Meeting family, and Mike's Marathon!

This last weekend we had the opportunity to go down to St. George for Mike's marathon. Along the way we stopped by Tremonton so that Angela's kids and Moe could meet little Steven. Here are the pics of that :)

Moe with the little guy

And Naomi...

Micah with his new cousin

And Kenya with Steven. Steven did so good on the trip! He really didn't cry at all and only had to stop twice on our way down and then once on our way back. How did we get so lucky to have such an awesome kid?

We had some friends from Rexburg who graduated a year ago that live down in St. George. They were sweet enough to let us stay with them and feed us delicious food and of course gave us great company when we were at their house. We weren't able to spend a lot of time, but what we did was way too much fun. We miss these guys and it was fun to see them! Above is a picture of Mike with Jeff on his scooter, Sebastian. I thought we had gotten a picture of Karissa, but sadly we didn't :( She's so cute and pregnant right now-due in November. They were both really sweet with Steven and I know that they're going to be awesome parents.

This was Steven's first time meeting a lot of Mike's family. His two brothers, Kevin and Rob, and his sister Stephanie ran the marathon as well and his parents came up to watch everyone race. Above is his first time with Grandma.

And here is Uncle Kevin

And Uncle Rob. We got pictures of his first time with Aunt Stephanie and Papa as well, but it wasn't on our camera so I'll have to post those when we get them.

Saturday came and so did the marathon. It was extremely hot-record highs! Steven did so well! I couldn't believe it, especially since he was sweating and so hot! I kept him in the shade and would get the corner of his blanket wet and rub him down and then blow on him to try and keep him cool and comfortable. Above is a picture of him chilling while waiting for everyone to come in.

This wasn't the first time Papa held him, but at least one of the times...you can kind of see it in this picture, but I wanted to point out that Steven does indeed have a hint of red in his hair when he gets in the sun. Mike won't admit it, but its true. Not too much, but you can tell there's some red there.

Here is Mike running in! I am so proud of him! He twisted his ankle on mile 10, but was determined to finish and so he had to hobble run/walk the rest of the way. He was pretty disappointed that happened because he had been feeling really good and knew he could have done better, but he finished anyways! His ankle is pretty bruised and a little swollen, but thankfully I don't think too much damaged was done by his stubbornness to not give up. Above is a picture of a family friend, Elaine, his sister Stephanie, and his brother Rob running the last little bit with him in. Stephanie has a ace wrap on her leg because she split open her stitches while running and actually had to be told to stop when it was getting too swollen. I don't know what it is about these stubborn Reeses and their drive to finish despite everything, but I'm glad Stephanie and Mike are okay. It was a hard marathon for everyone with the heat and what not...I'm in awe of them all for being able to do it! I don't think I could ever do it myself.

Here he comes!! :)

Running into the finish

Right after finishing

Coming in to get a drink and some food.

Showing off his metal-It was a really cool sandstone for the metal.

Our family-So proud of you honey!

We stopped by Mike's Mom's parent's graves and took some pictures-Steven was with them not too long ago

This was my first time going here as well...it was a really special experience to be there and to hear Mike's memories after stopping by.

The boys by their grandparent's graves

We went to the Pizza Factory afterwards for lunch and Steven was able to chill in Grandma's arms and take a much needed nap.

A closer view of them

I just love this boy so much! :)

Talking with Papa

Meeting Uncle Ryan for the first time. We were really lucky to have the one time we needed to stop be in Murray and soon after the Priesthood Session. Mike's little brother, Ryan, had gone to the session and met us after to see Steven and have some ice cream. Over all it was a really fun trip and I'm so glad that we were able to go and cheer on Mike for his first marathon and have a lot of Mike's family meet Steven for the first time. Fun, fun, fun! :)

My Story of Steven's Birth...a little more detailed

Sorry no pictures...for those with facebook, I've posted quite a bit there including his newborn pictures my friend took, but for some reason here it only shows up as words. I'm still trying to figure it all out. I have had a few people call though, or write letters, wanting to hear more of the story, so I thought I'd elaborate a little more on what happened and everything. This is documentation for my records as well, so I'm sorry if its too long or boring for any of you...don't feel like you have to read it :)

Rachel, my midwife, broke my water around 10 Thursday night and that really got things moving along! She was great helping make me comfortable and was there the entire time except for a 15-20 minute period where she had to go pump (she just had a baby maybe 8 weeks ago). It was funny because Mike was like, "Wait, you're here to stay? You're not just going to check her and then leave?" To which Rachel said, "Nope...she's going natural and so I'm here for the long haul, that's how we do it! I want her to succeed and I'm not going to leave". I was really lucky to have her there with me. When it came time to push she gave me a ton of different options on how to go about it and we experimented till I found the one I liked and wanted. I didn't realize there were so many different ways to push!

