October

October was an eventful month for the Fisher clan. I decided to take up a small part time job at Linder Farms just for the pumpkin patch season, which meant Tomás or Maritza (my mother in law) was watching Indigo while I was gone. I pumped during my shift and it all worked out. Indigo did great and took the bottle no problem. She even started to hold it up herself! Or so I heard. She won't take the bottle from me.

Tomás continues to work two jobs: as a teacher and a driver's ed instructor after school. We were both busy busy. He's also still been playing with our band, 605 to San Gabriel. They had 5 gigs this month. AND on top of that he is restoring an old '65 Buick Skylark with the help of our friend Jason. Let's just say he has enough things to take up all his time. Once it's up and running, though, we'll have a second car which will be nice.

I also decided to chop all my hair off this month! No more hair for baby Indigo to pull. She had quite the grip, and to be honest I missed my pixie cut from the college days. It was time. It's nice having all that hair off. The ends were getting nasty anyway, since I wanted to keep it long this summer, and all that straightening, etc. I needed to cut those ends off. I love it short! It's fun. I love wearing earring too, and you can see when better when there's no hair in the way!

Indigo turned 6 months on the 25th of October! That day also happens to be my sister Miriam's birthday, and it's just two days after the 4th anniversary of my mother's death, who died just a few months after Tomás and I were wed. While commemorating the half year after Indigo's birth, I reflected much on my mother, and what an amazing mom she was. Sometimes I think of the things she would do with Indigo, were she here. How she'd play with her, and make sure she's warm and bundled up. We are so blessed to have our baby and I thank Him every day in our prayers for her.

This month was also Indigo's first real photo shoot session, which we had done by Kylie Turley on the 21st. She did so well. I'm excited to have some great family portraits. AND it was her first Halloween! We had a blast dressing up our family together. Tomás went as the "man with no name" from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. One of Clint Eastwood's most classic characters. I was an Indian, and baby was Tomás' money bag. We dressed up early and had a little pre-Halloween photo shoot south of town in the desert, then headed to our ward's dinner and trunk or treat. Poor baby was doing fine until the actual trunk or treat part. We tried to get her to grab the candy from peoples' bowls and she just busting out crying after a few trunks. There were a TON of kids, noise, and it was dark. I think she'd had enough. She was fine once we came back home. Tomás also dressed up for trick or treaters on Halloween and shot his cap gun at them while blasting his theme song outside our front door. I think he had a good time.

Indigo keeps growing, and getting stronger and louder. She's just about sitting up on her own, and is quick to grab. We have to keep things WAY out of her reach. She's fast! You don't even see her coming and BAM she's got it. Her baby babble is starting to sound more and more like baby talk instead of babble. It's the cutest thing ever. At her 6 month appointment, she weighed in at 19 lbs, 15 oz (basically 20 lbs) and 27.5 inches long. Even though she's not at the weight or height requirements to get a bigger carseat, we already had to. She was too chunky for that little one! I had those straps at their maximum and I could barely buckle her in. So, we headed to Target and got her a big girl carseat, still rear facing of course. She's just now getting used to it, as we've had her in it for a couple weeks now.

We also just started to put her to sleep in her own crib! in her own room! The co-sleeper next to our bed was great, but she's just too big for it now. She's been doing pretty well in her own room. We bought a baby monitor since our walls are so thick. Our little one is just growing up! So many changes. I guess that's normal when a baby turns 6 months. I still remember her so tiny in my arms after her birth. We sure love our baby chunker. She's still the happiest, giggliest baby I've ever met or seen. We are so grateful for her cheerfulness. She just brightens our day.

Summer with Indigo

I know, I know, it's been forever since I posted. I don't really have any excuses, except that I've been lazy. After Indigo's first month, we finally started to adjust and live our life more normally. We traveled a decent amount this summer, and it's been a fun adventure with our adorable Indie. In June, we spent a week at the Oregon coast with my siblings and their families. We stayed at a beach house, smelled the salty air, and relaxed. It was a much needed beach trip. In July, we spent one night with the youth at a youth conference, and spent the rest of the month doing band gigs, hanging out, swimming, and trying to keep up with our garden! We're growing strawberries, tomatoes, pumpkins, and watermelons. It's our first real garden and we're pretty excited. The weeding gets a little crazy sometimes, as does our home, but slowly and surely I've been able to keep up with baby and the house. It's a juggle sometimes! We went camping with the Ormsby's in early August and that was Indigo's first camping trip! At 3 months old, she was a champ. Slept great, was happy. I love the outdoors, and that also was a much needed camping trip! We hadn't been camping in a few years.

