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August 5, 2003
Now that I have my computer back, I can post the intro I had originally written.
Here is my info –
I am Raelyn, 27 years old stay at home mom. I was named after my Grandpa (Ray). I come from a great family. My parents have been married for 29 years. I have a brother who is 25 and a sister who is 20. We all live within 30 minutes of each other. But I am hoping to move back to the town I grew up in soon. My parents are still there and they are looking forward to us moving there. I should say they are looking forward to their granddaughter living there!
I guess you can say the internet is a huge part of my life. I am still sort of embarrassed to say it but this is where I met my husband. We use to write back and forth. We did that for months and then one day I sent him my picture and he suddenly got very interested which of course scared me. But after Instant Messaging for a while one night, we decided to continue with a phone call. We were on the phone for 4 hours that night. Towards the beginning of the conversation we were planning on meeting the following Saturday (this was Sunday night) but by the end of the conversation we ended up agreeing on meeting for lunch that Tuesday. The thing that most got me was when I asked him how many kids he wanted. He told me as many as he could afford. Well, that happened to be the exact thing I always said when people asked me.
Anyways, skip ahead a little over 5 months from that Tuesday of meeting and we were engaged and 13 months after that we were married. It was November 25, 2000, we had a fabulous wedding. I am very organized and love to plan so that helped us to have a great night!
Scott, my husband, is 31 years old. He is currently in sales. He has a degree in web design and multimedia. And he continues to pursue his dream of becoming a fireman.
I was ready on our honeymoon to start trying for a baby, not that I was ovulating. I went to the Dr. not even a month after our wedding and told him we didn’t want to wait for a baby so I was put on pre-natals right away. And we were very lucky February 3rd, 2001 we found out we were expecting.
I was pretty sick from week 7 to week 17 of the pregnancy. I lost 18 pounds. But I made up for it afterwards! Overall, I truly enjoyed my pregnancy. Our daughter was born a day later then she was due. Welcome! Analisa Jane Joyner (Jane is after my Mom, her Oma (Oma is German for Grandma))!
Here is the short version of my labor and delivery. I will try to make it short. I woke about 3am on Saturday morning, October 13th, 2001. I had to go to the bathroom SOOO bad. Well, I went and went back to bed. Within minutes I felt that I had wet myself. So I got up to go to the bathroom again and put a pad on. Well, that was soaked real fast. I called the hospital and they said it sure sounded like a water bag breaking. So in we went we were there by 5 am. I called my parents close to 7 am. I had told my Mom that she could be present for the birth. Things were going well not feeling any pain. I thought hey this is going to be easy. I had taking prenatal yoga and loved it. I thought that with that I would try to deliver with no drugs. Well about noon came and I was still only around 3 cm dilated. So they offered me Pitocin and since I am inpatient I wanted it. Well, boy did that make things change. I was suddenly in tons of pain and wanting that epidural. The epidural only took on my sides the whole middle (about 6 inches wide) all the way down did not take. I felt it all. When I was finally dilated enough, I felt the urge to push. I only pushed for 28 minutes and at 6:20pm Analisa Jane was born!!!!
Here is a letter that I wrote to Analisa that will catch you up with her first year of life. I want to continue to write her letters. So that in the future she will have them to read, so some of my entries may be directed to her.
Analisa,
From the day you were born, my life was changed forever. I had waited my whole life to be a mother. I couldn’t believe that you were actually here in my arms. As a pregnant women; you always wonder what your child will look like and pray that he/she will be born healthy. And let me tell you that the worry that they don’t stay healthy is always there. But when you were born, I was in awe, how could I and your father create such a beautiful little girl. Your Oma was there when you were born and she said the first thing I said when they told me you were a girl was, “I got my little girl”. We didn’t find out if you were a boy or a girl. We wanted to be surprised. And there is nothing like it when in that moment that your baby comes out and they say It’s a …! Anyway, what I am trying to get to, is that I couldn’t be happier, I didn’t really care what the sex of the baby was, just that the baby is healthy. But I guess I secretly did want that little girl.
As a new mom, I think I did pretty well. I guess all of that babysitting paid off, even though this is much more then that. I did have my struggles with breastfeeding, which I found out is hereditary, sorry! I couldn’t produce enough milk. I tried Fenu-Greek, which is an herbal supplement that is suppose to help you produce more and I tried power pumping also. But needless to say you were too smart to latch on anymore when you figured out that you couldn’t get a lot more and get it quicker from a bottle. You did latch on for the first 10 days. Then you only took a bottle. You probably received about half breast milk and the other half formula for the first 6 weeks of your life.
You were also colic until you were about 3 months old. And I guess I was just so overwhelmed about the whole breastfeeding thing. They would say if she is colic, you can’t eat this and you can’t eat that. And trying to find time to pump was not easy either, since I would have to give you your bottle and try to comfort your colic. So that is when I decided to put you solely on formula.
I have to say also you were not the best sleeper. They always say that babies sleep most of the time. But not you, I think you were afraid on missing out on anything. You did, however start sleeping through the night around 3 months old. But you were not a good nap taker until around 6 months old, if that.
Well, I think this is starting to sound as if I am complaining. I don’t want it to sound like that at all. I have never been happier. I just want you to be able to read this when you are a new mother and know that I went through it too. It is hard as a new mom. So many changes, so many things to learn and figure out, but the payback is like no other. For those of us that are blessed with children, we need to cherish them everyday. And I do, I couldn’t imagine my life without you.
Your whole first year was amazing. Every month was better then the last. You learned and grew so quickly. Sitting up at 5 months, crawling at 6 months and walking at 10 months, you were always on the go.
You and I also went to a group called “Cradle Talk” it was through Edward Hospital. It was a weekly thing where we would go and meet other new moms and their babies in the area. We went there from the ages of about 2 ½ months to 6 months old. We then formed a playgroup with some of the moms from there. And we continue that now. It is nice to get together with other moms and for you to play with other children.
We also started taking music class when you were 3 months old. And we are still in that now. You love it. You go right up to the teacher and sit on her lap. It is very cute. And Ms. Caryn loves it too!
You play with other children very nicely. You get excited to see them.
Love You Forever, Mama
I think that about sums me up for an intro. I haven’t really included anything about the pregnancy but that will come later. Thanks for reading. I hope I didn’t bore you. I have never been much of a writer. But I am looking forward to keeping a diary here. And mostly looking forward to hearing back from all of you.
So tell me:
Do you have certain traditions that you do as keepsakes for your children to have one day?
-Raelyn
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