Romney Beth Nelson

I can't believe it's taken me so long to blog about Romney's birth. I guess I've just been enjoying my baby :)  I could stare at her adorable face all day and I totally would if I could. Anyway, Enjoy!

I woke up the morning of October 27th with a feeling that something was going to happen. Call it mother's intuition or whatever, but I knew before I got out of bed that I'd go into labor that day. I took advantage of this and soaked in the moment as much as possible. I laid in the quiet wondering about everything that was about to happen, how I'd feel and how everything would play out. I'd been anticipating meeting my baby girl for months and months and all of a sudden it was here. It was such a surreal moment. When I got out of bed I fully expected my water to break the minute my feet touched the floor. That didn't happen.....even after walking around for a while. I began second guessing myself and started to put the thought out of my mind completely. It was a Saturday, so Tyler and I filled our morning doing random things around the house. As the morning progressed, I thought my water could be leaking, but last time I thought that, I was wrong. So again I just put it out of my mind and continued to busy myself with other things. Around 11:00 I was pretty certain my water was leaking and I  really started considering going to the hospital. I wasn't feeling any contractions, so I figured I could still be wrong. Tyler had plans to go to lunch with some friends at 12:30 and I told him if I still felt the same when he got back, we should probably go to the hospital just to be safe. At noon, I was standing in the hallway talking to Tyler when I felt a gush of water. I just froze and started saying "something's happening, something's happening". Tyler looked confused and said "what are you talking about?" I answered with, "um, I'm either peeing my pants or my water just broke." I was wearing a pair of big, baggy pajama pants so Tyler couldn't tell I had water running down my leg. His response was to say, "I can't see" as he reached over and yanked my pants down to my ankles and then he said, "....Oh!". At this point, I was certain it was time to go to the hospital. I was only 36 weeks 4 days pregnant, so I didn't have a hospital bag completely packed. While I took a shower and finished packing my bag, Tyler quickly installed the car seat and put everything he thought we might need together and in the car.  I felt kind of frantic as I was getting ready feeling like I needed to rush and get there as soon as possible, I kept trying to calm down by reminding myself that since this is my first baby, labor would be extremely long....little did I know.

We arrived at the hospital around 1:30.

Props to those who can look amazing during labor with their hair and make up done. This is as glamorous as it got for me.

We decided not to spread the news until the nurse confirmed my water had broken. The last thing I wanted was Tyler sending out a never-mind text saying, "false alarm, Sara just peed her pants". With all my preterm labor stuff, we had been to the hospital a few times but always ended up being sent home, so when the nurse told us my water had in fact broken I was exited about knowing that when we left this time, it would be with a baby.

Ready for her arrival!

The nurse checked me and I was only dilated to a 1 1/2. They monitored my contractions for an hour and when they weren't doing much, decided to start me on pitocin. At this point, it was about 3:00 pm and we all figured I wouldn't deliver until well into the morning. In fact, the nurse told me I could have the epidural anytime I wanted but to remember that once I got it, I wouldn't be able to move around and since it was going to be a good 12+ hours before I delivered, it might be a good idea to wait. So I waited, I was a little uncomfortable but nothing unbearable. As the pain started to increase, she gave me a little medicine in my iv to take the edge off. After that, the rest of the night was a blurry whirlwind. The pain was still bearable and I told myself I'd wait until it was borderline unbearable to ask for the epidural. Stupid idea, but I guess I just wanted to see how far I could go without it, plus I figured I had plenty of time to get it. Around 5:00 my mom could tell the pain was starting to increase quickly and suggested that I think about the epidural. I decided she was right and asked the nurse to get the anesthesiologist. Luckily, he came within a few minutes which was a blessing because from the time I asked for him to the time he got there, my pain had increased so much I was in tears. He quickly inserted the epidural and I tried to relax as I waited to feel better.

Tyler was so sweet and such a great support.

About 30 minutes later, I was still in pain and feeling so much pressure. I remember being so mad and thinking, epidurals don't work like everyone says...I thought I was supposed to be completely numb! When I told the nurse how I was feeling, she seemed puzzled and decided to check me. To everyone's surprise I was a dilated to a 7! It was barely 5:30, I had gone from a 1 1/2 to a 7 in less than 4 hours. 30 minuets later the nurse checked me again, I was at a 10 and she told me it was time to push. Everything had happened so fast! My legs were numb but I was still feeling pressure. It wasn't until 15 minutes into pushing that I finally went completely numb. A few minutes after that, they decided to turn the epidural off. Everything happened so quickly the epidural only worked completely for a few minutes. It's a good thing I got it when I did, I could have missed my window. After pushing for a 1/2 hour the doctor discovered Romney was coming out face up. This meant it was going to be harder for me to push her out and make the whole process harder on her. So I pushed...and pushed...and puked...and pushed some more. After pushing for an hour and a half she finally came! (Later on the nurse told me that the last woman to have a face up baby pushed for 4 hours. After that, I was pretty pleased with my pushing efforts.) I was so exhausted and so exited I just cried.

Romney Beth Nelson was born at 7:37 pm, weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long. Which  is rather big for a 36 week baby. I truly thought she'd be in the 5 lb range. She surprised us all. The doctor told us that if she had waited much longer to come, they would have had to do a c-section. I completely agreed with Tyler later when he said that she simply ran out of room, so she clawed her way out. Her nose was so smashed, it was literally flat against her face accompanied by a massive cone head with plenty of bruising, poor thing looked like she'd been through the ringer.

