Welcome to the world, little Finch!

The last couple of months of my pregnancy were still pretty enjoyable. I would say the last 3 weeks or so were not very comfortable during the night but during the day I felt great. At night I would get pains throughout my abdomen area, which now I know some of those pains were practice contractions. But also pains from fetal movement, he was so strong and it hurt!

My due date was Wednesday, April 10th. I honestly didn't think he was ever going to come out! I didn't really feel like I was at the end of my pregnancy, and I just couldn't see myself going into labor any time soon.. I guess it just didn't feel real. At my 39 weeks appointment, my midwife checked me and I was only at 1 cm dilated. She separated the membranes and said that should help things get going. She thought I'd at least make it to my due date. But I thought he was not going to come until the weekend after my due date or maybe even later. I really thought I was going to be one of those women days past their due date trying to do everything in the book to get this baby out! I was already making plans of what I was going to have to do. My brother in law is a chiropractor, and I went to see him that week. He just started doing acupuncture as well and he said there is a pressure point that is supposed to trigger labor. I told him that if I don't go into labor that week, I would be coming to see him again to put that to the test!

That week Derek and I went for a short walk almost every night. After we watched conference on Sunday we went and walked around Sugarhouse Park one time. That day I felt like the baby was a lot lower than usual. That night was not fun. I was waking up very often with pains. But they seemed to be more often than usual. We started timing them since I was sleeping, I didn't really know how long I was sleeping for before another pain came. They were about 8 minutes apart. I thought maybe they could be contractions but I didn't know. It was early morning and I just ended up getting out of bed because I couldn't get any sleep since they were so close together. Usually when I had pains at night they would go away once I was up and moving around. This time they didn't. They actually got closer together, around 5 minutes apart. So I knew they were most likely contractions. I decided I would still go to work and just see how the day went. Once I got to work they actually slowed down. They were about every 20-25 minutes. So I thought maybe it was just false labor since they weren't very consistent and it would still be a few days. Around lunch they got worse and were now 5 minutes apart again. The pain was also getting more intense. I didn't want to leave so I stayed at work as long as I could. But by around 3:00 the pain was so bad that if I had a contraction while I was on the phone or helping a resident I couldn't listen to what they were saying and couldn't move! So I left and went to my sister's house. Derek came and met me there.

We stayed at Jessie's for a while then we went and got some Iceberg :) By that point I didn't think I could drive all the way home. Luckily, the hospital was right by Iceberg, so we had to drop my car off there and then we drove home together in Derek's car. I wanted to stay at home as long as possible. So we just watched movies and tried to relax. We were going to go for another walk but when the contractions came they hurt so bad I didn't want to be standing outside while having one. After a while I couldn't take the pain and I wanted to get in a jacuzzi tub which I don't have and the hospital does have!

We arrived at St. Mark's hospital around 8:00 PM. I was only at 3 cm dilated. I kept telling Derek, I don't think I can do this!!! If I was only at 3 cm, how was I supposed to handle getting up to 10! I wanted to try to do a natural birth (which I knew I wouldn't be able to do but I wanted to at least try!) but at this point I knew 100% there was no way. I didn't do any hypnobirthing or lamaze classes or anything like that so I wasn't prepared anyways. I still wanted to wait as long as possible to get my epidural though because I was NOT looking forward to that even though it was going to take away the pain. First of all I hate needles, but that wasn't even the scariest part, I absolutely hate being numb and was scared of feeling claustrophobic with the bottom half of my body being completely numb!

The baby was head down but he was still posterior (facing out instead of facing my back). This caused me to have back labor! I think if I didn't have back labor, the contractions would have been a lot less painful. My contractions were in my back! And my thighs! That was what made it bad for me. I went in the jacuzzi for a while and thought that was really going to help with contractions but it didn't live up to my expectations.

