What's new with Sami

Sami is growing up so fast and is doing so well as a big sister. So what's Sami up to now?

-She loves to walk. She is still a bit wobbly at times (as you can see in the video below) but she doesn't crawl at all anymore.

-She says "hi", "hello" (which sounds like "hullo"), and tries to say "thank you" although it sounds like "dank oo". "Mommy" and "daddy" still aren't in her in vocabulary but will be soon enough, I'm sure.

-She loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

-She wears her bead necklaces as much as possible. She even puts them on herself.

-She loves cell phones, both real and fake.

-She is my little helper, always trying to help take care of Janie by putting pacifiers in her mouth, giving her cookies, or giving her a nice pat to say "it's okay" when she's crying.

-She seems to get prettier everyday. Jonathan is already worried about when the girls are teenagers. He thinks I will be going through menopause when they start their teenage years and the thought is a bit scary for the poor guy :).

-She still fills our home with joy and happiness. Nothing beats Sami's laugh.

Thanks a million, Mom!

I took my mom to the airport this morning. I already miss her tons. We had a blast just holding babies, cooking, and talking. Everything seemed easy when she was here. She has been such a blessing to me, not only these past two weeks, but throughout my life. I am so glad that my girls have such loving Grandparents.

Loving Life!

How grateful we are for our two beauties! We are all doing so well. My mom is here for another week and she has been so much help! Sami loves playing with Grandma and it is so fun to see them grow close. And my mom takes Janie most nights giving me so much rest. I feel so grateful for the help. It's fun to have someone to talk to all day while Jonathan is gone. Janie is growing well and only wakes up a couple of times a night. Sami loves being a big sister and is constantly trying to give Janie her pacifier. It's so cute how much she tries to help in her own way. I have many more pictures that I'll be posting soon. Thanks to all of you, my friends and family, for your prayers, love, and support.

I just didn't know...

Before Janie was born, I imagined that I would deliver her under pain meds and then I would come home and feel so good because I had my baby and my body back. I had no idea how difficult the recovery was. I didn't know that my whole body would hurt. But I am happy to say that every day I feel better and every day our family is adjusting more and more. I am excited that my mom is coming on Monday but I am already nervous for when I am on my own, trying to take care of my two baby girls at the same time. I know the Lord will help me, and I am grateful for that knowledge.

Janie is just as sweet as can be. We are so glad she's here. Every day as I feel better, I enjoy her more and more. Sami girl is slowly adjusting, although it has been hard. My heart goes out to her because her little world has been so different lately. I am excited for the day when she and Janie can play together.

Janie with Jonathan's dad, Larry.

Janie with Jonathan's sister, Tami.

We think Janie looks like Sami too. I have the two most beautiful girls in the world!

Janie's Story

Jane Noel Olsen was born on Wednesday December 24th at 1:04 pm. She weighed 9 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long.

On Tuesday night at 6 pm, I checked into the hospital for my induction. I was so nervous but everyone was very nice and before I knew it, my IV was in and we were just waiting. By midnight, I asked for my epidural and I had the sweetest nurse helping me not to move. It was over so quick and I felt so blessed. The epidural was so beautiful! I was able to sleep for about three hours. By Wednesday morning, I was feeling really good and I was progressing. Around 11 am, I was feeling a lot of pressure, and I was dilated to a 6, an hour later, I was dilated to an 8. By this time, the pain med was starting to wear off, so I asked for some more. By the time the doctor came to me, I was a nine, so the nurse asked him to give me something but not too strong so that I wouldn't be numb for the delivery. But by the time I was a ten, I couldn't feel a thing. The nurse came in and got me started pushing, but I was pushing wrong. I couldn't feel how to push and I was pushing the wrong muscles. Finally the nurse told me that I was going to wear myself out by pushing wrong and so the pain meds stopped. Of course, no one knew that Janie was going to be so big. But I felt it all, and I wanted to die. I pushed hard for forty minutes without any medication and the doctor gave me an episiotomy and then reached in and pulled her out. The nurses put her on my chest and I loved looking at her but was so distracted by the pain of the stitches that the doctor was working on. But soon I realized that something wasn't quite right with Janie. She was not crying a lot and the nurses said she had gulped some amniotic fluid on her way out. She was having a hard time breathing. They put her back on my chest for a second then whisked her away. I thought they would bring her back, but they didn't. She was wheezing and wasn't turning pink. They took her to the special care nursery and got her on oxygen. By the time I was able to walk down to the nursery and see her, she was under and oxygen tent and hooked up to several monitors and an IV. I was devastated. She was so small (although huge at the same time) and to see her hooked up to an IV was just heartbreaking. They told us that they had tried to feed her but she had turned blue and was losing her oxygen, thus the need for the IV. They were testing her for pneumonia and other infections and had her on two antibiotics. She needed to stay on the antibiotics for at least 48 hours. We felt the prayers of so many of you as we prayed and waited to see how things would play out.

At 2 am on Christmas day, the nursery nurse came into my room and said that she was well enough to be off of the oxygen. YAY! And things just got better from there. She was very pink by morning and they had started giving her milk and her oxygen levels remained high. On Christmas day, I finally got to hold my little darling. All of her tests were coming back negative and they released both of us last night.

I don't have pictures of me holding her because of the circumstances, but these are her first minutes on earth. I will be posting TONS of pictures in the next few days. We can't tell who she looks more like, me or Jonathan. But she is so beautiful. And her big sister is in love with her. She always wants to be touching her and loves to talk to her.

I feel overwhelmed with the blessings of the Lord! I feel so blessed to have had two Christmas babies in two years. I have felt the Lord's love for me and my family in so many ways these past three days. And I have felt the love and prayers of you, my friends and family. Thank you.

Happy Birthday Janie!

Janie, you're late!

So Janie is officially late now. I really thought I was going to have her on Wednesday night, because I was going through really hard contractions. It hurt so bad it scared me because I realized this was only the beginning. I wanted Jonathan to take me to labor and delivery, I even had my bag packed, but he decided we should time them and they were too inconsistent and eventually stopped. I went to the doctor yesterday, and even though I'm only dilated to a two, I'm 80% effaced and he said I could come anytime. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday and if she isn't here by then, they'll schedule to induce me on Tuesday Dec. 23rd.

An update

With only six days left until my due date, I am only dilated to a one. I was hoping that I was much further along, but the doc says I should plan on being late. With contractions coming on day and night now, I thought I had progressed much further. I have a feeling Janie wants to be a Christmas baby, literally. Thank you for all of your prayers on our behalf. I admit that I am getting more and more nervous the closer it gets, but more antsy for her to come too.

On a Samantha note, I am happy to say that she is officially off the pacifier! It was a struggle for a couple of days and nights, but I think we're there. I kept her pacifiers in the top drawer of her dresser in case I needed to fold, and I was sorely tempted many times, but I knew that if I didn't wean her now, it wouldn't happen for a long time since Janie would have a pacifier. But she did it and I am so proud of her! Now we're working on getting off of formula and on to whole milk.