As they laid her on my chest I could tell she wasn't breathing right. I only got to hold her for a few seconds before they took her away. After looking her over, weighing her etc. they decided she needed to spend an hour or so in the NICU. She came out with the cord wrapped pretty tightly around her neck. So between that and being early, she was having a hard time filling her lungs with air completely. They assured me everything would be fine (that didn't stop me from worrying) and that I could come see her soon. After I was able to get up and move to a wheel chair, they let me stop by the NICU on the way down to Mother Baby. When I got there she was hooked up to a CPAP machine (blows air from your nose into your lungs) with a tube down her throat. She looked miserable and she was clearly not happy. She had a bunch of nurses surrounding her trying to start an IV. Poor girl had poke marks all over her body. They let me look at her for a little bit before they said I needed to go get checked in at Mother Baby and she needed to stay a little longer. She had already been there for 2 hours and I was hoping she could go with me to Mother Baby. I was heart broken as we left, but held back the tears until I got to my room. This wasn't what I had imagined at all. I thought I'd get to love and cuddle her from the minute she came out. I was grateful she was getting what she needed, I just couldn't stand the fact that I had to leave her and couldn't be by her side every minute. They kept promising she'd get to leave the NICU soon, but it kept getting pushed back. When they finally did release her, I thought I'd see her in a matter of minutes, but it was another hour and a half because of the stop she had to make at the nursery. Tyler finally got to bring her to me at 12:30 am. Those 5 hours had dragged on and on. I was so happy when I finally got to hold and kiss her.

We had lots of family that came to see her and it was so nice when we all finally got to oooh and ahhh over her. I didn't sleep or put her down the rest of the night. I now have the greatest respect and empathy for anyone who has to leave their baby in the NICU. Those few hours away from her were so difficult, I can't imagine how hard it would be if that lasted for days, weeks or even months.

Poor bruised head and smashed nose.

This was on her little hospital bed :(

 With her NICU adventure behind her, she was healthy as could be and problem free. Two days later we came home. We absolutely adore her. I'm positive no other baby gets kissed as much as she does. She tolerates it really well, probably because she has to. The past 5 weeks have been amazing. I won't lie, I did reach a level of tired that actually brought me to tears, but it's all been worth it. She is the sweetest and most easy going baby. We just adore her and love being parents!

  

*Thank you to my little sister for being apart of this and taking these pics!

A Crazy Week

The past week has been quite the roller coaster ride for us. The rib pain I mentioned from my last post got so intense I finally decided to call the doctor. He sent me to the hospital the morning of the 26th for an ultrasound to get a good look at my gallbladder and liver to make sure everything was ok. The next morning I woke up in so much pain. The strange thing was the intensity of it would come and go, but I couldn't find any rhyme or reason for it. Tyler told me to stay home from work and take it easy. He called the doctor's office to see if they had the results from my ultrasound. When they said everything looked normal he made an appointment to see the doctor because I was still in pain. He met me at the doctor later that afternoon. When the doctor came in he wanted to check her heartbeat. When I pulled up my shirt, before he even touched my stomach, he said, "Do you know you're having a contraction?" I looked at him in utter confusion. " Um...no, shouldn't I know when I'm having a contraction?" He told me to feel my stomach and then said "It's hard as a rock." Tyler and I both responded with "That's how it always feels." He decided to check me and found that I was already 80% effaced, but luckily not dilated. When he asked more about the pain I was feeling in my ribs, I told him it came and went but the intensity has been getting increasingly worse over the past week. That's when he decided to send us over to the hospital for a non-stress test. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the machine and sure enough, I was having contractions. They would come and go but there were times they were as close as 4 minutes apart. That was when I realized the contractions were directly related to the intensity of pain I was feeling in my right rib cage. The hospital ran a bunch of blood tests and when everything came back normal, they gave me a shot to stop the contractions, sent me home and told me to lay down as much as possible. The contractions came back early the next morning so I called the doctor and he prescribed me a pill to take every 6 hours to continually stop the contractions.

By Saturday the contractions had slowed down a bit, but I was still in pain and now I wasn't sure if my water was leaking. I know what you're thinking, How do you not know if your water is leaking?? But it gets rather confusing with everything that's going on. I probably would have dismissed it as normal, but with all the contractions, I was worried I had progressed into active labor. So after some debating with myself, I (with the help of Tyler saying, let's just go) decided I'd rather be safe than sorry and we went back to Labor and Delivery. They hooked me up to the machine and go figure, I was having contractions. They ran a couple different tests this time. One was to see if my water was in fact leaking, luckily that came back negative. And the other was called a Fetal Fibronectine test which checks for a protein that is secreted before you go into labor; that one came back positive. They sent me home and told me to stay on modified bed rest until I saw my doctor on Monday.

When I saw my doctor on Monday, he told me he made an appointment for me to see a specialist on Wednesday and that he wanted me to continue bed rest until I saw her. I was hoping for the best when we went in to see her on Wednesday, but also preparing for her to tell me I'd be on bed rest until the baby came. At the beginning of the appointment, the ultrasound tech took a very detailed look at the baby. We found out she weighs 4lbs 9oz and is measuring right on time. The tech tried to get a profile pic and pointed out that she has such little room that the tech barely pushing on my stomach with the ultrasound wand smashed her nose against her face. So below is a pic of her cute little lips and her smashed little nose.

