
{on the way to the hospital...little nervous}
 

by the time we checked in and got to my room {3:30pm} I was 5cm and having contractions every 2-3 min 

I had been praying and asking for prayer that I could have a vbac {since I had a c-section with Crimson} and I was going to try to go medication free
 
{here we gooooo!}
 

but by 6:00pm I couldn't do it! I was demanding an epidural now! 

But the Lord answered my prayer even though I had changed my mind

{be careful what you ask for!}

and I gave birth to Indigo Lee at 6:50pm

started pushing her out as the anesthesiologist walked into the door and quickly turned around and left

come back!!!

Indigo was 9lbs 3.5oz 21in of beautiful irby-ness

of course my natural birthed baby had to be my biggest!

than the fun really started....{not}

but I'll share that later for those who are curious about the details but I haven't seen

I wanted to end this blog with the excitement of having a brand new beautiful baby girl!

science lesson of the day:
indie tested coombs positive which means antibodies from my blood was already in her system attacking her
clover and indie both have A+ blood, like Brian
I have O+ blood
and apparently those do not mix well at all
clover had jaundice, but not much, and my body recognized clover's blood as a disease and made antibodies against it
so now indie is the 2nd child to have that blood type, so my body was ready to attack
so her jaundice levels were way worse, and she had to go under LED lights for 24 hours
it was so sad :(
she had a little mask on, and I could only hold her every 3 hours when I fed her
I had to be discharged, but she needed to stay an extra day
thankfully they have rooms called "nesting rooms", if they have rooms available, they let moms stay overnight without any medical/food assistance

thankfully the jaundice went away soon after we were discharged

this is where she got the nickname "indi-glow"
 
thank you all for praying for me!
I'm so thankful I was able to have a vbac and do it natural, even though I was not happy at the time! :)
I'm thankful I got to experience it
and it just reminds me of the curse of sin
the pain of labor is part of the curse of sin and it reminds me that it is not supposed to be this way
I'm so much more thankful for Christ's sacrifice for me!

Urology vist 2013

after months of waiting to be approved for insurance

and then waiting for the paper work to go through

we finally were able to have Clover's annual urology appointment

it's so funny {and not} how we easily forget what we've been through

after another year and a half of health, I've forgotten to pray continually, thanking the Lord for the sustaining of her kidneys.

how blessed are we to have a God that gives us mercy when I am so focused on myself and my life
 
 
 I'm so thankful that I started this blog

I thought I would never forget to pray daily for Clover's health

never forget the sound of her cry when she was in pain, or being poked or pricked

never forget the anxiety of awaiting test results or a surgery to be over

but I have.

and so I'm thankful for a journal to read through what I felt and prayed for

and pictures to remember how little my precious baby was

and for scripture to remind me how good the Lord is during a trial and during times of rest and peace

the Lord is good indeed.

even though I haven't been praying for it, God has again blessed us with not only a good report on her kidneys, but growth!

not only did the "good" kidney {left side} grow, but the scarred "little" kidney {right side} grew the same amount

I guess it is rare that scarred kidney's grow at all, but this one grew the same exact amount as the other!!

this doesn't necessarily mean it's working better or functioning better

we can't even tell that through an ultrasound, we would have to do a mag3 scan which I am not planning on Clover doing anytime soon {if God allows}

.  Praise the Lord .

Clover did so good. This was the first time she really understood what was going on.

Fortunately the Lord had me having a prenatal appointment the day before.

so Clover got to watch the doctor put "jelly" and a "wand" on my belly to listen to the baby in my stomach.

and the next day they would do the same to her, but we would get to see pictures on a tv of all the food/drinks she has eaten.

She thought'd it be funny if they saw juice and pancakes :)

And she was okay with them doing that, as long as it was a girl. 

{another praise, we got a girl technician! phew, one less thing to have to worry about}

 {January 2012}
 
{October 2013}

for some reason I thought it would be an okay thing to bring Crimson along

it's been so long since we've been in a hospital, that I've also forgotten how they don't always run on schedule!!!

we were there all.day.long. and through nap time

but how can I complain amongst this good news?!

