Hey Blogger World! I'm Back!

Okay so I haven't posted anything for a few months now and soooo much has happened since I last posted.
Most importantly, I'm now a "Mommy"! and I'm lovin it! My life revolves around my little angel and I love it.
Leah is 14 weeks old already! She is 12 lbs and 24 inches. She hardly ever cries, she's slept through the night since we brought her home and she laughs and smiles all the time. I don't know how Ben and I got so lucky with such a perfect little baby girl.
So part of the reason that I haven't posted in so long is quite frankly because I'd rather be spending time with her. The other reason I haven't posted is because of the nightmare labor and delivery we experienced. I know that most ladies post their experience minute by minute and I was actually fearing it. It took about 2 months but I'm finally at terms with it. But because of that, I was kind of intimidated to post anything. But then I realized by not posting, I'm keeping beautiful photos and memories of my little Leah to myself. So here goes. The following are photos from the last 5 months of my life.

The Baby Showers:

Shower #1
This shower was given to us by my friends Megan and Katie.

For one of the games the men had to race to see who could empty the bottle the fastest. Ben sucked so hard that he got a blood blister on his lip.

Ben loves opening gifts!

Shower#2

This shower was given by The Young Women from my ward.

Shower #3

This was a family shower given by my sisters.

Shower #4

This shower was given by my work friends.

I'm still using diapers from my showers. Thank goodness!

There were baby clothes strung all the way around the room!

The Aftermath of all 4 showers. Thank you everyone!

Brookie's (my niece) 1st Birthday

Brooke is one of my most favorite kids. She turned 1 on November 19th.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving at my dad's we had 3 families over, the Oril's (my family), the Winters' and the Lam's

I was trying to get creative with my photography. It looks like Kerry is a giant holding up my cousin Eric, but he's actually standing about 20 yards behind her and I'm taking the photo from the ground.

Kerry and Brookie's Photo Shoot

Brooke Erin Lam - 1 year

Kerry Lee Lam - 6 years old

Sweet Little Sisters

In November Brooke turned 1 and in December Kerry turned 6.

Kerry is the BEST big sister I've ever seen.

So when I was doing Kerry and Brookie's photos, my step-mom asked me if I could do a few of her and my dad too.

These two are perfect for each other.

So my cousin Eric saw I was taking pictures of my dad and Kayla and asked if I could take some of him and his girly friend Nina

Kerry's 6th Birtday Party

Kerry turned 6 on December 16th (my due date) but on the 11th she had a birthday party. The girls all came dressed in their pj's and got manicures, face's painted and decorated cupcakes, which were used as Kerry's birthday cake. It was really so much fun! I was really tired after this party and never expected I'd go into labor the next morning!

Leah's Birthday!!! - December 13, 2009

Okay, so here's how our L&D went. When I was about 3 months pregnant I started practicing hypnobabies. Hypnobabies teaches you self hypnosis as a natural anestesia. I always wanted and all natural, meaning no drugs and having the baby the way nature intended. Well about 2 months before Leah was born, my doctor said that my pelvis was too small and Leah would be too big, so we would have to do a c-section. I made it clear to him before and several times after him telling me this, that I would like to have our child naturally, or at the very least, give it a good try. Well, every appointment after this, Dr. Yang would try to pressure me into scheduling a c-section. When he realized how adamant I was about not having a c-section, he tried pressuring me into inducing. I wasn't even past my due date and he wanted to induce me. Then 5 days before my due date, Dr. Yang checked me and said I was no where near ready to give birth. He said that even if he did induce me that he didn't think that my body could naturally handel a vaginal birth. Whatever!!! Didn't he see my hips!

