One month

WARNING: Super long post ahead.

We made it an entire month! Wowee. Time flies when you have a newborn.

On the birth:

Ouch Charlie. That stuff don't mess around. I'm not sure where if all the pieces of the birthing story ever got together, so here we go. Feel free to just skip to the pictures if you'd rather. :)

This is one of the latest pregnancy pictures I could find. I'm pretty sure this was the day before my water broke.

On September 28th (the day before I was due), Sam bought me a fresh pineapple and I ate the entire thing because he read that pineapple can induce labor, and I was pretty tired of being pregnant. Talk about cankers. A girl at work who was due a few days before me brought up a good point that I'll never forget. She said that she figures that we could really just be pregnant for about 34 weeks, but God makes pregnancy last for 40 weeks so that women aren't afraid to give birth anymore. HA.

Low and behold, my water broke at 12:30 AM on the 29th. I think my least favorite part of labor was that fluid leaking ALL THE TIME. I couldn't believe how much of it there was. So gross.

Even though my water broke, I wasn't having any contractions. We called the midwives and got to Courtney, who we'd seen several times and liked. She told us to give it an hour, and if contractions didn't start to go in to the hospital to have them check on the baby.

We got to the hospital around 2 AM, and a nice lady named Faye hooked me up to a non-stress test to watch for contractions and monitor the baby's heartbeat for a while. The kiddo was doing great, so Courtney they gave us the option of going home and waiting for contractions or hanging out at the hospital. We went home with the instructions to be back at 8:30 AM whether I was contracting or not.

So back home we went. I did laundry and cleaned the kitchen because I was too excited to sleep. 8:30 came along and we were admitted to the hospital. Jill was our first nurse, and she told us to go walk until Courtney came in at noon to see if contractions would start by themselves. If they didn't, they'd start pitocin.

After a LOT of walking and having nothing to show for it but REALLY sore tired feet, Courtney showed up around 1:00 and started me on pitocin. My notes say that I was at a 3 and 90% an hour later, but it felt like 10 hours. Jill wouldn't let me sit up in my bed or get out of bed for some reason, and that was really uncomfortable. I made it to a 4 three hours later, and soon after that Jill left and Bonnie came. PRAISE HEAVEN.

Bonnie was wonderful. She had lots of suggestions on how to better manage the pain and feel a little more comfortable, the most valuable of which was the Blessed birthing ball. I sat on the ball until I got to about a 6 if I remember right, so about 3ish hours. It was wonderful.

At 6 cm they set up for delivery and put me back in bed around 8 PM that night. Someone said that the baby would definitely come by the end of Bonnie's shift at 6 AM. Not.

Again, Bonnie was WONDERFUL. She reminded me a lot of mom. She was very helpful and sympathetic. Sam said she cried for me there at the end when the pain was getting pretty bad. I love Bonnie.

I got to 7 cm at 12 AM Monday morning. We were still doing alright with the pain. I hopped back on the birthing ball and would just kind of rock back and forth in circles and close my eyes during the contractions. It was helping me to remember that most people get from 7 to 10 centimeters really quickly and then you start pushing.

When I was still at 7ish cm almost five hours later, that's when I remember basically losing it. I was exhausted from contractions and from not sleeping, and my resolve was blown because I hadn't progressed AT ALL in four and half hours.

Bonnie still had lots of suggestions and we tried most of them, but my concentration was out the window and I wasn't coping well anymore. Courtney, the midwife, was there for most of the labor, but didn't really have anything helpful to say...I think she was just tired. She'd been awake as long as me and Sam had.

I tried the jacuzzi at about 5:30 AM and it was great for in between contractions because my body could just float in there and gravity wasn't as annoying, but I didn't like it during the contractions because I didn't have anything to hold or push against or anything. That's when we started talking pain relief. TO THE MAX PLEASE.

Courtney, knowing that I was trying to go completely unmedicated, suggested fentanyl first to just take the edge of the contractions. While they were starting it, I asked if it was too late for an epidural, and heard that it wasn't. It was immediately requested, but we were right at the change of the shift, so there wasn't anyone available in the Rexburg hospital anymore. The closest doctor was in Rigby, about 20 minutes away.

I didn't like the fentanyl. It made me reeeeeeally sleepy, so I would doze between contractions, but then I'd wake up in the middle of one and not have the beginning of the contraction to prepare for the peak. Not nice.

Bonnie had to leave at 6, and Janelle came. I liked her. At 6:30ish, Cindy showed up and gave the epidural. I LOVED Cindy. She gave the run down on everything really quickly and got right down to business. I was REALLY scared for the epidural because it's such a little teensy weensy space they're aiming at, and I had to be completely still to not die or be permanently paralyzed, and I didn't think I could do it. But I squeezed Sam's hands during the contractions and listened to his voice, and we did it! Once the epidural was in place, I had maybe 3 more bad contractions, and then the medicine hit my system and I was out. I slept for a few hours while my body did the hard work without me. I have an awesome body. Can I just say that?

