Since some of you have been asking how it all went down, I'm taking a few minutes to sacrifice much needed sleep to share my labor and delivery story with you. That's how much I love you. :) 

I'm sure there are some people out there who really don't enjoy hearing these things, but I always love when people share their delivery stories, so here goes!

As I mentioned earlier, I was borderline toxemia at my appointment on Tuesday, so my doctor was concerned about letting me go any further. We scheduled me to be induced early Thursday morning, but going to the hospital Wednesday night to get Cervidil (medicine to soften the cervix as I was at 1 cm at my appt the week before and apparently still at 1 cm at this appt). 

I drove to the hospital Wednesday at 4:00 PM (it was kind of funny driving myself to the hospital to have a baby since I had always pictured I would be in labor and in too much pain). Nate was in class and would join me there as soon as he was done. I got the Cervidil at about 5:00 PM and just stayed in my hospital bed the whole night. I had to have the Cervidil in for either 12 hours, until I was dilated to a 3 or until my water broke - whichever happened first. Nate and I went to sleep about 11 and I slept soundly until maybe 1:30 - after that I started having painful contractions and really didn't sleep a whole lot.  Nate woke up around 3:30 when the contractions were painful enough that he could hear me trying to breathe through them and he wanted to sit with me and help me through them (I'll probably say it again, but he was SO good through the whole thing - I have an awesome hubby). 

A little before 6, my nurse came in a took out the Cervidil and said they would be starting the Pitocin soon. I asked her if I could have them do the Epidural at the same time they did the Pitocin because I was already in a lot of pain and was apparently only dilated 2 1/2. She suggested I wait at least until 7 because that's when the new shift for the anesthesiologist came in, so he'd be fresh and not at the end of a shift. I agreed reluctantly. :) 

The nurses changed shift at 6 and my new nurse Jill (who was WAY awesome) said they needed to draw some blood to check my platelet count before they could give me an epidural, since I had had blood pressure issues. I continued to have ever increasingly painful contractions through all of this. 

Then came the traumatic part of the day. The anesthesiologist came in and with his amazing bedside manners (ha) basically told me my platelet count was too low and I probably wouldn't be able to get an epidural as "blah blah lots of medical terms like hematoma and paralysis." So because my platelet count was so low, giving me an epidural COULD cause problems that could cause me to be paralyzed from the waist down. My the time he told me this (about 7:45), I was in a TON of pain and REALLY looking forward to that epidural. I just broke down and cried. He said they would take some more blood at 8:30 and check my platelets again. If they had stayed at the level they were at  OR gone up, I could get the epidural. If they had gone down at ALL, I wouldn't be able to. 

After he left, they started me on Pitocin and the doctor came in a broke my water, so everything would start moving more quickly. At 8:30, the nurse drew more blood and we all waited (some more patiently than others) for the results. I spent much of the time trying to prepare myself for not being able to get an epidural and having to deal with all of the pain (which was getting worse and closer together since the Pitocin was in my system now). 

I got the results back a little before 9:00 - my platelet count had risen 20 points in about 2 hours, so I could definitely get the epidural! Oh man, you've never seen me so relieved. Unfortunately, there were two other girls in labor at the same time as me, so the anesthesiologist was giving them their epidurals first. He {finally} got to me a little before 10. Let me just tell you how hard it was to hold still while he put the needle in since I had about three in the time he was getting everything ready. He started the medicine and after 20 minutes I was still in pain, so he came in and upped the dosage a bit. I could feel my legs getting numb and feel the pain lessening. 

So about 10:00, I was FINALLY able to relax and get some sleep (I was, by the way, STILL only at a 3 at this point) - I slept  until 11:30 when my nurse came in to see how I was doing and see if I had dilated any more. She was a little worried about the baby because her heart rate kept dropping - sometimes lower than she was very comfortable with. So she checked to see how dilated I was and said "Oh, you're kidding me.  Would you believe me if I told you you're complete?" So in an hour and a half (all of which I was sleeping), I had gone from a 3 to a 10! And I was ready to push! However, my doctor wanted to have me wait about an hour to let her head get a little lower so I wouldn't have to push as much. PLUS, he had two other deliveries to do, so as soon as he finished those, he'd be in to do mine. 

At about 12:30, he came in and got everything ready. He's an expert with forceps and since my blood pressure had been high he didn't want me pushing too much and making it go higher. So he used forceps and I pushed about 4 times and she was here! 