I sort of lost track of time during the whole thing, I wish I noted what happened at what time better. So I don't really know exactly what time or how long it was since we were at the hospital before I got my epidural. I think it was just a few hours. My sister and my mom came and stayed at the hospital for a while when we first got there. It was still early in my labor so we said we would call them when we got closer because it was still going to be a while and it was late at night. But they were there to witness me getting an IV which was like listening to a horror movie. Jessie actually recorded it and it sounds like I am getting tortured! THAT WAS THE WORST PART! The whole time I was pregnant, the main thing I was scared of for labor was first, the IV and second, the epidural. That's why I wanted to do a natural birth, because to me, the pain sounded a lot more tolerable than those things! I was having basically a panic attack before I got my IV. And to make it worse, the nurse seemed pretty new, and had to do it twice because it didn't work the first time! Okay maybe I made her more nervous by how scared I was, but still. They had to call a better nurse in to do it because she couldn't get it. I had huge bruises on both my arms for 2 weeks after I got home from the hospital. After that, the epidural was a cake walk. But I did not enjoy my legs and butt feeling like they weighed 1000 pounds.

My midwife was planning on breaking my water after I got the epidural. While they were waiting for it to completely kick in, my water broke on it's own. It was actually the funniest thing. I told Derek and Jessie, I was feeling a cramp and then all of a sudden I heard a "pop" followed by a gushing, spraying sound. It was the weirdest feeling ever! I told them I think that was my water breaking. My sister said "Or it could have been diarrhea!" hahah. That scared me! I didn't want diarrhea all over me, how embarrassing! My midwife checked and luckily, it was just my water!

At this point I was feeling much better so I decided I should try to get some sleep since it was past my bed time and I was really tired. I think I was only sleeping for about a half an hour when my midwife woke me up. She said that she had been monitoring the baby's heartbeat for an hour and after each contraction, it's dipping down dangerously low. She said they're not sure why, it could be that the cord was wrapped around his neck or that the placenta wasn't providing enough oxygen. She said if I was almost to 10 cm it wouldn't be as scary but since I was only at a 6 and seeing how slow I was progressing since he was still posterior, it's too dangerous to continue this way. She said she thinks it's best for me to have an emergency c-section. I was SO mad! Everyone says this but I was not expecting that at all! My mom nor my sister ever had c-sections and I never thought I would need one either. Everything was going so well, I was dilating good, I was 100% effaced, baby was head down, my water broke, I already got the epidural... this was not what I wanted to hear. She called a doctor in and they were both explaining to me what exactly was happening and why they think it's best. I don't even think I was listening to them very well, I was just so upset, I had nothing to say to them. They said that there was someone else in front of me that had a footling breached baby which was more of an emergency. They were going to figure out what was going on with them and they would check back with me once they knew when I would be able to go into the OR room but it would be soon.

I told Derek it was a conspiracy! I said they must have to have a certain amount of C-sections in the day and maybe they didn't meet the quota so they think since his heart rate is dipping down, I would be the best candidate there that "needs" a c-section. Derek thought I was crazy. I was really, really upset. I prayed so hard that I would dilate asap! I just really longed for that moment when your baby is born and they instantly place him on you and you can have skin to skin contact. I was also terrified of having a surgery like that while being awake! And I didn't want to take longer to heal, stay longer at the hospital etc.

About 20 minutes later, our midwife returned. She said she would check me just to see if I progressed at all. I think Heavenly Father really knows me because I went from a 6 to 9 1/2! I can't express how happy and relieved I was! She said if I wanted to deliver vaginally we were going to have to get him out quick. I was a little worried because I couldn't feel a thing and didn't know how I would be able to push. But somehow I did. And I did really good! I thought this would be the hardest part, but it was easy! I had a mirror so I think that really helped because I could see what I was doing. Within minutes, we could already see his head. She said we were going to have a baby right now! I think I was pushing for 10 minutes, maybe between 3 contractions and he came out! It happened so fast it was hard to take it all in. The moment I saw him as they placed him on my chest was amazing! I wish I could re-live it. He was so tiny and precious! He weighed 6 pounds 9.5 ounces and was 19 inches long. It was 3:03 AM on April 9th. It truly was such a special moment for us!

