Compare and Contrast

Here are photos of the labor and delivery through 2 weeks old of the girls. It was completely unplanned but many of the pictures have the same "poses"! Kinda cool. Anyway, enjoy and leave your comments weather you think these girls look alike or not.

Maycee's pictures will always be on the left, Lydia's always on the right.

You can double click on any photo to enlarge it.

First up...

"KISSY FACE"

Similarities: *I am in the same robe. (delivered at the same hospital)

*Blake is in a polo (Go figure! Thats all he owns!)

Contrasts: *Blake's "pre-labor haircut" with Maycee looks WAY better

"LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT"

With Maycee I was actually crying, tears of joy. Lydia, no tears. But still so very happy to have her here!Don't they look alike already?

"15 HOURS VS. 4 HOURS"

If you ask me, no matter how long the labor you still look awful afterwards. (Unless you are Karri Mickelson! She always looks fabulous after delivery. Jealous!)

"BABY'S WEIGHT"

(we won't be discussing my weight, ha ha)

Only a 4 oz. difference.

Lydia was larger.

Lydia's weight was the same as

Blake's at birth.

"FAMILY PHOTO"

"DADDY LOVE"

This is on of the two pictures I did plan on getting ahead of time. I love the picture of Blake and

Maycee together because you can just

see in his face how happy and how proud a dad he is! I have always loved that picture of them so I knew going into this next delivery I wanted to get another picture just like it. This will be a traditional picture that we take with every pregnancy.

"PRETTY IN PURPLE"

Do you notice how they both have purple bows in? Thats something the

nurses at the hospital did. Mayce was close to 24 hours old when the photo

was taken were as Lydia was just about 2 hours old... you can tell she still looks "fresh outta the womb" (ie. swollen face, white tinted skin, etc.) So this isn't a very good picture to compare faces but however this is a fabulous picture to compare HAIR! Maycee just has sooo so so much more than Lydia. Its been kinda funny because people have been saying "Wow! Lydia has a lot of hair!" Blake and I just look at each other, laugh, and say "No, not really, Not compared to her sister anyway."

"BABY BURRITO"

Maycee is in a dresser drawer with blankets, where as Lydia is high rollin' in her very own bassinet! (Thanx Kristina)

"BABY FACE"

I don't know about you but I think they look very similar. I wish I could put more hair on Lydia to see if I could tell them apart....

"SISTERS"

Anything look different to you?

To me, their "looks" are very close however their demeanor's are very different. Lydia is a little more needy I think. She likes to be held and likes you to bounce her to sleep. She is very vocal. Doesn't cry much but makes lots of noises when shes awake, and even sometimes when she is asleep. Sometimes it sounds like laughing. Its cute. Maycee never made ANY noise, except when she would sleep she would grunt ALOT. Maycee was much more alert and continent to just be there. Its fun to see how they are different already. It will be fun to see Lydia grow up and become her own little self.

Home Life

The last 12 days have been ...... everything! Good, bad, worse, wonderful, amazing, sleepless, and completely perfect!!!

Being a mother to TWO is a whole different ball game (and i'm sure each time a new one comes along it is like that)

Lydia is such a sweet little thing. So fun to snuggle with.

Here she is the night we got home all ready for bed.

I have a very similar picture of Maycee at the same age. My next blog post is going to be comparisons of the two girls.... be expecting it.

Most of the time its like this...... Happy

and other times like this....

Here is the little one that is taking over all of our lives...

So innocent!

Here is Aunt Ruth on one of here "visit's"

She is very fun to sleep with if you can't tell!

I was working in the kitchen the other day and looked up and saw this. I wanted to cry. It was just so beautiful. My house was clean. (Thanx mom) My girls were happy and content. The sun was shinning in through the the windows. It was just a special moment! I couldn't be a more blessed mother, wife, or women!

Maycee has been adjusting pretty well I think. She loves her little sitter so much and wants to show it all the time.

We have been getting the garden ready for spring planting. Maycee like to use the shovel.

Lydia's first adventure outside. It only lasted a few minutes.

The next day we did go on a trip to the park to feed the ducks some bread (wink wink mom Brimhall)

Maycee rode in the back and Lydia in the front. Only at the park though. I actually drove Lydia and myself there. Blake biked with Maycee.

Maycee loves to play on the toys!

I have tried to take a picture of her everyday. They change so fast! I think the camera added so weight to those cheeks. I don't think they are quite that big in real life.... maybe.

