Madden's Story

Andrew and I had just about tried everything to induce labor, including taking evening primrose oil multiple times a day.  Supposedly, it softens the cervix.  I think after a few days of taking them, it did the trick because on Sunday, February 3 at 1:30 AM I woke up having horrible back pain.  I wasn’t 100% sure I was in labor, but the thought did cross my mind.  The back pain was pretty persistent at first and that’s why I wasn’t sure if they were true contractions.  I woke Andrew up, not long after I woke up and he stayed up with me.  After about an hour of only back pain I started to feel a cramp like feeling, but only on my right side.  I still wasn’t sure if these were contractions, but I was starting to be more convinced.  We started timing these “possible contractions” and thought they were about 6 minutes apart, but we weren’t positive because the back pain never went away so we weren’t sure when to stop and start the timer.  After a couple of hours the back pain started to fade after each contraction and that’s when I was sure I was in labor.  The contractions were consistently happening about every 5 minutes for over an hour so we called the doctor (not my doctor because he was still on Vacation for two more days at this point).  Dr. England said not to come in until contractions were 3 minutes apart.  We stayed home and continued timing contractions and trying to breathe through them as they grew more intense.  

A few days before the super bowl, I let Andrew convince me to have a super bowl party at the house.  He didn’t really have to convince me, but I did remind him that there is a chance that we would have a newborn baby by that time and if there was a baby there would be no party.  After having contractions for about 10 hours we started thinking about this party and what we should do.  We had texted Tevita (the guy who would be taking over the house when we move and had also committed to staying at the house when Madden came) and told him that I was in labor so he headed over to hang out with the girls in case we needed to leave.  We told him we had planned a super bowl party and asked what he thought.  Tevita was okay with still having the party as long as he could invite a few of his family members.  Around 3 pm, an hour before kick off, my contractions had been about 3 minutes apart for an hour so we decided to head to the hospital.  They checked me and I was only dilated to a two.  The monitored Madden for an hour and checked me again.  I had progressed to 3 cm and was 100% effaced.  They said I could stay, but we requested that they let me go home and come back when I felt I was further along.  We got home and the game was started and our house was FULL of people, over 20 (I felt a little guilty that I wasn't more hospitable, but I think that our guests understood).  I went straight to the bedroom and spent my time trying to get through contraction and watching the game in between.  Andrew went out and said hi to all of our guests, grabbed some food (wings, pizza and lots of other football food,  It was torture watching him eat it since I hadn’t eaten anything, but maybe 5 crackers in the last 24 hour) and came back to the bedroom to be with me.  At the beginning of the fourth quarter the contractions were getting super intense and I told Andrew it was time to get to the hospital.  When they got there they checked me and I was dilated to 6 cm.
I won't go into detail on everything after this, but 12 days past his due date and after 30 hours of labor Madden was  born at 6:48 am on February 4.  He was 20 inches long and 7 lbs 10 oz of perfection. 
I always wondered what it would feel like to hold my baby for the first time.  I thought maybe I would cry, but I didn’t.  I think I was too amazed…. And maybe a little too tired.  All I know is that I thought Madden was amazing and I couldn’t stop looking at him.    I am absolutely loving being a mom.  It's crazy to me how a baby can completely turn your world around and in such a perfect way.   

Here are a few pics of our little man.  Hopefully there will be more soon.

 Andrew's Hospital Kit.  I stole the idea from my friend Rika.

 Andrew was quite fond of the hospital bed.

 Heading home from the hospital

 Madden Andrew Vera

3 weeks old. Watching tv with Dad.

Picture Overload

I know I am behind on blogging, but I just finished catching up on journaling and am not in the mood to blog in depth.  Instead I will just post a few pictures and call it good.

 A nice drive up the canyon to see the beautiful colors

 The start of our mini vacation to Park City.  We stayed in the Waldorf Astoria.  Andrew ended up getting sick our first day there, but he acted tough and tried to enjoy it as much as he could.

 Chocolate covered strawberries is a must for any vacation

 Tired and sick.  Poor guy.

 29ish weeks.... I think

We got a real tree this year

 Baking Day

Peanut butter balls!

