So I swear I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... I'm just struggling to find some order in a very non-chaotic world right now. Yes, I did say non-chaotic world. It's been really interesting the last few weeks. Paul and I have been blessed with amazing family and a pretty easy going baby. It may be in the Vreeken boy's blood because Paul's older brother Scott had a pretty good first baby too. I certainly don't think it's from my side of the family... most of you would probably agree, especially all of you who know me well.
I started a post about a week ago where I wanted to "journal" Riann's birth but as I really got into it, it started to get really long and last time I checked it's about 4 pages single spaced (I had to transfer it over to word) and well I'm not quite sure it will fit now. I've decided that I'll just keep that for Riann's personal book and limit the details for you all... sorry. If you want to know specifics don't hesitate to ask. I'm hoping I'll have enough time to get this post out before she wakes up for her feeding. We're getting close to the end of her nap and she's starting to do her little grunt thing. It's actually quite cute... in a weird way. Now that I know she's not choking or dieing on us it's more of a relief to know that's how she simply coo's. I've been reading a few books on "parenting" and they always keep mentioning how a happy baby wakes up cooing gently and well I don't think we have one of those... not a happy baby but a gentle coo'er. She has 3 very distinct sounds... The first is her grunt... it's almost like she's clearing her throat and it's got a really deep rumble, the second is kind of a horse nay and you some time wonder if she's part animal, and the third is well... hard to describe in a kind way... we noticed it one night when she was having a hard time sleeping because she's a little congested. I was trying to feed her and Paul was trying to sleep but couldn't because she was so loud. Not able to think of another way to describe it Paul blurts out... "You gave birth to a pug!!!" Yes, it's true... that is her third sound. If you've ever spent anytime with one of those dogs you can hear the noise readily in your mind. She's doing a little better with the congestion so she only really makes the noise now when she gets excited and is struggling to figure something out, rarely when she feeds... which Paul is a little more excited about. There is one other distinct noise we've come to notice but it's when she's less than content with us and really wants us to know... The best way to describe the noise is that it is similar to the laughing sound the ghosts on Super Nintendo's, Super Mario's World, when you are in the haunted castles. A lot of the time I'll try to relax in the bath or get some stuff done in another room and it's hard because I'll hear this noise in my head... the "laugh", which she makes when she's crying... and I'll have to get back into the room to make sure everything's ok. So far it's always been my mind playing tricks on me. It's quite pathetic.
So other than her odd noises we're having a lot of fun just being with her. Paul finds it hard to go to work each day and I find it hard to have him gone. In one of my previous posts I stated how afraid I was about being overwhelmed by not knowing how I was going to get everything done once she was here. We'll After getting the floors in and having both mine and Paul's mothers in town I've come to find that I have less stress than I originally planned on. It's hard for me to plan my days because there is little to fill them with. When we moved everything out for the carpet and wood floors Paul and I decided that we weren't going to move anything that wasn't necessary back in until the walls were all completed too. Because of this we now only have 4 kitchen chairs, our chair from our couch set, and the floor to sit on in the living room. In the office we only have one desk and one computer up and running and in our bedroom we've for the bed, my ricking chair, and baby stuff galore. It's been hard being down... I've put myself on bed rest a few times this last week. I want to get up and go sit in other rooms of the house just to get away but there's no where to sit so I've pretty much been locked up in our bedroom since we got home from the hospital. In a good way it's been nice because it forces me to let myself heal, which I've needed a good amount of time for, but on the other end it results in a heavy case of cabin fever and so I tend to feel like I'm going crazy by the time Paul gets home each night.
I'm hoping that as Riann and I start to try to develop a sleeping/eating schedule I'll be able to get out of our bedroom and get to go work on the house more. It's hard for me to find projects though because we have to be so careful with the types of dust/fumes we create around the house. Where we're doing a ton with drywall and wall paper I'm afraid to get too deep into some projects because I don't know if I'll always have time to "clean up" before I have to grab her on a whim. It's been a challenge to figure out but now that life seems to be a little more predictable each day I should be able to figure something out.
Overall I can't complain about how things are going. She is an amazing child and has been tons of fun to get to know so far. I can't wait for the next 80 or so years. She's developing each day and it's a joy to watch. We're still trying to get her days and nights on track but we've got all the time in the world to get the kinks figured out. I'm sure you wanted to hear more about the baby and I'll try to get back into the habit of posting each week. Once I get back into the swing of things I'll get the photo posting part of this all figured out too. 3 more weeks and my sister-in-law will be in town to show me the ropes. That will be a huge help too!!
Life as it is now is great... with the weather warming up and the snow melting away it's getting even better day by day. We can't wait until spring/summer really arrives and we get to play for hours in the sun and fresh air!!!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Update... Kind of...
Hey there guys!!!
Sorry this have been so hectic this last week. I know you can all imagine how things have been going. I however thought that the after healing process would be a little easier than what it's been so I've been a little behind on keeping up with everything. One day soon I'll get caught up... or at least I hope I'll be able to. I hear you kind of permanently fall a little behind once these kids come to rule your life.
Since I've been so bad at getting things up I wanted to send you the link to my mother-in-law's website so you can see what we've been up to. She surprised us by come out this week and it's been really nice to have an extra hand here and someone who actually remembers to pick up a camera to make sure that we're catching her growing.
Here's the link before I forget:
http://web.mac.com/dkvreeken/iWeb/Site/Riann%20Amie%20Vreeken.html
Now that things are starting to settle down and we're getting into some patterns I'll hopefully be able to get all of my stuff updated. I'll have some free time here soon when Paul heads back into work full time and we don't have much in the house so there wont be too much to clean until we "move" back in.
I want to thank all of you guys for your support over the last few days. We're sorry we've been hard to get a hold of and really appreciate your patience as we've been trying to figure everything out.
Please let us know how things are going. Thank you all for your love and support. We really appreciate having a group of support that cares so deeply about us and our well being.
Love you guys!!!
Paul and Cheris
Sorry this have been so hectic this last week. I know you can all imagine how things have been going. I however thought that the after healing process would be a little easier than what it's been so I've been a little behind on keeping up with everything. One day soon I'll get caught up... or at least I hope I'll be able to. I hear you kind of permanently fall a little behind once these kids come to rule your life.
