Baby's first week :)

     We stayed in the hospital for two nights and then were able to go home on Saturday. We had to stay at the hospital a little longer than we would have liked because Andrew's bilirubin was too high and he was getting pretty yellow. They said we could go home if we got an appointment to check it the next day. So we got into a pediatrician here and checked it yesterday and it had gone down a little so that is good. It is still moderately high so we will go check it again tomorrow. We also have tried to get him out in the natural light to help the bilirubin go down. The pediatrician said Andrew has gained some weight which is really amazing for a breast fed baby because usually they lose weight for the first little while.
    It was so nice to finally get home from the hospital and be home. Andrew is a pretty good sleeper but we still have to get up every two hours to feed him. The breast feeding has been a learning curve but it is finally going pretty good. Andrew latched right on and has a really really hard suck. It was pretty rough the first little bit because he would suck so hard that I would get very sore. But now my milk is coming in great so he doesn't have to suck so hard. Now it only hurts when he first latches on. He gets such a serious game face on when he latches on and is a pretty ferocious eater for the first minute and then he relaxes. I'm really glad my mom has been here to help me with the breast feeding. She is a lactation consultant and I would definitely not have made it work without her. But now everything is going great :)
   Nights are still hard to figure out right now. Andrew is so calm and quiet during the day; he never cries. But at night his stomach gets pretty upset so he has a hard time calming down at night. I was up pretty much all night with him last night. He does really well once we get him fed, changed, and burped then he will sleep for 3 hour stretches or so which is really great.
   Today we gave Andrew his first little sponge bath. He didn't like it too much, haha. Brandon's family came to see the baby too for a week so it is fun to have them here as well. The baby is so sweet with everyone. Brandon is such a cute daddy. Andrew loves to snuggle up to him and fall asleep on his chest. It is kind of hard to have Brandon gone at school all day because it wears him out so bad and then Andrew is up most of the night so it is hard for him to get much sleep. But it is really fun to have our own little family now :)

Baby Andrew is here!

Baby Andrew Scott Hendriksen is finally here! He is the most adorable baby ever! He has the sweetest personality. He hardly ever cries and he just opens up his eyes and is curious about everything all day. Everything went very smoothly with the delivery and labor. We checked into the hospital at 7am and they started to give me petosin (can't spell) so that my contractions would get harder. After an hour or two the doctor came in and examined me and my water broke. After my water broke the contractions immediately intensified and I was in excruciating pain. I did not get the epidural fast enough. The doctors took forever coming to give me the epidural and it is a teaching hospital so they had students there learning how to give an epidural so it took even longer. I was screaming for about an hour and finally they got it in. About 10 minutes after the epidural the doctor came to check me and I was already dilated to a ten. So he said lets push. I pushed for about 15 minutes and the baby came right out. It was incredible! He is so beautiful. It was a really great blessing how well everything went. I can't believe how fast it all went. He was born at 7lbs 5 oz and 20inches long. He is a pretty big guy. We are just so excited and happy to finally have him with us :)

Anniversary :)

 Well yesterday was our 2nd Anniversary. I can't believe we have been married for two years already! The time has really flown by. Brandon bought us some salsa dancing classes that we can use in a few months for our anniversary present. I have always wanted to learn so that will be really fun. We went for a nice walk on South Beach yesterday to celebrate. I got a few really hard contractions while we were walking and some at 2 in the morning but still nothing new with the baby. The doctor said he will induce me on Thursday if I don't go into labor before then. So at least we know we only have to wait a few more days!

Baby is still not here

Well the baby decided to take his sweet time and is still sleeping in my belly. Yesterday I didn't feel the baby move all day long so we went to the hospital again and they checked me to make sure everything was ok. Once they strapped me up to the fetal monitor and things the baby started moving so he is doing great they said. My contractions are getting stronger and more regular but they don't hurt very bad yet so I am just waiting for the bigger contractions to come. The doctor this time said I was only dilated to a 2.5cm and I was 3 the day before so hopefully I'm not going backwards! I even walked way more than usual yesterday, but oh well. The baby will just come when he wants to come I guess. He is already teaching us patience.

Baby is coming!

 

Just had my doctors appointment and he said the baby is probably going to come today or tomorrow! I am really excited but nervous! The doctor said I am dilated to a 3 and the baby's head is really really low. He said it should be a good labor becuase he is so low; so hopefully that is true.

Update

      

    So I keep waking up in the morning having really strong contractions and thinking the baby is coming, but then the contractions go away in an hour. They hurt so bad though, I can't believe the real labor ones are going to be worse! It is really frustrating not knowing when little Andrew is going to come. I think he must be coming sometime soon or I wouldn't be having lots of strong Braxton hicks. But I guess it still could be a while. I have a doctor's appointment this Wednesday so I will ask him and see what he thinks about when the baby is coming.
        We got to see Brandon's Dad yesterday who is on his way to Brazil and had a long layover in Miami, so that was fun :) We did some more baby shopping and got some diapers, wipes, baby wash, things like that. I can't believe how expensive diapers are; I don't know what we are going to do to afford those.
      My first Primary day went pretty well today. The boy who was supposed to give the talk didn't come so opening exercises was only about 5 minutes, but that was ok. We had a lady from the stake come and do the singing time which helped a lot. The kids were really great :) I played the piano for singing time for a song I have never heard so that was a little hard. The kids are learning "My body is a Temple" or something like that. I'm still a little disorganized but at least it was not a disaster of a first time.
     I also made more baby decorations. I am almost done with the room; I just want to make a bigger palm tree for the other wall and then I will be done :) I think it is coming together pretty cute. 