We stayed at the hospital for two nights. It took us a couple days to name him. We were stuck between Noah and Beckham. I didn't feel completely right about Beckham so we finally decided on Noah. We chose Michael as his middle name, after Derek's dad. Michael is also Derek's middle name. Breastfeeding was a challenge! The first day went okay because he wasn't that hungry but the second day was stressful because he was getting hungrier and it just was not working. I was really frustrated and sad because I didn't think I would be able to breastfeed him. I didn't want to go home because then I wouldn't have anyone to help me. But once we got home, each day got a little easier. We were both getting the hang of it.

The first night home was scary for Derek and I. Our first night as parents on our own. Noah actually had a rough night, and cried quite a bit. But after that night he has been pretty good and only wakes up twice during the night. Well he actually doesn't really wake up, he just starts grunting or making little sounds around the same time each night and that's when I'll get him up to feed him. The hard part is getting him back to sleep. He takes a while to burp so by the time I change his diaper, feed him, burp him, change him again and burp him more if he seems fussy, then swaddle him and get him back to sleep it usually takes at least an hour to and hour and half. But Derek is a good helper when I need him.

Noah is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can't imagine life without him. It's weird to think that just over 3 weeks ago we didn't have him here with us. I am so happy and excited to be a mom, and Derek loves being a daddy. When Noah was first born, I didn't think he looked like either of us. But the next day he looked a lot like Derek. And lately I think he looks a little like me when I was a baby. Everyone comments on his skin color. They say he has an olive skin tone. I wonder if it will last. And he has some hair! Yay! I thought he was going to be bald like me when I was born. It's crazy how fast they change and grow. He already looks so different from when we took him home. We just love him and can't get enough of him! But even though we have him here now, I still miss being pregnant! Too bad I can't have both :)


Some photos from the hospital..

Excited to meet my baby boy! 

Meeting daddy!

Our little family

First few days home..

Little smile

Spending time with daddy

His favorite stretching face

Meeting Sophia

                                                                    Meeting Elijah

Favorites from Newborn session taken at our home - 3 days old..

2013 is looking good!

I am so behind on my blog! There are not enough hours in a day for me to do everything that I want to do. But it is what it is. So a lot has happened since I last blogged. It would take me hours to go over everything, so I'll do my best.

First of all, we closed on our house.. YAY! I think we closed around December 7th. It was a busy month with the house project and the holidays in the mix of it all. But it was nice that the semester was ending so Derek didn't have school. He was able to take a week and a half off from work and do some things on the house with help from his brother, Dustin. After he went back to work it took a lot longer to get things done since we could only work at night and Saturdays. It took about a month to get the upstairs ready. We did some electrical work, re-finished all the hardwood floors, painted every room, every base board, all the trim etc. and did many little things here and there. The house really didn't need that much work in the upstairs, but you'd be surprised how long all of these little cosmetics things take. We haven't started on the basement at all yet. That will be a completely different project. The basement is only partially finished for now. It has 2 potential bedrooms down there that were recently done (well, half done). We want to add a family room, second bathroom and a storage/laundry room. But I'm being patient with that. But I would just like to point out how hard it is to get window treatments for a whole house! Geez, I think that was the most stressful part for me, haha. I'm still not completely done with that either. I've also been having a hard time finding wallpaper for the hall so our hall still looks scary. We are still organizing and doing little things when we have the time. But it's a little hard when I work a lot of Saturdays and only have a couple hours each night after work and most of the time want to spend those hours relaxing. AND when I am 7 months pregnant and trying to get ready to bring a baby into this world. So, things are moving but moving slowly :) I took some quick photos when we were done most of the painting but I will take better ones once it looks more put together. We got a lot of help on the house from our family and friends that we are really grateful for. It took us a long time to get a home for our family, but we were determined and it finally happened. We aren't in our dream neighborhood or the area we originally wanted to stay in but we just feel very blessed to have a humble home and to have a place where we can raise our children in. 

