Beck's Birth Story

At my 37 weeks check-up, my cervix had only dilated to an 80%.  Week after week, my appointments were the same.  Since I wasn’t dilated at all, my doctor couldn’t strip my membranes.  At my 40 weeks appointment (Monday), we set up an induction date for the following Monday.  I would come in Sunday night at 8:30 and start my cervical ripening medication while they monitored baby and me over night.  I later did some research on the cervical ripening medication that scared me, so I called my OB and asked if I could come in Monday to be checked, and go from there.  For the remainder of the week I tried all that I could to move things along on their own.  Jumping on a tramp, walking, jogging, curb walking, pumping, and taking evening primrose oil day and night.  I was stressing too much about it, which made my last week really hard.

On Monday morning my OB wasn’t in office at that time so I had another OB check me (he was so awkward).  He checked me and said I was only 70% effaced (what?!).  I realized that my body wasn’t going to go into labor on its own.  We set up to go in that night and start.

Realizing that this was our last day without babies for the rest of our life(!), I wanted to go for a long drive.  We borrowed the in-laws sports car and drove the alpine loop up to cascade springs.   We pumped up the music and danced in the car.  I felt like this was the last day for us to be young and hip.  Kev is an awesome (but crazy) driver so I definitely got my dose of adrenaline.

When we got to the hospital, they hooked me right up (IV’s are the worst), I took my first pill, and we listened to babies’ heartbeat all night long.  They came in every 3 hours for me to take the pill.  A side effect of this medication is that it can increase stress and the heart rate of the baby.  But Beck did so well, the nurses were so proud of him.  His heart rate only went up once and once I started talking, he calmed right back down.  

I of course didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be able to eat that night (as well as all of the next day) and only survived because I could have unlimited root beer slushees.  Kevin was so great and got me whatever I needed our whole hospital stay.  That man of mine!

They checked me down there every time I took the pill (oh it was such a fun night…) and we saw very little change with each pill.  By 8:30 am, I was finally dilated to a 1!  My OB came in at 9:00 am and broke my water, which was crazy to watch (and hurt).  Since I had taken my last pill at 8:00 am, I had to wait until 11:00 to start the pitocin.  But he did say I could get my epidural whenever I wanted.  I waited about… another 30 minutes… and then asked for it.  My nurse wasn’t too excited about me getting it, she thought I still had a long day ahead of me and thought it would slow the process even more.  But for some reason I felt like it was the right time for me to get it.  I had been having pretty intense contractions since 4:00 am that were anywhere from 2-10 minutes (mostly 2) apart and 30-60 seconds long.  I really wanted to be able to relax, since I don’t handle pain all too well.  The anesthesiologist came in right away and he did an awesome job.  It actually hurt less than my IV.  I told him I still wanted to feel my legs and he did just that.  Within 30 minutes, I started feeling relief.  At 11:00 she came in and started the pitocin.  By 2:00 pm I was at a 3.  My OB and my nurse didn’t think I’d be to a 10 until that night, but they were happy with my progress.  My nurse finally said that she was actually glad I got my epidural that early; she thought that it was actually helping things go faster since I was able to relax.  By now I was eating my slushees and Kevin was starving.  I told him he should go and grab some lunch since it was still going slow and we didn’t expect anything to happen for a good few hours.  He made sure I was ok (since I had just threw up all my rootbeer slushees  ) and left the hospital.  My nurse came in 20 minutes later and told me I was dilated to an 8.  I told her Kevin had left the hospital to grab lunch and she told me to hurry and call him right away, things were happening!  I called him and he got to the hospital in 5 minutes.  Right when he got there I was dilated to a 10.  The nurse started to get everything in the room ready and called my OB to tell him that I was going to start pushing.  I started pushing at 2:45-3:00 with Kevin on one side and my nurse on the other.  Kevin was an awesome coach.  We never went to any classes and both didn’t know what to expect.  I wanted to just wing it, and wing it we did.  Luckily my nurse was awesome and really helped me.  I pushed for 30 or so minutes (felt much faster to me than this) and my nurse told me to stop, that my OB needed to hurry and come in.  Kevin could see Beck’s head and told me he had lots of hair.  This was kind of when it hit me we were really having a baby.  My OB came in, started to get dressed and told me to push, I started pushing and then he told me to stop because he hadn’t realized that this baby was ready.  He finally sat down and within 3 pushes Beck was out.