Baby room, calling, and other news :)

     
      Well I passed my DTR exam a little while ago so I am now dietetic technician :) I'm so happy I only had to take it once; it is such a big relief. Now I can work at any hospital or place like that and make good money if we need it. I also just got called as the Primary President. I could not believe that I was being called to be the primary president. I am probably the youngest person there and have zero experience leading anything, haha, but that is probably why I am getting called because you have to start somewhere. I have really great counselors though who know what is going on, so that is a big blessing. We are going to meet with the old primary presidency tonight and figure things out. I am really unsure of what I am supposed to do or how to do any of it yet. I think it is a little funny I only had my relief society calling for two lessons but I guess this way I get exposed to lots of new things. The bishop wants the primary taught in English and most of the kids speak English so that is good. We will probably just have to use lots and lots of pictures to keep the other kids who only speak Spanish involved.
     I have also gone a little crazy decorating for baby Andrew, haha. I think it must be a nesting stage or something. Everyone says you clean like crazy when you are nesting but I already do that every week so I think the decorating is my way of nesting. I made a sailboat and put his name above his crib. I am not a crafty person so it takes me forever to figure out how to make it look good. And you can't tell from the pictures but I did stitching all around the boat and the letters so it looks really cute :) It has been kind of fun to make things for his room though and much cheaper than buying baby decorations. Buying them would look better but they are so expensive! I got all the felt for his room for about 10-12$ which is really great :) Even Brandon thinks it is cute, haha.
    I also lost the mucus plug this past week so that means that the baby is probably coming earlier rather than later. Brandon asked one of his friends who just had a baby how long it was after his wife lost the plug and it was about two weeks. So we could have a baby in two weeks! I'm just getting so excited! The baby is getting so heavy I could barely sleep last night; I had to get a pillow and put it under my stomach so the weight wouldn't keep pulling on my back so hard. I think he is going to be a big little guy.

36 weeks :) New Ultrasound

       Today we got to do another ultrasound because the doctor wanted to get some more pictures of the baby that they weren't able to get the first time. They didn't get enough pictures of the heart the first time so this time the ultrasound mostly focused on the heart. Everything looks good though so that is great :) His little legs have grown too in the past two weeks. He went form being only in the 8th percentile to the 23 percentile now; so at least he is getting a little taller. We couldn't get any good pictures because the umbilical cord was right in the way. We will just have to wait until he comes out to see him good :) We also saw that the baby has lots of hair so he isn't coming out bald. The baby has also dropped now so we got to see his head way down there. It is getting really uncomfortable now though. There is so much pressure on my bladder now I can't ever find a comfortable position to sit in; it just constantly aches. And while his head is way down low his feet are still jammed up my ribs so I can't bend over very well either, haha. I guess you have to get super uncomfortable in order to be ready to deliver the baby. I just have 4 more weeks to go, so we are getting really excited!
     

Crepes :)

Tonight we felt like having dessert for dinner. I love these crepes, they are awesome. Always one of my favorite things my Dad would make :) It makes a ton though so I always half the recipe.

Crepes

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

3 cups water

6 eggs beaten

3 Tbsp butter, melted

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

 Half Recipe

¾ cup Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix

¾ cup all purpose flour

1 ½ cup water

3 eggs

1 ½ Tbsp butter, melted

1 ½ Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1.   Mix all ingredients well. Take about 1/2 cup of blended batter and spread onto frying pan. Spread the batter out thin in the pan. Cook on medium heat. Once the top starts to bubble flip the crepe and cook for another few seconds. Top with strawberries and whipped cream. 

Date Night :)

 

       Yesterday we went to go see Captain America. It was super fun :) The movie was really good, although some of the effects could have been better, but I liked it. The movies here are so expensive though it costs about 11 dollars a ticket! Crazy! So we can only go once in a while. 

       Other than the movie my week has been pretty boring. I really had a rough week; being by myself all day in the apartment is not exactly my favorite activity. I am so used to being really busy so I am trying to find useful things to do with myself. I have been studying really hard for my DTR test coming up on Monday. I am actually really excited to take the test. You get to find out how you did right after you take it too, which is great so there is no suspense waiting. I feel like i have studied everything I can but I am sure there will be plenty I still won't know for the test so I just really hope all the studying will pay off. I study about 4 hours a day and then I don't know quite what else to do with myself. I guess I should enjoy the time before life gets crazy with little Andrew but I have a really hard time not having things to do all day. It is also getting so hard to exercise I can't really even do that. I tried to bike the other day but my belly is so big and in the way it almost hurts trying to sit on the bike like that so I gave up on that. It will be nice when I can start moving normally again, haha, I can't wait to play tennis again; I miss it. 

    I am up to 35 weeks pregnant now. I can't believe there are only 5 more weeks to go! I am getting pretty excited, but nervous at the same time :)