The tech also showed us the back of her head and pointed out that she has hair, which I thought was so cute! So we know that our little one has some hair and is definitely running out of room. And go figure her little bum was right where I've been experiencing all my pain. When the specialist came in, she gave us better news than I could have hoped for. She said everything was fine and that the positive Fetal Fibronectine test doesn't mean much without progression of the cervix and since I wasn't dilating, the contractions were just braxton hicks and chances of me going into labor in the next week was slim. By Tuesday I'll be 34 weeks and they don't try to stop labor at that point. So she said that because of that, I could go off bed rest and even stop taking the pills I'd been given to stop the contractions. As for the pain up by my ribs, she told me no one would be able to give me a definitive answer as to why, but her opinion was that it was due to my small size/frame and there's not much I can do about it. I think she's probably right. Even without any contractions, my stomach is extremely tight and if you look at it from the right angle it actually looks lopsided because you can literally see the outline of her little bum and back on the top right side of my stomach.  I'm just so relieved that nothing was wrong with my gallbladder or liver and that the baby is doing well and will be fine even if she does come at 34 weeks. As we left the hospital, Tyler noted the extra bounce in my step. I was so happy everything was going to be ok. Since I got that great news, my stress level has dropped dramatically and I've noticed a decrease in the intensity and frequency of the contractions even without the pills. So who knows maybe she'll come very soon or maybe she'll come late, as long as she continues to do well, I don't really care either way....ok, a little on the early side would be nice. She really is running out of room and I wonder how long it will be before my body just kicks her out or she decides she'd rather be out than in.  

Almost There!

31 weeks:

Only 9 more weeks to go!! That seems so far away and so incredibly close all at the same time. I feel like I've made so much progress and besides being tired and somewhat uncomfortable, I'm feeling great. This has to be one of the longest and shortest experiences of my life. I feel like I've been pregnant forever, but since I've been feeling better, time started flying. Some of the wonderful 3rd trimester ailments I've been experiencing include acid reflux, heart burn, leg cramps and pain on the lower right side of my rib cage in my front and back. I've figured out how to deal with all of it except the pain in my ribs. That one showed up a few days ago and there's not much I can do for relief other than stretch my top half as straight as it will go. It's the worst when I'm sitting or lying down and continues to wake me up in the middle of the night. I now sleep with my right arm up and over my head and that offers a little relief. All that being said, I would still take all of this amplified by 10 rather than deal with the 1st trimester again.

This is the only photo I allowed when I was super sick and on the iv. I was about 10 weeks pregnant. This was taken after the picc line was placed but before it started making me sick. I think I allowed the photo because I felt pretty ok that day. So this was my 24/7 friend for 6 weeks. This isn't my favorite pic, but it's nice to have a reminder of where I was and how far I've come.

As uncomfortable as I might get, nothing can be worse than what I experienced at the beginning of this pregnancy. I try to keep that in mind and be grateful that Romney and I have made it this far, happy and healthy. So here are a few belly pics from the last couple months.

23 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks--special thanks to my friend Sharli for taking  professional pics for us. I love how they turned out and I'll post more later :)

Tyler and I grow more and more excited everyday. Between the two of us, I'm honestly not sure who's more excited. Tyler has been working non-stop this past week to get the nursery finished (he's amazing) and it looks like it will be almost completely done by tomorrow, so I'll post pics soon. While he's working on the nursery, I spend my time deep cleaning; so between the two of us our house will definitely be ready for this little girl. We start prenatal classes at the hospital on October 1st. I'm extremely excited for this, mostly because it means we're getting even closer. Plus I'm the type of person that likes to know exactly what's going on, so I'm eager to get a rundown of what labor and the hospital stay will entail. But until that time comes, I'm going to just enjoy these last 2 months of pregnancy. I have a feeling part of me will really miss it once she's born.

2 Year Anniversary!

Our 2 year anniversary was this past Monday!! I can't believe how quickly time has flown. It feels like we met just yesterday, but at the same time I feel like we've always been together. In the past 2 years, we have grown and accomplished so much together: Tyler graduating college, me getting off all seizure meds with no problems, 2 car accidents, buying a home, getting a dog, getting pregnant! and then pulling through a very rough 1st trimester, Tyler getting an amazing job at UVU and of course meeting our baby girl very soon, and that's just to name a few. We love being married! There's nothing better than sharing your life with someone you love and knowing they'll be by your side through the good and the bad.

As I mentioned above, Tyler got a job at UVU as the Employer Relations Coordinator. His first day just happened to be on our Anniversary, so we celebrated last Friday instead. We decided to do a "staycation" and do a bunch of fun stuff close to home. We started out the day going to the zoo. I know that might sound random, but neither one of us had been to a zoo in years and we decided it would be fun. Here are few pics of us at the zoo.

It's quite possible that we are some of the world's worst picture takers. We haul our camera around with us most of the time but always forget to actually use it and then I end up kicking myself at the end of the day. (I'm sure this will change drastically when the baby is born). So unfortunately, these are all the pics we have from that day. After the zoo we went to the gateway mall and watched The Dark Knight Rises (we loved it) and then walked around the mall for a bit and then off to dinner. It was such a fun day! We had big plans for Saturday too but I was wiped out from the day before.....pregnancy makes you tired! So we took it easy most of the day. We did a little shopping and then dinner and another movie (haha, easiest thing to do while pregnant). We had such a fun time celebrating and absolutely love those days we get to be together all day just the two of us or what we call "Tyler and Sara days".

Like I mentioned a few times Tyler started his new job and he absolutely loves it!! He comes home everyday so excited about what he's doing and the great environment he's in. I love knowing that he loves and is passionate about his job (that's not always the case for most people). We're so grateful he was given such an amazing opportunity.

I'm now 26 weeks pregnant!! Next week I'll be in my 3rd trimester, the 2nd trimester flew by and I'm hoping the same will happen with the 3rd cause we can't wait to meet our baby girl!

20 Weeks--Half Way!!

I've officially made it half way through my pregnancy! Looking back it feels like it went by so fast, which is something I never ever thought I'd say when I was so sick that the days felt like years and the weeks felt like decades. There was also a small part of me that believed I'd die before I made it this far. But now I feel like I've done a complete 180 and could not be enjoying life or this pregnancy more! I'm so in love with this little girl already. Tyler and I were talking the other day and he said the phrase "my daughter". It caught me by surprise.....holy crap, we have a daughter!! Calling her that makes this even more real. It reminded me of the first time I heard Tyler call me "my wife" it caught me by surprise because I wasn't used to being called that and I absolutely adored it. We are truly enjoying this experience and can't wait to meet our little girl in only 20 more weeks!! (give or take)

Little Romney has become more and more active. Tyler can feel her moving from the outside really easily now. He was talking to her the other night and she went crazy. In fact Tyler asked me if she was doing somersaults because he could literally feel her whole body twisting and turning, it was really cool. I love feeling her move, it's an incredible bonding experience.

