We are moving on up....

....to the West Coast!

Today was our pre-inspection to move out of our current home. We got very lucky and the guy found nothing obviously wrong with the house. However, he didn't look very closely so I called maintenance to fix a few things and the rest I will have my checkbook out just in case! I am hoping I just think more is wrong then what they really care about. We ended up getting lucky and the carpets are so old that they will be replaced when we move out, so we do not have to clean the carpets or do flea/tick treatments after all. That saves us a ton of money right there. I am tempted to pay someone to clean the house now or just pay the opt-out fee since we're saving so much on the carpeting. Our backyard & grass passed muster too, which surprised me until I read that when we moved in they had marked our grass as dead. (I don't recall it being dead, but again not going to argue.)

Everything is falling into place and I can hardly believe that in a little over 2 weeks we'll be saying farewell to Hawaii and hello to Washington State. It's a new adventure! I will miss so many things about Hawaii and so many friends. PCSing is never easy, but I know we'll make it and hopefully I can easily make many more new friends and find tons to love about the West Coast.

Wordless Wednesday

Photos by Brenda Van Photos. Matthew was 7 days old when these were taken.

Love

Blogger still will not let me upload pictures...I am terribly sorry. I will have the birth story with pictures up as soon as it is working again.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
Avery and I have been together since 2007.

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}
We met in Hawaii. He had just arrived a few weeks prior to begin a tour of duty in Hawaii and I came out for my college spring break to visit a friend. Avery was that person’s roommate. I programmed my phone number into Avery’s phone and we went from there.

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

We are married. We were married in a civil ceremony on May 28, 2008 and then in the Catholic Church on December 28, 2008. We celebrate the May anniversary and privately acknowledge the December anniversary.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?
We got married in Hawaii. It was a small and intimate wedding. (I’d love to renew our vows one day and have a bigger celebration with more of our family and friends there.)

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
We call each other babe or baby. We also use hubby and wifey respectively.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

1. I never question how he feels about me. He always ensures I know I am thought of, appreciated and loved.

2. He always thinks I am beautiful and I actually believe him.

3. How hard he works at his job and at home.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?
He proposed over the phone and told me that he was on one knee even though I couldn’t see him. He proposed again a few months later in his barracks room after giving me roses and chocolates. It was simple, but so sweet.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
He’s a flowers kind of guy for Valentine’s Day and I like it that way.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
Can I say both? Because we do both.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
I want to go on a belated honeymoon someday. We always talk about it and never do it. Obviously now that we’ve just had our baby, this will have to wait awhile again. But that’s okay.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
Avery is/will be on an underway, so I am planning to spend the day with my baby boy. My son will “take” me out for dinner and perhaps some shopping during the day. ;-) When Avery gets back we’ll celebrate the holiday belatedly.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
I usually do not ask for anything, but this year I hinted about a purse I’d like.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Remember that you are never alone and that there is always someone in your corner when you are with the one you love. (This is huge for me, personally.)

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Due to blogger having issues, I cannot. Hopefully a photo can appear again soon.

Matthew's Birth Story

Okay...here it finally is! Warning: long and detailed.

On January 22nd, I went in for a scheduled induction, because I was over 41 weeks and had made no progress towards labor. The started by giving me Cervadil, which is a medication that helps you dilate. In my case, it also made me contract irregularly. They hurt but were not unbearable.

Still smiling, because the cervadil had been in only a few hours.