Since I've been so bad at getting things up I wanted to send you the link to my mother-in-law's website so you can see what we've been up to. She surprised us by come out this week and it's been really nice to have an extra hand here and someone who actually remembers to pick up a camera to make sure that we're catching her growing.
Here's the link before I forget:
http://web.mac.com/dkvreeken/iWeb/Site/Riann%20Amie%20Vreeken.html
Now that things are starting to settle down and we're getting into some patterns I'll hopefully be able to get all of my stuff updated. I'll have some free time here soon when Paul heads back into work full time and we don't have much in the house so there wont be too much to clean until we "move" back in.
I want to thank all of you guys for your support over the last few days. We're sorry we've been hard to get a hold of and really appreciate your patience as we've been trying to figure everything out.
Please let us know how things are going. Thank you all for your love and support. We really appreciate having a group of support that cares so deeply about us and our well being.
Love you guys!!!
Paul and Cheris
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
RIANN'S HERE!!! This is how it happened...
Well... it's been our first full week and I'm still speechless on what to really say. It's been amazing, scary and all over, overwhelming. It's amazing how much can change in one week and how emotional one person can be. I'll try to get everything up to date here because some of you have been asking how everything went. She's also laying next to me sleeping and I've been thinking about journaling lately and how I need to get some of my thoughts down so I decided what better time than now.
Overall her delivery was pretty good. I don't think I have anything to complain about. I also don't have anything to compare it to so that's another reason I can't complain. March 9th is when everything had started. I woke up about 5am with pains and couldn't sleep but figured they were just cramps because that's all I had been having up until that point. 7am rolled around and they seemed to have gone away so I crashed and slept until it was time to go to church. We unfortunately thought that our clocks would adjust themselves and so when we woke up and started getting ready we soon realized that we had missed the first part of church. Our nursery leader knew that we were getting close to having the baby so she planned on getting us a sub for class that day so we decided to take advantage of the extra time and get some rest... knowing it was going to be one of the last truly lazy days we'd get in a long time. We don't have our TV hooked up so we snuggled into bed and watched some movies. It was really fun. I really appreciate the fact that we got one last day to be together before all of the chaos began. About 2pm I started having pains again but because the time in between didn't bother me so much we kind of ignored them. Towards the end of the hour we noticed that I was flinching quite regularly and decided it was time to start taking notes. We grabbed a notebook and started writing down the times when I felt the most pain. We noticed at that point that my contractions were about 7 or so minutes a part with some breaks lasting as long as 20 minutes. Because we had been told to not come down to the hospital until I was experiencing contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart we wanted to wait until they became more regular. I also didn't think they were "real" contractions because I always imagined them being more painful. We were on the phone with mine and Paul's mom quite a bit and my mom laughs at me because I kept saying I was fine but would tell her I had to take a break anytime a contraction would hit. Finally about 9pm we called up to the hospital to see if what I was experiencing was anything to be excited about. They told us it sounded good but because we still were below 5 minutes and I didn't have to stop and breath though each contraction I could probably wait a little longer. We hung out for about a half hour and I think I might have taken a bath... although I don't remember if I did or not... and called my mom one more time to check in. My mom was going to fly out as soon as she could after we were officially checked into the hospital so we were trying to update her as much as possible. She started timing my contractions over the phone and noticed that they were about 4-5 minutes apart. At that point she demanded that we leave and I told her we were seriously considering it. When she realized she wasn't getting anywhere with me she asked to talk to Paul and asked him to get me up to the hospital. He said he would and about 5 minutes after we hung up I had another contraction and finally thought to myself, "this is silly, they were close enough to 5 minutes so we might as well just go". I told Paul that I thought I was ready and we grabbed all of our stuff and packed it into the car. In the middle of all of this my contractions stopped just long enough that I was starting to feel better, so I started backing out again and didn't want to leave anymore. I told Paul that we needed to just leaved everything in the car and hang out for another hour but before I could get back into the house another contraction hit and we were in the car. The whole time down to the hospital I started to freak out because I felt so great between each contraction and just knew that they were going to send us home with false labor. I kept telling Paul that this couldn't be it because I never felt like another one was coming once the last one ended. I'm not quite sure where I got my logic from but it some how made sense in my mind.
About 15 minutes later... around 10:30pm... we were up at the hospital and starting to check in. During the whole process, I was again freaking out because as I'm standing there checking in I feel fine. I felt like I was wasting everyone's time being there, including my own, and it made me feel uncomfortable. I even felt like the girls behind the receptionist counter was thinking I was crazy for coming in when I did because I didn't look or seem to be feeling any type of pain. Right as we finished giving them our information I had another contraction and they kind of looked at each other like "oh this could be real" and they offered me a seat. A few minutes later a nurse came from labor and delivery and brought me up in a wheel chair. Paul had to wait behind to finish some of the insurance paperwork and it made me really nervous to be alone. The nurse who came to get me was so sweet and kept me calm by asking how I was doing and if everything was going okay but all I could think about was how Paul and I had been separated and he'd never find out where I was being taken... I know, I'm pathetic.
We got up to the exam room and the nurse had me get changed. By the time I was done Paul had found my room and finally was back by my side. After going through a few questions they checked me and we found out that I was in fact in real labor and was dilated to 5 cm and 90% effaced. Not sure exactly what to think I made sure to clarify and asked if they were admitting us. The nurse kindly laughed and said they were because I'm sure she knew how worried I was about being sent home.
After they got me all checked in we moved to the delivery room and it was just time to wait. I remember not knowing what to do with myself because it didn't seem like the right time to turn on the TV and sleeping was a little hit and miss because they were checking on me every 15 minutes so it just felt out of place to be hanging out doing nothing but waiting. I kept stressing that I would get too far along and not be able to get an epidural so after arguing with myself for far too long I went a head and requested one. At about 4am the anesthesiologist comes in and I feel terrible because you can tell I've woken him up. I was also still on the fence about it being the right time to get the epidural and the nurse let him know I was unsure so he says to me, well it's been ordered so it's ready but I'm not opening it until your sure. I think it over one more time and say lets just go a head and get it done. I think part of the reason I was so hesitant to get it done was because I wasn't feeling the type of pain I had imagined I'd be feeling at that point. I knew I was having contractions, I could feel those and I could see them on the monitor but it was just a tightening in my stomach, I didn't feel like I was in actual labor so I didn't know where to go from there. I think this is where birthing classes probably would have helped... a lot.
