The Story of her Birth

Having a planned C-Section ended up being a much relaxing way to have a baby! We woke up in the morning of the 23rd, showered, and got ready. I put make up on and did my hair -- knowing that several photo opportunities were in my near future. After making a quick stop to the high school (oh a different story for a different day) we made our way to the hospital. From there, things went pretty quickly. I figured that we would have some time to kill, so we brought a variety of games to play, and to our surprise, we really didn't have time to play any of them.

They suited me up in my gear and started asking a bucket load of questions. The IV went in (The most painful part of the whole process ... honestly!) and before I knew it, we were in the OR getting ready for the baby to come! Let me say, also, that a spinal block is MUCH less painful than an epidural!! Perhaps it was because I wasn't in the middle of a massive contraction when they put it in that it hurt less though.

Within about 3o minutes, little Elsie Alice was born. As you know, her gender was a surprise. I've heard that having a surprise is such an emotional rush once the announcement is made. For me though, it was a moment of confusion. When it is time to pull Elsie out, Dr. Merrill says: Oh Jennifer, it's a good thing that we took him c-section! He's got a big head! I thought to myself: "Ok, we have a boy! We have two boys. Two boys will be fun. I have a boy. It's a boy" I really wanted a little girl, but I was ok with a boy too. Two brothers. Fun. But then, the doctor that was assisting Dr. Merrill pointed out ... "It's a girl!" WHAT? A GIRL? I have a girl? I'm SO confused! Well, indeed ... I did get my little girl!

With teary eyes I got to watch them clean her up. I didn't get to see that with Elsie. They even brought her over to show her to me before the process started, something that I was very grateful for!

Mama and Elsie

Daddy and Elsie

It's hard to imagine how your love can be split between two kids. I guess love isn't a 100% quantity though -- there is no maximum! I love Jace just as much as I ever have -- perhaps more and this little 10 lb 10 oz Elsie Alice has just as much hold on my heart as her big brother. Joe and I are very very blessed! And she is beautiful!!

Baby Elsie is my COUSIN

Jace and Joe are looking at pictures of Elsie, since Jace has not been able to meet her yet. Here is how the conversation went:

Joe: "Jace, who's this?"

Jace: "Mommy"

Joe: "and who else"

Jace: "Daddy and Jaceman"

Joe: "No, that's the baby"

Jace: "Oh, the baby"

Joe: "Baby Elsie"

Jace: "Baby Elsie"

Joe: "Baby Elsie is your little sister"

Jace: "Baby Elsie is my little COUSIN"

hehe

When there are too many people to take care of ....

Today has been a rough day for everyone. Here's a brief recap:

Yesterday Jace came down with a fever -- we believe it has finally broken. At one point today his temp was 103! Joe called our pediatrician and made a game plan ... but so far, Jace has not met Baby Elsie ... and Joe has had the burden of caring for Jace, Elsie, and myself. Poor guy was caught in the middle of Jace needing him at home, and an emotional wife needing him at the hospital. Luckily both Grannie and Grandad are at our house, so we have had the freedom to take shifts on the Jaceman and the Wifey.

Today I started off great, getting my catheter out at 8 am and my IV out by 9. At 10 or so I was up walking the halls and was able to kick the compression boots. By the afternoon -- my gas had started to build up in my abdomen and I started to feel mighty uncomfortable. I've walked the halls several times and am hoping that the exercise will make me feel better.

Elsie passed her hearing test and was checked by our ped. Everyone thinks she is beautiful and is talking about the 10 lb baby with a full head of long brown hair.

By about 2:00 in the afternoon, Elsie was becoming more and more fussy. She wasn't satisfied with the feedings she was getting and was making sure we knew about it. I tried to feed her off and on for about 4 hours straight! She'd eat for 5 min or so and then fall asleep. She'd wake up minutes later cranky so I'd feed her again. There was a shift change for the nurse -- and I got a nice high strung one ... I don't do well with high strung!