It was pretty weird to feel him come all the way out.  They placed him on my stomach since I wanted them to delay the cord clamping.  He was pretty blue, but just gorgeous to me.  I was trying to hold him, but he was so slippery and the delivery nurse was holding him trying to get him to breath.  Kevin cut the cord and they took Beck to the corner of the room to make him start breathing.  I didn’t realize at this time that Beck had A LOT of fluid in his lungs.  The nurse was working hard to suck out everything and to keep him breathing and crying.  This delivery nurse was hilarious, Kevin later told me.  She had the funniest sense of humor and was making Kevin laugh even in this tense time.  My OB was stitching me up (I had to get a small episiotomy) and was talking to me at this time.  I only realized after that he was trying to keep my attention away from Beck so I didn’t freak out.  He did a really good job at bugging me because I had no idea how serious it was, I just wanted them to hand me my baby.  Kevin could not stop smiling and staring at Beck, he said he was really emotional, but a happy emotional and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.  When Kevin finally handed Beck to me, I still don’t really remember it.  It was so surreal.  We tried to nurse for a little bit, and I don’t really remember how it went.  All I remember is Kevin getting in the bed with me and us just staring at our baby boy. 

They quickly moved us to our other room.  I had always imagined being wheeled in the hospital to our other room with my baby in my arms as if it was going to be so awesome.  But it was still so weird and surreal that I cant really remember that either (ha).  What I do remember is how funny it felt getting out of the bed into the wheelchair and thinking that I didn’t need help from Kevin or the nurse and almost falling right over.  Also, from pushing, my eyes were really swollen and hurt pretty bad.  My vision was blurry for the rest of that day.

All in all, having a baby is a pretty surreal and weird experience.  While pregnant, I always got teary-eyed imagining myself holding my baby for the first time.  I thought I was going to bawl in the hospital.  But I didn’t get emotional at all.  I thought he was beautiful but other than that I felt pretty numb.  I felt no real connection like everyone talks about.  The first real feelings I felt for him was when the nurse in my mom and baby room was kind of rough with Beck when checking his vitals.  I got real emotional and wanted to yell at her to be gentle with my baby.  Sadly, this made me hate that nurse for the rest of our stay.  

These emotions of anxiety for my baby were the start of my baby blues that lasted for the first 10 days.  I will do a whole different post on that since this one is already ridiculously long.

pregnancy: 34 - 40 + weeks

Pregnancy

34 - 40 weeks

My favorite part of pregnancy has been these weeks.  I have felt great, better than I have throughout my earlier weeks.  And I show so everyone knows I am pregnant now.  Sometimes I even forget I am pregnant and startle myself when I try to get out of bed or get up too quickly. 

My energy levels have been the best so far.  I don't get nearly as many (if any) side aches or joint pains while walking or hiking now.

The only thing that has been bothering me is my right foot/ ankle/ calf.  It swells up if I don't take care of it.  I have noticed 4 things that have helped reduced the swelling: 

1)lemon in my tea or water 

2) raspberry leaf tea 

3)walking/ hiking 

4)compression socks. 

I will be forever grateful when I get my skinny ankles back :)

Since week 37 I have stayed at about 80% effacement, no dilation.  Its been pretty frustrating going every week expecting a little change, and seeing none.  It was especially hard at my 40 week appointment.  We ended up setting up an induction date for one week later (August 12), and I am hoping I naturally go into labor before that.

I know I will really miss this cute belly of mine.  I have loved feeling this crazy baby move.  He has just gotten more active as we both grow.  The hiccups were adorable.  I had those from about 33 weeks or so to 38 weeks.  He rarely gets them now, which to me means that he is growing and has things figured out in there :)  

Thinking of all this has really helped me not be too bummed out he is not here yet.  

I am cherishing this special just me and him time.

37 weeks
Hike with the babies, belly and sister-in-laws to Cecret Lake.

37 weeks
Baby shower for my best cousin Trista.  In this picture she is 26 weeks along with a boy as well.  I hope they get to be pals just like us.