After finally deciding to go a head and get my epidural put in we got it set up and done. Once it was in I couldn't get over the fact that my legs felt so funny. They felt cold every time I touched them and I had to keep looking at them because they just felt like big water balloons and I had to keep checking to see if they were swollen. I also wanted to see at one point how much muscle control I had so I tried lifting my leg up on the bed and almost ended up kicking one on the nurses in the face. Thankfully she was distracted with what she was doing that I don't think she noticed how close I had actually come to kicking her but I had also lost my leg off the side of the bed at the same time and Paul had to help me get it back into place. It felt weird to be so hopeless and to not be able to do anything with my legs. After getting checked a few more times by nurses and getting what little sleep we could Dr. Allred, one of the doctors within my office came to check me out and see how I was doing. We talked for a little bit and I was progressing, slowly... but still progressing, he decided to give me a little more time. Unfortunately though this meant that I would be rolled over into the next shift and he would not be the doctor delivering me. I had been hoping we would have her before shift change because I really wanted him to be the doctor on call for my delivery but it just wasn't going to work.
After getting a little more rest we met my new nurses and I was checked one more time. They said that I was progressing pretty well and we could probably give pushing a try. They walked through how to properly push and we gave it a go. I pushed for about an hour but nothing was changing. We tried rolling me onto each of my side to see if the different positions helped at all but nothing seemed to work. After a while the pressure they were helping me put on my legs started to feel really uncomfortable. In order to make pushing a little more comfortable I started grabbing my heels trying to get more pressure in my push. The nurse said she had never seen someone do it that way before but if was comfortable she'd let me go a head and keep it up to see where it got us. We tried pushing for another hour and still didn't seem to be making any progress. They hooked me up to the oxygen to make sure I wasn't getting too tired and with a few breaks here and there we kept at it. After about another 45 minutes Dr. Barton, who was the new doctor on call from my office, came in and watched me push. The nurse said that she really liked how I was doing and he watched me and I remember him immediately saying, "I don't". After adjusting my pushing method again and trying a few more times he decided it was time for the forceps and vacuum. I was instantly put on edge because I've been told that there are higher risks of complications when those are used and I didn't want to hurt the baby at all. I had asked a few questions and they assured me that everything would be okay and they started working on getting the baby out. Apparently they soon found out that she was posterior and that was what was making pushing so hard. Thankfully using the forceps and vacuum pulled her down just far enough that they were able to get her right out without much force and no complications.
Finally at 9:08am on March 10th, her due date, she was here and she weighed in at 8lbs 6oz. Paul and I looked at each other when they told us her weight because at our last or second to last appointment Dr. Crouch, the third doctor at my doctors office had checked me at my appointment and "guessed" what her weight would be and he was spot on. He had been delivering babies for 30+ years so he certainly had the experience.
Once she was here Paul couldn't get enough of her. Anytime I laid her down he was right next to her and snatching her up in his arms. It was so fun to watch him. I remember looking up at him when they first got her out and seeing tears in his eyes and thinking "oh my goodness, she's here!!" She was definitely his the minute he laid eyes on her.
After we got to snuggle and work on feeding they gave her a bath and moved us into our recovery room. At that point they gave us time to just be together and figure things out. I can't remember at what point my mom had gotten there but it was later that evening. I really didn't want to be at the hospital by myself so we asked our friends if they would be willing to pick my mom up at the airport and they were happy to run out and get her. They brought her right to the hospital, stuck around for a short visit and then left us to get some rest. I didn't want my mom to have to go back to our house alone after traveling all day so we asked the nurses if we could find some way to set up a bed for her in our room. They weren't too busy at the hospital so they said it would be fine and snuck in a chair from a different room. Its kind of funny to think that my mom, Paul, the baby and I all slept in my hospital room that night. The next day was spent relaxing and trying to figure out how to be a new mom. It was so great to have my mom there to help me and teach me the ropes. It was also great to have Paul there to cuddle with Riann when I wanted rest. We stayed one more day, mostly because it was covered on insurance, and then the next morning we got Riann dressed up in her "going home" outfit, which was WAY too big for her and went on our way.
It's been great to be home and to be together as a family. It's been hard for me to stay down and trying to heal and get used to life not always being busy all the time. Labor was much harder on me that I expected and my recovery has been even worse. I tried to do too much in the first couple of days being home thinking I felt better than I did and eventually had to put myself on bed rest. I went about a full week without getting up much and really just staying locked up in my room but it was good for my body and I noticed a big difference when I finally gave myself time to heal.
We have loved every minute of having Riann with us and trying to figure out this whole parent thing. She's a great baby and now that we don't have our days and nights quite as mixed up and we're getting into a rhythm and a pretty good schedule it feels like we're working things out. We're so glad she's here and she's absolutely perfect!!! I love my little girl and my sweet family and I can't wait for the adventures we're going to have as life goes by. Here's to an amazing beginning of our very new life!!
