All sorts of new things

This new year has a lot of unknowns for the Bush family.  We're at the exciting point in our lives where we are making big decisions and by and large, most things are completely out of our control as we begin this year.

Jon will be graduating from BYU this April with his MBA and I'm so proud of him and the countless hours he's spent on school and homework.  This means we will hopefully have a new job soon and be moving to a new place and be meeting new people--all things I'm excited for.  It's also difficult not knowing what's in store because I really like to plan ahead, even when nothing ends up going as planned.  I guess it gives me a sense of control in situations I know I can't control.

There is one thing, however, that we're sure about this year.  We're definitely going to have less of this:

A LOT more of this:

And hopefully not as much of this:

And we'll be buying another one of these:

Have you figured it out yet?  You might think you have...but you're probably not expecting this:

OK.  Let me help you just a little...

That's right! We're expecting identical twins!!!!!

A couple of months ago, we found out we were expecting again and the doctors decided to see me early (6.5 weeks) to make sure everything was going well because I had a miscarriage back in August.  I was EXTREMELY nervous when we went in for the ultrasound.  The doctor kept moving the thing around and for a few seconds wasn't saying anything at all which made me panic.

Finally, he said, "Yep!  They're BOTH doing great!!!"  I couldn't have been more surprised if I'd woken up with my head sewn to the carpet!! My immediate reaction was relief and then I just couldn't hold it all back anymore and just started bawling.  Jon and my sister were there in the room and everyone was shocked and screaming and laughing and when Laura saw me crying she said, "Are you crying because you're sad or because you're happy??" and of course I was overjoyed! I just couldn't contain it.

Never in a million years would I have expected such a thing as twins!  We aren't genetically predisposed to having twins and it never crossed my mind as a possibility.  

The doctor said right there that they were identical because of how close they are to each other.  So I went home to research immediately and started learning about twins.  Identical twins happen completely by chance and are not hereditary.  They are "monozygotic" which means one fertilized egg splits and VOILA! Two babies.  The odds of having identical twins is 1 in 250. 

Here are a couple more ultrasounds for your viewing pleasure:

So as we embark on our new adventure to a family of 6 (yikes!!!) a lot is going to change.  We're happy and excited and grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with so many things we take for granted.

I'll be documenting a lot on this pregnancy because it's so different than anything I've ever experienced already.  I've never had morning sickness with my other two pregnancies and this one has been a doozy.  My belly is growing exponentially and I already look like I'm 20 weeks.  This has made it very hard to hide in public.  

So I'm relieved that I'm in my twelfth week and relieved and nervous to be sharing the news with you all.

Here are my belly shots to date:

9 Weeks

11 Weeks

A New Bush in the Yard

On Tuesday, November 18th at 6:52am, Sophie Suzanne Bush joined our little family! She came about 2.5 weeks early so we were surely surprised! She weighed 7lbs, 9oz and was 20in long. She is healthy and strong and beautiful! We're so excited to have her here.

For those of you that want the whole labor story, here it is. If you don't really care, you have my permission to just scroll on down and see the pictures!

At midnight on Monday night my water broke. I wasn't sure if it was indeed my "water" breaking so we decided that we'd go to bed and wait to see what happened since I wasn't having any contractions and it wasn't quite as obvious as when my water broke with Jonah. So about an hour and a half after going to bed, I woke up and it was clearly my water that had broken. I still wasn't having contractions but we decided that we'd better get to the hospital since I needed to have antibiotics in my system for 4 hours before she arrived (Group B Strep).

We got the hospital at about 3am and they said they'd let my labor progress on its own for a while to see if it would pick up. By that time I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart. The doctor came in about an hour later and said it was looking good and he'd let me keep going to see if it would continue to get stronger. About 5 minutes after that, he sent a nurse in with pitocin...I guess he really wanted the baby to be born before his shift was up. We were pretty mad that he didn't give us a chance to continue on our own but we went ahead with their plan.

My contractions immediately got stronger and faster and within about an hour (around 5:30am) I was 5 and 1/2cm dilated (from a 3 when we got there). At around 6:30 my contractions were almost unbearable and at one point I told Jon that I needed to push during the contraction. He called the nurse in to check me and I was at an 8. She started setting the room up for the baby's arrival as I feverishly worked through each contraction. Jon helped me breathe and the nurse helped apply counter pressure (which helped and killed at the same time). After about 15 more minutes I was at a 10 (and screaming during contractions...hehehe) and they said I could go ahead and push. After 1 and ONLY 1 push, our little girl arrived!

I successfully delivered her naturally and feel that the recovery was different (easier) from with Jonah's birth. People have asked me to give a comparison of the two births and for now, suffice it to say THEY WERE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. I can't say which I'd prefer at this point.....give me a few months to forget how much it hurt!

My mom has been here the last few days to help out and it has been wonderful. She's such an amazing mom!!! Jon has also been absolutely wonderful and has been my rock and support through the transition. Jonah is fairing well and has only bonked Sophie once so far. I'm going to start keeping her high and away from him so as to completely eliminate temptation. He knows her name and sometimes tries to share toys with her so I'm sure he'll come around eventually.

Here are the promised pictures! We'll be taking lots more in the next few days so I promise to keep posting them. We also have some video I'll be posting in a few days.

Here I am, braving the hospital food. If you can't tell, this is meatloaf...mmmmm!

Sophie had jaundice and we ended up having her under some "bili-lights" for two nights to lower her biliruben levels. Good news, though! Today after having her foot pricked, yet again, her levels were such that we no longer have to have her under the lights and we no longer have to take her to get tested! We didn't get her picture under the lights but just so you can all see what they're like, I've included a picture of Jonah when he was under them. The contraption is a suitcase with UV lights in it. It really is the most annoying thing because you have to cover their eyes and try to get them to calm down without being bundled up or covered with anything but a diaper.





You can see the two different methods for covering their eyes...neither is really that effective. Quite a pain in the butt, actually.