One Month

Our sweet little Tacy is one month old today. Can you believe it because we sure can't!  We love her so much and think that she is the cutest baby in the world.  Here are some of the things Tracy does right now:

Tacy hiccups. She hiccupped a lot in utero but she still has whole body hiccups. I feel bad for her but its kind of funny too. Unless of course its the middle of the night and then the hiccups wake her up. Her aunt Christine calls her Hiccup (from how to train your dragon).

She makes all sort of faces and is such a poser with her face and hands.

Tacy loves to have her hands by her face.  It can make feeding her hard sometimes when she won't move her hands away from her face.

She has really strong arms.  When she locks her fingers together it is hard to get her arms apart.

She has a very strong neck and loves to swing her head back and shake it like crazy.

Tacy laughs in her sleep and we think she has some crazy dreams because she will have a big smile on her face and then a huge frown and then the maddest face.

If Tacy is ever mad and crying you just have to start smacking her back like you are burping her and she gets happy again.

We love our sweet baby.

"How do you do it?!"

Sweet Tacy doing some tummy time

Five days after having my baby I started nursing school.  It was a good thing I had her early because otherwise she would have been born during school and I would have missed a lot and been behind, which was a big concern for me and the instructors.

Well, having a baby and starting school right away had not exactly been a cake walk either.  The night before school started I was an emotional wreck.  I was crying uncontrollably and freaking out and paranoid about being a bad mom and failing school.  Brad thank goodness is amazing and calmed me down and gave me a blessing.  The first day of school went okay.  The program director was happy to hear that I was healthy, that my baby was healthy, and that we no longer had to worry about me missing school to have a baby.  My nursing class has 40 total students, 5 guys and 35 women.  I'd say about half of the students are parents.  We all had to go around and say a bit about ourselves and why we wanted to be nurses.  Well, telling everyone that I had a baby 5 days previous has made me very memorable.  I had girls coming up to me asking "How are you doing this?" or "You are amazing I don't know how you are doing this!" 

They are all very nice and ask me every day how my baby is doing.  I was ready to quit after the first day of class though.  When they went through the schedule and how fast the program moves and how demanding it is, I was ready to quit.  Brad once again calmed me down and assured me that I could do this.  I survived the first week, even with minimal sleep because Tacy woke up every hour some nights.  The next Sunday night I had another breakdown though.  I had a test the next day and was freaking out because I had not been able to study as much as I would have liked and didn't know how I could manage school and being a mom.  Brad calmed me down again (see how lucky I am to have him?).  

I passed my test the next day.  I can thank my husband and family for helping me by watching Tacy so I could study.  When I have homework or studying to do, there is usually someone I can pass her off to.  Other than the crazyness of balancing school and baby, I have been having a hard time being able to rely solely on breastfeeding.  My doctor said that even with pumping, it's probably just all of the crazy stress/life that I have right now with my crazy schedule.  Granted, formula does help so Brad can get up and feed Tacy at night, or family can feed her while I'm studying, but I wish breastfeeding satisfied her enough because formula is expensive.  Oh well, I keep doing my best and hoping that fenugreek helps. 

On the plus side, I have been doing well in school and actually got a 98 on my test today, which is pretty awesome.  We will see how it goes, but hopefully I can survive this crazy time with a sane mind.  One good thing about my schedule is I have no time for postpartum depression because school keeps me occupied when I'm not home with the baby.

We Have a Baby

For those of you who haven't heard, our daughter was born on 8/8/12 at 6:50am.  Here is the story.  So I went in for my last ultrasound on Tuesday, 8/7, and at the ultrasound they did an amniocentesis. Well the nurses told us that the baseline for lung development was 50. Our baby was 208 so her lungs were really ready. My doctor then called me and told me to go to labor and delivery at 6 that evening to be induced.

So I went back to work and Brad was shadowing one of my PAs for the day.  Everyone told me I was crazy for working instead of going home but I needed to stay busy.  Well 6pm finally came so I said bye to all my coworkers and Brad and I headed to the hospital.  After checking in and getting situated in our room, my nurse was hooking up all the monitors that checked baby's heart rate and my contractions.  She then told me, "did you know that you are having contractions every 2-6 minutes?" I told her no but my back had been bothering me that day. Brad and my nurse laughed when she told me that was contractions. I was still only dilated to a 2 so my doctor said they should still give me pitocin. By the time the IV was started I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes.  My nurse said that if I hadn't come in to be induced that I would have been coming in anyways to have the baby.