Overall her delivery was pretty good. I don't think I have anything to complain about. I also don't have anything to compare it to so that's another reason I can't complain. March 9th is when everything had started. I woke up about 5am with pains and couldn't sleep but figured they were just cramps because that's all I had been having up until that point. 7am rolled around and they seemed to have gone away so I crashed and slept until it was time to go to church. We unfortunately thought that our clocks would adjust themselves and so when we woke up and started getting ready we soon realized that we had missed the first part of church. Our nursery leader knew that we were getting close to having the baby so she planned on getting us a sub for class that day so we decided to take advantage of the extra time and get some rest... knowing it was going to be one of the last truly lazy days we'd get in a long time. We don't have our TV hooked up so we snuggled into bed and watched some movies. It was really fun. I really appreciate the fact that we got one last day to be together before all of the chaos began. About 2pm I started having pains again but because the time in between didn't bother me so much we kind of ignored them. Towards the end of the hour we noticed that I was flinching quite regularly and decided it was time to start taking notes. We grabbed a notebook and started writing down the times when I felt the most pain. We noticed at that point that my contractions were about 7 or so minutes a part with some breaks lasting as long as 20 minutes. Because we had been told to not come down to the hospital until I was experiencing contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart we wanted to wait until they became more regular. I also didn't think they were "real" contractions because I always imagined them being more painful. We were on the phone with mine and Paul's mom quite a bit and my mom laughs at me because I kept saying I was fine but would tell her I had to take a break anytime a contraction would hit. Finally about 9pm we called up to the hospital to see if what I was experiencing was anything to be excited about. They told us it sounded good but because we still were below 5 minutes and I didn't have to stop and breath though each contraction I could probably wait a little longer. We hung out for about a half hour and I think I might have taken a bath... although I don't remember if I did or not... and called my mom one more time to check in. My mom was going to fly out as soon as she could after we were officially checked into the hospital so we were trying to update her as much as possible. She started timing my contractions over the phone and noticed that they were about 4-5 minutes apart. At that point she demanded that we leave and I told her we were seriously considering it. When she realized she wasn't getting anywhere with me she asked to talk to Paul and asked him to get me up to the hospital. He said he would and about 5 minutes after we hung up I had another contraction and finally thought to myself, "this is silly, they were close enough to 5 minutes so we might as well just go". I told Paul that I thought I was ready and we grabbed all of our stuff and packed it into the car. In the middle of all of this my contractions stopped just long enough that I was starting to feel better, so I started backing out again and didn't want to leave anymore. I told Paul that we needed to just leaved everything in the car and hang out for another hour but before I could get back into the house another contraction hit and we were in the car. The whole time down to the hospital I started to freak out because I felt so great between each contraction and just knew that they were going to send us home with false labor. I kept telling Paul that this couldn't be it because I never felt like another one was coming once the last one ended. I'm not quite sure where I got my logic from but it some how made sense in my mind.
About 15 minutes later... around 10:30pm... we were up at the hospital and starting to check in. During the whole process, I was again freaking out because as I'm standing there checking in I feel fine. I felt like I was wasting everyone's time being there, including my own, and it made me feel uncomfortable. I even felt like the girls behind the receptionist counter was thinking I was crazy for coming in when I did because I didn't look or seem to be feeling any type of pain. Right as we finished giving them our information I had another contraction and they kind of looked at each other like "oh this could be real" and they offered me a seat. A few minutes later a nurse came from labor and delivery and brought me up in a wheel chair. Paul had to wait behind to finish some of the insurance paperwork and it made me really nervous to be alone. The nurse who came to get me was so sweet and kept me calm by asking how I was doing and if everything was going okay but all I could think about was how Paul and I had been separated and he'd never find out where I was being taken... I know, I'm pathetic.
We got up to the exam room and the nurse had me get changed. By the time I was done Paul had found my room and finally was back by my side. After going through a few questions they checked me and we found out that I was in fact in real labor and was dilated to 5 cm and 90% effaced. Not sure exactly what to think I made sure to clarify and asked if they were admitting us. The nurse kindly laughed and said they were because I'm sure she knew how worried I was about being sent home.
After they got me all checked in we moved to the delivery room and it was just time to wait. I remember not knowing what to do with myself because it didn't seem like the right time to turn on the TV and sleeping was a little hit and miss because they were checking on me every 15 minutes so it just felt out of place to be hanging out doing nothing but waiting. I kept stressing that I would get too far along and not be able to get an epidural so after arguing with myself for far too long I went a head and requested one. At about 4am the anesthesiologist comes in and I feel terrible because you can tell I've woken him up. I was also still on the fence about it being the right time to get the epidural and the nurse let him know I was unsure so he says to me, well it's been ordered so it's ready but I'm not opening it until your sure. I think it over one more time and say lets just go a head and get it done. I think part of the reason I was so hesitant to get it done was because I wasn't feeling the type of pain I had imagined I'd be feeling at that point. I knew I was having contractions, I could feel those and I could see them on the monitor but it was just a tightening in my stomach, I didn't feel like I was in actual labor so I didn't know where to go from there. I think this is where birthing classes probably would have helped... a lot.
After finally deciding to go a head and get my epidural put in we got it set up and done. Once it was in I couldn't get over the fact that my legs felt so funny. They felt cold every time I touched them and I had to keep looking at them because they just felt like big water balloons and I had to keep checking to see if they were swollen. I also wanted to see at one point how much muscle control I had so I tried lifting my leg up on the bed and almost ended up kicking one on the nurses in the face. Thankfully she was distracted with what she was doing that I don't think she noticed how close I had actually come to kicking her but I had also lost my leg off the side of the bed at the same time and Paul had to help me get it back into place. It felt weird to be so hopeless and to not be able to do anything with my legs. After getting checked a few more times by nurses and getting what little sleep we could Dr. Allred, one of the doctors within my office came to check me out and see how I was doing. We talked for a little bit and I was progressing, slowly... but still progressing, he decided to give me a little more time. Unfortunately though this meant that I would be rolled over into the next shift and he would not be the doctor delivering me. I had been hoping we would have her before shift change because I really wanted him to be the doctor on call for my delivery but it just wasn't going to work.
After getting a little more rest we met my new nurses and I was checked one more time. They said that I was progressing pretty well and we could probably give pushing a try. They walked through how to properly push and we gave it a go. I pushed for about an hour but nothing was changing. We tried rolling me onto each of my side to see if the different positions helped at all but nothing seemed to work. After a while the pressure they were helping me put on my legs started to feel really uncomfortable. In order to make pushing a little more comfortable I started grabbing my heels trying to get more pressure in my push. The nurse said she had never seen someone do it that way before but if was comfortable she'd let me go a head and keep it up to see where it got us. We tried pushing for another hour and still didn't seem to be making any progress. They hooked me up to the oxygen to make sure I wasn't getting too tired and with a few breaks here and there we kept at it. After about another 45 minutes Dr. Barton, who was the new doctor on call from my office, came in and watched me push. The nurse said that she really liked how I was doing and he watched me and I remember him immediately saying, "I don't". After adjusting my pushing method again and trying a few more times he decided it was time for the forceps and vacuum. I was instantly put on edge because I've been told that there are higher risks of complications when those are used and I didn't want to hurt the baby at all. I had asked a few questions and they assured me that everything would be okay and they started working on getting the baby out. Apparently they soon found out that she was posterior and that was what was making pushing so hard. Thankfully using the forceps and vacuum pulled her down just far enough that they were able to get her right out without much force and no complications.
