Wordless Wednesday: 7/16/2013

Rylee's Favorite Things: 2 Months.

In honor of Rylee getting old enough to actually enjoy and interact with things, I decided to make a post about what items are her favorite and that she uses on a daily basis. 

First off is Hank, the singing Giraffe. He sings songs and moves his head and she has loved him ever since she was a newborn. She used to just sit and stare at him but now she swats at him and talks to him when we turn him on. 

Her mirror. She LOVES to talk to and giggle at the baby looking back at her. She could spend hours looking at it if I let her!

Her monkey. We haven't named it yet but she loves to smack at her and watch her swing around. It came with her bouncer but we like to put it on the mobile that came with her Pack-and-play. 

This is TipTop the giraffe. We didn't name him. He's a beanie baby so he came with his name. She loves to talk to him. It's so cute. TJ got him when we were at a maternity store and he carried him around the WHOLE time. Naturally, we had to buy him and I'm so glad we did. I see him being a friend to her for a LONG time. 

Her rattle. For a 97 cent rattle, she really gets a kick out of it! She can't shake it herself yet but she likes when you use her hand and help her with it. She is so fascinated with the sound. 

Her paci. She uses it all the time. Mostly to fall asleep which I am 100% okay with. Falling asleep with a paci is actually proven to reduce the risk of SIDS. Also, it's a great way to tell when she's falling asleep is she will spit the paci out at the last moment before she's out. 

The Bumbo chair. She loves to sit up now. We used to just prop her up on the couch but the Bumbo works A LOT better. We have to help with her head a little when she uses it but she's really starting to get the hang of it. 

Last, but not least, her daddy! She is absolutely in love with him. She alway looks at him with these huge adoring eyes. She's already a huge daddy's girl and it makes my heart melt every time I see them together!

Whats In My Diaper Bag: Young Infant Edition.

"Whats in my diaper bag" brought to you by my model: Tj King.

It's amazing how so much stuff can fit in one bag! Moms are the master of Tetris.

My WIC check book, my banana change purse, disposable bibs, and a wipey travel case.

I have travel sizes for everything, lotion powder shampoo, and body wash. Chapstick for me diapers and Clorox  wipes.

Thermomiter and covers, baby comb and brush, nail clippers and nail files and some scented bags just in case I cant throw diapers away right away. Plus a cute case to keep it all in!

Wet Ones sanitizing hand wipes and two bottles with pre-measured formula sitting inside them.

A spare onesie, socks and a sweater a blanket, lotion, my wallet, water and a teether.

My diaper bag is so big, it can even hold husbands!

Thanks again to my husband for not only be willing to carry around my giraffe diaper bag, but to model it online for all of you!

I'll do one of these again when she gets a little older and it starts requiring other things! Thank you all for reading!

Fathers Day 2013

Today was hubby's first ever Father's Day so obviously, I had to take pictures! He is doing so well as a father. I never could have picked anyone better to be the father of my children, I really got lucky when I snagged him.

Happy Father's Day from the King family!!!

Wordless Wednesday-06/12/2013

Me, Pregnant as all hell. I'm such a goof when you give me a camera. :p

The last photo I took of me while I was pregnant. 41weeks ( I had Rylee three days later)

My baby girl only an hour or so old. Its amazing to me how much she has grown in just one month!

Making a Scene in Walmart.

Two days ago (6/10/13) hubby went to go donate plasma. He used to do it all the time before we got married but over the last year or two, he hasn't.

I dropped him off at the plasma center and went home. While I was at home I got some stuff done that I had been meaning to do as well as a much deserved nap while my dad babysat Rylee. I had planned on stopping by her doctors office to register her and stop by Walmart to pick up more formula after I picked him up from the center. (Honestly, only having one car between us really sucks!)

