Miss Charlotte Anne

She's here!!

(Granted, I forced her out like her older sister, but hey, don't judge)

I went in for my 39 week check up on 10/18/12, desperately wanting to have some kind of positive action happening so that I could be induced. I was so done being pregnant. After she checked me, I was still only dilated to a 1 and maybe 50% effaced. 

Luckily I have the coolest doctor ever, and she said, "you know what, you are 39 weeks, and I am fine inducing you now. Let me check to see if they can get you a bed tonight."

She left the room, and not joking, Matt and I both said a silent prayer asking that there was an open bed that night. She came back in quickly, so we thought it would be bad news. "Well, they have a spot for you and I've put you on the schedule! Just show up at 8 p.m. tonight and they'll start the induction."

Shock was the expression on my face. Holy crap, I was having this baby now! Matt and I went home, straightened up the house, got everything packed, and arranged for Emma to stay with my brother and sister in law. 

We went to Happy Sumo for our traditional "pre-baby-meal-until-you-can-eat-again" dinner and then headed up to the hospital. 

It's always fun to go to doctor's appointments at the UofU, because the CEO of the hospital has the same last name as us. The employees are always a bit more polite, friendly, and willing to go above and beyond for us because of course, they assume I am related to the CEO. So upon check in, we were greeted at the door by a friendly nurse that asked if I was "Rachel Entwistle" and walked me right to our room. I can't lie, so when our nurse asked if there was any relation to the CEO, I had to let her know that Uncle David would not be visiting us any time soon. :) It was a nice 20 minutes while it lasted. We still received amazing service during our stay. 

I was induced at 9 p.m., and had a slow progression until about 12 p.m. the next day. Everything went bizarrely well, I was kind of waiting for something to go wrong. I was able to sleep for most of the night, and then jumped from 4cm dilated to 9cm within 30 mins, and then 5 pushes later Charlotte was born! 

This time around was too easy, I was super blessed!

Things have been hectic here on the home front, but I think we are getting into a nice schedule and it can only get more normal from here. I definitely forgot how much I enjoy my sleep... now that I don't get it anymore! 

Emma loves her little sister, and always asks where the baby is when I get her out of bed in the mornings. She loves to give baby Charlotte kisses and help put blankets on her. 

Here's some pictures we took during our stay at the UofU Hotel Hospital:

Just starting the action...

Waiting... 

Contractions and stuff.

Matt's luxurious sleeping arrangements... our nurse swapped this one out for a better one after we arrived...  Last name relation maybe?

Hi baby!!!

So in love.

And also SO tired.

Emma meeting her little sister for the first time, she brought her a stuffed squirrel and was so excited to give it to Charlotte.

Me with my girls... so precious

  We feel so blessed to welcome baby Charlotte into the world, we've been waiting to meet her for a long time! She is such a little angel and we love her so much already. More blogging to come, maybe.. when I get the time/energy/motivation!

xoxo

The Twistles

Hijacked

Ok, so the title is a little dramatic. 

And be warned, this is a rant for myself to get it out of my system so that I may hopefully deal with the next 3 weeks of pregnancy. Read at your own risk...

Hijacked: It's the best word I could think of to describe how I feel when I'm pregnant. I feel like the excitement of getting pregnant is God's way of masking the sacrifice you will be making for the next 10+ months, because once you are actually pregnant, there's no going back! If you were really to know every little trial you would go through during pregnancy, I'm not sure you would be so excited to get pregnant! I know I wouldn't. The thing is, and I know this is cheesy, but it is all worth it when you hold that sweet little baby in your arms for the first time. And that's God's way of saying, "I told you so."

So me and pregnancy? Yeah... we don't go so great together. I am a complete control freak. Must. Be. In. Control... I can't help it. Guess what happens when you're prego? Yep. Complete loss of all rational, physical, emotional, and mental control. I am not a "cryer", I'm usually a "deal with it and move on-er". During pregnancy, all that controlled emotion that I usually have, spills out into a big blubbery mess of emotion. Awesome.

Pregnancy Stress: 

I can handle stress, and not just handle it, but I dominate it. Pregnant me... does not handle stress. I will break out in tears if there are more than 3 stressors on my plate at a time. Just the thought of having to do laundry on top of work, replacing car tires, and a cranky toddler will cause an ocean of tears to flow. 