She kept asking how/when she was eating and I couldn't' tell her. At this point, Deja Vu was setting in with Jace's non-eating experience. So I started to stress (again high strung nurse not helping!) Nurse told me to start feeding her every hour on the hour to help increase my supply and to get her fed!

Luckily there was another shift change and I spoke with this to my new nurse. Instead of focusing on the eating -- she decided to focus on the fact that Els was breathing too fast. She talked to Dr. Esham and at about 9:40 tonight they decided to put her on an IV and run some labs. It is possible that by breathing so fast -- she could inhale while swallowing, causing more problems. It is possible that Els could have (or be developing) Pneumonia. Or, Els could be dehydrated and just need fluids.

We got the lab results back almost an hour ago and everything looks good -- but she is borderline with infection. They are going to run more blood work at 5am in the morning and see if her number goes down. If it does -- we are in the clear and no problem. If it goes up, they'll start her with some anti-biotics and continue testing. So right now, we get some sleep and see what happens in the morning.

*update*

Her numbers lowered over night, which is good good news! I'm not sure what numbers they were testing -- but i don't care!! i'm just grateful it is down. She had 2 very small diapers over night, suggesting a bit of dehydration. I guess it's close to time that Joe and i decide if formula is the way to go!! Luckily the IV will help her flush her newborn poop out and we can just get home asap.

Elsie Alice Boucher

Introducing

Elsie Alice Boucher

March 23rd, 2012

12:48 p.m.

10 lbs 10 oz

21 in long

And we love every bit of her!!!

Birthday Week Day 4

It's been A LONG time since our family has gone swimming. Joe LOVES it -- I'm ok with it -- but I do enjoy taking Jace -- and Jace has a good time too. We do feel that it is extremely important that he is comfortable in the water -- I never learned how to swim, and it still makes me a little nervous ... but not too bad anymore. ANYWAY ... For day 4 of our birthday week we wanted to take Jace swimming. In the future, it won't cost anything, but we did need to buy him a new set of swim trunks and we invested in a reusable swim diaper. (Those Swim Huggies are PRICEY!!) Here's a photo recap of our night:

(Allow me to have a mom moment and get a bit sad at how BIG my little boy is getting!! Look at those pictures -- he is NOT a baby anymore!!) At least he's still a sweet heart!!

Birthday Week Day 2 & 3

For day 2 of his birthday week, Jace got a collection of Mickey Mouse books -- 12 total. We had bought them for Christmas and forgot to give them to him -- easy Birthday Week Present!! It's probably a good thing -- since there are VERY few pictures for the amount text that is on each page. They are perfect for right now. He was UBER excited to read them and have been enjoying a new one every night since -- and several during the day!

Jace's Dinosaur Train cake -- not quite the masterpiece that I had last year -- but let's face it -- I don't have 8 hours to devote to his cake. And it didn't even matter ... because he LOVED it!!!

Jace "BLOWING" out his candles.

The dinner party! Growing up, birthdays were a big deal. We always invited Grandma and Grandpa over -- and the day was special -- ours. I want the same for my kiddos! It isn't as easy as driving across the valley for both sets of grandparents though -- and we are very very grateful that Grannie and Grandad are willing to make the trek up for Jaceman's birthday dinner!! (Especially since they will be coming up again for our little family SO SOON!!)

Present time!! The "fishy game" from Grannie and Grandad

More Dinosaur Train from Uncle Greg and Aunt Jade (sent all the way from Oklahoma!! What troopers!!)

Yes, this kid LOVES trains!!

Big squooshy blanket from Grandpa and Grandma

We had an awesome birthday dinner -- thanks for all who came!

Birthday Week Day 1:

Part of me is VERY excited that Jace's birthday week falls so close to when my little baby will be born. I'm looking forward to being able to spend one whole week making Jace feel like the special rock star that he is! Today, Grandma and Grandpa kick off his birthday week by taking him to Toy Story 3 on ice!! I must admit that I'm a little jealous -- not to sit in the hard plastic fold down chairs ... but I'm jealous that I will miss the look in Jace's eyes as he watches the show. He was SOOOO cute when he saw Beauty and the Beast at BHS, and he didn't have a "personal relationship" with those characters! He is going to have a BLAST at the show tonight -- I hope my parents take lots and lots of pictures and enjoy their evening!!

