Our first loss as a family

It's been FOREVER since I posted, but I wanted this to go up.  I kind of think of this blog as my life diary.  Helps me remember things.  

This weekend, Bella (pronounced "Baya") died.  It was unexpected.  She was our first pet together as a couple.  We got her only a few short months after moving into our first apartment together.  She was our baby kitty and our family. 

Saturday afternoon I noticed Bella was breathing with her mouth open. I had a bad feeling so I called the vet.  They were closing in 10 minutes, so I decided to wait until Sunday to see how she was.  If she was bad we'd go to the emergency vet, if she was okay I'd take her to our regular vet Monday.  Sunday morning she was bad.  She was in respiratory distress. Travis rushed her to the emergency vet and they confirmed she was in critical condition and put her on oxygen.  The doctor had a few hypotheses.  Tumor?  Pneumonia?  We found out it would cost us a small fortune to find out what was wrong with her and even then it might be untreatable.  We opted to euthanize, but she was gone before we could follow through.  She was 11 years old in September.

Poor Travis.  He had to do it all on his own and I feel horrible about that.  I wish I could have been there for him.  I wish I could have been there for Bella.  But I didn't want to bring the kids to that.  I thought it would only stress out Bella more.  Travis was pretty distraught Sunday afternoon.  He tries to act tough, but he has a soft side.  Seeing a guy in distress makes it so much worse, doesn't it?

Even though Bella had her bi-polar moments, she was a good cat to us.  I walked passed her usual roosts last night and felt a pang of sadness.  She will be missed.

My Dad has Cancer

Somewhere back in January of this year (when we were visiting for Christmas), my dad started having some urinary tract symptoms.  I don't want to go into too much detail for his privacy, but I want to point out that this didn't exactly happen over night.  My dad was planning to come visit in Texas immediately after we left and bring back Callaway.  His symptoms prevented him from coming.  He said he was going to get better, then come down later.  

Weeks go by and I start urging him to go to the doctor.  He's always been healthy (as far as we can tell), so he has managed to avoid seeing a doctor for decades.  I'd bet he hasn't seen one since he and my mom were married (prior to 1996).  My dad's a "don't worry about it" kind of guy so I don't know the details on his health.  He lives alone, so I've kind of always worried something would happen to him at home and no one would know about it.  I always figured it would be a heart problem since those seem to run in his family.

About a month ago, his texting dwindled down to nothing.  He used to message me at least five times a day so when he stopped, I got suspicious.  The week of my wedding anniversary I called him to see how he was doing and he sounded horrible.  His voice was weak and he complained about being so tired that he had to sleep every afternoon.  There were several new symptoms, all of them worth a visit to the doctor.  He'd told me he'd been to the doctor a month prior.  Obviously, the medication wasn't working so I urged him to go again.  He seemed really out of it.  The next day, my sister called after having a similar phone conversation with him.  

In fear, I decided to go behind his back and call his good friends to see if they would go check on him.  When I talked with the wife, she admitted that he hadn't been out for Whiskey Wednesday with her husband in over a month.  They used to meet every Wednesday to try out fancy whiskeys at one of the bars in town.  My dad is the poster child for 'social butterfly', so this news scared me even more.  That night (Friday), she called me back to give me the update.

I was on the road to Austin to visit friends for the weekend.  She recounted her husband's visit and it was horrible.  She said my dad was pale and had no energy to stand.  He had told me he hasn't been eating much lately so I asked if he looked like he'd lost weight.  She said he was so swollen, she couldn't tell if he'd lost weight.  I called Ariel and that's when we decided to drive to Illinois (I looked into plane tickets, but the last-minute cost was outrageous.)  Unfortunately, I was almost to Austin by this point.  We opted to use the weekend to make arrangements for our jobs and my family, then leave first thing Monday morning.

