Dak Attack

We have survived a whole week.  And what a week it's been.

On Friday we got released from the hospital.  I was definitely tired of being there. There were some perks of the hospital.  I got a free pedicure.  Order up whatever food.  The electric bed was awesome to help me and my stitches.  But...it was fun to bring Dexter to his home and be in our own place.

Kyle's "what do I do now" face

Wide awake and ready to go home

A more alert family picture

On Friday is also when we got to start figuring things out all on our own.  This also came with a "Dak Attack."  Kyle's been such a great helper and he's also the one who's been changing the majority of diapers when he's home.  Well on one such time when changing a diaper, I hear an exclamation and a scold.  Turns out that Dak had made a golden arch and a mess when Kyle had looked away.  It was so hard not to laugh, but I tried my best.  So whenever this accident happens or is barely avoided we call it a Dak Attack.  This also wasn't the last of them.

Saturday the first set of family stopped by.  A small group of the Hansens.  It was Audrey, Tyler and Mama Hansen.  We have yet to figure out what she'll be called since Grandma Hansen is already taken.

Uncle Tyler enjoying the bundle

Took a nap with him 

The proud Grandma

The family just loved oohing and ahhing over little Dak.  I must admit at times it was hard to share the holding with them.  However, I knew their time was limited and I really will get all the time I want in the future to hold him.  Kyle even admitted it was hard to give him up sometimes.

They even came on a walk with us.  These walks are very slow, and very short.  But it's great to get out of the house and try to start feeling like I'm recovering.

All of us on a walk...I'm the one taking the picture of course

Sight of the random chickens that live on the farms near us

Saturday night we also had some other family visitors.  Kyle's Aunt Jana and her family were in Park City so they came and stopped by.

Sunday...Easter!!!  The easter bunny came and dropped by a little gift for Dak.  We as his parents appreciate it.  Kyle went to church with his siblings and Mama H stayed home to take care of me.  She also cooked us an Easter lunch.  It was fun to celebrate with family.  Sadly, though they had to go home.

1st Easter

Later that day my mom came.  She's here for the next couple weeks to help me out.  I can't drive or pick up anything heavier than Dexter, and I also get so tired and sore she has been a big help so far.

That is life thus far.  It is tough and tiring.  But he's so cute it is definitely worth it.

Oh, oh.  I did take some newborn photos of him just yesterday (on his 1 week birthday) but I put them on my other blog.  Check them out at:
http://whphotos.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-old-pictures.html

The Package Has Arrived

He's HERE!!!!  But first his interesting story.

So very true to my comment last week of how plans have never been what they said they'd be, or I said something similar to that effect.  The same is with this past week.  If you've been following I was supposed to have a c-section for being a transverse lie baby.  However, they did a last minute check and he was good.  So the doctor and I planned for him to come on his own, but I would still be having Non-Stress Tests (NST) to see how he was.

Well Monday I went in for my first (and last) one.  I was still healthy and had even progressed a little.  My effacement finally changed, but no dilation. The baby was moving lots and had a good heartbeat.  However, the NST test didn't look good.  They even did two 20 minute or so reads of it.  The doctor called it not being "reactive."  Another doctor in the clinic had agreed with my doctor, the baby needed to be delivered.  Well I was sent home and told to return to the hospital later that evening.  One way or another this baby would be coming out on or before Tuesday.

Monday afternoon Kyle and I show up again at the hospital, and again sign mass amounts of paperwork, get an IV.  I also got a cervix ripener to help start dilating me through the night.  The pain was bearable, but it kept me from sleeping.  I hadn't slept a wink the night before...so I got a shot of something to take the edge off, but also knock me out.  I'm glad I took this as every half hour I was woken up I at least felt a little more rested.

The morning came finally.  The monitoring they did all night still showed him as a non-reassuring heart rate, but I did dilate to like a 2.  My doctor showed up and they started the pitocin to induce me.  They also wanted a better monitor on the baby's head, so they broke my water.  Well I went through a few long and hard contractions, when the nurse comes in.  The baby's heart rate was dropping too low during each contraction.  She was checking to see dilation (moved to a 3/4) when she also felt the cord.  It had prolapsed and that is why his heart rate was diving.  Once she realized this and notified the others...about 4 other nurses came in and whisked me away within seconds.  Kyle was told to wait and to don on his operating clothes.

In a very uncomfortable manner and still having contractions, I was now in the operating room.  Just like movies and TV shows, large lights and people wearing gloves and all.  They then knocked me out.
When I awoke I was loopy, shaking, and beyond wanting to talk or do anything.  However, it was great to see and hear Kyle's voice to me and telling me about our new sweet baby boy.