Swimming laps at 38 weeks.  Its amazing how awesome I felt.  This big belly didn't make a difference in my endurance or technique.  It was funny to feel him kick and hiccup almost during the entire swim.

38 weeks

Me and Kev decided to combine two things that we each love, him: free-diving, me: hiking.  So we have been hiking to different lakes.  This was a good 3 mile, pretty strenuous hike up to Twin Lake.  This was awesome for my right foot swelling :)

pecan, olive oil plum cake

I made this cake last night and it was delicious!  This cake has the perfect sweetness- not too much, not too little.  I am thinking olive oil and ground up pecans need to go in every cake from here on out.

Pecan, Olive Oil Plum Cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup untoasted pecans

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 plums

2-3 tsp coarse sugar, for topping

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan (or round cake pan).

In the bowl of a food processor (I used my Blendtec), combine flour, pecans (or walnuts), sugar, baking powder and salt. Whizz until pecans are very finely ground. This can be done in a large bowl if you are working with pre-ground pecan meal/flour. 

Add eggs, olive oil, milk and vanilla extract to the food processor and whizz until all dry ingredients are incorporated and batter is uniform. Pour into prepared pan. 

Halve the plums and remove the pits, leaving the skin on. Arrange the plums cut-side up around the outer edge of the cake, placing remaining plum halves in the center (eg: 6 around the outside, 2 in the center). Sprinkle cake and plums with 2-3 tsp coarse sugar. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cake can be served while it is still slightly warm or when completely cooled.

via Baking Bites

recipe: Peaches n' cream crêpes

Crêpes

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

2 TB olive oil

Combine dry ingredients.  Slowly add milk.  Add in egg, vanilla and oil.

Cook in (a little over) medium heated pan for 1 minute per side.

Makes 5 crêpes.

This time I added fresh diced peaches, heavy whipped cream and powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Baby Shower!

My mom and sister threw me the cutest book themed baby shower a few weeks ago.  Both my sister and mom are good at party planning and love doing it.  Me, not so much.

Didn't get those genes.

My sister had a photo booth going so everyone could share messages for me and baby boy.

Book worms.

Love this picture only because I love little Felicity.  So cute.

We had a yummy waffle bar!

  I seriously got beyond spoiled at this shower.  It was so fun and I felt so loved and special. 

Thank you to everyone who came, and thank you to my mom and sister for throwing me such a fantastic shower.

Pregnancy: 20-34 weeks

Pregnancy Thus Far

26 weeks

(get ready for a long story)

I started having really bad low back pain all of a sudden this week.  I dealt with it for a couple of days, thinking that this was just a side affect of pregnancy.  I tried yoga, pilates, stretches, cold/hot packs; nothing worked.  It just got worse.  I went and had a prenatal massage, and even though it felt good, it still did nothing for my back pain.  I had a panic attack and told Kevin through my tears that I wanted this baby out now.  I could not go on throughout the rest of my pregnancy feeling this way.  I always imagined that the worst thing that could happen during pregnancy is bed rest, and that was what I was looking forward to.  I couldn't do anything.

On thursday I finally called my doctor's office and talked to a nurse and she told me that she would look at my charts and see if anything popped out to her.  She came back with "Oh, you have actually had a lot of bacteria (3+ leucocytes;  4+ is the highest) in your past few urine tests". Umm...why are you telling me now that this had happened?!  She told me I probably had a UTI so I needed to go in for a urine sample at the lab.  I went in that morning and was told that I would have the results by Friday morning or afternoon.  

I called Friday morning and asked for my results.  They still hadn't received my results.  I told them that it was urgent, I was in a lot of pain and I needed to know the results and get antibiotics before the weekend.  She told me to call at noon.  Called at noon and they non-chalantly told me that they didn't get the results back and they were closing the office right then for the weekend.  I told her I needed to talk to my OB, it was again urgent, and she told me she would have her call me that afternoon.  

She never called me.

By now, I (and the rest of my family) was worried that this was effecting my baby so my husband made me go to an Urgent Care medical center.   

They saw me quickly, did a clean urine sample in literally 3 minutes and told me I had a really bad UTI.  Great.