My in-laws are anxious for more pictures so here are some of the latest. 

This was taken after her first bath at home (which she hated by the way). She was better once we wrapped her in her robe. FYI Our nurse said that you no longer have to wait for the cord to fall off to bathe them. 

This cute dress was complements of auntie AJ.  That is where the Jane in Karly Jane came from.
Like her cousin Graham, this is also her favorite position. 
We're not really sure where she got these long skinny feet and toes from.

Karly Jane Frakes
8 Pounds 2 Ounces
21 Inches
12:54 P.M.

My doctor is the coolest. 

So I went to my doctor appointment today.

I have no idea how dilated or effaced I am. He didn't tell me. 

He did tell me I have two options: 

1. We can let nature take it's course and let her come when she comes. However, since my blood pressure was back up a bit today and there was protein in my urine (meaning the onset of toxemia) and I'm so swollen with water retention, they would need to do stress tests every Thursday and Monday until she's here. Hmm...

2. Put me in the hospital tomorrow (yes, TOMORROW), give me Cervidil around 4 pm, and let me sleep the night there. They would then induce me 12 hours later (so about 4 am) and she would come sometime on Thursday (doctor guessed early afternoon). 

He told me I could go talk to Nathan and let him know. I told him I didn't need to as I already knew what Nathan would pick. 

Any guesses on which option I chose? 

"Okay, your room is ready. You can come now." 

I know I've promised pictures of the crib and other things in the past, but I'm super anal and wanted to have the whole thing done before I posted anything. We got most of the nursery completed a couple of weeks ago, but I was still working on the crib bumper pad. 

Can I just tell you that was WAY more work than I thought it was going to be? 

But it looks great and I'm pretty proud of myself. I know it's not a difficult project as far as sewing goes, but I make quilts. That's all. So it was impressive for me. So without further ado, here are the pictures of the little munchkin's room: 

Here is that sweet crib I was telling you about. Here's the quick version of how we got it: this guy bought out a business that was going under that sells really nice cribs - Italian made beechwood that usually retail for about $700+. His business doesn't sell cribs, so he just wanted to get rid of them, so he was selling them BELOW wholesale prices. We ended up spending more than we had planned on for a crib, but WAY less than what we would have normally for that quality of crib. 

As I said, I made the crib bumper - here's a picture of it in the crib already. I cut the individual squares (32 in total) and all the ties (40 in total) and sewed all of it together. Like I said, it was a lot of work, but totally worth it! (and it kept me busy all these days I haven't been working AND saved us a bunch of money since we didn't have to buy the expensive store bedding sets). And my mother-in-law (who is an AMAZING quilter) is going to make a  quilt to go with it! 

Here is a closeup of the bumper with a little more detail. I LOVE the cute little safari animal design. 

Here are baby's first stuffed animals. We're silly, excited new parents and couldn't decide on just one. So she gets two. 

You can't tell very well in this picture, but the curtain rod is a bamboo pole. Fun  huh? 

Did I already mention that we got an amazing deal on this recliner? I love online classifieds (if you live in  Utah or Salt Lake county and are looking for ANYTHING used, go to KSL.com - it's WAY better than Craig's List).

This part of her room was, without a doubt, the most time consuming. After we got the crib, Nate didn't want to get anything that was the crappy particle board or plywood. If we were going to have a quality crib, why not get a quality dresser too? The problem is, there aren't many solid wood dressers out there (at least that don't cost hundreds), so we looked for over a month. We FINALLY found one that this crazy lady had done a horrible job staining (for those of you who don't already know this, stain is NOT like paint - okay?). We sanded off her horrible staining job (which took HOURS), stained it a color we thought was close to the crib, put it in the room, didn't like how different it looked from the crib, went to Sherwin Williams and had them create a stain that would make it closer to the crib, RE-stained it and then put a finish on it. I wish I could explain better  how much time all of this took. It was a lot. But here is the finished beauty. We LOVE it. 

The whole view, including the little bamboo plant we bought, the mirror we stained the same color (and added some cute little safari stuff) and the little lamp we bought for the room. 

And closeups of all those things: 



So there you have it! Our pretty little girl's jungle/safari room! 

In other news, I have a doctor appointment today, so I should find out where I'm at and how things are going. I had contractions for like 6 hours Saturday night (that made for a fun night of sleep for both Nate and I, as he wakes up every time I make a noise - poor guy) and have them often during the day and also at night. I'm really hoping all that uncomfortableness means I've progressed. 

