Hazel Alberta Williamson

Hazel was born
Thursday, March 29 at 12:32 am
7 lb 4 oz.
19.5 inches long

Birth Story: I had a scheduled induction for Wednesday March 28th. I was 39 weeks along but my doctor was going to be out of town the next day for a week. My parents were already coming into town Thursday to go to Conference. So I was able to ask them to come a day early to help watch the kids for me. That was a huge relief. We are so new here in St George it was hard for me to ask people I barely knew to watch my kids for hours of labor.

So Wednesday came and we just had to wait for them to call us when they had time and space at the hospital. Finally around 3:00 pm I called them to see what was going on. They said I was next in line but it could still be a while. After several more calls, more women going into labor on their own, and lots of crying on my part, it didn't look like we were going to make it. I was worried because my doctor was leaving and so were my parents, I just thought I wouldn't have help.

Finally at 10:00pm we got called in. At the the hospital, they got things rolling pretty quick. I was changed, checked in, and started pitocin at 10:40 pm. I guess I was having a few contractions when I got there. I was already dilated to a 3 and my membranes had been stripped the day before, so my body was just ready to get moving. My doctor came in and broke my water. Shortly after that my contractions were getting pretty painful. I mean quite intense!! After about an hour I was asking for my epidural already. I thought I was being a wimp but man I was in PAIN.

I got the epidural and instantly felt relief. I love that. Riley and I knew we had a long night ahead of us and we had already been up all day. We were excited to hopefully take a nap for a few hours before things got exciting. Once my epidural kicked in completely, my nurse put in my catheter. As she felt inside to make sure the tube wasn't in the way for babies escape, she got a strange look on her face. She said I can't find your cervix! After feeling around she said, oh my you are at a 9!!! I said "are you kidding?" She hadn't even gotten my ice yet!

So they called my doctor right away. I pushed once before he got there, they could already see her head. The doctor came in, I pushed 2 times and she was born! Riley said I had her about 4 min after the doctor showed up!!! They started pitocin at 10:40pm and I had her at 12:32 am. That is less than 2 hours of labor!!! My nurse said I was her best patient to date! I honestly could believe it went so fast.

Now I know why my contractions were so painful and intense. I was transitioning from a 3-9 in less than an hour. I also want to remember I was shaking like crazy ever since I got the epidural until they took it out. I also only had a small tare. She was much smaller than my other children so healing may be a little easier this time.

I also learned this time that red-heads are prone to bleed more. I remember after Gracin they were concerned with my bleeding, same thing this time. I had to get a shot and was constantly being checked to monitor my heavy bleeding. It finally slowed down after a day.

Rhylan was so excited to meet her sister. I guess that morning she got dressed and all ready before anyone else ever woke up. She ran around the house saying "come on lets go!!!! I want to go see Hazel, come on lets go!" She is the best big sister, she just wants to hold her all the time and be where she can keep an eye on her. She and Grammy Sue brought me some flowers for my room and was excited to show them to me.

Gracin hasn't really acknowledged Hazel at all. In the hospital he didn't want to see her or touch her. He mostly hung out with his new best friend Zak (my brother.) Every time we ask if he wants to hold her or even look at her, he quickly says "no."

Hazel is doing good at breastfeeding and we are doing pretty well together. She is a great sleeper right now. Last night was our first night home and she only woke up at 11:30pm and 3:30 am!! What a sweet girl. We are just in love with her, she has a sweet little face with perfect skin and we think she may have strawberry-blonde hair like me. I guess we'll have to wait and see! She is just perfect. We feel so blessed.

My girls and I.

Grammy Sue and Hazel.

Rhylan, the best big sister in the world.

Proud Grandparents- Grandbaby #4

Williamson family of 5!!

Riley is a pro at being a daddy now!!

Papa and Hazel

Uncle Zak was in love!! Its pretty sweet to see him, and 18 year old, be interested in a little baby.

Smiles

Rhylan and Gracin get along so well most of the time. Rhylan is so sweet and good at sharing, and Gracin just wants to play with her. Getting a picture of them both is impossible usually. They surprised me this day and actually turned and smiled for me a few times. They were playing Littlest Petshops in the toy room (the closet!!) I'm one lucky momma.

I just love this face!

Best Day Ever

One day while Riley was out of town interviewing for JOBS!!! I decided to be super mom. We spent most of the day playing, using playdoh to create new hair styles on some laminated pictures of us, drawing with new stencils etc. After all that, I decided that we should paint the tub. I saw this idea on Pinterest. I filled up some muffin cups with shaving cream, then I added finger paint and mixed. The kids got the idea right away. It was nice to have the bath water handy to rinse the brushes. During our hour long painting, Rhylan turned to me and said "mom this is the Best Day EVER!" I love how a little extra attention and love can mean so much to her! That made me glad to know I made a difference in her happiness that day. And I am striving harder to make each day the best day ever. I need to spend more time with them... well quality time:)

She takes her artistic work very seriously!

Gracin, not so much...

Yeah he painted his head:)

Window clings

My mom sent the kids a Valentine package in the mail. Inside along with other amazing treasures was two sets of window clings. Both Rhylan and Gracin had fun adding a little art to our sliding glass door. I was amazed at Gracin's precision! He really wanted to get it right!

Train, CHOO CHOO!!

We play trains almost every day! Gracin really is into trains right now. He loves to make nice long trains and pull them around and around, going through tunnels and over bridges. Rhylan and I get pretty creative in our track designs. This day we also got out the blocks and made more tunnels to go through. Gracin was loving it, but soon he started knocking them over with his trains saying "crash!!!" What a boy.