Once the Cervadil was in, I just got to wait around. I took a nap for awhile, because they told me I should get some sleep.  When I woke up that's when I noticed the contractions and honestly, it just felt like a bad back ache.  The pain was gradually getting worse though. There seemed to be a lot of uncertainty on whether I could eat or not. At first it was a clear liquid diet and I really appreciated the food. Then they said I could have regular food. So Avery went and got me some junk food (it was what I wanted and no I don't care if you disagree with it), unfortunately by time he got back they had decided I couldn't eat regular food, grr!  I tried again to sleep and Avery read to me from a book that I can't even remember to try and distract me from the pain. It worked and I was thankful he read to me. It helped me stay calm.  Our Doula, Keri, came to check on me every few hours too.
After 12 hours (at around 1am on January 23rd) they removed the cervadil and checked me. I was still only 1 cm dilated. At this point, I cried my eyes out, because I was in pain and irritated that the induction wasn't going as well as we were hoping. The medical team re-grouped, gave me a shot of fentanyl and put in a catheter to see if it could help me dilate more. It took the residents 3 tries to get it in and the fentanyl lasted about 10 minutes.  I also started bleeding and I was a bit scared, but it was normal they said. The contractions got worse and I couldn't lay still, I just kept getting up all night, thinking I had to use the restroom, until 3:30am when they checked me again, a little progress had been made and they gave me more fentanyl. This time it worked for about 3.5 hours until my ob/gyn arrived to check on me at 7am. He told me to get the epidural at that point and I did. The epidural felt fine going in and I was so happy to get it. (Unfortunately, this started the long process of trying to figure out why I was still feeling the contractions despite the epidural....I had what they called a "window" which means an area where the meds just can't seem to hit.  They were very nice though and kept giving me more meds & boosters to try and get it to work.)  Through out the day, my family and friends were texting, wondering how I was doing. I am so thankful for my cousin's wife, my Mom, and my friend Becky for keeping people informed as I was not in the mood to be on Facebook.  At 1pm, they removed the catheter and were able to finally start the pitocin. Our doula came to help me get through the end of it, because due to that window I was in a ton of pain. The doula and Avery had to hold my hands to get me through the contractions. I remember Keri telling me to try and relax every muscle in the short break between contractions so I'd have energy to push. I was crying to get through them at that point. At 3pm, they discovered my water had broken on its own and I hadn't realized, because I couldn't feel anything. My doctor was called and at 3:30pm I started to push. At 4:12pm HST on January 23rd, Matthew Orson entered the world. He looked perfect! (I am guessing due to him being overdue! He wanted to stay in longer just to look good for us. Hahaha!!) They laid him on me while I was stitched up.  Despite reading that epidurals can make babies tired, he was not. He was very alert and breastfed with no problems. After the stitching (which took awhile and scared the medical student out of Ob/gyn practice, LOL!), they took Matthew to get cleaned up and got me ready to go to the post-partum floor. As they were moving me I suddenly felt very ill. I'd had so much medication that my stomach got upset. I remember them asking me to try and move my legs...I couldn't. So the nurses did the moving for me. Once I got upstairs, my Mom came and we waited for them to bring Matthew up from the nursery. I missed him! The awe of having him was intense...I just stared at him for hours until exhaustion took over. We stayed in the hospital 2 nights, because he had mild jaundice.

His first picture!

First family photo!

He was 8 lbs. 3.8 oz. and was 21.5" long.

Leaving the hospital on January 25th.

Hanging out at home in his swing.

He will be 3 weeks old on Monday. I can't believe how quickly the time is passing, which is so cliche and I can't believe I am saying that. We move to Bangor in just a few weeks, which I also can't believe that our time in Hawaii is so quickly coming to an end.

In case you weren't aware....

My miracle was born after I had to be induced and then be in labor for over 24 hours. (Yeah it sucked and my epidural didn't work completely, but oh well.) The birth story is for another time when I actually feel like typing it out.

I'd add pictures, but blogger picture upload isn't working for me tonight. Boo!

Stay tuned for more blogging soon.

Reflections on Pregnancy

Today marks 1 day past my due date and no signs of the baby showing up anytime today. There are loads of fill-ins/survey things/whatever you call them all over the blogosphere that allow you to reflect on your pregnancy on a consistent basis. I clearly never did them. At first it was that I feared I would jinx myself and then it was more of a I didn't want to hurt people's feelings who were struggling with infertility. Now, today, I want to do a little reflecting on my pregnancy, so that I have can come back and recall my thoughts.

The 1st Trimester:
Week 4: I find out I am pregnant and it's amazing. There's not much else to say.
Week 5: Morning sickness sets in. I suddenly am way more understanding of all the women I've ever known who have complained about morning sickness. I honestly had no clue it could be this bad.
Week 6: First u/s, I find out one embryo survived and see the heartbeat.
Week 7: I spend 9 hours in the Seattle USO super sick and trying not to kill people for being noisy.
Week 8: Last appt. with my infertility specialist. I cry saying goodbye to his office, I will miss them all.
Week 9: I am relieved to finally be at this milestone, because I read somewhere that if you make it to 9 weeks, you're 90% likely to have a successful pregnancy.
Week 12: First appt. with my ob/gyn. He's great and makes me feel at ease.