Kyle also didn't get to see the delivery as they had to do it too quickly.  But he did get to see him being measured and all that, and hang out with him before mom recuperated.

Introducing:Dexter "Dak" William Hansen

7 lbs. 9 oz.

20.5"

April 19th at 7:55 am

Getting to be the first one to hold him

What we already knew...this kid has a personality

Still knocked out

First family picture

Yes it was scary, but I was actually pretty calm through it all.  Just very uncomfortable.  Recovery hasn't been too bad.  It's nice to just sit here and play with him.  Kyle's been great helping to bring him to me, and changing all diapers.

Me and little Dexter 

Day 2 - just chilling with dad

Nothing like we had ever discussed or planned with the doctor, but I know it was Heavenly Father's desire.  I'm just super happy and excited for this calm, handsome new baby in our family.

A Turn of Events

Story in 3 words...No baby yet.

If you saw my Facebook post or even wondered how my c-section went then you should read this story.

Friday was my scheduled c-section.  This had only been decided upon on Tuesday.  I had told family, the blog (since it's my journal), and people in the ward....but that was it.  I didn't want to hear too many horror stories or anything before going in.  Plus, if I didn't think about it I was a lot less nervous.

Thursday night it was hitting me.  I even had what I thought was a panic attack.  That same horrible really long contraction and no breathing thing I felt a week or two back.  After the panic attack I felt a little better...just a little.  However, Thursday night at midnight I had to stop all food and drink.  Even water.

After a restless night, one for Kyle too.  We tried to sleep in, but didn't work.  So we got up and started to pack the bags.  We had to run to the distribution services for some last minute shopping.  We did a last little cleanup.  Then still had time.  I was starving and sooo thirsty too.  Trying to wait out the last hour was miserable.  I tried to nap.  Kyle watched some anime on the computer.  It was just killer.

One last picture before the c-section...at 39.6 weeks

Finally we drove to the hospital and got admitted.  Signed some papers (just a few compared to what was coming).  They put us in the room and I got to don the lovely hospital gown.  Then we waited for the nurses' further instructions.  We were so nervous, but so excited that we would see our little baby in just a few hours now.

Waiting nervously for all the prep

So then the nurses got me all prepped.  IV in.  Check. Little monitors on.  Check.  Mass amounts of paperwork to sign life away.  Check.  Kyle put on operating room jumpsuit.  Check.  Now we waited for one last step before the operation.  They wanted to do a final check on the baby's position.  From the way he had been feeling, he was sideways.  However, the assisting doctor (mine was running late) had to do two passes of the ultrasound to verify.  The little punk...I mean baby...had turned again.  He was now correct.

The doctor told us what this meant.  No c-section.  Woo hoo!?  The nurses and doctors left Kyle and I alone to think things out.  There were so many emotions and thoughts both running through our minds.  We were happy for no c-section.  I was dreading recovery and so many other little things.  However, we were prepped and so, So, SO excited to meet our little boy.  When would we see him now?  And now I would have to be mentally preparing for having to go through labor.  I was actually laughing a lot at it.  Good to take things like this with humor, and not be frustrated at it.

A little relieved now

He was even all ready in his outfit...you can't see the cute blue booties

Finally my doctor showed up and we discussed what to do.  This week's plan (because if you notice every week has had a different plan) is that we can wait until this Friday (I'll be almost 41 weeks) for him to come on his own.  I was happy that this now was an option.  I do have to go in to be monitored on Monday.  Just to make sure the kid is still all healthy heartbeat and reactive to my contractions.

---side note---Yep...contractions.  On the monitors they check your contractions.  I hadn't felt anything really thus far.  However, I asked a nurse if I was having any.  Yes I was.  I was so excited.  The nurse also thought it was funny that I wasn't feeling them.  They weren't major contractions, but they didn't look too small either.  I was just happy to know I have them, and I'd be happy if I had a higher pain tolerance of them too.  Maybe that's too much to ask though.---

So after the decisions were made and the discharge....I was so hungry and starving.  We got home and I downed 2 large glasses of water and limeade.  I ate 2 pieces of toast, 2 bowls of cereal, one banana, and some other things.  Now what to do with our day.  We hadn't planned for anything to be going on.

We decided to go to the ward activity of Chili Cook-Off.  Kyle didn't have time to make his chili obviously, but thanks to 2 boxes of Jiffy corn bread I was able to at least bring that.  The activity was fun.  Some good tastin' chili.  It was also an auction for girl's camp.  Services and items they made.  We only had a small amount to be able to spend and everything usually started above that.  Kyle was happy that the toffee though was within the amount.  So we helped out and bought some of that.  Then at the end they revealed the winners of chili, spiciest chili, and cornbread.  Amazingly...I got 2nd place in cornbread.  We got home and just crashed.

