And The Winners Are...

Christy Lively and Alane Benson!
Congratulations on winning the contest of when Drako would be born! Alane guessed the right day, but was off by about 5 hours on the time.  Christy guessed the next day, but was also off by about 5 hours, so both of you get a prize.  These will be mailed out tomorrow morning.  You both win a $10 gift certificate to Cold Stone so you can enjoy a yummy treat.  Thank you to everyone who guessed!

Our Precious Baby Boy

On January 14th, 2011 at 10:07 pm, we welcomed Drako John Woodland into our family.  What an incredible experience!  Because of the wonderful care from my doctor, our little boy was given the best chance possible and came into this world when he was full-term; at 37 weeks.  We had reached our "best scenario" goal and it was so worth it because he was healthy and perfect. I love the picture above that my mom took.  Drako was just sleeping in my arms, but it looked like he was posed for the picture.  My heart is so full right now and he totally has me wrapped around his little finger!

The story of his labor and delivery begins on Thursday, January 13th, at my last prenatal appointment.  My doctor had me go into LDS Hospital that night to be induced because my blood pressure and the protein in my urine had increased dramatically. The preeclampsia had worsened to the point that it was time to have the baby.  When we got to the hospital, a stress test was done to see if the baby could handle labor.  Pitocin was started so I would contract and then his heart rate was monitored.  If his heart rate dropped with each contraction, a C-section would be done that night.  Thank goodness he had no problems, and it was decided to stop the Pitocin and give me Cytotec which thinned my cervix and put me into labor.  I was also put on IV magnesium because my labs had come back abnormal and the doctor wanted to prevent the preeclampsia from turning into eclampsia.

Throughout the night, it was like I had one long contraction.  I was in pain all night-not too bad but enough to keep me from sleeping.  Josh and my mom were with me right from the start and I know they didn't get much sleep either, but I'm so grateful they were there to support me!  The next morning I decided to have an epidural and my doctor came in to break my water to help the labor progress.  She and the anesthesiologist came in at the same time and my doctor decided to wait until the epidural was in before doing her procedure. She should have gone first, because the placement of the epidural was a huge trial.  It took the anesthesiologist 6 times before the epidural was safely in place.  He said that the bones of my spine are very close together and after trying 4 different areas while I was lying on my side, suggested we try once again while I was sitting up.  He was finally able to place the epidural at that time, but it went in too deep, so he had to do it once more.  I'm so glad he was finally able to place it because the pain from him trying to was horrible and it would have sucked to have nothing to show for it.  It actually made me get sick and I ended up dry heaving which caused my water to break so my doctor didn't have to do it after all.  Once this was finally done, the Pitocin was restarted and my labor progressed.

The day went by pretty slowly as I continued to dilate.  When I was close to 10cm, the doctor had me turn onto my stomach because I was having bad back labor and this suggested that the baby was face up instead of face down.  After awhile of this, I was fully dilated and it was time to push.  The anesthesiologist came back in to give me an extra dose of medicine but this ended up dropping my blood pressure drastically and the baby's heart rate stopped being variable.  I also got sick again and Josh says I almost passed out.  I don't remember a whole lot about this time, just that the Pitocin was turned off and I had to be given medicine to stabilize my blood pressure and get the baby's heart rate back to normal.  Once we were both okay, the medicine was restarted and I was finally ready to push.  The one good thing about the extra dose of pain medicine is that both of my legs became completely numb and I didn't feel any pain until just before the baby was born.  The weird thing is that I couldn't move my legs and other people had to hold them up for me.

I started pushing at 7pm and had a wonderful team of people to coach me.  Josh and my mom were there, as well as my mother-in-law, Kim, my sister, Becky, and my good friend, Tami.  Each one helped me soo much as the pushing progressed and I am very grateful they were there!  After I had been pushing for an hour and a half and the baby hadn't come, the doctor told me that I could go another hour and a half and then a C-section would have to be done.  This made me try even harder and the Pitocin was increased to get my contractions closer together.  As time progressed and 9:30 came, I started to panic. I had been working so hard and the baby still hadn't come and I really wanted to be able to have him naturally.  My great support team got me through this difficult time and using a vacuum to assist with the birth was suggested.  My doctor agreed to do this but told me that she didn't think it would work. 

