Charlie Jane

Could be that it was my 3rd baby, or the fact that she was almost 10 pounds, or both, but my body was trying to get this baby out starting at like 36 weeks. I usually start having contractions around 20 weeks with my pregnancies, which happened again, but around 35 ish weeks they started getting BAD. Anytime I would walk they would start and they would hurt!!

At my 36 week appt I was dilated to a 1. My body has never dilated on its own before until I was actually in labor, so I was SO excited. All while my midwife tried to convince me it meant nothing telling me she was probably at a 1 (😂) I was still convinced she would come early. The week went on and I continued to have super bad contractions every day. At my 37 week appt I was at a 3! A 3! I again was convinced she was coming any day. When I was pregnant with Ella my water broke and labor started fast and I was a 3 when they admitted me to the hospital. So this was a big deal. So I waited and waited. Couldn’t really do much the last couple weeks because anytime I would walk my contractions would start and would be 2-3 min apart. 

I knew at my 38 week appointment they would strip my membranes, so I went in at 38 weeks and told them to do it as hard as they could. And that, they did. 😳 I was now at a 4! People get epidurals at a 4 and here I am walking around NOT in labor at a 4. At my appt I asked if the membrane stripping didn’t work (which I was sure it would, how could it not when I was at a 4 AND contracting) if I could come back in a couple days to have them do it again. She agreed, but also said I would probably have my baby by then. I set up an appointment anyways for Thursday (it was Monday at this point) 

So I go home still having to attempt to take care of 2 other kids, while I am literally dying trying to get around my house. My contractions would come throughout the day but every night at 5 on the dot they would get super strong. They would start happening every 2 min, even if I was laying down. They would hurt SO bad. And they would stay like this for 3-4 hours and then everything would stop. This happened Every. Single. Day. My body was so sore and so wrecked from this. If I hadn’t had a baby before I would probably have already gone into the hospital not knowing they would just send me home. I was in prodromal labor for weeks. And these weren’t Braxton Hicks where they weren’t doing anything. My body was dilating and then it would STOP.

Thursday came for my appointment to get my membranes stripped AGAIN. Which by the way, is SO painful, and worse than labor in my opinion 😂 but I also have never done it naturally..so I could be being dramatic. Still. I go in again and beg them to do it as hard as possible to put me into labor. They agreed, and said they would probably see me at the hospital that evening! Spoiler alert. DIDNT HAPPEN. The weekend came and went. Every sign of labor was happening for me except the actual labor! My mom flew into town that weekend to stay with us, and would try to convince me to go to the hospital every evening, but I did not want to go and get sent home. That would kill me 😂. 

Monday came, I had another appointment. 39 week appointment. I was finally seeing my actual OB who is literally an actual angel on earth so I was coming up with a plan to have him put me into labor right then and there in the office. I was making lists of all the reasons I needed to be sent to the hospital (I actually had a fairly good list of reasons, because I had quite a few medical issues this pregnancy), and if my list didn’t work, then my plan was to tell him if he didn’t break my water right now, then I would go home and try to do it myself. I was SURE that would convince him. You know, because doctors love to be threatened. But I was so done being pregnant and I tend to get a little crazy at the end (see Jackson’s birth story 😂). So I drive to my appointment. Bags are packed, because I AM going to the hospital right after I see him. 

I get checked in, get into the room, and he knocks and says “you’re still pregnant?!” Joking of course, but I literally just break down in tears begging him to put me into labor right then and there. He hadn’t even fully walked into the room yet. My whole script went out the window 😂 I begged him to break my water and he, being the angel he is, agreed to try. He felt so bad for me, and hugged me, and told me he was going to do what he could to help me. I knew as soon as my water broke I would have the baby within hours. That was the only thing holding everything back. He came back in with a nurse and laid out extra pads all over the floor and said that he was stripping my membranes but he might accidentally break my water in the process and smiled. Well, turns out your water bag is actually super thick and pretty hard to break without the right tools. Which he didn’t have. But OH he tried. And it was painful. So I sat up and said “Now what? I can not do this any longer” I had explained what was happening to me every night so he told me he was on call Wednesday and if I came into the hospital that he would admit me immediately and we would have this baby! But..that was still 2 days away. So I asked what would happen if I went to the hospital that day? He told me to go in as soon as my contractions started. Not to tell the nurses I knew they would stop in a few hours. They would see I was having contractions, and they would see I was dilated to a 5 now. (Yes a 5. How is the baby even still in there when you’re at a 5.) and they would probably admit me! So that was it. That was happening. The plan had been set. I headed home with terrible contractions because he has stripped my membranes for the 3rd time in a week 🤦🏽‍♀️ and decided to wait a little before we went in. I told Tyson and he of course needed a nap before we could go in. You know, for all the work he was about to do. I finished packing the bags and woke him up and said we were leaving now. The contractions were consistent and painful. I was just hoping they didn’t stop before I got there! 

