Gracie's Birth Story

Since we were not due to have her until mid-March, it surprises people to see Gracie is already here, and it prompts a lot of people asking "what the heck?". So I thought I would give the story:

Sunday, February 7th, my friend Nicole throws a baby shower for me and some close friends. (I was working on the blog post for that when all the other stuff happens...and it never did get finished). Tim and I come home from a wonderful afternoon, put the new baby stuff away, and he was watching TV while I was on the computer sitting on the couch loading pictures, checking email, etc...when all of a sudden I felt like I had involuntarily peed a little! I run to the bathroom, come back 5 minutes later, sit back down, and it happens again! I am thinking, what is going on? I call my mom. She said, Gracie is probably pressing on your bladder causing some pee to leak, were you laughing? No, I was sitting here doing nothing! It happens again...Tim says, are you sure your water didn't break? NO! I am not due for 5 weeks plus! Besides, it's just a little bit. But by this time, it had happened six times total, and it no longer looked or smelled like pee (sorry for being graphic). Mom tells me to call the hospital...I do it and my OB/GYN, happens to be on call (thank you God) and wants to check me. We had never even been into ercy Folsom, our tour was scheduled for Wed of that week. I ask my doctor where to go...he says "In the front doors" HAHA very funny! So I get checked, and yes, my water ruptured. I was going to have this baby this early, and it was not going to be at Mercy Folsom, since I wasn't quite 35 weeks, and Folsom doesn't have a NICU, we had to be transferred to Mercy San Juan. Well, didn't need the Folsom hospital tour after all! Taken by ambulance, we arrive in a room at Mercy San Juan. They let me sleep a couple hours and see if I would naturally go into labor, since that's what your body is supposed to do after your water breaks. Well not mine. At 4:00, they start Pitocin. When that starts contractions, but my cervix doesn't cooperate, they start me on rounds of cervidil. It is a pill inserted into my cervix to help it "ripen" Every four hours they check me, and after SIX rounds, including contractions with this lovely medicine, they decided it was time to start Pitocin again. By this time, it's Wednesday morning, and I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast on Tuesday. I was VERY hungry. Around 1:00, I received an epidural, that was wonderful except for the area where it did not take, my right hip, where I felt EVERYTHING! and at 3:00 they decided I was making progress, I was at 4 cm. Then by 8:00pm Wed and contractions 1 minute apart, I was still at 4. A new doctor calls me and says they want to do a C-Section, because my body is just not cooperating (story of the week) and they want to get Gracie out because of risk of infection. My question was, why didn't we do this three days ago!!?? Oh well, within an hour the doctor had arrived and I was being prepped for surgery. At 10:22 pm Gracie was born. I was able to hold her and Tim got to take pictures, but then she was taken to the NICU right away. She had fluid in her lungs, a fever, and low birth weight. Her breathing ended up being fine, results were negative for infection, and she gained weight. Other than fighting Jaundice for several days on and off, she had no other problems, and on Wed Feb. 24, we got to take our little peanut home, at 4 pounds 9 ounces. She has been home for a week, and yesterday at the doctor she was already up to 5 pounds 2 ounces! We thank everyone for their messages, visits, meals, cards, and love! We could not have gone through all this without you.

Hooked up to all sorts of things right after being born

The three of us spending time together in the NICU

Some time doing "Kangaroo Care" AKA Skin to Skin in the NICU

Hanging out in our room at the hospital a few days before going home

GOING HOME! I know it's hard to see where Gracie is because she is so small!

With Dr. Phelan (my OB who didn't get to deliver her :(

First bath at home


Playing with the camera at home...her first "Glamour Shots" as her Grandpa George calls them...

Baby Shower for Friends

This was the post I was in the middle of when my water ruptured on February 7, 2010...

Nic was all set up for the games we played

Yummy food!

Gifts

Drink central...and some Godiva truffles...mmm

Me...34 weeks

Today was Baby Shower #3, the last one. It was so exciting to have an afternoon for friends, hosted by my good friend Nicole. We have been friends for over 10 years, and she really put her heart into our special day. It started with great food; chicken caesar salad, quiche, soup in little tea cups, yummy strawberries, and more including desserts, angel food cake, cupcakes, and Godiva chocolates. Then we played games and everyone got to guess the date and time of day they think Gracie will arrive, and Nicole will send the winner their prize.

With Jen, Allison, and Bonnie


With the Hostess with the Mostess


My favorite York gals...and a Naulty!


Opening gifts...


Lots of laughter...it was some of the last laughter we would have for a couple days...

33 weeks~

Seven more to go! We have been busy since Saturday trying to keep Gracie's room from looking like Babies R' Us blew up. I am ready to start washing all the clothes, bedding, and blankets so they are ready for her. I am starting to get a little more tired by the end of the day, and am no longer able to stay on my feet for all my classes, which I feel bad about...this week is Spirit Week at school, complete with dress-up days (hence the picture in the CAL gear and pom poms, it was "Sports Fan Day"). We had an appointment today...I took off the sports gear for the doc...and he informed me this was my last "boring appointment" that after today we will be checking on baby, talking about delivery, etc. Wow...to say it has gone by so fast would be an understatement. I just can't wait to see what she looks like and to hold her. I will add pictures of her room as soon as we finish getting all this stuff put away!

