birth story

I need to write down Drake's birth story before I forget it all... I guess I should start with my appointment on the 2nd of May. I had my regular visit for my appointment and the previous three weeks I had not been dilated at all I sort of figured I still wouldn't be, mostly because I didn't want to get my hopes up only for the Dr to tell me I had gone no where.  But on Wednesday when the dr checked me I was at a three!!! I almost started crying with relief. He stripped my membranes and told me that he would probably see me within the next 24 to 48 hours so I called my parents who were so excited and of course let Kevin know then I went home and had a million things to do.  last minute grocery shopping and a few other errands, laundry, vacuuming, cleaning up etc.  Then I just waited, and waited.  I started having contractions but nothing that was painful and nothing that was consistent.  My Dr scheduled me for a non stress test for monday morning if I hadn't gone into labor by then and also scheduled me to be induced Monday night after midnight.  I thought for sure I would go into labor over the weekend, but no it was not meant to be.  I guess he was just way too comfortable in there.

 At my Dr's office there are a series of three doctors and one midwife which you rotate through and when you go into labor whoever is on call is who you get. Dr. Winch is in my opinion the best of all of them I would  choose him hands down over any Dr at the clinic but I knew that it wasn't in my control however my appointment on the second was with Dr. Winch and he informed me that the other two Dr.'s were out on vacation all of the following week so he would be on call all weekend and through the next week. Meaning that pretty much guaranteed that Dr. Winch would deliver my baby. What an answer to prayer! I knew that Heavenly Father knew my worries and concerns and was watching out for me, I felt so blessed. 

After waiting all weekend with nothing happening and getting discouraged a few times Monday morning came around and I went in for my NST I was having pretty regular contractions throughout it all and they were more painful than any others I had had all along.  they told me they would see me that night so Monday I did a few more last minute things to make sure we were as ready as could be for baby went out to dinner one last time just the two of us and came home and went to bed for a few hours.

I tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to get a few good hours of sleep and we set our alarm for 12:30, got up loaded everything in the car and off we were to the hospital.  We arrived around 1:30 and by 2 we were all checked in and I was hooked up to my IV however they didn't start me on pitocin right away they wanted to see if the fluids would get me going, and they did.  At about 3 I was to a 4 so they started the pitocin on the smallest drip and told me they would up in every half hour.  As 4:30 rolled around my nurse was no where to be found and  needless to say they never upped my dosage. By 5 I was really feeling the contractions, they were super painful and I was having a hard time breathing through them. I had planned on getting an epidural all along and do not regret that decision one bit. 

By five thirty I was crying so hard that tears wouldn't come and Kevin said my whole body would shake through the contraction.  I hadn't seen my nurse for like an hour at this point and I was getting pretty frustrated with her.  I finally paged someone in and asked them for something for my pain she told me she would get the nurse and asked what my pain level was at I told her a 9 out of 10.  It still took my nurse like fifteen minutes to even come see me she checked me again and I was to a 7 so she said she would get the consent forms for my epidural.  She left and I knew it would be a while before I saw her again and I was getting upset.  Because we live in a pretty rural area the anesthesiologist lives about forty five minutes away so I knew if I hadn't even signed my consent forms that they hadn't even paged him and I didn't know if I could take the pain much longer.  After suffering through a few more contractions Kevin went out and was like did you page the anesthesiologist, she is in a lot of pain.  My nurse finally came in and said she had contacted the midwife about giving me something before the epidural.  The midwife told her not to give me anything.  Why? I have no idea.  So they said if I wanted something then they would give it to me after finding out that the anesthesiologist was still about thirty minutes out I asked for the drug.  I forget what it was called... neprin or something?  She put it in my IV and I immediately felt super drowsy.  The nurse was talking to me and I kept dosing off I asked if I should feel funny and she said it was normal for me to feel drowsy.  When she left I passed out.  Finally some sleep! I was exhausted.  A few contractions woke me up from my slumber but other than that I slept until the anesthesiologist got there.  I was pretty much asleep when they gave me the epidural and I don't remember it being bad at all.  It was something I was pretty worried about before I went into labor.  After the epidural I passed out again and was pretty much asleep until shift changes at 7, thank goodness! My second nurse was SO much better than my first! I was still at a 7 when she checked me and they took me of the pitocin and figured they would let my body do the rest.  Dr Winch came in around 8:30 to do his rounds and asked me how I was feeling I told him good, I was just still so sleepy.  He said I was doing great that an induction like this is exactly what is hoped for, you couldn't have a better induction and he told me we would probably have the baby by 1 or 2 instead of 3 or 4 that afternoon like they had originally thought.  While he was talking to me my hip started to kill, I tried to massage it and move it around as best I could because I figured it was maybe a little stiff from sitting in weird positions after the epidural or something.  After Dr Winch left my nurse came in to check on me and asked how I was feeling I told her I was good except that my hip was really hurting so she said she would check me because sometimes that means that baby is right there.  I expected it to be nothing and was completely shocked when she said she had broken my water and that baby was right there ready to go and I was ready to push!! She finished setting up and told another nurse to make sure they grabbed Dr. Winch because we were going to have a baby shortly.  I started to push around 9:15 and pushed through maybe 5 contractions and then he was here!! He arrived at 9:43 am on Tuesday May 8th 2012 and he was perfect.  I was still so sleepy that it seemed like it was all a dream of some sort.  He is perfect and we are so in love! 