He called me at about 3:30 and after getting Rylee ready to go, I picked him up. It was already too late to stop by her doctors office so we headed straight for Walmart. We've always really enjoyed walking around the store and he said he was feeling fine, so after grabbing the formula we wandered around a little. Mostly looking for purses that could also double as my diaper bag because carrying around two bags is getting impossible.

As we were leaving, we decided to grab a soda which was also much deserved since neither of us have had soda since Rylee was born. He bent down to grab a Mt Dew at the bottom of the rack and when he came up, he commented that he was getting a little dizzy. He leaned against the check out counter and when I looked up at him, he looked pale white and he had a very blank stare. He said that he felt weird and remembering how it felt when I was losing blood and about to pass out, I asked him if his vision was going dark. He said yes, and almost right as he said it he started falling towards me. I caught him and leaned his weight on the counter and guided him towards the floor so he wouln't hit his head on the concrete floor. All I remember was screaming for him to wake up, which I'm guessing is what caught everyone's attention.

He woke up, and before I could tell him to stay laying down was standing again. Almost immediately, he passed out again and I had to guide him to the floor. This time, someone helped me talk him into staying on the floor while I called 911. (Which was actually kind of cool, I had never called 911 before and it was kind of interesting) By this time, Rylee was screaming, Tj kept trying to stand up and the people around me kept trying to ask a million questions. The ambulance showed up and took him to the hospital while I paid for our items and called my dad to come get Rylee so I could go be with my husband at the hospital.

When I got to the hospital, he wasn't in the ER, he was standing and talking to the receptionist who was giving him tips on paying for the visit. Long story short, he passed out because the plasma center took too much plasma, Tj had recently lost weight as well as the fact that he was dehydrated. They basically told him to rest for the day and hydrate before the next time he went to donate.

The real reason I wanted to write this was to brag about how amazing my husband is. The entire time he was in Walmart and was being taken care of, he kept asking about Rylee. He heard her crying and all he wanted was to make sure that she was taken care of. He was worried about me, because he realized how panicked I was and he was nervous about me being alone with Rylee because he knows how my postpartum depression is at its worst when Rylee is screaming. However, I was fine, I was just worried about him. The point is, he was worried about us. He just wanted his daughter to be okay and comfortable. Thats it.

My thoughts we're that he was going to die. The last time someone was about to pass out, it was me, and it was a life or death situation. I was so afraid of losing him. He really is my rock and my best friend. At that point everything had flashed before my eyes, I didn't want him to leave me. I need him.

Also, while in the hospital, he spent the entire time trying to make me laugh. He was in such good spirits the entire time and after the scare I just had, I needed it. Somehow, he has a way to always be exactly what I need from him, even if I don't know that's what I need at the time.

However, my big goofball is okay and is himself again. Nothing was really wrong, he just wasn't hydrated enough to replenish his plasma as fast as he should have. It wasn't anything dangerous, but it really put my love for him in perspective. I really married a wonderful man that I couldn't live without.

They weren't kidding when they called it 'labor'.

Note: Not all labors are the same. A LOT of women have really easy labors. Some women, like me, almost die from it. My labor is in no way a reflection of how your labor will go.


   As you could probably tell from my little note, my labor wasn't the best. That's a lie, my labor was fine, it was the events immediately following the birth of my daughter that sucked. I was scheduled for induction May 15, 2013 at 9:30pm, that morning I got up, got dressed and prepared to enjoy my last day just me and my husband. We went to McDonald's for lunch because I had planned to diet following the birth of my daughter, and we went and saw my mom at work. At around 4ish we decided to go home and nap before we went into the hospital. I got into bed at about five and I couldn't fall asleep. I spent about an hour and a half just staring at the ceiling. I was too excited, I should have known there was no way in hell that I was going to sleep anytime soon. At 6:30 I had the strange feeling to look at my phone, turns out the hospital was calling. I answered the phone and the nurse told me that she was confirming that I was to be there at 7:30. I guess my appointment times got mixed up so I was supposed to be there in an hour. I rushed through a shower and me and my husband left for the hospital. It was strange walking in the doors of the hospital because I knew that the next time I walked out those doors, I would have my daughter.