Wish me luck! 

7 days. Can you believe that? Granted, she may not come in exactly 7 days, but just the idea that I've made it through almost a whole pregnancy already is just crazy!

And we are SO excited for her to be here!

Nate keeps putting his hands on the top of my stomach, trying to push her down to get her to come (I've tried explaining that it doesn't work that way, but he's determined that will get her out)! The good news is, she has actually dropped - I can breathe again! And live without constant heartburn! But now I have to pee 27 times a day! (there's always something...).

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday that went MUCH better than last week! My blood pressure was back to normal and everything was good. The doctor (or nurse midwife, I should say) said her head is still pretty high, but I'm dilated to 1 centimeter! I've been having lots of contractions, just randomly throughout the day and night as well. Nothing consistent, but definitely there (I asked the NM if they were Braxton Hicks or real contractions and how do I tell the difference and she said she can almost guarantee they are real contractions at this point).

By the way, speaking of all these "baby terms" it's really funny to talk about these things in front of Nate and his brother and friends. They cringe at words like "dilating," "effacing," "crowning," (that one actually gets the best reaction) and "stripping membranes," (that's when they ask us kindly to shut up). :D I've tried telling them they need to get used to it, but there's still ALWAYS some kind of reaction to those words. I love it. :)

So that's the update. Things are going great! I'm enjoying being home all day and getting those last few "nesting" things done that I thought I wouldn't be able to get done because of work. I'll put up pictures of the baby's room soon. I kind of want to get the bumper pad finished first, but if it starts to take too long, I may just post pictures of the room as it is.

Blood Pressure, Moab, and Almost There!

So, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I went in fully expecting it to be the same as all the others. And it was, for the most part.

Aside from the part where my doctor told me I can't go to work anymore.

Or clean.

Or go on "shopping sprees" (because I do that SO often).

Apparently, my blood pressure was a little higher than my doctor was comfortable with. So I was banned from working. At first, I was pretty frustrated because we'd been planning on my working for a couple more weeks, if possible. Nate, kindly reminded me as I sobbed (dang pregnancy hormones) that I don't have to go to work anymore! Well DUH Alisa - you're thrilled about that. But I also don't LOVE the idea of sitting around the house, waiting for the baby to come. I'm going to have to get myself some projects to work on while I wait for her arrival!

I went in for a stress test today as well, just to make sure she's okay. The nurse didn't give me the results, but said she would fax them to my doctor. It seemed like everything was okay though, so I'm not too worried.

So here I am, sitting at home (when I would normally still be at work) eating a bowl of ice cream, FINALLY updating my blog!

Last weekend, as kind of a last Hurrah before Frakeserella (my sister's nickname for the little munchkin) comes, we took a little trip down to Moab.

Now, before you start thinking I'm a bad mommy, I DID have my doctor's permission and I felt great, so we weren't worried.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable Moab trips ever for both good and bad. For example:

BAD: We left Friday afternoon and got there around 4:30 or 5. We drove around for almost THREE hours trying to find a camping site. The place was PACKED! Moab is getting much more busy than it ever used to be, even 3 years ago when I first started going. It's depressing.

GOOD(ish): We started talking about just driving back to Provo, but decided to try one more place. We stopped at one of those campsites where the camping spaces are about 5 feet from the people next to you:
We remained optimistic, saying maybe we'd be able to find something less close to others the next day and at least we got to stay in Moab and build a fire and still be camping.

VERY BAD: This tent was right across from us. Since this is a public blog and I'd like to keep it G rated, let's just say Nate, Damien and I got woken up and ended up getting about 2 hours less sleep than we would have liked, because of the couple in there. That's all I'm gonna say. Very bad.

GOOD: I'm pregnant. Of course I would include food as part of the good list. We had some awesome strawberries and yummy muffins (as well as lots of other good food).

GOOD: We had a great time hiking around Saturday morning! We went on some pretty easy hikes for my sake (all less than 1/2 mile). The only time I was uncomfortable was when I had use the bathroom or the little munchkin decided to sit on my bladder (okay, those were pretty often, but I still had fun!).