Pregnancy Pain:

I love the world we live in. Not only for all the cool technology that is always coming out, but for the fact that if I have the flu or a cold, there's a pill for that. If I have a headache/migraine, there's a pill for that, too. And if I need to sleep better, there are amazing pills for that. I run to my medicine cabinet to grab the IB profen for aches. Pregnancy pain is the worst. None of the above applies. You can however, take the magical pill called Tylenol, that is not magical at all. It has never done anything for me, and is such a disappointing drug. SO, I am forced to "deal" with the pain, which I suck at when pregnant. The last month has been the hardest, I have been in a ridiculous amount of back, ligament, groin.. OK Everything, pain. It hurts to walk, to adjust my sleeping position, or just get up off the stupid couch. This does not help with my pregnancy stress, because having to deal with pain, sleepless nights, housework, Emma (LOVE her, but so much work), finances, and vehicle repairs turns me into an emotional monster. Please, just give me something I can take for pain!! 

Pregnancy Emotions:

I like to show positive emotion to those I care about. I love to love people. If I feel like cuddling with Matty, I do it. If I want to hold his hand, I do it. I like people to know how I feel, and I do that by telling them verbally or by a letter/email/text/note, etc. I strongly dislike being out of emotional control when pregnant. I don't know what the hormones do to me, but it puts a fog over my warm snuggly side, and I am surrounded by cold air. I hate being touched. That may seem dramatic, but it just happens. I am unable to feel cuddly, lovey, and express that I care about people and things. It's hard. Real hard. The happy, smiley Rachel you see when I'm pregnant is mostly forced and not essentially real. Fooled you! Ha! I have been able to get through the fog with Emma, mainly because she doesn't know any better, and there's no way for me to explain this to her. So, Yay! mini-accomplishment for me! 

Pregnancy Rationale-- or lack thereof:

Nothing I think makes sense. I will have no reason to be upset, and yet I am. I feel like I have two brains when pregnant. My "normal" self that gets pushed aside and has to watch the horror from the sidelines, and then the pregnant self that takes over. Oh, example you say? 

We took a Sunday drive up the canyon one day, and stopped off at Matt's work to get drinks from the machines. Matt asked, "do you want anything honey?" I thought he heard me when I replied, "yes, a Pepsi please". He didn't, and returned with his drink in hand. I had to hold back tears because I thought he had forgotten my drink (yes, you can re-read that, because it makes no sense). My normal self is yelling from the sidelines, "do NOT cry, Rachel, this is silly, he just didn't hear you!!!" and my pregnancy self takes over, tears start to form, and I feel like my world is over. Matt offers to go back up, and get me that Pepsi, but then I feel bad to make him go all the way up just for my drink (that I am still thinking he forgot). Anyways, end of story is Matt did go back up and get me that Pepsi, because he is thoughtful and kind and understanding. He also knows pregnant Rachel a little bit better now, and knew that it was in his best interest to make that second trip. 

This happens quite often. I feel like my normal self is constantly screaming from the sidelines, and yet it's all mute to me. It's like one of those videos where the person is screaming at the top of their lungs, but there is no sound. My normal self is just waiting to get back in the game. 

I am not that woman who LOVES pregnancy. I found that out the first time. I have a really hard time being so out of control of so many things. That is probably my biggest complaint.  I feel hijacked.

The good news, is that I have an amazing partner and friend to walk through this pregnancy with. He loves me no matter what. He is patient with me when I lose my temper. He notices when I am struggling, and takes over. He gives me hugs when I need it, even though I don't think I want it. He puts his own emotional needs aside, and tries his best to understand the lack of mine. He is my best friend, and I am so lucky to be married to him. 

Also, good news is that pregnancy doesn't last forever, even though it feels like it does. I will be through with these stupid hormones soon, and will have a sweet little girl to hold in just a few weeks. Again, that is what makes all of this worth it. It is why women do it over and over, because the miracle of life truly is a miracle that we make it out alive! 

I've posted some pictures of this pregnancy, since I didn't take many when I was pregnant with Emma. This is keepsake for me, to have all these pictures in one place... crazy to watch that belly grow! I will be happy to get rid of that very soon!

16 weeks

22 weeks

32 weeks

38 weeks

Ok baby Charlotte! Momma's ready, are you?? Ready, Set, Go!

Thanks for reading,

xoxo

Rachel

Prego's back!

Alright, so I've been gone from the blogging world for a bit. These past 2 1/2 months have kept me busy... Ok, that's a lie. The real reason for not blogging is that our computer is hooked up to our TV which causes two problems:

-Emma loves to help. She hasn't gotten down the actual function of the keyboard, but man, she sure loves to help Mom type on it.

