July 19, 2015

I'm going to back up a couple weeks before the 19th of July.  On July 6th, Landon left for his 2 week AT (annual training) for the military.  With my due date being July 27, knowing Olivia came 10 days early, and knowing that Landon wouldn't get back until July 20, we knew we would be cutting it close.  His sergeant told him he would be able to leave if I went in to labor, but he was two hours away, and if he got a call that I was in labor, it still could be a couple of hours before he would be able to leave.  Therefore, I had a back up plan.  My best friend, Natalie, would be on standby to be in the delivery room with me if Landon couldn't be there, and Landon's parents or Anna would be able to take Olivia.  \

When Landon left, we both felt like he would be coming home early because of me, so every day when we went to bed, we would say, "Ok, maybe I'll see you tomorrow".  Unfortunately, this made him being gone feel really long.  

On Friday morning, the 17th, I went to breakfast for a friend's birthday.  While I was there, I got a text from Landon that said "I'm coming home.  I'll call you in a little while."  This was such a relief, and I was so excited to see him after 11 days of him being gone.  When he finally called me, he said his sergeant came and told him that if he felt like he needed to leave early, he needed to go that day or else he wouldn't be able to leave until everyone left on the 20th.  Landon jumped on that and said yes, he "needed" to go home.

Saturday, the 18th, I still wasn't feeling anything.  Yes, Braxton Hicks, but nothing that was real and nothing that lead me to believe that the real deal was even remotely close.  At my last appointment, I was dilated to a 2, but I had been dilated to a 2 for the last 2 weeks.  Therefore, I didn't have a bag packed for the hospital for myself OR Noah.  

We had agreed to go to a cookout that evening at Ben's business partner's house.  We knew Ben and Natalie, but we didn't know anyone else there.  Tami and Aaron wanted to hang out with Olivia that day, so it gave us a day to hang out alone since Landon had been gone for almost 2 weeks.  

At about 5 o'clock, when I was getting ready to dry my hair, I had my first contraction.  It didn't feel like Braxton Hicks, but I wasn't convinced yet.  I mentioned it to Landon, and then I continued to dry my hair.  5 minutes later, I felt another one.  I then told Landon to start his timer.  We began timing them for the next 30-45 minutes while we finished getting ready, and consistently, they were 5 minutes apart, lasting anywhere from 40 seconds to 1 minute.

This was starting to feel like the real deal, but I wasn't completely sure.  With Olivia, my water broke, so I knew I was in labor.  I didn't want to be the one who went to the hospital because of contractions and get sent home because it was "false labor".  So we just kept timing it.  We did decide we would go ahead and pack a bag just in case.  We loaded our bags up and headed to the cookout.  This whole time, I'm still timing contractions and they are still between 5-6 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds.

Landon told me to text him once we got there if I felt like we needed to leave.  I kept timing my contractions for the next hour and a half.  They were getting stronger and stronger and making me sick to my stomach.  Natalie asked me how I was feeling and if I was having any contractions.  We weren't going to tell anyone because we didn't want to make a big deal about it, but I told her "yes, a few."  When she asked how far apart they were and I replied with "about 5 minutes", her eyes got wide and she said "So you are in labor?!?!"  I told her not to say anything, but the way I was feeling, I knew we needed to leave soon.  I texted Landon, and we headed out early with the excuse that we needed to get our 2 year old to bed.

I was still terrified that I wasn't in "real" labor and would get sent home, so I kept trying to call the on call nurse to let her know what was going on.  I couldn't reach them so we decided to just head to the hospital.  Landon called his parents and asked if Liv could spend the night just in case we would be staying at the hospital.  We got there around 8:00.  They had me go to a room where a nurse and a doctor would check my status and then decide if I was going to stay to have a baby or if they needed to send me home.  I can not tell you the relief I felt when the doctor finally checked me at 8:45 and said "Yep, you are dilated to a 5.5 and completely effaced.  Let's go have a baby."