We got a late start on Monday, so we didn't get in until 4 am Tuesday.  We didn't tell our dad we were coming and went straight to our mom's.  In the morning, we went to the store and bought some easy to prepare foods and drinks, then headed over to his job site.  We didn't know where he was, so we were discussing which way to go in when we heard a weak, "You're not supposed to be here..."  It took me a moment to find where my dad was sitting.  He was slumped on a bench between two trees not moving at all.  He looked horrible.  Exactly as his friend has described.

He asked what we were doing there and we told him it was a Father's Day surprise.  We know how much he has fought going to the doctor so we didn't want to scare him away immediately.  But then he said he felt bad because he didn't have the energy to do the fun stuff we probably wanted to do.  I told him we just wanted to go to his house and make him lunch.  He immediately refused and said he'd rather go out for pizza.  At this point, I knew he was avoiding us going to his house.  Our college-aged brother had gone by to bring him food a couple weeks prior and said our dad had apologized constantly about the smell and mess.  He hadn't had the energy to clean the house and Callaway was having accidents inside.  

It took some coaxing, but we convinced him to let us come over.  Ariel drove his car and I played chauffeur.  The house was dusty, but I didn't notice any odor.  Alex had come over the weekend before to take Callaway for him.  He must have cleaned up that mess.  The one thing I did notice is how hot it was.  He complained about being so cold all the time.  

Dad obviously did not want us in the house, so he announced we were going to the pool.  He was in no state to walk anywhere.  To appease him I said, "Sure, go get changed."  It took him HALF AN HOUR to change clothes.  He was wiped out so I told him to go take a nap.  While he was sleeping we cleaned his house and did some laundry.  When he woke up I listed off all his symptoms together and explained he was going to the doctor and we weren't leaving until he did.  Hoping he would take the bait, I gave him three options: his previous doctor, urgent care or the ER.  He said he didn't like his doctor, "so I guess take me to urgent care."  It was weak annoyance on his part.  He honestly didn't have the energy to fight us.

The urgent care doctor took a blood and urine sample and said he had a mass in his abdomen.  Go to the ER immediately.

We hobbled back to the car and headed to the ER (where I wanted to go from the start).  They brought him in back immediately.  I am seriously impressed with the efficiency, cleanliness and friendliness of that hospital and all it's employees when compared to ours in Texas.  No wonder it's a Magnet hospital.

The doctors announced the mass was his entirely-too-full bladder.  Something was blocking the proper flow of things and it caused renal failure.  His kidney values were through the roof.  They worked their magic to relieve his immediate discomfort and admitted him that night.  We were back at my mom's by midnight.  

A week after he was admitted, the doctor was finally able to do a cystoscopy and found a large tumor in his bladder.  He removed two thirds of what he could see.  The pathology report stated it was malignant bladder cancer.  The next step is to do a CT scan to determine the extent of the tumor.  They use iodine (a dye) in that procedure, but it is renal toxic.  After his kidneys recover, they will do the scan.

Ariel and I spent as much of our time as possible in the hospital with him for two weeks.  I needed to come home to attend to my family and get back to work, but Ariel chose to put her job on hold and stay with our dad.  I'm going to try to get back on here and give some more details about what happened during those two weeks soon.

Mila Carol: 1 Year Old

In the hospital.

One year ago today, our little girl was born.  It was a totally different birthing experience from when I had Aiden - in a good way.  

Time flies.  I can't believe it's been a year already.  She is such a sweet baby, despite the constant pressure in her ears at the moment.  As long as she gets her sleep, she's super happy.  

Aiden and her get along great.  Of course Aiden gets annoyed with her when she climbs on the toys he's playing with.  Mila gets annoyed when he won't give her what he's playing with.  Typical siblings. 

(He was singing Jingle Bells.)

I love our little family.

First Family Camping Trip

This Mother's Day was a little different than the past few years.  We usually go to the beach with some of my other mother friends.  This time we decided to give camping a try.  We haven't gone since before Aiden was born.  This trip was a little different from past experiences since it focused more on the kids than ourselves.  We didn't want to go far in case there was an emergency with the kids, so we went to Huntsville State Park just north of Houston.  We reserved two campsites and shared with two of my co-workers' families.  One family has a boy the same age as Aiden, the other a 5-year-old girl.

