Some more pictures

Tyler went with Clara to the nursury to watch them do all the weighing and vitamin k shot and everything else. Mom and Patrice were outside the window (I guess) and my mom took this one. There are some cute ones of him just looking at her too, but there's a glare from the window.

She slept pretty well in the hospital room with me. The only thing that was pretty difficult was nighttime becuase i couldn't get out of bed easily to pick her up when she cried. By the time I'd move the bed all the way to sitting, then adjust myself to the edge of hte bed, then acutally stand up (becuase the bassinets they had were too high for me to just reach in and get her) it was easily a 5 minute process.

Saturday afternoon after we got home from the hospital. Frankie was very interested in Clara and for the first few feedings Frankie would jump up and sit on the back of the chair. We would have taken a picture--but I was feeding her.

My Hands-free carried for $5 Its awesome and made of muslin and I can go on walks with her or eat breakfast and even do some things around the house!

Clara just hanging out in her bassinet (thanks Leslie for hte sleep positioner!)

Frankie helping Tyler decide what to order from the CHinese Resturaunt the other night.

Happy Easter!

We didn't do anything for Easter this year. But I felt like I should at least take a picture of Clara or something to commemorate her First Easter (something other than just putting the "First Easter!" sticker on my cute calendar thing for her).

So here she is. Please don't notice the green shirt under her pink dress or her diaper that's not covered by the matching pink undies the dress came with. Thanks! : )

She was literally in this dress long enough for Tyler to take four pictures. That's how we do Easter in the Young household : )

A Brazilian Birthday

My friend Andrea's birthday was in late february so she invited a bunch of us to go to a Brazilian Churascaria (I have NO idea how to spell it, but its a brazilian bbq place with meats on sticks and its fabulous) called Fogo y Brasa (hot and strong? I think tyler said it meant?)

It was VERY enjoyable. Tyler decided to request some chicken hearts, which didn't bode too well with me, but most of the guys I think tried them. I just kept requesting more pineapple--mmmm!

Thanks to Jason for making sure my head was turned properly in our cardboard cut out picture. I like it especially becuase I'm offically SUPER pregnant behind that wall : ) It was Friday Feb. 29th, I delivered a week and a half later.

Not everyoen was able to make it, but this is (clockwise from Left) Tyler, Andrea, Dennis, Jason, Dan, Josh and I accidentally cut out Josh's wife Emily from the photo becuase itw as pretty dark in there.

Lesson #1

Don't leave a poopy diaper on the floor or nursing pads on the couch--the dog likes to eat both.


....gross.

How it All Happened

Hi everyone!

We're home from the hospital now. It's nice to be home and be able to shower and have my mother-in-law cook my meals and clean my house : )

Here's the tale of the tape before I forget it all (this is also a "for the record" post so that I can remeber exactly how it all happened, some of the details may be mundane--sorry about that)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
9:00pm I try to go to bed.
11:00pm We call the hospital to make sure I'm still on the induction schedule for 1am and to make sure they'll have space for me. They say call back at midnight. Patrice volunteers for call back duty, Tyler and I try to go back to sleep (yeah right).

