It's a Girl!

Daphne Kariann Wallace was born on February 8th, 2009 at San Angelo Community Medical Center in San Angelo, Texas. She weighed 6lbs 14oz and was 19.25in long. This is how it all happened:

Wednesday and Thursday the 4th and 5th I'd been having pretty regular contractions especially at night. We weren't ready for the baby to come yet though, because we were having carpet installed on Friday and we were still waiting for our refrigerator to be delivered so we wouldn't be living out of an ice chest anymore. Jake told me to try to wait until the weekend to have the baby, as if you can control these things, so that it wouldn't interfere with the delivery and installation of our stuff. Well, luckily I was able to hold off going into labor for a few days.

On Sunday I was feeling fine and we went to church like usual. That day Jake was set apart to be the Young Men's 1st Counselor and I was called to be the Mia Maids Advisor in the Young Women. We went home from church, had lunch, and laid down to take naps. Around 2pm I woke up because my water broke. I woke Jake up, but because it was so sudden and because he'd been asleep he couldn't make his brain figure out what to do. It was so funny! He called his mom on the phone and told her my water broke and that he was supposed to pack the kids bag so we could take them to a friend's house to spend the night. He wanted to know if she knew where their pajamas were because he couldn't remember. I never did find out what she told him. Anyway, I wasn't in any pain so I took a shower and meanwhile told Jake every item he needed to pack and what to do next. Eventually he got himself settled down enough to be useful and he called our friends to meet us at the hospital and take the boys. I kept telling Jake that he didn't need to hurry because I wasn't having contractions yet, but he still drove way too fast to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 3:30pm and of course I was admitted. Since I still wasn't contracting they started me on Pitocin. About 4pm the contractions started and by 4:30 they were so strong I couldn't stand it anymore and asked for an epidural. I was already dilated to an 8, but thankfully they still let me have the epidural. At 6pm I was ready and the doctor came in and told me to push. I only had to push one time and Daphne was born. It was very quick and easy.

Jake spent the first night in the hospital with me and then went into work the next morning to tell them I'd had the baby. They gave him two weeks paternity leave, which was nice. He went and got the kids and they came to visit a couple of times each day. Daphne and I were able to go home on Tuesday. Lucky for me the hospital here in San Angelo is very nice. The food was delicious and the nurses were all very friendly. I was able to sleep through the night except for when I was feeding Daphne because the nursery would come and take her in between feedings. I've never had that option before, but it was very helpful. I was much more tired this time, and the nurses all said that it was because my labor progressed so quickly that it really wore me out. But all in all it was a very pleasant experience.

Daphne was a week and a half early, but she has been very healthy. She didn't lose any weight in the hospital and had actually gained an ounce by her three day mark. At her one month appointment she weighed 9lbs 10oz and keeps growing every day.

New House

We closed on our house the 29th of January, so I guess we've been here for almost two months now. It's a nice house in an older neighborhood, 1970's, so of course there were some projects that needed taken care of to bring the house up to current trends. So far we've replaced all the carpet, the vanity and sink in the master bathroom, the locks, a few door knobs, and done some painting. We've also ordered new cabinets and countertops for our less than appealing kitchen. The cabinets are going to be installed later this week, and once that's done we can call the company to come measure for our granite countertops. We'll just have to put the old countertops back on for a while while we wait for the granite. Hopefully it will only be a couple of weeks. Eventually we will be painting the bathtubs and replacing the toilet, vanity and sink in the hall bathroom. Our master bath has a blue tub (the toilet and sink have already been replaced) and the hall bath has pink everything; tub, toilet, sink, countertop,and tile floor. Ugh! Maybe we will be able to do those projects next year, but the kitchen ate up most of our remodeling budget for the time being. Most of the other projects are small ones that we'll work in when we get the chance. Wish us luck!