Finally at 9:08am on March 10th, her due date, she was here and she weighed in at 8lbs 6oz. Paul and I looked at each other when they told us her weight because at our last or second to last appointment Dr. Crouch, the third doctor at my doctors office had checked me at my appointment and "guessed" what her weight would be and he was spot on. He had been delivering babies for 30+ years so he certainly had the experience.
Once she was here Paul couldn't get enough of her. Anytime I laid her down he was right next to her and snatching her up in his arms. It was so fun to watch him. I remember looking up at him when they first got her out and seeing tears in his eyes and thinking "oh my goodness, she's here!!" She was definitely his the minute he laid eyes on her.
After we got to snuggle and work on feeding they gave her a bath and moved us into our recovery room. At that point they gave us time to just be together and figure things out. I can't remember at what point my mom had gotten there but it was later that evening. I really didn't want to be at the hospital by myself so we asked our friends if they would be willing to pick my mom up at the airport and they were happy to run out and get her. They brought her right to the hospital, stuck around for a short visit and then left us to get some rest. I didn't want my mom to have to go back to our house alone after traveling all day so we asked the nurses if we could find some way to set up a bed for her in our room. They weren't too busy at the hospital so they said it would be fine and snuck in a chair from a different room. Its kind of funny to think that my mom, Paul, the baby and I all slept in my hospital room that night. The next day was spent relaxing and trying to figure out how to be a new mom. It was so great to have my mom there to help me and teach me the ropes. It was also great to have Paul there to cuddle with Riann when I wanted rest. We stayed one more day, mostly because it was covered on insurance, and then the next morning we got Riann dressed up in her "going home" outfit, which was WAY too big for her and went on our way.
It's been great to be home and to be together as a family. It's been hard for me to stay down and trying to heal and get used to life not always being busy all the time. Labor was much harder on me that I expected and my recovery has been even worse. I tried to do too much in the first couple of days being home thinking I felt better than I did and eventually had to put myself on bed rest. I went about a full week without getting up much and really just staying locked up in my room but it was good for my body and I noticed a big difference when I finally gave myself time to heal.
We have loved every minute of having Riann with us and trying to figure out this whole parent thing. She's a great baby and now that we don't have our days and nights quite as mixed up and we're getting into a rhythm and a pretty good schedule it feels like we're working things out. We're so glad she's here and she's absolutely perfect!!! I love my little girl and my sweet family and I can't wait for the adventures we're going to have as life goes by. Here's to an amazing beginning of our very new life!!
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| Trying to relax after getting my epidural. Not sure what's in store from here on out, all I know is life as I know it is changing forever!! |
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| Mommy and baby trying to get some rest. Riann's doing a much better job than I am. |
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| First bath. She wasn't too thrilled. |
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| All cleaned and bundled up. I wish they stayed this peaceful. |
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| My sweet little girl resting. She is so cute!! |
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| About ready to go home in her extra large outfit. The pacifier is just as big on her as her clothes!! |
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| One fantastic Daddy who's SOOO in love with his little girl!! |
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Newest on the baby situation
Today we had our doctors appointment and it went pretty well. We found out that I'm dilated to about a 2.5 (which I'm thinking is more like a 2 based on some of the last appointments) and I had my membranes stripped. It was a lot easier than I thought it was all going to be. I've heard quite a few horror stories about that part of it all. It was kind of funny because I've been worried about them doing it with all of the house stuff going on and I've been worried that I'd end up putting me into labor before all of the flooring was actually put in. As were sitting there asking questions my doctor starts feeling for her position and stripping my membranes and slowly looks up and half way through the process asks... "Oh did you want me to do this?" I freak out because in the back of my mind I'm thinking "I can't have this done... what if it puts me into labor tonight?!?!?!" I ask him what the process details and he says "just this..." and does it. At this point I'm in shock because he potentially planned my night without my consent but did it all without the paint that I thought it was going to consist of. I figured at that point I couldn't do anything and we'd just feel out the night and so far it's been pretty normal. I've had what I think might be regular contractions from about 5:30 to about 7:35 but they have pretty much stopped and consisted of very little pain. At this point I'm still feeling pretty good. I talked to a few of the girls I work with this afternoon and they are all excited for me because everyone they've known to have the procedure done (including themselves) goes into labor about 72 hours after the it's done. So they're once again starting to "bet" on when it will happen. So far this last part has been pretty less than typical so I don't plan on them being right on but I think it would be pretty exciting if they were close. Plus... once we get these floors done tomorrow nothing will be holding me back. I'd love to shoot for Friday-Sunday because the doctor I want is on call but we'll see. I've come to the conclusion that she's comin when she's good and ready and not a moment sooner. I just pray it will be less than a week from now.
We asked the doctor what he thought about her size this week and he said that he predicts about 8lbs 6 oz. I'm thinking if he's right I'm a little scared but we'll see. It could definitely be worse.
Overall I think that's about all the news we got today. Not too much else is going on. I think between the house and to doctors I've got you all covered. We don't have any computers set up in the house because of the floors so as soon as we get those back up I'll post pictures of how everything looks. I'm excited to get home tonight because they left us a message saying that they got 2 of the back rooms done and everything else should be completed tomorrow. They did finish the kitchen before Paul and I left for work today and it looks GREAT!!!! I just wish our walls looked good with them. I hope we'll be able to get that part done soon. It's really coming together. I just hope we can keep up our momentum.
I'll keep you guys posted if anything changes!!! Pray for good news... for this weekend!!!
We asked the doctor what he thought about her size this week and he said that he predicts about 8lbs 6 oz. I'm thinking if he's right I'm a little scared but we'll see. It could definitely be worse.
Overall I think that's about all the news we got today. Not too much else is going on. I think between the house and to doctors I've got you all covered. We don't have any computers set up in the house because of the floors so as soon as we get those back up I'll post pictures of how everything looks. I'm excited to get home tonight because they left us a message saying that they got 2 of the back rooms done and everything else should be completed tomorrow. They did finish the kitchen before Paul and I left for work today and it looks GREAT!!!! I just wish our walls looked good with them. I hope we'll be able to get that part done soon. It's really coming together. I just hope we can keep up our momentum.
