Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great birthday yesterday. I got a really nice card from my family in VA that everyone signed and that was really fun. That even came the day before my birthday, so I got to start the celebrations a little early this year! The morning of my birthday, Jeffy woke up at 5:30 am. A little earlier than I would have liked to get up, but oh well! We (Jeffy and I) finally got to go back to sleep at 7:30 and at 8:30 Jeff came down and surprised me with a lovely breakfast . . . but the best part of breakfast was what it was on. Jeff knew I really liked this plates set and he got it for me! So he served me a yummy breakfast on my new pretty plates. I was so surprised and excited! You can see them above. I really like them. They only came in a set of four, and are kind of pricey, so I was planning to save up the birthday money from my parents to buy another set, but was surprised again when my mother-in-law gave me another set later that morning! Jeff had convinced her that I wanted it and she got it. Yay! I now have a set of 8 really pretty dishes! So I'm thinking of buying some coordinate pieces with the birthday money instead. Jeff is always really cryptic when I try to ask him what he's doing for my birthday, so I had no idea what was coming and I was very pleasantly surprised. Want to know the kicker? I hadn't even shown this design to Jeff. I described it to him and he picked the right one just from that. Pretty impressive, huh?

So that was a great way to start the day. We had a nice relaxing afternoon. Jeffy was feeling better (whole different story) so Jeff and I felt comfortable going out without him. We left him with Jeff's mom and went to dinner at Olive Garden. We went all out and had a great evening. That's the first time we've been out just the two of us since November. Sad. Anyways, we really went crazy with the food! We got an appetizer pizza, which was surprisingly yummy. I got a virgin wildberry margarita, which was really yummy and a lot of fun! I even branched out and got something completely new for me: the chicken scampi. It looked a little weird, but tasted so good! Jeff got a grilled something or other and didn't like that as much. Dessert was definitely his favorite part of dinner. We got a piece of some kind of chocolate layer cake. I had a bite and it was really good, and Jeff loved it. It was so fun to be out together just the two of us. And we came home with a ton of food, too!

We got home, put the little guy to bed and had birthday cake! Jeff' mom made a great German Chocolate cake (yum!) and we had pecan praline ice cream to go with it. It was great and I had it for breakfast today too.

So, needless to say, I had a wonderful birthday--one that I will definitely remember! We're celebrating Valentine's Day next weekend, since Jeff's leaving on the 8th, so we'll get one more evening together before he leaves. I sure like being with him!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and such. I sure love birthdays! :)

Happy Birthday Little Jeffy!

At 9:14 tonight, my little guy will turn one year old! It's been a great year, full of a rainbow of emotions.

His due date was January 5th, a date easy to remember because it's my mother-in-law's birthday. The 5th came and went with nothing. I was pretty disappointed--my mom's babies usually came early and I was really hoping to inherit that. I went in for a routine check up on January 8th. I thought I may be having contractions, but they didn't feel like I was told they were supposed to so I didn't say anything when we went in. I was told it would feel like your uterus was getting hard, etc., but I just felt like I was having period cramps. Anyways, we go to the doctor, who tells me that my blood pressure is pretty high and he wants me to go to the hospital for an induction. I was excited to get the show on the road, so we told that we'd go home, get the hospital bags, and head over to the hospital. We did that, but made a pit stop for a Big Mac, since we knew they wouldn't let me eat while in labor and stuff. I guess we took a little bit longer than we expected, since the hospital called to see if we were coming or what.

We got there, and I was kind of surprised at how long it took to get checked in. I got hooked up to all the machines, and we found out I was contracting (I knew it!) and they took my blood pressure again, this time with an arm band made for bigger arms, and it came out fine. Now I know for next time. My doctor decided to go ahead and induce me. That was really uncomfortable! I had never really thought about what it meant to be induced. I guess I just thought they gave you an oral dose of something like castor oil and that was it. Nope.

So, labor picked up. By now, it was about 6pm on the 8th. We'd been at the hospital for a couple hours, and would be there for quite a few more. I contracted and contracted all through the night, and was pretty proud of how well I did. Jeff was asleep in the chair next to me. I had some music playing on the laptop to help me stay calm.

Then labor really picked up. It's hard to describe what that felt like--partly because I've forgotten it, and partly because it's hard to find the right words. All I can say is . . . OWW! I had been determined to make it through without drugs, but by 11:00 am on the 9th, I had about reached my breaking point. I asked for a little relief and got something a little bit later. Yeah, it did absolutely nothing. Later that day I would come to the conclusion that drugs and my body don't work well together. After an hour of frustration from the lack of relief, I caved and asked for an epidural. I may be in denial, but I think this was the beginning of the reason I had a c-section (that and retarded doctors).

I got an epidural at noon. I was 8 1/2 centimeters dilated, exactly where I had been an hour before when I got the first medicine. The epidural kicked in and I felt a lot better. The only problem was that it totally stalled my labor. They had me lay on my side for some reason I can't remember, and that caused problems too. The epidural started wearing off on my side. I tell ya, feeling half of your body asleep and the other half in full blown labor is a very weird feeling. It also caused me to dilated fully on one side, while staying at 8 1/2 on the other. That was at 7 pm that night. Not much progress for 7 hours. Anyways, they said they wanted to give me one more hour to fully dilate. They thought the labor was taking too long. At this point, I had been in labor for 29 hours (just recorded time in the hospital). So for that last hour of labor, I tried to relax through the pain and will myself to dilate. Thankfully, it worked!

I was finally ready to push. That wasn't super fun. I worked at it for an hour with not much happening, and the nurse who was working with us called for the doctor to check. He did, and decided the baby wasn't coming out at all and recommended an emergency c-section. I REALLY did not want a c-section, but I wasn't really given a choice. They started prepping me and I tried to get over my devastation and prepare myself.

A little while later I was in the operating room. I was still hooked up to the epidural and they tried to give me the numbing stuff through that, but it didn't work. They would give me some, then prick me or something to see if I could feel it. Yeah, I could. I remember them saying that it wasn't working . . . .

Then I woke up. They had sedated me completely, cut me open, and taken my baby without me realizing it. And I thought I felt devastation when I realized I would have a c-section. That was the most horrible feeling I have ever, and may ever feel. Luckily, my mom had just gotten into town and I was able to bawl on her shoulder. It was about 10:00 pm. Jeffy had been born at 9:14 and was in the NICU. He weighed 9 lbs 9 oz and was 22 inches long.

I wasn't allowed to see him that night. I think it was because he wasn't allowed to leave the NICU and I wasn't allowed to leave my room because of the sedation. That was horrible too. Jeff, his parents, and my mom went to visit Jeffy and took lots of pictures and videos for me to see until I could meet him for real. I watched those videos about 50 times that night.

And that's the story of how my little man made it into the world. It's hard to believe it's already been a year. He has been the sweetest little guy. He is so good natured and loving. He has gotten super cuddly lately, and I love it. I just love him and am so grateful to have him in our family!



And just as a word to the wise, anyone who's pregnant in Rexburg--if you go to the ABC doctors (Allred, Barton, Crouch), you will most likely have a c-section, whether you want to or not. Every single person I've known who went to them had a c-section. Go somewhere else.