They woke me up at 8ish and said it was time to push, I was at 10 cm and totally effaced. Courtney came and I pushed for about an hour with no progress. The babe was stuck behind my pubic bone. Courtney went out and talked to a doctor, who told her that if the baby didn't get under that bone, they'd have to do a C-section. They couldn't use forceps or a vacuum or anything til the baby made it past that bone.

Courtney came back to deliver the news, but said that she was going to leave and let Rachel, another midwife, come in with me. She was too exhausted, and didn't want the decision of C-section or not to be on her and her shut down brain.

Rachel showed up checked my cervix. She said that I had a teensy bit of cervix that wasn't fully out of the way on the right side. She felt the baby and thought that she might be a little sideways in there, which was why she wasn't getting past that bone and wasn't moving with the pushing. She wasn't too impressed with the contractions either, and cranked up the pitocin to get them going really good. I cranked up my epidural and took a two hour nap.

Rachel and Janelle came back at noon and we were pleased to see that the baby had slipped past the pubic bone and was in a great position to start pushing again. So I pushed. They brought in a bar that they put over the bed so I could squat and push, which really helped me to figure out how I needed to be pushing. Because of the epidural, I didn't feel any contractions and didn't have the urge to push at all, so Rachel would watch the monitors and tell me when to go.

Janelle and Rachel were exactly what we needed. They had a lot of encouraging things to say while I pushed, which helped even when I'd been pushing for almost two hours and still didn't have a baby. They brought in a mirror when the baby was starting to crown, and that helped too to keep me motivated and to focus my pushing.

FINALLY! Little Natalie ViAnn was born at 2:10 PM and was healthy and slimy and perfect. Almost as soon as I held her and heard her and saw her face, it was like I started to forget how rotten labor was and how bad it hurt and exactly what it felt like. I guess that's how people have more than one baby.

On Natalie:

She's a great baby. She eats well, though we have to use a shield for her to latch well, which is kind of annoying. She sleeps great, and usually does a five hour stretch at night. She loves her sucker, she loves to poke her tongue out and lick, and she loves her daddy. Seriously. She's already quite the daddy's girl. She gets the most comments on her cute nose and her long fingers. Everyone says she looks just like Sam.

I love being her mom. Right now it feels more like resident babysitter, but I still love it. My favorite thing in the world is when she smiles, because it goes all the way to her eyes and sometimes she'll look at me when she does it. My least favorite thing is when I accidentally gag her with her sucker. I don't like that at all.

Natalie ViAnn Brooks

I tell you what, this is one cute baby!

So when Megan went into labor, I started getting a cold. I wore a mask about the last two days to prevent little Natalie from getting sick. 

I would hold her hand when she would cry - it seemed to help her

She is so tiny! 

Natalie's first picture

Ready to go home! 

37 weeks!!

And I quote:

Your baby "is now clinically mature and ready to be born."

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!! 

That is wonderful news. This is part in the recipe that says "remove from oven and cool on wire rack," and let's be serious, we could really just skip that step and scarf. But apparently our baby likes to follow directions, so she's in there cooling her jets and getting pumped to make her grand entrance.

Sorry I wear the same clothes in every picture...

Our appointments are every week. Our appointment last Tuesday was swell, I'm measuring 36 which is  spot on. The midwife that we met with made us nervous that the babe wasn't moving enough, so we panicked and went back the next day and did a non-stress test, where they just put a monitor on my tummy and we get to listen to her heart beat for 20 minutes and a little chart spits out of the machine. The lady came in and said that little Penelope is just perfect. Huzzah!

Baby Shower

This post is dedicated to Michelle.

Friend Heather threw me a baby shower! Thank heavens, because babies are exPENsive. And we didn't have any clothes.

Here's the invite:

It's a diaper. :)

I don't really have any friends, so all the old ladies that I work with were invited. They are very friendly, and can spend a lot more money on baby things than me. Convenient, eh?

One of the ladies asked me last week or so to put together a list of all the things I didn't have. She said that I had to put things on there even if they were expensive and I didn't plan on receiving them. So I did. It was fun. And I got a large number of things on that list!

We had it at Applebee's because there was plenty of parking and I didn't have to try and figure out how I was going to seat 15 old ladies with hip problems in my little apartment. Thank heaven. That was a stroke of genius from whoever suggested it.

PLEASE excuse the double chin(s).

 The lady on the very front right is named Cookie. Really! That's her name!

It's a wee little baby cradle. An old lady cut them, I folded and glued. And then we stuffed them full of Hershey kisses and  tulle.

