Another Pretty Good Story

Remember that time, a week ago, when I had a baby?

Monday the 14th, I woke up and said to Tyson, "I'm just not feeling awesome." I was feeling nauseas, but I was used to that. I had been feeling that way in the mornings for a week or so, and it usually went away by about 9 in the morning. So I got up, showered, decided nope, not doing my hair today, threw it in a ponytail, and finished getting ready for work. As Tyson and I headed out to the car, I said to him "You know, I wouldn't mind if my hair was in a ponytail when we have this baby. That way my hair won't look craysie in our pictures."

I dropped Tyson off at work and headed to my office. The whole way there, I kept just feeling weird, and had a harder time than usual keeping my eyes open as I drove. I was exhausted, and couldn't figure out why. I got to work, put my lunch in the fridge, and started my day at 8:00. At this point, I noticed I was having what I thought were cramps about every 3-5 minutes. I figured this is why I was exhausted, and brushed it off as having Braxton Hicks contractions. I kept working, while talking to the girls I work with who were saying that I wasn't looking so good. Still, I just brushed it off as normal pregnancy stuff.

On my lunch break, I talked to Tyson and told him I was cramping a lot, and still not feeling very good, so I told him I'd call the doctor. I called and the way their office works is you have to leave a message with your "medical question" on the medical assistant's voice mail. Well, I left a message saying I was 37 weeks pregnant and cramping every 3-5 minutes and just wondering if everything was okay. I waited for a call back. I went back to work. And waited. And waited. Still just feeling icky. Finally at 3:30, I called back and talked to the receptionist. She transferred me to the medical assistant who asked me to repeat my question. So I told the jist of things, to which she said, "You're having period-type cramps every 3-5 minutes? Those aren't Braxton Hicks, those are contractions. You should probably head to the hospital to be checked." Um.

So, I went back into work, let my manager know that I was heading home for the day, but no worries, I'm sure its nothing and I'll be back tomorrow. As I left, I called out to everyone upstairs to not judge me if I was back the next day.

I started home and called Tyson. "Hi honey, do you want to get the hospital bag ready? I'm coming to get you and we're headed over." Tyson's response: "Oh. Okay. Uh. What do we need?" I walked him through what we should take, and I came and picked him up. The whole time I'm thinking that they're just going to send me home, this is silly!

It was 4:30 once we got to the hospital and into a Labor and Delivery room, the nurse, Brooke, checked me out. I was 80% effaced and dilated to a 3. Not too shabby for a first-timer! She called the doctor who said to check on me in an hour. An hour sloooowly ticked by. She checked, and I hadn't really progressed. She called the doctor again who said to wait another hour. At this point, I was starting to feel serious pain. She checked again and I had barely barely progressed. Nurse Brooke could see that I was hurting pretty bad, so she said "I'm not going to send you home to have you come back in an hour in tears!" So she had Tyson and I walk the 4th floor of the hospital. She told us to do the old lady mall walk, you know, hard walk. She wanted us to walk for an hour. I only lasted 40 minutes before I couldn't breathe and the pain was making me see black.

We went back to our room and she checked me again. I had progressed to a 4! They were keeping me! I'm having a baby! What??

I was really really hurting, and trying really hard to not cry when they asked if I wanted my epidural. "Yes! Yes please! Does that make me a baby? I'm only at a 4." No, they said, that does not make you a baby. I got the epidural, which basically felt like I was being electrocuted, but then I experienced the sweet bliss of zero feeling from my waist down. At this point, I was shaking uncontrollably, which the nurse, now Heidi, said was from adrenaline. She laid warm blankets on me, and I was out like a light. It was now 10:00. I was checked again and was at a 5. I asked Heidi when she thought this baby was coming, to which she replied, "Probably between 1 and 2." Dang. I was in for a long night.

Then they checked me again less than an hour later. I was at a 10. That's right folks, I had progressed from a 5 to a 10 in less than an hour! They called the doctor who arrived about 15 minutes later and they started the preparations for a baby. At 11:10 they had me start pushing because baby was crowning. I did the 3 sets of pushes twice. Then I got really gaggy and almost puked. All of the sudden I'm saying "sorry! sorry!" and nearly hurling into those lovely blue bags and then out of nowhere, a baby is placed on my chest! What?? I'm done? Really? It was 11:20.

Baby Ruth was born at 11:20 pm on March 14, 2011. She weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. Born with 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes, and perfect head shape! Nice and round! She was surprisingly healthy for a baby born 3 weeks early, and passed all of the tests in the hospital. Tyson and I are loving having this little sweet thing in our lives, and are feeling incredibly blessed to have her here already!

