Eden's birth story

The story of Eden's birth is definitely not what I expected. I never even got to feel what real labor pains feel like. At about 8 pm on Monday the 20th I started to feel this strange tightening in my lower rib cage starting by my sternum and radiating around even to the back. At first it wasn't too bad and I had had pain sort of like it before so I didn't worry too much. The pain slowly got worse and worse to the point where I had to lay down and even that didn't help much. Derek wasn't home from work yet so I didn't know what to do, I started getting really scared. I didn't know what the pain was but it was bad so my mind started to fill with all sorts of scary ideas. I even thought I might be having a heart attack because my heart was pounding pretty hard.

When Derek got home I told him how much pain I was in and he suggested I call the emergency number of my Dr.'s office. I had been thinking of just going to the ER. I'm glad he suggested this. I called the office and actually was able to get my Dr.'s phone number which I was happy about because I don't really like the other Dr.'s at the office. I called her and she told me she wanted me to come into labor and delivery at the hospital to be checked out.

Arriving at the hospital was kind of weird considering at that point we didn't even know what was wrong and I wasn't even in labor. The nurse did all the basic things and asked me a lot of questions. It sort of sounded like the might send me home until they called my Dr. She ordered a urine test, blood test and EKG. The urine and blood test where to check for pre-eclampsia. If you have it there will be protein in your urine and liver enzymes in your blood. I didn't have much protein in my urine but I had a pretty alarming number of liver enzymes in my blood. I was told I have pre-eclampsia and that my labor would have to be induced and possibly have a c-section. I am so grateful for a knowledgeable Dr., without her ordering those tests its scary to think what might have happened to me. We were pretty excited that we would have our baby soon. It all felt so surreal that she would finally be here.

Here's me, already started on the epidural and magnesium.

From the blood test they also found that my platelet count in my blood was starting to get low as well. I found out later this is another condition called HELLP syndrome. It means that if I bleed to much my blood wouldn't be able to clot very well, which means I could potentially lose a lot of blood. This worked out great for me because that meant getting my epidural in before my platelets dropped any lower. They got it in right as the began inducing my labor so I never felt any pain. They also started me on the most horrible medication on the planet-magnesium sulfate. This was because pre-eclampsia can cause seizures so the magnesium helps prevent this. It makes you feel hot and so tired and lethargic that you can't function. I had to stay on it for an entire day after the delivery as well.

After about 4-5 hours of being on the pitocin, I was still only dialed to 3 and a half. My Dr. came in to tell me that I would have to have a c-section. My platelet counts had continued to fall so the sooner the better. My daughter would be here soon! I wasn't really scared to have a c-section at this point. I was just happy I would get to meet my daughter soon. I felt very well taken care of by all the Doctors and nurses so I knew everything would be fine. 

The surgery went really well. I had a nice Dr. up by my head to talk me through what was going on and to reassure me and tell me I was doing good. Derek was also right next to me. He was too scared to actually watch the surgery. He looked so cute in his OR clothes :). Eden took a while to get out. My Dr. told me later that she was so wiggly that her little arms and legs where getting stuck. Because of where her head was they where worried about her air being cut off so my Dr. had to cut me just a little further to get her out finally. It really helped build the anticipation of her arrival. When she finally came out the Dr. by my head told me to lift my head to look over the sterile field. There was my beautiful daughter. All I managed to say was "Oh my gosh!", then I just started crying tears of joy. She was actually here! I don't think I've ever been happier. She was taken from there to be weighed and tested. I already missed her so much. Derek brought her back to me after this. She got a 9/10 on her APGAR score and had almost no trace of billirubin. She was 7 pounds 3 oz and 19 and a half inches long, so healthy and beautiful. I couldn't stop kissing her. I call her my little angel baby.

After this life got much more difficult, more difficult than anything I've ever experienced. The magnesium I was on made me so dizzy and drowsy I could barely function. My blood counts and platelets where very low as well so that didn't help my cause either. Breast feeding Eden was a bit of a challenge. The first night was so hard. I need a lot of help but the nurses almost seemed to busy to really help. Eden cried and I cried. Eventually I got her to eat and everything was ok. I couldn't even stay awake though while she ate, I was so out of it. The nurses tried to get me up a couple times because that is what they usually do the day after a normal c-section. I couldn't even sit up without almost falling over from the dizziness and pain. I cried some more.

The next morning they took me off the magnesium and things started looking up from there. I slowly started feeling better and I even was able to eat solid food. I was able to get up to the bathroom a couple times and even go on a walk. The next day I took a shower and went on a lot of walks. I felt almost back to normal. They were still waiting for my platelet counts to come up and they finally did that day. I could go home the next day!

Going home was very surreal. I sort of felt like I had been out of town or something. It was so good to finally be home though.