They prescribed me some antibiotics and I started taking them.  

Now forward 3 days.   No relief.  

I decided since I had paid for the urine sample from my OB's office I would call them to see what my results were (Again, they didn't call me with the results).  They told me that my test came back negative.

Funny.

I told them that I had gone to an Urgent Care center and I was told that I had a really bad UTI.  My nurse (I had yet to talk to my OB) told me that I did have bacteria in my test but it probably was just normal vaginal bacteria.  I couldn't believe it.  They still believed this with all my bad symptoms.  She told me that the back pain was just a side effect of pregnancy and that she would prescribe me some pain killers for it (HA).  I was fed up at this moment and told her that I believed I had a UTI, I was already on antibiotics, they weren't working and I needed stronger ones before it became a kidney infection.  She said she would talk to my OB and get back to me.

She finally called me back and prescribed me stronger antibiotics that were "safe" for my baby.

When I went to pick them up, right on the bottle they said to not take when pregnant.  I started to cry and told Kevin I wouldn't take them (I have been very cautious with everything I put into my body since finding out I was pregnant) and Kevin calmed me down and told me I needed to get this taken care of, I had been miserable for a week. 

I called my (nurse) back and told her I wasn't comfortable taking this.  She told me that they were fine, that my OB knows I am pregnant and believes the risk of it getting worse out weighs what could (if anything) go wrong.  I still wasn't comfortable, so I did some research on it and realized that their was very little risk taking while pregnant (a cleft-lip formed in earlier pregnancy), the company just had to cover their butts.

So I began to take this set of antibiotics and began to eat and drink anything and everything that would help me naturally get rid of the UTI.  Coconut water was a huge help I believe.  

I didn't find relief until the very last day of the antibiotics.  My UTI had been really bad.

So finally after 2 weeks of bed rest, I was cured.  And my back pain was completely gone.

HALLELUJAH.

It felt amazing to just feel normal again.

And then I told baby he could stick around in there for a little while longer.

26 weeks.

After this whole fiasco I switched doctors.  Did some research and ended up with a male OB at Riverton Hospital.

I really like him.  I never thought I would like a male doctor better. 

And bonus: I get to deliver at Riverton Hospital which is only 3 years old and way nicer than Alta View.  I will never go there again. 

Fitness

I have continued to do my prenatal pilates throughout my entire pregnancy and have loved it.  I do this video almost every morning.  

I was able to run up until 24 weeks or so.  With all the extra weight at this point, it felt difficult and weird to run.

I now try and go on 1-2 mile brisk walks in the morning.  Sometimes this is hard with round ligament  muscle pain, side aches and foot aches, but I try and power through it because I always feel better and have more energy that day.

Not being able to be as active as I was before I was pregnant has been the hardest thing for me during this pregnancy.  I was always really active before.  Me and Kevin would go on hikes, mountain bike rides, boating, runs, and road biking.  I haven't been able to do any of that and it has been a struggle.  Summer hasn't felt like summer.  

32 weeks in my pilates outfit.
And a well-oiled belly.  I oil that big ol' belly every morning and I haven't had any stretch marks yet (knock on wood)

I had a random week of bad sciatica at 31 weeks.  I did a lot of stretches and pilates but they just weren't doing the trick.  Work doesn't help this either since I am on my feet, moving all night long.  I ended up talking to a lady who was pregnant at my work and she told me that seeing a good chiropractor will do amazing things for a pregnant women's body.  So I called up my families chiropractor that I hadn't seen in 7 years and made an appointment.  He bases everything on the alignment of your spine (NUCCA).  I was definitely off, being 6 lbs heavier on one side.  He fixed me right up and I haven't had any problems since!  

32 weeks

 At my 33 week appointment, my doctor was worried that I was measuring small (29 weeks).  He knew that I was tall and had a long torso, but I hadn't grown at all in the past 4 weeks.  So we ended up doing an ultrasound that day and found out that baby is actually big!  He was 5 lbs 3 oz (75 % percentile) and my amniotic fluid looked great.  I was able to see baby for a little bit (hadn't since 20 weeks) and the tech measured all of him and said he was perfect.  He even kicked her while she was trying to find his private parts.  Sensitive that boy.

