Arrival Story

Feel free to skip this post if you are not interested in my labor and delivery story.  I really only post it for myself so that I can remember, and for posterity sake.  I usually don't share these stories (for good reason as you will soon find out) unless asked.  Without further ado...

To start out, I will flashback to 37 weeks.  I woke up in the middle of the night to painful back spasm/contraction things.  I remember having two days of sporadic back contractions prior to Eliza's arrival, and I thought this was a similar thing.  However, these back spasms were much more frequent and severe.  They came about 5 minutes apart and lasted a minute for around 3 hours.  They were so severe that I couldn't move - the baby was literally "on my nerves" making it impossible to walk or even roll over.   Even though I told Bruce this is what was happening,  I didn't feel like I was in true labor - I figured the baby would come in the next couple of days.  I suffered through the sleepless night when the spasms eventually subsided, and stayed home from church with Eliza who had a cold.  I expected to be told I had made progress at my next OB  appointment.  However, at 38 weeks, I had nothing to show for - no dilation, no progress.  Over the next couple of weeks, I felt absolutely nothing - not a single contraction and very little movement.  I began to wonder if he was ever going to arrive. 

38 Weeks. Bruce took this picture because he said I looked significantly bigger - I was not thrilled with the idea.

At my 39 week appointment, I was dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced - yeah!!  The doctor said there was a 50% chance I would make it to my next appointment, but she guessed I would have him over the weekend. (This would have been the weekend before Christmas).   I waited and waited, but still felt nothing.

39 weeks plus a few days

 

At my 40 week appointment (with hospital bag packed and in the car, just in case), I was at a 3.  The doctor said they don't induce unless I am a week overdue.  My mother in law was in town, and I really wanted to have him before she had to go home.  The doctor said she would make an exception if I wanted to be induced, she would schedule me on January 2, 4 days after my due date.  Quite frankly, I didn't want to be induced, nor do I ever really want to be induced.  The doctor decided to strip my membranes hoping that would put me into labor.

40 weeks - taken the day before delivery

 

My mother in law suggested that we go shopping - thinking that walking around would jump start things.  We shopped for food and clothes, all the while I felt nothing - not a single contraction, not a single bit of discomfort, and no pain.  At 10:30 that night, I decided to call it a day thinking that no baby was coming any time soon. 

Later, at 11:47, I felt my first contraction - it was moderate, lasting about a minute.  My second contraction came at 11:50, and my third at 11:53.  Being forewarned on many occasions that the second always goes faster than the first, and taking into consideration how quickly Eliza came once she decided she was ready, it was then I decided to call the doctor.  I explained that I only had three contractions, but they are 3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute.  (While on the phone, the contractions kept coming about 3-4 minutes apart.)  The doctor said if this pattern continued over the next half hour that I could come into the hospital, and they would begin to monitor me.  After hanging up the phone, I told Bruce that I though we needed to go to the hospital now - we shouldn't wait for the 30 minutes. 

By this time the contractions were picking up intensity, and I was worried we were running out of time.  By the time Bruce gave me a priesthood blessing, we got things ready, told my mother in law we were leaving, (I was so grateful she was staying with us), and got in the car, it was close to 12:30.  It is approximately a 20 minute drive to the hospital.  While in the car, my contractions were coming so quickly, they were one on top of the other.  I bit down so hard on my jacket zipper that I ended up biting off two zipper teeth.  It was then that I threw up, mighty glad that I told Bruce to grab a bucket (I knew this from previous experience as well). 

We pulled up to the emergency room entrance and I walked through the first sliding door.  It was so difficult to move, and my contractions were so overwhelming, I stopped and grabbed onto Bruce for strength.  A nurse came out with a wheelchair and asked what my name was.  Instead of  going through the slow process of admitting me - they immediately wheeled me upstairs and told Bruce to follow. 

By the time, we got to the delivery room, it was 1:00.  The nurse told me to put the wrap around my belly and slip on the gown.  I honestly tried, but I couldn't do it.  Bruce helped get my pants down and I laid on the bed and called to the nurse.

"Nurse??"  She must have heard the concern in my voice because she immediately came rushing into the room.  "I can't get the gown on."

