Wife and A Life at 30 (+)!: Pure Bliss.

September 20, 2015: Tonight we sit spending our third night home with our newest addition. What a blessing we have received. She is truly perfect.

We woke on the morning of September 14, 2015 with much anticipation of the arrival of Baby C. I think I maybe slept a total of 2 hours that night. Partly cause I was up with Z&Z, partly due to updating this blog, and maybe a little bit due to having some tears.

Ready to meet this little one. Going to miss this belly and your little movements.

We were ready to go and ready to meet this little one but both Andy and I had a lot of anxiety. It is so much different to go in and have everything planned and laid out, plus you know what is going to happen. It was a lot easier when it was somewhat of an emergency and things just happened fast.

We arrived at the hospital and were greeted by all my purple friends. We were to be there at 5:15. They preped me for a c/s, went over how things would go, the Dr came into talk with us along with the anesthesiologist. I have to laugh as one of my biggest concerns was making sure the anesthesiologist gave me a good epidural and that I did not get sick or itchy afterwards. I told him my epidural in SLC was great, and he had big shoes to fill. HAHA.

Here we go again.

I was wheeled back to the OR. My nerves were definitely taking over as I was super shaky back there. It was so nice to have my friends at my side to talk to me and keep me calm. The epidural went great. I had my Dr there and one other who is also great and who is the same Dr. that shipped us out to SLC. It was actually pretty cool as two of the nurses there came in just for me along with the scrub tech who came in for just for me and had to work later that night. I felt pretty special.

My best friend. I am glad he takes a moment to capture this photo.

They called for Andy to come in. I was so glad to see him. I just laid there and held his hand (partly hoping he didn't pass out) but also just taking in the moment. Again, he got to announce the sex of the baby. They told him to stand up and look over the drape. He stood up (again I was worried he would pass out) I was waiting patiently. He said he couldn't see right away and he actually got to see them pull her out. He then said "IT'S A GIRL!" I was so thrilled (and bit shocked). My favorite moment was seeing Andy's reaction after he announced it and sat down. I will never forget it. I would of been happy either way. She did great. She didn't give the biggest cry in the beginning. I honestly think Zoe may of cried more in the beginning, Zayne may of even had a bigger cry. They took her to the warmer for about 5 minutes to get her crying and make sure her breathing was good. They then handed her to me. I was truly so happy to have this moment. I didn't want her to leave. I remember too, everyone in the OR was just amazed at her eyelashes. I used to always tell Andy, when we have kids I hope they get your thick, full, long eyelashes. So far it looks as though that gene is winning.

I can't even express how thankful I am that this beautiful little girl got to stay with me, skin to skin, all through recovery and to my room on postpartum. It was so different than having the twins and something I truly needed to experience. I never let her leave our room. She was with us the whole time. I loved it. If fact, Andy and I got home with her and realized she didn't even get a bath before leaving the hospital. Which, is actually fine with me. I did not want her to have a bath on the first day anyways, It was fun to have her here and give her her first bath. She only went to the nursery for her weights. Speaking of weight this little one weighed in at 6# 14 oz. (I think she took on a lot of the fluid you get when you are prepped for a C/S) and went home at 6# 3 oz, he recent check up she was 6# 8oz. Her length was 20 1/4 although that may be off a bit or due to the amount of fluids you get in during a C/S as her check up length was 19 1/2.

My favorite photo. Pure happiness.

Love.

I recovered great. Actually I attempted to take pain meds and it made me feel awful and completely out of my element. I should of listened to my gut instinct. When I recovered from Z&Z I took pain pills for about 24 hours then went to just Ibuprofen with an occasional pain pill here and there. As soon as I stopped taking the pain pills this time I felt wonderful. This recovery has been just as good as Z&Z, besides- I am so busy I don't really have time to think of it. But, I am thankful I am able to bounce back fairly quickly.