-I've got a watermelon in my belly. Literally, it feels like that. I sit on my legs for more than two minutes, and I can't feel them anymore. We don't have a fancy desk yet, so the idea of being all uncomfortable sitting like a pretzel feeling the tingling sensation in my legs has been less than appealing. 

Ok, so the second reason is the cause of my blogging disappearance. I just couldn't ...(lie) DIDN'T want to do it! 

Solution:
My amazing hubby convinced me to take advantage of the UofU Bookstore sale AND my employee discount, and get a MacBook Pro! You may thank Matty for the return of our blog. It might have been deceased without this magic book of Mac Pro-ness.

Also, I must add, that on this 8th day of October, in the year 2012- my beautiful, smart, and sweet daughter is STILL ASLEEP. It's 9:12 a.m. The last time she slept in this late, was on Thanksgiving LAST YEAR. This also helps with the blogging.

I may have induced her into a milk coma, but I don't want to give away evidence.

So, more blogging will come my pretties! I just need to figure out how to use a Mac, since it's like learning a new computer language after using a PC for so long. I will prevail! You have not heard the last of this pre go yet!!

xoxo
Rachel Twistle

It's A Girl!

We had my ultrasound on June 5th, and I'm carrying another little girl inside! We are ridiculously excited, and could not be happier! I think Matt is even more excited than I am that we're having another girl! He has fallen so in love with Emma, and thinks little girls are the best :)

I was thinking of posting the video of my ultrasound, but I just re-watched it, and it's pretty boring if you're not us. She did yawn a few times on the ultrasound, and she sucked on her fingers too. She is folded up in half, and her feet are touching her head, and it seemed as if she tried grabbing her legs with her hands a few times. 

We feel like we understand pregnancy and babies so much more this time around, and we really appreciate the small stuff. Because we understand it more, it makes us that much more excited to have another baby. Unless physically impossible, I don't get why some parents stop at just having one! So far this experience has been great. 


This pregnancy, instead of thinking, "I still have 4 months left..." I am thinking, "holy crap! I only have 4 months left!!" It has gone by so fast already, and I know that October will be here soon. Luckily we have everything for a baby girl, so the things we mostly need will be diapers/wipes/formula, which is better than having to start from scratch with Emma.


We are so lucky to welcome another baby into our family, and we can't wait! Here are the ultrasound pictures of our new little girl, her first photo shoot!

xoxo
The Twistles

18 Weeks Pregnant

So some days, I forget I'm pregnant (and then I remember when I am getting dressed and nothing fits). Recently I've been so busy with work, and then coming home and being Mom to Emma and wife to Matty, that I do forget that I can't do as much as I was able to before I got pregnant. When I am out of breath I think, "what is going on? Why can't I breathe, and why am I out of breath from just rolling over to my other side??" Oh yeah, it's cause I'm pregnant! It's kind of like that with everything. Pretty awesome. Stairs? Yeah, I hate stairs. Good thing I've got about 14 to walk up and down to our house every day. That's awesome too. 

I have been feeling great lately (besides the whole "out of breath" dilemma), and the 2nd trimester has definitely been treating me well so far. I just had a baby check up last week, and the doctor said the baby is growing fine and was able to hear the heartbeat which she said is beating at normal speed (150 times per minute!) I scheduled an ultrasound for June 5th where we will be finding out the sex of our little Thumper. I will be happy with a boy or girl, just as long as the baby is healthy! 

I have been feeling small little flicks of movement, which is always super cool to feel. Last night, I had Matty feel my stomach so that he could feel where my uterus was (I know that sounds weird), and as he put his hand on the right side of my abdomen, we both felt a little kick of movement right where his hand was! I know I had felt it, but I wasn't sure if Matt did, but he got excited and said that he had felt a kick too! It was a really special and cool moment for us. It's like the baby knew that his Daddy's hand was there. 

I know I complain a lot about being pregnant, and how awful it is for me, but these little moments always make me stop and realize how special it is to be pregnant. I recognize I'm carrying a sweet child of God, and I am so grateful that I have been blessed to be a Mommy. 

And don't worry, when we find out what we're having, I'll be blasting it from all my social media sites, I will be so excited! 


My baby is the size of a sweet potato, how sweet! 




We love you all!!

xoxo
The Twistles  

Here We Go Again...

