Emery's Birth

Let me tell you the main events I didn't want to occur during my first birthing experience: I didn't want to deliver at UVRMC, I really didn't want to be induced, and I really really didn't want to have a C-section.

Now see how it all unfolded...

Last Tuesday I went into UVRMC for my weekly non-stress test (where monitors are placed on me to watch the baby's heart rate and monitor my contractions. The point is to make sure that her heart rate goes up and down enough times...that means she is moving around...which means the umbilical cord/placenta is working well). I've been having weekly non-stress tests ever since we found on an ultrasound that Emery had a nuchal cord (umbilical cord wrapped around her neck...happens in about 30% of pregnancies...usually not too big of a deal).

During my non-stress test I was having pretty regular contractions. I thought nothing of this because they weren't painful and I had been having lots of Braxton-Hicks throughout my pregnancy. Then the baby started having some late decelerations with the contractions (her heart rate was dipping down after the contraction occurred...not a good sign...especially because I wasn't even in true labor). My non-stress test lasted an hour and a half while they tried to see if her heart rate would get better. The next thing I knew, the nurse told me that the perinatologist said I needed to be induced and I could not leave UVRMC to go to Orem Community Hospital (where I had originally planned on delivering). This lovely perinatologist, whom I never even saw or spoke to, had talked to my midwife on the phone and told her the situation. The midwife was pretty upset that they wouldn't let me go to Orem Community, but she said she would come down to UVRMC. I talked to her on the phone because by this time I was getting a little nervous---I did not feel like my body was ready to have this baby yet, I was hacking up a lung and had partially lost my voice (notice my last post...written on the same day as my non-stress test), and I DID NOT want to deliver at UVRMC. The midwife assured me that she would come and check me and perhaps just give me some cervical ripening agents and then induce in the morning. This eased my mind a little bit.

Text message to Pete: They want to induce me.
Reply from Pete: Today?!

Luckily, Pete was at work at the hospital, so he came up to the floor I was on and we proceeded to wait in the waiting room for an hour until they could admit me to L&D (I'm pretty positive my unmonitored wait in the waiting room took much longer than it would have taken to drive up to Orem Community Hospital). Once they had a room for me, I told the receptionist not even to admit me...that I was probably just going to be monitored for a little bit and wouldn't be induced after all (in denial? oh yes).

Once I was in the hospital room, it was confirmed that I was dilated 2 cm, having regular contractions, and the baby's heart rate looked great. However, apparently perinatologists are the god of all healthcare providers, because the midwife said it wasn't possible for her to go against what he/she had recommended. So there I was...at UVRMC...being induced...with nothing but my purse and husband with me. My house was in shambles because we had both been sick for the past few days, we hadn't chosen a pediatrician yet, and basically...we felt unprepared for this baby. We really had thought we had about two more weeks before she would come.

Fast forward 4 hours. Labor was going well. I was dilated to a 5 and on the lowest dose of Pitocin because my contractions were going really well without much help. I had already had my beautiful epidural and my water broken. Then the baby's heart rate started not looking well. This time she was having early decelerations (drop in heart rate before the contraction...not good) and then her heart rate just started going all over the place. The midwife came into my room and said "We need to get that baby out of there. We will have to do a C-section."

Yay.

The next 20 minutes consisted of a whirlwind of nurses and the anesthesiologist, then the next thing I know I'm being wheeled to the OR. I met the doctor performing the C-section on the way there. The midwife had decided at 11:30 pm that I needed a C-section and our little baby barely made it out in time for March 15, 2011---born at 11:50 pm.

sorry this picture is so...gross. Not sure why Pete took it, but it happens to fit well in my story, so I'm using it.
Just avert your eyes if it's troubling to you :)

Finally, after what seemed like forever from the time I heard her first cry, they brought her to me. The first thing Pete said to me was a surprised "She's really cute, Steph!" (haha). I was with her long enough to touch her skin, kiss her face, and realize that she was the most beautiful thing that had ever happened to me.

The rest of the night is pretty much a blur, and I think that's a blessing. The next couple days in the hospital, Emery had some problems keeping her blood sugar up and I turned out to be anemic. Despite it all, we convinced the doctors to let us go home on Friday night---even though they really wanted to keep us until Saturday. We were done with all the heel pricks, nurses/doctors/room service guys/housekeeping popping in on us every 10 minutes, and wanted to go home.

This is Em when we first got home...looking teeny in her little car seat :)

When we got home, we gave Emery a tour of the apartment and she cried the whole time. We told her not to worry...we will be moving pretty soon :) Emery is now one week and one day old and we couldn't be happier having her in our family. We love her so much and feel so blessed to have a little one to raise. When we took her home, she weighed 5lbs 8oz---pretty little. On Monday, a weigh-in at the pediatric clinic revealed that she has already reached her birth weight again (5lbs 14 oz)! Woohoo! She's been eating well, sleeping really well, snuggling with mom and dad, meeting cousins, uncles, aunts, and friends, and doing her best to get acquainted with the world. 

Though the birthing experience wasn't necessarily ideal, I'm glad it's over and that Emery is here and healthy. I feel like I'm healing pretty well and so far I love being a mom. If you click here, you can see more pictures of Emery...probably more than you would want to see...we just like her a lot :)  

Sick Days

The past few days in Provo have been gorgeously warm and sunny!
At least as far as I can tell...from inside my apartment...where I've been camped out on the couch.