We headed to the hospital around 5:30 and went to triage. I was at a 5 and only in pain when I was standing and walking. They monitored my contractions for a little and then told me to walk (around the triage room because you aren’t allowed in the halls because of covid 🙄) for 45 minutes and if I’ve progressed at all then they would keep me. I was like oh no!! They’re going to know I’m faking it! That’s a lot of pressure, especially when you know you aren’t actually in real labor yet. So I walked around the room as much as I could for those 45 minutes in constant pain. Literally trying to run and jump. My contractions were on top of each other just how they had been the last couple WEEKS anytime I would walk. But I did NOT want to get sent home!! I knew if they would just break my water the baby would probably come flying out, but they won’t do that until you’re admitted. So after 45 minutes my midwife who I love, came in and I pled my case. She told the nurse if I had dilated to atleast 5 1/2 then she would keep me, and if not she would try to talk to the charge nurse and convince her to let me stay. I was trying to make a good argument since I was strep b positive I needed enough time to get antibiotics in before the baby came and I was already dilated so much they should probably keep me, right? Right. So the nurse checked me and said “uhh I guess I could call that a 5 1/2?” YES! Yes you can. I was staying!! So they came in and got my IV going and wheeled me down to my room! 

So I get set up in my room, still not really in any pain, feeling like I totally tricked everyone into thinking I’m in labor 😂. Tyson goes downstairs to grab our stuff, and get us some food, and I’m just hanging out relaxing. The anastheologist came in to talk to me around 8 about the epidural thinking I wanted it right then. In the middle of talking she goes “you’re at a 5 1/2 right now? Have you been having contractions while we’ve been talking?” I said yes, but that I wasn’t really in any pain anymore and not ready for an epidural yet. Because I was freaked out about getting one when I wasn’t even in any pain yet! She was confused and said most people don’t act like this at a 5 1/2 and are begging for one, so to call her when I was ready and that she was leaving at 10 so if I wanted her to do it (which the nurse not so subtly suggested I want her to do it) to get it done before that! 

At around 9 my midwife comes back in and tells me she’s going to come break my water once my 4 hours are up from the antibiotics which would be at about 10:30, and suggested I get my epidural before that. Sooo we called the anesthesiologist back in to do it before she left! I had mentioned to her that my epidurals never work on my left side for some reason, so she suggested getting an epidural and a spinal block and that would for sure numb me on both sides. But she mentioned the spinal block only works for an hour and then it wears off to just the epidural, but that atleast it would give me a solid hour of no pain. So I went ahead and got both done, when I was in little to NO pain 😂 and was totally freaked out. But everything went fine! 

10:30 rolls around and my midwife comes in to break my water. She checks me and no progress since I got admitted (well duh, because I wasn’t actually IN labor 😂) I knew nothing was going to happen until my water broke. So they break my water, start another bag of antibiotics, and then we wait. Tyson slept for a while, I was just laying around on my phone not really able to sleep. I was laying on my right side and wasn’t having very close contractions for a while. I think around 12 ish I started to be able to feel my contractions in my left side, so I had my nurse come in to turn me to try and see if they could get my left side numb. I laid there for a little and the pain was only getting worse on my left hip/butt. FINALLY, some pain. I was finally in labor! She left and after like 30 minutes I called her back in because the pain was getting superrrr bad on my left side. She came in and said “I knew you were going to call me in, your contractions went from 10 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart as soon as I turned you to your left side.” She called the anasteologist in to come and try to up my dose to get me some relief, which didn’t really do anything. My left side just doesn’t numb 😭 it was a little after 1am and she checked me again, because I told her I felt like my body was literally pushing the baby out on its own. Welllll, it was. I was at a 10! So she called my midwife and started getting ready to push! We did a couple practice ones, and then waited for the dr! She came in, got all gowned up, and it was go time! I only pushed through maybe 4 contractions before the baby was out! I have to add in the middle of one of my contractions tyson was watching...a little too closely...and was like “is that the baby?!” And my midwife goes “no it’s a puppy” 😂😂 and I started laughing so hard I couldn’t even finish pushing during that one. 