School just started and due to Tomás being gone during the day, I get to spend lots of time with Indigo. Reading to her, playing, singing. She's the smiliest baby in the world, and her laugh is to die for. She sleeps and eats well... and you can tell! She's a chunker now. Cute little bugger. I can't believe how big she is getting. She's hitting those common milestones: rolling over, almost sitting up, grabbing everything in sight, babbling and talking. It's been amazing to watch her grow. Really, seeing babies learn and grow is one of the greatest things to see. I didn't understand it until we had our own little one. Life is moving along, and having a child is so much fun. Of course it's hard work, but that little smile makes it all worth it every time.

On a personal note, I'm slowly losing more and more weight (not intentionally) from breastfeeding. After hitting my pre-pregnancy weight about a month after Indigo was born, I'm still losing weight. I guess it's nice for me, but sometimes I'm afraid I'm not eating enough to keep up with all the work my body is doing. Did I mention I still haven't really exercised? It's been a struggle. I go on walks with baby... and I did Insanity once, but it's hard to make time when there's all sort of other stuff to do. I guess I just need to prioritize better.

Tomás is keeping himself busy always writing new music for the band. We have lots of shows coming up this fall, so it should be fun. Indigo loves it when he plays. He also started a new project this summer: restoring an old muscle car. We scored a Skylark for $300, and he's taken it upon himself to make it all nice again. Our friend Jason is helping him with that. Once we can get it really up and running, we'll have another vehicle, which will be nice for me.

 I love the summer, but I think I equally love the fall. It's been so hot. It will be a nice change when the weather starts cooling down finally. I have a feeling it won't be until the end of the month to early October when that happens. It's still in the high 80s during the day here. Tomás' brother Jared comes home from his mission in Cambodia in December and we CAN'T WAIT! I know I can't. We're all flying up to Washington to see his homecoming, then heading down here for Christmas. It will be Indigo's first Christmas! Fun fun fun. The future is bright, and we are excited for our adventures ahead.

Baby's first month

Indigo turned a month old, and it sure has been a roller coaster having a new little person around. She is quite the little doll. We're very lucky to have her in our life, and I never loved anything more than her (and my hubby of course!) She's our little bundle of joy. She smiles at us, and can look at us, which melts our heart every time. She's a great baby though, and only cries when there's a good reason. We've loved learning more about her, and about life with a baby. It's definitely an adjustment!

For the first few weeks, she was sleeping great at night (5-7 hour stretches)... almost too great since she wasn't gaining weight like she should. At 3 weeks she hit a growth spurt, and ever since then she's been eating like crazy, but not sleeping as much. Darn! And I thought I was going to have it good. Tomás has been a great support for me though, and makes her nighttime feedings like a sleepover. Whenever I wake to feed her, he gets up and whips out our laptop and an episode of Flight of the Conchords for me to watch while she feeds, and grabs me a snack or drink if I need it. It makes getting up at night a little more enjoyable. Sometimes we don't finish an episode in one sitting, but we always get back to it within a few hours. :)

Indigo's already had many of her "firsts." Her first blowout, first walk outside, first trip to the doctor's office, first bath, first major spit-up where it came out her nose too (she doesn't spit-up at all really), first outing where we forgot the diaper bag and regretted it, first trip to the movies, first newborn photo shoot (which you can view if you click HERE.) and so on. It's been a lot of fun having a little one. 

I'm strictly breastfeeding her, and it's been a learning experience for me. Her latch still isn't perfect, but we've come a long way from the start. The first few minutes after she was born, in the hospital, she wouldn't open her mouth big enough, or stay awake long enough to latch at all, and I had to self express and they fed a few tiny drops of colostrum to her with a spoon. Those few days in the hospital, I was lucky for her to feed for 5 minutes straight. I'm lucky now, she can chomp down for 30 minutes no problem. We've both grown, and I've learned so much about breastfeeding. I love it even more now than before. I'm glad I've become more comfortable with breastfeeding that I can go out in public and be confident to feed wherever I am. It's so convenient!

At Indigo's 1 month appointment, she weighed 10 lbs, 8 oz, and measured 22.5 inches long. She's growing! She's already wearing her 3-6 month clothes, and has the cutest rolls ever. We just love her to pieces. 

