new chapter in life

Holy moly, these last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotion. The 25th was Trysten's first birthday. It's crazy to think it's already been a year. The thoughts of how things would be and how he would have grown don't leave my thoughts. By now he would be eating foods, crawling, walking, saying words. Instead all we have are the memories from the few days we had with him and the love for him that will never leave our hearts. It makes me smile though knowing that Bugs remembers him everyday. It's one thing for a mother and father to remember their child but when a young sibling remembers, loves and reminds all around her it's just something a little extra special. Anytime someone asks how many are in her family or that topic somehow gets brought up she says with great conviction, "we have 5 in our family; Daddy, Mommy, Me, Brother and now Sister". It's a joy you really can't explain to hear her speak like that. To remember, love and remind those around her of her brother.



Sunday -



Monday -



Within the next week, we welcomed our little Nars into the world. That Monday when I went in for my doctor appointment he told us it would be within the next 48hrs, he would be very surprised if we were still pregnant by Thursday. So since I was already having contractions since before my appointment we decided to do a little walking and have dinner at Mom's. Things continued to feel the same for most of the evening and slowly lessened a bit but we were afraid we would get heading home or walk in the door and have to turn right around so we decided we would just spend the night at Mom's so if things progressed we only had a 10min drive instead of an hour, which turned out to be a very good idea - an hour drive I probably would have started crying, those roads are just very bumpy. I woke up about 1 am to strong contractions. At first I chalked it up to the same old I've been having all month. I got up walked around, relaxed in bed trying to get a little more sleep before we had to head home for Barry to get to work and Bugs to get to school. Then 5 am hit and they got stronger. Laying in bed was uncomfortable so I got up and roamed the house a bit to see if it was true. I didn't want to rush in since we've had so many false ones before so I held out a bit longer. Went and laid with mom chatting for a bit, went back to my bed to see if I could fall asleep a little longer - cuz if I could then things weren't going... Laying there though they seemed to continue to get stronger so we decided this could be it. Mom stayed home from work to hang out with Bugs so she didn't have to go sit in the cramped room they first put you in and she could relax in case it was false. I knew things were really progressing when Bugs was getting ready and looked at me and told Grandma I looked like I was going to cry and my face was red ;) .
Once we got into the hospital, got setup with the machine and everything we waited...waited to see if the contractions were strong and regular enough. Which doesn't really make sense to me. I understand hooking me up to see how the baby is doing and everything but why don't they check you right away to see if you're dilating or not, but none the less we waited. The contractions weren't monitoring very well because my belly is so small that it doesn't like to register them all the way. What was reading as a 30 was really more like 90. After monitoring for a bit the nurse came and and was like well they are continuing but if you haven't dilated any more (I had been a 2-3 at my appointment) then I could walk around for an hour or so and they could check me again. Great cuz you just reaffirmed my biggest fear for me, that it was just my body playing tricks on me AGAIN. To all of our surprise though she checked me and I was 8cm! Yes! I was ready and baby was ready, we're getting this show on the road :) . They moved me over and we got ready to welcome her into this world.
Now going into this I had really only anticipated Barry, Ang (to photograph), Mom (to tape) and Bugs if she wanted since it wasn't high risk or anything and my delivery room is pretty laid back and it's kind of a cool experience for her to have. Then Ma and Hannah were able to make it down before she arrived and also Grandma and Grandpa... so we had a party :) . Grandma really wanted to be in there, she had seen a grandchild be born and what an awesome thing she can say she also saw a great-grandchild. Not many get to meet their great-grandchild let alone see their 3rd be born. Since Ma and Hannah were able to make it I wanted to share it with them too. It was an amazing time welcoming our little Rainbow into this world. She truly has brought great joy to our lives already. She's now a week old such a joyful bundle that I can hardly put down.