Little (big) Charlie came out at 1:38 am (not bad, since I was only actually in labor starting at like 12 😂) and did skin to skin with me for about an hour, when in that time I started hemmoraging, so the nurses started more pitocin (they had already given me one bag to get the placenta out) to help stop the bleeding. That wasn’t working, so they hung another bag, then gave me a giant shot. That wasn’t working well enough. So they hung ANOTHER bag and gave me some pills. All while they were sumo wrestling my stomach for HOURS. It was easily the worst pain I’ve been in and 10x worse than labor. They were pushing SO hard on my stomach constantly. Which they normally do after you have a baby, but since they couldn’t stop my bleeding, they had to keep going and each time they did it got more and more painful 😭 

At about 5:30 am my bleeding slowed down a little and they finally felt comfortable enough sending me down to postpartum to “rest”. By the time we got down there, the new nurses came in, went over all my charting, checked me and baby. By the time that was done it was time for a shift change, so more new nurses had to come in and start over. Then they finally left and then breakfast was brought up right after 😂. By this time it was 8:30 and I hadn’t slept for a second. Tyson on the other hand had been napping on and off since we got admitted (he somehow sleeps through anything) the day went on and more people came in and out (pediatrician, hearing screener, nurses, my dr) and I was SO tired. The next night came and I still hadn’t slept at all and was still in a TON of pain from all the medications they gave me to stop the bleeding, it basically made my body still think it was in labor and I was having painful contractions all day and night 😬 The next morning came, and I think I had maybe slept 2 hours total since we checked in Monday night. BUT we were going home. And I had a brand new baby. So I didn’t even care. I get on some sort of weird high when I have babies. And it lasts MONTHS. It’s the best. Babies are the best. Labor is the best. I wish I could do it a million times. 😊

Also, due to covid, we couldn’t have any visitors the whole time we were there, and although I was sort of sad Ella and Jackson couldn’t come visit her in the hospital, it was kind of nice just having it be us 3 in that little room for a couple days. 😊

Having a brand new baby in a quiet hospital room are some of my very favorite memories from all of my babies. It’s such a magical time and I NEVER want to forget any of it. 

Charlie Jane Bailey 

July 28, 2020

9 lbs. 11 oz

1:38 am 

JACKSON.

WARNING: This is extremely long but I wanted to remember everything. :)

At almost 38 weeks my hands and feet started getting SUPER itchy all of a sudden one night. I of course googled it and started panicking because of what I found. Apparently thats a big sign of having cholestasis. Which is a liver problem that is very dangerous if you are pregnant. The more I read about it the more I was convinced I had it. If you are diagnosed with it earlier in your pregnancy than most doctors won't let you go past 37 weeks because the chance of a stillbirth goes wayyyyy up. Well I was already 38 weeks which made me freak out even more. I was up that whole night itching and panicking and kept waking Tyson up asking what I should do, while he would half asleep reassure me everything's fine. Luckily I had a doctors appointment already scheduled for that next morning even though it seemed forever away. 

The next morning at the doctors (Friday the 12th) I talked to my doctor about it and she decided to go ahead and run some tests. There were two blood tests I needed to take. One was a liver function test and one was a bile acid test. The bile acid test was the one that would for sure tell me if I had it but the test takes a week to come back with results and you have to be fasting to take it which I wasn't. So she decided to send me in for the liver function test, which the results would come back that same day, and base my diagnosis off that. If anything looked off on that one she would induce me just to be safe. I went and got the blood test done and then came back in for an NST to make sure the baby was doing okay. Which he was.  I waited all day calling and calling to see if my results were in and they finally came back normal. Which was good, right? They were telling me it was good but I was still convinced something was wrong. My doctor send me to get the bile acid test the next morning (Saturday) after I had been fasting so we would now be waiting on those results ALL week. Knowing that the chances of a stillbirth happening were getting higher and higher the further along I went in my pregnancy did NOT sit well with me. I'm not sure if it was my motherly instincts or the fact that I had been having such a horrible pregnancy that I wanted this baby out ASAP but I went a little crazy. I started emailing and calling multiple doctors explaining my situation. I did not feel like it was worth the risk to wait a whole week for the results if something was actually wrong. And if nothing was wrong, great! I would get to be done being pregnant sooner. 

