The Story

I'm not sure how many of you care, but I've had enough interest in Nadine's birth story that I'm going to post it on this blog. If you don't want to read it, I don't blame you. :)

Also, we've updated the baby blog to include pictures of her in her First Hospital Visit. She had jaundice and spent Monday night in the hospital and 24 hours under the lights. Which she loved. She looked like Johnny Depp Willy Wonka with the light shield sunglasses.

Without further adieu . . ..

Throughout the pregnancy, I had high blood pressure. Sometimes over the limit, but usually just below the "normal" threshold. Because of this, the doctor wanted me to get my blood pressure checked between my next appointment, which was in two weeks.

The day I was planning to get it checked I woke up at about 6:30 with a lot of pain in my lower belly. The pain was constant, seemed localized, and didn't come in waves. It didn't feel like what people say are contractions, so I was quite concerned. After waiting an hour I called L&D triage and spoke to a nurse who suggested things I could do to alleviate the pain, and who said I could call back if I didn't feel better. I did start to feel better, and at about 9:30 I went to Tripler Army Medical Center, where I'd been receiving my care, to get my blood pressure checked.

When I arrived at the OB clinic, I was told I needed to go to L&D to get my blood pressure checked because I was so far along (37 weeks). I was quite relieved to be sent there, because I was still concerned about the pain I'd felt. In L&D they wanted to monitor me every 10 minutes for 30 minutes, so they put me in a room and also attached a baby and uterus monitor. So I sat and read my book while waiting for the tests to end and being comforted by the sounds of her heart.

After about 20 minutes, a doctor came in (before I'd just dealt with nurses).

Doctor: "Did you know you're having fairly regular contractions?"
Jen: "Oh THAT's what those are?!"

I then told her I passed a kidney stone in June without any pain medication (because really, pregnancy-safe Tylenol hardly counts as a pain medication) and I apparently have a high tolerance for pain. Throughout the night the doctor kept mentioning my pain tolerance and how she'd bragged about me to other docs.

The doctor then did an exam, and I was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. So they admitted me as being in active labor. All I had wanted was my blood pressure checked. :) Todd was working in General Surgery that day, so they sent him the following page: "hey Tod wanted to let you know that your wife has been admitted to lnd in labor, cervix 3-4/80/-1. She is also being ruled out for preeclampsia."

Despite the hilariously-late-placed and dire "preeclampsia", everything was ok. Though Todd didn't know that. This page was definitely a good Hall Pass for him.

I was admitted at about noon, and was in a remarkably low amount of pain; just discomfort. For me, the contractions felt like the baby was settling, maybe sticking her limbs too far out. I'd been having that feeling on and off for a couple weeks. It's good to know that's what my contractions feel like.

That gave Todd time to drive home and get the hospital bag I'd luckily packed early, the camera, and a bunch of other things we'd need. He was gone about an hour and a half, and when he got back the doctor broke my water.

Ah. Now these are the contractions people talk about. The pain was horrible, and the anesthesiologist was promptly summoned. I'm sure she arrived quickly, but it felt like she took forever. The contractions were insanely painful, and I definitely had the desire to push. The anesthesiologist gave me the epidural, and it took about 15 minutes to take effect. About 30 minutes later it was time for me to push. Luckily I was numb at that point. Numb and happier. A short time later she was born. She was beautiful. I asked the nurses not to put the drops in her eyes until the last possible moment, so she stayed in my arms or near Todd, staring at us. It was great.

Nadine

She has a name. And more pictures on our baby blog. Check 'em out.

She's here

Well, not here on this blog here. But Baby Pink Sassy was born last night, and there's a picture of her on our baby blog here (send me your e-mail address if you'd like access).

She's beautiful, she listens well (we've been telling her for a week that it's ok to be born any time, so she decided 3 weeks early worked for her), she was 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 18 inches long, and she has strawberry-blonde hair. We might have a redhead on our hands.

And she doesn't have a name yet. Poor baby.

We are so excited and lucky to have this new addition to our family.

Her first white dress

My sister's friend makes baby blessing outfits, and she's working on a dress for Sassy. I'm so excited with how it looks thus far--Amanda is patterning it after my wedding dress, which is such a great idea. It's going to be adorable and unique. The one Amanda made for her baby was beautiful, so I couldn't resist making an order. Sassy will have her cute Hawaii blessing dress made in the Midwest. Totally fun.

Check out Amanda's blessing outfit blog.

Baby in the nursery

Here she is sticking as far out of my belly as possible . . . in her nursery. This picture was taken yesterday, and I am about 36 weeks. So near the end, which is awesome. We can't wait to meet her.

Also, I'm smiling in this picture because the 5 days of insane heat and humidity and no wind were finally over. Note to self--if we move back to Hawaii, get a place with air conditioning.

It would seem the heat was preparation for a storm, and it's been raining on and off since Sunday early morning. When it rains a lot, waterfalls form on the cliffs of our favorite mountains. I got a lousy picture today that doesn't show how dramatic the waterfalls are, but I'm going to post it anyway.

Hopefully the rain keeps up and we can get a really dramatic picture of the falls--we saw some a few months ago and they were like silver ribbons going down the entire mountain. It was breathtaking.

But I did get a picture of a rainbow.

That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!

The baby's room is done! (Well, most of it. It is still the baby's/sewing room.) I'm so excited about how it turned out.

I've always wanted a Seuss-themed nursery, and this season Pottery Barn Kids stepped up to the plate and released impossible-to-find Seuss crib sheets. I'm in heaven!

We bought a random matching pillowcase for the extra fabric. I cut out the characters from the pillowcase and then sewed them onto a completely non-Seuss-related bumper. I love how it looks.

We bought two copies of the two books I consider to be Seuss essentials--Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat. One copy of each is in her library, and the other copy of each I used to create wall art. Seuss art is expensive, but pages from an actual Seuss book are not and are, in fact, much cuter.

I think it all came together very well. She will probably never sleep because of sensory overload, but at least she'll know the world is a REALLY colorful place.

Oh good! My dog found the chainsaw!

I was going to use the "Ohana means family" quote from Lilo & Stitch, but when I IMDBd the movie, the first quote that popped up made me laugh so I used that for the title instead. Even though it has nothing to do with this post. C'est la vie.

My mom, sister and nephew, and grandma visited us last week. It was such a great visit. I am so thankful for family members who are able to visit. Though my pregnancy hormones can't handle the goodbyes.

We learned Baby Sassy is going to be great-grandchild number 40 for my grandma. Crazy, and oh so cool.

Here are the four generations represented during the trip.

This man is going to be such a great dad. I'm so lucky.

Turtles have the cutest eyes!

What a lucky guy to get to play with his great-grandma. On the floor no less. My grandma rocks.

My belly continues to grow. Yikes. But Lupe looks adorable.

We went to the beach during a tsunami alert (as Todd so intelligently proclaimed, "No swimming for the pregnant lady"). We got to the beach (planning not to get in the water) during an announcement about how people shouldn't swim because of dangerous currents, etc. But apparently the kitesurfers couldn't resist the wind or the waves. I love watching kitesurfers. In the afternoon the ones who know what they're doing are out.

And yes, I am a dork and put a watermark on the pictures of my nephew.

What of it? I'm a bit paranoid. Ü