Hypnobirthing

I've always known that I would go all natural when I had a baby, but I didn't know what techniques I would use. (Don't worry, this doesn't get graphic)  The therapist that works in our home, aka the group home told me that he used to teach hypnobirthing and recommended it.  This was a new concept to me and I was intrigued, but also skeptical.  I ended up researching it more and decided to give it a try.  Andrew and I went to our first hypnobirthing class last night and we both loved it.  It focuses alot on controlling the mind and emphasizes that natural things, like giving birth shouldn't be painful, but society trains people to believe it has to be. It was a super interesting class and I'm excited for the weeks to come.  I was a little nervous about how Andrew would react to the class.  I thought for sure he would think it was weird, but he totally bought into it.... even more than me I think. 

Pregnency Update

 22 Weeks

24 Weeks

I am coming up on my 24 week mark and in the past week my belly completely popped out.  Everyone I see comments on how much I’ve grown since the last time they saw me.  It freaks me out a little bit that I grew so fast and so much in such a short period.  I keep thinking if I continue to grow like this for the remainder of my pregnancy I will be HUGE by the time he gets here.  Today I bought my first pair of maternity pants.  I had told myself that I would not buy maternity clothes and that it would work out perfectly with fall and winter coming I could just wear leggings, but I finally had to give in because the leggings just weren’t cutting it and I only fit into one pair of my pre pregnancy jeans.  The maternity pants were super comfortable, even more than I expected.  I joked with Andrew that I might just stick with maternity pants forever.  I will end by saying I absolutely love being pregnant.  When I hear people complain about pregnancy I get confused because even with the morning sickness and some of the discomforts it is still THE COOLEST thing EVER!

20 Weeks

Last week we had our 20 week appointment.  20 weeks was something I had been looking forward to since our 16 week appointment because I knew they would be checking the anatomy of our little guy and that meant we would get to see him!  As excited as I was, I was also super nervous and hoping everything would look normal, which it did.  They said our little guy, who we are currently calling Madden weighs 11 oz and was right on track.  During the ultrasound we decided he is going to be camera shy because he kept covering his face with his hands. 

The last few weeks of pregnancy have been super easy, in fact most of the time I don't even feel pregnant.  I'm still working out and I even did sprints last week and it felt great.  I'm completely over the morning sickness, I haven't experienced heart burn or edema though I'm sure I will get it eventually, so things are going great right now.  The only pregnancy symptom I've noticed lately is a stuffy nose.  For a couple nights I couldn't even breathe through my nose, which led to me not being able to sleep, but even that has subsided

A few weeks ago Andrew and I thought we had names narrowed down to 2 and then all of a sudden "we just weren't feeling them anymore".  So we started thinking of new names and now we are set on Madden.  I'm not sure if that will last, but for now that is what we are calling him.  Madden continues to move more and more.  I love feeling him move, I think it is the greatest thing ever.  I'm starting to get anxious for him to get here.  Every time I see a picture of a baby I wish I was holding ours.  I guess I will just continue to be patient and be glad that he is still in there growing and getting stronger. 

The Golden Birthday

This year was my "Golden Birthday".  I didn't even know what that was until one of our girls informed me during family meeting that it is when when your age and birthday match (I turned 23 on August 23).  Andrew made it a great birthday, filled with friends and family.  We started out by eating Sushi at Water Moon, our newest sushi joint favorite with My mom, his mom and dad, Ben, Kevin and Brent.  After sushi we took the girls out for some laser tag and then ended the night with ice cream cake at the house. 

Nebraska Trip

Andrew, my mom and I left for Nebraska at 5 am on August 10.  We had Tevita and his wife Cristi stay at the house while we were gone.  The drive to Nebraska was quick.  I drove the first few hours and then Andrew and my mom took the rest of the trip.  The first night we went straight to my grandma Pat’s and had dinner with Grandma, Julie and Emily.  Grandma made these pizzas on bread and had fresh tomatoes.  Unfortunately, I could only have a bite of the yummy tomatoes because a few days before I had eaten a cinnamon candy, and apparently I’m allergic to Cinnamon so my mouth had blisters in it and it was excruciating to eat acidic foods.

