Michelle Lee's Birth Story

I'm glad I wasn't too behind on my blog, so I didn't have a lot to catch up on. I want to get down Michelle's story before I forget the details.  Aaron and I were exhausted Saturday night, so we went to bed fairly early. Melanie had woken up around 2:00 am crying, so I went in there and got her to lay back down on her pillow and put her sheet back on her. Then I went to the bathroom and went back to bed. It always takes me a while to fall back asleep. I looked at the clock - 2:09. Then I felt a contraction, but I felt a little cramping too. 2:15. I didn't want to move. I laid there hoping to fall back asleep, but I couldn't. Another contraction 2:19. Maybe if I just lay here they'll go away. There was a little pain with the contractions, but nothing I had breathe through, just uncomfortable. I still didn't move for fear of my water breaking. That had never happened at home before, but with as far as I was dilated, and as much fluid as Dr. I* saw in there, I wasn't taking any chances.

My mind wouldn't shut off. You think of all sorts of things, like I needed to pay off one more credit card, but I was waiting for the furniture to be delivered before I did that. I decided not to put that off and used my phone to pay off the card. Contractions were coming steadily, but not intensely.  When should I wake up Aaron? I wonder when they will get worse. I'm glad I talked to Carol about coming over. And then I felt a "pop", not painful, just a "pop". Kind of hard to explain. It took me about 10 seconds to realize what had happened. I rolled over and smacked Aaron on the arm. "Aaron my water just broke, we need to go." 3:00 am. I got out of the bed a quickly as I could - I didn't want to have to clean up bedding - and waddled over to the bathroom. Yep that was definitely my water breaking. But it wasn't a big gush like I thought it would be. So after using the bathroom I went to the closet to get dressed bringing a towel with me. With the next contraction came the big gush, I had Aaron throw me a couple more towels.

I threw on a skirt and a shirt, and put my make up bag in my purse. The hospital bag was already in the car. Aaron had also already (the day before) put a black plastic bag on my seat and a blanket and towels on top of it. I grabbed my wallet, phone and iPad and put them in my purse. Aaron called the hospital to let them know we were coming. Then he called Carol. Meanwhile Aaron woke up David to let him know what was going on, just in case we needed to leave before Carol got there. We waited about 10 minutes or so, and after a few simple instructions we got in the car and drove to the hospital.

I wasn't really watching the clock at this point. But it's about 10 minutes to the hospital, and it took a couple of minutes to check in at the ER. They were expecting us. Aaron requested the room in the corner, the same one I had with Melanie. When we walked in, we noticed the nurses had decorated it for us. They said they didn't have time to do more. They had hearts all over the room and a few streamers.

By the time I got on the bed I finally looked at the clock - 4:00 am. My water had broken an hour earlier. The contractions were a little more intense, but I was breathing through them on my own. They got the IV in and the monitors on, and finally got my 1st dose of antibiotic. Remember I was Group B Strep positive. So I'm supposed to get an antibiotic when I get there and another dose four hours later. 4:25 am was the first dose. At that point the contractions started getting intense. I told Aaron out loud - "I don't think I can do this for 4 hours!" He said "we'll do this as long as you want, and if you want the epidural you let me know." They called Dr. *I. I know she said to call her on the way in, but I let her sleep for a bit, and once I was settled she arrived. Did I mention she wasn't on call? She came just for me. I was so focused on breathing through the contraction that I didn't notice when she walked in at 5:00 am. I had moved from the bed to the ball at this point. I needed to move more. I wasn't convinced I was going to make it through this labor. Dr. I* asked if I'd rather stand, and I thought that was a good idea. They moved the bed up and stacked some pillows so I could lean against it. I was able to sway a bit more between contractions while standing. I knew that I couldn't use the Jacuzzi tub since my water had already broken.

The contractions were almost on top of each other when Dr. I* asked if I felt like a needed to push. I said at the end of the last two I felt like I could. So she checked me and I was complete! I couldn't believe it! So I got in the bed and after two more contractions was ready to push. So much for the second dose of antibiotics. On the second push I could tell she was coming, but I couldn't finish before the contraction ended. Trust me that burns. I didn't have to wait long, but it seemed like a long time. With the next contraction I pushed her out. What a relief! Time of birth - 6:14 am!

This is actually the best picture of me, before I was pumped full o fluids from the IV!