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday morning. She looks perfect and is growing right on schedule. This is a profile pic with her hand up by her face. She must love to touch her face because her hands were there the entire time.

We got confirmation that the baby is for sure a girl, the ultrasound tech said she's 100% positive. I can't make much sense of the pic below but I'm glad the tech could :) 

This is one of the tiny feet that kick me all day :)

Here are a few 20 Week baby bump pics

Haha, this last pic makes me laugh! This is my dad and brother and we're comparing the size of our bellies. I think they're still beating me....for now. 

In other news, we went to Fish Lake with Tyler's sister Misty and her family last weekend and had a blast! (Thank you Misty for the pics) The guys were so proud of their catch!

Dexter's a little bit of a punk. He liked to let the other dogs do all the work and fetch the stick and then steal it from them....it's a pretty smart idea so I guess I have to give him credit for that. 

Thanks for such a fun trip Misty!!! We love going to Fish Lake (or anywhere) with you guys! 

IT'S A GIRL!!

At our doctor's appointment yesterday, we found out that we're having a little girl :) The doctor was reluctant to say that he was 100% sure because the baby's back was to us but he spent a lot of time looking and got some really good shots right between the legs. When he was done looking around, he said he couldn't find any evidence that would make him think it's a boy. We have our 20 week ultrasound on July 5th, so we'll either get confirmation or a big surprise! The doctor did mention that his daughter-in-law is pregnant and when he did an ultrasound for her at 13 weeks he could already see evidence of a boy. So Tyler and I feel pretty confident in his abilities and don't anticipate any surprises.

We are both extremely excited! Neither one of us can seem to stop singing/humming the song "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder. We were looking online at all the covers people have done of that song last night and our favorite is Glee's (yes Glee, don't judge)



I told Tyler last night "you know she's going to be the biggest daddy's girl and have you wrapped around her finger, right?" and he just looked at me sheepishly with the biggest grin on his face. One of the things I'm most excited for is to see the two of them interact. I know it's going to be adorable.

So after we tell people what the gender is the next question is always "Do you know what you're going to name her?" We've had names picked out for either gender for a while now, so yes she has a name already. Her name will be Romney Beth Nelson. For those of you who don't know, Romney is my maiden name and Beth is my middle name. So she's getting quite the family name! Surprisingly to most people, the suggestion to name her Romney didn't even come from me, it was Tyler who mentioned it. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it as a first name, but it grew and grew on me to the point that I loved the idea. We're really excited  to start calling her by name.


I've been feeling her move for a couple weeks now and couldn't wait for the time Tyler could feel it from the outside. She seems to be most active in the morning right before I get out of bed, so I've been having Tyler put his hand on my tummy in hopes he'd feel something one of these days. He finally felt her move this morning and not just once or twice but a lot! His reaction was "Whoa, that is so cool!" I love that I can share that with him now.

My baby bump is still pretty small but it's getting more obvious week by week. So I'll leave you with a belly pic. This one is up so close that it's a little deceiving. From father away it doesn't look nearly as big/obvious. I'm just over 17 weeks in this pic. 

Feeling good and enjoying pregnancy!

17 weeks:
I've been feeling really good lately. I wouldn't say that I'm back to my old self, but I'm light years ahead of where I was a few weeks ago. I still feel incredibly tired all the time. I would sleep all day if that was possible, but since it's not, I'm in bed around 9 every night. My hips and my lower back are starting to ache but nothing too bad yet. I'm having more food aversions than cravings. I still can't touch meat for the most part, but when I do it's only in the afternoon and only certain things, weird I know. And sometimes I'm in love with what I'm eating one bite and the next I have to get it away from me before I hurl. I keep waiting for the "I want to eat everything in sight" feeling but it hasn't happened yet. The only strange thing I crave is pickles. I bought a jar of pickles just to snack on the other day. I'm still about 10lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight but I have been able to tolerate eating more and I've gained a few lbs back in the past couple weeks which is really good. So overall, I feel much more productive and fun to be around since I'm not tied to an iv, throwing up or in bed all the time. Tyler and I went on a date the other weekend for the first time in months and he made a comment about how nice it is to feel like he has a wife again. It's nice to know I was missed :)