Finally Monday rolled around and I heard back from someone! My doctor had gone out of town so her nurse emailed me back saying she got my email(s) and was going to forward them to another doctor. A few hours later I got a call from the doctor she forwarded my emails too. She told me that based off what I had described and how far along I was in my pregnancy she would go ahead and allow me to be induced early. When she said this I thought she meant in a few days or something...nope. She wanted me to come in in a few hours!! I started panicking! Tyson was in a lunch meeting and so I started calling him (which he ignored) and so I texted him and said "THEY WANT TO INDUCE ME THIS AFTERNOON!" Thankfully he was able to leave the meeting and come home so we could finish packing our bags and go. By the time he got back we only had about an hour before we had to leave. I called my mom to come over and watch Ella and off we went! It was a little surreal leaving our house and leaving Ella knowing this was the last time she would be an only child and that when we came back home we would have a new baby! 

When we got to the hospital we got all checked in and set up in our room. It was 3:00 and I was sure I would have him by that evening because of how fast my labor was with Ella. I was wrong. They hooked me up to the monitors and saw I was having tonsssss of contractions. I knew I was and had been having them for weeks and weeks. Well turns out if you are having too many contractions they aren't able to do much to induce because the medication they give you is supposed to make you have contractions, which I already was, and they didn't want me to have even more and the baby not get a break in between. They checked me and I was at a 2 (which was an improvement from when I was checked Friday at a big fat zerooooo) and 50% effaced. I knew then it was going to be a lot longer labor than Ella. They finally agreed to give me something to help "ripen" me. Which just meant to make my cervix thinner. They said they could give me this pill every 3 hours as long as I wasn't having even more contractions. Well it gave me TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE contractions ALL NIGHT LONG. Tyson was able to dose on and off through out the night between the nurses coming in every 5 minutes it seemed like. My contractions were back to back and I had no break. It was constant. They started at about 6pm after they gave me the first dose. At about 11 (when it was supposed to be wearing off, but it wasn't) I decided to try and get in the bath. They had a nice big jetted tub that I sat in for a while that helped a ton. I was able to relax a little bit and my contractions slowed down. After I got out she gave me my next dose which started everything up all over again. I was having back to back contractions again that were killllllling me. I ended up getting in the bath a few more times but it only gave me temporary relief. My nurse had said that once I got to 80% effacement she would start the pitocin as long as I wasn't having too many contractions. Well..I was having too many. And also she never checked me. All night. Which I thought was weird and really frustrating because of all the pain I was in. It had to be doing something, right? 