We got to our labor and delivery room around 10:00.  My nurses asked me if I wanted to go ahead and get an epidural.  I told them I would wait a little longer.  By 10:30, I decided that I would go ahead and get one just so that maybe we could rest a little better since it was going to be a long night.  My nurse predicted that he would be here by 3:00 am.  I got the epidural around 11, and felt some relief within the next 15 minutes.  The nurses turned down the lights, and Landon decided to go to sleep for a little while since nothing was happening and he was still tired from being gone the last 2 weeks.  Poor Landon, at one point I asked Landon to plug my phone in because it was about to die and once to turn the air down because I was hot.  Both times he replied with "sure" and rolled back over on his comfy little cot without doing either task.

At 11:30 I felt a pop and a gush.  My water had broken.  I called the nurse (yes, Landon was still asleep).  She came in and checked me and I was dilated to an 8.5.  Things were moving fast now and would move even faster now that my water had broken.  She came in again at 12:00 and I was completely dilated and ready to go.  They called the on call doctor and told her to head to the hospital.  Landon decided to finally get up when the nurse turned the lights on and had me do a practice push before the doctor got there and immediately told me to stop because we needed to wait for Dr. Walsh.  (Side note, the doctor on call was Dr. Walsh, who was my doctor with Olivia, but did not deliver Olivia because she was not on call.  Because of different reasons, I switched doctors with Noah, to Dr. Dooley.  So Dr. Walsh didn't deliver my baby when she was my doctor, but she did when she wasn't.  Also, I taught Dr. Walsh's son, so we talked about school in between pushes, ha!)

Dr. Walsh showed up around 12:30.  I pushed 3 times and Noah was here at 12:41 am, all 7 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches of him.  It was the first time I had fallen in love with a boy at first sight.  After we were both cleaned up, we were left alone for a couple of hours, just the three of us.  Seeing Landon with his son was such a special moment.  I was so thankful that Landon was able to come home a day early to be there with me through the whole labor.  We got to our actual room around 3:00 am and tried to get a little sleep that night.  We were both exhausted, but so thankful for our new sweet boy, Noah Cole.

The Day Our Lives Changed

May 13, 2013, the day our lives changed forever, a day that I will celebrate for the rest of my life, the day I became a mother.

We had a baby shower the Saturday before and everyone casually joked leading up to it that they hoped I would make it to my shower, but why wouldn't I?  It was 2 weeks before my actual due date, and even though I had a feeling that she would come early, I never thought it would be THAT early.  I had left everything at school the Friday before somewhat organized "just in case", and left my lesson plans where they would be easy to find.  The following week was supposed to be my last week of work, but I went ahead and made the sub plans for it just for my own sanity.

Fast forward to Monday at around 1:00 am.  I woke up, just like I had done every single night for the last 9 months needing to go to the bathroom.  It always felt like I was having Braxton Hicks when I woke up because of the immense pressure on my bladder.  I went to the bathroom and went back to bed.  I then woke up at 3:30 to what felt like me peeing myself, but there was no pressure on my bladder/Braxton Hicks.  I immediately jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom.  After a few minutes of sitting on the toilet, my mind finally registered what was probably happening.  I had the same feeling I had when I first took that pregnancy test 9 months before and saw that it was positive, heart racing, sweaty palms.  I knew this was about to be real!  I woke Landon up and said, "Either I just peed myself or my water just broke."  Calmly, he got out of bed and sat at the foot of the bed and asked if I was having contractions.  When I told him "no", he said, "Ok then lets go back to bed."  Ha!  I knew there wasn't really anything to do yet, so I went back to bed too.

Contractions started around 3:45 but were anywhere from 8-12 minutes apart and weren't painful at all.  I never went back to sleep because the feeling that I was continually peeing myself was more uncomfortable than the actual contractions.  So I laid there until 6:00 just timing contractions.  I finally got up at 6:00, fed the dogs, ate breakfast, and then called the hospital.  They told me that it sounded like my water had indeed broken and to come on in.  Again, we were in no rush.  I knew I didn't want to sit in a hospital room forever, so we slowly but surely began getting ready.

