Family Updates

I remember thinking that once I had a baby, I'd blog all the time. The last time I blogged, Harley was 7 weeks old. She is currently 5 1/2 months. Oops!

We are currently renting my mom's downstairs to save money. It's nice having a built-in babysitter, and Grandma and Grandpa LOVE seeing Harley every day! Auntie Kimmee moved home from New Mexico so it's a full house, and Harley loves having so many people around who love her to death!

Jason is still working for his father building decks and I am still doing online school. I had a 3 month leave of absence when I had Harley but I am back into it. I'm also starting to work out regularly again FINALLY! I was getting tired of being stuck in between maternity and regular clothes. I'm excited to start seeing some results and getting my pre-baby body back!

Some fun things about Miss Harley Savannah:

• Currently in the 100th percentile for height and 64th for weight
• Started eating solids at 4 1/2 months with her doctor's okay (she has been showing an interest in food since she was almost 3 months old!)
• LOVES eating and usually cries when she is done
• A few days ago she started sitting up by herself
• Refuses to roll over because she doesn't want to be on her stomach
• Sleeps through the night most of the time
• Loves being outside
• Loves her kitties! Zuko loves her back but Jack doesn't really pay much attention to her
• Giggles at Daddy the most (even when he doesn't do anything to make her laugh)
• Smiles when she sees cell phones because she thinks we're going to take a picture of her
• Loves looking at herself in the mirror
• Screams, squeals, shrieks, and says "mama"
• When I lay her down on the floor, within a matter of minutes she is in a different place or turned completely different
• Heard her daddy's voice on speakerphone once and started smiling and giggling immediately
• Loves baths
• Hates me touching her face at all (wiping off her face, picking her nose, wiping eye goobers out, etc.)
• Doesn't like hearing other babies cry
• Enjoys being serenaded and watching me dance like an idiot
• Likes being read to, and likes to "read" the books back to me
• Very good at entertaining herself so mommy can get stuff done
• Loves people, and all the attention she gets from strangers when we are in public
• Still breastfeeding, but my supply has started decreasing. I've been taking fenugreek to keep it up
• Has already flown on a plane twice to CA for two different weddings. She's an amazing traveler!

Now for the pictures!

I truly cannot believe how big my little girl is getting! It is so much fun to see her grow and watch her personality develop, but I already miss her being a tiny little thing! Time is flying by and I just want to pause haha. I finally understand why parents always say that! Either way, I absolutely LOVE this child. She is such a blessing in my life and makes me so happy. I'm incredibly lucky to be her mom. I couldn't have picked a better baby, I love my crazy weird spaz of a child!

Harley Savannah

This little cutie pie has me completely wrapped around her little finger. She has so much personality and I love every second of being her mommy. She will be 7 weeks old tomorrow, I can't believe it!

Some Harley Fun Facts:

• She can roll over from her tummy to her back.
• She is ALWAYS moving--kicking her legs, jerking her head around, flailing her arms and fists in the air. I love it. She is such a little spaz :) That's how she was in my stomach also.
• She usually sleeps 5-8 hours a time at night, it's wonderful. I sleep way better now than I did when I was pregnant!
• She smiles all the time and I am obsessed. 
• She usually falls asleep when we go in the car or when I wear her in the Moby wrap. She's easy to run errands with because of this.
• We went on our first date without Harley and let Grandma babysit. It was a spontaneous date meaning I didn't have time to pump, so Harley had to have some formula which made her gag but she drank it like a champ :) The next time I tried to give her a bottle (of breast milk) she looked really hesitant and cautious, expecting it to be yucky formula haha.
• She snores! It's super cute.
• She has the silliest facial expressions.
• She used to HATE baths and getting her clothes changed but now she doesn't mind.
• She is "talking" more and more, and she tries to laugh but hasn't quite figured it out ;)

Here are some pics of my favorite little lady!