The next morning (really the same morning for me because I hadn't slept a second) we waiting for more doctors and nurses to come in and decide what they were going to do. They still hadn't checked me to see if I had progressed and I was super annoyed. I hadn't eaten since the day before at like 2. I hadn't slept at all and I was still hurting a ton. It was not a good combination. They gave me ANOTHER dose of that "ripening" medication at like 9 am (keep in mind they still didn't check me?!?!?) and it all began again. Finally I got my new nurse to give me some pain medication in my iv. It only helped for like 20 minutes but it was the best 20 minutes ever. I was finally able to breathe! At about noon another doctor came in and said if I hadn't progressed she was going to try a balloon method. Which they basically stick little balloons up there and fill them with water to help dilate you. Ouch. When she came to do it she FINALLY checked me and I was at a 3 and 80% effaced. Now to me that sounded like NOTHING. I expected to be more because of how many contractions I had been having all night. But it was enough for them! She told me I didn't need the balloons and that she had to go take care of a c section really quick and when she was done I could get my epidural and start pitocin. FINALLLYYYYYY I would get relief and we could actually get things going. They came in about 3 and gave me my epidural and started the pitocin after it was in. For some reason both times I've got an epidural it doesn't work on my left side all the way..which is really annoying but it's better than nothing. I would never even consider not getting one. I was able to relax a little more now and at about 5 she checked me and I was at a 5! Things were going good! My nurse said I should have him at about 2 am. I said no way, I'm shooting for 9 pm. I. WAS. STARVING. One of my nurses snuck me in two saltine crackers and those have never tasted so good in my life. I ended up throwing them up not too long after (I had also been throwing up the last few hours) but it was worth it. My parents stopped by with Ella to visit since we figured it would be a while longer and I wasn't in as much pain so she wouldn't be freaked out. She was a little nervous coming and was a little confused why I was in a weird bed and why I couldn't get up with her. At about 7 I told my nurse I was having a ton of pressure in my left side and that I almost felt like my body was pushing on its own. She checked me and I was at a 9.5!! Apparently my body finally figured out what it was supposed to be doing. We assumed he would be here in the next hour or so. They wanted to get the rest of my antibiotic in since I was GBS positive and also they wanted me to get to a +3 station before I started pushing, I was at a +2 and he was positioned on my left side and wouldn't budge! So we waited a while longer. We waited for them to get the room set up, and for the doctor. Finally at like 9:45 they said I could try a few practice pushes. By this point my epidural was almost worn off even though I had been hitting my little button to give me more medicine the last few hours. So I could pretty much feel what I was doing. We did a few pushes and the nurse told me to stop so she could go get the doctor because he was coming soon! Soooo we waited AGAIN (so much waiting) but I continued to push during the contractions until she came. Once the doctor came in he was pretty much out and I only had to push a few more times and he was here! He ended up having the cord wrapped around his neck 3 times!! Luckily he was okay and was still able to be placed right on me after he came out. Tyson cut the cord and he laid on my chest for about an hour before they took him to get weighed and measured and all his shots. He was 8.8 pounds and 20.5 inches long. Which is HUGE for being a week and a half early!! 

He passed all his newborn tests and screenings and we were able to go home a few days later! The morning we left I got an email with my test results for the cholestasis and everything looked NORMAL. Thankfully everything was fine but it made me wonder now since he had the cord wrapped around his neck 3 times that if he would have gone to term and got even bigger if that could have ended up really dangerous with the cord getting tighter since they weren't doing anymore ultrasounds. Also, my doctor had mentioned after I had him that my placenta looked old and crunchy in some spots. Sorry for the gross description, but that's what she said. She asked if I smoked- which I obviously didn't and then asked about if my due date was accurate which I also didn't know because they kept changing it at the beginning. I guess your placenta starts to go bad after about 41 weeks. So it also makes me wonder if they were WAY off on my due date and I was actually a few weeks further along than they thought...based on his size too the pieces could all fit together...kind of. It's one big mystery now but me and him are both safe and healthy! It was a win win because I got to be done being pregnant at 38.3 weeks, and if anyone saw me then they KNEW I was ready. I'm sooooo thankful I am no longer pregnant and that I have two cute kids that I get to raise. It was hard but it was alllll worth it. Lets just hope I get some strong pregnancy amnesia before I decide to get pregnant again or I don't know if it'll happen. 

The Birth Story.

Three weeks ago tonight my water broke in the middle of the night and we rushed to the hospital. Just like in the movies...sort of. 

Last belly picture. 

That day was just like any other day. I had been having contractions on and off for the past few days but still no baby. It was terrible. That Friday I was having even less than before and I was sure I was going to be pregnant forever. I waited for Tyson to get home from work so I could complain about how tired I was and how much I hurt everywhere and how I just wanted this to be over. (I was really pleasant to be around the last month of my pregnancy) We headed out to go get something to eat as our 'last meal together' even though we had been having our 'last meal together' the past 4 weekends in a row now. 

It was a weird time in both our lives because we were just playing the waiting game. And I felt like we had been playing it FOREVER. 

We headed back home that night early because we were both exhausted, and we watched some netflix. Tyson fell asleep in about .2 seconds like always and my insomniac pregnant body wouldn't let me sleep. 

It was about 2:45 am and I all of a sudden started feeling super super sick like I was about to throw up. I ran to the bathroom and waited and nothing happened..I started to feel better after a few minutes so I went and laid back down. 5 minutes later it happened again..so I ran to the bathroom again. I didn't think these were contractions because I had been having them for the past few days almost constantly, these were different. The pain went away after a few minutes again and I sat down to go pee and then was planning on going back to bed. 