She was covered in vernix! Perhaps that's why she came out so easily! She was huge! We all took guesses on her weight. I said 9 lbs. One of the nurses said 9 lbs 12 oz, she was closest. Michelle weighed in at 9 lbs 13 oz!

She was only 18.5 inches long, she wouldn't stretch out. She wasn't in the birth canal for long so her head was still round, and 14 inches in circumference! I tore a little so I ended up with two stitches. I nursed her right after they got her cleaned up a little.

Aaron and I texted our families, and Aaron let people know that he wouldn't be at church that morning, or a work for the next couple of weeks. I had to let Chelle know that she'd need to teach my class. I'd asked her to look over the lesson just in case. I guess that was a good idea. There's much more I could talk about for that day. But that's for another post.

Prelude to Baby

There's so much to cover, I'm going to have to skip through it quickly. Monday Timothy had drama class, the girls and I went to Costco, and dropped off the suits I needed to return to Amazon. David had a cross country meet. We got home just a little after we did. Kyle's mom brought him home.

Tuesday evening was a Relief Society dinner. Aaron had his hospital board meeting. So David was in charge until he got home. We had a small turn out, but it was a great meeting. We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches, some delicious salads and yummy desserts. We also learned how to make scarfs from old t-shirts. Carol P* brought Sandi (from book club) and it was great to have her there. I brought home lots of leftovers. I got home around 8:00.

Wednesday I helped in Amy's class. They were doing some testing first thing, so I came back later around 10:00 when she had time to work on reading groups. I just did some laundry while we waited to return. I think that afternoon I had the kids help me dump the recycle and then we cleaned out the garage. That night was scouts/mutual, Aaron took the boys and brought them home.

Thursday I needed to go up to the city and do some grocery shopping, and that's about it.

Friday I had an appointment. I didn't have someone to watch Melanie, but Aaron said he'd put on a Blue's Clues episode in his office during my appointment. Unfortunately Dr. I* was running really far behind. I wished I had brought more than my phone to keep me occupied. Once I was put into a room I actually dozed off a few times while I waited. They move me to the ultrasound room. Dr. I* wanted to get a better idea of how big the baby was. According to the measurements she was about 8 lb 8 oz. She also mentioned there was a lot of fluid in there. I also asked if she would check to see if I was dilated at all. Aaron was hoping to get in a fishing trip on Saturday, but didn't want to go far if there was a chance I'd go into labor. Dr. I* said it was to risky even if I wasn't that far dilated. "This is baby #5, you might go quickly. I might just lie to you". Then after she checked she said, "Ok I'm not lying, you are at a 4 for sure. Don't let him go anywhere!"

When I was finally done with my appointment I found Melanie watching Blue's Clues in Aaron's office. We chatted for a bit and I let Aaron know what Dr. I* had said, so he decided they would just do some fishing along at the ponds by the freeway instead and then I took Melanie home for lunch.

That evening was a football game at our rival school. Of course several of the players on that team are in our ward. So Aaron and I decided to get one last date in and attend the game on our own. David was in charge at home. First we did a little car (SUV) shopping, then dinner and then the game. It was a fun game. We ended up sitting with Carol P*. We talked about the possibility of me going into labor over the weekend. It was the only time Tayller wasn't available. Carol said she'd come over anytime. I told her we might just call if it happened before Monday.

Saturday we did chores. I had several projects I wanted to finish. We finally got confirmation that our bedroom furniture would be delivered on Monday between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm. I needed to clean out some drawers in preparation for moving stuff around. I also wanted to clean up the food storage room, and generally the whole house. I was pretty busy.

The kids did chores, and I had a few extra things for them to do. Aaron left for fishing around 9:00. He checked in with me at least every hour, and before he moved to a new spot. The only that that had change was that I lost my mucus plug that morning ( TMI? sorry) I was having lots of Braxton- Hicks as I had been for weeks, but nothing painful, or different. Lastly he went to give someone a blessing, and it was a bit further away, so he checked in one last time. When he got home around 2:00 he brought a box of pink lady apples - yum!!!

Aaron helped me motivate the kids to help me with cleaning the rest of the house. We did a 10 minute pick up in each of the rooms. That evening was pretty quiet. I worked on my lessons, and got the girls in the bath tub, and Timothy in the shower. I pulled out a pork roast for Sunday's dinner. I was making posole - yum!  I can't believe I don't have any pictures from the week!

Melanie's 3rd birthday!

