Blake Logan Hunter

HE'S HERE HE'S HERE HE'S HERE HE'S HERE HE'S HERE!!!!!!!!!

Blake Logan Hunter was born on May 22 at 10:40AM, he was 7lbs 1oz and 19 inches long!

Oh my goodness I am so incredibly happy! Not just to be done with pregnancy, although I really didn't like being pregnant, but to have my sweet little Blake to hold at last! And yes, I know that once again I was only pregnant for 37 weeks, but really it feels like the whole 40 because with both pregnancies I have gone in when the doctor's thought I would be 8 weeks (based on last cycle) and was only 5, which means I've gotten morning sickness at 4 weeks with both, so really the symptoms last the same amount of time. Anyway, back to the topic at hand - this post is to tell the birth story! :)

The story will be picked up where I left off complaining about bed rest. I am SO glad that I only had to do that for a week, because with a 2 year old who just wants to play and a husband who's studying for his finals for the hardest quarter of pharmacy school, well a week just felt like an eternity! Lucky for me, my AMAZING mother-in-law Rosanna dropped everything to come down and help take care of me and Sophie and Jon until he could be done with his classes! This was a huge sacrifice for her (though she would never admit it) because she works at the temple, is the emergency preparedness leader in her ward as well as working with Bluffdale city, just got certified as a general for her HAM radio and has weekly meetings to make sure that all of the HAM radio users in the area are coordinated and everything is working well and everyone knows what they're doing, all along with taking care of her family including her mother who has recently had more health issues (which has been physically and emotionally draining!) So for her to drop everything and come down here to basically babysit me has been a tremendous blessing. Anyway, so she came down on Mother's day (May 13) and just on the way to go and pick her up from the airport I started having strong contractions that were close together, but by the time we were heading home they had spaced out significantly. Contractions continued to come and go that whole week, and after seeing my doctor on Wednesday the 16th and seeing that I was dilated to a 2 and about 60-70% effaced, I was sure that my little Ninja would be coming at any moment! So I sort of gave up the bed rest (with the okay from my doctor), though Rosanna still helped with things like getting Sophie ready in the mornings and putting her down at night since it was just painful for me to have to bend like that, and I focused on helping Jon study for his finals. Well he finished his finals and I still had not had the baby! By this point Rosanna had been here a week of her 2 week stay, so I was getting a little antsy because I really wanted her here when he was born. We would go on long shopping trips to Costco, Wal-Mart, etc to try and get things moving, but nothing would stay consistent.

Finally on Saturday night after helping Jon clean and organize a bunch of our junk in the garage, I started having contractions regular enough and strong enough that after a while we went in. I was so excited thinking that this was it! We got there around 11:00PM and got all hooked up to the monitors in the triage area, and when they checked me I was only at a 3 and this nurse said I was closer to 60% effaced than 70. So we walked for an hour, went back, and when they checked me again and I was 3 and "a little bit", and closer to 70%. I wasn't too thrilled with this, but they kept me for another hour and then had me walk for another hour after that. At this point I was tired, sore, and getting really sad that they were going to send me home. Jon was optimistic and kept saying not to stress out, but I just knew that they would send me home and it made me sad. Sure enough, when they checked me again I wasn't any further along, so the nurse couldn't justify keeping me until I could make some progress and they sent me home saying that they'd probably see me later on in the day. By now it was about 4AM. We stayed home from church (I was just too exhausted) and after resting my contractions were back to sporadic and not very strong. Needless to say, I was really disappointed.

On Monday we decided to start on the tile for the potty closet in the master bathroom (the only part not done previously), so I spent most of the day helping Jon with the things I could while Rosanna and Sophia played. After a little bit my contractions got noticeably stronger and closer, but I didn't get my hopes up until almost an hour had passed with them coming every 5 minutes while I was resting and every 2-3 while standing. Jon kept asking if I wanted to go in, and they finally got painful enough that I said yes and so we cleaned up a bit and headed out with me thinking the whole time that I'd probably just get sent home again. (Yes, pregnancy hormones were making me quite the downer!) This was about 5:30. So we went through the same drill as before, hook me up, monitor the screens for a bit, check me, see that I was only at a 3.5 to which I was really upset because these contractions hurt a LOT worse, and then send me walking for an hour. It hurt so bad walking, but I never stopped moving and hoping that I could be admitted, and when they finally checked me again I was at a 4 and they finally said I could stay!!! I was so happy! This was about 7:30. They got me my epidural around 9:30 (guy was kind of a jerk and stabbed me with the numbing agent before warning me!) and soon I was laying back in my blissfully numb state and watching the contractions on the monitor. Since I had learned with Sophie that staying up all night because you're excited only leads to a very tired and dream-like state when it's time to push, I tried to sleep. Crazy thing happened though - I'm not sure if it was just from the epidural or what, but whenever I tried to sleep I would be full on talking in my sleep and yelling and throwing my arms around! Ha ha, still not sure why, but Jon had to wake me up and tell me to stop so I didn't pull my IV out! Pretty funny though. :)

Okay, long night went by. They checked me at 1:30 - still at a 4. At 5AM they started me on the Pitocin, then around 7AM when cranky night-nurse lady left (yeah, I wasn't a fan of her) I got happy wonderful fun day-nurse named Julie who checked me and said I was between a 6 and 7, and just after 8AM my doctor came in and broke my water.