Indigo's Birth Story

We had our little girl! We are overjoyed at the love we have for our new Indigo Marie. Here's her birth story. For pictures from the delivery, you can check out my Facebook album "Indigo's Birth"

It all began with my water breaking around 3:30 AM on early Wednesday morning, (April 24th, which is my due date!) and I started having contractions that were about 10-15 minutes apart. Our original plan was to labor at home as long as possible, but I know hospitals are pretty strict about wanting you to come in if your water has broken, so we called to make sure, then headed over to the St. Alphonsus Family Maternity Center in Boise. Tomás teaches as Skyview High School and had to whip up a lesson plan really quick and drop it off at the school before we headed over there, so we took our time. I knew I was still in very early labor, and we ended up arriving to St. Als around 6:00 AM.

When we arrived, the nurses noted that my water was green (instead of clear, like it was at home), which indicated the baby had a bowel movement in the amniotic fluid, so they just had to keep a little more watchful eye on baby, and would have to suction her throat/lungs after birth because of that. That meant more hospital personnel in the room during birth. Boo. Of course, that wasn't in the plan originally, but it still allowed me to labor naturally as I intended.

My labor was slow and steady, and I tried to walk around as much as possible. I mainly had the contractions in my back, so my midwife said she was pretty sure the baby was posterior, and I would need to try certain positions to help the baby flip around. I did my best to try a few of them, but baby didn't want to move. My water was continuously leaking throughout my labor as well, making it harder for her to move around in there. I did labor in the tub twice, and the first time it felt great when I wasn't quite into active labor yet, but once I hit active labor the water provided no relief for my back.

I did the best with contractions standing up, leaning over a counter or walking. Tomás did double hip squeeze probably a thousand times during labor for each contraction to help me cope. That was seriously the only way I was able to make it through to the end. There's no way I would have been able to do it without him. It wasn't until I hit transition, after 21 hours of labor, that I thought to myself, "I really don't know if I can do this much longer. Is it time to push her out yet?" Luckily, we were getting closer to the end, and Tomás stayed right by my side and kept me confident. It was starting to really wear on both of us. I couldn't rest at all in between contractions since they were coming right after another, and neither could he. I needed him every single time. He really did amazing.

After 22 hours of labor, I started to get the urge to push. We tried a few different positions to see which one I would be able to stay in. I found that almost every position was brutal on my back. We tried squatting, a birth stool, all fours, and side lying. None of them felt very great. Finally, my midwife decided she would try and help rotate baby from posterior manually, with one hand inside and one hand on the outside while I laid flat on my back. With each contraction and push, she would rotate baby a little bit. After about 6-7 contractions and many pushes, we finally got her flipped. At this point, it's time to push her out, and we are at 23 hours of my water being broken, and usually they want the baby out by 24 hours, so everyone started to get antsy. Loads of people from the NICU piled into the room, as I continued to push with each contraction. As the baby descended lower, Charlotte noticed I had an anterior lip, so she helped the baby's head make it through as I pushed, which required me to stay on my back. This was not how I intended to push her out, but I coped alright.

Hour 24: I'm exhausted, my uterus is exhausted, and Charlotte is thinking that I won't be able to push this baby out. I keep trying to get the baby to crown, but it just isn't happening. Finally, Charlotte decides the best option is to use a vacuum to get her out. I am devastated. I say no at first, but then agree that if it gets her out, then let's do it. After the first two tries with the vacuum, we get close to pushing her out, but Charlotte decides I need an episiotomy because there simply isn't enough room to get this baby out. She snips me and during the final push (and with some help from the vacuum), plop! All I feel is her fly out, and the rest of my water break. We did it!

Indigo Marie Fisher was born almost exactly 24 hours after I started labor, at 3:16 AM on April 25th, 2013. She weighed 9 lbs, 4.5 oz and measured 21 inches. I got to have skin to skin with her for only a few seconds before they had to take her away and suction her lungs out, and clean her. Even with the episiotomy, I still tore 3rd degree and had to stay in bed while they stitched me up. I didn't mind it though, because she made it out! In fact, during the contractions when I pushed her out, I didn't really even feel it in front at all, as I suspected I would. You would think pushing her head and body out as your body stretches would be the most painful part, but I could only focus and feel the pain in my back. My back killed! But, I was just glad I did it, and avoided a caesarean delivery. All is well, and baby Indigo is healthy and happy at home with us now.

37 weeks and counting...

(Not my picture, but pretty cool huh?)

