NYC Part III

We woke up Sunday morning after we all had a loooooooong nights sleep. I really think we didn’t wake up until about 10, and didn’t leave the hotel until about noon. The first stop we made was heading down to Macy’s. I’ve never gotten so lost and confused in my entire life! It was beyond massive and trying to find an elevator to take back down was impossible! We ended up on the escalators going down, with a stroller, and that’s just not my favorite. But the original wood escalators? I just couldn’t get enough of them! They were the slowest moving cool thing I’ve ever seen. I loved them.

Blessing and Graduation

In May we were fortunate enough to celebrate my husband's graduation with his MAC, and also bless that sweet (big) baby.

And the best part? My parents got to come.

As soon as my mom landed we had an agenda full of shopping and planning, and of course, lots of loving on the grandchild.

Their visit wasn’t very long, but it was sure fun, and I was sad we didn’t get to spend more time together.

The worst part? We were too busy to take pictures. That happens ALL. THE. TIME.

So here is what we did get.

What a fun weekend!

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was when I handed Nixon to Jim in sacrament to take him to the stand, and the lady sitting behind me said, not so quietly “That baby is not wearing white!!” I just chuckled to myself, and thought “You obviously don’t know me”.

Looking back on these pictures, I still know I have the cutest baby!

A Birth Story

I woke up on February 14 after a very miserable night sleep. I knew It was going to be my last good sleep in awhile and I wasted it! I couldn’t sleep! So I got out of bed around 8 and made some pancakes for the Hub and I. I mean it was valentines day after all, gotta go above and beyond. We sat and ate out breakfast and I said “how many times do you think I’m going to cry today” and then I started crying. I knew it was going to be an emotional day. Jim usually works from home on Thursdays but decided that he was going to take the day off instead and finish up the last few things that needed to get done around the house. On top of that he had been sick since Sunday, and on Tuesday the doctor told him he had tonsillitis. His whole mouth was swollen to the point where he could hardly eat anything, and cold sores took over his bottom lip. It was the worst timing ever, but we he made it through.

  It was a great day! I got to clean all day, and I love cleaning! But in the back of my head I couldn’t shake the feeling that “this time tomorrow I’m going to be in labor”. We didn’t have any big Valentines day plans because I was really torn on what to do. Do we go to dinner and a movie and get home kinda late and then MAYBE get an hour or two of sleep and then go have a baby at 3 am or do we just got to an easy dinner so we can come home and try to nap or go to sleep earlier and then go have a baby? By 5 I was starving so we decided on the latter. The Hub and I ate our last meal and Zupas, came home and took the dog on a walk, and sat down to watch Revenge. There were multiple times during the show that I heard vibrating but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Then I finally said something and Jim realized his phone had been ringing but was on the charger. He jumped up and answered it and I heard him say “Hmmm. Let me ask my wife”, that sure got my attention. He then said that the hospital was on the phone and wanted to know if we would like to come in now, and my heart stopped and I shrugged my shoulders and said “I don’t see why not” and looked back at the tv and started crying. It was only 8:00, 5 hours before I was suppose to even go in. I finished the last 5 minutes of the episode, but I have no idea what actually happened. I got up and started getting the rest of my things ready, but I knew it was pointless because my bag had been ready for 2 weeks. Then, I had one of the most amazing experiences with that husband of mine, first of many to come over the next few days, but there was a hug involved and some pretty amazing words and emotions and I’ll just leave it at that.

We got to the hospital around 8:45 and got all set up with registration. Around 9:20ish they came out to get us, and we were headed back to our room. I had no idea what to even expect going in and even now just a few days later it’s kind of a blur. My nurse checked my and said I was 3 and 60%, and don’t worry that I called her out on the fact that I had been 80% earlier. She then told me it’s all up to interpretation and I would know that if I had “gone to class”. Sassy thing she was, but I really really really really loved her. As she was hooking me up she said that I was having contractions, but they weren’t labor contractions, and I had no idea. I didn’t really feel anything, and she said they weren’t regular at all. It was kind of nice to just sit there and chat with her as she did everything. I felt really confident in her and her experience as a L&D nurse. Around 11 I was completely hooked up and they had me started on Pitocin. I had heard stories that it would make my life miserable and for the first hour I felt like it wasn’t doing anything. Much to my surprise around 12 my doctor came in as happy as ever and broke my water and told me I was at a 4. For whatever reason I was positive it was going to hurt, but I didn’t feel a thing, but a gush of warm water, and it never seemed to stop. After that things got rough. I actually started to feel my contractions and she kept telling me to “do what you did to get ready for this part” and I just kept looking at Jim like, I didn’t do anything to get ready for this part, I thought they told you how to breath.