Well I'll leave this post at that.  So it was a very interesting day.  Full of a ton of different emotions.  By the end of the day we were exhausted just from all the emotions and anxiety.  We are happy though.  And most people can't claim they were sent home from a c-section.  We are very thankful that I am still healthy and the baby is doing great as well.

Our conclusion is that he turned on Thursday night when I had that panic attack.  So it wasn't really a panic attack, but him turning and doing as we had said....just very last minute.  We do say that he's already taking more after Kyle.  Between us he's the indecisive one.

So now a waiting game until now and Friday.

One Day More...errr 2 Days More

I'll start you off with a picture...

39 weeks

It's a little longer, but has pictures.

So this weekend was kind of crazy weather wise.  It snowed for 2.5 days straight.  The first day was cool.  We had hail, thunder and lightning and tons of rain.  Then it turned into snow and just kept snowing, and snowing, and snowing.  The snow though didn't stick.  I was happy on Sunday when I woke up and saw a bright, warm, yellow thing in the sky along with blue skies.

This weekend we also ran all the last errands we think we had to get stuff for the baby.  Like a diaper pail, trash can, swing, and some other odds and ends.  My favorite though was buying him some clothes.  I actually hadn't bought our little boy anything clothes wise.  So Kyle and I chose 3 cute outfits for him, along with some socks.  You'll see them on him eventually.  I'll have the cutest thing to start taking photos of, and he can't stop me. :)

For the past couple weeks I've also finally have had energy, motivation and excitement to do projects.  All this combined made me become crafty....or at least sewing crafty.  Our baby had lots of blankets.  Some small thin ones, other large silky ones.  But he only had one large flannel receiving blanket.  So I made two of them.  I searched far and wide for non-safari animal print.  This was very hard because every fabric store had only that, or some fabric that I didn't really like.  So now he has a dinosaur blanket and robot one.  

Dinosaurs & robots.  I even appliquéd two dinosaurs on.

I also made matching burp cloths.  He only had 4, and I know that babies definitely put those things to use.

Nice flannel ones.

An assortment of the cloth diaper burp cloths all fancied up

...and I still had more energy and fabric scraps.  I also think these things are so cute on little boys at church, so I made these:

I think the polka dot one (left) is my favorite...I just noticed it almost matches the crib sheets

So yeah...I've been busy.  I still have some items to make, and thankfully I still have some energy.  

A funny side story.  Every now and then I would come home and realize my house just stunk.  This wasn't a new thing because it had funky and damp odors when we moved in.  But this smell wasn't in here every day.  I figured out what it was though when I walked by Kyle's gym bag.  The culprit was his cleats.  And they REEK!  Like I smell them strongly within 10 feet.  On Monday I washed them and a few other items for him to help rid us of this plague.  They still weren't non-smelly when I pulled them out, but I set them to dry on our drying rack in our pantry.  This I learned would be a huge mistake.  Our pantry is also where the air intake to the heater is.  So about 1 hour later when the heater turned on, guess what the whole house smelled like.  His stanky cleats.  Thankfully  it was a nice day and I was able to air it out.  But now I know not to put any stinky stuff in that room.  Especially all his gym gear.

Now, if you are wondering if there are any updates with the baby and when he's supposed to come.  There are.  I went to the doctor's on Monday, and she did an ultrasound.  He had turned, but not in a good way.  He came out of that semi-favorable position, and back to pretty much just sideways.  So we discussed the options that now at 39 weeks I had.  They are very limited.  I came home, and emailed back and forth with Kyle the pros and cons, and our feelings on the couple we had.  Then Tuesday morning I called her up and scheduled a c-section.  

Now I've been asked if they could do the procedure of trying to turn him, an ECV.  Yes, that was one of our options.  However, the chance of success was so little and the risks are huge especially at 39.5 weeks.  We also had the chance of waiting only a few more days, and hoping for a miracle.  With both of these though it didn't look favorable to him turning and staying that way.  Because we saw him in correct positioning before, and I've felt him try to be correct.  But somehow he just can't stay that way, and now with him being so large and little fluid it'd be so much harder.  There were a whole list of things to consider, some of them I've listed some I haven't, but I'll list one more.  Also, my body hasn't been getting ready to have this baby because of his positioning.  I haven't dropped/lightened (my ribs and lungs can tell that), and hadn't even started to dilate or efface...not even a little.  So some of the options weren't available because of that.

It is a really weird thought to know that sometime after 1 pm on Friday our little boy will be here.  So only 2 more days of just Kyle and I.  To celebrate our last few days of just us two we used a gift card from Christmas and celebrated at Chili's last night.