After a while of pushing, Rachel decided that something was going on that wasn't allowing Steven to descend like he was suppose to so she checked me and found an anterior lip on my cervix that she had to push out of the way for a few contractions so that Steven's head could move past that. Afterwards I asked if that was going to be a problem in future deliveries and she said that it shouldn't-some first time moms just have that problem but not on other deliveries.

My nurse brought in a mirror which was cool, but it showed me how little progress I was making. After 40 minutes of pushing I remember asking Rachel how much longer she thought I had...she said probably a good hour! I remember being so overwhelmed and wanting to cry because that felt like an eternity and I didn't think I could do it-but I knew it was too late to get an epidural, no way I could hold still long enough to get one, so I had to grit my teeth and just do it. I remember Mike making a comment about how 40 minutes had gone by really fast, an hour wasn't too bad. He was so sweet trying to make me feel better and not get discouraged but I just remember saying something like, "Really? That's been the longest 40 minutes of my life!" Looking back now though, it really did go by pretty fast...I didn't have time to think in between contractions-I was too busy trying to relax and conserve my energy. I'm really grateful for a book one of my friends let me borrow "Easing Labor Pains" because it really helped me to remember to take advantage of time in between contractions to regroup and relax all my muscles.

Finally Steven's little head started to show and I got excited! After one contraction when his head was still right there I asked if I could touch him, so I reached down and felt his little head of hair...another shock-I thought he'd be bald! Which reminds me of another funny line. I can't remember when it happened, but Rachel knew Mike didn't want a red-headed boy and so when they saw his hair she asked him, "So do you think its red?" and they proceeded to have a conversation about if it was red or not. I was so tired and knew there was still work to be done, and there they were having a casual conversation about Steven's hair! Haha, I have to admit, I'm not proud of how I reacted but I just looked at Mike and not shouting, but not quietly either, I said, "I don't care what color hair he has!" In my mind I also thought, "I just want him out of me!" But I think another contraction started then so I was interrupted. I do remember Rachel and Mike looking at me a little shocked and then at each other and they kinda chuckled. Let's just say I'm glad that contraction started or I might have blown up more! :) Funny now, but I really didn't care then.

I'm a screamer. Hate to admit it, but I'm probably just like those girls on the movies. I think I did pretty good for the first part of pushing, but then when it came to the end I was so scared and yelling helped...kind of. Once again, I had the mirror, and as I watched, I saw the cause of my pain and I was terrified of tearing really badly so I didn't push as effectively as I probably should have. I think I put more effort into yelling than pushing sometimes. I finally had to close my eyes and then things seemed to get better. However, Rachel knew I was tired and needed help, so she took her fingers and through my butt helped pushed Steven's chin out. One more push after that and his body followed. Her helped was much needed and appreciated, but man it hurt! Mike said I screamed bloody murder and that he almost started crying because he'd never seen me like that, he knew I was hurting, and he was helpless to help me.

After Steven was out the pain was gone! I knew it was done, I saw the evidence of it before they took him away, and I was content until I looked down at Rachel. At the time I didn't know how bad it was, but later Rachel told me that she was really scared with how much I was bleeding and was just about to call in the doctor for an emergency surgery or something when I finally stopped. She had to keep her fists in my stomach for awhile to stop my bleeding and that combined with the medicine they gave me saved my life. So due to that complication that took awhile to control, and then getting the placenta out and stitching me up, I wasn't able to hold Steven for awhile. Mike didn't know how serious my bleeding was either, but he said that he was shocked in how much blood was everywhere from the short time he had his back turned at the table with Steven to when he looked back at me. Thankfully neither of us was too worried because he had given me a blessing and we felt really good in Rachel's hands and knew that everything would be okay.

