My birth story

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but as you can imagine, life has been a little crazy these last three weeks. Right now both of my babies are sleeping so I'm going to attempt to get this written before one or both of them wake up!

Natalia Jean Zuniga decided to finally come on her due date, August 19, 2012. Jon and I had gone to sleep the night before really hoping that she would decide to come. I got a couple hours of sleep before I woke up to Veja crying around 2:00 am. I was going to go help her go back to sleep, but by the time I got up she had already stopped crying and was back asleep so I crawled back in bed as well. I was laying there for a couple of minutes and then I realized that I was having contractions, and they hurt! (I had LOTS of braxton-hicks leading up to this) I just laid there for a while wondering if I was just imagining it or if I was really starting into labor. Well they didn't go away, no matter how I readjusted myself, and I also noticed a little bit of a bloody show when I went to the bathroom, I figured that it was my mucus plug so I woke up Jon and told him that I was having contractions. Needless to say, Jon was ecstatic! We started timing the contractions. For my entire labor my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart and lasted just under a minute in length. We called Jon's mom to let her know that I was in labor but told her to say and get some rest, we knew she would be there as soon as we needed her. I labored through the rest of the night, and Jon slept so that he could be wide awake and alert when I needed him most. Ann came over just after 6 and started setting things up. This was when Jon took Veja over to his family's so that they could get her ready for church and take her with them.

Jon and I went on a walk down the canal at the end of the street around 7:30. We continued to keep track of the contractions and Jon made sure I could talk through them (he didn't want me to be able to because he wanted his little girl to get here). By the time we turned around I was still able to talk through them, but it was getting harder and I could handle them better if we stopped walking. We got back to the apartment around 8 and I thought that my water may have broken. It did, but it was higher up so it was just a trickle, a MAJOR difference from when my water broke with Veja. This was when Ann checked me, I was dilated to a 7. Sure enough my water had broken, but there was still a forebag of water around Natalia's head. We decided to not break that, which turned out to be a blessing in the end.

At this point I decided to get in the pool. I very much enjoyed the warm water! It felt absolutely amazing! After I got in though my contractions started getting harder and harder, I was in transition. So we texed my mom to let her know she should come. It wasn't very long before I started feeling the need to push. This was when I started using the hypnobirthing technique of breathing the baby down. Because I did this Natalia came with just two pushes! (So much better than 2 hours of pushing that I did with Veja)

Here's where the miracles come in! The forebag of water broke as I got Natalia's head out. Once her head was out Ann was trying to get the chord off of her neck, I heard her trying to tell me something, but another contraction was coming and I needed to push so I did. With that push Natalia came all the way out. On her way out her chord snapped because it was only a little over a foot long! Which is really short if you were wondering. Her chord was also really thin which aided in it being able to snap. As you know I had placenta previa early on in my pregnancy but the placenta moved, but it was still low lying. Because it was low lying I was able to have Natalia naturally without complication! If the placenta was any higher she wouldn't have been able to come out of the birth canal without the chord snapping. The forebag of water also held Natalia up out of the birth canal until the last possible minute so that she wasn't stressed and the chord was loose around her neck until the end. Natalia was perfectly healthy in every way! She is my miracle baby, coming into the world with little miracles along the way. I know that my Heavenly Father was there watching over both me and Natalia and that is why everything went so smoothly and why we're both so healthy.

Natalia Jean Zuniga was born at 9:07am on August 19th. She weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 19.5in long. She is beautiful in every way! Her hair is dark brown with a hint of red in it and her eyes are already brown! She has her own little look and we adore her! Veja absolutely loves being a big sister! The first time we introduced her to Natalia she had the biggest smile on her face! She acts like a second little mother. She loves to hold her and give her kisses. Whenever Natalia is crying and we're in the other room Veja will stop whatever she's doing and bring me to the baby. We are a happy little family and are so glad we have a new beautiful little girl that decided to join us. We weighed Natalia last week and she was 9lbs 13oz...she gained 2lbs in 2 weeks!!! She has already grown so much! I can hardly believe that 3 short weeks ago I was still pregnant! Recovery for me has been a lot faster this time around. By the end of the first week I was mostly back to normal. I am a huge fan of home water-births now! I'm loving being skinny again! Funny how I missed it.