Here are just a few photos..

Before: Living/Dining Room

(If the paint job wasn't so messy, it wouldn't have been bad but I really wanted light gray walls)

Before: Living/Dining Room 

(I should have taken close ups of the baseboards - yuck.)

After: Living/Dining Room 

After: Living/Dining Room

(We had to put the chandelier higher up for now until we get a new table - our table is really high. I want to do a stencil on the darker gray wall when I find the perfect one)

Before: Master Bedroom

(Bright neon green walls and brown ceiling and baseboards... interesting combo)

Before: Master Bedroom

After: Master Bedroom

(The photo is a little blurry, I chose a purpley-gray color for our room)

After: Master Bedroom

(don't mind Derek's butt)

Now that we are settled in, we started getting the nursery ready. All of a sudden it was like "Oh my gosh our baby is going to be here in 10 weeks!". So we got the crib and glider set up in his room. We bought his car seat and stroller.. we are making progress! We are still struggling with a name for him though. I just haven't heard any new name that I'm like OOooo I like. I just keep hearing the same names over and over again and nothing sounds special to me. I have always liked the name Noah. That's the only name I know for sure that I love. But as I've said before, I don't want him to be one of several Noah's in his class or church or wherever. To me, when a name is too popular it loses it "spark", I don't know maybe I'm weird. But that's really the only name I love so far. For a boy at least. And I personally don't know any Noah's but if you look at any baby list, it's usually in the top 5 or top 10 popular boy names. Lame. But we'll see, maybe when he's born he'll look so much like a Noah that it won't matter to me anymore. 

Baby Finch at 22 weeks

Anyways, pregnancy has continued to be.. pretty.. blissful.... :) I'm sorry to anyone who has had a rough pregnancy. I'm sorry, don't hate me but I love it! I will probably be one of those girls who misses being pregnant after their baby is born. I will be 32 weeks in a couple days and I still feel really good. I'm just barely starting to feel not as comfortable when I sleep but it's not bad at all (yet, right?). I'm sure in a month or so I might feel different. But hey, if pregnancy is only uncomfortable for the last month then I'm not complaining! Baby has been moving a lot! Sometimes it's very strong and it startles me and then I startle Derek by my reaction, haha. I love watching my belly move around from him squirming so much. It's pretty good entertainment. I started exercising again last week and boy I am weak. I hadn't been exercising as much the last 2 months being so busy with the house and moving. But I know it's important so I am going to do my best these last 8 weeks or so without pushing myself too hard. It's really crazy how fast time is going! Baby will be here before we know it! Oh and remember I said I was turned off by sweets and chocolate, yeah that didn't last too long. But at least I haven't really been having any crazy cravings.

Some photos of my progression..

12 Weeks

20 Weeks

25 Weeks

30 Weeks

Have you seen the Friends episode where Phoebe is in labor and Joey all of a sudden has kidney stones? We kind of had our own little version of that. Well, not exactly. Last week Derek had to go to the emergency room for kidney stones! He got to work and they were in a morning meeting. He felt some strong pains and had to leave the room. Then it got so bad that he couldn't even talk so they rushed him to the hospital. I got a call saying that he was in the hospital and they think that he has kidney stones. First I was really scared and confused. I was like what the heck he was fine just an hour ago when I saw him. It was the weirdest thing! It felt unreal. I had just walked in the door at work and was not expecting that at all. I was able to leave and go to the hospital. I was so worried about him :(  He wasn't in much pain when I got there because they gave him some meds. They did some tests and found that he was passing a kidney stone in his right kidney that was causing him so much pain. I guess the most painful part is when it's passing from the kidney to the bladder. I guess once it gets to the bladder it doesn't hurt anymore and it doesn't hurt coming out from there. They told him it could be a few days before he completely passed it. They also told him that he has another one in his left kidney that hasn't started to come down yet. It could be weeks, months, it could be years before it starts to come down. So the good thing is that if he feels that pain again at least he'll know what it is and he won't think he's dying. The bad thing is that he knows he's going to have to go through that pain again. They say it's as bad as childbirth! So I don't know if God just wanted him to have more sympathy for me when I'm in labor or what! But he is okay now. Luckily with the help of pain medication he wasn't in too much pain the following few days. And it completely passed about 3 days after he went into the ER. What a relief. Another good thing from this is that it motivated him to wanting to eat healthier and drink more water. He hasn't drank any pop since then, which makes me happy, but we'll see how long this lasts. I'm happy that he is okay and it was just kidney stones and not something more serious.