2nd Trimester:
Week 16: Morning sickness is finally letting up. I find out it's a BOY!
Week 17: Just kidding....morning sickness comes back for a few days before finally letting up again. We confirm, it's a boy for sure.
Week 20: Celebrate making it to the halfway point with my Mom in Maui. Another wave of relief sets in, as I have made it to another milestone I set in my head.
Week 23: Anatomy Scan at Kapiolani W.C. Hospital. Baby looks good.
Week 24: I hit a 3rd milestone I have set as baby is now considered viable.
Week 25: Avery returns from deployment.

3rd Trimester:
Week 28: The final trimester begins.
Week 34: Another anatomy u/s at Kapiolani as there are concerns over my lack of weight gain. Baby is fine.
Week 36: I hit the 4th milestone I have set, as baby is now full term.
Week 40: My due date has come. I have one more milestone for myself and that is to deliver a healthy baby.....hopefully that happens soon.

At this point, I am tired & crabby. I miss seeing people other then my Mom & husband. They're great, but I want to have the baby and get into a routine and feel like I am living for real again. I am anxious about our March move. I have it as planned out as possible, yet still feel a lack on control. I wish we could just magically transport ourselves and our stuff to Bangor.

Year 2011 in review

Alright, so I realize that year 2011 ended 8 or 9 days ago, but blogging hasn't been my priority here lately. I did this little year end survey thing to review 2010, but figured it worked out nicely for 2011 too. Enjoy!
(Oh and yes, I am still pregnant...39 weeks and less then a week to my due date.)


1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?:
IUI, IVF, and carried a child. Gosh, I wish I had something else not related to infertility. Didn't I do anything else new? I guess not. Man I am boring...remind me to do something else in 2012.


2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?:
I don't think I made any in 2011. I haven't made any for 2012 as of yet either.


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
Yep.


4. Did anyone close to you die?:
Not close to me, but people I knew did pass away.


5. What countries did you visit?:
I lived vicariously through my husband who did leave the US...that totally counts, right?


6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?:
-A college degree (which I know I will have in 2012. YAY!)
-A new or newer car (plans for this are in the works when we return to the mainland)
-A job I love.


7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
May 4th, 2011- The day I found out our IVF had been successful and I was pregnant. It was one of the best days of my life.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
Making it through another Westpac deployment, nearly being done with college and of course the obvious: pregnancy.


9. What was your biggest failure?:
I don't think I had a biggest failure.


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
Yes, but nothing serious.


11. What was the best thing you bought?:
Tricare Standard insurance....lol...totally kidding. I have no idea. Maybe my smartphone? I dig that phone...a lot!


12. Whose behavior merited celebration?:
A ton of people. It'd take me forever to name everyone.


13. Whose behavior made you appalled?:
Congress and their inability to work together & comprise to actually help people in this country.


14. Where did most of your money go?:
Bills


15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Pregnancy, Avery returning home from deployment, almost being done with college and so much more.


16. What song will always remind you of 2011?:
I don't have a song this year.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or more sad?: Happier
ii. thinner or fatter?: Fatter
iii. richer or poorer?: The same.


18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
I wish I'd had more energy to give time to more friends, especially now that we are leaving Hawaii in a few months.


19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Homework...lol!

20. How will you be spending Christmas?:
I spend Christmas 2011 with the hubster.


21. What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2011?:
It's not worth mentioning and isn't really embarrassing....next!


22. Did you fall in love in 2011?:
I stayed in love.


23. How many one-night stands?:
None.


24. What was your favorite TV program?:
Dancing With The Stars


25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
No


26. What was the best book you read?:
Tie between "The Help" and "The Hunger Games"


27. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
I didn't have one.


28. What did you want and get?:
My drive to finish school back and again pregnancy.


29. What did you want and not get?:
A winning lotto ticket! ;-)


30. What was your favorite film of this year?:
The Descendent's


31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
I turned 26 and I went to dinner with friends & hung out with my Mom.


32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
Not sure.


33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?:
Functional.


34. What kept you sane?:
Avery, my family & friends, bible study and my faith.


35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
I'm not a big celebrity person, so I really can't think of anyone.


36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
I didn't pay as much attention to politics in 2011. I just prayed the fighting in congress would stop.


37. Who did you miss?:
My family & friends.


38. Who was the best new person you met?:
Umm...I can't remember if I met anyone new in 2011.


39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
There's a reason for everything, even if you can't always see it right away.


40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"I am exactly where I need to be."