From here things FINALLY started moving faster. (I know, you're wishing I would move this story along faster as well, but I want all of these boring details for myself so you can just deal with it.) :) My contractions got harder and closer together, and I was feeling pressure from them (as I had been able to do all night, which I liked) but no pain. Then suddenly, I notice that there is a little bit of pain. I mention this and the nurse hooks me up with the button to push to give myself a little more epidural. It wasn't working though! Still, I thought, I should be numb enough that I won't really feel much anyway. Then they stop the Pitocin once I get to an 8, and for some reason my contractions come faster and harder! Now I'm feeling a lot of painful pressure where they say that the baby's head is pushing on my cervix, but since I'm not fully dilated there's nothing I can do but breath through it. Now I'm at a 9, and they have me pushing during contractions to see if we can push the remaining bit of cervix out of the way - as in they're using their hands to try and push and stretch it while I'm pushing the baby's head into it to try and stretch it from the other side. This freaking hurts so much that I actually have to stop and throw up! So we try to get more epidural stuff in me and while my stomach is nice and numb, I still feel everything down in the nether regions. I'm more than a little nervous at this point!

Then, it's time. The doctor is on her way, I've been pushing the baby down into position to the point that they suddenly say "Okay no more!" because he's crowning and the doctor is still on her way. Jon is there holding my hand and smiling all encouraging like, while I'm thinking "Nothing is numb!!!" Dr. Brotsky comes in all smiles and happy like always, and gets into position. Holy cow, this hurts more than even I thought it would! They're all saying I'm doing great and tell me to keep pushing, but it hurts so bad that I keep breaking and losing progress! I can feel him right there at the opening, I feel the pressure, the stretching, and all the pain, and they're telling me to push harder! So I do, and after what seems like forever (really it was like 5-10 minutes total) and after feeling some tearing and other horrible things, his head is out!!! The rest I don't even remember pushing out, but he came out, I lost control of my emotions, Jon is smiling and squeezing my hand telling me I'm amazing, everyone is saying good job, and through it all I find my little baby's hand and hold it while stroking his head and arms. With Sophie it was all so new and confusing that I feel like I was in a bit of shock the whole time - this time, however, the full effect of the moment hit me hard. They let Jon cut the cord and encouraged him to take pictures while they weighed little Blake and got him all wrapped up. I was so happy when I could finally hold him, and try as hard as I could I could not stop my tears because I was so happy that 1) all the pain was over! and 2) that I finally had my baby to hold. I fed him right away and he was already a pro! Latched on right away and went to town!

They let Blake stay in there with us for a full hour and half (the last hour Rosanna had come in with Sophie to meet the baby, which she just squealed and giggled and loved on him so much, it was adorable!) before they took him for his bath.

This whole experience definitely felt more magical and wonderful than the first time, again just because I wasn't in shock the whole time. Even with the pain it was wonderful, though if we go through this again I am going to insist that they numb me better! LOL, definitely do NOT want the natural thing again! I'm so happy to have my little boy - even if he wasn't officially planned, even if I had to endure a LOT of struggles and pains to get him here, I am just so overcome with how wonderful he is and how perfect our little family feels now that he's a part of it. I just love him so much! And I love that Sophia has been so welcoming to him and that Jon has been so amazing through this whole pregnancy and especially during the birth where I don't think I could have had the strength or energy to keep pushing if he hadn't been there with me! My heart is just overwhelmed with the blessings that we have been given. OH, and so so so very happy that Rosanna's efforts to take care of all of us didn't go unrewarded and that she was able to celebrate his birth with us! I know this post doesn't have any pictures, and it's because I haven't uploaded them yet, but my next one will and I will show you just how handsome my little Blake is and just how sweet and loving Sophia is and just how amazing of a father Jon is. For now, I'm still pretty tired, so I'm going to take a nap. :)

(Sorry if any of this is weirdly written - I mean more than normal - I'm on my pain killers right now and the world is a little loopy! LOL)

6 Years of Bliss and Life in Bed

Well that sounds like the title of something inappropriate...but don't worry, It's just about my week. :) I've written in my journal (which is weird for me to do before typing it out here, but at least I couldn't just say "Oh just go read my blog" and cut my journal entry short...not that I've ever done that...don't read my journal. Sorry, tangent. Anyway, this coming Sunday (yes, Mother's day, May 13th) is mine and Jon's 6 year wedding anniversary!!! Last year we were so consumed with moving to Arizona for school, buying a house, packing, and keeping Sophie entertained that it seems like 5 years came and went and we didn't really get to feel the impact of it all. It's normally kind of a milestone anniversary - right? Well, I'm pretty sure we did Redbox, and maybe bought some chocolates. I can't really even remember what we did/ate, but I do remember that I spent the day with Jon and that I loved it. THIS year, however, it's finally setting in that "Holy cow! We've been married for 6 years!!! That's longer than high school!" (Hey, high school seemed to last for forever, so it's a completely valid comparison!)