Sunday morning we slept in just a little. I had to get things ready for Melanie before we headed out to Stake Conference. I had wrapped presents the night before, and made the cake the day before, but not decorated it. So I showered and got ready then woke everyone up so Melanie could open presents. It was nice that we had stake Conference because that meant Aaron didn't have any early morning meetings.

Melanie loved opening her presents, but she took a really long time tearing the paper off of each one. It was Amy's idea to bring the bear down for the presents.

 Little People Princesses from Grandma G*

   a book about being a big sister

 play doh

 Paint with water book from Grammie R*

 sticker book

 puzzles

 new clothes

Then we had breakfast, scrambled eggs and toast - Melanie's request. Then it was hurry up and get ready for church. We have to travel 30 minutes to the stake center, and even though we happened to have reserved seats this time, we didn't want to arrive just before it started. We usually get there about 45 minutes early to get seats either in the chapel or the soft seats in the overflow. Any later than that and we're on the hard chairs in the cultural hall. It was raining that morning and we arrived about 30 minutes early. We had reserved seats because Pres. B* asked us to sit with Tish F*. She recently went through the temple for the first time and was asked to share her testimony about that. Tish brought a few people with her, so we we ended up sitting in a different row anyhow. But we sat up front and Loren and Betsy D* sat with us.

I really enjoyed Stake Conference, but I ended up not taking a whole lot of notes because Melanie was constantly trying to climb on me or over me etc. There were a lot of great messages! We made it through the session, but we stayed for about 30 minutes afterward because our ward was one of those assigned to put away chairs afterward. I did get to talk to a bunch of people as I waited.  I was surprised that Melanie didn't fall asleep on the way home.

I wanted to get a picture of Melanie in her birthday dress. She would only cooperate when I turned the camera around so it was a selfie.

 Then Amy and Timothy got in on the action and I got some funny pictures

So we ate lunch afterward, and I put Melanie down for a nap. Aaron went to the church to meet with a few people and I finished Melanie's cake. We had a simple dinner of appetizers. We invited the I*s and the H*s over for cake and ice cream, and to finish off the appetizers.

 Everyone wanted a turn holding the I*'s baby.

 He even rolled over while we were there

 Aaron got attacked by Teancum while he was playing with the baby

It was a fun birthday for Melanie!

Peds Get Together and Stake Conference

 I forgot to post a couple of pictures Aaron took at David's cross country meet on Thursday.

Saturday was a pretty busy day. We had a lot on the schedule. First, after breakfast Aaron went to go help someone put a roof on their shop. Meanwhile I made a pumpkin pie cake for the lunch we were attending that afternoon. We also had lots of chores to do. I decided to make some sugar cookies as well. I was almost done with them when Aaron called to say he was on his way home. So I didn't get to finish frosting all of the cookies. I ran around and made sure everyone had chores done and socks and shoes on.

There was a peds luncheon starting at 11:00. It was for the residents that were working in the clinic right now. We often have the residents over for dinner, or take them out to dinner as a welcome, and time for them to get to know people in the clinic and ask questions. Usually it's an evening thing, and usually we host it since we are close to the clinic. But on a weekend we have more time for travel. We told them we'd be a little late with Aaron working on the roof. We left about 20 minutes late, but figured usually food isn't served right away anyway.

We pulled up to Amanda's house and walked toward the house. Another car pulled up in front of the house next door and two tween girls got out, one holding a gift bag. It looked pastel colored and I said to Aaron "it's looks like they are going to a baby shower". We walked up to the front door and knocked, and Amanda answered it and as we entered she exclaimed, "Happy Baby Shower!" We were all completely surprised!  They had been planning this for 2 weeks, and we never suspected a thing. Aaron didn't know the girls getting out of the car because the driver (Kristin, the new peds nurse) stayed in the car until we got inside! The girls were her daughter and a friend.

As we walked in Amanda opened the blinds and revealed the decorations and gifts.  They had some of the food out, chips, pretzels, a veggie tray etc. More people arrived after us, and we had lots of food. Amanda was getting ready to fry some plantains. She had made some shredded beef to put on rice, and there were beans and some corn meal patties - I can't remember what she called them. These are all things she learned to cook in Venezuela. Others brought fruit, cupcakes, and drinks.

I got Melanie a plate of food and then they insisted that I serve myself first. The food was delicious. I sat in the front room to eat, and had to take a picture of the diaper cake Amanda had made.