I'm really starting to enjoy being pregnant. A lot of fun things have started happening. I started feeling the baby move around 15 weeks. I don't think I would have recognized it as the baby if other women hadn't told me what I was looking for. At first I wasn't sure but after a few days it became obvious that I was feeling the baby. I could barely contain my excitement, I think I told everyone who would listen. My brother and sister-in-law let us borrow their fetal monitor so Tyler and I have a blast listening to the baby move around. We have quite the active little one. Our next doctor's appointment is a week from tomorrow and we're hoping we can talk the dr into giving us an ultrasound to find out if it's a boy or girl. If not, we'll wait 2 more weeks until my 20 week check-up....we're just really anxious to know so we can stop calling the baby it. Funny side note about dr appointments, the last one we had was a few weeks ago and I got to have the fun pelvic exam....Not. Anyway, the dr started the exam by saying "Ok, let's see if you can do this" I just froze and said "What do you mean if I can do this. I'm already doing this and can't stop it.....what happens if I can't?!" "Then we'll do surgery" he said as he started the exam. When he was done I said, "So....can I do this?" His response was "Well, we'll try." What does that mean?! Is that just his nice way of saying I don't know or I don't think so. Haha, I was taken back by it a little because I always thought I had good sized hips but I guess that was more my backside.....until the baby ate it all. So, I guess we'll just wait and see. But I'm not too concerned, I know I'm in really good hands and from what I've been told Tyler and I were both average sized babies. So I don't think I'm going to be having 10lb babies....at least I really hope not.
We've also started getting things for the nursery!! Tyler and I are both really excited for this and we've had a ton of fun going to yard sales looking for things we can fix up and use in the nursery. We found a gorgeous, 9 drawer dresser last Saturday for only $30. Yesterday, Tyler went online and looked up the brand of dresser and the cheapest one he could find was over $600!! A similar 10 drawer dresser was being sold for almost $1,000. My mind was blown! Clearly those are brand new and this is used but we obviously got a steal of a deal! We've already started painting it, so it'll be finished in no time. I'll post pics when it's done. And last but not least, I've started to show!.....sort of. I feel bigger than I actually look, but didn't believe Tyler when he told me that until I had him take a pic of me and he was right. I couldn't believe it because from my point of view looking down, my belly looks like it's poking out pretty far but from the side and front....not so much. If you didn't know I was pregnant or what I looked like previously, I just look like a have a little pooch. So I'll spare you from the "belly pics" until I'm farther along.

Some other fun things not pregnancy related have happened in the last little bit. My little sister got married!! I just love her so much and so glad she was able to get sealed to the man of her dreams! Maybe in a few years she and I can be pregnant together!! (I said a few years sis, not months! Jk, she's in no hurry) Anyway here are a few pics from their beautiful day.

                The happy couple!

I can't say I looked my best, but considering how deathly ill I was the week before and the fact that I narrowly escaped being attached to an IV or feeding tube, I don't look half bad. Plus, everyone was looking at the gorgeous bride anyway :)

Our side of the family. As you can tell it was super windy that day.

Our immediate family with the happy couple.

Tyler and I also started our summer bowling league! I struggled the first few weeks but I think I'm getting back in the swing of things. I bowled a 174 last week! It's not that impressive when you know that's Tyler's average (yeah, he's good) but I was so excited I could still hold my own. Let's just hope it stays that way as my tummy gets bigger :)

We're Expecting!! Weeks 10-13

Sorry another long post, but a lot has happened in the past 3 weeks!

I've had a rather rough couple of weeks. I dare say (no, I know) they were harder than weeks 6-10 which I didn't think could be possible. Let's start where I left off in my last post. I began having an allergic reaction on my arm around the picc line iv. Everyone assumed it was from the tape, but that didn't quite fit. I wasn't having the reaction everywhere the tape was touching me, only on the inner part of my arm. At about 10 1/2 weeks my home health nurse was over one evening changing the dressing and she realized it wasn't the tape, it was the chloroprep she was using to clean and sanitize the area around the iv. She was able to come back later that night with some bedodine to use instead. At this point my skin was red, raw and leathery with little pustules everywhere. She stared at it for a while and then told me she thought I was getting cellulitus (a skin infection) and it had to be treated immediately. So she called the doctor and he had her call in an antibiotic for me to start taking right away. In fact, he had me take two doses of the antibiotic that night just to get a jump start.

The next day was a Friday and even if I ate with the antibiotic it made me so incredibly sick. I felt so horrible I left work early that day because I couldn't keep my head off my desk. I went home and wondered how I was going to manage 10 days of this antibiotic. Over the weekend I felt worse and worse to the point that I had pretty much stopped eating. Luckily, I had an appointment with the doctor on Monday morning. He looked at my arm, which was still gross, but looked so much better already and told me I could stop the antibiotics. So I went home expecting to feel better. That afternoon is when the fever started and I just kept throwing up. So I called the doctor back and he sent the home health nurse over to get blood and urine samples so they could check for a bacterial infection. The next day they told me they found nothing. But I just kept getting worse. The fever came at least twice a day and one night at about 2 am I woke up shaking uncontrollably. I literally had no control over my muscles and my breathing had become so rapid my lungs were burning. I couldn't really talk and Tyler just kept trying to ask me questions to figure out what the heck was going on. Finally, my smart hubby made the decision to give me benedryl. About 25 minutes later the shaking stopped, but then the fever spiked to 103 and not too long after that the throwing up began. This cycle continued to happen twice a day everyday. I was miserable. One evening, I called my nurse and told her about this awful cycle and that even tylenol couldn't break my fevers. That's when she told me I needed to go to the hospital. I called Tyler who hurried home from work, but by the time he got there, my fever had started going down on its own and I didn't want to go to the hospital if the fever was gone and look stupid. Unfortunately, another cycle started at about 2am and about an hour later when I felt like I could actually move to the car, I told Tyler we needed to go to the ER. I was terrified something was really wrong. So he got me into the car and we arrived at the ER about 3:15am. They ran even more blood and urine tests and again found nothing. They told me I probably had a stomach virus and that there was nothing they could do for me so they sent me home to wait it out. The ER doctor did find that my potassium was very low due to all the throwing up and ordered that my next 10 iv bags be infused with potassium. He told me that would help me feel better, so I once again, went home expecting and waiting to feel better.

But the shakes and fevers just kept coming day after day. I thought this was really strange because shouldn't viruses last 72 hours at the most? Why was mine lasting almost 2 weeks? During all this time, my wonderful mother came every week day while Tyler was at work to look after me. I was beyond grateful because I could barely move from my bed to the bathroom. My amazing mom probably cleaned up more throw up in those 2 weeks than she cares to think about and spent a lot of time trying to break my fevers with fans, ice and cold wash cloths. I honestly don't know what I would have done if she hadn't been there. I kept thinking how boring it must be for her to just sit on the bed next to me. I wasn't very entertaining, in fact I didn't even talk much. When I get really sick I don't exert the energy to talk and resort to grunting or head nods. But it didn't seem to bother her at all. She kept coming back day after day just to sit with me for hours in the dark. But I guess that's what moms do for their kids and I hope I can take care of my baby as well as my mom has taken care of me.