At 12:15ish I pulled out my iPad and watched Lamaze breathing on youtube and it didn’t really help at all. My nurse was really good about coming in every 30 minutes exactly to do whatever they do so when she came in at 12:30 she asked if I was doing ok and I said yes but I didn’t want the epidural yet. I’ve heard of multiple different people getting it and then by the time they needed to push it had warn off and they felt everything, not exactly what I wanted. I was determined to make it to 1 before telling her I was ready. She left the room again and I had 2 more contractions fairly close together and I looked at Jim and told him I couldn’t do it anymore and that I needed the epidural. I called her back in and told her and I said I tried to make it as long as I could but I needed it now. She called the anesthesiologist in and he got right to work. Knowing now how things played out I wish I had gotten it sooner because I didn’t realize how hard it would be to be contracting and getting ready for an epidural. It was hard! I had the pillow in front of me, and my nurse holding my shoulders forward so that I wouldn’t move. I couldn’t breath through the contractions anymore because the pillow was in my face, and if I turned my head I would breath in my hair. It was rough. I didn’t know that it took so long for them to shove that needle in your back! When he was done sticking everything in I had 2 contractions and I was worried and I even said “Am I suppose to be feeling this”? and He chuckled and said he hadn’t put the medicine in yet. I felt like an idiot.

By the time he was done the nurse said I was at about a 6.5! I was shocked! I expected for things to slow down at this point because that’s what the epidural does. It was a good thing I called and asked for the epidural when I did because as he was putting it in he was called into a C section and they said had I not called I probably would have waited until about 2 to get it. That would have been awful!! Before 2 I was already a 7. My nurse told me that the goal was to have the baby here before 7 at the latest so that was my plan. I texted my cousin to let her know because her and my aunt were going to come down and be my personal cheerleaders. I needed cheerleaders. By this point I was feeling really really good, but there was no hope of getting any rest for Jim or I. We both tried, but they come in so often and the anticipation was killing both of us. Only a few hours and our sweet baby would be joining us in the world! Paige told me that Her and Shelley were getting ready and I thought they were crazy. I told them to leave their house around 5:30 and I am so happy they didn’t listen to me. At 2:15 I was an 8, and Paige and Shelley announced that they were coming to the hospital, but I was still convinced we were goaling for 7.

I sent this text at 2:45 “We are at a 9.5. She said we will be pushing in 1-3 hours. If I could push we would but we are gonna let him come down some more so I’d say head on over”. This is when things got, what I felt, weird. I had to lay on my side to get him to drop. I was having to switch back and forth, and they even brought out the peanut ball for me to put between my legs. I could move my own body for the most part, but I only had so much control over my legs. I could move them to where they needed to be, but she had to position them on the ball. After being on my side for awhile the nurse came back and checked me a few times and he was coming down really good, except he had his head turned. It wasn’t a big deal (so they made it seem). The nurse had to get someone else for a second opinion to see what way he was facing. His body was ready, but he was trying to come out with his ear first. This meant that they were going to have to try and turn his head as I contracted. At this point Paige and Shelley  were at the hospital and had joined us in the delivery room. The nurse said we were going to “practice push”, and its just like real pushing, except the nurse was all up in my business with all the strength she had trying to turn his head as I pushed. I’m so so so so so glad I didn’t really know what was going on, because now I do and I would have been really freaking out. Jim was up by my head holding my hand while Paige and Shelley were holding my legs and helping me push. This all started at about 3:30 and went on for awhile. I was getting tired, and she said when we were about 20 minutes away she would call Dr. Huish to come down, and before I knew it she came back into the room and said that he was here, at the hospital. After he broke my water he saw that I was at a 5.5 and decided to just sleep at the hospital because he knew it wouldn’t be long before he would be needed. This is when I got really nervous, and things got a little crazy. This is when lots of people started coming into the room and introducing themselves to me and I don’t remember any of them. I thought it was so funny that she called on her pager and said that she needed help in delivery and like 10 people were there in no time.