He also had a big head which is not what I want to hear.  But if that means he will be a brainy boy by all means, let that brain continue to grow.

33 weeks.

I started to get random low back pain only at night for a few nights and ended up getting the Snoogle pillow.  It has changed my pregnancy life.

Kevin showed me how to use it (even with all the instructions, I could not figure out what position I needed to use to sleep with it) and that first night I had immediate relief.  I have slept like a baby ever since.

I love my Snoogle and Kevin is jealous.

33 weeks.

 So basically, during pregnancy:

Dont let symptoms go unchecked.

Make sure you are happy with your OB and switch even if you are 28 weeks along.

Exercise.  It doesn't have to be anything big, but you will have more energy if you do something every day.  I truly believe that exercise (and diet) is why I am feeling great and loving these last weeks in my pregnancy.

See a chiropractor at least once during pregnancy.

Snoogle pillow.

Panama: Day 6

Panama: Day 6

Last day on the island & our hostel in Panama City

We told the boys "No spearing today!" and told them that they had to spend the entire day with us.  We can be so rude sometimes...

We decided to show them our favorite "Executive" beach.  The boys laid out with us (a miracle!) and just relaxed.  They also found a rope swing and had some fun on that.

The nice bathrooms on the beach were pretty close to a private school that was held outdoors.  When I went to go to the bathroom, there were two little school girls in their uniform waiting to use the bathroom.  One girl looks at me and goes "Hello, how are you?" in english.  I responded back to her and told her she had very good english.  She giggled and ran away.  I don't think she understood any more english than what she had said, but she had that one saying down.

Just walking the streets of the island.

Our favorite little market.

Huge spider we found.

Time to pack up :(  The boys gear reeked like fish for months after this.  

 When I told people about our trip after we went.  Everyone always asked if we stayed in a nice resort that was there.  NO.  We stayed in the cheapest but nicest place we could find.  We are all about traveling to awesome places, but doing it as cheap as possible.  

This was our B&B we stayed at.  There were only 12 rooms.  It was $104 a night.  They fed us a delicious breakfast every morning that was included in the price.  It was nothing special, but it did its job.  

There were no nice resorts on this island.  A neighboring small island did have a 5 star resort on it, a Ritz Carlton I believe.  But our island was still basically just a little town with two markets, two or so restaurants, a small medical building, a clothing shop, an ice cream shop (and we didn't even go I am now realizing!) and a catholic school.  There are basically only 3 small hotels (we stayed at one, ate dinner at one, and I don't even know where the other one was).  The rest of the houses are rental vacation homes and homes of those that live on the island.  There are a few really nice vacation houses on the island though, they belonged to the wealthy Panamanians.

Theres our room!

This was where breakfast was every morning.

Dan and Shalane's room.

They had a random caged area with a fawn (that you can see in the back corner of the hut).

Took my 19 week baby belly picture on the roof.

We had are last meal at our favorite place before we had to get to the ferry.

We then hopped on the ferry and sat on the back to enjoy the boat ride back to the City.  Me and Shalane let Éric sit in-between us.  Shalane was super excited.  Ok and maybe I was too...

We gave him some of our dried mangoes to try which he had never tried in his life.  He loved them.  He asked where they were from and we told him Costco.  He had no idea what that was so we told him we would mail him some.  The boys then gave him a bag of beef jerky to try, and again, he had never tried jerky either.  He loved it as well.  So we included that into our package we told him we would send him.

The bridge that leads to the Canal.

It was hard saying bye to Éric, but we told him we would do this again next year with our baby in tow.  We told him he better bring his "wife" (girlfriend) as well.  He told us we have to go visit him in France, which me and Shalane will have no problem with whatsoever.  

It was then off to our hostel.  The owner of the hostel came and picked us up at the ferry which was very kind of her.  We didn't have to go through the whole "Taxi will you find this place..." debacle.  As we were driving through the main of Panama City in the crazy traffic she was telling Kevin (in spanish) all about the city.  He told her how amazed we were at how many skyscrapers and buildings were in Panama City.  She said that had only happened in the last 10 or so years.  Business just skyrocketed due to low business taxes, and many American bank business moved to Panama City.