Saturday morning we packed up the truck and headed to the park.  We set up camp and then all went canoeing on the lake.

Canoeing is difficult with a baby.

 

Mila fell down in the canoe, so I immediately scooped her to make sure all was well.  When I set her down and looked around I could no longer locate my paddle.  The good news?  I got to enjoy the rest of the trip and let Travis do all the work.  He didn't seem to mind though.

We stopped for slushies on our way back to the site.  By the time we made it back, Mila was ready for a bottle and a nap.  She proceeded to sleep for the reminder of the night (though I woke her up momentarily for dinner).

 I forgot how amazing camping is.  It's so nice to be out in nature, away from the sounds of cars and stereos. 

The eventful hill:

Aiden wanted to try out one of the kid's bikes, that's a bit bigger than his.  I showed him how he could use the pedals to brake just like on his bike and also the hand brake.  The two kids walked next to him while he rode.  He started to speed up and made it around the corner before I could get him to stop.  He made it around the bend and picked up even more speed going down a hill.  Instead of using any of the brakes, he tried to drag his feet on the ground.  Since it was a bigger bike, he was unable to reach the ground.  He turned around and looked at me with a face full of fear.  It was horrible.  I was looking at his t-shirt and shorts and imagining the road rash we'd be dealing with.  He dove off the bike (or fell?  not sure...) and the bike continued down the hill and t-boned the red car you can see in the photo above.

I ran up to Aiden and scooped him up.  He was crying so hard.  I checked him over and he didn't have a scratch on him.  He was wearing a helmet (THANK GOODNESS) so his head was fine.  It wouldn't have been fine with as hard as it hit the pavement.  Ugh.  Horrible.  The couple who owned the car ran up with the bike to make sure he was okay.  They said they weren't even worried about their car as long as Aiden was okay.  The guy told Aiden he couldn't believe there wasn't a dent in the road with as hard as he hit it.  Seriously.  Me too.  I thought for sure Aiden would be covered in bruises in a few hours, but he only had one fingertip-sized bruise on his shoulder blade where he probably landed on a rock.  MAKE YOUR KID WEAR A HELMET!!!

For dinner we cooked hot dogs over the fire.  After dinner we roasted marshmallows and made S'mores.  I bought bug houses for the kids, so we ran around catching bugs.  When it got dark, we broke out the glow stick necklaces and poured a special powder on the fire to make it change colors.  The kids stayed up until 10 pm.  I wish that meant they slept in, but no.

The next day we sat by the fire and drank camp coffee while one of the other dads cooked breakfast.  Afterward we all split up.  One family went home, one went paddle boating and we opted for a hike in the woods.  I wanted to see if we could find anymore wildlife.  We'd  already seen tons of blue jays, cardinals and woodpeckers.  A squirrel practically climbed up Travis' leg.  We found a ton of white, fuzzy caterpillars around the campsite - perfect for the bug houses.

On the hike, we saw a black widow spider.  No joke.  I'm so glad we saw this at the END of the camping trip.  I would have been an anxious mess otherwise.  Ignorance is bliss.  The spider was hiding in the middle of it's messy web just inside a hole in a log.  When I saw the shiny black with the red spot, I knew instantly.  EESH.  On a lighter note, we also saw dragon flies, butterflies and two rabbits. 

We already had the truck packed up, but decided to eat lunch at the camp site.  Eating at a picnic bench in the middle of a beautiful park is way more fun that strapped to a chair in a moving vehicle. 

Camping with a baby was a little hard.  Mila can't walk quite yet and I didn't want her crawling around in the dirt eating pine needles.  I brought enough bottles that I only had to wash them once so we had enough to get us home on Sunday.  This trip was probably easier than it would have been if it were just us because one of the other families bought and prepared all the food.  One less thing for me to worry about!  I would love to go camping again soon, but preferably after Mila can walk and is off formula.  Though that might not be very far away...