We continued with the practice pushing and she said I had a cyst that ruptured while I was pushing so every time I pushed it would bleed a lot. I wasn’t even surprised and she said it wouldn’t hurt the baby at all. When Dr. Huish showed up the whole vibe of the room changed. All of a sudden it was business. All the nurses were there at his command. Diana showed him the cyst and told him it bled a lot when I pushed and he said it wasn’t the cyst that was bleeding, it was because I had torn so much already. He definitely said it so I wouldn’t hear, but I did.  This scared me and not to long after they were pulling out the oxygen. I don’t know if these were related, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Things were underway and people were taking bets on when he would come. I just remember being kind of out of it, and dizzy, and saying “I’m going to throw up soon”, and just like that they had given me a little thing to throw up in. Not long after, I sure did throw up, but it was just mostly stomach acid and bubbles. This happened a few times and then it was back to business. Dr. Huish said he was going to use the vacuum because his heart rate was dropping and he would be here in a couple of pushes. I was fine with that and started prepping myself so a funky cone head shaped baby. And just as an FYI, the vacuum is nothing like you’d imagine. It honestly reminds me of a giant breast pump with a crank handle. He was right, a few pushes later, at 5:05am the cutest baby entered the world. It was absolutely surreal and everything was kind of blurry but he held him up and I started crying, and then he said because of his heart rate I couldn’t hold him yet. Jim then got to cut the cord, and in that moment there was no one else in the world. It was just my handsome husband and my sweet baby, and the tears really started coming for me. Just like that moment over and he was on the scale and Shelley sent Jim over to be by the baby and she stayed with me. All I remember hearing was “he has such long fingers and toes” and “don’t take any pictures yet”. I don’t know why the nurses wouldn’t let them take pictures, but that’s what they said.

Next thing I know Dr. Huish was asking me to push again so that I could deliver the placenta, and he asked if I wanted to see it and I was discussed and said NO until I caught a little glimpse of it and decided that I needed to see the whole thing. I’ve never seen anything like it! He held it up and turned it right side out and told me how healthy it was. My response “and people eat that???” He responded by laughing and saying “no no no, only a few really weird people do”. After that I felt like things were dragging on. I still hadn’t held my baby, and now Dr. Huish was sewing me up. That took another 30-45 minutes and I just watched my husband watch our baby, and I got emotional all over again. At one point I looked over and he was wiping a tear from his face, and I lost it. I’ve only seen the man cry 3 times in my life and this was one of them. Right after that there was a nice performance put on by Nixon as he peed all over the nurses… twice. That’s my boy! Shortly after Dr. Huish was finished with the sewing the nurse handed my cute husband our adorable baby, and instantly he stopped crying and was just happy content and Jim walked him over to me and put him in my arms, and he started crying again, and didn’t stop for about an hour. I tried feeding him, rocking him, everything, he just wasn’t havin’ mom!

Eventually it was time to be transferred into the post partum room and all three of us were just exhausted. The nurse came in to talk to us and I could barely keep my eyes open and nod my head enough to make her believe I was listening. We were lucky enough to have a one hour nap, eat some food, be bothered again by the nurses and then we had another nap for probably an hour and after that we were not allowed to sleep! People were coming in and out, Nixon was being checked by the nurses, so was I, and it was just crazy.

The rest of the day was spent with friends and family, and not much rest. I’ve never been through something so crazy and amazing before in my life. The best part? I got the cutest little baby out of it. We love you Nixon! Thank you for making what could have been a terribly painful experience, not so bad!

Nixon at 3 weeks old and half naked

The Master

As a very proud wife, I don't feel bad about any mushy gushy that's about to come off my finger tips.

That cute little husband of mine, he sure makes my heart skip a beat.

First of all, let's be honest, he's a babe.

Second, he's easily the hardest worker I know.

He's the perfect example of someone who has worked for everything he has.

He hasn't been handed anything,

he worked for every job he ever had from a young age,

he's gotten promotions at those jobs,

all while having a social life and also going to school.

And today I couldn't be more proud of the way he turned out.

When we got married things were a little scary but I had my googly eye goggles on

and I wasn't worried.

I can't speak for my parents, or anyone else for that matter.

Jim lost his job about a month before we got married.

Not exactly the ideal time to be getting married, but we were determined and blessed and

I can honestly say it was the most simple time in our lives.

I had my first grown up job at Nordstrom working full time,

and he was full time applying for jobs, being a house husband.

I think it was 3 weeks after we got home from our honeymoon and Jim had found a job at Insight.

He was excited because after being home for 3 weeks he was going stir crazy.

The man was made to work.

He enjoys it.

I enjoy that he enjoys it.

He's smart, he's a problem solver, and a get-it-doner.

After working for Insight for a year and becoming really good at his job

he decided it was time to take the next step for his career and get his Masters.

I was scared because you hear terrible stories about husbands who don't see their wives for 2 years

because they are working and studying all the time.

But have I mentioned how smart my husband is?