"Okay.  Let me check you.  Alright, well the gown is the least of our concerns."  She turned to another nurse in the hallway and asked if Dr. Dennyson (not my doctor) was still around.  Negative.  "Is  Dr. Sendzik (my doctor) here?"  Negative.  He apparently hadn't left home yet thinking he wasn't in any hurry.  Within minutes, I had four nurses around me. 

After consulting with each other, the nurses agree that they don't need the doctor - they know what to do.  One nurse held my right leg, one nurse held my left leg, one nurse held the fetal monitor to my belly, and one nurse caught the baby.  Really, who needs the doctor anyway?? 

They waited until the last possible minute before allowing me to push.  Precisely 2 pushes later (and 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital), baby Zaby made his appearance at 1:23 am on December 29 (my due date).  The nurses decided to wait for the doctor to take out my placenta - the doctor has to do something to earn his paycheck, right? 

20 minutes after Zabien was born, Dr. Sendzik came waltzing in the room to offer his congratulations, take out the placenta, and stitch up my 2nd degree tear.   Counting back the time, my entire labor was an hour and a half - yep!  That's pretty speedy. 

It's a good thing I want a natural delivery because I may never have the chance to get an epidural.  In the words of the nurse, "You did amazing .  You were in the zone- you don't need an epidural."  I couldn't agree more!

Christmas

Eliza loved the jingle bells on our tree - we found them all over the house

Christmas this year was very relaxed and laid back, but extremely fun as well.  Eliza liked opening presents, but enjoyed what was inside even more.  Christmas is always special, but in the eyes of an innocent child, Christmas truly does become magical.  Although we didn't enjoy the presence of our sweet little boy at Christmas time, we enjoyed spending this one on one time with Eliza and seeing how much joy she experienced with her new toys - no matter how exhausting. 

 

As per tradition, we started our Christmas celebration on the 23rd of December by sporting our annual Christmas jammies.  I don't know what my problem was with making our jammies this year, but I made so many mistakes with every pair.  I'm actually amazed that I had enough material to make 3 complete pairs considering I had to re cut an entire leg.  Surprisingly enough, my pants fit over my enormous belly.  I guessed on Eliza's pair - not using a pattern.  They had some difficulty staying up. 

We invited some friends over for a pajama ableskiever party.  We enjoyed great danish pancakes and a few games of Guesstures and Catch Phrase.  Eliza helped make the ableskeiver being ever so talented to stir the batter with her mouth. 

We ended the evening with a Christmas concert put on by our family members, and our traditional sleep over under the Christmas tree.  Eliza was so excited by this, it took her forever to go to sleep.  Finally at 11:00 pm, she dozed off with her head wedged between my shoulder blades.  Throughout the night, Bruce had to move her so I could roll over.  When I got up to go to the bathroom in the night, she must have sensed that I was no longer there because she woke up.  Sure enough, she could only go back to sleep with her head wedged in between my shoulder blades.  It wasn't the best nights sleep, but it's not really intended to be - it's a special tradition that I hope our children will remember and look forward to. 

 

 

Christmas eve was pretty low-key (we all took a couple of naps).  We watched Christmas movies, ate donuts, and cleaned up the house to get ready for Santa Claus.  I wanted to attend a Christmas Rhythms program advertised by the non denominational church down the road from us.  Thinking it would be a wonderful concert of uplifting Christmas music, I was ready to introduce yet another tradition.  Despite how unique the program was, we were sorely disappointed.  Not expecting a rock concert, nor the most nontraditional, undoctrinal Christmas sermon, we left without the feeling of peace and hope one usually expects to feel at a church service.  The preacher didn't even say amen - instead he ended by saying, "we're going to celebrate - let it rip" and walked off the stage as a drum line came pounding down the aisle.   Both Bruce and I agree that Handel's Hallelujah chorus is more powerfully done without drums, electric guitars, and hologram fireworks. 

When our door bell rang around 6:00 that evening, we were quite surprised to find a pile of presents on our front door step - we were "santa-tized".  With three additional presents dropped off by secret Santa and four gifts from the students I tutor and teach piano to, Eliza ended up with way more things than intended. 