Because both of us were not expecting to be gone from school this week, Landon quickly showered and went up to his school to take care of things, and I called a couple teachers from my team and let them know what was going on.  I took a shower while Landon was gone and put on make-up.  I knew there would be lots of pictures that day, and I wasn't going to look like crap:)  Landon got home between 7:30 and 8, and we started cleaning up the house, finished packing our bags, and made arrangements for the dogs.  At this point, contractions were between 5-8 minutes apart but still not painful, only uncomfortable.

We finally headed out the door at 9:45 but needed to run a few errands before we went to the hospital.  The dogs needed medicine and Landon had an appointment to get a steroid shot for his allergies at 10:00.  We finally walked into the hospital at 11:00, registered, and got checked into our room.  Our nurse checked to confirm that my water had broken and I was then dilated to a 3 and 100% effaced.  At this point contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and getting stronger, but nothing I couldn't handle.  All I could think about was how hungry I was, so the nurse gave us the ok for me to eat something small.  Landon went to get us some lunch, and while he was gone, my contractions started getting more intense.  At one point, I had to call the nurse because I was getting pretty nauseous.  Luckily, I didn't get sick, and Landon came back with my sandwich from Which Witch.  Between that time and about 3:00 I threw up 2 times, and I was now dilated to a 5.5.

I had only had a handful of contractions that were pretty painful, hence the throwing up part, so when the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural, I told her that I was fine for now.  Between 3:00-4:00 the contractions intensified, and I finally decided that I would get the epidural.  The anesthesiologist came in at 4:00 (who was a very odd fellow with no sense of humor) and attempted to give me the goods.  In between contractions and him messing up the first time, I finally got it and he was gone.  It took some time for the epidural to kick in, and still, I could feel every contraction.  They just weren't as long.  My biggest fear was that now my labor would slow down because of the epidural, so when the nurse came in at 5:15 to check me, I was afraid I would still be at a 5.5.  Hearing her say, "Wow, you're at a 9.5!" was like music to my ears.

The next 15-20 minutes were all a blur.  I had this idea in my mind what it was going to be like delivering a baby just from movies that I had seen and YouTube videos I had watched.  I was expecting drama and chaos, but it was quite the opposite!  My nurse told me she was going to get the delivery table and another nurse and then we would be ready to push.  When she left the room, Landon prayed for me and Olivia that everything would go smoothly and safely.  I felt such a peace and was so relaxed during the whole thing.  The doctor, who was not my doctor, on call came in for most of the pushing.  She was very laid back and funny, which kept me and the whole process relaxed.  She kept asking what my first meal was going to be after I pushed this baby out and told me I needed to get a big margarita too!  I pushed for an hour and a half, but it seemed like only 10 minutes.

Sweet angel baby!

At 6:35 I pushed 3 more times for 5 seconds each, and my sweet Olivia entered the world weighing 6 lbs 8 oz and was 21.5" long.  I knew I loved her when she was inside of me, and people always told me "Oh just wait until you see her!"  But I couldn't fully understand what they meant until I actually saw her for the first time.  The love I immediately felt for her was indescribable.  They laid her on my chest while they cleaned her off, Landon cut the cord and then started taking pictures.  Both of us were just in aw of what had just happened!  The nurses gave us some time to ourselves before we called our families into the room.  It was such a sweet time that I'm so glad I got to share with just my husband and now my daughter.  Landon was so great during the whole labor!  I couldn't have asked for a better husband!  God has truly truly blessed me!            

          

                last picture of just us!

                         

                                          Our new family of 3!

3rd Trimester, ready or not, here it comes!

I am officially in my 3rd trimester, and I honestly can't believe how fast time has gone.  I am 29 weeks as of Thursday, and it's hard to believe that I'm 11 weeks away from my due date and just 7 weeks from technically being full term.  My pregnancy has been so easy and such a blessing with very little sickness, aches and pains.  Now that time is drawing closer to meeting my sweet daughter, I'm praying that delivery goes just as smoothly as the the whole pregnancy has gone.

