I’m slowly but surely going to get up to date
with this blog. This post will be about the pregnancy and birth story so this might
be a little long so hopefully I can keep it interesting enough! Be prepared because your about to read possibly the longest post you've ever read!
In March of 2011 I decided to get this sweet
App on my phone called FMC. It helps keep track of your periods and stuff. I
just thought it would be helpful to have. Well this tracker had been right on
April, May, and June. July came and I was supposed to start on the 4th.
It didn’t happen, but I wasn’t too worried because Mackay and I had just
started doing a new work out called Insanity. It lives up to its name. It
seriously is insane. I just figured since we’d started this new work out it
probably through me off a little. One of the days we had done insanity I wasn’t
feeling so well, right after we finished I ran up to the bathroom and threw up.
I figured I had just worked my body too hard and it made me sick. Well a week
went by and I still hadn’t started…it crossed my mind that I might be pregnant…but
then I thought no way, that can’t be, we’re not planning it haha well July 13th
Mackay and I headed up to Yellowstone with Mackay’s parents and Aunt and Uncle
for 5 days. At this point I hadn’t mentioned anything to Mackay about me being
late because I figured it wasn’t anything to mention. We arrived to Yellowstone
and headed to bed. The next morning we drove all over Yellowstone, saw the
sights, did some hiking, it was great! That night I wasn’t feeling too well so
we went right to bed. The next morning we decided to do some fishing out at a
beautiful lake. When I woke up I still wasn’t feeling well. I thought maybe it
was because we had driven so much the night before and I get pretty car sick.
Well when we got to the lake I still was sick to my stomach. So sick that I
decided to be a downer and go lay in the car. Mackay wasn’t very happy at me at
this point; he thought I was just being a baby and didn’t want to fish. This
was not true, I love to fish and I love being outside…but not when I feel like I’m
going to throw up every 5 minutes. The rest of the trip consisted of more site
seeing and floating down the river. I continued to feel sick throughout the
vacation and it made things a little difficult. Finally by the 3rd
day I decided to tell Mackay that I thought I might be pregnant. We thought
about going to the little local convenient store right across the street from
the cabin and getting a pregnancy test, but we didn’t want anyone to know and
the test were like $15 and I didn’t feel like paying for it…so dumb I know. So
we arrived home late Sunday on the 17th. I threw up that whole night
and into the next morning. I text my boss and work and told her I thought I had
the flu and I wouldn’t be coming into work. On Mackay’s way home from school I
had him get me a pregnancy test. Poor Mackay had to ask the Pharmacist at Smith’s
to come and unlock a glass box with the pregnancy test inside and give it to
him. This was not the ideal sneaky way we thought we’d be able to by a test.
None the less we got the test. Monday July 18th we found out we were
pregnant. The test I took was one of those ones that has 2 lines if you’re
pregnant and 1 if you’re not. Well mine had 2 lines but the 2nd was
very light…so I wasn’t convinced. I called my Uncle Lynn’s OB office and
scheduled an appointment for that next morning. I continued to throw everything
I ate up. During this time we were living with Mackay’s parents, so they were
suspicious and Lynda had already asked me a few times if I was pregnant. I
denied it every time, but she was too smart J
Tuesday July 19th I went to the Dr. They had me take another
pregnancy test, within 3 seconds the nurse said OH YEAH your pregnant,
congratulations, how long have you been trying?? Hahaha trying? We weren’t
trying, this was a surprise! She laughed and said kids are such a blessing and
so worth it! What a nice nurse she was!! I was 6 weeks along…only 6 weeks I
thought…this is going to take forever. I always hoped I would find out when I
was like 3-4 months along and it would be so great! Things don’t always work
out that way, do they! Well at this point my mom already knew. She knew because
I had to call her and ask her what Uncle Lynn’s Dr’s office phone number was
and she asked why…I tried to lie but it didn’t work! Then my dad found out the
next day because I was given a prescription to help with the nausea and I
needed our insurance info. He asked why I needed it so urgently and I said in
kind of a mean voice, “Because I’m pregnant and throwing up like crazy!” Dumb
way to tell him I know. A couple days later we let Billy and Lynda know as
well. I was dying to tell my sisters, brother, sisters in law, and brothers in
law but I wanted to wait until I was 12 weeks along since the chance of miscarriage
goes down to 2%.
Well we told my sisters on a Sunday with a cute
scavenger hunt that spelled out the word Auntie.
Here are some pictures.
The next Sunday we told Mackay’s family in the
canyon with a picture of Mackay and I. We said Hot Dogs: $5, Pop$10, Knowing
that there is actually 3 people in this picture…Priceless. I don’t actually have
pictures of us telling it but here are a few from the canyon.