Family Baby Shower

We are so blessed to have had another baby shower yesterday for family, hosted by Tim's Aunt Leslie and cousin Kendal. Unfortunately, most of our family on both sides live out of town and couldn't make it, but we had an amazing afternoon. Leslie made "Chicken Diapers" (puff pastry stuffed with chicken, herbed cheeses, and onions), salad, fruit, asparagus, and a dessert bar.

We played games and visited and had a great time! I can't wait for Gracie to get here to meet all her family...near and far~~

January

The time seems to be flying by. I have already been back at school for two full weeks and only have about 8 more to go (if everything stays normal...). I have spent the last two weeks adding Science to my teaching schedule, one of our core teachers went on a missions trip to Africa and the other teacher and I each picked up an extra subject. I have to admit, teaching Science for a couple weeks was welcomed by me, considering I teach English (which I love) but let's face it, Science is way more fun! With the extra class came more kids, they were split in two groups instead of our normal three, so instead of a max of 20 kids, I had 28...ouch. I deeply value the small class size for both the benefit of myself as well as the kids! We will resume as usual tomorrow...thank you!

We are now 32 weeks into this pregnancy as of tomorrow, and it couldn't be going better. I do feel aches and pains, but it is what's to be expected at this point. The fact that the baby is nearly 4 pounds and over 16 inches long is amazing to me, and I feel her all the time, which is even more amazing. I had an appointment last week and it wasn't so easy to get a good reading on her heartbeat, so the Medical Assistant wanted the Dr. to check it again, since it seemed very low. That was a long 10 minutes...but when he came in he wanted to do an ultrasound (he likes them better than the doppler machine), and I was happy because I didn't think we would get to "see" her again until the day she is born! He checked her heart and everything was fine, heartbeat was strong (said the doppler isn't as accurate once they are moving quite a bit) and he even checked to make sure "she is still a girl" (in Tim's words). We saw her face looking at the screen, nothing like 3 or 4D I am sure, but it was still her face...and then he pointed out her hand by her face and she started to move it like she was waving to us! It was most precious :) We can't wait to meet her...just 8 more weeks!

We are very excited to be blessed with two baby showers in the next few weeks, one for family, hosted by Tim's aunt and cousin (this weekend), and a smaller one for close friends on Feb 7, hosted by my good friend Nicole. I am so thankful to them for offering to do them for me and I know they are doing a great job with planning, they will be a lot of fun!

Christmas and Washington Trip

We celebrated many times for Christmas this year, and enjoyed each one very much. We started with Christmas Eve at my mom's, with a very special dinner, stuffed pork loin, salad, creamed onions (my favorite!) asparagus, and more. We shared Christmas with two of her good friends as well, and sat by the fire, had dessert, opened gifts, laughed, and had a great time! Then we had our Christmas together, waking up and having hot chocolate while we opened stockings and gifts before we headed to Tim's parents house. We had Christmas with them, and cinnamon rolls, enjoying the sunshine, yet still crisp and cold weather. A few hours later we headed back with our bags packed for the airport, and visited with Tim's grandparents, and had an early Christmas dinner! Off to the airport after that for an evening flight to Washington, to visit my dad and step-mom, and have my first baby shower. My brother Korbe, and my sis-in-law, Traci surprised us by showing up a day early and were already at the house when we arrived from the airport. We did Christmas again the next day with all of them, as well as my step-brother and his wife, who are also pregnant with a baby boy due in February! Sunday, my step-mom put together a small shower for me and my aunt and cousin, dad's cousin, and a couple friends of theirs celebrated with me and we had a nice brunch, cake, and gifts. It was very nice!
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Tuesday, before we left, it started to snow! We made it home delayed, but safe, last night to a very happy puppy! It was a wonderful Christmas, and we can't wait until next year!

Heirlooms

In the last few weeks, we have been fortunate enough to receive a couple special items from family. The first, being Eddy the Elephant:

Eddy was a gift to my Grandma Gail from her daddy for her 4th birthday back in 1930. It was during the Depression, and my Great Grandpa wanted to buy it for her, and my Great Grandma was upset at him for spending the money. My Grandma gave him the name Eddy the Elephant, and used to hold him by his trunk, and being only four, his feet used to drag on the ground (as you can see from his "scars"). She has been carrying him around for nearly 80 years now, and when I was up there visiting at the beginning of this month, she told me she wanted me to have him for Gracie if I wanted. I was so excited to bring him home and put him in her room. He used to play music, and one day, I would like to find a place where I could see if the music box inside him could be restored, I would love to hear what song he played that my Grandma Gail listened to so very long ago.

The second special item we have been given was this cradle. My dad made this cradle 28 years ago for my oldest cousin, Erin, before she was born. She and my Uncle Rick and Aunt Nan enjoyed it while she was a baby, and then held on to it all these years. I have one too, but it's up in Washington at my dad's, waiting to be enjoyed by Gracie when we go to visit. So I received a call from mu Uncle Rick a few weeks ago asking if we would like to use Erin's cradle, and especially since my dad made it, I was delighted. Uncle Rick got it out and spent a lot of time getting it back to the condition it was in when it was enjoyed by his baby girl. We took a drive to Chico a couple weeks ago to pick it up, and now it is in our room waiting for the baby who will occupy it in just 3 more months.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by things that have stories and memories.