Well, we spent 48 hours in the hospital, because Olivia was Cohn’s positive, which means that she has a different blood type than Krystal and her liver may not be able to process all of Krystal’s antibodies, which could then lead to jaundice.

Thankfully she did not get jaundice and we came home the Sunday after she was born!  The hospital stay went great!

Krystal, Olivia and I all stayed together in the same room, which I think freaked out some of the staff! LOL  Especially since the first night Nathan also stayed!  Rick came home to sleep and feed the dogs and make sure they didn’t take the house apart!  LOL

Obviously we were anxious to return home with our little bundle of joy!  But the 48 hours in the hospital were very helpful in getting the initial initiation!  Getting the swaddling down and making sure she was eating right and that I could suction her mouth with the bulb syringe and she got the benefit of being able to nurse from Krystal for colostrum and breast milk!  No milk yet for me, but I am still working on it!  And Krystal is being very generous and pumping for milk for Olivia!

Our first night went well and was Rick’s initial initiation into waking up every 2 to 3 hours! LOL

Baxter and Katie did great with Olivia from the beginning!  Katie is my little helper and checks on me in the middle of the night when Olivia and I are up, but for the most part leaves Olivia alone.  Baxter was a bit more thrown off, and unsure of why he wasn’t being held every night, but he too has adjusted well and likes to lay by her and I as we feed her.  He doesn’t even wake up to her cries any more.  The first few days he was very concerned! LOL

We have actually been very busy for Olivia’s first week.  We had the attorney appointment our first full day home, then the pediatrician appointment and then on our 4th or 5th day home we got anzy and took her to Costco for wipes and a few other things!  LoL  She never left the stroller!  And then we did our Christmas pictures (here at home) and will be able to send out our first true Family Christmas picture cards this year!

So all in all I think we had a pretty good first week!  She has already started sleeping a little longer sometimes and is just so alert!

Not to brag, but she is very smart, has a very strong grip, tries to stand when she gets too frustrated and has the cutest smile!!!!!!  We couldn’t ask for anything more, she is just perfect!  Even the pediatrician said so!!

We really like Dr. Jones and he was very thorough!

My poor Mom got sick this past weekend and couldn’t come over, it was very sad!  But we have had several friends visit and they are all in ahhhhh of her!

So I will hit the hay, because Miss Olivia will be up soon for her next feeding and she is a little piggy at times!  So good night and thank you for continuing this wonderful journey with us!!!

~Anna~

PS Krystal is doing great!  She looks fabulous! And I think is feeling better than expected!  Everything at the attorney’s went fine for all of us – I know many have asked!  So life is progressing well for all!

Here are few pictures frm her first week -

Well as most of you know Olivia Isabella Schmidt has arrived!!!!!  Therefore I have not had time to blog.

People tell you that you will be sleep deprived, have no time for anything but the baby, but until you are there it is difficult to truly understand! LOL

I will start out with the birth, because last you heard from me I was shopping!

On the morning of the 3rd we got a call from Krystal saying that her contractions had changed and she thought she was now in true early labor.  She said to go to work, because it would be a while, so we did.  It was hard to concentrate, but we both wrapped up our work, notified our employers that this might be it.  I left work as if going to our 39th week OB appointment and went to Krystal’s.  She said she canceled the appointment, because she already knew she was in labor and there was not point, so instead we went shopping to get her walking a bit.  After two Targets we went to our house so that I could change and Nathan went to drop off the twins and things were ready and waiting.  We walked the San Tan Village and had dinner and then things seemed to stall, so we each went to our own homes and waited.  This was about 9:30pm.  By 12:30am Krystal, Nathan and Ridge were at our house and labor was in full swing!

We all tried to get some rest and at about 2am Krystal got into the infamous tub and was in and out for the next 2 hours.  It was a very helpless feeling, because there wasn’t much we could do and Nathan is a wonderful coach to Krystal.  So I baked cookies!!!

By 4am the Douala Jenny arrived and that was perfect because Krystal was ready for her!

By 4:45am we were headed to the hospital!  Jenny kept saying “don’t panic”….. I was driving Krystal’s van with Krystal and Nathan in it and Jenny followed.  Rick had to stay behind to wait for my sister Bea to come and stay with Krystal’s baby Ridge.  He followed about 10 minutes behind us, thankfully!  All I kept thinking was “I am not stopping until we get there”, because it was pretty intense and at one point Krystal was pretty adamant that she did not like Olivia at this point! LOL

Shortly after 5 am she was in triage and 6.5cm dilated. Shortly before 6am we were in the labor room and she was 9.2cm!!!!!  Rick and I ended up going back to the cars for things that were forgotten and thank goodness we were quick, because by 6:20am Olivia had arrived!!!!!

