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 :)  

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. 

The Bump

I can't really bring myself to just post fat pictures of me all over facebook, but I guess on the blog is okay (for documentation purposes, you know). Really, I've come leaps and bounds by being willing to even take the pictures. So, without further ado, here's the 30 week bump:

Baby Names

Oh baby names. 

Such a hard thing to decide. 

At first we couldn't think of any...now we have too many. 

Finally, I've been through the entire Baby Name Bible (the girl section) and after having many conversations like the one below, we've assembled a list.

Steph: "Oooh, I kind of like 'Olive'"

Pete: "Or we could name her 'Avocado'" (in other words, 'Olive' is a no-go)

Steph "What about 'Lake'? It's kind of pretty and naturistic."

Pete: "Lake?! You're kidding, right?" (guess that one is out as well.)

I would really like to settle on a name before she is born...but as the months have gone by, I'm thinking we are going to have to see her before we know for sure. The table below has the names we are thinking about (in alphabetical order) and the meanings are to the right. The meaning of a name is kind of important to me...I don't really want to name my child something that means "bitter," "weary," or "little dog." Fair enough?

I think it will be so fun to look back after a year or so at the names we were thinking about for our little girl!

Abigail (Abby)	Hebrew, “my father is joyful”
Darby	Irish “free one”
Eden	Hebrew, “place of pleasure, delight”
Emery	German, “industrious”
Gracelyn/Grace	it’s a virtue J
Henley	English, “high meadow”
Jane	English, “God’s gracious gift”
Julia	Latin, “youthful”
Maggie	Greek, “pearl”
Nora	Greek, “light”
Rebekah	Hebrew, “servant of God”
Rowan	Irish, “little red-haired one” (you never know!)

Here are some potential combinations we like (we really like Jane...that will probably be her middle name):

Gracelyn Jane

Emery Jane

Julia Grace

Abigail Jane

Rebekah Jane

Darby Jane

Feel free to let us know what you think! Kindly, of course :)

Sweet Baby Girl

I've been looking at little baby headbands/outfits/books lately...trying to get ideas of I like, what kind of stuff I--or more likely, my mom :)--could make, etc.

I've been looking at this cute site for a few days now and when I happened upon their 1-day 50% off sale (today only!) I couldn't help but purchase a couple headbands. And really...it was hard to stop at two. They have so many fun colors and different kinds of flowers and bows.

This one reminds me of springtime and Easter:



And this one is a good solid color that will hopefully be easy to match outfits to:

Baby Update

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound and were happy to see that baby is healthy, punching and kicking, and...a girl!

Here's her cute little profile followed by her cute little foot.

I wasted no time in buying a pink, ruffle-and-bow outfit :)

This week...

A glorious bout of allergies decided to grace my life, just in time for classes to start. After a night filled with sneezing and nose blowing, I was prepared to give my new teachers a wonderful first impression of me…sitting in the back row, roll of toilet paper on my desk, blowing my nose every 10 minutes. Let me tell you, it was great. I loved explaining to all my classmates “No, I’m not crying, I have allergies."

This is pretty much what I looked like all day long:

All sarcasm and joking aside, it really wasn’t that bad—and after class one of my teachers told me “I figured either you had allergies or you were just showing emotion about how happy you are to be in this class.”

Since that lovely Wednesday, I’ve improved immensely (although I’ll admit I’m on my second roll of TP now) and only blow my nose a few times a day. It’s probably a good thing I went through my first day of classes in a sleep-deprived haze of snot and watery eyes. I was not even capable of becoming stressed out and overwhelmed as I learned about the workload of the semester. It will be a lot of work, but I definitely feel like it’s do-able. I came to class having read my syllabi and already had a good idea of what was expected of me this semester. There weren’t too many surprises and I’m feeling all ready to get through this last semester!

Yesterday, feeling as though the allergy meds were finally kicking in, I decided to go to the BYU vs. University of Washington football game with Pete, Eric Hoyt, his girlfriend Lauren, and Nichole Jensen—a friend from Washington.

I must pause in the story to interject something.
And this is kind of embarrassing.
I hadn’t been to a BYU football game since my freshman year of college 4 years ago!

Even more embarrassing, at that game 4 years ago, I left the stadium early on in the game because amidst the screaming fans, canons blasting, and obnoxious music, my roommate and I were falling asleep on our hard bleacher seats. Yep.
(In our defense, we had just worked the night shift--frosting donuts for BYU Dining Services).

Anyway, there’s a glimpse into how I’ve been neglecting some essential BYU experiences over the years. So, keeping in line with my “finding joy in the journey” theme, I went to the game on Saturday.

