Miss Greta

Just a few random pictures of Miss Greta. 

Most of them are of her sleeping, which makes you think that is all she does but she is more awake then asleep :)

Polk County Fair

We found GG at the fair too!

On the ferris wheel

 Riding with Daddy

Spinnin' like crazy!

FAIR Hair!!!

Riding the coaster with Daddy. 

Ry wanted to take a bunny home- we settled for this!

Pretty and Pink

Greta Lynn Williamson

Born: June 30, 2011  1:50pm

8 pounds, 9 ounces  21 inches long

My due date was June 24th even though my midwife thought for sure that I wouldn't make it to that date as the baby was in position and my body was already showing signs of change one week before. 

I had a dream that I was going to have the baby on June 18th, but I guess my dream was wrong. 

For the whole month of June, I went to see my midwife, Brenda, on Tuesdays and Thursdays for monitoring as my blood sugars were constantly creeping higher and higher and this was of concern. 

Brenda felt comfortable with continuing to monitor everything and let me try to go on my own, but she did agree to try methods for getting labor going. 3 tries, no success. On the Tuesday after my due date, Brenda informed me that on Thursday morning I needed to be at the OB dept as I was going to be induced. This was both exciting and scary at the same time.  I have had pitocin in the past with Rylee and it was AWFUL, so I was hoping that I would be able to go without it. Brenda went over it and said they would start with something very mild, and then progress as needed until I was in labor. 

So, on Wednesday night the girls went to my Mom's and I took the chance for a last minute girls night out with Kristin as I knew it would be months until that happened again. We went to dinner in SCF and then to see the movie "Bridesmaids". I thought for sure I was going to go into labor during the movie as I was laughing so hard at it. If you haven't seen it, go and rent it. Well worth the money.

Chris got home that night at midnight and went to bed. He slept, me- not so much. I can only describe it as how I felt on the night before Christmas as a kid. I got some sleep, but not much. 

We got to the hospital at 8am and were told that Brenda would be in at 9 to start the medicine and that I would be in the OB unit until about noon and then Brenda would decide if I should go home and give the medicine more time to work or if she would go to the next step.

We didn't need the next step. By 9:45 I was having regular, full on contractions and labor was in full swing. I was not quite dialated to a 3 but having contractions about every 2 minutes that were very intense. Our wonderful nurse Gail seemed to think I barely needed "a whisper" of the medication as it was working very well for me. At 11:50 my water broke on it's own and I was progressed to a 3. The pain was pretty intense as the contractions were so close together that my body was not having the chance to relax in between.  After trying several positions and walking, at 1pm we decided to have me get into the whirlpool tub to try to relax enough to dialate to a 4 so I could get that wonderful pain medication. It took until 1:20 to actually get into the tub as the contractions were getting harder, faster, and closer together. 

At this point, Gail called down to Brenda in the clinic to have her come up and check me as the contractions were so bad and Gail was hoping that some sort of medication could be given to try to relax me and slow them down as I was somewhat "hyper contracting". Brenda came right up and sat by me while I was in the tub and calmed me down. She has the most calming voice and tone that I could only focus on what she was saying. She decided to check me so I could get the pain medications. She did and felt I should get out of the tub and back in bed so the medication could be given. 

As I was trying to get up and out, another contraction hit so I turned on my side in the tub and attempted to breath through it. Before I knew it, I was telling Brenda and Chris (or yelling to them) that I had to push and 2 pushes later the baby's head was out and one final push she was out and on my chest. We were all caught by surprise as this was not planned and happened very fast . The nurses were not ready for a birth in the bathroom and after Gail pulled the emergency cord the room was flooded with nurses all scrambling to get the equipment to the bathroom.  

I was in total shock that it happened so fast and in the tub. I was not prepared for that. I was sitting there thinking that I didn't get the epidural and it turns out I didn't need it.  Little Greta Lynn was here and doing great.  

Chris was a trooper, trying to get pictures and be involved. He did get to cut the cord! We hadn't even unloaded our stuff from the van as we were not sure if we would be staying or going home. We had planned to videotape the birth so I would have it to watch if I ever wanted too, but we never even got a chance to get it out.  

Miss Greta moments after being born

 She doesn't look very happy does she?

 The Proud Papa

 A proud and somewhat still in shock Mama

 Already she loves to snuggle with Daddy.

Grandpa and Grandma Williamson

 The big sister and the little big sister as Quinn says

Rylee and Quinn meeting Greta for the 1st time.

 Grandpa Arlin

 Grandma Bonnie

 Auntie Molly

 The 1st diaper change

Brenda and Greta

 Uncle Luke and Kristine

 So sleepy

 Greta meeting her Grandpa GG

 Getting ready to go home 

 The first picture with all 3 of us.

Greta getting to meet Emma and Monty. Emma couldn't care less but Monty was very interested. 

Life with 3 kids, let alone 3 girls, has been very busy but also very good. I am home with the girls until mid-September so I am looking forward to spending time with all of them as this is our last baby and the last time I will be home with all 3 of them for such a time length. I know it won't be easy, but I will try to cherish the time and enjoy it. 

Look Mom!