As you can see in the video it was a very joyful, extraordinary and overwhelming event!  I could not stop crying!  She was finally here after 13 years and 11 attempts, she was finally here!  We had finally discovered the path she had to take to get here!  Krystal did an amazing job and was so strong, beautiful and powerful, it was awesome to watch!!!!!

So at 6:20am she arrived and was 8lbs 8.2ozs, 21in long and a head circumference of 13 3/4 in  with Apgars of 9/9, so she came through with flying colors!

(Sigh) We could now breath and take it all in……………………

Thanks to everyone for your support and well wishes. We are all settling in and getting to know each other. We put together a little video of Olivia’s arrival – we hope you all enjoy it.

Olivia’s Arrival

Thanks again to Krystal – You are amazing!

She is here and she is perfect!

Things are busy right now and we will send out emails, notices, and more post, but for now I just want to let everyone know she is here and everything is great.

Today Rick came home with some lovely gifts from his co-workers!  It’s amazing how everything is adorable and irresistible!

There was one particular item that was way too cute!  Some pink high-top converse!  That say “adorable”!  Way to cute!

Then Krystal needed to get out of the house and headed for San Tan Village, so we met her there with some Tamales,  because that seems to be her main craving and she just can’t get enough of any tamales!  We wondered around the children stores and the clothes are so adorable!  Even Rick, was like “look at this”, “look at that”!  I really like the stuff at Children’s Place and it’s so reasonable! They are having 40% off on outer wear and I have a 15% coupon!!!!!

Rick says I can’t buy a whole wardrobe for the next year or two!  But I don’t see the problem with it ~ girls, what do you think? LOL  I do need to get her some tights and maybe a few other things :{! LOL

Krystal and her Mom shopped for her kids and we all agreed it’s more fun to shop for the girls then the boys!  Poor boys! But there are also some very cute things for the boys!

So Krystal and I will have to go back with my coupon and try not to do to much damage!

I think the fact that Krystal had energy today and needed to get out of the house and her legs worked, are all great signs that Olivia is preparing to enter the world!

So tomorrow we will have our 39th week appointment!  Woohoo!  Time has flown!

I think Krystal would disagree, but she looks adorable!  Her belly is now very round, like a larger basketball and has gotten firmer and it’s incredible how it just sticks out in front of her body!  It’s just a wonderful sight!!  We are loving it!!!

It seems like forever since the last time I blogged, but I guess it’s actually only been about 10 days!  I guess we have been very busy and preoccupied!

Krystal has been having prodromal labor for about 10 days!  It started on the 19th and it seems yesterday and today the contractions have gotten stronger, so we are warming up the tub, have packed our bags, picked out a coming home outfit, have our Bradley stuff ready, the camera and batteries ready  and now I just need our snacks!  I was hoping to get to the store, but just didn’t make it there tonight…….

When we cleaned out the baby’s room to get it ready I just moved everything in that closet to the spare room.  So today I had to clean all of that up so that Krystal can lay down if she needs to or for whoever needs to during labor.

I’m still pumping, nothing yet   But Krystal will give the baby colostrum and milk for as long as possible, so Olivia won’t miss out!

I worked yesterday, Saturday!  The person who normally works that shift needed the day off so we traded and I got Thursday and Friday off and then I worked her 17 hour shift, which turned into a 19 1/2 hour shift!  The ER went crazy at 11 pm!  So I got home at 4 am!  I think I am doing pretty good considering Friday I got up at 3:30am to go shopping and finally went to bed at 10:30pm.  Then yesterday I was at work at 8 am and then home at 4 am for one shift!  And I still got stuff done today!  To most it’s probably like, yeah so?  But for me this is a great reminder of how much better I feel and how I truly am stronger and recovered finally!  I didn’t get sick and I didn’t have to just lay around all day, because my body wouldn’t go………….instead I got up after 8 1/2 hours and got going, YAY!!!!!!

It was hard to decide what outfit to take to the hospital for Olivia, so of course I have several, along with several hats, and booties!  But no matter what I know she will look beautiful!

It is hard not to be able to be with Krystal while she labors and I keep thinking I need to work as long as possible, but part of me just wants to say, forget it and take off now!  It’s hard to know how the tub will work, but we have it ready in case Krystal does get to use it.