Pete and I have been sick the past few days, and let me tell you...being 38/39 weeks pregnant along with a fever + aches + chills + lung-burning cough is not fun. We probably had/have some kind of virus, but Pete was prescribed some antibiotics just in case that would help (seeing as we could have a baby any day now).

I'm now well experienced regarding acceptable cold medications during pregnancy, but I really didn't want to take anything...especially if I had something viral that my body just needed to fight off by itself anyway. I won't lie, it was kind of hard to watch the husband puff his asthma drugs, take antibiotics and ibuprofen, and enjoy all kinds of beautifully decongesting nasal spray while all I could do was contemplate the wimpy Tylenol sitting on the counter.

Finally, after living with my fever all day (more like existing...on the couch...with nothing but Netflix) I took some Tylenol and Robitussin on Friday night so I could hopefully get some sleep. Saturday I woke up fever-free! But then Monday I woke up without a voice, and with the ever-persistent cough that feels like my lungs are being put down the garbage disposal. Ouch. I decided to go to the doctor and there received some lovely antibiotics of my own. Hopefully I'm better soon and little Emery Jane (yep! We decided on a name. Or so we think...) stays put until then!

Hope everyone else enjoyed the sunny weekend!

Better than Chocolate

The late afternoon sun shines through my window, catching the prism hanging there and creating rainbows all over my walls, counters, and carpet.

I'm feeling perfectly peaceful and I guess you could say I’m in my element...because I’m making a BIG mess. And loving it.

I bought bright bunches of flowers at Costco and now they’re strewn all over my counter. I’m clipping, mixing, matching, watering, and trying to devise bows out of a mess of raffia that I dug out of my craft bin.

I’m immersed in silence, sunlight, colors, and the smell of flowers. It’s like a little bit of spring inside my apartment despite the gray winter outside.

I laugh inside as I realize  the task of creating seven centerpieces for my upcoming Relief Society activity is becoming a needed reprieve, a therapeutic experience. And though this is embarrassing, I surprise myself by thinking, “this is better than chocolate.” (hahaha)

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.”

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The choice would have been too easy...

If we had been accepted to the Physical Therapy Program at our dream school (Pacific University)…

in our dream state (Oregon)…

So of course we're #25 on the alternate list.

(which means that about half of those they accept would have to decline in order for us to have a shot).

I think I’m more depressed about this than Pete is.

Can you blame me?

All week long I’ve been having intoxicating visions of leaving this dry desert and heading for greener ground…

the ocean…

green moss, vibrant colored flowers, and picture perfect summers…

letting my hair go free and curly in the moist environment…

going sans makeup without feeling homely
(because at least I’ll still be shaving my armpits).

Well…maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. Maybe.

It’s clear that we’ll be leaving Utah, but not clear where we’ll be going.

Places we’ve been accepted include:

Omaha, Nebraska (Creighton University)

Atlanta, Georgia (Emory Unviersity)
Winchester, Virginia (Shenandoah University)


To me they all sound like “really far away.”


Places we're on the alternate list include:
SLC (University of Utah)
Missoula, Montana (University of Montana)
Hillsboro, Oregon (Pacific University)

So now we find ourselves in limbo…trying to decide where to put our money down, where to decline, and where to just leave hangin’ while we wait to see if we can go to Oregon or Montana.

Maybe we’ll just roll a dice?

Silly Husband...

Here's what I came home to last night. 

("Bride" is the current nickname I'm called by the husband).

The stats from yesterday's appointment: 

1 cm dilated, 50% effaced, baby at -1 station.

Better than nothing :)

I love how the midwife says 

"We'll see you next week, if you're still pregnant then!"

Trust me. I think I will be. For a while still.

To end on a positive note: 

we finally bought a car seat yesterday!

March is finally here!

Me and my fellow pregnant friend, Caitlin.

Well, I'm feeling fairly large these days.

38 weeks tomorrow! 

(or 37...depending on what due date you're going by).

My official due date is March 17th, but at my 20 wk ultrasound they told me it was more like March 23rd. My midwives didn't change it though...so I guess it's still considered March 17th.

A couple weeks ago, the midwife was concerned because I was measuring small (33 even though I was 36 weeks along). So I went in for a non-stress test and an amniotic fluid index. Everything went well during the non-stress test and my amniotic fluid index was within normal range. Phew! 

In another ultrasound, they found that the baby is measuring fine (34th percentile), but she has the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (nuchal cord). Nuchals happen in about 30% of pregnancies, so it's not a huge deal, but I am going to have weekly non-stress tests until she is born just to make sure her heart rate and everything is fine. They think I might be measuring small because she is pretty far down in my pelvis. Tomorrow is my weekly midwife appointment and they will most likely check my cervix to see if anything is goin' on down there. I've been having tons of Braxton-Hicks and other things that definitely feel like something is happening, so it will be interesting to see if I'm dilated at all :)

Meanwhile, I'm trying to be patient. I feel like the third trimester is finally here. I'm starting to feel a little swollen, really big, more tired than I've been since first trimester, and I think I've mastered the pregnancy waddle. I'm also getting really excited for her to get here!  

More updates to come.