Wednesday, MArch 12, 2008
12:00am Patrice calls the hospital, they tell her to call back at 2am. She updates us, we try to go back to sleep (not like I was sleeping anyways)
12:30am The hospital calls back and says come on in.
1:30am Arrive at ER entrance and get misdirected to OB triage, then get directed to L&D. Hang out while my nurse starts an IV (well, they tried and got it on the fourth one) and attends some other surgery or something
4:00am First does of prosteglandin gel--doesn't really do anything, I sleep a little bit and snack a little bit
7:00am Second does of gel, some contractions start, but they're not too hard or regular yet
10:00am Start pitocin and hang out with mom-who just arrived-and patrice and Tyler.
2:00pm (ish?) The contractions are gettings stronger as she ups the pitocin bit by bit, but I can still talk through most of them (or only stop for a second, or breath). My water breaks while I"m sitting on a yoga/birthing ball and continues to 'leak' (read: gush) with each subsequent contraction
A Little Later: Christin, my super awesome nurse, still can't get a good contraction monitor, but she notices Clara's heart is varying during them (becuase she was standing right there when I'd have a contraction and watch Her heart beat). They decide to put an internal monitor on Clara to better see the heart beat.
A Little Later: Christian STILL can't get good contraction readings, but she's still noticing the heartbeat vary a little close to the edge with every one. She turns the pitocin off. Contractions were stronger, short breathing and no talking through them and I needed Tyler to help me get through them.
A Little Later: Internal contraction monitor (in inaddition to the fetal HB monitor) put in. My contractions have lessened significantly off pitocin and Clara's heart is doing fine. Christian turns pitocin back on to lowest of low settings to see how Clara does with slightly stronger, more effective contractions. I've been changing positions as much as I can on the bed, but any one that was comfortable for me to get through a contraction Clara didn't like and positions Clara liked were super hard for me. Christian was very encouraging and tried everythign SHE could think of becuase she knew I really didn't want to have surgery. Clara doesn't do well with pitocin back on so Christian turns it off after a very short amount of time.
A Little Later: Christian starts an "amnio infusion" to give Clara some more amniotic fluid to cushin the cord and help lessen her difficulty getting through contractions--which are now just mine and not as effective or strong as the pitocin ones. I've lost quite a bit of Amnioic fluid by now, so that was good for me to hear becuase I thought it would really help. PS. I'm about a 5
A Little Later: The amnioinfusion doesn't work. Its pretty obvious that She's having some troubles. We can't wait out my weak sauce contractions becuase her heart rate now stays low during contractiosn instead of just dipping up and down. We can't turn on pitocin again becuase she's already having some struggles.
5:00pm I know whats coming, but everyone was very calm about it and hadn't mentioned the word "section" yet (at least not in front of me). I ask for a minute with Tyler, get a little emotional, and call for an epidural so I can at least be awake during the C-section.
5:30pm Get the Epidural. He was teh Head of Anesthesiology, which helped me feel a little more comfortable about the guy sticking a giant needle in my back. He was also carreer Air Force, so he and Tyler were chatting it up whilst I was waiting for it to kick in.
6:00pm Decision is made to perform a C-Section before Clara gets any worse. Her heart beat is still staying very low during contractions and not recovering very well afterwards. Everyone was very calm and that helped me a lot. Tyler was able to be in the OR with me.
6-6:35pm Tyler holds my hand in teh OR while they operate and she was born at 6:35. I was practically falling asleep during prep and everything, then I heard a cry and gasped and said "IS that her?!" as I turned my head to Tyler. He said "Yeah!" And he went and took pictures and cut the cord and took a sneak peak back at the other half of me that'd been hidden by the curtain for the past 30 minutes. He went with her to the nursury and hung out with her for a little bit while I was 'finishing up' in the OR.

The cord was wrapped around Clara's neck twice. I'm not sure if she came out crying or if Dr. Gallai (gal-ee) had to unwrap the cord from her neck first. I'm not sure what her apgars were. Once tehy swaddled her and did what they had to immidiately do, a nurse brought her up by my head so I could see her. I couldn't hold her though :`( becuase I was flat on my back--my arms weren't strapped down, but for some reason I don't remeber being able to bring my arm over to touch her (probably from all the numbness stuff). I did cry when I met her though! : ) Gave her a few kisses, told her I loved her and watched her and Tyler go out the door to the nursery.

In recovery for 2 hours, (only Tyler was allowed to go back there, but I mostly napped and he hung out with Mom and PAtrice and looked at Clara through the nursury window), then moved up to PostPartum. Clara had to stay in the nursury for 4 hours (dumb hospital policy I guess) then they gave her a bath and brought her up to my room at about 11pm.

I think Patrice had gone home (she'd had a long day : ) and then mom went home, and I ended up sleeping with Clara in my arms for awhile. At midnight, I say goodbye to Tyler's and mine 3rd anniversary and hello to our beautiful little girl! (He bought me a dozen beautiful roses and had them deliverd to the hospital room much earlier that day)

Stayed there Thursday, Friday and Saturday and came home that afternoon. Mom went back to CA on Thursday but will be back when Patrice leaves. ITs been really nice having so much help and support. I'm feeling better every day-laughing doesn't even really hurt any more! Well, I can't laugh hard, but still : )