I found out the day before Valentine's Day that I am pregnant! What a gift to Matt, right? I went out and bought a cute shirt for Emma that says, "Big Sister" and put it on her and walked with her out to the living room for Matt to see. He didn't get it at first, but when I showed him the test he looked at me in shock and excitement. I am about 7 weeks along, and for the last few weeks since finding out, I have felt fine. No sickness, no tiredness, nothing. I was having a hard time convincing myself that I was pregnant, because I just had no signs (besides the obvious of the test). 

Well, let me just tell you, that wonderful time is over. Last week, the heartburn, nausea, and extreme fatigue settled right in and made itself comfortable. It doesn't seem to be leaving anytime soon, either.

This is all I want to do:

 This is what I still have to do:

Still working 30 hours a week

Matt has really been helping with the cleaning and Emma

This is how I feel, all day every day:

This is what I eat:

I have been having so much more food aversions than I did with Emma. Nothing sounds good, and anytime I think of food, delicious or not, I want to vomit. The sick, "throw up" taste in my mouth is there when I wake up every morning, and lasts all day until bedtime. 

So what I have learned, is that my pregnancy with Emma and everything about her, was a huge blessing-- and may never happen again!! I wasn't sick with Emma, the fatigue was bad but I was able to sleep whenever I wanted, and even my little Emma is easy! 


We were blessed not to have to try for very long, only a month or two. Matt reminds me that it is something we should be thankful for, and it truly is. There are many people I know who have been trying for a very long time, and have not gotten pregnant. I can't imagine how hard that must be, and my heart goes out to all of you who fit into that category. I know that God has a plan for all of us, and if we keep his commandments we will be blessed with the desires of our hearts-- even if it does take longer than we'd like, or it doesn't happen how we'd like it to.

Well, I am off to pop a few Tums, eat a few crackers, take a sip of some ginger ale, and then take a nap. The weekends are great, because Matt takes care of Emma while I nap. He's the best husband in the world. 

Here we go again!

xoxo
The Twistles

Eviction Notice

Baby Emma:

You have prolonged your stay and shown us that you are not coming out on your own. I love you, but I absolutely cannot wait another week to have you here with us! You are hereby given your official eviction notice for Sunday, February 27th. You may still check out before then if you would like, and we won't have to evict. It is your choice! Your stay at the Hotel Uterus is coming to an end; I hope you've enjoyed the amenities for the last 10 months. Comment cards are not available, but you can cry if you want to. 

Best Regards,

Mom and Dad

Nursery

 We waited until the last month to put the nursery room together for the baby. I knew that if were to put it together any sooner it would just make time go that much slower! We really didn't pay for anything in the room, and I can't imagine having to! It is all so expensive once you start adding it up. The crib turned out really cute, and I just love it all. We find that it's very peaceful in this room, so we occasionally spend our nights here reading or playing with our kitties. 

As you can see, our kitties love this room too! Sugar and Sasha love the rocking chair, and we find them sleeping there often. Sometimes they even have to share :) Good thing we have plenty of lint rollers and a vacuum!

Baby Showers

So turns out it's been awhile since I've blogged- I'll be catching up on a few things in these next couple blogs- love it! 

I've had a couple of baby showers, the most recent was one my future sis-in-law and current sis-in-law threw for me. It was awesome and I got a lot of great stuff. Here are some pictures:

Crissy Making some seriously delicious cupcakes!

I got so many cute clothes for Emma!

Nicole got me a baby book, so cute!

Love this!

Sugar claimed the changing table that my Mom, Aunt, and G-ma got me

 


























Thanks to everyone who came and gave us such great gifts! I also had a shower that some girls from work gave me, which was great. Matt's work threw him a surprise baby shower, and they somehow got my number at work and contacted me, telling me to come to his work and double surprise him! He didn't even know I was there until he was about ten feet away from me. It was really cute, and we got a lot of really nice stuff from that shower too. We have been so blessed to receive so much for this new little baby!

6 weeks to go...

 I haven't taken any belly pictures for awhile, so I thought I would take some and put them up before she's out of there! I am 8 months prego (34 weeks) and can't believe she's coming in February. I have definitely started to panic just a bit, because I don't have anything ready besides what family and friends have given us. Matt and I don't even have a hospital "grab and go" bag ready yet! We will get that done soon for sure, just in case she comes early. We have lots of girl clothes already, thanks to my sis in law and sister, and the crib and car seat/stroller are ready, minus the crib bedding. I hope she doesn't come as early as January, because nothing will be ready! I have a couple baby showers this month, so that will help for sure. 