Harley's Birth Story

Disclaimer: If birth-related things gross you out, you may not want to read this. I wanted to write down every detail that I remember and some people may not want to know everything. If that's you, don't read. If you don't mind, read on! :)

Harley was due January 25. I hoped she'd come a little early because I was really tired of being pregnant and huge, but I had a feeling she'd be a stubborn little thing and come late. I had asked my midwives about induction, and they said they wouldn't do it any earlier than 41 weeks. That fell on the weekend and apparently the hospital doesn't like to do inductions on the weekends so I had to schedule it for Monday the 2nd.

The night before the induction I could not sleep at all. I knew I needed to get some rest but it did not happen. It was like Christmas Eve, I knew that within the next day or two I'd have my precious little girl! We woke up at 6:30am to call the hospital and make sure they had room for me. I was going to freak out if they said no, but fortunately they told me to come in at 7:30. I texted our doula Rianne and she said she'd meet us at the hospital.

After checking in and getting settled, the nurse asked if I wanted to have some music. They had Pandora playing a Norah Jones station and I told them that Harley liked Bon Jovi, so the whole time I was in labor we listened to 80's rock music. Who wouldn't want to enter the world to that??

They did my first examination at about 8:30am. I was 2cm dilated and 0% effaced, which was disappointing since they had told me I was about 60% effaced less than a week before. My midwife Morgan discussed my induction options with me, and we decided the first thing to try would be a pill that they put in my cervix that would make me have contractions. While waiting for the pill to do its job, I walked around, bounced on a birthing ball, ate breakfast and just hung out. It worked, but not well enough. I was having small, frequent contractions that I couldn't even feel. I was dilated a half a centimeter more and was 50% effaced. I had some visitors, Shaun and Eliza, who brought me and Jason food and kept us company.

At around 1:30pm I was given pitocin, which I had kind of wanted to avoid after hearing some horror stories. It was the best option though. Morgan didn't feel comfortable breaking my water because the baby wasn't low enough. The pitocin definitely worked. I began having very painful, intense contractions that were really close together. It got to the point where my contractions didn't even pause, I would have one long 10 minute contraction with no break. It was impossible. I threw up a couple times (surprise, surprise). I remember making a conscious effort not to breathe in Jason's face during contractions because I knew I had barf breath haha. Rianne was very helpful in reminding me to breathe through the contractions and I was surprised that it actually seemed to help me get through them. At some point during all this, Jason tried to compare my contractions to some bad gas pain he had a little while ago. I remember thinking, are you kidding me?! Haha. After a few hours I decided I wanted to try laboring in the tub. The heat felt nice but it was also making me feel dizzy and lightheaded. By this point I was positive I could not take the pain anymore so I told Jason I wanted an epidural. Before being induced I was pretty set on having a natural birth, but as I went past my due date and decided to be induced, I knew the chances of me doing it naturally went down. At 5:45 I got the epidural. By then I was dilated 4cm and 80% effaced. Once the epidural kicked in I began feeling MUCH better. I didn't go completely numb, I could still feel and move my legs, and I could feel the pressure of each contraction.

I kept throwing up and feeling nauseous so I asked to have some Zofran. That helped with my nausea, but then I started having really bad acid reflux and every time I would lay down, I would throw up again. I was given Pepsid and finally felt better. Shortly after I was given the Pepsid, around 10pm, I started feeling a strong urge to push. I told the nurse and she said that's a good sign, but didn't really do anything. I told her again a few minutes later that I REALLY felt like I needed to push. She finally went to get Morgan, and when she came in she said "Oh, you're probably dilated to a 7 or so." When she checked me, she was surprised to discover that I was dilated to 9. I told them I needed to push! They had already taken me off the pitocin because it was working too well. Morgan decided she could break my water now and did so at 10:15pm.