So that's the tale. I've got some more pictures to post about it all, but those might come later. All in all its definitely not what I wanted (who wants their baby to have a hard time during labor?) or envisioned, but at the same time, it could have been a lot worse. I'm really glad my nurse tried so hard for me and that she didn't let it get to a true emergency level. (Brittnie was texting Patrice the whole time and at about 11:30 she said she talked to a Dr and he predicted c-section. I'm glad my Dr. gave me some time to try to have her naturally, but I'm also glad he was able to make the call before she was truly critical)

Plus, there's been lots of good things to come out of it--not the least of Which is Clara! :)

My Ladies

I love'em

Ty

Clara Estelle Young

So here she is, little Clara. She weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was born yesterday on our 3rd Anniversary. I can't believe how much I already love her. Thanks to everyone for your phone calls and messages. Anna's been great through the whole pregnancy and delivery, especially since she had to get an epidural and then a C Section. It's a good think though becuase she had the cord around her neck twice. Had she stayed in longer and Anna tried to deliver her normally Clara would have been in trouble. So everything turned out great!!!!

Ty

P.S. Sorry about the 'stache -- It's Moustache March!

In the meantime (for the record)

So here's a little recap of this first pregnancy for the record. That way, when my daughter comes to me and says "Mom, did you ever get this while you were pregnant?" I can say, "You know, I don't remeber, but I wrote a bunch of stuff down, let me go look it up."

--She has a two vessel cord

--I've had 5 ultrasounds now at 40 weeks and 3 days (1 in texas at 18ish weeks, 2 in Arizona with a perinatologist/specialist, 1 in the hospital to check the Amniotic Fluid level, and another one in the hospital to check the AMI and for a biophysical profile)

--I've been sent to a cardiologist twice and hooked up to a portable monitor for 48 hours (eveything was fine, I guess, becuase I haven't really heard back from the Cardiologist)

--Yoga squats do NOT bring on labor. They may widen the pelvis in preparation, but in my book, you can do them every day (like me) and have no fear of labor starting (drat)

--I had one false alarm on Tuesday morning (early early am), 4 days before my due date, which is why Grandma Patrice hopped on a plane and why Grandma Pat hoppedi n the car. (That's also why patrice has been at most of the hospital visits)

--I've been to the Maternity Triage 4 times in 7 days (first for the false water breaking, then to double check later that day, then the next day for an ultrasound to check her fluid level, than 5 days later as per Dr.'s orders

--Dr. Gallai will be delivering her at Banner Estrella Medical center. We went to a childbirth class at banner Good Samaritan down in Phoenix becuase I didn't sign up until I was 7 months along (not thinking classes would fill up, I didn't sign up when I was 4 months, when I first thought of it)

--Tyler only came with me to the hospital the first time (when both mothers were en route), but he's coming at 1am for the induction.

--I'm being induced. The placenta is 'looking old' and is at a 'stage 3' (out of 3). Its still perfectly functional, just looks a little worse for wear and she's better being born sooner than later.

--I haven't had any cravings really--unless you count cadbury mini eggs, but I crave those around early march anyways. Its a pavlovian reaction practically. Although, I DID make tyler got 20 minutes out of his way for a chili dog (DQ, becuase sonic's are crappy). I pitched a mini fit in the car becuase I wanted one and I just needed food 10 minutes ago and was VERY low blood sugar. The chili dog was excellent.

--walking does NOT induce labor. We've tried the mall, wal mart, the commissary, the neighborhood, you name it I feel like Patrice and I have walked it. Yeah . . . I'm still pregnant.

--She was Made in Texas but will be born in Arizona and will be moving to Japan when she's 6 months old

--I've had an insanely fierce, constant lower back ache for the past 2 days and nights. Its really really bad. I can't even stand upright when I first get out of bed without about 5 minutes of rubbing it.

--I had heartburn for a few months in the second/third trimesters. It got really really bad, but then it just dissapeared. I think that's when she dropped. It was nice : )

--Evening Primrose Oil may be convereted by some bodies into prosteglandins, but apparenlty my body dosn't work that way. EPO hasn't done anything to 'ripen' or otherwise goade my body into preparation.

--The anxiety and anticipation of hte past week has been rediculous! I jsut want to have her already! and not just becuase I"m pretty uncomfortable (which I am, I got stuck on the couch the other day and TYler could barely stop laughing) but because I'm readY! Everyone's waiting! I also need to figure out how to take care of her so that I can start getting stuff ready for Japan!