Pennies from Heaven

Coming into this pregnancy we really had no idea how we were going to pay for everything. It was so overwhelming to think about all the stuff we had to get for our baby. We are both still in school and working part time. We were doing ok financially, but we really didn't have any extra money, just what we needed to get by. The thought of adding the expense of a baby was a little scary. We felt like from the very beginning that having this baby was the Lord's will and this gave us confidence that everything would work out ok. The first blessing we received was a free crib set. I had a habit of checking craigslist every morning when I got up for any good baby deals. This habit had been pretty unsuccessful so far, but I was determined to find a good deal so I continued checking. One morning I found an ad for a crib, cradle and changing table. There was no price listed but I figured it was worth a look. When I opened the ad I found that the lady was giving away the crib set for free because it had a stripped screw. Whoever would come pick it up could have it for free! I emailed her right away and she got back to me to tell me I was the first to respond the the ad! We where super excited. The only thing we were worried about is the crib fitting in our car. We have a 1990 Toyota Camry and since its so old the back seat has trouble folding down for some reason, something is broken with the mechanism I guess. To fix the problem we took the entire back seat out of the car...It was a bit of a mess but my husband is pretty handy so we got it all back together later and we got the crib set home.

Here's the set we got :)

 Most of our other "pennies from heaven" came from Derek's awesome Aunt Judy. She is really into couponing so she got us a ton of wipes and diapers. A friend of hers also gave her a car-seat and bathtub to give to us because she had no use for them. She also gave us an awesome old rocking chair and made us some great receiving blankets. She and a few other members of Derek's family are also pitching in to pay for a nice breast pump for me. I don't know what I would do without all of her help. Thanks Judy!

 Our last blessing came in the form of a stroller. I was on our ward/apartment facebook page and someone had mentioned something about some strollers that needed to be taken away because they had been left in a stairwell for a long time. I walked over to the stairwell to take a look and sure enough there where two strollers, one big one and one of those umbrella strollers. Some neighbors where outside so I asked them if they thought it was ok for me to take the strollers and of course they didn't object. They where super dirty because I found out they had been left there for about two years, but they cleaned up just fine. Here is the bigger one.

I am also getting a baby shower this Saturday which I am super excited about. I didn't think I was going to get one because I don't have too many close friends around here and no family except for a few members of Derek's family around to throw me one. Luckily a friend of mine from the ward and the relief society president asked if they could have one for me. Yay :)

 I almost forgot,we also recently got approved for medicaid which will pay for the rest of our dr. bills and for the birth. This pretty much covers every expense that we where stressing out about. I feel so blessed. I know that Heavenly father is watching out for us and that he really does love to see us happy. He really does answer our prayers. All of these blessings really have been "pennies from heaven."

Pregnancy so far

Since I just started this blog I thought I would give everyone an overview of how my pregnancy has gone. I am currently 34 weeks along, only 6 weeks left! I can't wait to meet our baby girl. We are going to name her Eden. We don't have a middle name yet but we do have some ideas. My pregnancy has been pretty good I think just from what I've heard from others.

I was never very sick thankfully. I felt a little nauseous sometimes in the first trimester but it was manageable. I did discover that my motion sickness that I've always had got much worse. In my very early pregnancy I went on a marching band trip to Texas so of course we flew. I usually do fine with turbulence but on both flights I nearly got sick I was so nauseous from the turbulence. It was awful :( Other fun pregnancy symptoms I've had are heartburn and reflex(Its gotten worse and worse towards the end here. I also have very swollen feet already. They have gotten so bad that I couldn't even wear church shoes today for church. I had to wear flip flops, which is somewhat unacceptable for church standards...Oh well, I think they'll forgive me :) I've had a few aches and pains as well. I have scoliosis in my back so my back has been hurting a lot lately. I've also had some hip/sciatica pain that has come and gone. Overall nothing too terrible. My favorite thing about being pregnant is feeling her move. It's so fun to try to figure out whether its a knee, elbow, hand, foot, or even bum that's stretching out my belly. She's fun to play with already. When she leans against my tummy, I'll poke back and then she moves and pokes back, so fun. We are so excited to meet her!

Introduction

I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time. I actually have one that I posted like maybe 6 posts on and none of them are very exciting. I've been married for about a year and am due to have a baby at the end of August so I realized that this gives me something to blog about, my new family :). My husband and I are still in school as well which will make parenting even more challenging. We are both studying to be nurses as well so we can share interesting things that we learn along the way. Right now our lives aren't super exciting. My husband and I are enjoying our last summer together, just the two of us. I am also having fun preparing for our baby girl. There is still so much to do! Mostly just organizing and cleaning. I'm also working on some decoration's for the baby's room. Usually I'm not very "artsy" but it saves a lot of money to make my own decorations instead of buying them. I'll post some of my creations later along with other ways I've saved money preparing for our baby :)