 Happy Mother's Day!

My Mother's Day gift.

Whirlwind Week in Illinois

This past week we drove to Illinois to celebrate Christmas with our family.  It was easier than previous years because we were able to split up the celebrations so there was one day per family (both our parents are divorced which equates to FOUR Christmases).  In the past, everyone wanted to celebrate ON Christmas Eve or ON Christmas Day.  That meant splitting up the visits into 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening on both days.  Crazy.  

It's been three years since we were in our hometown.  It was Alex' high school graduation.  Aiden wasn't even a year old yet.  It was strange to see the area.  It has changed so much since we were there last.  Tons of new construction.  It was sort of like playing an old video game.  I had some muscle memory about how to get around, but I couldn't lay out a map of the area in my head.

I spent a couple days with my friend Chrissie, who I miss dearly.  We have been best friends since I was in 3rd grade (she was in 1st).  We both live busy lives filled with work, family and a social life, so we don't spend a lot of time talking on the phone.  What I love about her is we can go months without talking, but when we do find a moment when we are both free to chat it's like no time has past.  Neither of us holds a grudge against the other for being out of touch because we are in the same chaotic boat of life.  It's the same way when we see each other.  We can immediately talk to each other about anything.  No limitations, no judgement.  It's liberating, really.  I hate that we don't get to do that every weekend. 

Thursday night Travis and I left the kids with my dad and went out for dinner and drinks with Alex, his girlfriend Laura, Chrissie and her husband Jordan.  We had SO much fun.  We went to a Mongolian barbeque place called 301 Mongolia in downtown Champaign.  Its a stir fry buffet where you physically pick out what you want (rice vs noodles, veggies, meat, sauce) then hand it to the cook.  The server brings it out to you when you're done.  After dinner we walked down the block to a bar where we drank more wine and played pool.  We skipped over to a pub at some point and tried a few fancy beers.  We finished the night at some greasy diner.  Despite both of us having a terrible cold, we were able to really enjoy ourselves.  It was fabulous.

I will have to post separately about our drive there and back.  For now, here's the rest of the week in photos:

Aiden, Travis, Alex and Callaway played in what little snow they could find.

Grandpa Ken and Mila really hit it off.

Aiden showed everyone his new LeapPad from Gpa.

Gaga and Mila meet.

"Christmas" dinner at Dad's

All bundled up with places to go.

Aiden and his Uncle Sean were best buds.

Damn smokers (Travis is just faking)

Christmas at Gpa's - his place is tiny, but it's homey.

Chistmas at Grandma Carol's - great food and tons of grandchild spoiling.

Happy Holidays!

I haven't had the mental energy to sit down and put my thoughts in any coherent order.  Instead, I will show you some photos from our Christmas break.  We got a new camera that I'm still trying to figure out.  It's not a big fancy Canon SLR like I want someday, but it's still nicer than the last camera we had.  So far I like it!

 

Mila, at 7 months old

 

Christmas Eve PJ pic

Stocking goodies!

Auntie Ariel bonding with Mila

There were LOTS of presents from Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Rich!

We spent a lot of time in front of the TV watching Christmas movies.  It was guiltless and wonderful.

  

Matching shirts on New Year's Eve with Zach, Linsey, the kids and Michelle.

From Aiden's Point of View

This morning on the drive into work, I asked Aiden if he had a good weekend.  We did a ton of Christmas related things so I was interested to see what the highlights of the weekend were to him.  From the mouth of babes:

Setting up our Christmas tree and decorations

Trimming the tree

Tree trimming audience

Aiden's favorite: St. Nicholas Square Coffee Shop

Aiden's first Advent calendar

Dickinson Festival of Lights

My co-workers' kids and Aiden thoroughly enjoyed the lights and cookie decorating.