My birth story is nothing like I thought it would be but it worked out pretty perfectly.  We are loving having baby home and getting in all our cuddle time.  He fits so perfectly into our family it's like he has always been here. 

Quirky favorites

With my due date approaching I find myself wondering what to do with my days more than usual, in other words I am bored more often.  When I tell people I have stayed at home since I've been pregnant they kind of look at my like how boring, you must be bored out of your mind constantly.  But honestly I've stayed pretty busy! Until now... Part of it probably has something to do with the fact that I am way more tired these days so I'm feeling much lazier.  I won't tell you how many times a week noon comes around and I'm still in my Jammies.   {Who doesn't love jammies?!}

It also doesn't help that this week Kevin is working one of his long weeks, otherwise known as hell weeks where he leaves the house at 4:45 am and doesn't get home until 9 pm.  It's terrible! And leaves me more bored than usual. So since nothing too exciting has been going on around here and I have zero pictures to show what little we have done I thought I would share a few of my favorite things as of late...

I love this quote and I hope I always remember it. 

Favorite Memory since living in elko {one of them}

One night a few months ago I believe it was after stake conference, the adult session on Saturday night, I decided I was craving an ice cream cone from McDonald's so Kevin took me there and we both got cones. We were sitting across from each other in our booth, {yes we frequent there often so we have a booth} he shaped his cone so that it was completely round on the sides and then took a bite from the top forming a little dangle. He looked at the cone then looked at me and said in his best and most serious pirate voice AAARGG and stabbed his cone at me. I busted up laughing, it was so hilarious and I laughed about it for the rest of the night and sometimes when I'm by myself I think of that moment and laugh out loud. We have so much fun together and I'm so glad he's mine and I'm so glad he keeps me laughing over little stuff like ice cream.

Baked Chicken Fajitas

Favorite new recipe I tried last week.  I love getting new recipes and something different from the same old stuff we always have.  This was way yummy and super easy with stuff I usually have on hand which is so nice. 

We desperately needed a new can opener, our other one was such a pain so I told Kevin I was going to buy the Oxo one, my parents have it and have had it for like ten years.  I think it was around $20 but SO worth it! Every time I use it I tell him what a great purchase it was and he just laughs that something like a can opener can bring me such pleasure. 

Favorite thing to look at on pinterest...

{Baby Photos}

They're all so sweet, I can't believe that in a few weeks we'll have our little guy here I feel like it has been this dream that is still forever away, something that we've talked about and talked about but is never actually going to happen.  Then I realize that my due date is three weeks away and I start to have a minor freak out like do we have everything ready? Am I ready for the whole labor and delivery process? {All the 'what ifs' of pregnancy}

I am usually a huge stresser of the unknown and a few weeks ago it was really getting to me, I was constantly worrying about everything that could happen or what we did or didn't have and it was starting to get to me, I was breaking down over the smallest things.  Kevin finally gave me a blessing and things have been much better since, I hardly worry which is very unlike me.  I am so grateful for the priesthood and my good husband who holds it, it is such a blessing.

Favorite food to eat

Love these, always have and always will I could probably eat a carton a day and be completely content, and bonus they're on sale right now!

Well these are a few of my favorite things at the moment, sorry to bore you all but at least it kept me entertained for a while!