By the very end of week 11 the shakes had started to subside, the fevers still came but didn't get nearly as high as before. I kept thinking the virus must be on its way out, but I still felt like crap. I still couldn't eat, I was still throwing up and I could barely stand up. My mom, Tyler and I were all worried that I hadn't really eaten or kept anything down for about 2 weeks now. It was clear I was continuing to lose weight and not getting much nutrition. I decided to talk to the home health nurse that evening about possibly getting nutrition through my picc line. She weighed me and it was even lower than the week before. At this point I was weighing in at barely over 100 lbs and it was obvious something needed to change. She said she would talk to the doctor in the morning and give me a call. The next morning, she called me and told me my doctor wanted me to go see a specialist and they set up an appointment for me the next day. So last Wednesday Tyler and I went to Utah Valley hospital and met with a pregnancy specialist. The first part of the appointment was the best. We got to have another ultrasound, but this time the ultrasound tech spent a while looking at the baby and then the doctor came in and spent even more time looking at the baby so we got to see our little one a lot. I loved it!! Our baby even had the hiccups and looked like a little jumping bean, it was so cute! We got really good pictures of its little face (it definitely looks more human than last time). The doctor told us our baby was perfect and there were no problems. So here's our baby at 12 weeks 1 day.

I'll admit sitting there watching my little one made me cry. It made me feel so much better about everything and all of a sudden I didn't care that I was sick anymore. After the doctor looked at our baby, we started talking about what was going on with me. We gave her all my medical history and then started telling her about how I'd been so sick lately with these crazy fevers and shakes. At first she seemed confused and started questioning the thermometer I was using. She even asked Tyler if he had tried the thermometer after me to see if it was actually working. That's when we got a little defensive and told her it was obvious I was having fevers, I was so so hot to the touch and everything else that comes with fevers. But she kept telling us that it didn't make sense for me to be having a fever of 103 with a stomach virus. She said that was on the high side for a virus and she didn't think I had one at all. A few minutes later, Tyler mentioned my picc line iv and she just stopped mid sentence and said "Wait, you have a picc line?! I thought that was just a regular iv. How long have you had that?" We told her I'd had it for about 4 weeks now. "Where did you get it?" We told her at this hospital. She was not happy at all. She went on to explain that pregnant women should never have picc line iv's. She told me that in all of the cases she's seen, the women either end up with an infection or blood clots. She said that the last pregnant woman who came through her office with a picc line ended up in the ICU for 30 days due to the infection it gave her. She told us that the picc line was coming out today and she was positive that's what was causing my fevers, etc. She explained that my body was trying to reject the picc line and it was 100% the reason I was so sick. After all this, I was thoroughly freaked out and we of course agreed to have it removed. Then we started talking about nutrition. She told me she could give me an NJ tube (a feeding tube that goes from your nose down into your intestines) today if I wanted it. Or I could go home and try to eat on my own. Obviously, I wanted to try eating on my own first. And she explained I'd have to retrain my stomach to hold food again. So I basically needed to eat every 2 hours no matter what, even if I threw up, I had to just keep eating until the throwing up cycle was broken. She told me that eventually I would eat and just not throw up. I really, really didn't want the feeding tube, so I told her I'd try to break the cycle on my own. She told me if I wasn't successful at eating at least 1,000 calories a day over the next few days, I'd have to come back in and get the feeding tube. So, Tyler took me home and we started the process. It wasn't fun and it took almost 2 days, but I was able to break the cycle and actually keep food down. I slowly started feeling better. My fevers and shakes were completely gone and I was starting to function again! Saturday was my first day feeling well enough to get out of the house, which was a good thing because my little sister was having a bridal shower. And Monday I was back at work for the first time in 2 weeks. I get tired really easily but other than that I'm feeling so much better! I've continued to eat and drink enough on my own, so no feeding tube is necessary. As of today I'm 13 weeks 1 day, so the nausea should start subsiding soon and I should just continue to feel better from this point on. I'm so incredibly grateful to be feeling good again, especially because my baby sister is getting married on Friday and I was terrified of missing it. Things are getting so much better and I'm looking forward to just enjoying the rest of my pregnancy.

We're Expecting!! Weeks 4-10

Tyler and I are so excited about our baby due on November 20th! When I found out I was pregnant I started a blog post and began adding all the big events as they have happened over the past 6 weeks. It's a little long but a great explanation of all we've experienced so far.

3-14-12
4 weeks, 1 day
The day I found out I'm Pregnant!!! Tyler had to go into work early and left before I got out of bed. I wasn't supposed to start my period for another 2 days but we were going out of town that evening and I knew I wouldn't get a chance to test until we got home on Sunday. Even though I was sure it would most likely be negative, I couldn't help myself. Curiosity got the best of me and I took a pregnancy test. I saw a line start to appear almost instantaneously, but didn't want to get my hopes up so I set it down and walked out of the bathroom to keep myself from staring at the test. The next few minutes felt like they dragged on and on. I finally walked back into the bathroom and the test had two strong pink lines, clear as day. I grabbed it, gasped in surprise and then cried and cried. I knew I'd be excited when a test showed up positive, but I didn't think I'd down right bawl. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement and just couldn't hold it in. The first thing I wanted to do was call Tyler but I knew I'd be inaudible and scare him thinking something horrible had happened. Plus, I didn't want him to find this out over the phone. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep quiet until we both got home from work, so I hopped in the shower, got ready super fast and drove to his work. I called him from the parking lot and told him I had something for him. He was surprised I was there and came out to see me. When he got really close to me (I didn't want anyone else to see) I pulled out the positive test that I had written "you're a daddy!" on and showed him.