Playing at the beach after taking our Christmas photos

Playing in the cold water.

Texas Snow Angels

Setting up the new Christmas train

Travis got a late-90's Lionel Train from his mom and Rich.

Mommy's favorite: Enjoying evening life in the warm glow of our Christmas tree

Bottle fed and ready for bed.

Sister Time

Ariel is staying with me this week!  It's so fun having her full attention and I think she's enjoying the mini-vacay.

Monday night: She got to see what it's like in the Ward residence in the evenings.  Ariel colored with Aiden while I fed Mila and Travis made tacos.  We stayed up until midnight watching Bones and talking.

Tuesday night: Sisters-only dinner at the BBQ restaurant down the street, then sundaes back at the house.  In bed by 10:30 (exhausted from the night before).

Today: She rode to the island with us, helped me drop off the kids and we're meeting for lunch.

Tonight?  Thanksgiving prep and doing our nails!  No work for me tomorrow or Friday.  =)

Orlando

Okay, so I didn't go to the gym.  I enjoyed sleeping entirely too much to work out.  I didn't make my step goal two days.  It was hard since I was sitting for 8 hours three days in a row.

The travel itself was SUPER easy.  I checked both of my bags, so all I had to tote around was my small carry-on shoulder bag of entertainment.  A few days before we left, one of my co-workers recommended downloading a movie to my iPad to watch on the plane.  The concept of having to entertain myself had never entered my head.  So on the flight to Orlando, I watched Snow White and the Huntsman.  I thought it was pretty good.  I was worried about it since Kristen Stewart only seems capable of grimacing these days.

I flew on the same flight with 3 of my co-workers, so we all carpooled in a taxi to our hotel.  We stayed at a Hilton, so it was really fancy.  I had a room to myself, so I immediately unpacked everything after checking in.  After my first night there, I was ecstatic when I got back to my room to find the bathroom cleaned up and my bed made.  Housekeeping!  I totally forgot about housekeeping!  That's a luxury I miss most.  

There were many times I think they went overboard with the tidiness.  There were no trash cans in the conference.  There were hotel employees walking around constantly taking people's trash or finished plates.  We had a 15 minute coffee break in the morning and afternoon.  Every time I was at the coffee table, I felt like I was waiting for the employees to finish wiping up a drip of coffee, or grabbing someone's discarded sugar packet.  We're only out for 15 minutes!  This can't wait??

Also funny - they folded all paper products.  The toilet paper was folded into a triangle point.  They must have someone walk through the bathroom every hour or so because every time we had a bathroom break, the toilet rolls were folded again.  The tissue paper dispensers had tissues fluffed to look like a flower on top.  The paper towels were folded neatly.  It was nutso.

The hotel and conference center was on Disney property, so I could see Downtown Disney from my room.

In the evenings I hung out with various members of my group.  The first two nights we went to Downtown Disney for dinner. The third night we stayed at the hotel and had sushi.  The last night, I went with some new friends I made at the New Member Meeting and Opening Session (for the rest of the conference) to Universal City Walk for dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

The landscape was beautiful - this golf course was visible from the foyer where we ate lunch.

The pool had a lazy river, a giant slide and beach-like access.  Bummed I never had a chance to take a dip.

One of my friends called this the Torture Conference.  There were all these beautiful views outside each window, but I barely got to go out and touch it.  HA.  Maybe I will find more time when I go back for another conference in February.

The pre-conference itself was great. After this trip, I am confident in saying biosafety is where I belong.  I am honestly interested in what this job entails.  I am so glad I found my niche.  I thought the classes were interesting.  The only one that didn't grab me was Fundamentals of Biosafety, but that's only because it was old news to me.  I already knew everything they talked about in that class.  !!!  How fantastic is that?

The whole thing was great for networking.  I met lots of people at facilities we have to deal with frequently.  It was interesting to talk to people who have a similar job position to me, but have a different role based on what their institution specialized in.  The whole thing was a great experience.