Once the vacuum was hooked up, Drako started to crown, but then the suction broke and the vacuum came off.  The doctor quickly did an episiotomy and was able to grab the baby just as he was going back inside.  She then gently helped to deliver him and gave him to the special care nursery nurses who were close by.  When my water broke, there was meconium in it and the doctor was afraid that the baby had inhaled this.  I was worried about him, but as she handed him to the nurses, he started to cry.  What a beautiful sound!  I knew he would be all right because of this and all I could do was cry because I was so happy. 

Josh was able to watch over the baby as he was being taken care of and others from my support team stayed with me as I was being fixed up.  The baby was taken to the special care nursery because he was whimpering and they were worried that one of his lungs wasn't transitioning as it should, but about 10 minutes later Josh came back with the baby in his arms.  Drako was doing fine and was then able to stay with us.

What an incredible time this was for me!  Giving birth was such an amazing experience and all of the pain was worth it because our son was healthy and breathing on his own!  Love for him has totally taken over my heart and I thank Heavenly Father every day that He sent this special little spirit to us!  It's so neat to be a family and I could never show enough gratitude for this precious gift that we have been given!

Family Pictures

The first weekend in November, Josh and I had new family pictures taken at my grandparents' farm.  This was also the time that I stepped on a nail, so our session was cut short and we didn't get all of the poses that we wanted.  We are happy with what we did get and I'm going to post some of my favorites here.  The day was perfect for picture taking and the fall colors turned out amazing.

That's my grandparents' house in the background and we're sitting on one of my grandpa's tractors that is 40-some-odd years old and still running. 

We thought it was so neat that the deer came out just when we were taking pictures!

Preeclampsia

My blogging has been pretty sporadic lately, but I thought I'd take the time to explain our not-so-fun pregnancy complication.  Some of this will be a repeat, for which I apologize, but I want to give you the entire story. 

For most of my pregnancy, everything went fine.  All of the prenatal appointments showed that I was progressing as I should with no problems and Josh and I were so excited to soon welcome our little boy into our family.  Then we went to my 33 week appointment and my blood pressure was high.  My doctor was concerned about it and ordered labs to check for preeclampsia. This is a condition that only happens in pregnancy where the mother's blood pressure is high and there is a high amount of protein in her urine.  In the mild stage it doesn't harm the baby, but if it progresses to the severe stage, it can harm the baby and the mother. 

My doctor rechecked my pressure before we left her office, and it had shot up to 151/101.  This guaranteed us a trip to the hospital for extended monitoring.  We spent about 2 hours at the hospital that night, while the baby and I were monitored and labs drawn.  They came back normal, but my doctor was still concerned and I was put on bedrest.  I could no longer work or do anything around the house-all I was allowed to do was lay on either the couch or bed and get up to use the bathroom or get something to eat. I also had to do another test, this time to check my urine for protein, and was given strict instructions for when to return to the hospital.  My doctor let us go home, but I think it was only because it was our anniversary that day.   

We were able to enjoy our anniversary weekend, I completed the test, and we saw the doctor again that next Monday.  The test had come back okay-I didn't have enough protein to be diagnosed with preeclampsia-but I still had high blood pressure and all of the same instructions applied.  My doctor also had me start coming in twice a week to do monitoring and I had to see her once a week.  At the first monitoring appointment, later that week, my blood pressure remained high enough that I was again sent to the hospital.  Once I was there, I started having contractions and one lasted for about 15 minutes and caused the baby's heart rate to decrease to 80.  The nurse rushed in and gave me medicine to stop the contraction and his heart rate came back up without problems, but I was to be monitored closely for at least that night and was given the first of two steroid injections to help mature the baby's lungs if he was to be delivered early. 