Well, when I sat down I noticed I was.......dripping?? I didn't think I was peeing? So I sat there longer and waited to see if more came out. Sure enough it did. I grabbed a towel and stuck it in between my legs and went to wake Tyson up. He eventually woke up after being poked multiple times and I said 'umm...I think my water broke?' He didn't believe me at first because I had been telling him I was going to wake him up in the middle of the night and pretend I was going into labor. He finally realized I wasn't joking and we started getting our last minute things packed in our bags. By this time (10 minutes after my first contraction) the contractions were getting super strong and painful. We were out the door in a few minutes on our way to the hospital. That's when the panic set in for me. I was about to PUSH OUT A BABY. OUR BABY. I didn't know how? I didn't know what I was doing at all. 

We got to the hospital around 3:30 and I got sent up to labor and delivery triage. I changed into a gown and they hooked me up to the monitors. My contractions were about 2 minutes apart at that point and I was hurting. I wanted the epidural NOW. They checked me and I was only at a 3. I was hoping for more because I didn't want a long labor, but atleast they were keeping me because my water had broke. I soon got admitted and set up in my room.

 I was GBS positive which meant I needed to get antibiotics while I was in labor before I could deliver. My nurse was telling Tyson that for first time moms they usually progress about a cm an hour and that she should be here by noon! I got my epidural at about 5:30 and boy did that save me. I don't know how people give birth without it. We waited for a little while longer attempting to get some rest (yeah right, we were about to be parents) and at about 7:30 they checked me again and I was already at an 8?! Uhh..I thought this whole thing was supposed to take longer? My nurse wanted me to finish my second dose of antibiotics before I could start pushing and I wasn't even done with my first. An hour later she checked me and I was at a 10 and ready to go. She started the second dose of antibiotics and told me as soon as it's gone we were going to have this baby! Ahhhhh by about 9:15 I started pushing and at 9:47 little Ella was brought into this world. They immediately put her on my chest and started cleaning her off. She was mine! She was ours! This little thing that had been growing inside of me and kicking me for the last 9 months was now real! It was the most surreal feeling that I can't even describe. 

Tysons first time changing her diaper. 

Our hospital stay was amazing and I loved all the nurses and doctors that I saw. Everyone was so helpful and nice and we even stayed an extra night because it was so nice being taken care of! Ella passed all her newborn tests and screening and was as healthy as can be. She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 in long. Perfect little baby. We couldn't be more happy and excited and in love with her. :) 

Our baby. :)

Oh my gosh.

When I first got pregnant and even before I had this plan to blog all the time about my pregnancy and take all these cute belly pictures and blah bah blah. Well now that I am almost 7 months into creating a human with pretty much nothing to show for it I figure I should document SOMETHING. So where to start...

September 22nd. We found out we were going to be parents. It was a day full of laughter, tears, and excitement. I took a test that day not expecting it to be positive because of how early it was but oh was it positive. But it had to be a false positive right? So I took another one. Positive. Another false positive I assumed. Well over the course of the next few weeks I must have taken over 15 tests. I couldn't wrap my head around it! It was so surreal. Its not like we didn't want this or like it was some big surprise, it just didn't feel real!

 

 

As the weeks went on I expected to be getting sick. Week 6 nothing. 7..8..9..10.. I must be in the clear. HA. I could only be so lucky. Week 11. It all began. My sense of smell was out of control. I could smell things better than dogs. I'm sure of it. EVERYTHING smelled disgusting or weird. Including my poor husband. Every time I opened our pantry door I would throw up without a doubt within 2 minutes. I lived off of wheat thins and light blue Gatorade for a few months. It was a lovely few months but thankfully it passed. :)

 

I feel like I have been relatively emotionally stable so far. Tyson was terrified I was going to turn into a crazy monster once this baby started growing inside of me. There have been a few TINY moments where I may or may not have overreacted but Tyson always seems to understand.

 

He understands when I would make him sit on the other couch because he smelled funny.

 

He understands when I would refuse to take my prenatal vitamins so he would take them with me.