The one thing is I missed my family dearly.  I talked to Travis every day, but there were a couple nights I didn't get to talk to Aiden because I wasn't available until after his bedtime.  I was thrilled we got to talk via FaceTime twice (hooray for free wi-fi).  Travis kept the kids alive and the house intact.  In fact, he even got out of the house with them over the weekend.

The spent Saturday morning at Froberg's Farm, a farmer's market.  You can barely see it, but Aiden has a toothpick hanging from his mouth. 

They picked up pumpkins that we are planning to carve this week.

Travis got a lot done really.  He took Friday off and got new tires put on his truck.  Then in the afternoon he had professional cleaners spruce up our carpets.  They look FANTASTIC.  I came home to a clean car and a full gas tank as well!  Travis was even able to find time to purchase a new pair of sneakers for himself.

I had fun, but it's nice to be home.

Sick Day

Mila's fever came back Monday afternoon. The daycare has a policy that if a child develops fever they're not allowed back within 24 hours. That means I got today off of work! She still had a low-grade fever this morning but it was gone by this afternoon.

This morning I met with the insurance adjuster so we could make a claim for the hail damage we got in April. Looks like we're getting a new roof!

I dropped Aiden off at daycare before lunch and went to meet Ariel. We ate at a restaurant on Galveston Seawall. Mila may have had a fever but she was in good spirits!

Delivery Day

Wow.  So this birthing experience was a complete 180 from the last.  A week ago on Thursday, I went in for my 40-week OB check up.  When I got in there, the doctor said I was dilated 1 centimeter so she would be able to strip my membranes.  It wasn't even really uncomfortable, which was weird since all the previous visits it actually hurt for her to check me for dilation.  After she finished, she told me she had accidentally torn the outer sac of the placenta.  I did not know this, but apparently there are two layers to the placenta.  I suppose the good news is she didn't break both!  

After my appointment I drove back to Galveston to pick up Aiden and we went to Kemah to meet the Ramby's for an outdoor concert and so the boys could run in the water play area.  My contractions were a little stronger that night, but the doctor told me to expect that whether I went into labor or not.  

That night, I went to bed and slept through the night without a hiccup.  When my alarm went off the next morning, I decided to time my contractions all day.  They were stronger than they had been before and I wanted to be sure to keep an eye on it.  I got ready for work, Travis got Aiden ready for daycare and we all left the house.  By the time I got to Aiden's daycare, the contractions had started to get strong enough that I had to breath and focus my way through them.  But they were irregular and far enough apart that I wasn't too concerned.  I decided I would take the day off.  It was supposed to be my last day of work before my maternity leave started.  I knew even if I went in and never went into labor, I would not be able to concentrate with those contractions.

I dropped Aiden off at daycare and drove over to work.  I was responsible for letting a guy into work that morning and I didn't want to leave him hanging.  I took care of that and drove straight over to Ariel and Robert's house.  At this point, my contractions were anywhere between 4 and 10 minutes apart.  Ariel was still asleep, so Robert agreed to drive me home.  I didn't think it was smart to drive any more with that level of contractions.  Robert drove me back in my car so he could drive it back to Galveston.  My dad was on the road to Texas, but wasn't supposed to arrive until around 2pm.  Ariel and Robert said they would pick up Aiden for me, so I had to leave a car with a car seat.

My plan was to go home and wait for the contractions to become regularly spaced.  By the time I got home, the contractions were 2-4 minutes apart.  I decided it would be best to have Travis come home from work since thing seemed to be moving right along.

Travis got home about 30 minutes later and packed his hospital bag.  I tried to get some of the basics done before he got home.  I couldn't stop moving.  I had to keep walking.  Sitting on the birthing ball actually seemed to relieve some of the pressure during the contractions, so I used that a lot.  I was at 2 minutes apart when we got in the truck to go to the hospital.  I was starting to get nervous that I would not make it to the hospital in time to get an epidural.  I know what it's like to push out a kid without an epidural and I really did not want to relive that if at all possible.  

