Joanna is born and Jack update

To start off, our little girl was born! Joanna Kate Pulido was born Wednesday, December 19, at 12:12 pm. She weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 19 inches long. I went in at 7am to be induced and they said I wasn't in true labor til about 8am. When Jack was born, I did it all naturally but this time I decided to get an epidural. One time with that kind of pain was enough. So about 9:30 the dr came in and broke my water. At about 10:30 I got the epidural put in. It seemed to help at first, but then the contractions got really strong and it wasn't helping as much as I expected. They said that the baby's head must have been on a nerve or something, so that's why I was still feeling so much pain. Yes, it was quite painful and I really had to concentrate with Kyle's help, but at least I was able to think and relax a little bit between contractions. With Jack, I was pretty delirious and couldn't think straight. It all seemed to go so fast and before I knew it, it was time to get this little girl out. With only one push, little Joanna "Joey" was out and screaming. It was a quick labor, and I am loving every minute with our little girl. She is such an angel and she looks just like Jack did when he was born. Jack has been a pretty good helper with Joey. He tries to help me change her diaper and hold her bottle (when she takes one), but he has his times where he tells me "baby down" and points to the floor. Over all he's done pretty good with her. And if you ask him "what's your baby sister's name?" he will say "Joey". He's one smart cookie!

Now while all this excitement was going on with the birth of our little girl, there was also some not so exciting things going on. To start from the beginning...About a month ago, we were playing with Jack and Kyle noticed a funny bump on the side of Jack's stomach. It was something inside him sticking out. It was a Saturday so we decided to take him to the pediatrician on Monday. I took him down and the dr wanted to have an ultrasound and blood work done. Come to find out, Jack has a mass on his liver. So we met with a surgeon and he wanted a cat scan and more blood work. And to make things harder, Jack was admitted to the hospital the day before I was scheduled to be induced. Thank goodness they let him go home that same night so we could all be together for the new baby's birth. Unfortunately, I got a phone call with the results of Jack's blood work not long after Joanna was born. Some levels were high and it was a pretty good indication that things were not good for Jack. Needless to say, it was a very difficult day. I was very excited for the birth of our second child, but I was incredibly worried about Jack. At least we got to enjoy Christmas at home as a family. The day after Christmas, Wednesday, Jack was admitted back to the hospital. Another cat scan was done and we now just had to wait for the rest of the day. On Thursday Jack had to have a biopsy done to see if this mass on his liver was benign or malignant. About 1:45 Jack went back for surgery and we just had to wait. Waiting was very difficult for me. Finally the surgeon came out and told us some very difficult news to swallow. They wouldn't have final results for a few days, but they were pretty sure just from the surgery that the mass was malignant. Kyle and I were bracing ourselves for this news, but it was still hard to hear and accept. After everything that Jack went through just last year with Kawasaki Disease, he has more to endure. Jack is still in the hospital and we are being given loads of information about the coming days. It's going to be quite an adjustment and challenge for our little family, but I think we will somehow be ok. So if you are reading this post, please pray for our family. Pray that our new little girl will be strong and healthy. Pray that our little boy will have the strength to endure this new challenge. And pray for Kyle and I that we will be the parents that our children need us to be at this time. I love my family and I am grateful to be a wife to a loving and supportive husband, and to be a mother to two beautiful children.

Getting Ready for Christmas

To start off, I'm now 37 1/2 weeks pregnant and so ready for the end. Every day I feel uncomfortable and ready to burst. But the end is near! If nothing happens before the 19th, I'm going in to be induced. The countdown is on! 10 days to go!

Moving on... It has been a little while since we had a family pic, so this is the latest one. It's hard to see our Christmas tree behind us since I pretty much cover half of it myself! haha. Christmas is coming so fast I can barely keep up with everything. We put up our tree and put presents out and Jack is so excited. Everyday he runs over and wants to have a birthday party. He will pull a few presents out from under the tree and look at you like "is it time to open it now??" Of course we have to help him put them back and tell him that we have to wait, but you can tell that he is excited for those presents.

Jack is potty trained (for the most part anyway), so he has a funny pee-pee and poo-poo dance. I know the video is sideways, but it's still pretty funny. Whenever he goes in the potty he has to pretty much announce it to everyone around. I'm just glad we don't have to buy diapers for him anymore.

Jack, as any boy does, likes to play rough and be loud. Since I'm so pregnant, it's hard for me to really play with him how he wants to. So Kyle and Jack do a lot of wrestling and they make a lot of noise! At least Jack is having fun though.

Yesterday I was wanting to decorate Christmas cookies with Jack. We got some sugar cookies shaped like Christmas trees, bells, and stars, and also got some frosting. Last night Jack was so excited to have cookies and wanted to do it all himself. I helped him put the frosting on the knife, but then he put it on the cookie and even put some sprinkles on. He only did a couple before he started eating one, but at least he had fun. We still have more cookies ready to decorate, and I'm sure he will be wanting to do more once he sees them.