At 10:30pm I was fully dilated, but Morgan wanted to let me rest for a little bit. I told her that my epidural was running out and I wanted more, but she told me it would really be better if I could feel when to push. I was starting to feel the pain again so I was scared, but I agreed to try. At about 12:30am I started pushing. I remember wanting to just not push at the next contraction, so I could take a little break but when the contractions hit, I couldn't NOT push. We tried a couple different positions. Jason had originally said he would stay up by my head but he wanted to see the action so he went down to the end of the bed and helped me hold my legs. I felt so incredibly exhausted, I had gotten NO sleep and had no food in me. I pushed for 2 long, excruciating hours. With one really big push, I went from her head not being out at all, to crowning. Nobody was expecting it to happen that fast. Jason's favorite part of my birth story was that with that big push, my catheter flew out. Morgan said she'd never seen that happen before. Since they weren't expecting this to happen so suddenly, they told me to wait while they got the extra doctors and nurses in the room. Up until that point I had been pretty calm, and quiet through my labor. No screaming or yelling, but that was when I started panicking. That big push hurt like nothing else and then they tell me to wait?! I started freaking out and couldn't hold still, I remember squirming all over and yelling "Get her out, pull her out!" Morgan asked if I wanted to reach down and feel her head, and I said no. I just wanted her out! Jason said when her head came out, she turned it and everyone freaked out and had to turn her head back down. Rianne was trying to help me breathe but the pain was too intense to think about anything else. What felt like hours later, they told me to push again and I was able to finish pushing her out. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I still can't believe I did it! Harley Savannah Katwijk was born at 2:38am.

She wailed just enough for the pediatrician to not be concerned, and they placed her on me right away. She didn't cry; instead she immediately looked up at me and stared at me with her big beautiful eyes. I got to hold her for about 30-45 minutes while they stitched me up. I tore really badly, and I could feel them stitching me up. It hurt like crazy but I just kept focusing on my sweet baby girl. She weighed 8lbs 9.7 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

It's been over a week since that traumatizing, yet wonderful event. I have wanted Harley for so long and I am ecstatic that she is finally here. She's as perfect as can be, and I am loving every second of being her mama.

2014 Wrap Up

What an exciting year this was for us! Let's review:

January--I can't think of anything exciting that happened this month. I got a new phone, and that is pretty much all.

February--Jason got really sick and after two trips to urgent care, they couldn't figure out what was wrong so they sent him to the ER. We suspected a kidney infection but it came back negative for that. Either way, he was in a ton of pain and was really really sick for a few days. No fun!

We "celebrated" Valentine's Day by laying on the couch watching TV.

We watched the Super Bowl at a friend's house and Jason was happy the Seahawks won.

ER visits in the year 2014: 1

March--Jason and I went up to an indoor skate park with some friends of ours. Jason made me take hours of videos of him riding his bike (sooo exciting for me haha) but it was cool to be reminded how awsome my husband is.

Hot.

One day at work I got a call from Jason saying he got hit by someone and was on his way to the ER. Of course I freaked out but then he explained he was riding his bike at the skate park, and another kid on a bike collided into him. He split his leg open pretty good, duct taped it up (like a man) and drove himself to the hospital. I got off work a little early to meet him there and watch him get stitched up.

10 stitches later...

ER visits in the year 2014: 2

Our friend Dan had an extra ticket to a Sounder's game so he took Jason. A little bit later that day our friend David called and said he had an extra ticket too, so I got to go :) The four of us drove up together but had to sit in different sections. Oh well, it was still a free game and still lots of fun! Thanks Dan and DH!

Great seats!

At the end of March, we went on a trip to CA. It was my first time getting to bring Jason down to meet all my friends and family, and it was a lot of fun! We went to a Sharks game, Dave and Buster's, the Santa Cruz boardwalk, and more!

This view never gets old

Go Sharks!

April--While we were still in CA, we got rear ended in our rental car. Not fun. In fact, we are STILL in the never-ending process of dealing with stupid insurance companies. As much as we LOVE to go to the ER (ha ha) we did not go after the car accident. We knew we had whiplash and would see our chiropractor when we got home.

 I started a new workout program from Beachbody called the 21 Day Fix. It was awesome and I was happy to start seeing results!

Working out is always better with a friend!

May--The little boy I was a nanny for, Gavin, turned one! He had a party at the Hands On Children Museum (combined party with his brother Tyler, who was turning 4). I sure love these boys.

