She's here!

She's here, She's here, She's finally here! On Monday the 8th I was convinced I would stay pregnant for the rest of my existence on this earth.  I felt the same as every other day, same routine and I was almost ready to fast for help (just kidding I would have never done that, but it tells you how desperate I was.) We REALLY needed her to come before next week. There was no way  Mike would have been able to spend the kind of time he did with me in the hospital as he did this week and I thank Heavenly Father for the help he gave us with her coming early.

Tuesday I woke up as normal and gave Mike a kiss goodbye as he left for work around 6:50 and usually I just go back to sleep. I got up to potty and laid back down for a couple minutes and then I really started to get some pain. I thought it was just something that maybe I ate or something because surely I felt fine yesterday and it couldn't possibly be anything more. The pain went away after less than a minute... and then it came back...and then it went away.. and then it came back. This went on for about oh an hour and half, so I called my mom and asked if contractions felt like you were being stabbed in the guts. Well sure enough, contractions feel like you're being stabbed in the guts (but for those of you who have babies, you knew that.)  I had a monitoring appointment that day and called Mike to see if he could take me, you know, just to make sure they really were contractions. He rushed home to help time them and finally they were getting so bad, we just decided to go strait to the hospital.

When we got there they checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 4 and they told me I was in active labor! They checked a couple hours later and I was at a 6. The doctor left to perform a C-section, and then came back to break my water. When she broke my water, she discovered meconium (baby pooped in utero) which can be really dangerous, so they told me they had to take her right away when she came out and had to check and suck out her lungs. She also discovered that I was still at a 6 and not dilating anymore and said Layla's heart rate was dropping and that's when they told me I was going to need a C-section and they rushed me right in.  I was scared to death and between the epidural I got early (because they thought I would have a vaginal birth) and the anesthetic I was SO SICK.  I honestly couldn't even see after that, I was numb and shaking. Between that and being so sick, I couldn't hold her at all or even barely see her on Tuesday. When I was finally coming around in the middle of the night on Wednesday I couldn't stop holding and staring at her. I finally got a few hours with her, just us!

Wednesday morning was just bliss, I couldn't put down my little 5 pound 12 ounce bundle of joy! Then, the pediatrician came in to do a the routine check up and informed us she was breathing too fast and it was a real concern. They took her to the NICU to check her oxygen saturation and it was too low, so they had to do an X-ray to see if there was anything wrong with her lungs and found a small leak in her lungs due to the merconium being stuck and her trying to take a deep breath and making a small tear.  The doctor also, told us she had jaundice pretty severe, and her blood labs came back slightly abnormal (which means she had some sort of infection probably due to the tear), so they put her on antibiotics for the infection and put her in an oxygen dome for the leak in her lungs.  Thank goodness by Thursday the leak was gone, however, they still have her under photo therapy for the jaundice. We talked to the doctor yesterday and he said Layla should be able to come home on Tuesday or Wednesday!  It sure didn't feel right driving home without her and doesn't feel right that she's not home with us now; but we get to visit her every 3 hours or so if we want. We are so lucky the hospital is just right down the street from us and that she's improved so much.

Mike has been seriously amazing this entire week.  I feel infinitely blessed to have him. He's been incredibly patient and supportive.  Friday morning the nurse came in to check my vitals and Mike was sitting next to me rubbing my arm and she asked how long we had been together, I told her we have been married for almost 7 years and she was shocked! She said he was the most attentive and supportive husband and thought we were newlyweds for sure. LOVE HIM!! Also, having my mom here has been such a blessing. She has helped us so much.

So, there is the update of our week! Here are some pictures of our precious angel baby.  I really do think she looks SO MUCH like Mike.

Baby Update!

I have decided to be better at blogging because this is where I will do all the family updating and picture sharing once Baby Layla finally arrives.  I'm not going to bombard everyone's news feed on Facebook and Istagram with pictures of my family; they can come to our blog if they so choose to be updated!  

As I'm sure everyone knows, shes due in less than 2 weeks! I can't believe how soon we are going to be parents.. I am gonna be a MOM! Is anyone else as terrified as I am about this? Not only am I scared to death of the process of giving birth, I'm scared to death of being responsible for a whole human life. To teach her all she needs to know... about.. EVERYTHING! How to be a good kid, responsible, well behaved, strong in the gospel, smart, independent, oh the list goes on! And I'm sure that's every parents goal.  I know, I know, there are millions of people out there that have kids and it's just a part of life and you do the best you can to teach them, and then it's all up the them. I think that's the scariest part, for me anyway.  