It was busy while we were there. Lots of my coworkers/purple family stopping in to say Hi. Also my Sister and Dad were out here to help take care of the twins. I am so thankful that they were able to come out and help. I felt so comfortable leaving them since my Sister is a Nurse and my Dad also has a medical background. Although I was quite sad leaving that am, There were lots of tears. It was so nice to receive pics of them up and eating breakfast and taking their am nap. I have to laugh as they gave my Dad and Sister a run for their money. My Dad said "I haven't work 40 hours that hard ever." HAHA. Once again my Dad brought his bag pipes for Zayne, and rocked Zayne to sleep each night listening to bag pipes. Needless to say it is almost a nightly/daily routine listening to bagpipe music in this household but, somehow it works.

So Beautiful. (1 day old)

My heart is overflowing.

We were not settled on a name going into the delivery. We had a list of boy names and a list of girl names. Andy said we would have a name by "vikings kickoff on Monday night." But, we didn't. Ziah was always on our list of girl names. We wanted to go with another Z name although we had one other name picked out that was not a Z name. But, the minute I saw her I knew that was not the name for her. On Tuesday morning Andy said we needed to pick her name. He said he liked Ziah the most because it was so pretty "for a pretty little girl." We also didn't have a middle name. I randomly stumble across Analeigh on Monday night. I really liked it and so did Andy. He felt it fit well with Ziah and was beautiful. I also liked it because it is part his name and part my name (first name). Next was the spelling. I wanted her middle name to be after me or Andy. I loved Analeigh but I did not like that it started with "anal." So, we figured out our own spelling. Maybe someday she will be mad at us or maybe she will love it because it is unique and different. But, Ziah Ahnallie Zehren it is. Ziah means "the light, or glow" (my niece is also Mya). Ahnallie means "favor or grace." I think given the situation we were in and Ziah's story her name fits well. I stumble across this last night and had to add it in. I think it came to me for a reason and goes with her story and the meaning. It was a picture of lit match that said "light has no shadow," with the bible verse, "God is light, in him there is no darkness at all."

You were meant to be here with us.

Overall this experience has been amazing. Fast, but amazing. It is so crazy how different it is/was. Having a full term baby vs. a preterm baby with a extensive NBICU stay.It is amazing how much love you have for someone. I love her so much, from the minute I saw her. I had so many fears, I was so nervous, so scared, and so sad at times for what was too come. Obviously I knew it would work out but these feelings are inevitable after going through what we have gone through. Ziah is such a great baby. I just look at her and hold, it's amazing to me to think that she felt all the emotions I went through. And, now she is here and it's like she looks at us like "it's going to be okay." And, it will. We got this and I continue to tell myself that daily. There is no one else that could do what Andy and I are doing right now. 3 under 13 1/2 months is crazy. But, I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way. I am truly truly blessed to be able to stay home and raised these 3 amazing little humans.

PS. It has taken me nearly two weeks to write this post. Mainly because my days are busy. I can't help but look back with tears in my eyes and wonder have I captured it all? I want to remember every moment and it goes all too fast.

"If I know what love is it is because of you." (all of you)

*Lots of pictures. I couldn't narrow it down. Enjoy.

Oh and one quick story for the memory book. I went to get a pedicure the Friday before Ziah was born (thanks to a lovely co-worker that insisted I get out of the house.) I went to this new spa in town. The lady that did my toes was Vietnamese. She asked me what colors I would like. I told her pink and blue and handed her the polish. She looked at me confused. I pointed to my belly and said this little one is coming on Monday and we don't know what it is so Pink and Blue. She says Okay pink and blue, but it's a girl! As we got to talking she asked about Z&Z and she would talk about baby C and always say "She." I told her you are very confident that it is a girl?! She said yes, it is a girl, in my country we know. She said because my belly was narrow and flat that = girl, narrow and pointy = boy. She then goes on to say "you have 2 girls and then 2 boys." I said no, I think just 3. She says, no- in my country we know- 2 girl 2 boy!

Well she was right about the girl. I have to stop in and see her again so that she knows she was right. 2 girls 2 boys???

Oh and she went on to paint my toes pink, all but 1 blue one "just in case."