52 things in 52 weeks: checking in

I am happy to report that I have completed a whopping 5 of my 52 goals so far. Go me!

I should also report that my goals have been slightly altered since I first posted them. I made a few of them shorter (lasting for one month instead of two or three) and changed the month of no eating out to a month of no eating dairy. 

Without further ado, here are the things I've completed!

#6: Go on a weekend getaway (alone).

You can read all about our adventure in my weekend getaway post.

#7: Floss every day for one month.

It is very, very possible (read: 100% likely) that I had never flossed my entire mouth by myself until this month. I am ashamed.

(I also never knew the actual technique for correct flossing. I may or may not have found this out halfway into my goal. Whoops.)

But now I can say that I have flossed every day for a month! A consecutive month.

Yes, I needed a reminder stuck to my mirror.

Once I started doing it correctly, I definitely noticed a difference in how clean my mouth feels. And I'm fairly confident I'll keep doing it at least occasionally.

#16: Strength train three times a week for one month.

Like everyone else in the entire world, I decided that 2013 would be the year that I finally got in shape and got to my goal weight. I'd like to think that I have slightly more motivation than the average person, since I still have post-baby flab to tone up, but only time will tell. At the very least, I know I can do strength training exercises regularly for a month.

I'm definitely going to stick with strength training, because it gets you awesome results! I wish I could show you a before and after picture, but alas; I am not that brave. (Also, I didn't even take any before pictures. So there's that.) Just know that I have started the ongoing process of recovering from pregnancy and childbirth!

#35: Do a cardio workout four times a week for one month.

This goal got a little tricky in the final week, because our elliptical broke down, and I am not a fan of running outside (and we don't have money for a gym membership). I improvised by getting my Dance Central on and finding random exercise videos on the Internet. Emerson was highly amused by all of it. (He laughs hysterically whenever I do lunges. Is that a bad sign?)

Now that I'm done with this specific goal, I'll probably go back to my regular schedule of doing cardio two or three times a week. I'll have you know that these fitness goals have helped me lose over seven pounds so far! Hooray for progress!

#48: Make homemade baby food.

I know this isn't a big deal to a lot of people, but it seemed daunting to me before I did it. As you may have guessed, I'm not a confident cook!

I cooked up Emerson some acorn squash, and he loved it.

Squash halves after being baked and scooped.

The final product. (This wasn't all of it. Just a baby serving.)

Emerson was intrigued.

You could say he was a fan.

Well there you have it. Five down and only 47 to go! Oh boy.

52 things in 52 weeks: weekend getaway

Two days before my birthday, Andrew's dad spontaneously offered (at 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night) to watch Emerson overnight (that night) so Andrew and I could have a fun getaway at the Oregon coast. (And he paid for the hotel! What a great birthday present!) (Did you like all my parentheses?)

We almost turned down his offer--we were worried that it would be too rushed, that we hadn't planned anything, that we wouldn't find a good place to stay, etc.--but at the last minute, we decided to go. I'm so glad we did! We had a wonderful time together, and I think we really needed a nice break.

Andrew called around and got a really good deal at a nice resort in Cannon Beach. We were right by the water, and the room was awesome.

So was our view!

On Saturday, we got pastries for breakfast at the local bakery and spent the morning relaxing and walking around town. We found this gem at the local grocery store. There was one for Democrats too. Segregation much?

Andrew tried his hand at a player piano.

And we saw bacon frosting in the local candy store. 

Then we headed up the coast to Seaside and took a walk on the beach. It was a little chilly, but overall quite nice and sunny for the Oregon coast.

Can you tell the sun was in our faces?

So now we have gone on a weekend getaway,* and I can check off #6 on my list! 

*I know that since this trip was one night (instead of two), it might not technically count as a "weekend getaway," but I am definitely going to count it. It was the first time we'd left Emerson anywhere overnight, and it was on the weekend, and it was fantastic. Not that I don't love my baby, but yeah. It was nice.

a very, very late birth story

I know that it's been seven and a half months since I gave birth, but I figured getting it written out now would be better than getting it written out never.

[Note: I did not write this entirely from memory; I had my laptop with me in the hospital and wrote down a lot of it as it happened, and then the rest a few days later. Just in case you were doubting my ability to remember so many details (which you should). Also, this does include a few childbirth-related details that you may or may not be interested in reading about--nothing too graphic, but still. Read at your own risk.]

Emerson's Birth

Induction certainly makes for less exciting of a birth story, but oh well! I was a week past my due date and ready to get that baby out, so induction it was. (Yes, I know I could have waited it out. But I didn't.)

We checked into the hospital at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 21.

Excuse my no-makeup face. I was checking in to give birth, after all.

The room was surprisingly large and had a fun view looking out over Provo.

Woah there, belly.