29 weeks

It's been very obvious that I have a human being growing inside of me with my extending waistline, but I told Landon last night that it has been even more surreal in the last month to actually feel different body parts grazing my insides and watching my belly move as she has her own dance party inside of me.  I am amazed at this little human that God is growing inside of me, and as she gets bigger and bigger, I am continuing to pray that God will also grow her heart towards and love and desire for Him as well.

My sisters and mom at my baby shower

Over the last couple of months we have begun and almost finished her nursery and had our first baby shower.  I remember the day that we painted the nursery, I stood back and looked at the room that evening, and that's when I really thought to myself, "This is real."  I couldn't believe that a little human was actually going to be living in our house, in this room.  Then, when we had our baby shower, those same feelings came back when I got the cutest little outfits, stuffed animals, and books that my sweet daughter will be using in just a few short months.  Even with all of these physical changes, I'm not sure that it will really hit me that I am having a sweet baby until the first time I hold her, and I can not wait for that day to come.

God has been so good to me and Landon over the last almost 4 years of our marriage, and we can't wait for this new blessing that God has given to us!

It's A..............

From the very beginning, on September 13th, when I found out I was carrying a sweet baby inside me, I couldn't wait to find out if it was a boy or a girl, but the way my appointments were falling, I didn't think I would be able to find out until after the first of January.  A friend of mine is due 2 days after me, and she mentioned that she was going to a place where you pay a certain amount of money to find out what the gender is.  Naturally, I looked into it and booked our appointment for December 8th, when I would be 16 weeks pregnant.

I knew I wanted to surprise both mine and Landon's parents on Christmas with a gift of either all pink or all blue baby items.  We were telling everyone we weren't finding out until January, so we knew it would throw them all off.

Long story short, my doctor told me I could come in on the 6th to find out for cheaper than that other place I had booked, so I booked the appointment and waited impatiently for that day at 4:00.  Landon and I made our final guesses before the sonographer came in.  He said boy, I said girl, but I really thought it would be a boy anyways.  Landon comes from a family of ALL boys, from his grandpa to all of his cousins on his dad's side, so I knew having a girl was a slim chance.  The sonographer began and was pointing out different body parts of the baby as she was going.  Landon and I could both tell before she ever said anything what it was.  I think she was just trying to get a really good picture, and then she finally said, "Well, you're having a GIRL!"  We were both pretty shocked and excited at the same time.  This would be the first granddaughter on my side of the family and the first girl on his.

We both agreed to tell one person, because we just couldn't keep the secret completely for 2 whole weeks.  We celebrated Christmas with Landon's family first.  They opened the gift with pink socks and pink confetti and put 2 and 2 together.  Here is a little video of their reactions.

We went to my family's a couple days later and broke the news to them the same way.  I absolutely loved my dad's reaction!

We were excited to finally be able to share our news with the rest of the world.  We didn't even keep the pregnancy a secret for this long from our parents!  It makes it more real talking about "her" and "she".  I can't believe we are going to have a daughter in just a few short months.  We feel so blessed.

Olivia Joy Turrubiarte will be here in May!!!

Week 6

Only 4 weeks to go.  28 days from tomorrow.  While the last 5 weeks have gone by pretty fast, I will have to say that this last week inched by.  I'm not really sure what the reason for that was because I stayed busy.  My family came in to town, but for whatever reason, it was slow.

This weekend was hard in particular.  Last Wednesday (the 4th) I was out on the lake with some friends and Landon called, not once, but twice.  And I missed the call, not once, but twice.  I was absolutely sick,  so I was really looking forward to the weekend with my family.  My family was here to go to a Rangers game and Hurricane Harbor, and while I thought that would keep me busy and my mind off of completely missing Landon, it only made me long for my husband more.  My WHOLE family was together, but my very best friend was missing.