He said school always came easy to him, he never really had to study until College 

and then he didn't know how to study.

I would have no idea.

He would spend nights writing papers, reading text books, and taking test.

His master's program was a year and a half, and the smarty pants never missed a class,

not ever. I thought he had missed one, but I stand corrected.

and he never got less than an A- in any class. In fact, I think he only got four A-'s, and the rest were A's,

He will be graduating with a 3.89 GPA, and that is pretty stinkin' good.

But on top of the stress of school he had a family to provide for,

and an 8-5 job to do.

I think I said every Thursday "You don't really want to go to school, I know it"

but every Thursday he went straight from work to school.

I may not have said it then, but I sure as heck will now,

I'm glad he went to school every Thursday and didn't give in to my tempting offer's of sitting on the couch watching a movie.

I am so proud of my husband! He has his Master's of Accounting!! 

He's a smarty pants!

And, he's not socially awkward! (like they say accountants are)

In fact, he is more comfortable in social settings than I, 

and he is never awkward (I am super awkward)

So Here's to you, my Master of Accounting,
your baby, Chief and I love you and are all VERY proud of you!!

After my doctor's appointment, headed to his last class, and right after he got home! Officially DONE!!

Now you just have to get through having a baby, yikes, and the CPA!

and I'll let you in on a secret, I'm not even worried about the CPA, you've got it in the bag!!

A Little Story From This Momma To Be

I will probably remember November 8, 2012 for the rest of my life.

No, it's not because I wanted to block all my facebook friends and all their annoying political posts

(Although, that would be a good reason to remember it)

On Wednesday, me and Fetus had a Moment.

I was on my way home from work and I just got off the phone with the doctors

answering machine.

I've been having really really really bad back pain.

Right under my left ribs.

I asked my doctor about this at my last visit and she said it was one of two things:

Muscle, easily treated and to start by putting a heating pad on it. If that helps, then we know it's the muscle and I'll need to go to the chiropractor, and/or get massages (yay!)

Or, it's my kidney, not as good because her solution to a kidney problem was to "watch it very closely". Not comforting.

So I started with the heating pad, pretty much 24/7. Sitting at my desk at work, laying in bed at night, watching tv, all the time.

After 4 days of this, nothing felt better and the pain would eventually spread to the front of my ribs by about 3:30, just in time for me to get in my car and try to drive home.

So I called and made an appointment for a kidney ultrasound to figure out what is going on.

That was last Friday.

So on Wednesday, my impatient achey self called the doctor to get the ultrasound results, leading me to this point in my life.

I was stopped in construction at a traffic light in a bit of a daze thinking about how bad my back hurt and how I needed to be laying down and not sitting in the car.

Right then, on my right side I felt a kick, a pretty dang good kick.

Then about 5 seconds later I felt it again.

and then it stopped, 

so I pushed and he kicked again.

So I pushed again, and as I pushed that time, he kicked my thumb, hard.

I just sat and smiled, I wasn't thinking about my pain anymore.

I was thinking about this little baby, and he was thinking about me.

And for good measure, he kicked me again.

In that moment, I realized this back pain is worth it. 

It doesn't matter if it's my kidney, or if it's muscle.

Whatever it is, it's going to get this little babe here.

Later that night Jim and I were sitting waiting for a movie. 

Fetus was moving all over the place, and I could feel him everywhere.

So I grabbed Jims hand so he could feel, but of course he stopped preforming all of this tricks.

Jim has yet to feel the baby move because he does this every. single. time.

Later in the movie he was kicking in the same spot a few times so I grabbed Jims hand again and pushed and waited, and just like that POW!

He decided to say hi to his daddy. 

November 8, you were a good day.

(After I finally heard back from the doctor it turns out there is nothing wrong with my left kidney, but my right has fluid in it. They said that was "normal" and they weren't worried. So now that nothing helps my back pain I'm here to suffer through the next 14.5 weeks. Oh Joy!)

It’s a…

BOY!!!

and we couldn’t be more excited!

We went in on Monday for our ultrasound

and I was really really nervous.

I had multiple dreams the night before that it was a girl,

and ever sense about week 14 I’ve just known it was a boy.

I didn’t want my mothers intuition to be wrong already, talk about starting off on the wrong foot.

And when I got there within the first 3 minutes she told me the baby’s legs were crossed.

I took that as a sign it was a girl, because I’d heard girls were generally more shy.

Then a little while later she showed us, that clearly, it was a boy.

We were so excited!

I nearly started crying, and if Jim had been sitting closer to me I know I would have.