 The next day we went boating and fishing with my dad.  We caught about 12 fish.  Andrew and my dad ended up eating it all that night.  I couldn’t eat any because I’m not supposed to eat fresh fish, especially out of the Elkhorn River, but I could tell little V wanted some. 

On Monday evening we went out to the Fremont Lakes with the Smith side of the family.  We did some boating, the boys tubed and then we barbequed.  It was a great time.  The rest of the week, we spent most of our time boating on the river with my dad.  We didn’t get in the water too much this year because the river was so low there was hardly any to swim in.  Andrew did get in one time and had the genius idea that we should stir up the flying carp and he would attempt to catch one.  HAHA that was a fail, but it was fun to watch.  Last year the flying carp were just beginning to enter the river system and now they have almost taken over.  They are crazy little creatures.  The vibrations in the water cause them to jump out of the water and go crazy.  We found it amusing to drive the boat where we knew they were and watch them fly around.  (My dad even had one land in his boat the week before we got there). 

The day before we left, we had the Oltjenbruns family out for a fish fry.  It was great to see everyone, including old friends that I hadn’t seen in years.  Everyone enjoyed lots of fish, boat rides and catching up.  The next morning we left my dads at 4:15 am and started our LONG journey home. 

We had such a great trip and already can’t wait to go back.  I love going to Nebraska and love that I get to go every year with my best friend.  We had so much fun together and I love how well he gets along and fits in with my family. 

 Cat fish

 Me and Kenz

 Corn Toss- Andrew dominated

Dad, Me and Andy

We are having a boy!

Once again I have fallen behind on blogging, but I am attempting to catch up.  So back in May Andrew and I found out that I am pregnant.  We waited a few weeks before telling our families and waited even longer before telling everyone else.  I was so excited when I found out.  I took one test and there was a very faint line, so I quickly took another which a definite positive and then for fun I took another.  Once it had sunk in I jumped around my room doing heal kicks.  Andrew was at work when I found out and didn't know I was taking the test.  It was so hard not to call him and tell him the news, but to make it a little easier I called and told him I had a surprise for him when he got home.  I then made a path through the house with string that had words taped to it.  The string led to a big box full of pink and blue balloons and under them was a piece of paper that concluded the string of words, pretty much just saying "we are going to have a baby!"

The first couple of weeks after I found out I was pregnant I felt great and couldn't even tell I was pregnant.  Starting around the third week I began feeling VERY sick.  I couldn't get out of bed without having to run to bathroom to vomit.  I would drink water and within 10 min it was coming up.  Smells were horrible.  Just being in our house made me sick, so I spent a lot of time in bed or outside where I could get some fresh air.  Being consistently sick lasted about 4 weeks and I ended up losing quite a bit of weight and am just starting to get to my starting weight.  I think being pregnant is the most amazing thing ever and I love every part of it so I tried not to complain too much, but I know there were times I definitely whined a little to Andrew.

I am now 18 weeks along and we know we are having a BOY!!  I finally "popped" last week and started to show.  I still don't look very pregnant and really just look like I'm getting a gut, but it's coming along.  Andrew and I already can't wait for our little guy to get here.  Andrew talks to the baby every morning and night and it's so fun to hear what he says.  We also registered after we found out we were having a boy.  That started out being a blast.  We took a couple of the girls that live with us along and they helped pick things out.  By the end I was tired and ready to be done.


That is all for now.  Here are a few pics.

13 weeks

17 weeks

From No Kids To 7…. Teenagers

Wow, the last 10 days could definitely be considered the busiest days of my life, so much that I haven’t been able to blog and I am determined to stay current.  Andrew and I started a new adventure 10 days ago that has kept us quite busy.    On Friday, March 2, Andrew and I woke up early to finish our packing or start our packing…. We had a ton to do.  Then Mom, Ran and Kristine came over at noon to help load up vehicles and move to our new home in Riverton.   Our new home is a day treatment and VTL house owned by Vista, the company I work for.  This means that we are now the house parents of teenage girls.  So far things have been busy, but it’s nice to have kids around and it makes our home feel more “homey”.  We are excited for all of the new experiences and challenges we will face!