I'm 37 weeks along now, and feeling HUGE more than ever. I'm measuring a little bit ahead (39 cm), and have been staying that way for a week now. Tomás and I are anxious and excited to meet our little sweetie. The baby's room is finished, and today I packed our hospital bag (or rather multiple bags... seems like you need one for you, one for the baby, one with extra special items.. etc.) We just need to install the carseat, and I think we're just about ready for this baby to come!

I'm planning a natural birth (vaginal delivery with no medication), and I am stoked! We've both been going to a birthing class every week called Confident Birthing, and we love it. We're learning tons, and I feel more and more prepared and informed about birth. It makes me relieved as well, knowing what may happen and just being prepared for all outcomes. Luckily, I've had many family members do natural birth already and they've been a big help in giving me confidence and information as well. I know each woman who gives birth has an "ideal," and of course not everyone gets that. But, it's always good to think positive and in the direction you want. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good. My lower back is what's killing me the most right now. I wake up every few hours at night to roll over, or to go pee. During the day, I can't stand/walk around for more than an hour or it really starts to ache. So, I just rest and take it easy a lot of the time, while mixing in some yoga of course. Other than that, (and my constant nausea that stayed with me the entire pregnancy) I feel great!

I'm starting this old wive's tale today... something about eating 7-10 dates every day for the last few weeks of pregnancy. Apparently it's supposed to help you have the baby on time (not too late), and decreases the length of labor/helps your body progress faster... etc. Who knows! I like dates though, so I just went to WinCo and bought a big bag. I'm having this weird feeling that I won't make it to my due date. No reason why, that's just a feeling I have. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! I'm going to let my body (and the baby) decide so it's just a waiting game now.

The baby seems pretty high still, and she kicks me in the ribs non-stop. She pretty much moves non-stop actually. I sit and rock on an exercise ball a lot, to get her feet out of my stomach/ribs. I wonder if she'll come out dancing, or be so worn out from birth that she's a sleep zombie, haha. So far, we have a few names picked out, but we're going to wait until she's born to decide. Anyway, that's my little update! The next post will either be maternity pictures or when the baby is born, so stay posted!

2nd trimester!

I know, it's been forever. I'm a horrible blogger lately! Tomás takes the computer to school each day, so it's hard for me to have time in the evenings. Anyway, here's my second trimester recap! During my second trimester we drove down to Utah for Thanksgiving, and drove up to Portland for Christmas. Lots of family and traveling, which was fun. Two of my pregnancy pictures were taken in those places. I'm still sick, as far as nausea goes, and I'm just expecting it to stay the whole time. I kinda had figured this would happen. Especially with everyone saying "Oh, don't worry after the first trimester it will ease up," or "Oh, just wait until after 20 weeks, that's when I felt better." Welp, everyone, I don't think it is! hahaha... So i'm just facing the facts now. I'm on Zofran, and probably will be until I deliver. Woo! Here are my 2nd trimester photos. This trimester I grew the most from beginning to end, I think. But who knows, I'll probably be huge by the end of the 3rd. :)

It's a Girl!

As most of you may know already, we found out a few weeks ago that the baby is a girl! On Dec. 4th we went in for my 2nd trimester ultrasound. It's crazy seeing her move around so much when I can't feel her yet. But, she looks healthy, and her heartbeat is healthy... etc. etc. Seems like she's doing great!
Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound.

I'm just over halfway into my pregnancy (21 weeks), and still nauseous! Bleh. I'm on medication for that, so I feel great when I remember to take my daily nausea pill. So many people ask "So, how are you feeling? any better?" And it's like, well.... no... but when I'm on my medication I feel great! So yes? Ah. I've just been resorting to saying "yeah, I am." I guess most women start feeling better after their first trimester. I must be one of the lucky few who get to have it the whole pregnancy! Crazy. I figure, if I just expect to be nauseous the rest of the time, it will be a surprise if it ever lets up.

I haven't been able to notice her moving around until recently, when I felt a few jabs and pushes that felt like it was her moving around. Still not sure if it was, but I think so! And that's exciting. Every once in awhile I'll feel a strong ache in one corner or part of my belly, and I figure that's her moving around or changing positions.

Sometimes I forget I'm pregnant. I feel pretty normal, I just have a little pooch. It's kind of sad I can't participate in activities like ice skating, or sledding though. Boo. We haven't exactly purchased anything, persay, for her yet either. We're just waiting until it gets closer to start her nursery, I guess. We've got time! :)