 

He understands when I ask him to get up and get me food because I am just TOO TIRED to do it. even though I have been laying on the couch all day while he was at work.

He understands when I don't feel like loving him as much that day so he loves me enough for the both of us.

He understands when I use the excuse "I can't, I'm making a human." everyday.

 

He understands when I make him go to the store to get something I NEED and by the time he gets back I refuse to eat it.

 

Needless to say I am more than thankful that I have him in my life to take care of me and love me.

14 weeks

19 & 20 weeks

22 weeks

 

23 weeks

26 weeks

 



Now being 27 weeks this process has gone by so fast but so slow at the same time. Sleeping is getting uncomfortable, my back pain is something I could live without, my exhaustion is only getting worse but in 3 more months and we will have a little baby girl here! We could not be more excited or more grateful for this baby and that I have had a healthy pregnancy so far. I know we are in for a big change but it couldn't be a better one. We are so excited to figure out this whole parenting thing together and to start our new journey as a little family! 

93 more days!

ONE YEAR.

This last year has been NOTHING like I expected it to be after getting married. It has been BETTER. Way better. Everyone always told us (they only told us this because Tyson likes to ask everyone we come in contact with questions and advice about marriage and families and babies and so forth) that the first year is the worst year. Its the hardest year. But they also said you never know its the worst year until you've got past it and are able to look back. Well..I must be in the inbetween stage. Because I cant remember a day where I thought "This is really hard" or "I hope it gets better" because it is better, its the best! Now dont get me wrong, we dont live this perfect life with the perfect marriage. Going from having your own space and your own life one day to sharing EVERYTHING with another person the next day is kind of hard. There have been many days where there are many tears (Mostly from me...okay only from me) for no reason at all and tyson gives me the same look each time that says 1.I dont understand why you are crying, nothing happened..you were just laughing 5 minutes ago. 2. I want to help you feel better but I dont know what to do or say so I will just rub your back instead. 3. You are crazy. 4. I am so confused, so I am going to let you have your space until you are done because this makes me uncomfortable. (Sorry i've turned into a crazy emotional wife tyson.) 

We have learned we both are messy people. There is no better word for it. ONE OF US (not saying who) might be a little more messy than the other one but what can you do. Bad combination.

We both hate to cook. So a lot of the time it results in us snacking on whatever we can find, which usually isnt anything good or healthy until we are sick and hate ourselves for it. 

We need a bigger bed. Thats all I have to say about that one. 

We know exactly what to do to push eachother over the edge. I've recently learned that Tyson doesnt like to get scared. At all. (Warning people) I learned this on accident a couple weeks ago when I was trying to be funny and scare him when he got out of the bathroom, and OH it worked. He didnt think it was as funny as i did. I have done it multiple times since then. The same thing. You'd think he would learn. :)

 Marriage is a funny thing, you're literally combining two people who are completely different in every way possible together. But somehow it works. And its wonderful. 

We celebrated our 1 year this last weekend and it was PERFECT. We went up to scottsdale and stayed at the Talking Stick Resort. We got an amazing room with beautiful views. 

The first night we checked in there was a thunder and lightening storm and we could see the whole thing from our bed. It was crazy outside! We forgot to close all the curtains that night so at 5:30 am the sun woke us up but it was a pleasant surprise. It was such a pretty view and the best sunrise ive ever seen! 

We decided to go to the pool that afternoon and okay first thing to know is they have 2 pools. 1 for the cool young people, and one for the kids/old people/I dont even know who else. So obviously we are cool and young so we went and it was packed, there was not one chair open to lay on and we were surrounded by hundreds of single drunk people. We soon realized that we are lame and belong in the other pool... We hung out there for a few hours and the entertainment there was a nice friendly pelican who decided to join everyone for a swim. We didnt think it was that big of a deal until like 50 managers and security people were showing up trying to capture it because they think it escaped from the zoo or the reservoir..apparently they arent native here. Anyways..we never will know what happened to that poor bird because I was too thirsty to wait and watch outside for it any longer.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating at the casinos buffet they had downstairs. That night another thunder and lightening storm rolled in right in our view and it was perfect. 

I couldnt have asked for a better weekend or a better husband. :)

"Would it be bad if I told you I loved you?"

This story is one I want to remember forever.