Here are some pictures of Natalia and the rest of us on her birthday:

my first moments with Natalia

getting her first bath from Grandma Roberts

Veja giving her sister loves

our first family picture with Natalia

Helping Veja hold Natalia

I had to get this! She hasn't found her thumb again since then, but it was so sweet to see

Veja gets a HUGE smile on her face every time we let her hold her sister. She LOVES her!

It's official

I'm still pregnant! I am now officially, and will continue to be, the most pregnant I have ever been. By 2:00pm the day before my due date I was holding my sweet Veronika in my arms. I guess Natalia wants to be different. She's still holding off on deciding to come. Every day I wake up thinking "today would be a good day to have a baby" and then nothing happens. I really hope Natalia doesn't decide to wait too long! I'm getting really anxious to meet and hold her!!

This last month of pregnancy has been really hard. I've been so tired and sore every day. It seems that no matter what I do I can't relieve my back or lower abdomen. All of the normal aches and pains associated with pregnancy. This time it is a little harder to deal with though because I have a sweet little 17 month old that I get to take care of and hold. Not to mention I skipped being big and pregnant during the hottest months the first time around! I love every minute of being pregnant, don't get me wrong. But the love is a very unique kind of love. I love the connection I have with my unborn daughter, and I just LOVE being able to feel her inside of me. However, my arms are starting to ache to hold this sweet baby girl! Natalia please decide to come soon! Mommy wants to hold you and love you and kiss you and cuddle you!

The waiting game...

I'm now officially 38 weeks pregnant! My due date is two weeks from yesterday and I am so ready to have this little girl! I can definitely feel my body changing...getting ready to have this baby. I just hope she comes soon because I'm ready to be done, but more importantly I'm ready to hold my little girl in my arms!! I'm excited to have another baby! :) My baby isn't much of a baby any more...she's a toddler that's for sure! My mother-in-law has had me on this herbal blend for the last couple of weeks. It's supposed to help my body move things along, especially the Braxton-hicks contractions. It's supposed to make them come more frequently and help them to actually start the dilation and effacement.  In theory I'll have a shorter labor because I won't be starting from nothing. I hope it's true! Speaking of labor, in preparation I got a book, HypnoBirthing, by Marie Mongan. My mother-in-law suggested it because it has some good relaxation techniques. Well I got it and read it quite quickly! I loved it! It reinforced my own personal thoughts and feelings about natural births. My philosophy: my body was made to bear children so why do I need medical intervention, such as epidurals? I have nothing against epidurals or those who chose to get them, I just feel that I can go through labor and delivery without them, and I have once already. The book takes it a step further though and says that there is no reason pain should be associated with childbirth (not sure I completely agree with this...your body is going through a lot of work and change to have a baby. Anytime you work hard you end up with some degree of pain). While I agree with a lot of what the book presents I don't agree completely with some things. For one, I don't think the method should be labeled HypnoBirthing...it throws a lot of people off, it's more deep relaxation than hypnosis. It is still a great book and a great resource to have for my future pregnancies. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to  try a fully natural birth.

Happy July!

Life has been kind of crazy lately. Jon's been studying to take the DAT on the 16th and I have been working hard being a microbiology student. It's hard work keeping up with housework when I'm busy studying for tests and keeping my beautiful little girl entertained! It's given me lots of practice for when I start nursing school though. There are days where I just get really anxious and worry that I won't be able to handle it. But then I realize that I can do anything with the Lord's help, and I really feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing now.