So, I know most of you have seen a lot of "status updates" on Facebook about what a great, grand wonderful time I have had these last few months. I am going to try to keep it brief because I tend to be really long winded!  Here's the gist, I have seen about 10 different doctors (literally) and none of them seem to communicate with each other. Some are from my OB clinic and some are from a clinic called "High Risk Pregnancy'' (doesn't that just SOUND scary?? It does to me, even more so at the beginning of my pregnancy) It started out with I have a "heart shaped uterus" so I was sent to High Risk for ultrasounds every 3 weeks, and also I was high risk for preterm labor. A few months later after my glucose test at 20 whatever weeks I was told I had gestational diabetes, which is cause for preterm labor, high risk for a stillborn birth and it causes slow development for her lungs. Oh and not to mention she could be fat for the rest of her life, and of course that If I don't lose the baby weight I could develop type 2 for the rest of my life.  I thought they were being a little over dramatic with this one, seeing as how my levels were barely borderline. However they put me on medication and have me testing my blood 4 times a day.  Still, being told your baby can be in danger or die is a scary thing to hear. 

Here is the bottom line, I have been told time and time again, by multiple doctors there's no way I am making it to 40 weeks. When you hear that, you kind of expect to give birth before 40 weeks. They scheduled me for a C- section on the 11th because she was breech and the way my uterus is shaped it is extremely rare for the baby to turn head down, well my baby did it! So they canceled the c-section and said just last week that we will wait for her to just come on her own. Let me tell you the 2 reasons why this is a concern to me that she's not budging yet. Number one, Mike has a HUGE event at work, it's the biggest event of the year for his company, he is speaking and selling at the MGM Grand the very week Layla is due. This is an event he can not miss and I wasn't concerned about it until recently because I was told again and again shes not making it to 40 weeks and I just "knew" she would be here before that. I also "knew" she was a he before the ultrasound... I expected my "mothers intuition" would be better than this! The other reason, I get an anxiety attack at the doctors office every time I go. My blood pressure goes very high and they send me off to the hospital only to find  Layla and I are in perfectly good health.  I don't know how to calm myself down when I get there, so this happens every time! I can't stand it anymore! This last visit, I was at the office for 2 hours because they checked my blood pressure 4 times, I told the doctor I was not going back to the hospital one more time. Finally I had to lay down on a bed for 20 minutes and someone had to come in and check it again for the last time while I was laying down.  I was told with one of my blood pressure numbers someone had a stroke! It is always fine when I leave the doctors office though! I know I sound over dramatic and kind of like a baby, but this has been a huge challenge for me. I really don't want to have to go to the doctor one more time. 

I was considering going into the back story of why I get an anxiety attack every time I go to the doctor, but that would take a really long time and a lot of typing! 

I guess that's it for now!  Hopefully I will have some exciting news sooner rather than later!

New Adventures!

WHEW! It sure has been a while since I've blogged! I guess I just felt like there hasn't really been anything to "write home about"... Until now I guess! I figured I would post about Mike's and I's "New Adventures" that we are having so much fun with!

Jenna's New Adventure: Francesca's Collections

After long discussion, Mike and I came to a decision that it would be beneficial if I went back to work full time again...it has been almost 3 years since I have worked full time. After French Connection closed, I was on the hunt for "my perfect retail job" (if there is such a thing) After about 3 months, LOT'S and LOT'S of prayers, about 30,000 interviews, or so it seemed, and a few job offers that I didn't want later, I landed myself the exact job I was holding out for! It's blessings like this that make you realize that the Lord really does know each of us personally! :)

I have recently started working for an cute little boutique called Francesca's Collections! I HAVE SO MUCH FUN THERE! Retail has never been my cup of tea (I'm sure that comes as a shock to a lot of you, seeing as how that's all I have really done. On the contrary - it's the only profession I have experience with) However, as far as retail goes, this is definitely a step up compared to most places. My manager is SO much fun, we have the same personality type, so we get a long great, the product is FABULOUS, there are tons of cute clothes, fun trinkets, and marvelous accessories (earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc) AND it's in a fun little outdoor mall RIGHT down the street from me, called The District at Green Valley Ranch. Its wonderful only having to drive 5 minutes to and from work, ESPECIALLY when gas prices are OUTRAGEOUS!

(Check out the website to see if there is one near you www.Francescascollections.com. um, I know you will love it:)

(P.S. I have NO idea why this whole section is underlined, I didn't know how to fix it!)