The Beautiful Miracle of Pregnancy!

Since I haven't posted anything about my pregnancy yet, I will start from the beginning. Around our anniversary back in June we decided it was definitely time to start trying for a baby. I had wanted to start trying since the day we got married but we both felt like there were some things we wanted to work on first. So I had to be very patient. So for months before our 1 year anniversary we prayed and felt like around June was a good time to start trying. We didn't know if we would be able to get pregnant right away or if it was going to take a few months, or a year. Looking at my family history, I was hopeful that I would get pregnant right away because that was normal for my side of the family. But, I didn't want to expect that and be very disappointed if it took several months or even longer. So I tried to just have faith and put it in the Lord's hands and see how things went. Well half way through the month we found out that I had an ovarian cyst. The family doctor I saw was very against me getting pregnant (even before she knew about the cyst). Once she found out I had a cyst she told me that I really should not get pregnant until it clears away. I didn't feel right about this and felt like she just didn't want me to have babies - well because she told me she didn't. We stopped trying for a couple weeks until I could get a second opinion. I went to see a mid-wife and she told me that she isn't worried about it at all and it was probably already gone. She told me we should continue to try if that's what I wanted. I was happy to hear that. So the following week I was ovulating and you know what that means :) A few days before my missed period I tested and it was negative. I was sad but thought it still might be too early even though it says you can test 6 days before.. So on the day I was expecting my period I tested again and it was negative. But that time I don't think I waited long enough because I was anticipating a negative result. Four more days passed by and still nothing so I was like what's going on! And that day I was SO tired, I fell asleep after church on the couch, and that NEVER happens to me. So I felt like I should test again. This time I tested differently and I actually timed it with a timer. I cannot express in words how happy I was when I saw the positive pregnancy test. I started bawling like a baby :) I got on my knees and thanked my Heavenly Father and then I called Derek to tell him. He thought I was hurt at first because I was crying, haha. He was really excited. I kept looking at the test over and over again still in disbelief. I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember and I couldn't believe that it was actually happening. It was an amazing moment that I will never forget :)

So far my pregnancy has been really good! A lot easier than I had expected. We found out we were pregnant a few days before our trip to Canada. On the trip I was extremely tired the whole time. I had to take lots of naps (very strange for me). But as soon as we got home, I wasn't fatigued any more so that was good. I've only had a few moments of very mild nausea that is barely noticeable and every time it only lasts a few minutes or even seconds. I haven't thrown up or been sick at all so I'm VERY thankful for that. The only thing that is bothering me is my back. I already had lower back pain before my pregnancy, and it's gotten worse now. I haven't really had any cravings, but a lot of things I used to enjoy don't taste as good anymore. For example, chocolate! I am usually SUCH a chocoholic and can NEVER resist chocolate but since I've been pregnant, I  don't like chocolate as much. Or any sweets in that case. It's the weirdest thing! But I guess that's a good thing because I want to eat healthy anyways. I'm exercising every day during the week and I have been able to continue light running which I am happy about because I love to run.