  About an hour into being at the hospital, they gave me half a pill of Cytotec. They told me I had to have my blood pressure taken every fifteen minutes for a half an hour, and Rylee had to be monitored for an hour, then I was allowed to walk around for an hour. Wash, rinse, repeat. Those monitors drove me insane and I couldn't wait until I was allowed to be off the monitors for an hour. At the time of my first pill, I was 3cm dilated and 90% effaced. The first hour wasn't too eventful and when they took me off the monitors, I decided to walk around the halls with my husband.

The second round of Cytotec is when I started getting contractions that were decently painful. The hour that I was on the monitors seemed to take forever. My back was killing me, it took me everything I had when I got up to pee, to go and lay back down when I was done. My back was killing me with each wave of contractions, and I couldn't get comfortable to save my life. The straps for the monitors itched and I just didn't feel good overall. It was torture. This time when I was allowed to be off the monitors, I walked the halls once, took a short bath to soothe my back and then sat in the chair by the bed and checked my Facebook. It felt so good to not be forced to lay at an awkward angle for an hour.

After they hooked me back up, they also hooked me to a saline drip to prepare me for Pitocin. That took about an hour, but I still had to be hooked up to the monitors and the blood pressure machine, having one more thing attached to me was making things very uncomfortable. When I got checked this time I was at 4cm and still at 90% effaced. I decided to get the epidural before I was hooked up to the Pitocin, mostly for the hope of relieving my horrible back pain, and relief from the itching of the monitors. I'm going to tell you now, that epidural was my best friend for the rest of my labor (with the exception of the last two hours). I still wasn't able to sleep at all.

A few hours later, my doctor came in to check me, and if I was far enough along, break my water because at this time I had already been there for over 24 hours with little progress. He came in and I was at 5cm, so he decided to go ahead and break my water. After that things started to go a lot faster. Shortly after my water breaking my contractions started to get bad, I couldn't feel the pain, but I could feel and see my stomach tightening and I was starting to feel the pressure of Rylee pushing down on my cervix.

That's when I started to notice that something was off about my epidural, the amount of pain that I was feeling was starting to get unbearable and I was noticing that I was starting to be able to feel my toes. I mentioned it to my nurse who passed it off as nothing. She checked me and I was at 9cm and 100% effaced. I tried to sleep because I was already so tired but, I couldn't. Now the pressure was getting unbearable and I had this overwhelming pressure to push. When my nurse came back in I told her about needing to push and she told me that because it was my first labor that I wasn't actually going to be ready to push for another few hours. I panicked at hearing that and it took me a while to calm down. I could not stand the thought of being in this kind of pain for a few more seconds let alone for a few more hours.

I called her back in telling her that I really needed to push, and she told me to go ahead and push when I felt I needed to because "It wasn't going to do anything anyways" and left. About 30 minutes later, I called her back in and asked her to check me. When she did, I was at 10cm and 100% effaced. She was in the middle of telling me that "It would still be a few more hours" when I demanded to at least try to get her out now. I felt the need to push, Rylee was coming and I and the nurse wasn't able to stop it.

If you scrolled through to find the part where I actually start pushing and stuff gets dangerous, this is it!

She set everything up and put my feet up. She told me that when I pushed I had to put my chin to my chest, keep my back flat on the bed and put my hands behind my knees. She also told me that when I was pushing that I had to hold my breath while I pushed. The first few pushes were terrible. I couldn't hold my breath long enough, I kept screaming because I could feel EVERYTHING, and I couldn't keep grip of behind my knees.