Gross, I know. But Nate insisted I be in SOME pictures, even though I'm NOT a fan of how I look. Oh well.
That's Delicate Arch in the background. Usually we hike right to the arch, but that's a LONG hike with a lot of steepness. So we opted for just the short hike with a distant view. By the way (you can probably tell from this picture), I way more than Nate. He tried to keep up with me, but failed miserably (which is probably good, since I'll loose a lot [most] of the weight within a couple of days after baby's here).
Don't tell Natalya he did this, but that cliff goes down about 100-200 more feet. Yikes! (this is at Gemeni Bridges, by the way)
Um...I think we took more pictures of this animal than anything else combined. I'll only show you one picture though. We're weird.
This is Canyonlands - I had never gone here before, even after all the times we've gone to Moab, so that was kind of fun to see. Someday, we're going to hike to Angel Arch, which is in Canyonlands (it's like a 10 mile hike or something).
Just look at the background or the handsome guy in the blue sweatshirt...those are the good parts of the picture.

GOOD: We found a new campsite for Saturday night!

BAD: It was kind of windy...and knocked our tent over (even with ALL of our stuff in it!) while we were out to dinner.


GOOD: We still got to build an awesome fire and roast S'mores!
GOOD: Sunday we did a few more short hikes, like Balance Rock (where the boys got a little snap happy). We also went to Sand Dune Arch (way fun arch for kids/husbands :D)
BAD (or FUNNY): ALL hygiene goes out the window for these two when we're camping. These pictures don't even do their hair the justice (or injustice) it deserves.
BAD:

I look like I have elephantiasis or something...

And finally...

GOOD: Little girl is due in TWO WEEKS! YAY!

So I have a belly picture I might post. And I might take some pictures of our sweet crib and recliner - both of which we got KILLER deals on (now if we can just find a dresser for a similarly amazing deal...).

But I don't have the pictures now and I feel the need to post...something...I just need to babble I guess. It'll be pretty random, so good luck with this!

1. Can I just say I'm really glad I married who I did? There are definitely some things we have different tastes in (e.g. Taco Bell would be his FIRST fast food choice and almost never mine. Vice versa for Panda Express). But, for the most part, we agree. An good, recent example is music. We just bought some CDs on Amazon:

The Eagles
Simon and Garfunkel
Kenny Loggins

And so on.

Maybe we're not "weird" and there are lots of other people in our generation that like this kind of music, but I think it's kind of funny that of ALL the CDs we could buy, we chose THOSE ones. Also, I've been listening to Phil Collins all morning. I love that man. His "...Hits" CD is next on my list of CDs to buy.

It reminded me of this one time 6 of my friends my freshman year of college were in the car with AJ and me. A Lionel Richie song came on and AJ and I started singing along. Everyone in the car looked at us like we were crazy - none of them knew the words, let alone who SANG the song.

I'd like to thank my mother for listening to the radio our entire childhood and exposing us to the good stuff.

2. I know I talk about this a lot, but I seriously think I have the coolest dreams.

Last night, I dreamed I went into labor at the White House.
And Obama wasn't the president.
And I was trying to hide the fact that I was in labor from the janitorial staff that was nearby.
I have no idea where Nate was, though I know he was around somewhere.

I also dreamed that one of the managers at work had to send out these specific memos every day and this particular day, she sent the wrong one: instead of sending a memo that J.Lo and Marc Anthony were getting married, she sent one that J.Lo and Ben Affleck were getting married (and then halfway through the dream, J.Lo changed to Jennifer Aniston). And my boss was really mad that the wrong one got sent out.

But I thought it was funny.

So funny, in fact, that I started laughing. Apparently, I was actually laughing because it woke up Nate. He asked why I was laughing and I was able to give a coherent answer. That NEVER happens.

3. Speaking of sleep, I took an hour nap yesterday afternoon and then drank about 4 cups of Dr. Pepper at about 7:00 PM.

Never again.

I tried going to bed around 11:30 and didn't end up falling asleep until about 2:00. I have a friend and a couple of sisters-in-law who have mentioned not being able to sleep late in pregnancy, but I've never had a hard time, so I'm attributing this to the caffeine (which, by the way, seemed to have no affect on the baby, except maybe making her more calm).

It wasn't all bad though. I got some laundry done and read a good chunk of Mere Christianity, which I've been trying to read for several weeks (AMAZING book, by the way. The whole world needs to read this book. For realz.). And, as I lay in bed, I had some great ideas of crafty improvements to make to my house/things to get ready for the baby. I'm not even completely exhausted today, so maybe it ended up being a good thing.

4. I'll update more on baby stuff when I post pictures.