Well by 10:30 I was almost completely effaced but only dilated to a 4. So my nurse called my doctor and she asked a resident to come break my water.  Well the resident came in and said that he thought he got it.  My nurse didn't think so because of the lack of fluid but he said he was pretty sure.  Well I stayed dilated to a 4.  The pain was getting worse and worse from the contractions so finally I got the epidural.  Man alive I was in heaven.  I could finally sleep and no longer wanted to punch my nurse very time she did a cervix check.  I think Brad was happier to because I was more pleasant.  

Right after getting the epidural and feeling pretty good

Well by 4am I was still only dilated to a 4 so my nurse called my doctor and they decided to have my nurse break my water.  Well 2 hours dilated I was fully dilated and effaced so my doctor came and after a little pushing and the help of a vacuum our sweet baby was here.

Because I'm diabetic the hospital had to monitor the baby's blood sugar for 24 hours because babies of diabetics can have blood sugar issues since they are used to compensating for their mom's highs and lows.  Well our baby girl had a blood sugar of 23.  This is way low and Brad was not happy that the nurses seemed to be really slow at feeding our baby.  Come to find out babies blood sugar runs lower than adults and 50 can be considered normal.  Well our baby's blood sugar got up to normal. We spent 2 days in the hospital and I had a lot of great nurses and cnas.

5 days after having her I started school.  Everyone was pretty shocked that I had my baby already and that I was at school.  I'm crazy that's for sure but what are you gonna do.  Our daughter is perfect and healthy.  School is hard.  Doing both is harder but I have an amazing husband who helps a lot.  So now I'm learning to function on almost no sleep.

Effaced is a Funny Word

I have started my goodbyes at work and it's hard.  I have been working at the same place for over 3.5 years so this is crazy to be leaving.  Tuesday was the last day I worked with John, one of the two PAs (physician assistants) that I work closely with.  I did not realize it until halfway through the day when one of the other girls, Halee, reminded me.  I forgot again until right when John was asking if we (Holly who is replacing me and myself) had any questions for him before he left.  He was walking away and I shouted, "John!  Today is our last day working together!"  John came back and was like, "What!  You didn't give me enough warning to cry!"  It was sad, I really have liked working with John, he is so chill, funny, and easygoing.  

Today I had to say goodbye to Garrett, one of the psychologists, who has been with the company just a little longer than me.  Garrett is great.  He got me through a lot of stressful times because he is such a good listener and friend.  Garrett showed me that psychologists don't have to be stiff like in the movies.  He is also absolutely hilarious.

Next week I get to say my last goodbyes and it will be hard.  I have worked with a lot of great people, it has been a good job, and I have had a lot of good experiences there.  I have also said bye to a lot of great patients.  Now, there are definitely patients that I wanted to shout hooray when they left and I knew I would never see them again.  Just like after some phone calls/patients and I would be so mad/frustrated/done I just had to remind myself that I just had a few more days to go.  

Other than my goodbyes I have already done and still have coming, I have been busy with doctor appointments.  I had 3 just today, a non-stress test (NST), my OB, and the diabetes clinic.  General consensus is that I'm doing great.  Because of the timing of my school starting, I asked my OB if instead of waiting until 8/20 to induce me (which is a Monday), if we could possibly start the Friday before so that Brad wouldn't miss a lot of work and I didn't miss a lot of school.  My doctor told me that I can have an amniocentesis on Tuesday, when I see Maternal Fetal Medicine, and if my baby's lungs are fully developed then she would be fine inducing me next week.  Crazy!  On top of this, I had my first cervix check and amazingly I am already dilated to 1.5-2cm and 70% effaced.  I was shocked by this because I have felt no contractions (at least that I am aware of).  My doc said that this is good because it means they would probably just give me pitocin to get contractions started.

So craziness.  Now I have a bunch to make sure is ready just in case the doctors decide to induce me next week.  Exciting, nerve wracking, and all that.  I have been especially putting off getting stuff ready for the hospital cause I have no idea what I need.  I will take any suggestions, in the mean time I am just going to grab a few things, go to the store to get stuff we still need, and start reading my fat nursing text book.  

The Waiting Game

Well, life has been interesting lately.  I'm training my replacement at work.  So far we have had 3 days together and she can room patients and do vitals pretty well.  I showed her how to use our scheduling system and have had her listen to my phone calls, but I need to let her try and schedule people.  Then I will let her take nurse calls.  Then I'm supposed to help her with authorizations, indexing, etc.  Oh boy, only 3 weeks to do it all.  I'm just a little worried.