So this whole time Derek and I thought we were having a girl... and it turns out it's a little baby boy! But we are really happy and excited! It was amazing to see him moving around on the ultrasound. I thought I would be a lot bigger by now, but now that I know everything is okay, I'm actually happy I'm not big yet. This week my belly seems like it's starting to pop out (for real and not just bloating), and I can actually feel the pressure of my uterus when I touch my belly right below my belly button. I love it! I am almost half way through my pregnancy! I love being pregnant :) I think it's the most exciting and miraculous thing. I love seeing my body change and believe it or not but I like seeing the number on the scale go up because it tells me my baby is growing! I can't wait to see our little creation. I think he is going to look like a mini Derek, hehe. But it's very possible that we might have a red-headed little boy, so don't be surprised if that's the case, haha.

I feel so extremely blessed and I am so excited to be a mom. I feel like I've been waiting to start my family for an eternity and the time is finally here! I know Derek is going to be an amazing father and I am so blessed to have him as my husband. I am so thankful for families and for our temple sealing. It's a wonderful thing to know that we can be with our family forever :)

Little alien :)

If you have any boy names, preferably not so common ones, PLEASE share! :)

"I'm ON vacation!!"

About a month ago, we decided we should take a vacation. We figured this would probably be the last time to take a big trip for a while. I wanted to go to Canada, but I didn't want to spend that much. We wanted to go somewhere that wouldn't take too much planning or stress, somewhere to relax. We were thinking about going to Florida because Derek's sister could give us her "buy one get one" tickets anywhere in the US, and we have never been there together (we wanted to be by the beach and we already went to California). But the money we would be spending seemed like a lot just for Florida.. so we thought well if we're going to spend that much money we should just get an all-inclusive trip to Mexico or something! But I thought about it, and I still really wanted to go to Canada. So we decided to go there instead since it would only be a little more expensive. We thought it would be worth it. We figured out our cheapest option was to use the buy one get one tickets to fly to Maine, rent a car and drive up to Nova Scotia. It was a quick decision, but luckily we were both able to get time off work even with such short notice. I was so excited! Derek had never been to Nova Scotia before (he has been to Calgary a few times). And I really missed it!

We were there for 10 days and had so much fun! We stayed with my brother, Hugh and his wife, Veronica and 3 pugs.   The timing we chose was perfect, we got to go to the Busker Festival (a festival with street performers on the waterfront, I've gone to since I was a kid), my dad was there at the same time as us (which wasn't planned) so Derek met my dad and his wife, Susan, and he got to meet my dad's family in Cape Breton, also one of my Calgary friends was there visiting the same time as us so I was able to see her, and Hugh's dog had her puppies during our stay so we got to see them too! So I'm glad we went when we did. We went to the beach several times, Derek tried surfing for the first time and actually did pretty good! One beach had a pretty cool Sand Castle Contest going on. We went to Peggy's Cove, one of my favorite places! We went to Ovens Natural Park which was beautiful, mine and Hugh's first time even though we grew up in NS. We got to do a session at the Halifax Temple, Derek met our family friend, Fritz and some of my closest friends from Elementary. I showed Derek the small town where I lived most of my childhood, and showed him my shoe box school, hehe. We went on the Harbour Hopper which is a tour bus that drives around Halifax and then goes into the harbour and turns into a boat :) That was cool, we learned a lot about Halifax. AND I was able to eat some of my favorite foods that I missed, Yum! So we did a lot of fun stuff, we got to spend lots of time with family, we did a lot of relaxing, I had unlimited time with pugs, and I got to take lots of pictures which makes me happy! I'm really glad we went!

On our way there!

On the Ferry

Poutine!

My dad with Hugh and Derek

My dad with his wife, two sisters and their husbands and little Addison

Nacho and Derek

Peggy's Cove

Me :)

Peggy's Cove

Hugh and I

Ovens Natural Park

Handstands around the world

It was beautiful here

Sea Caves

I love the bridge

Downtown Halifax

Harbour Hopper

Michelle and Nicole 

Kristen and Lauren

Pug fest!

Nacho enjoying some fresh air

Banook Lake

Halifax Temple

Puppy!

Sand Castle Contest

Fun

:)

Lindsay and I

Surfs up

Family friend, Fritz