Spring!

We started off April with lovely spring weather in Nevada, I can't wait for summer to come to spend all our days in the sun! So since it's pretty much sandal weather and I can't reach my toes, my sweet husband painted them for me!

He was so concentrated.  It took him two times, he thought it would be a lot easier than it actually was but they turned out great! Isn't he the best?

Then Kevin's younger brother mitch came home from his mission so we went to Utah and spent time with the whole family it was so great that everyone could be there.

Date night with all the siblings at cafe sabor, yum!

This is me at 36 weeks.  I am trying to forget the date and forget how many more weeks, hopefully it will go a little faster if i'm not focused on the date but we'll see. Everything seems to be on schedule, I did get sick the other night and i'm hoping it was just a one time thing because i'm not sure I can handle being sick again and sore hips ha. Other than a few more things I need to buy mostly stuff like medicines and diapers, I feel like there is not much else I can do to prepare for this little one until after he gets here.  I'm sure after he arrives we'll feel like we need a million more things but for now at least I feel prepared. 

Easter sunday we kept up with tradition and colored easter eggs, it was a fun little date for us!

25

On April 1st Kevin turned 25!! It was a Sunday and we were headed to Utah to see Kevin's brother Mitch who was just getting home from his mission so we celebrated a little early.  He came home from work and opened presents and then we went to dinner at wingers... here are some pictures!

{yes it's christmas wrapping paper}

showing off his new shoes

Happy birthday to Kevin! Love you lots!

two years

Two years ago last week {March 20th} was our very first date! I can't believe how the time flies.  It was a Friday and my roommates and I had just gotten back from spring break in California and after driving from St. George that morning, I got ready and went into work for the day. I was wearing my purple vans, my favorite jeans and a white t-shirt with my juicy zip up. Kevin was wearing his billabong shirt with brown trim.  Kevin picked me up from work and we went to the shooting range... definitely not my typical first date but fun all the same.  We still have the targets from that date.  After shooting we went to olive garden for dinner... yum! {We sat at the same table for our six month anniversary after we were married} I remember talking about him meeting my family at dinner and I told him absolutely not.  My family was coming out in a few weeks and since they lived in Denver if he was going to meet them now was going to the be time but since this was our first date and I had never brought a guy home to meet my family there was no way it was going to happen.  After dinner we went over to his house to watch the movie, the guardian. After the movie we were laying on the couch and I got my first kiss from Kevin!! After that things moved very quickly, he ended up meeting my family when they were out and just over four weeks later told me he loved me, three weeks after that we were engaged and three months after that we were married.  Looking at it like that makes it all sound a little crazy how fast things went but I am more sure today than I was even then that Kevin is the perfect person for me. It has been a great two years and I can't wait for all the years to come!

projects!

This weekend I was feeling on the adventurous side and decided to pull out my crochet hook and give those cute owl hats a go... I learned to crochet when I was really young from my mom but just the basic stitch and only in squares and rectangles.  I love the crocheted washcloths so that is mostly what I use it for, but I figured I had the basics down so I could learn to do more advanced stuff and figure it out, right?!  I ended up buying a pattern off etsy and when I opened it up I couldn't believe what I had done, the pattern made NO sense, I had no idea what I was doing.  Now I'm more of a visual learner which I guess I forgot somewhere in all my excitement to crochet these cute hats.  With the pattern there is nothing visual about it plus all the weird lingo for the stitches I was so confused.  But since I had already purchased the pattern I was determined to figure it out! Thank goodness for google and you tube!  I bought my pattern from here, she has darling stuff and you can buy the patterns or the hats already made but since I had no idea what the pattern meant I googled a lot of things.  I finally ended up at youtube... I typed in "crocheted owl hat" and found this video.  A lady in Australia is making an owl hat, it is different from how the patterns hat turned out but I figured I would take it.  She was a lot of help! I was able to combine the two resources and make a hat that I was pretty pleased with! After watching the video over and over I was finally able to semi- decipher what the pattern was saying to me and I got more successful as I made more hats! 

Here is my first attempt...

I was honestly surprised that it resembled a hat at all and I was pretty pleased with it although I knew I could do better- plus I needed a few more materials.  I didn't want to buy everything right off just in case I couldn't do it but after re watching the video and still trying to decipher the pattern this is what I ended up with...