I was only dilated to 1.5 cm when we checked in, but Emerson had dropped down farther than expected (to a +1 station), and the nurse was very excited about that. Dr. Drewes came in to explain what would be going on--that they'd be giving me a drug overnight to get my body ready for labor, and then Pitocin would be started sometime early in the morning to start contractions. The nurse came back around 10:00 and gave me Cytotec (the preparatory drug), and then we started to wait!

The nurses kept telling me to try to sleep, but it was not very comfortable in that bed, and before midnight, the contractions were getting pretty strong. I'd been advised to eat and drink if I could before getting an epidural or starting Pitocin, so Andrew got me some snacks, and we had a tiny feast. Then all we could do was wait and work through the contractions, which were hurting quite a bit. The original plan was to give me another dose of Cytotec around 1:00 a.m., but the contractions were already coming too strong and too close together for that. Instead, they waited for another couple hours and then just went ahead with the Pitocin.

Meanwhile, the contractions were getting more and more painful, so I got some drugs in my IV to take the edge off. It felt like I had just gotten high and I got super tired, so I was able to get about 45 minutes of sleep, but it wore off very quickly. I got another dose of that drug, but it didn't have any effect on me and didn't touch the pain, so I decided to get an epidural around 6:30. 

Right before the anesthesiologist came in, I was chugging some water, and then I got really queasy and threw it all up, including some of the food I'd eaten earlier. I'm guessing it was a combination of my nerves, the drugs that were in my system, and the fact that I had drunk a little too much water on a somewhat-empty stomach, but it wasn't too bad. There was a lot happening to distract me! 

Getting the epidural itself was just a little painful and felt really strange. Once it had fully set in, it felt extremely strange (and not altogether pleasant). I couldn't move my legs at all, and I can see why people say they don't like them. But I don't regret my decision in the slightest, because it made the rest of labor much more enjoyable for me. 

After the epidural, I was able to rest a little bit more, and I started dilating much more quickly. At one point, the nurses came to break my water to get things moving along, but when they checked me, my water had already broken. I had no idea that it had happened because of the epidural!

Around 12:30, our new nurse (who was less talkative, a little older, and more of a down-to-business type of lady) came in to check me, and I was at a 10 (we suspect I had been at a 10 for a while, but she'd been busy before then). She got everything ready for delivery and had me start pushing around 1:00 p.m. The pushing wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was incredibly tiring. I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to push correctly, because I had no feeling below where the epidural was placed. But I just tried to focus as hard as I could, and it worked! 

The initial pushing was also much more intimate and less of a spectacle than I was anticipating, with just me, Andrew, and the nurse in the room. The nurse was on my right and Andrew was on my left (holding my legs, since you're supposed to pull your legs to your chest and I couldn't lift my legs on my own). Then they would wait for me to feel a contraction coming (I could still feel the pressure), and then Andrew would slowly count to ten while I held my breath and pushed. (You have to push for three counts of ten during each contraction, one push right after the other.) Then I would try to relax and catch my breath for a minute or less before the next contraction came.

So I pushed like that, with Andrew and the nurse, for just 15 or 20 minutes. Then Dr. Wolsey came in, they got everything totally ready, and then we started pushing again. After just two more contractions, Emerson was born at 1:39 p.m. on June 22! 

All wrapped up, just a couple hours old.

Right after he was born, I just felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Then I got to hold him, and it was strange and incredible and wonderful. He was very calm and just fell asleep on my chest. I'm pretty sure I just cried the whole time I was holding him. He had quite the cone head for a few hours, so that was cute.

Everyone had been saying that he was going to be huge, which made me nervous, but he ended up weighing 8 lbs, 2 oz. So a little big, but not huge. He felt pretty tiny to me when I held him! 

So tired, but so happy to have him here!

In case you wanted a summary of the timeline of events, here is one I just whipped up:

• 8:00 p.m. (June 21): Checked in to the hospital
• 10:30 p.m.: Got first dose of Cytotec (which turned out to be the only dose needed)
• 1:00 a.m. (June 22): Contractions got stronger and were coming every couple minutes
• 3:00 a.m.: Started Pitocin
• 6:30 a.m.: Got the epidural
• 12:30 p.m.: Dilated to a 10!
• 1:00 p.m.: Started pushing
• 1:20 p.m.: Doctor came in to deliver
• 1:39 p.m.: Emerson made his debut!

Overall, labor was just about what I had expected--contractions were very painful, and the epidural was great. Pushing was easier and shorter than I had feared, which was fantastic! The one thing I had not anticipated was how painful the "kneading" would be right after Emerson was born. They had to massage my stomach to help the uterus contract and get back to normal, and WOW did that hurt. Much more than any of the contractions had. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. But the end result was just as sweet as I was hoping, and that's all that matters, right?