Now, for Pete and his brother Eric, this was not just any old BYU game. They grew up in Washington, in the same small town as Jake Locker, U of W’s quarterback. Eric went to school with Jake, and while the Hoyts would cheer for BYU any other day, U of W is just a bit dearer to their hearts. I thought long and hard about which team I was going to support (okay, not really that long or that hard) and cautiously broke the news to Pete that I would be wearing a BYU shirt to the game. I couldn’t root for U of W simply because they happen to be Pete’s favorite. Luckily, Pete took it pretty well and we're still friends :)

Pete and I ended up getting some odd looks and even the comment “interesting combination,” as we walked hand in hand to the football game.

Then before I knew it, I was a lonely blue sitting in the midst of a sea of purple in the visitors section of the BYU stadium. Luckily, I had made sure that Lauren was wearing a BYU shirt to the game and we made sure to sit by each other. Whew. The fans were pretty nice, and the old guy sitting in front of me wasn’t too bad. After U of W scored their first touchdown he stood up and turned to give me a high five, then disgustedly noticed my BYU shirt. Pete gracefully intercepted the high five and smoothed things over by telling him something about the seats being cheaper (which was definitely NOT true). The older guys sitting behind us were nice and jokey. When the fans stood up to cheer for Washington, the guy sitting behind me and Lauren gently nudged us up to our feet and said “C’mon girls! You didn’t think this would be easy, didya?!” All in all, it turned out fine. Me and Lauren stayed true to the blue and got to our feet to cheer when BYU scored. It just so happens that BYU won!

Also, to completely change the subject, here’s some ooey gooey cinnamon rolls Pete and I made recently! They were very tasty and it was so fun making them together. I think we did alright for our first time.

Normally I don’t have enough butter on hand to make Pete’s mom's legendary recipe, but surprisingly we did today. Although reading the nutrition facts might cause a heart attack quicker than eating them will, they are seriously the best cinnamon rolls ever! Melt in your mouth. And they remind me of Christmas, because that’s the last time I had them, at Pete’s house. Thanks Golda for giving us the yummy recipe!

To change the subject again...I just went to my 12-week appointment at the Midwife clinic this past week. It was so fun to hear the baby's heartbeat! I took Pete with me so that he could hear it too. I was hoping it would kick this new phase he's in of trying to hear the baby's heartbeat.
Like every night.
With my stethoscope.
Even though I tell him that will not work.
Not for quite a while.

Until then, Pete has resorted to tapping out morse code on my stomach.

Life is good :)

Good Things Happen in Threes

At 9:24pm on Sunday the 15th of August, we were still trying to decide how to celebrate our two year Anniversary. Hmmm. I like that both Pete and I are not too extravagantly minded when it comes to these things. About a month ago he asked me what I would like to do for our Anniversary.
I replied “I dunno, something simple.”
Pete explored, “Like…go camping?”
“Um, maybe” I said
“Like…get to sleep early?” He asked.
I said, “Yesssssss!”
Apparently I was a little sleep deprived back then.


This weekend, my family came to Provo for my graduation! It was so fun having them around (side note: I’m actually NOT graduated…technically I still have one semester left and will be done in December). As it ended up, the weekend kind of turned into a big family reunion. Almost all of my mom's siblings and their families were in Provo, along with my Grandma and Grandpa. With all the family in one house, chaos (a good kind) ran rampant. Many small feet running through the house, nerf darts whizzing through the air, the deck full of swimsuits hanging out to dry, playdough covering the counters, growing piles of BYU paraphernalia by the day, and never a dull moment. Just a few things I did with the fam include picking apricots and making jam, playing legos and watching Star Wars with Nate, doing a little craft with Mallory, and spending a day hiking and shopping with my mom. Now I wish I lived closer to my family! Luckily, we are going up to Nyssa next weekend.














With all the family in town, Pete and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to let everyone in on a little secret. Here’s Nate, my 4-year-old little brother:




(You can tell that he's trying REALLY hard to do a big smile)

Now that I’ve told my family and closer friends (well, almost...a letter is high-tailin' it to Poland as I type), I guess it’s finally blog-post worthy: New baby Hoyt is due March 17th---a lucky day (St. Patrick’s Day)! We would have liked to wait longer before making it public, but we just couldn’t resist with all the family in town.

Pete and I are super excited and feel so blessed to be married for 2 beautiful years, almost both be graduated, and to have a baby on the way! We feel even more blessed to have such wonderful, supportive families that help us in so many ways!