Wow we were having a girl!!! We were so so
excited! Everything just suddenly hit us and became more real!!
Here are a few pictures up to this point!
Just to fill you guys in, I was sick my entire
pregnancy except for about 2-4 weeks. Those were the best weeks ever. I got to
about 6 months and felt great and wasn't throwing up anymore. I figured I’d
finally gotten away from this morning/all day sickness. I was wrong, it came
back full force until I delivered. The hardest part was having to throw up at work. Seriously probably one of the grossest things I've ever done in my life. I was throwing up about 6-8 times a day, yet I was still managing to gain weight...figure that out! Luckily baby Addie was save and sound inside of me and was growing healthy and strong. I never thought I would be sick when I was pregnant. I always thought I'd follow in my mom's footsteps. She would get sick the first trimester but never threw up. I was just sick and throwing up the whole time. Lynda, Mackay's mom was sick the whole time as well with all 4 of her children so I'm assuming I got it from her :) Being pregnant wasn't at all what I expected. I never thought I'd be a wussy and not want to work out while I was pregnant, but I was. I think it's because I was so sick I just didn't feel like doing anything other then laying down. By 6 1/2 months I was determined to work out and feel better. I walked/ran 4-5 times a week. It made me feel great! I would get braxton hicks the entire time and as tight as that would make me I actually like the feeling because I felt like it was preparing me for labor! As time crept up I realized I hadn't really taken any pictures of my tummy growing. I think I just felt super self conscious and didn't want to be in front of the camera. I now regret that very much. My sister Melissa finally talked me into taking some maternity pictures at 36 weeks! She was so sweet to take them and I think they turned out great. I'm so grateful she took them for me!
Just so you all know I was very determined to have this baby girl on her due date or earlier. I quit my job after 3 in half years at Pinnacle Security on Friday March 2nd. I'll be honest, it was magical :) haha if any of you know, my experience at Pinnacle wasn't all that glamours so I was definitely ready to be done. This gave me plenty of time to get Addie's room ready and things prepared for her arrival. Thursday March 8th Mackay and I went over to my Great Uncle Lynn's house (who is my OB and delivered Addie) to watch Band of Brothers and eat dinner with Perry, Anna, James, and Jess (second cousins of mine). After dinner we started watching Band of Brothers. Half way through an episode I started getting braxton hicks bad, to the point I started feeling the most uncomfortable I'd ever felt. They were also coming on like every 10 min. I decided to let everyone know and at this point they all thought I was going into labor, I had also pretty much lost my mucus plug so it was possible that I could have her at any time. It was about 11 p.m. and we decided to go home and see how I'd feel. I decided to get into the tub since we read that can help with contractions. I got in and it calmed me down after about 20 min. I was able to go right to sleep and was perfectly fine the next day. I was actually relieved because I didn't feel ready for her to come out yet. My next appt was on Tuesday March 13th one day before my due date. I figured since my Uncle Lynn had induced my mom with 5 of her 6 kids that he just do the same with me. Well for the past 2 weeks I had been dilated to a 2. I figured by Tuesday at my appointment I'd be farther then that. Monday the 12th I decided to go for the a run. I went up to the high school and ran 2 miles, including bleachers. I got braxton hicks pretty good, and honestly I was feeling great. When I finished my run I noticed I had a sore throat and was having trouble breathing. That night I started to stuff up and feel a little warm. The entire night I literally slept maybe 2 hours. I was tossing and turning. I couldn't breath, I was hot but had the chills. The next morning at 10 a.m. I had my final dr appt. I got to the dr and was burning up. I seriously felt like I'd never been this sick in my life. I was hoping they could give me some medicine or something to help me feel better. Considering my Great Uncle is a little older and just told me to try and get some rest...hahaha that was not what I wanted to hear. Then he checked me and said well your still at a 2 so if you don't come by this weekened I'll induce you on Monday. MONDAY??? What?? I am not going late!! I want her to come out! Lets just say the instant I got in the car, I started bawling my eyes out. When I got home I told Mackay all about it, he tried to console me but it wasn't working haha I was just being stubborn and feeling so sick that I just wanted her to come on her due date so bad. Well Mackay left for work at 3:30. He told me to call him if I needed anything. Well I took about a 2 hour nap thankfully and then decided to head up to my parents. When I walked in the door my dad said my face was bright red and I looked like I was burning up. We decided to take my temperature. It was at 101-102 my dad thought we should get me to the hospital just to make sure everything was okay, my mom on the other hand is TOUGH LOVE mom and she said no, I think she's fine. Well we begged her to at least call around and see what people thought. We called my Aunt Holly who was a nurse, she said usually at 103 they have you go in. We called my Aunt Julie who is an EMT and she didn't seem too worried either. We had her call one more person her best friend Kris Jolley. Kris has a daughter Lacey who was one of my best friends growing up. She works at Utah Valley Hospital where I would be delivering. She works on the mother baby floor. My mom called Kris who gave us Lacey's number. My mom text Lacey and Lacey responded and told her we'd better get to the hospital just to at least be checked out. She said they usually worry with that high of a fever that it's dangerous for the baby. We left my parents house by 10 p.m. We were checked into the hospital by 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday the 13th. They put me in a delivery room and started me on an