I'll keep you guys posted if anything changes!!! Pray for good news... for this weekend!!!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The newest on the house
So a little update... I'll try to write more tomorrow because we're going to the doctors and will hopefully have news about how things are progressing but we'll see. This is just what we've been up to since Saturday... You're gonna laugh at us!!!
Everything so far has been a little crazy. Paul and I decided... I'm still trying to figure out why... to replace our carpet this weekend so Friday we went into the store to look around, Saturday we went in to finalize some stuff and upon discussing what we wanted to do we were told that it would be much better to install hardwood floors before the carpet because there would be a ton of dust and within 10 minutes we were purchasing both not just the one. That night we had a guy over from the company measuring the kitchen to see what we needed and set us up this week for installation. We're lucky they could do it all this soon. I'm really grateful that they were so willing to work with our schedule. To get things going we've been moving things out of the house since Sunday night and to complicate things even more we decided to also rip out our fireplace AND our baseboard heaters... knowing full well that winter can potentially last another month or two out here. I don't know what we're thinking... We've pretty much removed all heat sources from the house except the heater in our bathroom and a space heater we bought from Wal-mart a few months back. We're gonna see quick how good of an idea this was... I think we'll be ok for now because the two heaters we do have should work pretty well and we've been working with a guy from our ward on getting forced air so I think we'll be ok. We just need to get some realistic costs for the conversion and see what we're actually gonna pay to do it all. We'll also probably save a lot in electric because we don't have the chance to waste any of our heat by leaving it on when it should be off. This could in fact work in our favor. We'll have to see how this goes...
Back to the floors... Our installers got in today and took a bit to get going but it seems as though they've done quite a bit since I left for work. I don't think it should have been a two day job for the wood portion but in my last conversation with Paul it sounds like they've got about 3/4th of the job complete should finish it all tomorrow. We are ripping out our carpet ourselves to save money, so we've been trying to keep up with them in getting everything finished so they can move into putting them in as soon as they've finished the wood. At this point we still have 3 rooms to pull up so it's going to be another late night and early morning. If we get this all done tomorrow don't plan on talking to me before 12 Thursday afternoon because I'm determined to sleep in!!!! I'm so hoping I'll be that lucky!!!!
I know as some of you are reading this you're yelling at me for working too hard but don't worry... Paul is not letting me do the hard work. I've been mostly packing boxes and moving blankets and pillows. He has let me pull up staples but I'm not really that good at it. I think last night when we were working in the baby's room he did about 3/4th of it before I got done with my part. It really doesn't seem to matter though. I've been on my feet TONS over the last few days and they baby doesn't seem the least bit effected. I just seem to get more and more energy the longer I'm up. I don't get it.
We go into the doctors tomorrow to see if anythings changed and I'm hoping it has but I don't want to get my hopes too high because I haven't been feeling that bad. A couple of times I've been just completely shot and it was getting hard to get up and walk around because I've been getting a little bit sore but over all I still can't say it's been all that hard. I'm hoping that she'll want to stay in until we at least get the floors done (which should be Thursday) but wont I certainly wont complain if she tries to come a little sooner. We'll see. We'd love to get more done in the house if we can while every things out but we don't want to push it. I'm kind of hoping the Lord will put a stop to our drive to improve and send her on her way down here so we can take a break. I think as long as I have my couches and a bed I'll be ok with whatever we try to do next. We'll have to feel it all out after tomorrow's appointment but I don't think we'll push it. It would just be REALLY nice to get as much done as we can now while we don't have furniture in the way and so we don't have move it all back out later. Hopefully tomorrow will tell us A LOT!!! I'm prayin for it to...
I'll let you all know what's going on as soon as we find out!!! Thanks for reading!!!
PS... Survey questions... we're trying to decide if we should try to replace the fireplace with a gas burning one now, later or at all. It would be one that was more for looks than for actual heat because we're gonna get forced air like I said but we don't know what to do just yet. My main question for everyone is: Would you ever purchase a home without a fireplace and if so do you think it would be a lower value if there wasn't one? Let me know what you think??? You're opinions will help A LOT!!!
Everything so far has been a little crazy. Paul and I decided... I'm still trying to figure out why... to replace our carpet this weekend so Friday we went into the store to look around, Saturday we went in to finalize some stuff and upon discussing what we wanted to do we were told that it would be much better to install hardwood floors before the carpet because there would be a ton of dust and within 10 minutes we were purchasing both not just the one. That night we had a guy over from the company measuring the kitchen to see what we needed and set us up this week for installation. We're lucky they could do it all this soon. I'm really grateful that they were so willing to work with our schedule. To get things going we've been moving things out of the house since Sunday night and to complicate things even more we decided to also rip out our fireplace AND our baseboard heaters... knowing full well that winter can potentially last another month or two out here. I don't know what we're thinking... We've pretty much removed all heat sources from the house except the heater in our bathroom and a space heater we bought from Wal-mart a few months back. We're gonna see quick how good of an idea this was... I think we'll be ok for now because the two heaters we do have should work pretty well and we've been working with a guy from our ward on getting forced air so I think we'll be ok. We just need to get some realistic costs for the conversion and see what we're actually gonna pay to do it all. We'll also probably save a lot in electric because we don't have the chance to waste any of our heat by leaving it on when it should be off. This could in fact work in our favor. We'll have to see how this goes...
Back to the floors... Our installers got in today and took a bit to get going but it seems as though they've done quite a bit since I left for work. I don't think it should have been a two day job for the wood portion but in my last conversation with Paul it sounds like they've got about 3/4th of the job complete should finish it all tomorrow. We are ripping out our carpet ourselves to save money, so we've been trying to keep up with them in getting everything finished so they can move into putting them in as soon as they've finished the wood. At this point we still have 3 rooms to pull up so it's going to be another late night and early morning. If we get this all done tomorrow don't plan on talking to me before 12 Thursday afternoon because I'm determined to sleep in!!!! I'm so hoping I'll be that lucky!!!!
I know as some of you are reading this you're yelling at me for working too hard but don't worry... Paul is not letting me do the hard work. I've been mostly packing boxes and moving blankets and pillows. He has let me pull up staples but I'm not really that good at it. I think last night when we were working in the baby's room he did about 3/4th of it before I got done with my part. It really doesn't seem to matter though. I've been on my feet TONS over the last few days and they baby doesn't seem the least bit effected. I just seem to get more and more energy the longer I'm up. I don't get it.