Eating the appetizer at Chili's on our last "just us in our family" date

It was nice to do a last date of just us two and not having to worry for the last time that for a date about the baby or a babysitter.  Kyle was happy too because they gave him the wrong order.  So he got to keep what they thought he ordered, and then he got what he actually ordered.

So that's it.  Next post should be a lot more exciting because there'll be a baby.  And sorry these last many posts have been just about that.  It does kind of consume your life.  Especially since I don't work.

Conference Weekend with Monday Blues

Spring came!  On Friday Kyle had taken the day off.  He was nice enough to use this day to help me clean the house and do some other chores.  This day was also so gorgeous.  It got to almost 70 degrees.  Had blue skies and was warm in the sun.  We even took a break from cleaning to read some books on the lawn in the sunshine.

Another thing was we had a date...kind of.  Kyle had his mission reunion and since it was in North SL we decided to go.  On the way we stopped off at Chipotle, then continued to see if anyone that Kyle knew would show up.  Only one companion did, but we talked to a few other people.  It wasn't super exciting or anything, but only driving 30 minutes was worth it.  One down side to spring....because its such beautiful weather, and we only have heating we open our windows.  However, our upstairs neighbors are always smoking so it comes in about every 20 minutes.  One of my points for us to move.

Saturday was nice and relaxful just listening to conference.  Since I already had a clean house, there was no need to worry about that stuff.  In between sessions I convinced Kyle to go fly a kite.  Well...kites.  We hadn't the whole time we've been up here, and there was a nice breeze going on.  We found a park with not many trees or electrical wires overhead.  That's a bigger feat up here than in Vegas.  Kyle got to try out his stunt kite, but unfortunately the wind wasn't steady enough for it.  The dragon kite though rocked.  It was another nice day and was just nice to get out of the house.  I also took some pictures.

Kyle with his stunt kite

Relaxing on the grass because I was tired chasing and picking up kites to fly.  Look you can still see my feet.

Flying the awesome dragon one.

It actually went high, unlike the stunt one.  Another time for that.

 Later Saturday night our guests finally arrived (along with cold rains and eventual snow.  Bye spring weather).  These guests were: Audrey & Mychal, Jake & Kacey.  We had some homemade ice cream and brownies.  We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with our guests since most of it was either sleeping or watching conference.  But it was nice to see them.  They left us Sunday in between sessions to go catch the afternoon one in the conference center.
 

Jake & Kacey

Audrey & Mychal

Well that concludes the nice and relaxing weekend.  I was hoping this week would follow like it, but Monday decided to be just a frustrating day.  First off early that morning I had another appointment.  When about to be measured the doctor noticed that the bumps from the kid weren't in normal position.  Another ultrasound concluded what she and I feared.  This little kid likes to move too much.  Although he's transverse again, he's in a slightly better positioning.  She said she'll let me go until my water breaks, but if he doesn't turn before then...they cut me open.  So that was frustration #1.  

Frustration #2 is that I learned my doctor doesn't believe in letting babies go past their due date.  So on April 19th whether the baby is ready or not, he'll be coming out.    We're talking to our little one, telling him to move position and come out.  Being induced is what I never had planned.  I like my doctor though, and feel its a bit too late with only a little over a week to go to switch doctors.  So  its just frustrating when things can't go as you'd like them.  However...in less than 2 weeks whether on his own or with modern medicine we'll have our sweet baby boy.

Those were the main frustrations, but I still had one more to deal with that day.  Since Monday is my turn with the car, I run all the errands.  Well when I went to go run an errand later in the day I noticed that my wallet was missing.  Frantically I looked everywhere in the house and car.  Came to the conclusion it had to be at Wal-Mart...my last stop.  I drove down there and went to customer service.  This story has a great ending...it was there!  It was such a relief.  I actually didn't care about my driver's license or credit cards.  Those are easy to replace, a big pain but not horrible.  My worry is that I wouldn't have been able to get on base to pick Kyle up since my dependent ID was in there.  And that marked pregnancy forgetfulness incident #2.

So far the rest of the week is going good.  I'm just chilling in yoga pants, working on some sewing projects, watching TV and doing those funny positions again to help him turn again.  Last night for about 1.5 hours though I was in such pain.  He had turned I felt that.  With it though was him stretching out his space, and it's been measuring small since he's sideways.  So this was like one 1 hour-plus long contraction with no breaks and the sharpest pain in the lungs so breathing to relax was painful too.  I was proud of the baby for trying though because I could tell he didn't like it either, many kicks and such during it.  I was happy to go through it for him.  However after the hour and a half...he went back to sideways.  Hopefully he'll try again and stick to it.