Baby Alyssa is Finally Here!

After 32 long hours of labor and an emergency c-section, a healthy baby Alyssa was finally born at 2:56 in the morning on Thursday July 9, 2009. We were hoping for the 8th so that she would be born on 07/08/09, but we are just thrilled that she is healthy and happy. It was a rather difficult delivery.
It started on Tuesday night at around 7 p.m. The contractions continued into the next day and we headed to the hospital after tracking the contractions for several hours. Jim made a chart of the contractions on Excel. When we got in to the hospital, Julie was dialated to 1 cm. After four hours of contractions, it was still at 1. So they sent us off, the nurse said that eating something might help the contractions get stronger or stop all together. So we went to the food court at the mall. The plan was to walk around the mall in hopes that the contractions would get stronger. That kind of happened. While taking an hour to eat a hamburger, the contractions increased in intensity and duration. It quickly became apparent that we would be lucky to walk back to the car.
We then called the on call doctor (Our doctor was off that day) to ask if she would prescribe some pitocin and an epidural to speed up the contractions. The doctor said that Julie wasn't in labor, which was completely ridiculous. She was in so much pain she could hardly talk on the phone. So, we decided to check into Circus Circus, a casino right next to the hospital. The hospital had a deal for $30 dollar rooms. It was quite the ordeal to get Julie into the room. By then, the contractions were very strong. It was all we could do to get Julie through the ever-intensifying pain levels. The contractions were now lasting about 2 minutes or more with just 30 second breaks in between. We monitored them for an hour, then called the hospital. The nurse we had worked with earlier told us to come right back in to see what was happening. Luckily Julie was at a 3 and was emitted to the hospital. She was set up on IV's and finally given a pain medication in the IV.
That made a huge difference. Within minutes, Julie was asleep for a couple of minutes. Later that night she finally got the epidural, which took the pain all away. What a blessing that was to see after all of the pain she went through earlier in the day. As midnight approached, we were all anxious to see if Julie would get to a 10 and be able to deliver before midnight. The nurse kept coming in and changing Julie's position. The problem was that the baby's heart rate kept dropping and staying down after each contraction. The nurse could sense a problem, and eventually called in the doctor around 2 in the morning. Julie had been progressing slowly through the night, but went from 6 cm. to 10 from 1 to 2 in the morning. The last hour was hectic.
Another problem was that the epidural had leaked into Julie's spinal fluid, causing numbness from the waist down. This became a problem when it was time to push. Julie didn't have enough feeling to really push the baby out. It would have been a problem anyway due to the baby's low heart rate. So the doctor called for an emergency c-section. Julie was so strong and didn't hesitate. Our goal was a healthy baby, Julie was willing to do whatever was necessary. After surgery, little Alyssa came out at 2:56. We soon learned that the source of the problem was the placenta. For some reason it was extremely calcified. That usually happens on a late delivery, but she missed her due date by only three hours. Due to that, she was only 6 lbs. 1 oz. when she came out. She is very healthy though. Julie has been recovering well, she can now take some laps around the recovery wing of the hospital. We will be here until Sunday.
Baby Alyssa is very calm and cute. She enjoys snuggling, sleeping, and eating. We are thrilled to have her in our little family.

Catch up

I know it's been a long time since I posted so I will get you all caught up with our lives here in Portola. Things are going great here in California.
Jim is working for Bastian Engineering which he really enjoys. Lately he's been doing lots of surveying work and he loves getting to be outside for most of the day. He is also busy with lots of projects at home. He has been watering and mowing the lawns which look great, and washing the cars every saturday. It's funny how much he loves to do those jobs. He and his dad are also planning to build a shed and a greenhouse this summer.
Both Jim and I are working with the youth in our ward. Jim is the first counselor in the Young Mens presidency and I am the second counselor in the Young Womens presidency. That has been fun for us and it's nice to be able to both go to mutual together. I taught my first YW lesson a few weeks ago and I am also teaching this Sunday. Jim has also taught a few times.
The pregnancy is going well. I'm not really uncomfortable at all yet but I am still looking forward to Alyssa coming. We are down to 6 weeks! We are pretty much ready except for setting up the crib, stroller, carseat etc. It's all still in boxes for now. Alyssa is doing well and seems to know when we are rubbing her and talking to her because she starts moving. We are really looking forward to having her join out family. I am taking advantage of this time to rest and relax before the months of sleepless nights start:)
That is pretty much what's going on in our lives. We love it out here in the mountains. It's beautiful here, especially the bright blue skies against the green trees. The only downside is the bugs. I hate all the bugs that are here and it scares me a little when the bats come out at night but other than that life is great.