antibiotic. My fever had gotten a little worse up to 103, which was not good. Mackay was
still at work so I gave him a call and he met us at the hospital about 11. When
they gave me the IV my veins were so shot that they had to poke 4 different
places before they were able to get it in. Anyone who knows me knows this was not good for me, I hate shots more then anything and I was trying to be brave! I was super dehydrated and they had
to watch the fluids pretty close. We let my mom and Dad go home about midnight when we found
out I probably wouldn't be delivering until later in the afternoon. Once I was
hooked up to all the machines they were reading my contractions and I was
contracting pretty good every 2 min. They were pretty painful through my back. I was laying on my left side facing Mackay while he lay on a bed beside me. He was trying to sleep and I kept waking him up with my contractions. I was beginning to feel the pain pretty good. By about 4:30 a.m. the nurse came to check me and I had already dilated to a 5 and I was laboring.
We called my mom and dad and they came back down by about 5:30. We all had a
really long night and I was hurting pretty bad so by 5:15 they gave me an
epidural. I was so scared to get it because the needle is HUGE, but it didn't hurt at all. It was a tiny pinch and I slowly started going numb from the waist
down....it was the craziest feeling ever! By about 7:30 they checked me again
and I was dilated to a 7. I let the nurse know I needed them to contact my Uncle so he was aware I was in the hospital. The nurse was nervous she was going to wake him up. I asked her again to please call him because I really wanted him to deliver her. She called him at 8 a.m. She came back and told me he'd be in to check me before his appts for the day. He came up and checked me about 9 a.m. and said I was almost there and he'd be back soon to deliver. By 10:30 I was between a 9-10 and they called my uncle
Lynn to let him know I was ready. They told me to start pushing about 10:55. I pushed 3 times Mackay was holding my right leg and the nurse was holding my left. Mackay's face went white and the nurse asked if he needed a drink and to sit down for a sec. She grabbed him some apple juice and he took a little breather. Poor guy had been awake all night with me and was a little tired and nervous. Don't worry he didn't pass out. He was fully recovered and ready to help me again. Uncle Lynn
got in the room and started setting up, I pushed 3 more times, he sat down, put
his mask on and told me to push....that was the lucky push because here she
came! I only pushed for about 10-15 min, 7 times and baby Addie was out :)
It was amazing! They said first time moms never have them come this fast, it
was so great! They had NICU people come in to check on her because my fever was
so high, she had a slight fever as well so when they took her into the nursery
they had to give her an IV and get her on the same antibiotic as me called AMP
as well as another called GENT. Poor baby girl had to have a needle right in
her hand just like her mama. I was so glad I didn't have to be in there to
watch it because I probably would've cried. Her Daddy said he wanted to start punching those nurses because they were so rough with her and were having to poke her lots to get a vein for the IV. We were so blessed that nothing was wrong with her. The antibiotics she was on were just a precaution but she was perfect! So even though no one thought it would happen, she was born on her Due Date:
March 14th at 11:12 a.m.
Here are a few hospital pictures...I was seriously so sick, partly delirious, and looking fat and nasty the entire hospital stay so I apologize for how I look!
*Also you'll noticed Addie's nose a little smashed...we all think she couldn't come out at least an hour earlier but since Uncle Lynn had appts to finish she had to wait, so we're assuming her poor little nose was being smashed while she waited! Luckily it went back to normal and it's a perfect nose now :)
I was so blessed to have such amazing nurses and one of my childhood best friends Lacey as one of my nurses as well. Even though we had to stay an extra day because of Addie's antibiotic, we all survived the dreaded hospital stay!
Here are a few hospital pictures...I was seriously so sick, partly delirious, and looking fat and nasty the entire hospital stay so I apologize for how I look!
*Also you'll noticed Addie's nose a little smashed...we all think she couldn't come out at least an hour earlier but since Uncle Lynn had appts to finish she had to wait, so we're assuming her poor little nose was being smashed while she waited! Luckily it went back to normal and it's a perfect nose now :)
