He is Risen!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend as a family of five. On Saturday, we colored and decorated eggs...

On Sunday, we went to Gamma and Papi's house for dinner and egg hunting. Joshua and Makayla had a great time searching for the eggs, and came home with a lot of loot. Leah enjoyed snuggle time with Great-Grandma Padilla and Aunt Kathy. The kids (and Mom and Dad) were worn out by the end of the day!

Who does she look like?

Here is a collage of all three kids on their birth days...

(L) Joshua on 9/7/10          (M) Makayla on 1/17/12          (R) Leah on 4/7/14

And then there were three...

When Makayla was born, Joshua was only 16 months old, so he was pretty unaware of what Makayla's arrival meant for him. This time around, the kids are a little older, so it has been interesting to see their reaction to Leah coming home. Joshua is in love with his little sister, and is so gentle with her. He likes to hold her, and give her kisses on the forehead. He is also my little "go-fer", so I call upon him when I need something for Leah. And then there's Makayla... She is a little indifferent towards Leah at this point. It is taking her a little bit of time to work through the fact that she is no longer the only girl, and no longer the youngest in the family. Middle child syndrome has begun. Here are some pictures of Leah's homecoming with Brother and Sissy:

She's here!!!

Little Leah Grace is here!!! She was born on Monday, April 7th, at 2:17pm. She weighed in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces (yay for being under 9 pounds!), and measured 19 inches long. She is perfect in every way, and has stolen our hearts.

I kind of feel guilty in saying this, but the labor and delivery were pretty easy this go around...all praise to God! I went in on Sunday night to get "prepped" for induction. Basically, this means my body was not quite ready to go into labor with the help of Pitocin, so I needed an extra little something to get going. When we first arrived, we found out Leah was already playing tricks, and instead of being head down, she was sideways. We couldn't do anything until she was head down, so I was put into a very uncomfortable position with this huge peanut exercise ball,

 in an effort to have gravity move her head down. Thankfully, it worked, and I didn't have to try another position change! After she moved to a head down position, I was given a drug called Misoprostol, which would start uterine contractions and prep me for receiving Pitocin. It's safe to say my body responded well to the drug because it jump-started labor to the point where I didn't even need the Pitocin. Within four hours of receiving the medicine, the contractions were 2-4 minutes apart, and I was ready for the epidural. The anesthesiologist squeezed me in right before a surgery, and the rest of the labor and delivery was sweet serenity! I labored for another seven hours, pushed for maybe 15 minutes, and out came Leah surfing through all of that extra amniotic fluid I had. And there she was, beautiful and perfect!

The End is in Sight!

I feel like the end is in sight! We have 11 more days until my induction date, but are still hoping for a miracle that she would come on her own before then. I finally took a picture a couple of weeks ago for those of you out-of-towners. At least Leah will have one preggo picture on down the road.

4 Weeks to Go!

We had another ultrasound and appointment yesterday for Miss Leah. She continues to measure about two weeks ahead, and ultrasound measurements have her at just under 7.5 pounds. I was 7 lbs, 3 oz when I was born, so it's crazy to think that she has already surpassed that with 4 weeks to go! Once again, they are projecting another 9 pounder. I wish I could say we (Andrew, my doc, and I) were all shocked by the news, but it's what we've come to expect with our babies. The amount of amniotic fluid rose a little bit since the last ultrasound, but still nothing to worry about at this point. The extra fluid does make for a very active baby as it creates an easier environment to maneuver rolls and somersaults. She moves a lot, and was going crazy during the appointment, so I have a feeling she's going to be a little firecracker. She performed well on her movement, breathing, and heartbeat tests, so everything else looks good. She was being shy, so unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of her face. As long as I can keep my sugars in check, I won't have anymore ultrasounds, and I'll only have to do the normal weekly appointments. We have an induction date set for April 7th, so that will be the big day unless she decides to come early. I'm not holding my breath as it seems all of our kids are very content staying in Mama's belly and hanging out. So, that's it...now we wait...

Leah - 32 Weeks

Yesterday, I had an ultrasound and doctor's appointment. I'm currently at 32-weeks, so just a couple months left. Everything looked good on the ultrasound. Leah is measuring almost two weeks ahead at this point, so it looks like we're bound to have another big baby. The ultrasound also showed a little bit of excess amniotic fluid. The normal range is 5-25, and mine was 27, so nothing too crazy. I guess gestational diabetes can cause higher levels of fluid, so it's not a big surprise, and the doctor isn't very concerned about it. Needless to say, I'm feeling quite big with a bigger baby and excess fluid!

As for the gestational diabetes, things are going great so far (praise God!). I'm into week two of the three-week program, and my numbers have been great. Even though I can't have the milkshake I've been craving, I'm finding that I can have some guilty pleasures in moderation every now and then like pizza and pancakes. While it does take some planning, it hasn't been terrible, and we've had some pretty tasty, and healthy, meals. That being said, I will probably never look at a carb in the same way after this! My doc said that if my numbers continue to look good, I won't have to go on meds, and I will be able to cut down testing from four times a day to twice a day after the program is up. I wouldn't need to have any additional appointments, and we wouldn't have to approach labor and delivery any differently. So...keep praying that my hormones don't get wacky, and that I can control my numbers through diet.

I think that pretty much sums up my appointments yesterday. Below are some pictures from the ultrasound. It's amazing how much more you can see since the last ultrasound 10 weeks ago. 

There's that nose that runs in the family!

Giving a wave

Just kickin' it!