Maycee has been loving these lately.

Blake has been looking very forward for Lydia to come. Of coarse just because he was excited for a new little one but also because he knew that him and Maycee were going to become new best buds. And Boy has she!!! Maycee has always been a ma ma's girl, but as of lately she has really REALLY been enjoying her time with Blake.

BLAKE HAS BEEN LOVING IT!!!

One of there favorite things lately is to go outside, night or day, and lay on this blanket and see what there is to see..... birds, planes, stars, everything. And Maycee comes in and tells me all about it. They sure have a blast together.

This little girl is really growing up! I love this picture!

Her hair is not done and her shoes are not on but look at that face! She is Beautiful! It is so fun to watch her develop her own little personality. And she is getting so smart! I wish I could tell all of the stories about her....

Grandma Kimmy bought her the dress she has one and one for Lydia to match...

Still working on getting them a picture together in the dresses. It'll come.

She also bought these dresses...

Notice her hair.... I curled it. She looks like Goldy Locks!

Here it is in the back...

This is not a mug shot. I was just trying to get a picture of the hair and you can see she was not to thrilled about it.

This is Maycee's favorite thing to do lately.... She loves to get the mail. We check it several time a day. Its nice to get out :)

Look at this! Can you believe that she holds a pencil like this? Thats something you learn when you are in kindergarten..... isn't it???

She is growing up to fast. I had a moment the other day, while eating breakfast. I realized she is never again going to be the little girl that I remember. I started crying. I love watching her grow up but it kills me almost to let her!

I hope I can remember these special moments forever and enjoy every little bit of it!

Love you both so much!!!

Visitors

Here is the little bundle of joy!

Lydia Celeste Brimhall

(I hate picture right after the baby is out, I look just fabulous)

Lydia has had many visitors..... The first was Grandma Mickelson

Then Grandma Kimmy...

And then this sweet little reunion! It was a bitter/sweet moment for me when Maycee came to meet her little sister for the first time. She saw me sitting in the hospital bed and didn't want a thing to do with me! It hurt my feelings really bad :( Its like she was scared. She was in a new place and I was in a weird gown. She had been spending the last day with all her aunts and uncles and i'm sure they had been spoiling her like crazy! I guess I should have expected it.

Anyway it was cute because you could see her scanning the room for Lydia. Everyone had been telling her that she was going to meet her sister. And then when she saw her it was like love at first sight! She immediately pointed and gasped and wanted to hold her right away. She was so enthralled with this new little sister. She wanted to touch her eyes and ears and mouth and nose and hands and toes and kept giving her kiss after kiss after kiss. I couldn't have been happier with the outcome!

This was the best picture I got. I'm sure my mom has some better ones. Maybe she could post them. (wink wink)

Grandpa Mickelson

Aunt Ruthie

And yes, she has kept up with the tradition. She has come over several days to just sit and hold Little Miss Lydia. (She did this when Maycee was born too. Came over every other day for the first month just to sit and hold Maycee.) (And sorry your head is fuzzy, Rachel was taking pictures)

Aunt Rachel

These were my best attempts to try to make myself more appealing to Maycee. Put a shirt over the gown and tried sitting on the couch instead of the bed. No luck, I never did get a hug or a kiss from her that night. Heart breaking really. I wanted to cry.

Here is Ricky and Brittany. They just found out they are having a boy. Congrats guys :)

(sorry about the blurriness)

Larry and Karri also came to visit us in the hospital. Along with one of my good friends from college, Brienne. Thanx so much to everyone for coming to visit!

Blake is such a proud Daddy! He loves to show her off :)

The next day we were able to come home. It was so much fun!! Literally. We had a house full. Grandma Kimmy, Aunt Allee, Uncle Brandon, Grandma Mickelson, Aunt Ruthie, Uncle Dallin Aunt Rachel and Uncle David. They had beans on the stove and bread almost in the oven. And did I mentioned they cleaned my house. It was so wonderful!!!

More visitors followed that evening, Vaughn and Kindra came, Kurtis mad and appearance and the Reidhead family all came to meet Lydia.

One of the family traditions that we have is that "daddy", Blake, gets to pick out the outfit that baby comes home in. In this case he picked out an outfit for Lydia and Maycee. Maycee had just woken up from a nap and didn't quite get all of hers on. None the less, they still make a cute little couple :) Maycee was still so excited to see her little sister the next day. (and still is everyday)

Here she is very interested in her little toes... She didn't really get to see them at the hospital because Lydia was all bundled up.