It was almost exactly a year ago today. I had just met Tyson a few months back and already liked him a little too much...he had just quit his job because he was planning on moving to Logan in the next couple weeks for school and karter invited him to work at a fair with him for a couple days to make some extra money. The fair was up in Tacoma (so only a few hours away from Vancouver) and I'm pretty sure it was only 3 days. Well...3 days too long for me.

My best friend Melanie was dating karter and we decided to drive up to Tacoma the first night and surprise them at the fair. We planned it so we would get there at the end of the night and then they would be able to leave with us.

We got to the fair and had to sneak in the back because we were not going to pay 10 dollars to get in when the fair was closing in 10 minutes..

We found them and Tyson was working at a baseball booth..they hadn't seen us yet but I looked at him and that was the moment I KNEW I wanted to marry him. We hadn't seriously talked about marriage yet, just joking around mostly about our perfect future we would have together and all the fun things we would do. I hadn't had that strong of a feeling before about him and to KNOW we were supposed to get married. I can't explain the feeling when I saw him that night but I'm sure other married couples can relate to me when they knew they were going to marry their husband/wife. It's pretty crazy.

So later that night the four of us went to Denny's for something to eat, I think because that was the only thing open. Before we went in Tyson and I were sitting out in the parking lot talking. I can't remember how the conversation let up to this but he told me that the last time he had gone to the temple he had seen us there together :) I can't remember how I reacted but I'm pretty sure I was freaking out (in my head of course) because of what I had felt earlier that night and then he tells me that! We had only known eachother a couple months! We couldn't already know we wanted to be married? Right....? Wrong. We were right.

Later that night we all sat in a scary parking lot close to the ghetto motel they were staying at, talking and laughing.

Tyson and I went outside with some blankets and sat on the sidewalk and talked some more. It was there when he asked me "Would it be bad if I told you I loved you?" It was perfect. Everything was perfect. I didn't care that we were in the middle of the ghetto with drug deals going on around us, or gun shots that I swear I heard to this day. Or that it was 3 in the morning and he could have been so tired he didn't know what he was saying. It was still perfect.

I'm so thankful that we are married now and have been for almost 9 wonderful months. Im amazed how much we have learned from eachother and how much we have grown. I'm so happy that I still get just as excited to see him each night after a long day of work. I don't know if this is how marriage feels forever, but I'm going to do my best each day to make sure it does. :)

Life lately. :)

When I started this blog a while ago, I thought that I would be the kind of person who writes stuff in it a couple times a week and had all these cool stories to share. 

Well, that obviously didn't happen. I keep forgetting to post stuff on here..so here are some pictures from what we've been doing these last couple months:)

A while back we went hiking in Phoenix. After that day we decided we both really liked it and wanted to make this a regular thing, we've still never gone back...BUT we will.

Over thanksgiving break we went to Utah and stayed with Tyson's family and sadly didn't take any pictures BUT on our drive home we stopped at the Hoover Dam in Vegas. We always drive by it (because we drive to Vegas more then most people should ever have to) but never stop. So this time we did!

That's me down there.

On our way back to the car we rode in the elevator with polygamists. Real ones. And I was trying to take a picture for proof but Tyson said I was being rude. (It's not like they would ever know) so here is my attempt. We were 'taking a picture of ourselves' and they were in the background. Sadly we turned out a little better then they did, but they are back there.

We went up to Vegas the weekend before Christmas and spent time with Tyson's family. We went to the Boise St game there and it was FREEZING, even during the day but it was super fun!

So Tyson worked for UPS for a couple weeks and this was his SUPER CUTE OUTFIT :)

Our little Christmas tree and Christmas Eve PJ's from Tyson's parents :)

Tyson and his new gun that he loves so much because now instead of keeping JUST a hammer by the bed for protection, we have a gun now too:)

Mesa Temple lights:)

So Christmas morning I had a little surprise for Tyson..we had already opened up all of our presents and I told him I had one last one for him to open. It was a pregnancy test that Monica (who is pregnant) had peed on the night before. So I wrapped it up and had him open it. His reaction was priceless. I only lasted about a minute before I told him it was a joke, but it was worth it! Just in case that wasn't clear to someone I'M NOT PREGNANT. :)

Oakley and Raleigh with diapers on their heads. They wanted to be Pilgrims...hahaha.

That's all.