I got really sick. I woke up really early in the morning with terrible pain in my kidneys, so went to the ER and found out I had a kidney infection. The doctor also surprised us with the news that we were pregnant!! It was very shocking, and weird to have someone else reveal it to me. I had suspected I was but after a couple negative pregnancy tests, I told myself I must not be. Turns out I was just taking the tests too early, at the time the doctor told us I was only about 3 weeks pregnant. 

ER visits in the year 2014: 3

We didn't keep it a secret for long. We had our closest friends over for a BBQ and told them we were moving. After allowing them to react, we said "Just kidding, we're pregnant!" :) Everyone was MUCH happier with that news.

June--About halfway into June I stopped working at my nanny job. Gavin's mom is a teacher and they didn't need me for the summer. (I ended up not going back to work for them. They moved up to north Tacoma, and I didn't want to make the commute. I also would have had to quit in December anyways. I was really sad to leave them though, they are an awesome family!)

I also started getting morning sickness, hooray, and luckily the vomiting didn't start until after I'd stopped working. Pretty much all I remember for the summer months was throwing up every single day. Bursting blood vessels in my eye was a common occurrence. 

Some of my family was in town visiting. We went out to eat at Red Robin, where I discovered I could not eat a single thing and spent the whole time running back and forth to the bathroom to throw up. I didn't stop on the way home (I threw up two or three times into a Carl's Jr. cup...awesome), and didn't stop for another 12 hours or so. I was finally SUPER dehydrated and hadn't been able to keep anything down so we went to the ER and got me an IV. They think I caught a stomach bug.

ER visits in the year 2014: 4

Jason and I went with his parents and grandpa to a gun show down in Chehalis. I got bored after about thirty minutes but Jason and his dad had a blast and bought some guns. I'd rather shoot them than walk around and look at them :)

We went to Carson and Hudson's birthday party (the twins that I used to nanny for), which was a lot of fun. I'm so glad I have kept in touch with their awesome family, and I love seeing the boys grow up!

July--We had a pretty laid back 4th of July. We took Gus to my parents' house and walked down to the lake to see the fireworks. He did really well and wasn't scared of them!

We took a road trip to Rexburg, Idaho for a family reunion. On our way there we stopped for some Subway and I took this awesome picture which I am proud to say became quite an internet sensation haha :) Best picture I've ever taken! !

Years later, Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro are still friends!

We spent a week in Rexburg and St. Anthony and got to spend lots of time with family. I was glad I got to see my sister and nephews as well.

First time meeting my nephew Tucker

Hanging out while Jason took Landon on the merry-go-round

Our newest niece Emmaline, such a doll!

We celebrated my birthday at Fujiyama's, which is always amazing...unless you are pregnant and they cook raw chicken right in front of you. I had to try REALLY hard not to throw up haha. 

Our friends Chigro and Jaimee got married up in Renton. It was fun to meet some of Jason's old BMX friends, but it was at the awkward time in my pregnancy where I was starting to show but it pretty much just looked like I was a little bit fat haha.

My handsome groom :)

Kim came home for a friend's wedding and it was great getting to spend some time with her! Mom, Kim and I took a day trip to the beach and also went kayaking with Jason and Robert.

August--One of my best friends, Jasmine, had her baby Ezra. I visited them in the hospital and all of the sudden it got real--this was going to be me in 5 months! I may or may not have had a minor freak out haha.

I spent most of this month thinking my morning sickness should be over since I was now in my second trimester, but I was wrong!

Michelle came to visit so I got to see my cute nephews again.

I got in a car accident--it was really scary and traumatizing, especially since I was pregnant, but it could have been a lot worse! I wasn't far enough along to feel the baby moving so as soon as I got home I listened for its heartbeat and everything was okay, so I avoided a trip to the hospital.

September--Jason and I went to Mariner's game with our friends Soup and Mrs. Soup (aka Susy).

We had a birthday party/BBQ for Jason at my mom's house. 