(P.S. Might I add that I'm looking forward to my last real date night with Joe before we become a family of four!?! We are going to Texas Roadhouse and getting pedicures after. I don't know how much Joe is looking forward to a pedicure ... but he is playing nice and my little fred flinstone feet are greatly looking forward to the experience!!!)

Boucher Baby #2's Journey to the world ....

I haven't had much to say about this pregnancy. Perhaps it's because it's not my first baby -- perhaps it's because I've been much more busy with work and a 2 year old -- or maybe because I wasn't as ready to become pregnant as I thought I should be ... I don't know. Regardless, I haven't shared much about him/her.

So let me start by showing you the latest picture of our little monster:

My pregnancy started with utter shock that I was, indeed, pregnant. I had just accepted a new teaching position at BHS and thought that our shot at a new baby hadn't worked. I have to admit -- I was relieved. A March baby would just be very difficult with regards to work -- not to mention JACE is a March baby.

One Thursday morning -- (on my mom's birthday -- July 14th!) I decided to test to see if I was pregnant. I didn't think I was, so while Joe was in the shower, I sneaked the test into the bedroom (JUST to open it -- I didn't want Joe to hear me wasting yet another test) then went back into the bathroom to take the test. Then I waited ... not really nervous since I didn't expect it to say YES. To my utter shock, they did! I yelled at Joe that he had to see this -- and after reading the PREGNANT sign on that little stick, he jumped out of the shower (dripping and all) to give me a big hug!

The next several weeks I had such extreme emotions. I was excited to be pregnant -- scared to miscarry again -- and, I'm ashamed to say, dreading how the next 9 months would affect my career. I had a TON of inner battles. How can I, who has such a TOUGH time getting pregnant, and STAYING pregnant ... not want to be right now? It was such BAD timing. I felt guilty and it took awhile for that to go away. Thankfully, it didn't take too many weeks for my feelings to turn around.

This pregnancy has been totally different than any other. From practically the moment I found out about this little baby until well into October ... I was BEAT! I didn't feel good ... and was UBER tired ... all of the time. Thankfully Jace is a good kid, and was able to stay out of trouble as I passed out on my bed ... daily!

At week 11 I started throwing up daily, sometimes more. With Jace ... I threw up 5 times. This one has been different -- as I am still throwing up off and on in the morning. Another fun side effect.

At this point in the pregnancy -- I'm anxious to meet my little baby. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, so I'm making things for both. The baby is big -- as far as we can tell -- I'm measuring just as big as I did with Jace -- and Jace was 8 lb 4 oz, so hopefully this little one won't be much more than 9 ... Because Jace's birthday is March 16th and I'm due March 22nd, I really am pushing to get to my due date so their birthday weeks won't overlap. This kid seems to be strong though, and from the beginning I wouldn't be super surprised if he/she decided to make their entrance early (say hopefully around March 10th .... ) The only problem with this is -- the earlier I go, the longer I have 2 kids in day care at the end of the year. I haven't 100% decided if I am going back next year or not ... but I'm leaning to one way or the other -- just waiting to make the final decision.

So all in all I'm a little embarrassed to say that I have not been super in love with this pregnancy ... but in the end, I know that I am super in love with this kid, so that's all that really matters!! I guess I should take at least one belly shot before the kid is born ... right? :)

The Stohels December 2011

Here is my whole family. We look so great!

2012

I am so super excited for 2012! It's going to be a fantastic year .... On my side of the family we've got a wedding, a graduation, a mission or two, and a retirement! Busy Busy year! And Jace gets another cousin on Joe's side of the family. We are very excited for the changes that will be happening in the next 366 days.

Oh, and don't forget about our little bean growing :)

If the Mayans are right, this will be one last year to remember!!!