I drank orange juice before going in because I heard that made for a really active baby

and it did.

Our little guy was moving all over the place, fist pumping and everything.

She kept asking me if I could feel it

and honestly I couldn’t.

Talk about feeling like a failure!

For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to pay extra close attention to see if

I feel anything out of the norm.

I don’t know if I’m talking myself into it,

or if I really do feel something.

The night before we found out I woke up

twice because I rolled too far onto my stomach and got a really

sharp intense pain in my lower stomach.

So if that counts for feeling something, then sure.

We don’t have any names picked out.

Well, I have names picked out,

Jim doesn’t exactly agree.

We are both excited that our baby with have friends his own age!

Brook and Kyle’s baby and Cj and Savanna’s baby will all be within 6 months of each other!

Both of my brothers just had boys in November and April so there will be

some rowdy cousins in our family as well!

Valentines in September

Sometimes I just don’t feel like I give the hubs enough credit. He’s so handsome, obviously, but he’s also an amazing trip planner/tour guide. Every trip we’ve ever been on consists of me complaining (I think, I imagine that’s the case) that I want to take a nap, and hub planning and paying for everything. If you live under a rock I’ll just fill you in that there is a day in February called Valentines day, and it’s made for husband to spoil the heck out of their wives…. or something to that extent.

 

Last year Hub set the bar pretty high… we were still dating and I had the day off (ok everyday was my day off, I didn’t have a job!) and I was at home working on homework projects all day so that we could go out that night. I was outside probably spray painting something, or drying some I had just glued and the doorbell range. When I got to it there were flowers, chocolates, and a teddy bear. The note said….

(sorry it’s taken some beatings over the year) This was way before the “I love you” stage had even occurred, but I was happy. He told me to get dressed, up and we were going to dinner, but he wouldn’t tell me where. He came and picked me up and we were off. We went to City Hall Steak House and it was nothing short of amazing. I still dream about the butter cake that they had… and the 10 lbs. I gained from that one meal. On the way home, he asked me to get a pack of gum out of the glove box, and when I opened it there was no gum. Just a very pretty blue box with a white bow on it. It was the Tiffany’s bracelet I had merely mentioned to him MONTHS ago. He remembered. Like I said, Valentines day was invented to spoil your wife… or girlfriend at the time… and spoiled I was.

 

This year was no different, except I’m still holding on to those 10 lbs. from dinner, and we are married. When I got home from work on the 12th Hub went outside and brought in flowers and chocolate covered strawberries. I was perfectly content with just that! Isn’t he dreamy? Before I was done enjoying those he said “that’s not all” and walked me into the family room where he had a lovely looking resort in Sedona pulled up on his computer. He informed me that in the morning we would be headed there for an overnighter. I was so excited. I’d never been, but I’ve heard that it is amazing.

 

Flash forward to now, and I’m just getting around to blogging about it.

Being the true fat kids that we are, we stopped and got a box of munchkins from Dunkin’ Doughnuts to eat while we drove, and then passed a Wild Flower Bread Co. and I couldn’t resist the urge to insist we eat lunch before we went any further. And it was totally worth it.

Meet my worst picture ever, the above left. I couldn’t help it though. Hub is so handsome, and we are very scares on pictures.

Not very often do we Arizonan’s get to use a fireplace! We were super excited!

Needless to say, we ate until the cows came home… at every meal

We tried really hard to get a picture with this bridge… it kinda worked. Just look beyond the safety fence.

Slide rock… where I imagined our whole summer being spend. Slide rock: 0. Nordstrom: aprox. 1,000,000

 

This trip was so fun. It felt like we were gone for so long, but really we were only out of the city for a day. I love Sedona. It really is so nice to just go and relax. All the shops are interesting to say the least, and who doesn’t love a small town feel every no and then? We even walked away with two really cool pictures for our house. one has a home in our kitchen/hallway next to the door into the garage. The other… Well the other lives in our guest bathroom at the moment… unhung… and still in the plastic. I just can’t decide where to put it.

 

All in all… my Hub is the best. I’m happy to report that I’m still obsessed with him. I’m not so happy to report that Valentines Day wasn’t suppose to be the complete focus of this post. It was suppose to be a recap of important events that I don’t want to forget… but it got long.

 

So stay tuned internet… because just when you least expect it I’ll run out of things to blog about and then we will be talking about our one year anniversary. Yippy Skippy.

 

Am I the only one that does this? Totally forgets to document the really really important things, or puts it off forever? I should probably take some bad wife points on this one.

 

Better late than never?