7 Weeks

My little family will actually get to be a family in about 7 weeks, and while my parents have been great it has been difficult at times, particularly since my parents are no longer a part of "my family" - the dynamics are different which can make for some frustration for all parties. All in all it has been fine - my mother is amazing, of course she loves Zaylee Ann but she's very careful to let me be her mom, only taking Zaylee when I need her to, and never offering advice unless I ask for it, and even then she may say "she's your daughter, just trust your instincts, because every child is different". If only everyone could be as cool as my mom, her attitude towards Zaylee and I is amazing and such a blessing when everyone one around you - whether you know them or not - has advice and is more then fine with telling you how you are doing something wrong. In any case Zaylee and I spend most of our days alone, which is actually really nice :)

Brian and I have decided to take a jaunt across the country before we go to England, I would like to see my grandmother before I leave, she has been rather ill and I want her to meet Zaylee Ann. It will be nice because we plan on spending 2 days in Show Low and 3 days in Phoenix then hopefully we will head over to Arkansas, then to Missouri, and end in Wisconsin....all this traveling will end up eating a lot of our time, but we aren't sure how often we will come back to America so we want to see some people before we go. My parents said they would beat us if we spent our money and our leave time on coming back to the states and that they don't want to see us for four years unless they come to us. They are so funny.

Nothing is ever as it seems....

Women are by nature creatures who cannot for the life of them keep their mouths shut...it's a woman thing...we talk...a lot. What has amazed me over the past months is how often women have told me "no" in some way shape or form - There's no way you can have natural childbirth - You won't even make it through labor without screaming for drugs - the days after the baby is born you won't be able to walk because of all the trauma down yonder - you won't be able to do diaper free - you will never get sleep - nursing will be so hard - the list goes on and on. I don't know but I think some of those women are a bit pansy-ish - Labor was nothing really, sure it was hard, but I guess I had it built up to be so horrific in my head that it didn't bug me at all, up until the final transition I was dancing and stretching through my contractions. Sure it wasn't the most comfortable thing to give birth, but honestly after the transition and I hurled for what seemed an eternity the endorphins were released and it wasn't that bad....the only time I screamed was out of frustration because I could feel Zaylee's head hitting my pelvis and I couldn't push her past that point. I walked to my room from the delivery room - even though they made a big deal about offering me a wheel chair because they said I wouldn't be able to walk....the only problems I had were from exhaustion. My baby doesn't really cry...I attend to her quickly and try to stay focused on any cues she is trying to give me....these other women who think that it's all going to change - well they were wrong about everything else lol. Oh and as for the diaper free, for those who want to know, we are on day three, normally I have 12 dirty diapers to clean from the day time hours 8am-8pm today I only have 4 - so its going well and it's been rather exciting to see the progress in just three days!

I find it amazing that very few people believed in me, but I guess it doesn't matter because at the end of the day I have realized that Brian has always told me I could do it and his faith in me never sways...which is astounding to me....but he's always believed in me and that's all that matters. Besides most women who are so willing and ready to share advice hardly know me - so all the crazy women on the mountain well they can just be crazy....proving them wrong is just a cherry on my day :)

Two Week Checkup

Weight 8lbs 6.5ozs
Length 21.75 inches

Picture of Zaylee Ann

Here she is - about 16 hours old - middle of the night eyes wide open just looking around. The two of us have had a rough couple days. The hospital staff knew us before they met us because our birth story was the talk of the hospital - evidentally one of the hardest births the midwife had seen in a long time and I did it without medication. But Zaylee faired really well even when it got really rough because she didn't have anything in her system to hinder her ability to help me get her out. In any case we are home and both a little ragged but hopefully we will be doing better soon :)

Zaylee Ann

Zaylee Ann Rayelle Covert was born on 8/6/08 at 6:29 am, she weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. :)

England and what i will be doing there

I will be working in the 100th Air Refueling Wing which has KC-135 Aircraft we will be at RAF Mildenhall you can read news and stuff here and mildenhall is located here