Jason got two pretty awesome birthday presents: a new car (mine was totaled in the accident, and he had sold his right before the accident) and finding out his baby was a GIRL! :) The ultrasound place was trying to make me wait another week or so to find out the gender. I was already almost 22 weeks along and I had zero patience left. I begged the lady on the phone for any way to find out sooner and she said if I wanted to drive up to Lakewood I could be seen immediately. Done! I called Jason, had him get off work early and pick me up.

2010 Kia Sportage--we love it!

We found out the day before his birthday. 

We also celebrated his birthday at Buffalo Wild Wings with some friends, and with some delicious ice cream cake with his family. In honor of his daughter, his cake was decorated with pink sprinkles :)

October--Amber and Will (friends from CA) came up to Seattle so Jason and I drove up to spend some time with them. We also got to see Mike and Stephanie, who live in Seattle but we hardly ever see.

Mrs. Katwijk and the soon-to-be Mrs. Caillat

Jason and I joined his family in participating in a Buddy Walk for Down's Syndrome. It was a lot of fun. We brought Gus along and he loved seeing all the kids and people.

Cutest brother-in-law ever!

Jason and I carved pumpkins and watched the Nightmare Before Christmas. We were planning on attending a trunk-or-treat but two days before Halloween I started throwing up. A lot. Finally by Friday morning, I hadn't been able to keep anything down for a day and a half so my mom got off work early and took me to the hospital. This time, instead of seeing me in the ER, they took me to the Family Birth Center because I was so far along. I got an IV and they monitored my baby. I felt her have the hiccups for the first time :)

ER visits in the year 2014: 5

November--The day after Halloween I had my first baby shower. I was glad to be feeling better by then! Emily and Kiah threw me a wonderful shower and I had so much fun with my amazing friends. A week or so later I had a second baby shower, thrown by Jasmine, which was also awesome! I have been so blessed to have so many people giving gifts to my baby girl. We have gotten so much stuff it's incredible, and we are so grateful!

Jason's parents took us to see Popovich's Comedy Pet Theater in downtown Olympia. It was very entertaining, but made me think my animals are pretty dang useless ;) 

We got a new kitty. Jack is a wonderful addition to our little family.

Best buds

Jason's mom took some maternity pictures. It was FREEZING so we didn't get too many but we got a lot of good ones!

Jason's whole family went to Idaho for Thanksgiving. Being so pregnant, I did not want to make that drive so we stayed here and spent the quiet, relaxing day with my mom and Robert.

December--Jason's brother Lance came home from Idaho for about a month. His family stayed with us for a few days before going to stay at his in-laws, and it was fun having my two little nephews here! Adelin loved Gus and Gus loved him.

Our good friend's daughter turned one and we had a party for her at our place. I can't believe little miss Piper is a whole year old! It has been so much fun getting to see her grow up :) 

Well that was pretty much our year! Hopefully next year we will have less visits to the hospital ;) We hope all of our friends and family have had a wonderful year, and a happy holiday season. Merry Christmas, we love you!

XOXO,

The Katwijks

Jason, Elise, Gus, Zuko, Jack, and Baby Girl

Getting Close

Tomorrow I am 30 weeks pregnant. Time has been flying by the second half of my pregnancy. I wish I could say that I am all done being sick, but I am definitely not. On Halloween I spent the day in the hospital getting IV's because I had thrown up for over 30 hours straight and was severely dehydrated. This morning my cinnamon toast crunch decided to make a reappearance. So yeah, me and the toilet are still best buds. I guess it will just be that way until she's here!

I had two baby showers. They were both a lot of fun! Baby girl and I are extremely grateful to everyone who helped, came, and brought gifts! I failed to take any pictures at the first one, which is quite unfortunate. I wanted to get a group picture of everyone who was there and I wanted to document the adorable decorations that Emily had set up. My mom took a bunch of pictures at my second shower, I look like a beached whale in most of them so I will only put up a couple :)

Adorable diaper cake made by Jasmine!

Other updates: Jason and I found a name that we both love (which took forever and was nearly impossible) but my dear husband doesn't want to commit to the name until she is here :) Hopefully she looks like what we picked out, otherwise she may be nameless for awhile!