We spent a pretty much sleepless night in the hospital and I had the same tests repeated.  This time the urine showed that I did have preeclampsia-my protein levels were now high enough-and I was given another night of monitoring in the hospital.  I received the second steroid injection, labs were repeated, and we were told that if my blood pressure got any higher or the labs came back abnormal, I would be induced the next day-Christmas Eve.  I would be 34 weeks along.  Thank goodness my blood pressure dropped a little and the labs came back normal, so we were once again allowed to go home.  Very strict instructions were given for when I should come back to the hospital and I had to monitor my blood pressure at home and text my doctor with the readings throughout the weekend.  I saw her the next Monday and things were stable at that time-my blood pressure stayed the same and repeat labs were normal.  My first monitoring appointment was also fine that week so I continued on bedrest, in anticipation that the baby would come at 37 weeks, on January 14th, unless anything further went wrong.   

Our second monitoring appointment, which was on December 30th, netted me another extended monitoring session at the hospital.  I had another contraction that dropped the baby's heart rate-it wasn't as bad as the first-but it caused the doctors to be concerned.  After another 2 hour stay, we were released, and I was to continue as before.  At my next prenatal appointment, my blood pressure was higher than it had been-it was 148/104-and there was more protein in my urine from a quick test done, so we went through the same, old routine again. My labs were drawn and I had to do another 24 hour urine test.  We were told that if anything came back abnormal, I would be induced.  The labs came back normal, thankfully, and my blood pressure hasn't gotten any worse, so I am at home while I write this.  I had another monitoring appointment yesterday and that went fine, but there is still one more thing that could take me back to the hospital and have the baby come early.  We're still waiting for the results of the urine test.  If my protein levels have jumped into the severe range, little Drako will be joining our family later this week. 

Neither Josh nor I have slept well the last couple of nights, in anticipation of what will happen.  I don't know if I'm more nervous about not having the baby, or of having the baby.  I know he will do better if he comes now, because he's had more time to grown and mature, but it would be even better if he could get to 37 weeks and be full term.  On the other hand, these last few weeks have been some of the hardest for us and Josh and I are about ready to say "that's it, we're done" and have the baby be here.  The waiting and not knowing and ups and downs of emotions are really hard to deal with!  I hope none of you have this complication in any of your pregnancies!

Baby Contest

I think it's time for another contest.  Sorry it's been so long since the last one!  This time it will be guessing when our little boy will be born.  The time has been narrowed down considerably though, so it makes it easier.  My doctor will induce me on January 14th, when I'm 37 weeks, unless things get worse, and then she will induce me sooner.  So he will be here sometime within the next two weeks.  There will be a cool prize for the person who wins.  Josh and I had guessed later in January, as had our neighbor, so we're all out of the running.  Good luck everyone! :)

The Week of a Thousand Years

Have you ever had a week that just seems to go on forever? That's how this last week was for Josh and I. Last Sunday, the 12th, we received a call that my aunt had had a massive stroke and was in the hospital.  She wasn't able to walk anymore and would never be able to live alone.  Josh and I headed up there to see her and found that it was much worse than that.  She couldn't talk or hardly respond, and the doctor had come in just before we got there to say that she would be leaving this world soon, so this time would most likely be one of goodbye.  I was stunned by this!  It was so sudden and we had just seen her a week earlier at the family Christmas party.  How grateful I am that we went to the hospital that night! Amid my tears, I was able to hold her hand and tell her how much I loved her and thank her for all that she did for me.  She did move her head towards me, so I think she knew I was there.  She passed away the next day.  She was an amazing woman!  She was so loving and kind and was more like a grandma than an aunt to me and my siblings.  She is dearly missed!

With the passing of my dear Aunt Carol, our anniversary plans changed.  Our second anniversary was on Friday, the 17th, and we had booked two nights at The Castle Creek Inn to celebrate.  The funeral was planned for Saturday, so we knew we wouldn't get all the time together we wanted, but figured it would still be a wonderful weekend.

Friday rolled around and I had the day off, but Josh had to work, so I worked around the house for awhile and then he came home and got me so we could go to our prenatal visit.  At the visit, my blood pressure was high.  It had been high two visits before, but the last visit it was fine, so we hadn't worried about it.  We went through the visit and the doctor ordered lab work to check for preeclampsia and then rechecked my blood pressure.  It had shot up very high at that time, so we went directly to the hospital to be monitored.  We stayed for about two hours at LDS Hospital while my blood pressure and the baby were monitored.  The labs were done there and once the results came back, my doctor came and talked with us.  The labs were all fine, but my blood pressure had stayed high the whole time we were there.  Not as high as it was at her office, thank goodness, but still higher than it should have been.  She said that I had preeclampsia and explained all the possible complications that came with it.  She also said that from now on, I was on strict bedrest until the baby came.  She sent me home, but I think it was only because we had hotel reservations.  I had to do a 24 hour urine test, which they usually keep patients in the hospital to do, but I'm so glad that she trusted me enough to do it on my own and we didn't have to stay overnight. 