Veja has sure been keeping us busy! She loves to be the center of attention and will do everything in her power to get us to pay attention to her. She just adores her daddy and loves to do anything and everything with him! I guess since she spends more time with me she doesn't mind letting me do SOME things on my own. She is the smartest little girl around! She can say "hi", and "mine" (I think that one is her favorite). She can "roar" like a lion, and recently she picked up "ooh ooh aah" -ing like a monkey. She has started to climb. She can now get up onto the chairs at my parents and my in-laws all by herself. It's kind of scary because the next step of course is the table. She is a dare devil! I swear there is hardly anything that scares her! Lol on the 4th of July we went and watched fireworks and she sat perfectly still in my lap just watching them for about half of the show. How many 15 month old's do that?! She will push on my belly when I ask her where mommy's baby is...that is when she can reach my belly, if not it's just any part of my body she can easily reach. She has the concept down that I have a baby in me...just not sure where. :P

Natalia is growing well! :) I am now 34 weeks pregnant, only 6 more weeks to go! Everywhere I go people ask me about when I'm due. My belly just keeps getting bigger and bigger as the days go on. I'm enduring the heat, if you can say that. It sure seems a lot hotter when you've got a built in heater. I honestly don't remember being this hot last summer! Natalia loves kicking me in the ribs...just like her sister. She moves around a lot more than Veja did, especially at night when I'm laying down to go to sleep. I can hardly wait for the next 6 weeks to come because I'm so excited to meet this wonderful baby girl I have growing inside of me!

Here I am at 28 weeks

We went camping and Veja just LOVED playing in the dirt!

Veja just LOVES to swim!

4 generations on  the 4th of July. Veja, me, my mom, and my grandma

This is how Veja sat through the firework show

Just playing on her dad's cruiser

June = amazing

I would have to say that June is by far my favorite month of the year! Now I know some people who would think I'm crazy seeing as how I live in Arizona and June = HOT, but let me explain why I love June so much! First of all, I was born in June. I could stop there and that would be enough to make June a wonderful month! But there are still more reasons! When you hit June you know that summer has officially started! That means pool parties, lots of sun (who doesn't love the sun?!), BBQ's, water fun, and best of all: NO SCHOOL! (well at least for the kids, us adults tend to go to school at all times of the year). The summer equinox is in June, which means that June has the longest day of the year which equals more sunshine and more fun! Oh and I can't forget my second favorite reason to love June: June is when Jon and I got married for all time and eternity! You know the song from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, June Bride? "Oh they say when you marry in June, you're a bride, all your life." I love that movie and I love that song! I love celebrating my anniversary within a week of my birthday! I can't lie, June really is my favorite month!

Jon and I celebrated our second anniversary last week. It was wonderful! :) I love being married to such an amazing husband! He seriously is the BEST! These past two years have been amazing and I'm so excited to see what the rest of eternity brings! For our anniversary my parents watched Veja for us for the night. While baby free (well at least toddler free, baby #2 is kind of hard to leave with anyone but me right now), we went out to dinner (at Liberty market...our first time trying it) and a movie. We went and saw Men in Black 3. We absolutely loved it! Men in Black is such a big part of my childhood, I loved watching the third one and reliving so many memories. Afterwards we went home and watched MIB2 and then went to bed. It was amazing being able to sleep through the night without being woken up by Veja. We really need to get her sleeping through the night.

Today is my birthday and it has been amazing so far! :) First of all Jon surprised me with breakfast in bed, mmmmm....and he got me some beautiful flowers! My favorite surprise so far was coming home from my class and finding the house clean! He did the dishes for me and cleaned up the kitchen. He knows how to make me feel loved! I'm not sure what the rest of the day has in store for me, but I'm excited to find out. :)