We went to the attorney’s last Monday.  Retained him as our attorney and  he gave us these profiles for Krystal and Rick to fill out, so that Olivia can have all the information later.   Krystal and I went to dinner after our last OB appointment and it took us about 2 hours to fill out the profile!  It was good, things we would not have thought of like facial features, abilities, milestones and overall personality and history.  I think it will be really good to have, so that Olivia can explore that information if she ever wants to.

I have also been writing in a pregnancy journal, how we came to be here today and some of the reasons why things came to be in this situation, so that Olivia will have it down from my perspective now as it happens.  Because we all know that time changes our perception of reality and reality changes constantly in our lives!  So this way she will know how we were feeling and why we did what we did……………

I’ve also had a few crying spells today so maybe that is a good sign that she is coming!  We have been watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert and some of the songs just made me cry, then rereading the journal made me cry and I even cried through Metalllica!  Krystal isn’t going to believe it!  It’s her favorite band!

I know that we are anxious, excited, nervous and I know I am a little scared!  So I can’t imagine how Krystal is feeling!  I just try to remember that she and Olivia and all of us are in God’s hands and therefore I don’t have to worry!

Hopefully we will be letting you know really soon!!!!!!!!

Rick and I interviewed a pediatrician today, Ronald Jones.  We got lucky because he decided today that at least for a while he is unable to do prenatal visits.  I liked his office, it has a beautiful mural in the waiting room of Noah’s Ark.  It was obvious he is a man of faith, which I like.  He was very relaxed.  Didn’t rush us, answered all of our questions, or my questions! LOL He is open to a modified vaccination schedule, he is open to naturopathic medicine and he has a separate well visit waiting room and a separate sick visit waiting room; which is great!

He does have a partner, 24 hour triage nurse, same day appointment and appears very organized!

I have to thank Jenny David, our Bradley teacher/doula for recommending him to me.  The best thing is he will be moving to a new office and it will be closer to us!  I think we will all like this office, including Olivia!  It was well worth meeting him ahead of time!

And so are we!  Yesterday was my 38th Birthday!  It was the first birthday in years that I didn’t feel the dread of not having a child and that is all thanks to Krystal! She wasn’t feeling well enough to join us for dinner last night and I didn’t hear from her at all today, despite some attempts at reaching her.  She was busy with a yard sale!  I don’t know how the woman does it!  All sorts of discomfort, 9 months pregnant, 3 small children and she still has the energy for a yard sale!  She is amazing!

We had our 36 week appointment on Wednesday and Krystal is measuring at almost 38 weeks!  I keep saying that means anytime now, but Krystal is not so sure!  I know she is ready and says she just wants her space back and I don’t blame her.  She is right I won’t ever truly understand what she is going through, but I know that we are ready.  Ready to be parents, ready to have our little girl with us!  She looks like she is in the right position, which is great!

It’s just hard to not be able to bond with her as much as if we had her with us all the time, but if she has to be taken care of by someone else, I’m glad it’s Krystal!  That was her destiny and I am very grateful for it!

Krystal said in her blog that anything she has had a problem with she has ignored, because she didn’t want resentments and problems……I understand because we are different people and like with any friend you don’t always tell them when they are annoying you! LOL Most of us tend to let it go and get over it, because they are our friends and we want to keep it that way! LOL  I thank Krystal for being so wise, because I know it’s not easy and like we all do, I’m sure we have not always recognized when we are being annoying! LOL

So thanks Krystal for always being patient with us!  That’s why we love you!  You are not only carrying our baby, but helping us to prepare for her!  You are a great Mom and that has been a great example for us!  I can only hope Olivia is as precious as your children are and I don’t mean just by appearance, but their spirit, their behavior and their overall love of life!

We too had a yard sale today, but we are not good sales people like Krystal is, so we didn’t do as well, but at least we got rid of a few things!  So I say it again, I am hoping that tomorrow we can finish getting everything ready for Olivia!

We keep moving things around, so we keep making messes! LOL

I chatted with my cousin today, she is pregnant with her nd child.  It is amazing my sister and I are the oldest of 40 first cousins and at least 5 of us are having baby’s all in the next 2 to 3 months!  What are the odds!  I think they are all boys except Olivia!  That’s cuz she is special! LOL  It’s too bad we don’t all live near each other, but hopefully at some point we can all get together.  The cousin I spoke to today is due December 31, but will deliver earlier, because she has gestational diabetes, her brother’s wife is due January 2, but the baby is very big (he is very tall and she is not) so she may deliver early too!!  My cousin Fernando’s baby was just born and Alex’s baby is due in January and I forgot, that Alex’s sister just today announced she is 11 weeks pregnant!  Obviously she doesn’t know what she is having!  So as my cousin Ismael said, it’s an epidemic and it feels great to be part of it!