Anywho, the next morning at 3:45am I went to the bathroom and noticed a little bit of blood. I thought it was just from the exam the day before and went back to bed. In bed I started cramping but not too bad so I went back to sleep. Then at around 9am, I went to the bathroom again and noticed a lot more bleeding and more cramping. I got scared and told Ben then we called the hospital and they told us to come in. After loading the car with our bags and the carseat and after rescuing a stray dog in the rain, we got to the hospital around 11am. By then I was cramping a lot more and finally realized I was and had been in labor. I was doing fine. Ben was coaching me with the hypnobabies and we were doing great. After an exam in the hospital the nurse said I had lost my mucus plug (hence all the blood) and that I was dialated to 1 cm. I was expecting they'd send me back home to labor some more but after contacting my doctor he told them to admit me. Then he came in around 1:00pm and again said we should do a c-section. When I reminded him for the 100th time that I wanted to try a natural birth he shook his head and suggested Pitocin to speed up the labor. (I later found out that he had a game of golf scheduled the next day and didn't want my delivery to interupt his game) I declined the pitocin and he shook his head again and said "FINE!" and left. What a JERK!!! So in the hospital I was laboring naturally. I was dialating normally and practicing my hypnobabies. Our first nurse was amazing! She was so supportive of my birth plan and my desire for a natural birth. She even stood up to the doctor and put him in his place when he came in and tried to tell me he HAD to break my water to speed up the labor. Again he left shaking his head. Then finally at about 8:30pm my water broke on it's own when I was squatting down during a contraction. Then the labor started getting out of control! I was having really bad contractions for about 4 hours. Towards the end, the contractions were one right after the other. I had no break in between. We were still doing hypnobabies and Ben was the best labor coach ever! I know I couldn't have gone as far as I did if it weren't for him. Then about 12:30am he saw how much pain I was in and asked me if I wanted an epidural. I knew how scared he was about how much pain I was in and once he said that word I felt like he had read my mind. I totally thought I could do it naturally but the pain totally threw me off gaurd and I think all the negative pressure from my doctor really made me fearful which totally threw off hypnobabies and made the pain worse. So once I got the epidural it was like a magic shot! The pain was gone instantly and the only way I knew I was having a contraction was when Ben told me seeing it on the monitor. It was seriously amazing. I was fully dialted by 3:30am and began pushing. The new nurse was not very encouraging and was just going by everything the doctor was saying. She had me start pushing but kept telling me I was not progressing and that the baby was still floating and that I should just go in for a c-section. I pushed for about 2 hours and still no progress. At about 6am the doctor had called and told me that the baby was in distress and there was miconium in my water. He told me (over the phone) that the baby was still floating and not going to come out vaginally and that if I didn't do a c-section right away the baby could die. I finally was so tired, discouraged and scared and agreed. At 7:00am the doctor arrived and they started preping me for surgery. Ben was so upset. He really wanted to assist with the birth and cut the cord but he knew that if we did the c-section it wouldn't be possible. During the surgery, when the doctor was trying to pull Leah out, he found that her head was already engaged in my pelvis so much that a nurse had to go in vaginally and push Leah's head back up into my uterus! Then the doctor was able to pull her out. This was even more upsetting because I realized that If I was able to go a little longer, I could have had her vaginally. At 7:37 Leah came into the world! At this point when I heard her cry and saw her precious little face I didn't care how she came into the world, I was just happy that she was here. Unfortunatly, Leah had aspirated the miconium on her way out and was rushed to the NICU where she spent the 1st 7 days of her life. When the doctor was sewing me back up, he said to me, "See, if you would have just listened to me from the beginning none of this would have happened and you would have your baby in your arms right now." I was so upset and promised myself that after the stay in the hospital I would never go back to that doctor again! There was no way in the world that the doctor would have known that Leah was going to aspirate the miconium. He was saying that my pelvis was too small, that's why he wanted to do the c-section. I truly feel that if I have a more encouraging doctor I'll be able to deliver naturally next time. Unfortunatly, most hospitals in California are not allowing vbacs and most doctors encourage no more than 3 c-sections. Which is our biggest upset about the whole L&D since we'd like to have a big family.

18 hours after her birth was the 1st time that we could hold our little baby. Once she arrived in the NICU, they didn't even let Ben touch her except for a blessing. They said that she was really in a critical state and that any stimulation could send her down hill. I called the NICU 3 hours after Ben and his dad blessed her to check on her and the nurse said that she was doing amazingly well and that we could come down in a few hours and actually hold her!

It was so sad to see all the IV's and monitors all over the baby. She even had to have a little feeding tube down her throat then through her nose. The third day was when I was finally able to start nursing her

After 3 days in the NICU Leah was doing so well they moved her into the NICU where they babies who aren't as critical go.

Leah's new digs in the Bay 5 NICU

These were taken on Leah's last day in the NICU

Leah's 1st Car Ride

The day she came home!

Leah with "Uncle T"

Everyone said how much Leah looked like her daddy. This was when I first realized it.

Leah's 1st Bath

She hated it! But now she love's them!

Leah's 1st Christmas

I was soooo sick on Christmas day so I didn't get many pictures that day.

Leah' sprayed me with poop!

That's my leg and shirt.

Leah's 1st Photo Shoot

Our friends invited us to their new home for lunch and a photo shoot. The pictures came out so amazing! We just love them!

Leah and Her Future Husband

Leah's future father-in-law - Jason, Leah's future husband - Ammon, Leah and Daddy

Leah's Umbilical Cord Came Off!

Finally on January 2nd

Leah's 1st Visit with Spud

Leah's 1st Beach Trip

A Visit with Cousins

Leah's 1 Month Pics

Tiny toes

Leah's 2nd Beach Trip

Leah loves bathtime!

But hates tummy time.

Leah's 2 Month Old Pic

Leah's 1st Disneyland Trip

Leah's 1st Set of Immunizations

Like Daddy, Leah loves naps!

Leah's 1st Trip to the Tidepools

This was the most amazing tidepools I had ever seen!

Leah's 1st Trip to Nojoqui Falls


Bath Time Pics

Leah's 2nd Trip to Disneyland

My Little Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping is seriously Leah's favorite pastime! She has slept through the night ever since we brought her home. I even had to wake her up every 3 hours to make sure she'd eat!