This is a picture of The District at GVR

LIQUID MONEY

Mike's new adventure: Liquid Money Energy Drink

Mike is very creative and amazing ambitious and is constantly coming up with great ideas for higher income. He hasn't acted on any of them yet, until now. I know a lot of you have heard of this idea already because he plasters it all over facebook and texts. Him and a couple of his friends drink energy drinks every day,(for those of you who know Mike well, you know that caffeine really helps him chill out :)) and they were in a gas station and came up with this brilliant idea and quickly put it into production! They already have the drink flavor, color and can design(can design special thanks to his cousin T.C.). They have several investors interested and want to put in money, however they are going to try and get a few thousand cans without investors to start off. So here is the can design and logo!! I'm thrilled that I have a man who is so ambitious!

Guess what time it is!?

When the temperature changes from 60 to 109 degrees almost over night, (yeah thats right it is 109 today)when you start to see the jeans change to really short shorts or dresses, when the sweaters change to tank tops, you know EXACTLY what time it is...

It's time too...

Slip on your CUTEST flip flops...

put on your hottest swimsuit...

Enjoy the sunshine and the palm trees

and head STRAIGHT to the pool!!

And of course another one of the BILLION reasons to LOVE this glorious time of year is all the trips happening this summer! This summer is going to be just filled with family reunions and I for one am really excited for them! Coming up in just a few weeks my WHOLE family is coming to visit FABULOUS Las Vegas for a much needed family reunion. I am SO excited to see everyone and have everyone be together, even for a mere 2 days! We haven't all been together in I can't even tell you how long, it's going to be a swingin' time! Another trip Mike and I are taking is for the 4th of July family reunion on the de Hoyos side of the family. I LOVE Utah in the summer time, I can't wait! ANOTHER family reunion happening is on the Evan's side of the family (my mom's side) on my Aunt Julie and Uncle Kevin's farm!! OH MY GOSH, what FOND memories do I have on that farm!! The kids in our family and my cousins (the Gibbs) had such fun together; our trips to "Johnny's" to get our candy fix, our home videos and plays.. oh how could I forget? AND THEN, in August my BESTIE from WA for the past oh 12 years or so is coming for a visit! Needless to say this is going to be a FUN FILLED summer for us.. well mostly me :)

It's Business Time!!!! Flight of the Conchords!! Best show EVER!

Flight of the Conchords came to town! They played at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino. We got tickets from a guy who couldn't make it to the show so we got a MAJOR discount and got EXCELLENT seats! REALLY close to the front of the stage! We were SO close to the stage it was FANTASTIC!! I can't wait for them to come back so we can get even better seats!!

I did it a little backwards...whoops! The picture order is the end of the show to the begging!

Performing "Demon Woman"

Bret came SO close to us, AMAZING!!

Yeah, literally 6 inches in front of us! (tried to get a better pic of his face, but he moved too fast! DARN!)

Jemaine called it the "Rockenspiel" instead of Glockenspiel! HA HA

Kristen Schaal (Mel from the show is SUCH a funny girl!! She is one of the voices in the new Toy Story movie! Can't wait to see it!

I was actually pointing to the "Flight of the Conchords" logo screen

Please ignore how terrible I look in this pic, but it was SO AWESOME to meet this guy in person! It pays to go early to shows I guess!

Condo Sweet Home!!

The second bathroom

The 3rd Bedroom (I am really not a fan of the checkered artwork on just the one wall....)

2nd Bedroom

Kitchen *obviously

Living Room

Master Bath

Master Closet/Master Bedroom

FINALLY, I am posting pictures of our new place! We love it, it's cozy, it's roomy (for a condo of course) and it's in a really nice area in a gated community which we LOVE! We are close to EVERYTHING we need! For instance, WHOLE FOODS!! (I LOVE Whole Foods!) And there is a Target literally 2 blocks away, and who doesn't love Target? Anyway, Mike is doing all sorts of posing in these pics...

MUSE!!!

My Sister-in-Law Lisa invited me to the MUSE concert in SLC. I LOVE MUSE. Mike has totally converted me and I had SUCH a great time with her! It was great to spend some time just the 2 of us.. Total bonding time, such a blast! We were totally sitting next to this drunken couple, they were constantly getting up and down and up and down to go to the bathroom and were progressively getting more and more obnoxious! The guy kept moving closer and closer to us and kept trying to talk to us. I will never understand the whole "getting drunk" thing. Overall though it was so much fun and I am so glad she invited me to go! THANKS LISA!!