I am also looking for someone who can watch Emma if/when I go back to work. I don't want to take her to daycare, and would much rather prefer to take her to someone's home whom I trust. I am thinking after my maternity leave, I will go back part-time and work 30 hours a week to keep my insurance benefits. I will probably be working Tues/Thurs/Fridays, 10 hour days, or I might work 4 days a week and split up my 30 hours that way. But I am still on the lookout for someone, so if you know of anyone let me know :) I don't know what our financial situation will be, since I won't be working, so I don't think the pay will be awesome- maybe like $10 or $15 a day, but that adds up if it's every month. 

 I reserved a temple date for our sealing! We are getting sealed on March 26th, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I think I am most excited for this, especially since we will have little Emma with us in our arms for the sealing. I love to think that come March, our family will be together forever, even after we leave this earth. I get to be with Matt and all of our children for eternity, and that is such a great blessing! Words can't describe how amazing this will be for our family, I have looked forward to getting sealed to Matt for all eternity ever since we started dating. He is truly the best man a girl could ask for- he is patient, loving, and always takes care of me. Now we will be an eternal family, which is such an important goal to achieve here on earth. 


Matt and I were called to be primary teachers in our ward, and we are pretty excited. We will be teaching the 6 year-old class and start today! I love that the church has made it so easy for teachers these days. We got our teacher's manual, and it lines out the lesson so perfectly, we don't really have to do much besides teach it to the children! There is a perfect flow from one subject to the next, and you can tell it's divine in nature. Today the lesson is on choosing the right, and we can't wait to teach! I know some people get discouraged by being in Primary, or being teachers, but I think it's one of the best callings you can get- to teach God's children of his son, Jesus Christ, and help them to build their own testimonies and watch them grow. Absolutely amazing.



Last but not least, I get my car back tomorrow! If any of you haven't heard, the Tuesday before Christmas, I was hit in my car as I was going through a 4 way stop. Luckily I wasn't hurt at all, the driver hit me as I was almost through the intersection, so my passenger door and tire took the brunt of it. I took it to the shop (his insurance is covering all damages) about a week ago, and they told me it would be ready tomorrow!! Oh, I am so excited. I have had to drive this around for the past week:

 It's not the worst rental in the world, but it's close! The good thing that I can say about this car, is that because it's so heavy, it did really well during the snow storms we just had. I'm not a big fan of two door vehicles, and especially these because the doors are SO heavy, it was hard for my pregnant body to push the door open. I will be happy to return it tomorrow, and get my Mazda back. It seems like my car has been in an accident every year, I am hoping that 2011 will be an accident free year!

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Tree

Another Christmas over, the day goes by so fast! I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas this year. We took some pictures, so I thought I should put them up while I have the motivation :)

 Matt and I opened up one present each on Christmas Eve- I got Matt some Chicago Bear's shirts, and he got me some awesome cook books that I can't wait to use. We watched the movie "Salt" and then went to bed. We wanted to start a family tradition where we watched the same movie every year, but because of poor planning, all the movies we wanted to watch were rented out already. We decided next year that we would start to watch, "Horton Hears a Who" since that's a good family movie and super cute. 

This morning, we woke up and opened all our presents. Matt did really well and got me some great gifts, including yummy chocolates from Cummings Studio Chocolates, my favorite place for candy. He got me some perfume and some great black boots that I've been in desperate need of. I got Matt some sweaters and a new CD player for his car. It was a great Christmas, and now that it's over, I can really focus on getting ready for baby :) 

We relaxed, had some breakfast, and then went over to my Mom's house for Christmas dinner and to hang out with family. We just got home, and I am very tired. I think that equals a good Christmas if you are exhausted by the end of the day.  

We have officially decided on the name Emma Claire, and can't wait for her to get here. Now that Christmas is over, it feels like I just need to get through January, and that doesn't seem so hard... *sigh* I am not a good pregnant person. 

Anyways, here are some pictures plus a few random ones. 

Aaron and Tristan opening their stockings

Cute Jessica in the midst of opening her presents

Sugar is so happy that she can sleep underneath the tree again

Us and all our goodies

The kitties Christmas present. Sugar got dibs, and Ryno is just waiting for his turn...

Sophie

Brandon being a reindeer

Mom's Christmas tree and presents

kid chaos

opening frenze

Shannen, Ben, and Sara

Me and Sugar napping... I love my kitties!

Ryno and Sasha napping with me by my legs. We have the best kitties in the world!