After this I needed a little break from the owl hat and my brain was hurting from the pattern translating so again I went to youtube and the same Australian lady that did the owl hat had a cute "elf" like hat tutorial there are five parts to it so I'll link the first one up here and that video connects you to the rest of them.

The one on the left was my first one and I ended up adding the trim at the bottom myself without the tutorial's help! After that I did the one on the right and switched the yarn all by myself, pretty advanced ha!

Kevin has been studying for the GMAT to take in a couple of weeks, and since he's trying to take it before baby gets here he has been studying all day everyday he has off and during his rides out to work! I don't know how he does it! But he spent most of the weekend on the couch studying and I spent most of the weekend on the other couch crocheting.  We're pretty exciting at our house! 

Last night I finally finished the hat that I felt like was definitely my best and I decided to use Kevin as a model to see how they would fit on a person since I don't have a baby to try them on yet.  He was a good sport so here it is...!

They actually turned out to be pretty easy! If it hadn't have been for youtube I would still be staring at the crochet pattern wondering what the H to do but thanks to that I can pretty much understand the patterns and they're coming along much faster than they were initially. Although it was a little frustrating at first I am glad that I was able to learn so much because of it! Since I have a lot of time on my hands currently I will have to whip up a few more and keep them around for gifts!



30 Weeks!

This week I had my thirty week appointment/ ultrasound! I can't believe I'm going to the doctor every two weeks now and that I'm in my last trimester.  Its starting to hit me that we're going to have our little man here in just a few short months!!

 Everyone keeps asking me if I have everything ready and I feel like we have nothing! I'm sure that will all change in a quick hurry but we do have most of the big stuff which is nice.  So now all the little, everyday stuff is on our baby list... if any of you experienced moms out there have any must haves let me know, I need all the help I can get!! I feel like its always the little things that we don't think about and we'll have baby show up and be scrambling to get a ton of stuff! At least I still have a little while before everything needs to be ready.

Highlights from my appointment are,

-Baby is still a boy!

-The doctor says he's pretty tall for how far along he is

-Weight, and head circumference are average

- Dr predicts he'll weigh between 7.4 and 7.9 lbs at birth which as he put it is a "gift from god" for your first child.  I could not agree more!
-Baby has a big bladder, he didn't get that from either of his parents so now sure where it came from!

-Dr predicts I'll probably deliver closer to the 7th of May rather than the 4th, my original due date. Which I'm not really surprised about, I always figured I'd go late. 

-I measure exactly on for "mcdonals rule" where your fundal height is as many centimeters as you are weeks.

-Baby has two kidneys, a 4 chamber heart, no fluid in the brain and fluid in his stomach which means he is swallowing properly. No cleft palette. The umbilical cord is attached properly. All of his organs are inside of his tummy {yay}  All very good things to hear, I wasn't really worried about any of them but it is always nice to be reassured. 

Our little man was very shy during this ultrasound, which is surprising because he's hardly ever shy, he is always kicking and rolling somersaults which I love, Its always comforting to feel him moving around.

 A few of my highlights that I have been experiencing this last trimester are,

-Its getting much harder to get comfortable when I sleep, a pillow between my legs is a must.

-I have to go to the bathroom at least twice during the night before I got pregnant I never got up during the night.

-My hips are starting to bug me... Is that normal? Its not something I hear about often.

-I am even more hungry than usual. Cold cereal is still one of my favorite things to eat.

-It's getting much harder to bend down, something that I am sure is going to continue to get more difficult.

-I am constantly thirsty, way more than I have ever been this pregnancy.
-Baby loves when I sing to him.
-I'm already feeling super large which is too bad because now is when the baby will put on most of his weight so I guess I better just get used to it.

I'm sure there are many more things that I am forgetting but at least I've written down a few, I couldn't be more grateful for the blessings we have received throughout this pregnancy.  I am so glad I have an active and healthy little boy.  I know I say this all the time, but I couldn't do it without my great husband, he really is the best, always willing to help make things easier for me and always willing to go shopping with me and of course always acting super excited about some baby product when I know he really doesn't care but he'll act excited because he knows I'm excited about it.  We have tons of fun together at our house and although I can't wait for our little guy to join our family I am going to treasure these last few months of just me and Kevin and the time we have together because I'm sure after the baby arrives our alone time will be very limited.