All he said was "are you serious?" with a big smile on his face and then we hugged for a while. The sweet moment didn't last too long because we both had to get back to work, but that evening it was beyond apparent that he was elated! We spent our drive down to Vegas and then California talking about our new little baby :)
We saw a lot of family that weekend and it was difficult to keep it quiet, but we didn't want to say anything until I was a little farther along, I hadn't even missed my period yet and was apprehensive about telling people so early.

3-28-12
6 Weeks 1 day!! Up until yesterday I was feeling great! Tired, but great. I had a few fits of nausea here and there and I was always hungry, but overall I felt....normal. Then the morning sickness train hit me with a vengeance. It knocked me out all day and I learned very quickly if I let myself get too hungry, that's when it gets uncontrollable. I'm having a hard time eating anything and just the thought of meat makes me gag. I was so sick this morning and you could tell Tyler felt so bad. He looked at me and said "just remember, you have a baby in there" I just chuckled knowing he was trying to make me feel better and love that it worked. I'm willing to do whatever I have to to get this little one here.

4-11-12
8 weeks 1 day. Haha, I thought I was feeling sick before?.....nope, I didn't even understand the meaning of sick. Over the past two weeks I have gotten increasingly worse. I was able to keep it somewhat under control until last week. I was so sick I literally could not get out of bed. Just holding up my head was far too difficult. I knew something was really wrong when I hadn't moved from my bed in 2 days straight. I couldn't move, I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink and I was lucky if I peed twice a day. I literally felt like I was dying a slow and miserable death. My dad stopped by one afternoon to drop off some stuff my mom was hoping might help me feel better. He took one look at me and said, "You need to go to the hospital and get fluids now. I saw this same thing happen to your mother when she was pregnant. You're obviously severely dehydrated and the longer you wait to take care of it, the harder it's going to be to get on top of it." That took me by surprise because I have never once had my dad give me medical advice (that's my mom's area). It made me realize that this wasn't just really bad morning sickness and it was time to at least see the doctor. My dad had to leave to get to a meeting, but made me promise I'd get some fluids. (I later found out I freaked my dad out so much because my cheeks and eyes had literally sunken in from the dehydration. Even Tyler commented on it later after I had some fluid in me. He kept poking my cheeks and saying, they look so much better.) As soon as my dad left I called Tyler who then called our doctor. They asked him to bring me in right away. Getting there was awful. I was so dizzy, I couldn't see or walk straight. Tyler practically had to carry me. As soon as we got to the doctor's office they hooked me up to an iv. The first bag was in me within 30 minutes. My blood pressure was dangerously low and my heart rate was dangerously high (both signs of dehydration). They started a second bag and the doctor wanted to give me phenergan for the nausea. 2 minutes after that stuff hit my veins my muscles started shaking like crazy. I just kept thinking this must be kind of what it feels like to be conscious during a seizure. Everyone thought I was just cold from the iv and they kept piling blankets on top of me. It didn't even touch the nausea so the nurse gave me even more phenergan and that's when the puking began. It was then that they realized I was having an allergic reaction and gave me benedryl right away. When they realized phenergan wouldn't work for me they decided to try Zofran again. It helped somewhat but I wasn't holding my breath. I had tried it earlier in the week and it hadn't really made a difference. We later found out that I was only taking it 1-2 times a day (because that's what it said on the bottle) and the doctor told me if I don't take it every 6 hours on the dot, it wasn't going to work. So now that we had medicine figured out and 2 1/2 bags of fluid in me they said I could go home on one condition, the iv had to stay in. So Tyler took me home with the iv and we had a home health nurse come check on me the next 2 days. My vitals were better and the nurse took the iv out Thursday night. The doctor wanted to see us Friday afternoon to see how I was doing. When they could hardly get a drop of blood out of me for blood work, they decided the iv had to go back in for at least the weekend. They said to come back on Monday and we'd talk more about possibly putting in a picc line iv and keeping me on fluids for the next 4-5 weeks or until the end of my first trimester. That weekend, it was clear that the iv made me feel better but it was also clear there was no way I could eat or drink enough on my own. When we saw the doctor on Monday we told him we thought it would be best to place the picc line. He agreed wholeheartedly and I think was grateful he wasn't going to have to talk us into it. He also told me that with these types of ivs it's possible to unhook from them, go about your day and hook back up to them when you get home. I was given explicit instructions not to do this. He told me that for the time being I must be getting continuous fluids 24/7. I guess he's so worried because I'm prone to seizures and being dehydrated lowers your sodium levels which can then make you have a seizure. He obviously doesn't want that to happen and neither do I. So yesterday we went to the hospital and they placed the picc line which goes into your arm and up to your heart. It was a little nerve wracking but not too painful. I feel so much better with the iv that I was able to go to work today for the first time in over a week. It's kind of a pain having to cart the iv around with me everywhere but I'll do it cause that stuff is like liquid gold to me. It's seriously my lifeline. We also discovered that I have way too much acid  in my stomach. I could hear and feel it all day long. It was bearable until I ate something and then I would get the worst stomach aches and nausea. When I explained this to the doctor he prescribed me some antacid medication that has made it possible for me to start tolerating a little food in my stomach. This whole time he's had me on a very strict diet. No grease or sugar, just super bland foods that won't upset my stomach. I guess the point of that is to try and keep me from throwing up. The combination of medicines, iv fluids and bland foods has made me functional again and I'm so grateful.