We finally arrived to our hostel and Kevin's face says it all in this picture:

It was a 3 bedroom hostel, and the other hostels were occupied by Columbians.  We could tell that she normally didn't get traveling Americans at her hostel; mostly Latinos coming to the city for business.  

Luckily we had air conditioning, but she also gave us mosquito spray and a mosquito candle because the mosquitos are so bad.  That is not what you want to hear in a latin country.  Especially when you are pregnant.  We then spent as little time as possible in that room.  

We walked to the nearest, nicest looking restaurant and ate the worst meal since we had been there.  This made it really easy for us to go home the next morning.  And then even easier when we stopped by the little market to get candy (to make our room not feel so gross) and that was closed.  So we went back to our room, put on the AC and watched National Geographic in spanish.  

 Oh yeah.  And do you want to see how swollen my feet got that trip?  You probably don't but I need to remember how bad they got for memory sake.

They did not fit into my flip flops.  And they barely fit into my tennis shoes.  Kevin had to undo all the laces for my feet to fit.  It was painful.

But that is what you get when you travel to a hot, humid place while you are pregnant.  And I really think the first day in the city (Panama Canal, Casco Viejo, and the rainforest hike) really set me up for this.

It was hard to sleep in the hostel because the beds were tiny and they gave you one small sheet as a blanket.  I woke up bright and early and couldn't fall back asleep so I got up, took a humid, sticky shower (the worst) and got ready outside where the mirror was.

The view.

Just getting ready.

I guess the owner thought Americans just eat sandwiches all the time.  And ketchup sandwiches.
This was our breakfast.  The juice and pineapple were great, but I could not down that sandwich.  Poor Kevin ate his whole thing because he didn't want the kind owner to feel bad.
Again, this made it easy to go home.

Bye hostel, it was real.

 We made it to the airport on time and started to check in our bags.  Kevin had brought his skim board in case there was a good beach for skimming, but ended up not using it.  We weren't charged coming to Panama, but of course the airline there (Copa Airlines) completely ripped us off.  I do not do well under those circumstances.  I hate the feeling of being completely ripped off.  It didn't sit well with Kevin either.  We argued and argued, asked to talk to a manager.  Nothing worked.  They told us because it was a surf board (We kept telling them it is NOT a surf board, its a body board) that they had to charge us $140.  Oh it burned so bad.  It was the size of a normal piece of luggage.

So that did not start our journey home on the right note.

Then, while we were waiting for our flight, I waited in a 15 minute line so I could get a bottle of water. We then went to go get on the plane and we had to go through security again.  They told me I had to throw the water away, no liquids.  I told them no and told Kevin to tell them that I had bought that in their airport.  They wouldn't budge.  Oh I was so angry. 

Then, me and Kevin were not sitting together on the 6 hour plane ride home.  I do not do well flying anyways (a big fear of mine), so not sitting by Kevin would have made it pretty bad.  We had hoped that there would be kind person sitting next to us that would be willing to switch seats.  Kevin kindly asked the guy sitting next to me if he could switch him places and the guy flatly just said no.  This did not sit well with me, nerves started to get to me and I started to get a little emotional (hey, Im also pregnant).  I said a prayer that something would work out;  I needed to sit by Kevin on that flight home.  Right then the guy tried to put his headphones in the jack to the TV in front of him and it wouldn't go in.  He then asked the stewardess for another pair of earphones and they didn't work as well.  He then asked to be moved to a TV that worked.  Once they found him a seat, he got Kevin's attention and said "They found me another seat, you can sit here now," as if he had done it to be nice. Oh please.

But, I was so grateful that Kevin got to sit by me for that long flight.

They fed us two meals on that flight, and I finally obliged to eating one since I was starving from not eating breakfast.  This was then followed with In N Out in Los Angeles.  Eating crap after eating such fresh, delicious food for a week did not sit well with me.  On our small flight from LA to SLC, we luckily were sitting in the back near the bathroom.  So when I felt it coming up, I ran to that bathroom.  I wasn't able to eat In N Out for 3 months after that.

And that was our trip! 

It was awesome and we are already planning the trip next year with baby.