Ry was determined to ride her bike without training wheels and it didn't take her long to do it. She spent about an hour in the driveway with Chris and had the basics down.  She was pretty impressed with herself and I was pretty impressed with her. 

We still are practicing as we have to work a little more on using the brakes and not putting our feet down as we have had a few crashes that way. 

 Let go Dad, I can do it

 I think her face says it all!

 Oops!

We had a few rough falls, but she kept getting up and trying again. Chris and I are pretty proud of how big she is and how hard she's trying

Dance Fever

Rylee finished up her 2nd year of dance in June with a big end of the year recital. She had a bumble bee dance number and then a tumbling one to the tune of "Ant's go marching in". She was very excited for the recital and had been working very hard on her cartwheels and somersaults. This recital was split into 2 days which I thought worked better as more family was able to come and it wasn't one long day like the holiday one was.

Ry did a great job and we enjoyed watching it as I hope others did as well.

 Ry and Kacy on picture day

 Our little bee

 Crazy girls

Waiting to tumble

Showing her moves

Pretty little Bumble bee

 After the 1st show

 Getting her attendance ribbon- she was pretty proud!!

Ry with Grandpa and Grandma

 The kiddo made out like a bandit with all the flowers

Rylee with Grandma, GG and Grandpa

Grandma, Do you have any Fruit 'Nacks in your purse?

In May, Quinn came down with what we thought was a simple stomach bug. She got sick on a Thursday and then seemed better but then developed a fever. By Sunday, we were in the ER as our normal, rambunctious 2 year old was very lethargic and not eating.  We first went to urgent care but the Dr there felt that she should be seen in the ER. So, there we went. This was about Noon. The Dr in the ER at ARMC was wonderful. Here was a sick little girl and a very pregnant Mama that was a wreck.  Both Dr's we saw felt Quinn's stomach was distended and that was cause for concern. After some x-rays a call was placed to the surgeon on call who then referred it to Children's Hospital.

By this point, this Mama was a bawling wreck as I thought it was a stomach bug and now they are talking Children's Hospital and surgery. Within 20 minutes of the x-rays Quinn was strapped to a gurney (in a carseat no less) and we were off to St Paul in an ambulance, with lights and sirens. I was a total wreck, bawling my eyes off so hard they thought I was going to go into labor. Poor Chris was having to be the calm one in this whole mess although it was getting to him as well. So, as we were flying down in the Ambulance Chris was running home to get a few things and meet us down there.

Quinn was a trooper during the whole ride. She kept looking out the back window of the ambulance and talking about the siren and how fast she thought we were going. I did my best to keep it together so she wouldn't freak out that I was crying. It was NOT easy to do.

Quinn getting ready to go in the ambulance.  She doesn't even look like herself. 

Getting to Children's at 7pm we were seen in the ER first and in a matter of 30 minutes 4 different Dr's were telling me (Chris hadn't gotten there yet) that they were considering everything from emergency surgery to nothing. Hmm, quite the range of options. This was even more scary for me as I was there with Quinn alone and I had no clue what was going on. Chris finally was able to get through and join us and then shortly after Doug and Annette arrived to sit with us. We all were in shock and not knowing what was going on. At about 10pm, we were told they were going to take a watch and see approach and were sending us up to a room on the surgical floor just in case. The Dr's were coming and going and about Midnight we finally got to try to get some sleep (TRY was the keyword)

I knew that Quinn was pretty sick when she just laid on the bed, not talking or doing much. This broke my heart for sure as this was not my child.  She should be running like a mad woman around and she wasn't. They did give her some morphine in the ER to help her sleep and it did. They had Quinn hooked up to an IV for fluids as they thought that she had some sort of bug that was hanging out in her intestines and that it had dehydrated her.

Grandma and Grandpa Bonnie came to spend time with us the next morning, bringing toys and things to occupy Quinn's time and Uncle Bill stopped by too!

Quinn snuggling with Daddy

Trying her hardest to smile for the camera. What a trooper. 

Trying to be a normal 2 year old while hooked up to an iv pole and having her arm strapped to a board

The resident Dr listening to her stomach. This Dr had us freaked out about Quinn being on a farm recently and apparently cows are disease ridden.  I was freaking out until her boss came in and said "city kids have no idea about farms" and made me feel so much better about it. Farms and Cows are OK, just in case you didn't know that. 

Quinn meeting a therapy dog, Maggie, in the hallway. She wasn't sure about her at first but then liked her and looked for her. 

Snuggling with Mom, or trying to with being 8 months pregnant. 

Her first food or drink in 4 days. It was some weird orange slush stuff, but hey- she ate it and liked it!!

 Starting to feel more like herself

Somebody was feeling better and hoping to go home. 

And we are all set to go home!!!! YEAH!!!!!

After 2 nights of hanging around and Quinn getting more fluids, they decided that she was well enough to go and that it was in fact, a stomach bug, but for some reason it stalled out in her system and made her super sick. We were so happy to hear that we could take her home and by this point she was ready to go as well. We are so glad that this turned out to be nothing major. We are so thankful for the concern that the ARMC ER staff showed and for the wonderful nurses at Children's. If we had to be somewhere, I am glad it was there. They truly are special at what they do.