After we had eaten, Lorena had come up with some party games. For one we had to put on a blindfold, and hold a paper plate on our head and use a large spoon to put cotton balls on the plate. It's harder than it looks as you can't see how many fall, or feel how many cotton balls are on the spoon. Aaron went first and got 9. I felt bad he was the guinea pig, everyone else after him had an advantage. So the rest got 13, 17, etc. The top person got 29, and then I got 30. They had another game where we had to walk with a dime between our knees and try to drop it in a glass bottle, no one was able to do it, even after they got a bottle with a larger opening. The last game was using toilet paper to guess Aaron's girth! Not mine, but Aaron's! I guess they felt more comfortable since they all know him really well. I didn't win that, I was too generous. Eric won that game. Reina came in late and did the cotton ball game, and she also got 30, so I told her she could take the prize.

We all had fun, and enjoyed chatting and eating. I was glad I got to congratulate Dina on expecting her first baby. She's 17 weeks along now, and still gets nauseous. I felt bad that we tried to kill off Courtney. Apparently she is allergic to tree nuts, and I put almond extract in the sugar cookies and the whipping cream for the pumpkin pie cake. She had taken a bite of the cookie and thought, "Hmm, my tongue is getting a little tingly". She didn't eat any more, and she said she had her epi-pen in the car. Now I know better, no almonds for Courtney!

Then we opened gifts. Aaron got a bunch of pictures, mostly to keep track of what we got and who gave it to us. I'll post a few of the good ones. If I had known the party was for me, and I would be at the center of attention I would have worn a different shirt.

Reina thought it would be funny to get a camo outfit for the baby complete with a bright orange hat with a silver bow.

There were a few gifts from people that weren't able to make it including Brian and Louise U*, and Bhabi and Bimla R* who moved to New Jersey, and Maria M*. Those that attended were Amanda,  Lorena (they coordinated the whole thing) and her husband (I don't know his name), Reina, Kristin, Courtney and her husband (whose name escapes me at the moment), Eric and Dina, Andy and Victoria.

It was about 2:30 or so when we wrapped things up. Aaron had the priesthood leadership meeting at 4:00 at the stake center, so rather than drive home, and have him drive back up, we took him to the church, he changed into his suit, and then I took his other clothes back with us. I drove the kids back home, Melanie fell asleep on the way, I figured she would, and that she would only get a 30 minute nap. The boys were fighting on the way home, so I told them they had to clean out the van when we got home.

So we unloaded the gifts, and the boys cleaned out the rest. We did some clean up around the house, and I can't remember what else. Aaron said there was a dinner between the priesthood leadership session and the adult session, and I was invited to join him. So I left around 5:30. David babysat that night and fixed chicken nuggets for the kids. It rained the whole drive up. It actually felt like fall.

The dinner was for the bishops and their wives, along with the stake presidency and their wives, and the 2nd counselor in the mission presidency and his wife. When we walked in someone insisted they swap out a metal chair for a cushioned one for me. We enjoyed some enchiladas, Spanish rice, and tacos for dinner. Then Pres B* had us all introduce ourselves. I had forgotten that the wards up in the city had just been reorganized and given new names. So people were trying to remember what ward they were in. A new ward was created and the new bishop and his wife were sitting at our table. I recognized her from the stake Christmas Choir I did last year. So he got called as bishop a couple of weeks ago, and then last week their 14 year old was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. What a whirlwind it has been for them! Pres. B* had Pres R* from the mission presidency speak to us for a few minutes, and then Pres B* spoke, but Aaron and I had to sneak out so we could make it to our choir rehearsal. We could hear that they had already run through it once. It was kind of nice because they ran out of seats in the women's row, so I sat next to Aaron, and when we got up to sing, I walked down the step to the end of the row next to Heather S*.

The session started at 7:00. The choir sang after the opening prayer, but then we sat up there the rest of the meeting. I was glad I didn't need to use the bathroom, and that we stood for the intermediate hymn. But toward the end of the meeting I was getting a little restless. I really enjoyed the meeting as usual. They talked more about councils like they did back in March, only this time they focuses more on family councils. It was great to hear other's ideas on what they do to strengthen the family. We do a lot of the things mentioned, but I also gained a few more idea on how to make it work better, and found a few things that I need to start doing. The meeting was over around 9:00, and then I chatted with Britt D* for a few minutes. We talked with a few people from the ward and then headed home.