Blake's Three Little Girls

(I can say that about myself, right?)

One BIG happy Family of 4!!! Its still weird for me to say... that there is 4 of us now, wow!

Lydia also had visit's from the Great-Grandparents Kathy and Shum...

This is the Great Grandma Kathy that made Lydia's blessing blanket that I showed you in a previous post. Thank you again Grandma :)

Karl and Ruth Brown

Many others came to stop by and 'Im sorry if you were not mentioned. We are so happy to have such wonderful supportive family! Thank you to all for the wonderful help that you have all been. Especially my mothers, you guys have been so much help! Thank you, thank you!!!

So I don't forget the details...

Woke up Saturday morning, the 15th of January, feeling like it was any other Saturday. Blake and I were laying I bed talking.

After my last Doctors visit, on the previous Wednesday, I just figured that I was going to have to be induced again. I was still dilated to a 3, no change from the previous week. Having a baby that day was not on my mind AT ALL. In fact I was thinking as I lay in bed talking to Blake ..."There is no way she is coming today."

"So Honey, what are we going to do today? What project can we tackle?" I said to Blake as we both lay there. We were waiting for Maycee to wake up so we would have a good excuse to get out of bed.

There was nothing that we really "HAD" to do that day. Blake did have a scout thing at 9 and I also had a massage scheduled for the same time, which I was looking very forward too :)

Our ideas for what we could do that day were interrupted by our little princess Maycee, running in our room with a big smile that said, "Time to get up sleepyheads! Time to get out of bed!" So there our day began...

I made one of my favorite breakfasts, hash browns and eggs. We sat down to eat about 8 o'clock. While we ate I noticed I was having some discomfort in my "stomach area". I know this is a T.M.I. but it felt like I had to go to the bathroom, #2. It felt like menstrual cramps. I had had contractions before, but they never felt like this. I had a couple of these "discomforts" during breakfast but really didn't think anything of them. I let Blake know they were happening, but told him I wasn't sure what they were. I thought it was gas or something. After breakfast I did try going to the bathroom, nothing came. However, the "discomforts" did keep coming.

It was 8:30 now and breakfast was over. I had tried getting a hold of my mom to ask if this is what contractions/labor felt like. I was really in denial about this being labor. Of coarse the one time I REALLY needed her to answer the phone and she didn't have it!! (she was at a song practice) So I started timing these (now we will call them contractions) contractions. They we pretty steady, coming every 4-5 minutes... lasting roughly 30-45 seconds. Blake was out front with Maycee, cleaning out his car. Had been since breakfast was over, so he hadn't seen me in the discomfort that I was now frequently experiencing. I poked my head outside about ten till 9 and said, "Honey, you need to come inside..... we need to talk."

Blake came in with Maycee. I told him he should probably call the scout master and let him know that he was probably not going to make it, that he thought maybe his wife was in labor. He called. By this time I had also cancelled my massage. (sad moment)

I have been told by a few people that if you think you are in labor, change what your activity. If its false labor the contractions will go away. If its true labor the contractions will continue.

I told Blake we needed to try out this theory. I was sure that this must be false labor. I still didn't think my body would really be doing this on its own..... silly me. So we put Maycee in the stroller and headed off around the block with our walking shoes, stop watch, and cell phone. (still had been trying to get a hold of my mom) It was a wild walk! We went around the block just once, I couldn't go any further. Those contractions were coming very often and VERY painfully! As we were walking up the driveway here comes my mom, flying around the corner in her car. She jumped out. Before she could say anything I said, "Where is your phone?!" (maybe with just a LITTLE attitude :) Not to mention I was right in the middle of a contraction at that point) She responded with, " How far apart are they?" (referring to the contractions)

"2 minutes," I said. They had been that way since we started the walk at about 9:15. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?! GET TO THE HOSPITAL!" Deep down inside I knew she was right but I was nervous. I had been waiting for this moment for several days. It was here. I was scared. Still in denial I said, "No, no, I'm not in labor." Mom just laughed. We exchanged a few more words and then she got Maycee's things and left with her. She did convince us that we need to go to the hospital. After I got a shower of coarse :)

Once showered and in the car it was about 9:45. Contractions still strong, REALLY strong. Did my make up in the car. Sent "the" text message to family that we were on our way to the hospital. Parked. Had to finish another contraction before we could get out. Made our way inside. Even though I had pre- registered at the hospital they still had to ask us a bunch of questions.... Still living at......? Still working for.......? Phone number is........? Blah. Blah. Blah. Can you just let me in all ready?! Anyway, before we went into triage I looked at the clock, 10:00am straight up.