The Home Stretch

Wellp! Here we are, week 34! Or 35. Or somewhere in between...My due date has skipped about in the last little while. My original date was April 3rd, then at the ultrasound, the tech said her head was huge (rude!) so they moved it to the 25th of March. But at my last appointment, I was measuring closer to the April 3rd date. So basically, to quote Mr. Incredible, "We'll get there when we get there!"

I'm feeling really good, and grateful to be feeling that way. So far, I haven't had any swelling unless I get too warm and I've been in pretty good health. I had a cold for about a week, which wasn't a whole lot of fun, but I got through it. The only complaint I have? These dang stretch marks. Curses! But, in an odd sort of way, I have come to terms with them. Heck, I've earned 'em! :] So even then, its not really a complaint. I know a lot of women have a hard time, and I was prepared to have a really hard time, but I feel like I have been blessed with the tender mercy of having a relatively pleasant pregnancy. Maybe this is preparing me for the inevitability of my daughter being a super girly, dancer/cheerleader, and boy crazy type of girl. :]

Tyson is doing well in school and is loving his classes. He's developed (no pun intended) a passion for black and white film photography, and loves spending time in the dark room developing the photos he's taken. I've had the opportunity to go with him the last couple of times to take interesting photos up at the State Capitol building in Salt Lake. That place is awesome! And huge. We also took my dear friend Dani's engagement pictures up there yesterday, which was a great experience for all of us.

I'm greatly anticipating the arrival of this little one. Lately, I've been feeling completely overwhelmed with the upcoming events, but I am so happy that it is happening. I'm so grateful to have a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, and feel so blessed that our Heavenly Father is entrusting us to raise one of his precious spirits. It will be a daunting task, and one that I don't feel nearly qualified for, but I am so looking forward to each moment that is to come. She's already so precious to me, and a stinker :] and I just can't wait to meet her! Well, I can. She needs to cook just a little longer, please and thanks!

And, for your viewing pleasure, this video by Julian Smith. He is hilarious. And clean. Which is not a combination easily found! Our other favorites of his are "Jellyfish," "Hot Kool Aid," "Racist Coffee," and "Malk."

We're Getting There!

I'm finally in the 3rd Trimester! Woot! I'm 30 weeks along, and I am definitely starting to feel it! I love this being pregnant thing...it was definitely hard to be happy about it whilst being sick for the time I was, but I truly am enjoying it now. Except for the fact that I can hardly bend over to put shoes on. That's not completely super. :]

Tyson got into the Photography program at BYU!!!! This is super exciting news! This means he can be taking all the classes he needs/wants to and we've got a rough estimate of how much longer he'll be in school. This semester, he's taking a black and white photography class, where he's using a film camera and will be developing pictures in a darkroom. Sweet. He's enjoying his classes thus far, and the next few years are going to be really fun for him. His business did pretty well this Christmas season as well, as they had a booth in a store at the University Mall. They sold quite a few, and it was really cool to see people interested in his work, as they are beautiful pictures.

Baby Ruth is still growing well and is very active. We like that we can actually see her moving around now, even though it sort of looks like there's an alien in my belly. She's big enough now (and I'm pretty sure she's got a personality already) that she enjoys getting right up under my rib cage while I'm sleeping and kicking as hard as her little legs can. And each time, I wake up saying "Whoa, baby!" She also has her own time schedule, which makes me laugh. A couple of weeks ago, our alarm clock didn't go off, and I started awake at 7:26 (four minutes before I usually leave for work) and did the fastest getting ready procedure of my life. Tyson had to drive me, and about halfway there, she finally woke up and started doing somersaults and kicking my internal organs, as if to say, "Um, why are you up? I'm not ready to be up." I love the little personality we've given her already.

My last doctor's appointment went well, which I was extremely happy about, because it was that glucose test. The one where you drink that nasty drink that tastes like orange soda that was left out for a week. Glorious. But I passed it, which means I don't have to do the 3 hour one. However, she also tested my Iron, and it was at a 10.8. Normal Iron content, she said, is between 11 and 12. So I'm taking an extra Iron supplement on top of my prenatal. The fact that my Iron is low is honestly not surprising. It always has been. I've tried to donate blood 4 times, and only succeeded once because my Iron was too low. And I haven't had beef since about 18 weeks along, so it has been greatly diminished.

My mom told me that while she was pregnant with me, she love love loved ice cream, and she thinks that's why I've always loved ice cream. Well, this baby is going to be the same way! I love ice cream! A couple of Saturdays ago, Tyson went skiing, so I was at home watching Law & Order: SVU and decided, "Hmm...I want ice cream." So I ate a big bowl...and then another one...and then half of one. It was awesome. I was ashamed. :]

So, all is well in the Rollins household. We love our life and we can't wait til Baby Ruth gets here in just a few short weeks!