Thank You Krystal!!!!!! Without you and your beautiful body we would not be part of this epidemic in my family and I would be really sad!   So thank you, thank you, thank you Krystal for this magnificent 38th Birthday present!  There will never be another like it!  And our hope for you is that this has and will continue to be the gift that you were hoping for as well!!

We are 36 weeks today!  Almost there!

We spent all weekend washing baby stuff, it seemed never ending!  It is so tiny!  So much fits in one load, I almost feel that it will get lost in the washer or dryer since it is so tiny!

Despite the volume of each load, I think I did 5 or 6 loads!!!! Of course this included blankets and separation of colors.

It is all folded and put away in the drawers in her room, which I did line so that she doesn’t get any wood splinters! Rick thought I was crazy, but it made sense to me! LOL

We are almost done and yet have so much to do!  I painted different wood decorations that I had for her but needed to match her colors and Rick stained a small table to put next to the chair we ended up putting in there.  And we have her name ready to hang, so she learns her name quickly! LOL Just Kidding!

We decided not to buy a new chair, it seems we have so much furniture and never get rid of any, so……………. we exchanged the giant chair in that room for the rocking recliner in our room and put a slip cover on it!  It looks good and I think will work great!  The previous chair is a double chair so it was just too big.

I have a few more Thank You cards to write and I am still pumping!  Krystal is going to the chiropractor and trying to stay healthy and Rick is reminding me of what we still need to do!

36 weeks!  We will soon be struggling to get that tiny little Olivia into those tiny little clothes!  Yay!!!!!

I have been feeling very worn out this last month.  Not sure if it’s still residual of all my old infertility complications left over or just the stress of this situation or sympathy fatigue!

As excited as I am to meet the baby, I feel very drained of life…..I know I am  not the one who can barely walk, or who has ligament pains or who gained 8 lbs. this month, but I feel like I am carrying twins!  Since I am trying to support Krystal and the baby.  I guess I want to be sure they are both OK and sometimes I don’t know how not to worry and then I feel spent. I know Krystal is also feeling spent and ready for the next step!  It will be here before we know it!

I know I have had millions if not zillions of emotions and I can only imagine Krystal has too.  Sometimes I am confused by my emotions and by some of the emotions that Krystal appears to be going through.  I am sure it is the same for her.  We don’t get the chance to have deep, in-depth conversations to often, we have had a few.  I don’t know if that would help or not, because I will never be able to be in Krystal’s shoes, just like she will never be able to be in mine.  We can only try to imagine, but we all know it’s not the same.

I have been very pensive and melancholy lately.  I am still amazed that Krystal was willing to do this for us!  Just because it’s not easy…………….considering the nausea, morning sickness throughout, not just the first trimester, and now with the back pain, ligament pain and numbing in her legs ~ yikes!  Obviously it makes us even more grateful that she would be willing to do this at all!

Even though this is all about the baby from our perspective and from Krystal’s, I can’t wait for us to talk about our Family as a whole, Krystal included of course, but it will be different!  And we are very excited!

It’s going fast!  Krystal is 35 weeks as of Monday!  I have had a head cold and so was home sick Wednesday and could not go to our 34 week appoint.  Rick accompanied Krystal and I guess I was feeling the fact that I could not be there and texted them both with what I felt was important!  LOL  It sounds like it all went well and everything is good!

The more presents we get for the baby and the more people refer to her as Olivia, or as my mom calls her Isabellita!  The more it sinks in.  I have always loved the name Olivia!  And liked it from the beginning, Rick wasn’t sure and said to put it “on the list”, and Morgan kept saying it made her think of  “Olivia the Pig”, a character in a children’s book.  So it got put on the list and forgotten for a little while.  I had said I really wanted to name the baby, because she has Rick’s genes and will have his last name and she has Krystal’s genes and Krystal gets to carry her, so it only seemed fair that I get to name her.  After Sophia turned out to be so popular, I really like the name Mina (Mee-na), but Rick isn’t thrilled with it and friends pronounced it as (My-na) which I do not like.  So in the end we ended up right back where we started with one of my two original names!

So my conclusion is that I am feeling more and more attached to Olivia; I have always known she is mine, but she is now really mine!  You know what I mean!  I think Krystal feels that way too…..she cares about her and loves her, but has always known she was made for us!  I really am very grateful to her for that!

So I think the universe is saying “Anna you are ready!” or is it “ready or not here she comes!” LOL