Our hospital has valet parking.  VERY handy when a woman is in labor.  We walked to the elevators inside and sure enough, they weren't working properly.  I was walking in circles trying to focus on my breathing while five other people stood around holding various items that showed they were visiting others (flowers, balloons, teddy bears, fast food bags, etc).  I think they were all a little skeptical about getting on the elevator with me when it finally started working again.  I had flashes of giving birth to my daughter while locked in that tiny compartment with five strangers.  At least Travis would be there.

Thankfully, the elevator got us to the third floor without any further problems.  We walked up to the nurses station at 11 am and they took me to a birthing room right away.  The nurse started checking me in and I told her right off the bat I wanted an epidural.  She checked me first to make sure I was "actually in labor".  Ha.  I was 90% effaced and dilated 4.5 cm.

I was wishing I had come in earlier because the process of getting an epidural is an excruciatingly loooonnnnggg process.  First, I had to be admitted.  This proved to be a trying situation since the second nurse that came in to do that for me was from Africa.  Her accent was so strong that I had trouble understanding her and she had trouble understanding me.  Oh and she had the same problem with all the other nurses that came in periodically.

Second, I had to receive a liter of IV fluids.  An epidural can cause low blood pressure.  To counteract that, they pump you full of fluids.  Third, I had to drink some really nasty antacid crap.  BLECH.  Fourth, I had to sign consent forms for the analgesia.  Fifth, I had to wait for the anesthesiologist to have time for me.  

After I got the epidural, it took about 10 minutes for it to start working.  The nurse checked me again while we waited for the epidural to work it's magic.  I was 7 cm dilated.  As soon as the anesthesiologist left, the nurse realized the baby's heart monitor had lost it's signal.  Instead of readjusting the band, she started having me flip from side to side.  It was really difficult to move quickly during the contractions.  I was still feeling the pain, not to mention it was just difficult to move with that giant belly.  Travis had to leave while I got the epidural.  A nurse came in at that point to see if Travis could come back in the room.  My nurse (who I had lost any confidence in) said "no not yet" and asked that nurse for help.  She walked up to me, readjusted the heart monitor and it was fine.  

I am pretty sure that Idiot Nurse had no idea what she was doing.  She had me flipping all over the place just because she couldn't find Mila's heartbeat.  I was really annoyed when she made me stay lying on my right side.  She thought that was why the nurse was able to find her heart beat again.  So that meant my right leg was completely non-functional.  The epidural pools with gravity.  Weirdest feeling ever.

They let Travis back into the room and I sent him back out to get me more ice chips.  I was SO THIRSTY. At 1:45, while he and the nurse were out of the room, my water broke.  I couldn't reach the nurse's call button because it was on the left side of the bed.  I just waited for Travis to get back and he pressed the button for me.  

At 2:20, the doctor came in to check me.  I was a little bummed my doctor was not working that weekend, but this doctor turned out to be just as great.  After he checked me, he asked if I was having the urge to push at all.  I told him I didn't think so.  He said I was complete (10 cm) and the head had started to come down into the birth canal, but he wanted me to feel that urge before we got the show on the road.  He had the nurses hook me up to Pitocin.

By 2:45 I was having a severe urge to push.  It was so intense that I actually had Travis check me to see if the head was already coming out.  The Idiot Nurse came over to check me at that point.  She had me push as she checked and said I was ready.  I was hungry and worried about hours of pushing on an empty stomach, so she ran to grab me a Popsicle.  

She gave it to me and then asked me to push again.  While I was holding the Popsicle.  Soooo I grabbed my left leg with one hand, held onto the Popsicle with the other hand and pushed.  

The nurse yells, "Stop, stop, stop!"  So I stopped.  She was doing something so I went back to eating the Popsicle.  

Then the nurse mumbles something in her hard-to-understand accent that sounded like push again.  But then she seemed to stop paying attention to me.  