Tyler has been amazing through all of this. I've been sick before but never like this. He takes care of everything: doctor, home health, changing my iv bags, making sure I take my meds, making sure I try to eat and drink every 2 hours, helping me get dressed, you name it. The first night I had the iv he kept the bathroom light on and woke up every hour to check on me. He gives me my medicine in the middle of the night and changes the iv bag if it gets too low. I think of everything he's done for me and I'm beyond grateful for him. Even this morning he packed everything in a bag for me that I might need while at work--food, medicine and iv bags. I'm honestly overwhelmed with how amazing he is.

We told our families this past weekend. We wanted to keep it quiet until I was out of my first trimester but once the iv went in we knew that wasn't possible. We gave in and ended up having to tell most people over the phone, which wasn't what we had planned, but circumstances had changed and I was too sick to care. Plus it's been so helpful to have the moral support of family and friends.

4/23/12
9 weeks, 6 days. I had a bit of a scare today. The area around my picc line iv was itching like crazy and it looked red and bumpy. I could barely sleep the night before it was bothering me so bad. I've been told over and over again that it's very dangerous for the picc line to get infected because it runs straight to your heart. I didn't think it was an infection, but I wasn't sure so I finally decided that I should at least call my nurse and see what she thinks. She told me I needed to come in immediately so they could take a look at it (I guess this isn't something they mess around with) and if it was infected I'd have to go to the hospital where they'd pull the iv and start me on antibiotics. This really freaked me out because the iv fluid is my lifeline and if I can't have it I seriously don't know how I would function. So I left work and drove to the doctor's office right away. My nurse took a look at it and she didn't think it was an infection but pulled the doctor in to look at it anyway. He agreed that it wasn't an infection, it was an allergic reaction to the tape they have to put over it. That didn't come as a huge surprise to me, I've had allergic reactions to adhesives in the past. The doctor told me I'd still have to go back to the hospital where they gave me the picc line to see if they had any other kind of tape because they didn't have anything else for me to try (I guess this isn't a very common problem). Then he told me I looked better and asked how I was feeling. I told him I've been doing much better and doing my best to eat and drink. Then he asked about my weight gain and when I told him I just can't seem to keep up and I'm continuing to lose weight, he just thought for a minute and then looked at the nurse and said let's do an ultrasound right now. I was completely caught off guard, I wasn't supposed to have one until at least next week. And even though I knew he wanted one right then to make sure nothing was wrong, I was more excited than worried. I've been telling Tyler for the last month that if I could just see this little one it would make all of this easier. So I'd been dreaming about an ultrasound for weeks. As soon as the doctor walked out of the room I picked up the phone and called Tyler. He left work right away so he could be there. The ultrasound was the most amazing experience. It took the doctor about 2 seconds to find the baby and then he had to point it out to us and zoom in. The baby was so incredibly tiny but you could see its little heart flashing and its teeny little legs moving so fast. It looked like a blurry little gummy bear. My heart just melted and I instantly fell in love. The doctor told us that the baby was perfect and everything looked good. It gave us peace of mind and it made all of this feel more real. It was exactly what I needed.

Afterwards, I headed over to the hospital where they gave me a different kind of tape to try. Unfortunately it didn't make much of a difference. I don't have the choice to not use the tape because then I have an increase of infection. I'm just grateful it wasn't an infection, so as long as it's just an allergy I'll live with it. I've discovered that my pregnancy is extremely similar to the pregnancy my mom experienced with me (karma is a beast). She had the picc line iv and allergic reactions to the tape as well. It's nice to have someone to talk to who knows exactly how I feel. Experiencing all of this has made me appreciate my mother more than I ever could have before. I'm grateful for all she went through for me and that now she can help me through the same situation.

DEXTER!

 Meet Dexter, our German Shepherd puppy! Yes, I'm one of those people that's going to blog cutesy pictures of my dog. Until I have an actual baby, he's the only baby I've got to brag about; so I'm going to do so without shame. DISCLAIMER: we're very aware he's a dog and not a baby. Although he knows us as "mommy" and "daddy" we do not treat him like a child. We want a well behaved, well trained dog so we are rigorously and continuously training him. At 9 weeks old he already knows his name, mine and Tyler's "names" sit, lay, stay (most of the time), no biting or chewing, going to the bathroom outside (he hasn't had an accident in a few days!), crying A LOT less in his kennel and my favorite "nice". When we give him a treat we say "nice" and he takes it very gently from our fingers. He is an extraordinarily smart dog and we plan on helping him live up to his potential. On that note, I will admit that he's a bit of a smart alec and likes to push the limits. I told Tyler I sometimes feel like we have a teenager in the house already. But as time goes on that should get better. He absolutely LOVES children. If there's a child in the room he wants to be next to them. His breeders had their neighborhood children over almost everyday after he was born. So for the first seven weeks of his life, he spent a lot of time with kids. His excitement sometimes scares them, but he is so sweet with them. We got to know his breeders very well and they came over about a week ago to visit. They brought his mom (Sable) and she didn't even make it through the door before he pretty much attacked her. They had a fun time playing together again.

Check out his ginormous paws. He's going to be a big boy!

We had just gotten him to the point that he would sleep through the night in his kennel without howling like he was dying. That night, after his mom left, he cried and howled harder than before. We've decided it's best if he doesn't see her again until he's a little more grown up.

I'm sure some of you are wondering about his name. Yes we love the show Dexter, no we didn't name our dog after a serial killer. The show just put the name on our radar and it seemed to fit him perfectly. However, Dexter isn't his full name. In order to have him AKC registered he can't have the same name as any other German Shepherd. This means he needs more than one name. We did a little research and decided to name him something that incorporated some German words and where he came from. His full name is Herr (Lord) Dexter Nelson Von (from) Sable. And yes, years from now when he passes on and we bury him in our backyard, I will etch his full name into a headstone.....with a name like that, it only seems right.

  

That's Dexter in a nut shell. He can be a lot of work, but it's totally worth it.