Normally I would try to do a big "Ode to Marriage" post at this point...but I'm just too tired! I'll explain that further in a moment. But for now, I shall tell you how we celebrated our 6 wonderful years together. We celebrated last week, since Jon didn't have a test this last Monday (Yay!), by going to see one of the greatest movies ever. The Avengers.

HOLY COW I LOVED THIS MOVIE SO MUCH I WAS GEEKING OUT SO BAD!!!!! Seriously - LOVED it! We had a hard time getting a babysitter for Sophie - Cinco de Mayo seems to be a bad day for babysitters - but we found someone literally the morning of the movie so we were able to watch in peace! After the incredibly awesome 3 hours in the theater, we picked up Sophie and ate at Chipotle grill (yum yum yum), and then headed home. Being all big and pregnant, this was a pretty busy day for me, so I was pretty tired. But we got home, Sophie fell asleep in the car so we put her in bed, and I decided that I should be productive with my time and swept the kitchen floor. Since I was already tired and having some minor painful contractions, I figured this would be easier on my than vacuuming. So I finished, and felt like I would die, so I layed down. A while later, Sophie woke up (NOOO!!!!) and demanded to go potty, so it was a lot of getting up, stooping/kneeling down, getting up again, carrying a scared 2-year-old around, trying to snuggle, etc., until finally I handed her off to Jon and told him that if I had to pick her up again I would either cry or die. At this point my minor contractions were pretty not-so-minor anymore, so I got some water and layed down and tried to relax. But they just didn't want to stop! By this time it was close to midnight, and I was tired and really didn't want to go in to labor and delivery, so I kept trying to wait it out and relax, but it wasn't working and I finally told Jon that I would go in. I made him stay home with Sophie (it was hard enough to find a babysitter during the day, much less at midnight until who-knows-when!) and I went in to the hospital.

After having a slight emotional breakdown in the car thinking "Holy cow, what if they can't stop my labor! What if the baby isn't developed enough! What if he's so small he can't eat!" and other such thoughts, I made it to the hospital and found my way up to labor and delivery - almost falling flat on my face from painful contractions about 6 times. Yep, I'm graceful like that. :) After they hooked me up to the various monitors and took a urine sample (at which point I noticed the spotting for the first time which did not calm my nerves) they informed me that I was definitely in labor and that they were waiting to see what the doctor said as to whether or not they would admit me and let the baby come, or stop the labor and send me home. I was 34 weeks and 6 days! So as I waited nervously to hear what was going to happen, I started to text Jon back and forth to tell him what was happening and informed him that he may have to find a place for Sophie to go. Finally after an hour or so of sitting there worrying and trying to breath through my contractions, they came back with a tiny medicine vial and a syringe and announced that they would be stopping the labor. THANK GOODNESS!!! I was just not ready for my little guy to come quite yet! So they gave me that awful terbutaline that burns like crazy and then leaves you all sorts of jittery, and a little while later gave me an IV to replenish my fluids. So long story short, I spent a long, painful, boring, and tiring night there and around 8 AM they gave me nifedipine to relax my uterus when I went home to help me last until my regular appointment on Wednesday.

The next 2 days felt like I had been shot in the stomach and groin with a cannon, and anytime I tried to do anything I would get dizzy from the nifedipine and my stomach would tighten very quickly and cause me to have to lay down again. When I saw my OB on Wednesday, she asked if I had any family near by or anyone that could help me with Sophie throughout the day - to which I replied not really until Jon's done with his finals next week. So she didn't say the words "bed rest", but she did say that I was to move as little as possible and to only get up when absolutely necessary, to call on neighbors or friends to help if needed, and to keep taking my nifedipine until I could see her the next week, at which point we would stop the nifedipine and let the baby do his thing. And once Jon is done with his tests, she says I'm supposed to lay around and let him do everything for me and take care of me. Her goal was to get me to 36 weeks at least (which is next Monday), but I want to see if we can wait until Jon's done with his finals and possibly make it to 37 weeks, so we'll see. Since then, I've tried to do little things (like put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher) and if I can even accomplish it in one sitting, it still leaves me huffing and puffing and laying down for a long time after.

Problem is, I get so stinking bored laying around, and I feel like I'm not doing what I should! Poor Sophie is probably bored to tears and spends all day watching TV or coloring since I can't do much else with her, the dishes and house are suffering, and Jon has been eating leftovers (which luckily I had quite a bit of) for the last couple of days. Ugh, I'll just be glad when this is all over. Bed rest is boring. And I'm sore. But, at least I'm almost done, I'll get to hold my cute little superhero ninja baby soon, and hopefully he'll come when he's fully cooked! Until then, wish me luck! (And here's to hoping that next year we can have a stress-free, non-pregnant anniversary that we can really enjoy!) :)