Little things

Here are some things that are awesome.

 Nope, you're not looking at Pinterest or some other website that has pictures of awesome hair, that's the back of my very own personal head! I picked a sock that had no brother and made a sock bun. And I put it on my head.

 Obviously, these are my lovely toes. I went with Heather (my roommate who came to our wedding) to get our toes done at the local beauty school for TWELVE SMACKERS. And the girl who did my toes was Brazilian. She used her own Brazilian fingernail polish on my toes, and gave me a flower on the Biggies. ("Be young!!!")

 Samuel went to Island Park with one of his friends to pal around for a few days before said friend moves to Texas. And he picked me flowers before he left. Because he likes me.

THIS is a wall decal. I automatically think of Fat Head commercials when I say that. The idea is that they stick on your wall and make everything wonderful. But these don't really stick on our wall. We might glue them there.

We got rear ended like, 8 months ago, and they shattered our passengers side tail light assembly. We didn't really care til we got pulled over last week and the nice policeman let us off with a friendly warning. (Probably a first in the Rexburg police force.) It lit a fire under Sam and we ordered a replacement online. It came today. The brownies were brought over by a neighbor. They are made out of beans. BEANS. Bean brownies.

Home Improvement

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, this last week was a pretty long one. Saturday came for me as a very welcome relief from work, from setting an alarm, from wearing work-appropriate clothes, from having to look together, etc. I slept in until TEN O' CLOCK for cryin' out loud. I don't remember the last time I did that. But I really liked it.

Sam and I went down to the big city to do a little shopping for our new little apartment and to eat Red Robin. These pictures actually don't show hardly anything that we bought, because we haven't hung any of it up yet. But stay tuned.

Sam has become quite the handyman these days. We snagged this dresser for FREE and it was minus several handles and the left middle drawer had no slat to sit on, so it just fell through into the bottom drawer. But Sam fixed it up quite nicely. 

Funny story: I got this crib for free also from work using Accolade points that I earn just for doing my job. Sam and I were really gung-ho about putting it together, but then we got to a step that just wasn't possible because the blasted legs were WRONG. The hole in the top was drilled 2 inches too low on 2 of the 4 legs. We were outraged. Sam called the company to get new posts, and the girl told him that because we didn't have any warranty or receipt information, that we would have to fork over $45 for new legs. So after steaming over that for 3 weeks or so, Sam called the company again ready to make some demands. Sweet British Cynthia answered the phone and kindly helped us reassemble our crib in the right way, and magically, every piece was manufactured perfectly.

I made this blanket with my own two hands. A nice old lady at work taught me how to crochet, and so I single stitched two skeins of pink yarn together, added tassels, and hung it on our crib. I'm busting my buttons just looking at it.

 

My curtains! I've had a hard time with these puppies. They didn't turn out quite as I envisioned, but thanks to A LOT of positive feedback from Sam, I don't think I'll burn them and rip the rod from the wall. I tied them with twine and I think I'll hot glue a little sunflower or something on the tie.

Sam bought me the bag of my dreams this Saturday. I think I tricked him into it by saying that we can use it as a diaper bag, but the more I look at it, I just don't think it's going to happen. Also, thanks again to Jenna for the ULTRA comfy maternity dress.

This might be my favorite improvement to our house. I got this shelving for free from work as well, and we've turned a little closet in our kitchen into a bonified pantry. I love it. 

And last, but certainly not least, is Sam's Burnin' Love Burger at Red Robin on Saturday. It came with a whole jalepeno pepper speared right on top of it. It was quite a sight.

Our NEW apartment!!!

This is the view in the summers from up the street and down the street from the temple. It's a beautiful sight.

This is our kitchen. We love how open it is. You can see to your right the front door and right next to the front door is a pantry where we are planning on keeping food storage. 

This is our hallway. As you walk down the hallway to your right you will see our bathroom which is across from our very own washer and dryer! Then further back on the right will be our babies room and to the left is our room.

I must say Megan did a great job with those curtains! This view is if you were standing almost in the hallway facing the kitchen. The front door is to your left. 

This is our living room. You can't see all the space we have in there (sorry) but it's a decent amount. Also that big couch is the sectional the previous renters left us. It's pretty sweet. 

This is our bathroom. We love it. 

Here is our babies room. (we had problems setting up the crib. The manufactures apparently made one of the ends holes an inch away from where it should be so we can't connect the end's to the side rail. 

Here is another view of the babies room

Here is our bedroom!

Another angle

I like how the room angles off like that

Our super big closet. The babies closet is the same size.

SO we have a lot of work still to get our house decorated with pictures and such, but thus far we love this apartment. It's big and spacious and the AC works great. We are very pleased to call this place home.