Well we made finally made it to California, our new home for the summer.The trip usually takes 9-10 hours. It took us 12! We hadn't gotten very far (about halfway between Salt Lake and Wendover)when Jim started to see smoke coming out the back of the truck. We stopped and found out we were leaking fluid. At first Jim thought it was oil which would have been really bad. Instead we were just leaking transmission fluid. Still bad but not as serious. Jim called his dad who said that the transmission probably overheated and the fluid was leaking from the overflow. We let the car cool down a little and then continued to Wendover where we got some more transmission fluid to put in. We didn't want to overheat the transmission again so we drove 60-65 mph instead of the usual 75 which is the speed limit out in the desert. It made for a long trip but we feel so blessed that we were able to make it safely and without any more problems after we put more fluid in the truck. Heavenly Father was definitely aware of us and answered our prayers to be able to make it here. Baby Alyssa is happy to be in Cali. She started kicking a lot as soon as we got to Reno and kicked in California too. I guess she knows that this will be her home. Last night when we got here to Portola it was freezing! It was also cold this morning but we started a fire which warmed the house up and luckily it's sunny today so it's warm outside. I forgot from last summer how cold it is when we get here. Looks like it's hoodies and blankets for awhile, but it's worth it. It's beautiful here and it's so nice to be away from the stress of school and crowded cities.

Yay for Easter!

I guess this post is a little late since Easter has already come and gone. I love Easter though because it means spring is here! I guess the Utah weather doesn't know that it should be spring though because it is currently snowing :( Anyway here are some pictures of our Easter eggs. Coloring Easter eggs is one of my favorite parts of Easter, that and remembering our Savior and his sacrifice and resurrection for us.



We went to my parents house for Easter and to celebrate my little sisters birthday. Amy turned 14 on Easter.




My favorites are the red, white and blue egg and the Alyssa egg. The Alyssa egg was made for our baby girl. I think we have finally decided that her name is going to be Alyssa. It's getting more real as she is kicking more and now that she has a name. Only 12 more weeks until we meet our baby girl.

Baby Shower

We had our baby shower last Saturday. It's still three months until the baby is born but we are moving in less than 2 weeks now to California for the summer so I wanted to see everyone before leaving. It was a lot of fun. We did a family and friends shower in the morning and a ward open house shower in the afternoon. My aunt Ariana is an incredible chef and made all the food and treats. She made everything look so pretty!



Here is some of the yummy food.






We had chicken salad sandwiches,"stroller wheel" pasta salad, mini chocolate chip cookies, lemon cookies, fruit and veggies...





And these adorable mini cupcakes. Yum!




Thanks to everyone who came! We got tons of adorable baby clothes. The fun thing about having a girl is all of the cute clothes! I'm so excited to dress her in all of the cute things people gave us. I think Jim is warming up to the idea that she will wear a lot of pink :) We also got a swing from my mom, a bouncer seat from my grandma, and a homemade quilt made by Ariana (she really is a multi-talented woman!)





After the shower, we have pretty much everything we need for our little girl! Only a few more things to pick up before she comes. Thanks again to everyone for all the cute gifts!

Less than 100!!!

Yea! We are less than 100 days from meeting our baby girl. That doesn't seem like very long, the time is going by so fast.

And I passed my glucose test! I was only at 87 and the limit is like 140 so I was well under. Hooray for not having gestational diabetes or having to take another test!

Well last night I was laying on the bed with my feet up because they were swollen. I didn't think you were supposed to have swollen feet this early in the pregnancy but oh well. It's a little annoying lately because my shoes are all getting tighter and smaller. I guess it's a combination of loosening ligaments and water retention. I guess I am just getting a preview of the discomforts I'll have when I get to the third trimester. Anyway as I was laying down I was looking at my belly and suddenly it jumped. It was so funny. The baby was kicking so hard that I could see my skin push out. I called Jim over and he could see her too, she was going crazy in there:) but when he put his hand on my stomach to feel her and she stopped kicking. Our silly little girl has been doing that a lot the last few days, I dunno why she won't let daddy feel her. A few days ago though, Jim did get to feel her alot. She was kicking tons and Jim said that's the most he's been able to feel her so far. He is going to be such a good daddy, I love when he touches or talks to the baby. his "baby time" is one of my favorite things and makes me love him even more. I love it when our little girl kicks. Yesterday made it a lot more real when my skin was poking out from her kicks and it was really exciting. It'll be fun to watch my jumping belly now and know that there is a tiny new human life inside of me.