We go into the doctors tomorrow to see if anythings changed and I'm hoping it has but I don't want to get my hopes too high because I haven't been feeling that bad. A couple of times I've been just completely shot and it was getting hard to get up and walk around because I've been getting a little bit sore but over all I still can't say it's been all that hard. I'm hoping that she'll want to stay in until we at least get the floors done (which should be Thursday) but wont I certainly wont complain if she tries to come a little sooner. We'll see. We'd love to get more done in the house if we can while every things out but we don't want to push it. I'm kind of hoping the Lord will put a stop to our drive to improve and send her on her way down here so we can take a break. I think as long as I have my couches and a bed I'll be ok with whatever we try to do next. We'll have to feel it all out after tomorrow's appointment but I don't think we'll push it. It would just be REALLY nice to get as much done as we can now while we don't have furniture in the way and so we don't have move it all back out later. Hopefully tomorrow will tell us A LOT!!! I'm prayin for it to...
I'll let you all know what's going on as soon as we find out!!! Thanks for reading!!!
PS... Survey questions... we're trying to decide if we should try to replace the fireplace with a gas burning one now, later or at all. It would be one that was more for looks than for actual heat because we're gonna get forced air like I said but we don't know what to do just yet. My main question for everyone is: Would you ever purchase a home without a fireplace and if so do you think it would be a lower value if there wasn't one? Let me know what you think??? You're opinions will help A LOT!!!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
So as of last Wednesday....
We went to the doctors this week and we're sad to report that nothing much has changed but are really ok with the news because that means we have a little more time to get things done around the house. We really need to get her room done because right now the living room is overcome with all of her stuff and I just need some space!!!! We were a little disappointed to hear that not much had happened in the last week because I had been having some pains and was hoping it'd mean something but no such luck. I'm still feeling really good and still can't complain about how everything seems to be going so all in all we're in a really good position. We were also excited to learn that based on her position this week she's not measuring as big as she was last week so we might not have anything to worry about when it comes to her size. I've been really afraid of going all the way to my due date and even a little over because she has the chance of being really big. I don't know if I explained my concern about this in my last post but we have been told that Paul was almost 11 lbs and I was just barely under 8 lbs so based on those stats we're looking at potentially big babies. Scott and Casey (Paul's brother and his wife) just had a little one that was just over 8 lbs too so we know that they run in the family (I'd also like to note that he was 2 weeks early and was still that big!!)
Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't worry about the first one being too big because she'll just get my body ready for all the rest if we can get her out naturally. I don't know how I feel about that advice but I'm incredibly relieved that we have a little less to worry about. We'll see how much I gain between now and our next appointment. I'm shooting for no more than a pound.
While we've been anxiously waiting I've also been told not to be too disappointed that we haven't had too much of a change because a lot of people have been telling me that they've been the same way. It seems like the majority of the people I've talked to say that they didn't really have any "symptoms" until the day before or the actual day they started into labor, so we'll see. I may just get lucky and not have to deal with a lot of pain before we get into the tough sttuff... one can only hope!!! I've also heard that people who have it really rough in the beginning of their pregnancy have it mild to pretty well at the end so I'm hoping that's got some truth to it and that it's not just a myth. I think after 30 weeks of puking I deserve a break!!!! Haha!!!
I think after this last appointment I've finally calmed down and am more relaxed about everything. I was REALLY hoping for something to happen this weekend (March 1st) but it doesn't seem like too much is going to happen this soon. I've pretty much come to terms that she takes after me and she's just gonna be stubborn. I guess at this point we know what to expect for the next few years!!!! I just hope she doesn't wait and come on the 12th because that's our anniversary and I want to try to keep that just our day. I think we'll need the day to ourselves a lot more over the next 50 or so years and even though we haven't done a ton to celebrate so far it will become more important once there are others in the picture.
We'll see how things go. It's gonna get crazy here over the next couple of weeks. I just hope we can get everything done now that we have a little more time!!!!! Well keep you posted and let you know if anything changes. Love you guys!!!
Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't worry about the first one being too big because she'll just get my body ready for all the rest if we can get her out naturally. I don't know how I feel about that advice but I'm incredibly relieved that we have a little less to worry about. We'll see how much I gain between now and our next appointment. I'm shooting for no more than a pound.
While we've been anxiously waiting I've also been told not to be too disappointed that we haven't had too much of a change because a lot of people have been telling me that they've been the same way. It seems like the majority of the people I've talked to say that they didn't really have any "symptoms" until the day before or the actual day they started into labor, so we'll see. I may just get lucky and not have to deal with a lot of pain before we get into the tough sttuff... one can only hope!!! I've also heard that people who have it really rough in the beginning of their pregnancy have it mild to pretty well at the end so I'm hoping that's got some truth to it and that it's not just a myth. I think after 30 weeks of puking I deserve a break!!!! Haha!!!
I think after this last appointment I've finally calmed down and am more relaxed about everything. I was REALLY hoping for something to happen this weekend (March 1st) but it doesn't seem like too much is going to happen this soon. I've pretty much come to terms that she takes after me and she's just gonna be stubborn. I guess at this point we know what to expect for the next few years!!!! I just hope she doesn't wait and come on the 12th because that's our anniversary and I want to try to keep that just our day. I think we'll need the day to ourselves a lot more over the next 50 or so years and even though we haven't done a ton to celebrate so far it will become more important once there are others in the picture.
We'll see how things go. It's gonna get crazy here over the next couple of weeks. I just hope we can get everything done now that we have a little more time!!!!! Well keep you posted and let you know if anything changes. Love you guys!!!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Ok... Now that time has been found...
So I know I've been terrible at updating this even though I was supposed to be doing it for the purpose of keeping all of my family and friends in touch. I promise I'll do better especially after the baby's born.
So lets see... what's new...