I can't.

The Lord is still good. all the time. period.

in the next room there was a infant getting checked out too

I could hear his/her little cry and the crinkle of the paper as they held him/her down to do whatever

I could hear the mom trying to comfort the baby and the doctor talking and being really gentle

and I started tearing up

.that was us just 3+ years ago.

it's funny how those sounds took me back to those emotions I felt
 

thank you Lord for sustaining Clover's kidneys and health these past 2+ years

for bringing us through that trial and giving us good results

thank you for strengthening our faith in You and drawing us to You through that time in our lives

my girls recently learned the song Jesus, Thank You and sing it all the time

such a good reminder of what Christ has done for us, and how we should always be thankful

Jesus, Thank You!
 

Crimson: 2 years & counting

 I don't know how much you weigh or how tall you are, we haven't been to a pediatrician in over half a year.....

To my Taryn Crimson Snow,

one word to describe you would be passionate. Whether it is when you are so loving you just can't get enough hugs and kisses, or when you are upset and refuse to move on from whatever it is that is bothering you. You are a passionate baby girl.

you suprised us all by coming out a lot smaller than predicted

and then staying that small forever

your small in size but have a huge personality to make up for it

yes you cried for the first year of your life {or so it felt}

but I forgive you 

 I love you so much. 

 When you hug me so tight and don't want to let go, it makes my heart leap.

you drive me crazy, but when I leave you or put you to bed I miss you with all my heart.

I wish you could sleep in our bed occasionally, but you're too crazy.

I love your blue eyes.

I love that you have picked up your mom and dad's love for singing and playing music.

I love that you love to make people laugh.

 

 I wish you were more graceful, you are too adventurous for your own good.

You bump your head about 10 times a day, I think I should buy you a helmet.

You love your sister more than the world. 

She loves you too, she just has a different way of showing it.

 I love that you love playing princesses with her and having tea parties.

You're a strong girl. I pray for your salvation every night. You would be such a passionate believer, loving others so sacrificially. 

You care so much for others. You want everyone to be included, everyone to get a cookie, everyone to play a game. No one gets left out.

I wish you could sit and watch a movie or tv show

just sit every once in awhile....

please

I love that you look like your daddy and are as funny as him.

I wish I was as fun as you guys.

I love when you cheer Clover on

"Go Clo Clo Go Clo Clo!"

I love that all our close friends/family refer to you as "baby" because that's what we call you at home majority of the time

and now that we're having another baby, you keep saying "no, "I'm the baby"

you're the messiest eater I know. And the slobber queen!

you've been done teething for months now, and yet the slobber keeps coming. 

it doesn't help that you love giving kisses all the time too.

{slobbery kisses anyone?! eh, I'll take em :) }

. your favorites .

movie/tv:

you say Phineas and Ferb, but you don't watch anything .... ever

okay, you do like to watch home videos of yourself on our phones

song:

Romans 8:37 More than Conquerors from Seeds Family Worship

"mo mo mo!"

and

how He loves us

bible song:

our Creation song

"day one!"

dance music:

anything princess

sleeping buddies:

a book and your pacifiers

toys:

you love playing princesses and making everyone play food

book:

the Bible 

{praise the Lord!!!}

and your princess search and find book

food:

you love salad?!?!?! 

{where did you come from?!}

you also don't care too much for pizza or pb&j's

{again, whose kid are you?! who doesn't like pizza????}

funny sayings:

aw man!

listen to meeeee, listen to meeee, listen to meee {done in like a sing song voice}

yeah sheee

the peter pan crow

dreams come truuue! {when you jump off of anything}

hellllloooooo!!!! {when you enter a room full of people}

other favorites:

bath time

swimming

the beach 

{you've asked to go almost every day since we've been back in Georgia}

I will try my best to be faithful with the time I have with you, to pour into you God's love and His Word.

I love you so much baby!

Happy 2nd Birthday!