I received 4 letters in the mail yesterday from Landon.  2:30 is usually my favorite part of the day (around the time the mail comes), when I get to sit down and "talk" with my husband.  I think he said it best in one of his letters.  He said "I really miss your physical presence, but I think what I miss most is just being able to talk to you."  I have said from the very beginning that yes, 10 weeks is a long time to be apart, but 10 weeks is even longer when almost all communication is cut off.

I don't mean this post to be a drag, it's just my place to share my thoughts and feelings, and these are my thoughts and feelings.  I spent some time doing my Bible Study this morning over Esther, and God really spoke to me.  This life may be hard, it may not be ideal or what I had in mind, but Landon and I are right where God wants to be "for such a time as this."


Here are a few pictures from the weekend with my family!  While it was a little crazy having 8 adults, 3 kids under the age of 6, and 2 dogs all under one roof, we had a lot of fun!!!

 

Half Way Point

Landon left 5 weeks from today (Tues), and I get to see him 5 weeks from tomorrow (Wed).  I'm officially at the half way point.

I like to compare it to running 2 miles.  If When I run 2 miles, I will run 1 mile out and 1 mile back.  That first mile out feels good, goes by fairly quickly, but then when you realize you still have that whole mile left to go, its kind of frustrating.  My FIL did say that usually that last mile does seem to go by faster, so that's what I'm hoping for with these next 5 weeks.

5 weeks ago today

This past weekend I had a family reunion, this weekend my WHOLE family is coming to see me and go to a Rangers game, and then I'm going to my parents the following weekend.   By that time, I will have less than a month left to go.  I. Can't. Wait.

Week 3

Only 7 weeks from tomorrow until I get to see Landon.  7 more of these weekly blogs.  7 more times of going to church without him.  7 more times to take out the trash.  7 more episodes of Extreme Makeover Weight loss Edition.  I can do this.

Maddie and I

The majority of the week was spent at my parents house hanging out with my youngest sister, Maddie. We had a lot of fun playing doodle jump, watching Army Wives, and just talking.  I loved getting to hang out with all of my family, but it was really good to hang out with her.  It's really never just the 2 of us around, so it was kind of a first for us and very fun!

I only had one mini-meltdown this week.  I got home from visiting my family on Friday, and while I had been gone, it rained almost 2 inches.  Naturally, my yard was extremely overgrown.  While I don't mind mowing, I have never used the weed eater before.  That was always Landon's job to do the edging and weed eating.  I told him before he left that he needed to show me how to use it, and the day I was taking him to the airport, I said, "You never showed me how to use the weed eater."  So Sunday morning, I woke up and decided to get the yard work done early before it got too hot.  I mowed first, only because I knew for sure how to do that.  I then ventured over to the weed eater and tried several times to start it, but it just wouldn't budge.  I came inside, and tried to find youtube videos on my specific weed eater (kind of lame, yes), but couldn't find anything.  I decided to go out and try one more time, couldn't get it to start, and started walking into the house and kicked the car with my ankle.  Usually when I hurt myself, it just magnifies my frustration, so of course, I started crying, ha.  I finally decided that was just something I would let Landon's dad do for me.  He told me he would come by sometime later this week to help with it.

Monday morning I woke up, and was determined to figure out this stupid machine.  I still might want Landon's dad to come do it for me, but I just wanted to know that I could do it myself.  Naturally, the first time I pulled the cord, it started.  Now I have a funky looking yard and 2 VERY sore arms/shoulders to prove that I can use a weed eater.

My friend Natalie

Today I was very blessed to hang out with a few very sweet friends, one laying out by the pool, and another couple for dinner.  Things do get lonely here by myself all day, but I know that I really am not alone, and I'm so thankful for the friendships that God has placed in my life for such a time as this.






Oh and I got to talk to my AWESOME friend Kinzie on the phone tonight, so I felt like I needed to make a shout out to her too:)  (Are you happy now??)

Favorite Little Guys

  These are my favorite 3 little guys, my nephews.  They mean the world to me.  They are rambunctious, loud, energetic, and oh so lovable!