I assume I do not have gestational diabetes because I took my test a week ago and haven't heard back from my midwife's office. Woohoo! I couldn't do the fasting test, I threw up less than an hour after drinking the glucose drink so my midwife let me do an alternate way of taking the test.

We got a new car back in September because Jason sold his to his brother, and I crashed mine. It is kind of unfortunate only having one vehicle to share, but we're making it work. If it were better weather outside, Jason could just take his motorcycle to work every day. Luckily for me I have Kiah and Jasmine who always offer me rides and get me out of the house a couple days a week :) 

We got a new kitty named Jack. Jason calls him Handsome Jack (from Borderlands) and I call him Black Jack. He's the sweetest, most loving kitty I've ever seen. He and Zuko were best friends right away! Gus is dying to play with him but Jack still isn't quite sure about him.

My Pregnancy

Hey everyone. I thought I'd write down a bunch of stuff about my pregnancy so far--and if no one thinks that's interesting, I'll at least have it to look back on later ;)

Obviously I could not wait to be pregnant. Jason and I tried for over a year. When it finally happened I was beyond thrilled. I expected to have a fairly easy pregnancy (wishful thinking). I also knew that most women in my family do not experience morning sickness, and I didn't have any with my last pregnancy so I thought I'd be good. Boy, was I wrong. It hit me at week 7. I threw up nearly every day until week 14, with just a few random days that I did not throw up. Then I thought I was done. Most morning sickness goes away in the second trimester right? Not for me! I was fine for about a week or two, then would randomly get sick again. I am now 17 weeks. I threw up yesterday and today. It feels never-ending! I've tried practically everything that I have read or heard about and nothing really works unfortunately.

The toilet and I are best friends now.

In the beginning of my pregnancy, I craved fast food all the time. I discovered pretty early on that my pregnant self does not enjoy chocolate (I know, crazy!) and that I cannot eat chicken (unless it's breaded/fried). Vegetables have also been nearly impossible to eat. I feel like I've lived off cereal, Ramen, fruit, and more cereal for the majority of my pregnancy. Pizza, frozen yogurt and mandarin oranges are a few things that always sound good to me. Trying to eat healthy seems nearly impossible. For the past month or so, I have had very few cravings and most food sounds gross to me. I am also hungry ALL THE TIME which makes this whole thing even more difficult. Always hungry + nothing sounds good = misery.

Of course I planned on being super healthy and working out every day during my pregnancy. Ha! That has not happened at all. I try to go on walks whenever I can, but that is pretty much all I can manage. Right before I got pregnant I was actually working out nearly every day and starting to see some results. Well, now I am just focused on trying to not gain a million pounds haha.

Everyone told me I'd sleep amazingly when I was pregnant. I did sleep pretty well in the first trimester, but now I do not sleep well at all. I can't get comfortable, I have to go to the bathroom usually twice a night, and I wake up countless times. My hips have started to hurt when laying on my sides so I have to lay on my back a lot of the time. Usually the best sleep I get is in the morning when Jason leaves for work and I fall back asleep for an hour--if I can get Zuko and Gus to be quiet :)

Don't get me wrong, as much as I can sit and complain about my pregnancy, I am SO happy to have this opportunity. I am so grateful to experience pregnancy, and I know that every time I throw up it is just a reminder and indication that my baby is growing healthy and strong. A friend gave me a fetal heart monitor and I LOVE listening to my sweet baby's heartbeat. After a long day of being sick, nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than hearing that amazing sound. I have not felt the baby kick yet, but I have felt a few little flutters. We will find out the baby's gender in 3 weeks, and we CANNOT WAIT!

I know that some women will never get to experience being pregnant. Not everyone wants to, but my heart aches for those that do. I am not taking this pregnancy for granted; even in my most miserable moments I still am so amazed that I get to make this beautiful little life and bring it into the world. Women are amazing and I have a new respect for anyone who has been through pregnancy haha. It is not easy but I know it will absolutely be worth it!

Quote from my favorite children's book of all time