The nurse kept yelling at me, she was telling me to stop screaming, "You're not going to push this baby out screaming!" Nothing she was telling me to do was working, Rylee was stuck under my public bone. At one point, my mom and my sister helped me lift my torso, so that I could reach the handle bars while I pushed, and this time, I screamed when I wanted and enjoyed the luxury of breathing with my contractions. After two pushes of those, she was crowning and the nurse called the doctor in. She told him that "it would still be a while"  and that he could "take his time". Thankfully, his office was across the hall from my room so he decided to walk over now. He walked in, and started putting on his gloves. While him and the nurse were talking, I pushed one more time. All I remember is that my mom shouted, the nurse spun around and caught Rylee because her head and her shoulders all came out at once. The doctor didn't even finish putting on his gloves and my daughter was born.

They placed her on my chest while my husband cut the cord. I couldn't stop staring at her. I held her hand and all I could say was "hello"  over and over again. Then they took her over to the weigh table and the doctor started to stitch me up. I tore in three different places, including the sphincter muscle. (Hah! I said Sphincter!!) It took about an hour to stitch me back up.

They helped me sit up and handed me my newborn daughter. Almost as soon as they placed her in my hands, I noticed something was wrong. I was starting to get dizzy, and my vision was blacking out. Everything after this is a blur. All I remember is that I told my husband to take Rylee because I was about to drop her and I told the nurses about my problem. They put another IV in my other hand and rushed saline in both sides to keep my veins from collapsing because I was starting to bleed out.

They rushed me into surgery to find out where the bleeding was coming from, and to stop it. While in surgery, I get I got a D&C and they came to the conclusion that there were no major tears. However, I'm anemic. THAT would have been great to know beforehand! While I was in the recovery room, I got a blood transfusion to start replacing the blood that I had lost. I was so tired at this point that I was literally going unconscious every 5-10 minutes and then I would wake up again and do it all over again.

Finally, the wheeled me back to my room so I could be with my husband and my daughter. Unfortunately, I was too weak to hold her for the first day or so and by the time I was able to attempt to breastfeed, she was used to the immediate satisfaction of the bottle. I feel like I missed out on a lot of those first days with her because I was either too weak, or I was falling asleep mid sentence. However, I would gladly relive all of it again. She makes everything worth it.
 Rylee Elaine King was born at 9:01pm May 16, 2013 at 7lbs 4oz and 21 and a half inches long.

Meet The Kings

As you could probably tell from my short and sweet bio, My name is Christina King. I am a brand new mother to the most beautiful baby girl Rylee Elaine King and the wife to a future soldier in the US Army, and the most wonderful man I've ever met, T.J. King. I was born and raised for the first eleven years of my life in San Diego, California but moved to Southern Arizona in Febuary of 2005. I met my husband in January of 2008 in our freshman year of high school and we've been together ever since. I am now a stay at home mommy and love every moment of it.

 My husband Taliesen (TJ) King was born and raised in our Southern Arizona town. Up until mid 2012, he did not have the last name King, however after the death of his father he changed his last name to match his. He, along with myself, graduated high school in 2011 and married me exactly one year later in 2012, me at eighteen and him at nineteen. He is now currently working on weight loss to meet the maximum weight requirement to join the Army to support me and our brand new baby girl as well as looking for a job to hold us over in the meantime. I've never seen a man more in love with a little girl than I have when I look at him with our daughter. He works so hard at juggling the job hunt, training, and dealing with my postpartum depression. I couldn't have asked for a better husband.

Saving the best for last, my daughter Miss Rylee Elaine King, born May 16, 2013. She has already lit up my entire world. I never knew love until I met her. She is already very spunky and opinionated just like her mama. She is everything I've ever dreamed up and 100x more. She's already done so much for me, she saved me from myself after severe depression following a miscarriage in March of 2012. My traumatic labor with her was worth every ounce of fear and pain. She makes me smile harder than anyone ever has and I can't wait to watch her grow and share it with you!








Now you have met the Kings and I hope you have caught on to the reason behind the name. All of us are brand new Kings, my husband and I in 2012 and now our baby girl. We all have something to adjust to and I am so happy we get to do this together!