We are about 3 weeks away from our due date and even though we feel like we need the full amount of time we are getting pretty anxious. I can't believe how much life has already changed and she isn't even here yet. I was at home earlier today and was walking from the kitchen to the living room and happened to glance up at the swing we put together last night and couldn't help but think to myself how out of place it seemed to have that sitting in my living room. I almost thought to myself "who's is that?" It's going to be interesting trying to adjust to everything else that is involved with having a baby. I think it will be a lot easier once we have her room put together.
Over the last few months Paul and I have been working hard on two of the rooms in the house to get them done before the baby comes. We've completely underestimated the amount of time it takes to remodel a room and quickly found that it's hard to balance work, life, and extra maintenance on the house outside of our normal routine. It's truly been an experience and one that I hope to never come across again once we finish everything we want to do. The main problem with what we've been working on is trying to get through the stacks of wallpaper that have been put on our walls. We are finding that the previous owners of our home not only had a special style of their own but that they also liked to experiement with different styles through out the 17 years that they lived there. I would hope that anyone who reads this, who is thinking about redoing a room or potentientally remodling their home would strongly consider NEVER putting up wall paper unless they intend to live in that house until the day they die. I will at this point never buy another home that had wallpaper on the out most layer of the wall, and on the same accord I will never wallpaper a room in any home I live in no matter how good of an idea it may seem at the time. Please remind me of this post if I ever try to say it's something I'd look forward to doing.
As for the rooms we are hoping that soon we'll hear back about our windows and we need to get started on picking out a carpet. I was hoping that we'd have the whole house done before we got around to putting new stuff in but with the amount of time just these two rooms have taken we we'd probably be moving out by the time we'd get to put it in and really enjoy it. One day we'll get moving on that. I'm hoping it will be soon but we'll have to see what happens with the baby being just around the corner.
As for an update on the baby. Like I said we are still a few weeks out. Some days I feel like things are progressing great and that she might be here sooner than we thing but other days it feels like there's nothing going on and we've got about 5 weeks left. At our last doctor's appointment they said that I was on track and that things seem to be going well. She's not completely down all the way so she still has a little work on her own to do before we get a little closer but my body seems to be responding to the minor contractions I've been having over the last few weeks. We're getting there but still happy to take what time we have left. With all the excitement over the last few weeks with the rest of our family members having their babies it's been hard to be as patient as I need to be but I'm not at that incredibly uncomfortable point that you see some women at and you know that they are just done. I don't think I look like that just yet but then I also don't think I look all that big until I see the pictures Paul's been taking for all of you guys. I'm just hoping that I'm at home when labor really seems to start and things get underway. I'm trying to work as close to the day as possible so we'll see what happens. It's not like I really get to pick how this whole thing completes itself.
Well... I need to jet. Time is running out and I should probably get back to doing things around the house. I don't know if I'm nesting or what but it's hard for me to sit for long periods of time. I'm pretty sure it's the belief that the more I move around and am up on my feet maybe the sooner she'll come but we'll see. Hopefully I'm losing a little bit weight with the new motivation to be up and walking but it seems as though I'm either getting bigger or she's growing quite a bit each week. I'm hoping it's more me than her because it seems like these Vreeken babies can get pretty big... and that's not something I'm looking forward to.
So lets see... what's new...
We are about 3 weeks away from our due date and even though we feel like we need the full amount of time we are getting pretty anxious. I can't believe how much life has already changed and she isn't even here yet. I was at home earlier today and was walking from the kitchen to the living room and happened to glance up at the swing we put together last night and couldn't help but think to myself how out of place it seemed to have that sitting in my living room. I almost thought to myself "who's is that?" It's going to be interesting trying to adjust to everything else that is involved with having a baby. I think it will be a lot easier once we have her room put together.
Over the last few months Paul and I have been working hard on two of the rooms in the house to get them done before the baby comes. We've completely underestimated the amount of time it takes to remodel a room and quickly found that it's hard to balance work, life, and extra maintenance on the house outside of our normal routine. It's truly been an experience and one that I hope to never come across again once we finish everything we want to do. The main problem with what we've been working on is trying to get through the stacks of wallpaper that have been put on our walls. We are finding that the previous owners of our home not only had a special style of their own but that they also liked to experiement with different styles through out the 17 years that they lived there. I would hope that anyone who reads this, who is thinking about redoing a room or potentientally remodling their home would strongly consider NEVER putting up wall paper unless they intend to live in that house until the day they die. I will at this point never buy another home that had wallpaper on the out most layer of the wall, and on the same accord I will never wallpaper a room in any home I live in no matter how good of an idea it may seem at the time. Please remind me of this post if I ever try to say it's something I'd look forward to doing.
As for the rooms we are hoping that soon we'll hear back about our windows and we need to get started on picking out a carpet. I was hoping that we'd have the whole house done before we got around to putting new stuff in but with the amount of time just these two rooms have taken we we'd probably be moving out by the time we'd get to put it in and really enjoy it. One day we'll get moving on that. I'm hoping it will be soon but we'll have to see what happens with the baby being just around the corner.
As for an update on the baby. Like I said we are still a few weeks out. Some days I feel like things are progressing great and that she might be here sooner than we thing but other days it feels like there's nothing going on and we've got about 5 weeks left. At our last doctor's appointment they said that I was on track and that things seem to be going well. She's not completely down all the way so she still has a little work on her own to do before we get a little closer but my body seems to be responding to the minor contractions I've been having over the last few weeks. We're getting there but still happy to take what time we have left. With all the excitement over the last few weeks with the rest of our family members having their babies it's been hard to be as patient as I need to be but I'm not at that incredibly uncomfortable point that you see some women at and you know that they are just done. I don't think I look like that just yet but then I also don't think I look all that big until I see the pictures Paul's been taking for all of you guys. I'm just hoping that I'm at home when labor really seems to start and things get underway. I'm trying to work as close to the day as possible so we'll see what happens. It's not like I really get to pick how this whole thing completes itself.
Well... I need to jet. Time is running out and I should probably get back to doing things around the house. I don't know if I'm nesting or what but it's hard for me to sit for long periods of time. I'm pretty sure it's the belief that the more I move around and am up on my feet maybe the sooner she'll come but we'll see. Hopefully I'm losing a little bit weight with the new motivation to be up and walking but it seems as though I'm either getting bigger or she's growing quite a bit each week. I'm hoping it's more me than her because it seems like these Vreeken babies can get pretty big... and that's not something I'm looking forward to.
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