They put us in a half room and gave me the "robe." As I was changing behind the curtain I could hear the nurses outside.... "We are going to admit her. I can tell by the look on her face its time." That was kinda nice to hear. I could be rest assured now this was "real labor". Two Nurses came in shortly thereafter. One to ask more questions and the other to see how dilated I was. Nurse #1..... "When was the last time you ate?" I explained my morning breakfast. They were all amazed that I had got up and made breakfast. That made me kind of proud :) Nurse #2 was checking me now. (Remember at my last appointment I was only a 3. I had only been having contractions for about an hour and a half so I figured I would be at a 5 by now.) Nurse #2 said, "Well you are at a 7."

"WHAT!? Am I going to have time for an epidural?!" I blurted out. I was a little panicky now. I couldn't believe I was already at a 7! And I needed some medicine before anything else happened!

The next 30 min were crazy! I was wheeled into an actual room now. More nurses joined the other two. They were flying everywhere! Preparing things. Hooking my belly up to monitors. Having me sign legal papers. Calling out orders. Starting me on an I.V. Drawing blood. All sorts of crazy stuff. All while I am still having these crazy contractions! And they were still asking questions, I could hardly focus on the answers they needed. But then "She" came in, Sara, and I knew everything was going to be better in just a few minutes.

Sara gave me an epidural :)

Awwwwww........ Much better now. Everything started to slow down. All the extra nurses were gone now. Just Cherie was with us, my labor nurse. I had a cup of ice. From the waist down I was warm and tingly. A good tingle. Not that kind you have when a body part falls asleep. Things were good :)

About 12:00 I was checked again. Still at a 7. The epidural had really slowed things down. But wait..... what was that..... I could feel warm water. When Cherie checked, my water broke.

12:25. (I remember the time because I told Blake he could quote me later on it) I remember looking at the clock and telling Blake, "She is going to be here with in a hour. I can just tell. Its gonna be soon."

Cherie came in just then and asked if I was feeling any pressure. I told her just the slightest bit. She went ahead and checked me again. "Your at a 9." At this point she went ahead and helped me roll over. I had been lying on my right side because the epidural was not numbing that side as well. As soon as she rolled me over I could feel things happening. The pressure to push was getting more and more intense with each contraction. I had about 4 more contractions and told Cherie it was time to push, I could feel it. She checked me again and I was at a 10. Lydia was right there just waiting.

She had already been preparing the room for delivery. She went and called the doctor. Dr. Beck was the on call Dr. My Doctor, Dr. Layton was out of town.... skiing. What a bum! :( (really I was okay with it.)

Dr. Beck arrived. I had done one "practice" push with Cherie before he arrived. Blake was watching and said, "She's bald!" That was a shock to me. Especially after having Maycee with all that hair!!

Dr. Beck suited up and I pushed again. Head was out. Another contraction came, and I pushed again. Dr. said give me everything you got. (shoulders were tight fit. Stuck for a bit. Blake said from his angle Dr. Beck was tugging pretty hard on her) She was out after that second push. WOO HOO!!! 12:48pm and Lydia was here! 8lbs. 3 0z. 20 and 1/4in.

It was an amazing experience! They plopped her up on me. Blake and I got to hold and talk to her for about 10 minutes before they whisked her away to measure and weigh and do all they do.

We are so happy to have her here with us. She is such a pleasant little thing. And oh so precious! We love our Litte Miss Lydia :)

*****************************************************************

Okay, So I have to point out a few things..... I was so proud of myself :)

Did you happen to notice the time line?! From the time I started having contractions to the time the baby was here was only 4 HOURS!!! (and 18 minutes) WOW!!! That was super fast! Especially compared to my induction with Maycee that was 15 hours...... I just really couldn't believe it was so fast.

So ya, I chickened out and got the epidural again. Maybe some day I'll be brave :)

Also, two pushes! really?! Thats Aweesome April! Way to go. (I pushed for about 20 minutes with Maycee, so this was an improvement from last time.)

Welcome Little Miss Lydia!

here she is our cute little new addition to the family! 8 lbs 3 oz and 20.25 inches. She is happy and doing well as is April.