Opening Christmas presents was an all day affair.  Eliza didn't care how many presents she had (which ended up being a lot), she was mostly interested in playing with the toys she was given.  We had to keep coaxing her to open another one.  We would let her play with her new toy for awhile before giving her another one.  We ended up opening presents in three shifts (morning, afternoon, and evening) - thus it really did turn out to be an all day affair.  We attended a brunch at our stake president's house that the whole ward was invited to.  The food was absolutely amazing and I didn't have to cook a bit of it.  Christmas brunch at the Peterson's house has now become a tradition of our family. :)


I found this child's rocking chair still unassembled in its original box at a garage sale for $4.00. She was thrilled that it was just her size; however, I think she will like it better when she can get in and out of it on her own.

Even though it was the second gift, this one took the cake. At first, she casually teared at the wrapping paper. When she saw what it was, she vigorously tore the rest of the paper off and wanted the doll out of the box immediately.

Once the doll was out, she never let it out of her arms - it went everywhere with her for the day, including the Peterson's brunch.

After opening the stroller, she immediately put the doll in the stroller and took off. Maneuvering down the hall proved to be a bit more difficult - she needed daddy's help I'm actually surprised she knew what to do with it; this is her first time playing with a doll. She played with this one for half an hour before we could get her to open another one. I'm glad that she enjoyed her gifts so much. She is such a little mom to this doll. She once tried giving her doll a bath, and here she is sharing her sippy.

I found over $100 worth of Little People houses and accessories for $10 at a garage sale.  She mostly likes driving around the car, and pushing all the buttons that make noise in the house.  She might be a little young for this toy yet, but I couldn't pass up the deal.  

 

Bruce gave me these storage tubs to help organize the oodles of baby clothes we have.  Unlike the cardboard boxes I used before, these totes are mouse proof  (more on that later).

 

Bruce and I must think alike, either that or we really wanted this game - we gave each other the same thing. (Anyone up for a challenge??)
 

By the end of the third round of presents, Eliza was pretty worn out and not at all interested in opening more presents (like I said she got too many - Santa only brought her 3). Here she is very tired and holding one of the secret Santa gifts.

As a family, we got a double bike trailer that we will be sure to enjoy when summer time comes around, and I got a deep freeze. I seriously feel like I have so much freedom with a deep freeze - when I find good sales on meat and other freezer food, I can now buy as much as I want.:):)


Backtracking even more, on December 15, our ward had their annual Christmas party. They had a wonderful program that was focused on the story of Christ's birth interspersed with some music. Santa Claus was sitting in the foyer at the beginning of the party to greet the children and was available for pictures. I liked that he was there, but wasn't the central point of the party like it most often is. Eliza fell asleep on the way to the party and stayed asleep for awhile. When she woke up, we tried getting a picture with Santa. She wouldn't sit on his lap, but she would sit on Santa's elf's lap. What a handsome elf with a great costume. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas - full of playing games and quality family time spent together. May all our days be full of such joy.

17 Months

Since this has been a draft for almost a month, I decided I better finish it and post it before Monday (when Eliza turns 18 months old).  Note:  all the information in this post is as of December 14th - as of today, things have changed (those updates coming soon).

My sweet baby girl is turning into an inquisitive toddler who is way more fun to have around than I could have possibly imagined.  She is such a smart, observant, and absolutely silly girl.

She currently has 12 teeth, and her top two canines are starting to make an appearance.  Her smile and giggle lights up the entire room; she smiles with her eyes just as much as her mouth.  Eliza usually sleeps anywhere between 10-11 hours a night (most of the time; this past week has been pretty rough for all of us), and takes a 1-2 hour nap every afternoon.  She has become quite adept at crawling and scooting around on her bum, but still isn't walking on her own.

 She can stand alone for 3-4 seconds before she either falls over (with celebration) or grabs onto something.  She will walk if she is holding onto something (like mom or dad's hands - both of them).  She recently started walking down the hall while only holding one hand and sliding her fingers against the wall.  We are constantly working on the walking independently thing since baby brother is due to make his arrival any day now. 

Eliza loves, loves, loves books.  She spends the majority of her day reading and looking through book after book after book.  She has recently started putting the book away before getting another one, but she doesn't do that quite as often as I would like. 