Here's a quick update on the nursing program:
I got all my paperwork turned in, but I can't register until I get my level one fingerprint clearance card. I sent in my application for one way back in April...I keep expecting it to show up any day, but every day I just get disappointed. Keep your fingers crossed that it will come soon so that I can stop worrying about everything I need to do between now and September to get ready for nursing school. I have 2 classes left to take that are prerequisites for the 3rd block of the program (semester 3) one is anatomy and physiology 2 (which I'm trying really hard to have a good attitude about because I don't feel like I should have to take it, my anatomy and physiology classes at BYU should transfer no problem as being anatomy and physiology 1 and 2 here but they don't) and the other is microbiology. I decided to sign up and take microbiology this summer and started a couple of weeks ago. So far I'm doing really well in the class, thankfully! It has definitely given Jon and I a glimpse of what me being in nursing school is going to mean for us. We've got some adjustments to make, but we will survive. I'm glad I'm taking it now so that I don't freak out when nursing school starts. I know it's going to be hard, but I think it would have been harder if I had been completely out of school for the two years before. I'm still way excited, but it's a cautious excitement.

Placenta Previa...

So about 2 months ago we found out at our first ultrasound that I had a condition called placenta previa (the placenta was covering my cervix), meaning a natural birth was not an option. Well it took some time but I came to terms with it and had accepted that a c-section was the way our little Natalia is going to come into this world. Of course they wanted to do another ultrasound later on to check on things and make sure that a c-section is what we really needed to plan on. We went in for our second ultrasound on Wednesday (sorry, no pictures this time, Natalia wasn't very photogenic that day). Both Jon and I went in expecting things to be about the same if not exactly the same. We went into the room and were excited to see our little Natalia again (yes, she's still a girl). When the ultrasound technician got to where she was measuring the cervix I started paying even closer attention. Amazingly she moved to a completely different view to find the placenta! I was in shock! I didn't know what to think, I still didn't want to get my hopes up until the doctor told me herself that this was no longer a problem, but I was pretty sure what that meant. When we went back for the follow up the doctor told us just that! The placenta has moved and is no longer anywhere near my cervix! I had to ask to be sure, but we can even go back to plan A of having the baby at home with my mother-in-law delivering! We are so relieved! I feel so blessed to be alive at this time with modern medicine where we can know for sure if there are going to be major complications with delivery. Thank you for all the prayers that were sent our way these last couple of months. I know there were many, I can feel the affect of them. The Lord is truly blessing us and I feel so humbled, and grateful! This is what Kaleb told me this week in his email to the family: "That is so awesome that you don't have to get a c-section! The lord is really blessing you right now. =) It sounds like everything is working out well for you guys." He can see the ways the Lord is blessing us all the way from Paraguay!

Nursing School

Guess what! I finally got into the nursing program! :) I only had to wait two years...and who would have thought that in that time I would get married, and have two babies! I was just realizing today that by the time I finish in July of 2014 I'll have a almost 3 1/2 year old and an almost 2 year old! Crazy! But it is official! I'm going to start school in September at MCC!

My acceptance letter! Sorry it's sideways...I don't know why.

There are so many reasons why this program is perfect for me! One is that I'll finish by July of 2014 which means if Jon doesn't get into an Arizona dental school he'll only have to wait a year before starting at an out of state school. Perfect! I don't want to be the reason Jon delays his schooling. Yes, I want a degree, and I feel like I deserve one after a total of 5 1/2 years of school, but his education is more important than mine. Second reason: Orientation is September 18th and the first day of class is September 24th. This is MUCH better than the regular fall start. The first day of class for the regular fall semester is August 20th...a day after my due date! Granted I'm going to have a c-section so I know the baby will be here by then, but I need more time to recover and to spend with my babies before I have to leave them for school! And the last reason is that the program is a hybrid program. Meaning I'll only have to go to classes/clinicals 2 days a week and the rest of the class work will be online! How perfect is this?! Instead of leaving my babies 5 days a week I only have to leave them for 2. It's still going to be hard, and I'm going to have to be really disciplined in order to get all of my work done and to do well. But I honestly feel like the Lord is blessing me so much! It's like he inspired the nursing program people to decide to try out a late start program at the perfect time for me! I was resigned to the fact that I wouldn't start until January and then this amazing opportunity came through! I truly feel blessed!