--Pregnant wives can do whatever they want in Fighter Squadrons. I could probably walk in and jump up on the main counter and do a little jig and they'd let me. I could raid the bar for food and NOT mark it down on tyler's tab and they'd probably let me. Shoot, I could probably even walk into the weaposn vault at this point and not get in trouble! I've never seen it, I don't even know where it is acutally, but I betcha if I found it and walked in it would be ok! : ) Its acutally really nice that everyone's so understanding and willing to work with Tyler and I.

--She kicks me so hard sometimes I flail appendages. Usually it happens in church (awesome) but my right arm usually goes flying out when she gives me a good kick (in addition to a full body jump/twitch).

--I could be just fat, but my rigns don't fit me anymore and my watch is pretty tight. I know my feet swell though. and for some reason my right foot swells more than my left. I bought size 8 shoes a few months ago to accommodate my fat feet.

--I had bad leg cramps in the middle of the night-like charlie horses- durign my second trimester. I haven't had one in a while, but they were almost every night for a while there.

--I have not had the 'nesting' urge. If anything, I've been MORE tired the past 2 weeks than anything else. Maybe that's how I prep my nest?

--And I know you've all been wanting to know but know better than to ask, I started out at about 141-144. I dropped to 137 my first trimester from nausea, and now, as of last wednesday I weigh 170. I'm personally noticing it in my chin and thigh regions, and it doen'st help that people say "wow~! you don't look like your'e taht far along!", that just means its all stickign on MY body, not hers. . . . .

Thus ends the recap of this, my first pregnancy.

40 weeks and 3 days

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but my little pregnancy ticker reached the end of the line THREE DAYS AGO!!! Ehhhhh. . .

I've come to the conclusion she's just like her mother, and will start off her life 'running late'. I'd like to think her mother can get the job done in record time even after procrastinating until the very last minute. . . lets hope she got that little trait as well : )

Yesterday, as per my Dr's orders, I went to the hospital to have her monitored again. She looks great according to all the nurses, she's doing awesome (Show off) and I'm having non-functional contractions that are not noticable to me at all. Which means that I'm "not even a one" and just over halfway effaced--maybe.

I asked if it was possible to regress in dilation, becuase that's how I felt it was going. The nurse laughed. I really dind't think it was all that funny.

So the plan is tonight, I go in at 1am and get some stuff to align the cervix and head properly and start me dilating and sofetning a little. THEN (about 8-12 hours after that process is started) they'll start Pitocin to jump start uterine contractions. Then. . . however long it takes her to pack her bags (or for my uterus to sort it out and get on the 'functional contraction' bandwagon) the big moment will arrive.

We''ll be sure to keep everyone posted as best we can on that one--but please don't be offended if you don't get a personalized email or text message. There's quite a few people spanning quite a few states that are all in the same boat : )

39 weeks and 6 days

And still bupkuss.
Nil.
Nada.
Not one inkling of a semi-contraction, real or fake, nor any effort at all by my body to prepare (dilation, effacement. . . . its all the same that it's been for the past 3 weeks)

We MAY have a name though. . . but I don't want to jinx it in case tyler decides to not like it last minute after I've told everyone.

If nothing happens by Wednesday, I have an appointment for induction on Wednesday MArch 12th at 1am. (that's AM people). So hopefully we won't have to deal with that, especially on our anniversary.

Other than that I'm having a very pleasant time with my Mother-in-law (as my mom already went home from the false alarm, but she's driving distance away, Patrice is stuck).

I'll be sure to keep you posted again, but don't be surprised if I wait this time until the baby's acutally here. I don't want to scare/excite anyone with another fake-out : )

False Alarm

The hospital sent us home. . . . . . ehhhhh.

The time. . . has come.

Go.

Pretty sure my water broke. Standy by for updates (and feel free to DUMP suggestions in the name box!!!!)

Tyler's Wish List

You know I've heard a lot lately from Anna's family about Roombas and Scubas made by IROBOT. Nice machines I'm sure but what I could really use is the IRobot Warrior Bot. Forget vacuuming, GIMME GUNS! Do they have these at Bed Bath & Beyond? I've never actually paid attention in the store, I usually just slowly walk around the aisle that circles the store drifting in and out of conciousness.

-Tyler