I said, "Push?  Right now?"  When she didn't respond, I just said, "Eh," and went back to eating the Popsicle.  

Travis started laughing so hard.  So then I started laughing.  This whole thing was totally different than our last experience.  

I finally finished the Popsicle and the nurse asked me to push one more time.  "Stop, stop, stop!" she said again.  "I don't want you to have this baby before the doctor comes in here.  Better safe than sorry!"  Ugh, she was the worst.

The doctor came in and all the nurses set up their stations (one for me, one for Mila).  The doctor gave me some tips on pushing and then we gave it a go.  I pushed three times in a row, then I rested until the next contraction.  I pushed again and then on the fifth push, out came Mila's head!  No pain.  Just pressure.  It was perfect.  The doctor suctioned then asked me to push again, out came the rest of Mila!  The doctor held her up, pronounced her a girl and laid her on my belly.  Travis and I were both crying.  Then Travis got to cut the cord.  I was so excited he got to do that since he didn't get to with Aiden (umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice).  

Travis went over to the warmer with Mila while I took care of the afterbirth.  I had instant relief once the placenta was out.  I felt like I could breathe again.  The doctor held it up for me to see as he inspected it. So funny.  Then he goes, "Hey Dad!  Get over here and take a picture of this."  Oh man the look on Travis's face.  "Really?" he asked.  He so did not want to get near that thing.  I told Travis to just come over and take a picture of it really quick.  That way I could look at it afterward.  I think it's interesting.

When I had Aiden I had to get a local anesthetic to numb the area for stitching afterward.  The epidural was still in full force this time around so I didn't need anything for the stitching.

After I was finished and cleaned up I got to hold Mila.  I attempted nursing her for the first time and it went really well.  She was wide awake.

Mila's first photo

When they brought in my dinner, Travis took her.  Soon after that my family arrived with Aiden (Dad, Ariel and Robert).

Aiden meets Mila for the first time

Mila gave her big brother a gift when he arrived.  He LOVES his Hulk action figure.  Aiden did so good with her.  He was really sweet and gentle.  He was also REALLY excited to have all his favorite people together.

As soon as my epidural had begun to wear off, they took Mila to the transitional nursery, my family went out for dinner and they wheeled me to the room I would be staying in for the weekend.  

I was super stoked when they brought in another tray of food for me.  I was insanely hungry.  My family came back after dinner to visit a little more.  

I will try to blog more soon.  I'm working on figuring out how to take care of two kids right now, so I am not sure when the blogging will happen.  Travis was off all week and he goes back to work Tuesday.  My dad has been here all week and he will be for another week.  So I've had lots of help.  It's still been a learning process!

Once

39 Weeks

I had my weekly OB appointment yesterday.  Still nothing.  I was having three contractions an hour yesterday so I was hopeful there would be some semblance of progression.  No such luck.  I have only had one contraction so far today, so I guess my body calmed down.

My doctor has mentioned in the past that I probably have an irritable uterus.  Basically, I have lots of contractions for no reason.  On a normal day, I have around 10 contractions and have had this since I was around 12 weeks pregnant.  But yesterday, I had 24 contractions over the course of 8 hours. (Granted, they were unevenly spaced and in duration.)  That put me in a BAD mood.  I was even more irritable last night when I looked at the pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen I couldn't wash because the contractions were starting to get painful.  Thankfully Travis found the time to take care of it.

If I have started effacing or dilating by next Thursday, the doctor will try stripping the membranes.  If I'm not dilating, she can't get in there to do the procedure.

I was talking to my mom about how I expect to have to be induced the week after my due date.  She mentioned that our family seems to be extremely fertile and have absolutely no problems getting pregnant or growing healthy babies.  But when it comes to actually delivering, we SUCK.  It seems that the women in our family are prone to long deliveries and c-sections.  This conversation further convinced me I will be having this child somewhere around May 25th. 

Here's hoping today is better than yesterday.