We did get to the hotel that night, but later than we had expected.  It was a really nice room and we were glad we had the chance to enjoy it.  Saturday was the funeral and I wasn't going to miss that, bedrest or not.  It was a beautiful memorial of her and it was nice to be surrounded by the love of my family. We went back to the hotel afterwards, but to a different room.  This one was really nice as well and the staff treated us like royalty.  We couldn't do anything except lay in bed and relax, but it was nice to have that time together.  Josh was so sweet to stay with me and not complain about our sudden change in plans.

Needless to say, I am very grateful last week is over!  This week has the promise of being a much better one with Christmas.  Josh and I definitely have a lot on our minds now, but we need to have faith in Heavenly Father and His plan and know that He will take care of us and Drako. 

Bring on The Turkey!

Sorry that this next post won't have any pictures. They accidentally got erased from the memory card before being saved on the computer. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great day and it was nice having Josh at home and not working. We ended up having three Thanksgiving dinners this year and I am proud to report that I only gained three pounds in those two weeks between prenatal visits. 

I love that there's a holiday dedicated to counting your blessings. Thanksgiving is such a neat time of the year and I always reflect on what I'm grateful for. We have been blessed so very much and I am eternally grateful for a Heavenly Father who watches out for his children individually! I can't believe how much He cares for each one of us and provides for our specific wants and needs! It's an incredible feeling to realize just how much He loves me!

We were able to spend the holiday this year with each our of families which was really nice. My family is one of the things for which I am most grateful and I love being with them at this time of the year. Our first Thanksgiving dinner was with my family. Ryan, our brother-in-law, is a police officer and had to work on Thanksgiving, so we had a dinner for him the Sunday before. My mom and sister decorated the kitchen at my parents' house so festive with a turkey tablecloth and dishes and cute place cards. All of my siblings and their families were there as was my sweet aunt Carol. We enjoyed each other's company as we ate the traditional, mouth-watering food and had fun playing games afterwards. It was also cute watching part of "Ernest Scared Stupid" with my nephews. Maclain just wanted to see everything, whether it was scary or not, but Payton would casually stroll down the hall when he felt things were getting too scary. lol. I love those two boys so much!

Our second dinner was on Thanksgiving day. Josh and I had decided to have dinner at our apartment with his family. His mom, Kim, had had carpal tunnel surgery a few days before the holiday and we wanted to make sure she was able to enjoy it anyway. We took over most of the cooking, but she still insisted on bringing rolls and pies which were very delicious. It was the first time either of us had cooked Thanksgiving dinner and I think we did a great job. Okay, so Josh did a fabulous job! He cooked the turkey and mashed potatoes while I did the easy things-the Stovetop stuffing and heating up the gravy. Josh's family came over a few hours before dinner so we had time to visit and watch football. Besides Kim, Josh's brothers came as well as her boyfriend, Steve.

We did have one mishap with our cooking. The turkey had cooked faster than we anticipated, so we were scrambling around trying to finish everything else and in the process forgot to stir the potatoes as they were boiling. They ended up burning on the bottom but Josh was able to scoop out the not burnt parts and you couldn't even taste that anything had happened. We did find out one thing for sure that day though: our fire alarm works. lol.

After dinner everyone except Josh and Steve fell asleep. It looked like a huge slumber party was going on because there were blankets all over the front room. The two of them stayed awake to watch the second football game of the day. Silly boys!

Our third tryptophan-filled dinner was the night after Thanksgiving. Josh's ex-stepdad invited us to their belated holiday dinner. This is the dad of Josh's brothers and he raised Josh for most of his childhood. The food and company were nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about him wanting to be a bigger part of our lives.