Christmas card pictures!

Huge shout out to my awesome twin seester for taking some fun Christmas pictures for us on a wet and drizzly day. PS have I mentioned yet how much I absolutely LOVE that this area is right outside of our fence?! Love love love having this as a backyard! We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a wonderful New Year!

Remington's dedication

Hey, all! Today I want to share something that was pretty special and important for us- a few weekends ago we were able to get Remington dedicated.  After years of being out of church for some things that happened in the church I grew up in, I was invited by a friend out here (thanks, Rachel!) and we ended up loving it. The pastor is great and gives me hope that not all pastors are the type that I have been exposed to in the past. Its been good realizing I need to separate the people of the church, who are just humans and have made many mistakes, and the church in general. I spent so many years with my back turned to just the idea of it so its good to be back. So so good. Anyway, we know without a doubt we want to expose Remington to Jesus and set forth the best Godly example we can for her to get her on the right path. The world is a scary place with a ton of awful influences. She can either get the impression of that or she can get the impression of Jesus' love and strive to make Him and us proud and make good life decisions in the future. Its a scary thing becoming a parent to love your sweet baby so much yet know you can do the very best you can with loving them and raising them but they end up choosing who they want to be, who they surround themselves with and what path they want to take. I am constantly praying over my girl that she is always around good people who influence her in the right direction through life. There is just so much negative in this world, I pray we are able to guide her the right way that she know better than to ever get involved with bad people or make bad choices. It starts with us so Kyle and I are back in church learning and soaking up as much as we can because before we know it she will be emulating us and we need to be the best versions of ourselves we can be for her. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he should not depart from it." We have a pretty huge responsibility that we are taking very seriously and I know we will fail a lot but I'm hopeful we can make the right choices. Our pastor just did a series on parenthood that was so good and so eye opening and something every parent should hear. I will be posting those online sessions soon. If you're a parent and reading this and even if you aren't a parent, you should watch them. You will learn so much! Anyway, a few pictures from my girls big day. In hindsight, I should have put her in the nursery during worship and prayer and announcements because by the time it came time to go up on stage she was so over having to sit still and be quiet that she was a hot mess. She fussed a bit and did not want to be held! She was too cute at the end though when everyone started clapping. She looked around with a huge smile and started giggling and clapping right along with them. Everyone started cracking up, it was so cute.

 

The day our life was changed forever

Although next month makes a year since I've had Remington (HOW?!?!) I will still never forget all of the memories from the night I had her. As I have been planning her birthday party, I have been reminiscing on those last few days being pregnant so its time I get them written down!
 

Kyle left to Virginia for training when I was 25 weeks pregnant, got back when I was 34ish weeks, packed our house, moved our stuff to VA and waited for us to arrive. It was really important to me to have my family there for the birth like we all have been for all of my nieces and nephews plus the fact I didn't want to move to a new town one month before my due date so I stayed home. Since he had to take leave, it was a bit of a guessing game as to when he should take it to make it back for the birth but he got home November 20th so we had a few days to spend together for the last time being just the two of us. On November 25th he was out golfing and I spent the day at home with Momma and Pam. I was feeling great! Around 3 or so I was feeling a weird cramping feeling but nothing too crazy. My mom kept saying she would be woken up at 2 am because that baby was coming that night! Moms know best, right?!

 Around 6 I took a nice, long, amazing, peaceful shower and fully soaked it up thinking how it would be my last shower before becoming a mom. I tried to get some sleep but I was too anxious. I started getting light contractions around 10 but I wasn't even sure if they were contractions. Around midnight they were getting closer together so I started taking screenshots on Kyles phone to track how far apart they were. 

  Around 1:45 they started actually having a bit of a kick to them so I woke Kyle up and told him we should probably head to the hospital soon. Since I wasn't hurting too badly yet, I took some time and did my hair and hung out with Pam while Kyle showered then we took this last picture with my belly!



We headed to the hospital around 2:30 am. I was surprisingly calm. Kyle kept thinking I was going to be like one of those pregnant chicks that is screaming on the way to the hospital but thankfully the pain wasn't too bad. It hurt but it came and went quickly. The only part of the drive that sucked was A Street!!! I know all you Warrior Foundation Freedom Station people are familiar with turning left from Freedom Station to head to the hospital. Imagine that street with contractions! Not awesome! Thankfully it was just a few blocks then we were there! Since I wasn't positive if I would deliver on base or off, I never took a tour of the hospital on base. It was about 3 am and Kyle and I were wandering aimlessly around the outside of the dark hospital laughing hysterically at how ridiculous it was that we were walking forever, lost and freezing but stopping for a contraction to pass. We finally found our way and got checked in and to my surprise I was already dilated to 6 cm! Awesome! I was texting my mom and sisters all night so they were all awake and ready to head to the hospital! I don't remember what time they started rolling in but it was great to see them there. My sweet grandma had my moms ipad and it was linked up and receiving all the texts so when I called her the next day she was so excited and said how she was up all night reading the messages so excited. Which is so cute because she totally doesn't understand technology so its just cute to think of her awake all night with all 8 of us texting each other non stop, able to partake in the excitement. I love her. My contractions were never too painful I mean they hurt but they weren't as bad as I was expecting them to be so I felt like I wasn't dilating but sure enough at the next check I was 8. Again, they did hurt but they came so fast and were over so quickly that it was easy to push through them knowing they were brief. The nurses asked if I wanted an epidural and I was like HECK YES! Bring it on before there is any increase in pain!!! That was great. I mean that made it a real party. I was laughing and joking and having a grand ol' time with the hubby and the fam. Highly recommend an epidural. Highly. My mom, John, Trina, Kayden, Braden, Brycen, Kendalyn, Brinleigh, Nicole, Juliette, Tara, Pam and Jeremiah all showed up ready to see that baby be born! The only sisters missing were Ashley and Natalie ;( Ash was getting text play by plays at work and Nat was able to facetime in to watch it all go down. Kyle was amazing. He was so calm, so sweet, so excited and as always so positive and encouraging. He always has such a way with words and that night was no exception. He was so incredibly excited and kept a hand nearby for me to squeeze when needed, kept giving out hand and forehead kisses like they were going out of style and kept complimenting me. Flattery will get you everywhere with me, he's a smart man ;)

 

The whole fam made time pass quickly and kept the mood up with their talking and joking. It definitely took the focus off the anxiety I was feeling about what my body was about to endure!