Tongue Surgery

Back in November I noticed this little white bump forming on Rhylan's tongue. I didn't think much of it, maybe she bit her tongue, it will go away. Then in January I decided that it wasn't going away, it was actually getting a little bigger. I took her in to her pediatrician. She seemed concerned and wasn't sure exactly what it was. I thought she would burn it off like a wart and we would be don't with it. Oh no, not the case. She decided to send me to a dermatologist to figure out what to do, and how best to remove it. After calling the recommended dermatologist and finding out it would be a two month wait, I found another doctor that could see me the next day. The dermatologist was again concerned and didn't know what it was. He thought that is could be a small tumor or growth. He said things growing on the tongue are very rare, especially in children. He didn't seem too concerned that it was causing damage but that it needed to be removed and biopsied asap. He however didn't want to preform the extraction. The only numbing agent he could use was a shot to the tongue, and he said there is no way Rhylan was going to let him do that, she needed to be put under. He suggested I see an oral surgeon to work with her. After many phone calls and quite frustrating conversations I found there isn't an oral surgeon in southern Utah who would take my insurance for medical just dental-- and this is obviously a medical procedure. They were estimating the cost to be up to $3000!! I scheduled the appointment but kept trying to find another doctor. I finally found one up in Salt Lake that would work with us. I even worked it out to have the consultation and surgery the same day. My sister lives in Provo so we just planned on staying the night there.

So the day before the surgery I start driving. It was raining here in St. George pretty bad but by the time I got up the mountain (45 min) it was a complete white out. My van was slipping all over and I could barely see the car in front of me. I hadn't even reached Cedar City yet and I had to turn around. I had to call and reschedule for the next week. When we finally to Provo the next week we were ready.

Rhylan and I woke up at 5:00 am and started or VERY LONG day. I am so glad I was able to leave Gracin at Tiff's house. At the office, the oral surgeon found out that I was thinking she was going to be put under, and he informed me that he didn't have the OR that day, and I would have to come back again. The nurses who schedules my appointment informed him that we had planned on the surgery and scheduled this all already. Well there wasn't anyway to fix that. So instead he decided to do it right there with other medicine. I don't remember what it is all called but she had some pink medicine that took about 20 min to start working and made her so loopy. I was laughing so much at her. I felt bad but she was so funny. Then they also gave her "laughing gas" I think. After that I had to leave the room.

After about 10 min they came and got me, all done! I could hear her crying and asking for me. As the doctor was telling me how well the procedure went and how to care for the stitches, he looked in the room at Rhylan and the nurses and said "WHAT HAPPENED!!" We run in the room and a nurse said "She was grabbing for her stitches and I accidentally spilled this water in her eye." The doctor responded "that's not water!!" They went to work to quickly flush out the chemical with water, and stop the bleeding tongue. The doctor left for a while and then came back to tell me he had been on the phone with the ER at the hospital down the street, and we needed to go there to make sure her eye was okay. Rhylan of course was crying and telling me how mean those doctors were!!

So instead of her recovering and watching a movie there, I had to carry her to the car and get to the hospital (8 months prego remember?) She was still too loopy to walk or think straight. It was also a constant battle to keep her from pulling out her stitches. In the ER it took forever to sign in, Rhylan was pretty much screaming the whole time. Picture this: 8 month prego lady trying to hold a screaming 35 lb 4 year old on your "hip," while also using my other hand to hold her head up so she didn't do a back flip out of my arms, while trying to sign into the ER. Yeah I was a little stressed to say the least. Also concerned about the chemical in her eye we were sent to the ER for in the first place. The secretary suggesting I use one of the wheelchairs behind me. Well loopy Rhylan couldn't sit still in that and almost fell out of the thing every 2 seconds, I would lock the brakes, she would unlock them, I would set her up, she would slide off, etc etc! Rhylan on those meds is not a good combo. Anyways after we got in, the ER doctor and nurse checked to see if you eyes were seeing well. The nurse asked me to hold Rhylan and cover one of her eyes, I said "um I can't do that!" It takes two hands to make sure she didn't fall. Luckily the doctor could see my problem and helped. After further examination he concluded that her eye was fine. (I was planning on taking her straight to Riley's office anyways just in case.) On our way out I had to use the rest room, Rhylan had to stand on her own, that didn't go well. As I was washing my hands, she fell and hit her chin on the toilet and then her head on the tile wall.

After all that we were able to head back to Provo. I am so glad I had the DVD player in the car for that hour car ride. I don't think the crying would have stopped. The medicine was wearing off by then and they didn't give me anything for her pain. Once at Tiff's house I let her relax and gave her some Tylenol. She seemed to be feeling much better. Unfortunately eating lunch (yogurt, apple sauce, and bread) ripped out her stitches. She began bleeding pretty bad and we had to wait for that to stop before we started back home. She slept most of the drive and was feeling much better when she woke up. We went right to Riley's office and he checked out her eye, he also decided she was fine, luckily!

She never said she was in pain again, and now a week later, almost no sign of a cut. Glad that is behind us!!

Dressing up Jude

I am pretty sure that Jude's favorite person is his cousin Rhylan. He gets REALLY excited to see her, tries to get in her face all the time, wants to hold her hand, and even let her play dress up with him. Gracin never tolerates this, so Rhylan was so happy to have a little model.