I have now had three non-stress tests.  So far so good.  The nurses always tell me that the baby is doing well and her heart rates is good and healthy.  My test this Thursday I had a nurse who I wanted to slap.  While watching the baby's heart rate, she started to talk to me about names we liked.  I told her we like Tacy.  The nurse says "Tasie is interesting, I have never heard that before."  It bugs me when people hear the name wrong, she even had me spell it for her.  Then she tells me "It's a cute name for a little girl, but what about when she is older?"  Oh my goodness, if I did not have a bunch of monitors attached to me...I mean seriously, this nurse works in periantology where she works with lots of pregnant women and she criticizes baby names!  It pissed me off to say the least.  She then went on about how I could use a grandma's name for the middle name, so at least there is a more adult name option.  I stopped talking at that point.  I just wanted her to leave me alone.  Thank goodness during these tests they are only watching my baby's heart rate and not mine, cause I would have failed miserably.

Thursday night my mother-in-law through me a baby shower.  It was nice and we got more clothes, some towels, burp clothes, car stuff, and a glider.  My mother-in-law also sewed a really cute diaper bag for me.  Now that all the baby showers are done, I just want to get everything organized and ready.  But I can't.  Why?  Because we are waiting for the room to be available.  

So we live in a basement and currently use one bedroom, a bathroom, and the living area down here.  But there is a second bedroom.  Brad's parents said that we can use the second bedroom for the baby.  After measuring and everything, Brad thinks the second bedroom would work better for us because the space would be more accommodating for our stuff and sleeping baby.  So then we would use our current bedroom for her nursery.  Problem is, the second bedroom is still full of his sister's stuff, stuff she left behind when she went to college, got married, and now lives in an apartment with her husband and baby.  Stuff she apparently wants to keep, but is not important enough to take with her.

Brad's mom has said she will clean up the room.  Brad is ready to throw all of his sister's stuff in boxes, and he tells me he would not care to be nice to it all because she hasn't done anything with it for 4 years.  My hesitation with his plan is that there is a ton of stuff, a desk full of crap, picture boards, and a full closet.  

So we are waiting, and waiting, and waiting.  It is driving me crazy because I want to feel more ready for this baby.  We still don't have a crib, which Brad's parents are buying, but they are waiting for a sale...Oiy, the baby is going to come and we will still be in the same room, with nothing for her to sleep in, no dresser set up yet, and all of her clothes in bins stored in the storage room.  This is my nightmare.  I'm sure it won't come to this, especially since Brad gets more and more frustrated with it all and if it comes to it he really will just toss everything in boxes so we can move our stuff in.  I just hate waiting.

In the mean time, I'm also trying to get ready for nursing school.  I called up the program director with a few questions and in the process she told me that she is really worried about me having a baby and being able to keep up.  I wanted to scream!  I spoke with her in May about me being pregnant and she was all optimistic and saying they could work with me.  Now she tells me she is worried and sounds all pessimistic about the situation.  Just another irritation to my life.  Thank goodness Brad can calm me down.  So now I will be calling her again and seeing if I can go meet with her and go over this whole thing since she has changed her tune and her optimism in May was the whole reason we decided I could do this: newborn and nursing school.  So much fun.  

One day we will be ready for the baby and one day everything with school and having a baby will be worked out.  Until then, I just have to keep my cool and wait patiently (ok I try and wait patiently).

Prayer for Rain

The news last night said that Utah has already had 450+ fires that have burned more than 250,000 acres so far this year/summer.  That is ridiculously high.  It does not help that we had not had measurable water for 38 days.  So May/June were extremely dry. 

The fourth of July really had me worried because of this.  I was worried the whole state would be in flames from fireworks.  Our stake fasted/prayed for rain to come.  I hear that people have been praying for rain all over Utah.  

Well the fourth we went to the Kaysville City parade and luckily had seats under a tree, so it was not too bad temperature wise.  The bands and dance squads sure made my baby girl move a lot.  Meanwhile our nephew was passed out through it all.  The boys (Brad, Eric, and Sam - Kimber's bf) got in a lovely water fight at the end of the parade when the fire trucks all drive by and spray the crowd down and everyone still hanging around shoots people with water guns or water balloons.  Some people got a little upset with Brad, Eric and Sam's water balloon bombarding so they came charging after them.  I got a little wet from that.

After the parade we all drove up the canyon and the boys and Kimber floated down the Weber while Brad's mom, Jody, Christine, 4 month old Grant, and I drove along and watched them.  Then we had a nice BBQ.  At night Brad and I just watched the neighbor shoot off fireworks, but they were a little scary cause some of them would go haywire and come shooting sideways instead of up.  I really thought the tree was going to burn down, or me for that matter.