Long Day

Nope - no baby yet - I'm averaging 6 phone calls a day....each one asking if the baby is born yet. It kind of makes me feel, I dunno, it's like pressure to pop out a baby lol, and weird because well if either I or my family hasn't called yet even if the baby is born, why do people feel the need to call? I dunno, I'm glad people are excited, but people ask the most ridiculous questions - like when I say no the baby isn't born yet - they say "why?" Um......how do you answer that? Some people have even been like upset-ish by the fact that I haven't given birth - one woman, who I don't know, said "well why haven't you had it?" and I said "I don't know, she's not ready?" and she said "well I just do NOT understand why you haven't had that baby yet, and I don't see why you just don't go to the hospital and have then induce you.." the woman went on for like 2 minutes, the entire time I'm thinking, you really only know my father, you've met me once, and you're just plain friggin nuts.

Beyond that people asking if I'm excited is a weird question, I say yes, because of course I'm excited, but not nearly as much as they are I guess. Part of it may be the depression I have been dealing with during the pregnancy, my iron levels are mostly to blame for that (no one told me I have enemia - which explains mood swings prior to pregnancy as well), problems with the baby have been stressing me out too. I've been pretty choosey about who will be coming to see her because the midwife is slightly worried about her immune system, but hopefully because she hasn't been born yet once my immune system is working again she can be born with a normal immune system, but has still been a rough couple weeks. In any case, in my opinion our family's and my close friends get to see the baby, and the random people that have met me once or twice well they can hate me I suppose, but I'm just not comfortable "showing off" a baby who may be born with a fragile immune system. One of the crazy's - the one who works with my dad and has met me like once asked if she should babysit while I packed to move. UMMM?? Yes, I don't know you but here is my 3 day old daughter....people are STRANGE.

So that's that about baby stuff.

My mom was injured yesterday, so that took up most of my day. She was hit in the back of the head by a 50 lb steel bar last night while at work. She didn't go to the hospital because she said she didn't pass out, didn't vomit, and it didn't break the skin, but at least let me take her to urgent care this morning. They freaked out and put her in a brace and on a back board and took her away in an ambulance - three of my mom's symptoms pointed to a very serious problem, she had ringing in her ears, and shooting pain through her jaws and neck, and finally she lost some sight in one eye. We spent most of the morning in the ER, mom got a MRI, and she is fine - no bleeding or fractures or anything - which is AMAZING. The doctor (who was kind of a dork) didn't read her chart so he didn't know what happened, and when we told him after she had already had the MRI the look on his face was pretty funny - he just couldn't believe it - he was so shocked that my mom was ok. She is in a lot of pain, and of course has SOME damage, but nothing that will not heal in the next few days.

Anyway - that was the rough part of my day - gulping pills to try and get my immune system up again and being in the ER with my mom for that type of injury made my morning kind of icky. School is also kind of causing some worries - I have a B and that worries me, but I will get through it...I think.

However my evening was awesome, as we finally got our duty station! We are going to ENGLAND!!! YAYE!!!! I'm so beyond excited it's not even funny - I'm off the walls, it's an answer to prayers, it a great oppurtunity, it's 4 years overseas and getting paid for it! WOW so excited....my parents are probably annoyed with me because I'm so excited I won't shut up lol. Brian and I will probably be using all of our leave to visit family and maybe take a small vacation - maybe our cruise - before we leave, as we won't be back for a long-ish while. We are hoping to go to Wisconsin in July for a few days, it's my family reunion and my grandparents 50th, with my grandmothers health it may be the last time we see her, so hopefully we will be able to go.

Anyway that's the update - please keep my mom in your prayers - the fact that she took 50-ish lbs to the skull and doing so well is amazing - and the baby, we are really hoping that she will be born with a normal immune system, but if she is not, pray that she not get sick and make it impossible to go be with Brian, and me the strength to take care of her with my immune system being a bit down - although I have been feeling better the past few days, so things in that area are looking up.