She also loves music - every morning she comes into my room and turns on my radio.  She climbs up on my bed, and dances to the songs.  Unfortunately, she has learned how to turn up the volume - she likes it all the way up.  She is also found quite often playing the piano.  I am impressed that she uses her fingers instead of her hands or fist. 

Eliza can be a picky eater at times.  Sometimes she eats everything in sight, and other times we can't get her to eat anything.  We never know what she will eat or what it will take to get her to eat it.  I still can't get her to drink milk; although I am trying to sneak it in a few more things.  The first thing she wants in the morning when she wakes up is a sippy of juice.  If I let her, she will drink cup after cup after cup of juice, wetting through diapers every 30 minutes.  Last week I started giving her a Danimals smoothie in the morning - hoping to give her a little nutrition since juice doesn't have very many nutrients.  I slip a tiny bit of milk into the Danimals, and as long as she doesn't see, she will still drink it.  But, the silly girl won't drink it until she sees me put some juice in it as well.  Even the tiniest amount will satisfy her craving.  I've also started giving her V-8 Fusion so at least she gets a full serving of fruits and vegetables with every cup full.  I feel bad limiting her fluids because fluid is important, but the girl will seriously drink all day and not eat a thing except a cup of yogurt, a cheese stick, and a handful of pretzels. Every day, she crawls to the fridge and pulls out a cup of yogurt.  She is so independent that she will only eat it if she can do it on her own.  She dips the spoon in and feeds herself.  It makes for a messy, yet satisfied Cakes when she's finished. 

Helping mom cook dinner is another favorite activity of Eliza.  The moment I start pulling things out to make dinner, Eliza is at my feet eager to help.  Sometimes she is more of a hindrance than a help.

Each morning after getting dressed, she must sit on the vanity to comb her own hair and brush her teeth.  After she is finished, she spends a couple of minutes admiring herself in the mirror and pulling silly faces.  It really cracks me up.  

She finds the silliest places to sit - like under the bathroom sink.

And the step between our kitchen and family room is her favorite spot. She will eat snacks and read books from this spot. She also enjoys standing up from that spot, and she is so proud of herself when she does.

Other loves: Going running with daddy. She will stretch out with dad - she'll even touch his toes for him. She just loves being outside. Most of the time she falls asleep on the run, but will wake up as soon as Bruce gets her out of the stroller. In this picture, she is wearing her snow suit to be sure that she stayed warm enough.

She's a regular secretary - wanting to type on the computer all the time.

Taking bubble baths. She pulls the bubble bath out of the cupboard at least three times a day, and hands it to me to fill up the tub.

Although she doesn't say any sensible words, she understands almost everything we say. Her favorite word is yes - she doesn't say, she simply nods her head, but her eyes show clear understanding. She knows the following body parts, and will point to them when asked: head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, lips, teeth, tongue, ears, chin, neck, arms, hands, fingers, shoulders, belly, chest, knees, ankles, elbow, armpit, toes, feet, leg, back.



This girl is hilarious. She is the most observant, strong willed, silliest little girl I know, and I absolutely love her to pieces. I'm so lucky to be her mom - she is a very good girl who is full of so much love and spunk. She'll always be my little girl.

All we need is love

And there is plenty of it around our house. Eliza absolutely adores Zabien.  Sometimes I think she thinks he is a baby doll that moves.  She is fascinated by his every movement.  She loves giving him hugs and kisses - we have to watch out for the hippo kisses (that's what we call entire body smashing loves), and be cautious of the things she shares with him.

 

When she first came to visit me in the hospital, she was a bit confused at what I was doing wearing a strange nightgown and lying in a foreign bed.  However, as soon as she saw Zabien, she was smitten.  She wasn't happy until she got a chance to hold him. 

And hug him...

 

And snuggle with him...

She is obsessed with his little nose - touching it all day long. 

 

I have also caught her sharing her sippy.  When he is crying out of hunger, she has given him crackers, pretzels, and goldfish among other snacks.    I have also had to stop her from picking him up out of his vibrating chair.    I love that she loves him; he seems to put up with her constant loves very well.  A lot of love brings a lot of happiness. 

For unto us a child is born.... unto us a son is given

Zabien Flint Richards flew into this world on his due date - December 29th at 1:23 am. 

He weighed 8 lbs. 6.8 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.  We are all home, and very happy!!