Well, Thursday morning Brad and I were leaving for work and we saw that it was drizzling.  By 10am it was raining pretty good in Orem and it did so until about 2pm.  It was awesome.  It was actually a little cold, smelled like rain, and was exactly what we needed.  Apparently the whole state got moisture which is exactly what Utah needed.  Thank goodness for rain and prayers being answered!  Plus, what better day to rain than the day after the fourth of July?

Need a mechanic? I know a good one in Price...

Brad and I were talking with family about mechanics in the area and this is what Brad said "I know a good one in Price."  For those who don't know Brad or anything about Utah geography, this was completely sarcastic.  Here is the story behind it:

One of Brad's co-workers talked about wanting to take his family down to Goblin Valley State Park to hike a slot canyon.  Brad mentioned that he has hiked Ding and Dang Canyon (yes that is the legit names) several times and that it is less busy than Crazy Horse (the popular slot canyon).  So his co-worker, Craig, asked Brad to come on the trip to be their tour guide.  Brad never passes up a trip to Goblin Valley so he said yes. Brad invited our bro-in-law Eric to go as well.

So Friday (June 22nd) the boys gathered their supplies and left a little after noon.  Now I had rented The Vow and was planning a nice girls night with Brad's mom and sisters.  At about 3:30 Jody, who's husband Eric went with Brad, asked me if I thought they would make it down to Goblin Valley.  I looked at her funny and said "Of course, they are probably almost there." Jody then told me that they were in Price because something happened to the car (my Civic).  Well, Eric had apparently already text Jody about this but Brad had yet to call me.  At about 4pm I get a call from Brad and he tells me that after getting up the mountains to Price the check engine light came on.  He found a mechanic in Price who ran a diagnostic test on the car that said the VTEC failed.  VTEC is my car's engine.  Fantastic!  So Brad got referred to a different mechanic who said that it could simply be that the car needed an oil change (it was about due for one), new oil filter, etc or it could be a whole list of other bigger issues.  The mechanic said that 60% of the time he saw this error changing the oil fixed it.  While changing the oil they also recommended an engine flush cause it looked pretty bad.  So, $140 later Brad and Eric drove the car around a bit and it seemed to be working fine, so they decided to continue on to Goblin Valley.  

Brad says the mechanic was really nice and that everyone they came across seemed to love having new people to talk to.  While waiting for the car, Brad and Eric went to Taco Bell where Brad says that they double the lunch rush.  Yea, Price is slow like that.  When they left, the mechanic gave him his number and told Brad to call if he needed a tow because he would love an excuse to get away from his girlfriend. 

Well the boys made it safely to Goblin Valley and had no other car issues.  Brad just drove slow the whole way so they got there late.  Saturday Brad led Eric, Craig and his family through Ding and Dang canyon and had a fun time.  They even got to help a couple other groups out who had no idea how to climb a slot canyon.  Everything was going great, until they were driving back and had to go over the wonderful Price mountains again.  The engine light came back on.  Brad called me to let me know.  At that point I really hated mountains and thought my car was broken.  Brad told me to go an get 2 new tires put on his Civic because he figured that I would be driving his car to work Monday while he took mine to a shop.  I went and got the new tires put on that we had been planning to do a little later.  I also had his alternator tested because Brad's car had been making a funny sound, however the alternator and battery were good.  Brad and Eric drove really slow back home and Brad went to researching the issue.

Brad changed the air filter and did some other stuff under the hood.  Lots of stress later, Brad had me drive my car to work, but he told me not to let the RPMs get above 3500.  Basically, this meant that I could not accelerate fast.  So a slow drive to work later, and worrying the whole time about driving that far with the engine light on, I made it to work and back home just fine.  Tuesday on my drive to work, the engine light came off.  Brad talked to his buddy who knows a lot about cars and his buddy told him that the car will do system checks and if it goes through 9 cycles with no issues, it will turn the engine light off on it's own.  My light has not come back on and a mechanic said most likely the clog in the engine was cleared and all is good.

Good ending to my car, unfortunately Brad's car still made a weird sound and on his way to work Wednesday it started acting weird.  So Thursday we took his car in and found out that the timing belt was barely holding on and the mechanic was seriously shocked the car was still running.  Apparently the pulley thing that holds the timing belt was bent to the point it was barely holding the belt.  If the belt had slipped, the engine would have been toast.  So count our blessings we got the car there in time.  

We are just crossing our fingers that the car issues are done for now.  In one month we spent $1500 on our two cars between 6 new tires, oil change/engine flush, and a new timing belt, serpentine belt, and water pump.  Yay!