 

After about 7 hours, Remis heartbeat started to go down a bit so I kept having to shift positions while they monitored it. That was the only thing I was concerned about but a quick change in the way I was laying would fix it. Okay, so, I do have some advice here. I was getting sick of waiting and I was so excited to get the show on the road after having been in the hospital bed for 8 hours that I may have told a small little lie. I was just about 10 cm when the nurses told me to let them know when I felt pressure and needed to push. WELLLLL, I told them I felt pressure before I actually felt pressure because I just wanted to start pushing already. Not the smartest move but it sure did speed up the process. I did a few practice pushes paired with breathing techniques. Ended up pushing a total of maybe 10 minutes and then, at 10:17 am, she was out! It took what seemed like FOR-EV-ER for her to scream. I mean long. And they were pounding on her back and suctioning her out and I remember praying like crazy she was fine because she just wasn't breathing and then I heard the best sound I've ever heard-the cutest little cry! Kyle was able to cut the cord really quickly before they took her and suctioned her out some more, weighed and measured her.

I will forever remember watching Kyle watch her. The look on his face was so sweet and so genuine as he fully took her in. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, it was like she was the only thing in that room and time truly just stood still. He had tears just falling down his cheeks and it was a moment I will never, ever forget. I just remember being so in love with him at that moment and being so thankful and so happy he was the person I was sharing these experiences with.

 

After that it was back to momma so I could hold my sweet girl and get some skin to skin time.  I will also always remember this moment. My girl just checking her momma out.

 

Then it was time to nurse her and its just crazy how babies know how to latch on. Its just so natural to them, its nuts.  

I wanted to keep her all to myself but I had to share so I guess it was only fair her dad got a turn.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. My husband, my twin and my baby.

 

 It was just such a wonderful day!!!

 

Remington Grace Skalsky 

November 25, 2013

7 pounds, 1 ounce 20.5 inches

I truly can not say enough positive things about my experience at Balboa Naval Medical Center. Everyone always has such negative things to say about Naval hospitals. So much so that I almost had Remi off base. I decided to just go with it and ignore everyone else and base if off of my positive experiences thus far. I am SO GLAD I chose to give them a chance! My nurses were amazing, so fun, friendly and knowledgeable. They kept it light and easy going and laughed and joked along with my family. I had never met my doctor which was fine by me. I never even saw the same doctor throughout my pregnancy, I mean some people are sticklers on that but I don't care too much about that. If I had a complicated pregnancy I may have preferred the same one but I took whoever could fit me in nicely with my schedule and it always worked well. Plus, its not like you're promised your doctor anyway when you do go into labor so there was no point in forming a relationship and getting my heart set on a specific one. Anyways, the doctor I had was amazing! She knew exactly what she was doing, was kind, professional, quick, helpful, answered all of our questions. My experience really was so great. I mean it topped off the perfect pregnancy; an amazing delivery. I know so many of you are scared of having a baby on base but if you get to experience anything close to how great my stay was, you should give them a chance. Plus they served me the BEST EGGS EVER the next morning! I still don't know if they were that great or if I was just starving but they were so good. SO GOOD.

My sister Nat had just had her baby girl 4 months before I had mine and she kept telling me to soak in the first night in the hospital. She is so right! That first night was so magical. I was awake for about two days straight and never even phased because I was on this crazy natural new mommyhood high! It was the best! Such an amazing time to bond with her and Kyle and just be us. I loved it.  I can't wait to do it again with our next baby.

Then home it was! 

  One last picture because I am still so in love with my oldest sister, Trina for this. The first night home I was having a hard time feeding Remi. I mean she was like a mini piranha and I was TERRIFIED OF HER!!!!!! She wasn't latching well and I couldn't get her to eat. I sent Kyle to the store for bottles and I tried to pump but it wasn't working. I was crying and upset and felt so bad because she was crying and hungry and I was feeding her through the pain about to send him to the store again to buy formula for the night until I could make it to see the lactation specialist in the morning. Thats when Trina, my supermom sister, drove down an hour from her house at midnight to help me. She literally just shoved my boob in Remis mouth LOL and said this is what you need to do, do it. And what do ya know, it worked! I have the best family ever. For real. 

I got a LOT of backlash over my decision to stay in San Diego while my husband moved to Virginia but I knew this was the right decision for me. I have always dreamed of a delivery day like those of my sisters-filled with family and memories, excitement in the delivery room or in the waiting room, I wanted the support and guidance. The reality is I will likely never be able to be home again for another birth so it was my one chance to have my birth story be the way I had always dreamed it would be. Who knows where we will be stationed the next time we have a baby, I knew this was what I had to do for myself. All of you awfully kind people who said such nice things about me (Sarcasm. Straight sarcasm) I just wanna say eat your words! I had the best of both worlds just like I wanted-my husband and my family all surrounding me for the biggest moment in my life. So HA! Take your rude hurtful comments and be ashamed of yourself for being so mean to me. We were able to spend 10 awesome days together before Kyle had to head back to Virginia. Remington and I followed a couple of weeks later and I can't believe its almost already been a year since we moved out here! Crazy!