After about two hours after having Steven, my nurse tried helping me get up to the bathroom to pee and shower so that I could be moved to a more comfortable room. Yea, that wasn't going to work. I only had to sit up by the side of the bed and I got so lightheaded and everybody's voices started fading that I knew I was starting to blackout so back to bed I went. We tried again a few hours later at five with more success, but I still had to use a wheelchair instead of walk because I was so shaky and lightheaded still. But we were finally able to go to our other room where we crawled into bed to finally sleep at six, almost 24 hours after I first woke up (and remember I'd only had a 2 hour nap in between).

We were both exhausted, but sleep wasn't that much of an option for me. They came to draw my blood at 6:30, my nurse came in at 7, breakfast came at 8, Steven had to eat again at 8:45, and then I got some sleep before our bishop and his wife came at 10. My actual midwife, Karen, came in to see me between 10:30-11, lunch was at 12 and then some friends from work downstairs came up at 1:30. I kept getting catnap sleeps in here and there, but from about 2-5 when they brought in dinner, I was finally able to get a few hours of sleep that were wonderful!

Back to my lab work though...before I went into the hospital my hematocrit (or blood level) was around 14 which is normal. Friday morning this had dropped to 7.9. Usually we transfuse people with blood when they drop below 7, so I was borderline. I was doing so well though-not fainting or feeling very lightheaded, was alert, pulse and blood pressure were good, so they weren't worried. The next morning my blood had dropped again, this time to 6.8. Dr. Meredith came in to see me-he works with the midwives and they had been communicating with him frequently about me. He informed me what my blood level was and that they were going to hold off infusing me with blood because they felt like I was probably stabilizing now and I should be fine. If I was symptomatic they would have transfused me right then, but again, I wasn't acting normal for such a low blood count and so they were going to just watch me for now.

The next day was Sunday...I asked my nurse how my blood draw looked, but she wasn't allowed to tell me anything except that it had dropped again. I was thinking maybe it would be 6.5 or something...nope! When Karen came in she looked really worried and said, "Camille how are you still acting like this? You look pale, but you're still so asymptomatic and having such atypical behavior for a person who's blood level is 5.9!" I was floored when she said I my blood level was so low! I couldn't believe it! I felt more crappy Sunday morning than I had, but still not too terrible. With that low of a blood count though, Karen forbid me from doing anything by myself, so bless her heart, she helped me to the bathroom and stayed in there while I sat in the shower to make sure that I didn't hurt myself if I fainted. Later that day they transfused me with blood and after that I felt much better. They normally would keep people, but because I'm a nurse and knew what to look for, my uterus was contracting down normally and I wasn't actively bleeding anymore, PLUS my wonderful mother was there to make sure I followed the doctor's orders and didn't do anything, they let me go home.

Skipping back a little bit...Dr. Meredith had come in again Sunday and we were talking about why my blood was continuing to drop and we got into an interesting conversation about postpartum hemorrhaging and how it was still the leading cause of death in 3rd world countries and how every minute a women dies from it. Through the course of our conversation I got chills and asked him, "So are you saying that without the meds and quick thinking of Rachel I could have been one of those women?" His answer..."Undoubtedly yes, you would have been". I was stunned again and have never been more grateful for modern technology and medication! I couldn't imagine my life without my family, and of someone else raising my son...I'm so glad that Heavenly Father has allowed me to continue my journey here for awhile longer and that we have a healthy son here with us, and that he is so good since I have needed to not do as much and sleep a lot-just slowly work back up to my normal. Some days are better than others, but I have felt fortified and strengthened when needed for which I am grateful for all the prayers and help I've received. I have felt so loved!

I didn't really explain this, but the reason that I bleed so much is because of growing such a beefy placenta-Rachel's words, not mine. When it came out she got really surprised and said, "Holy Cow girl, you sure know how to grow them!" Because Steven was so big, I had a bigger placenta than normal, and behind my placenta feeding it were bigger than normal blood vessels. When the placenta detached from the wall, my uterus was so stretched out that it had a hard time contracting down and therefore wasn't able to stop the blood from continuing to flow out from these vessels. Rachel and Karen described it as turning on the faucet full blast. This was why they started the medications to contract me back down and why Rachel had her fists in my stomach-she was trying to cut off the blood supply. Apparently I'm going to be more prone to this happening with other pregnancies, but now that we know hopefully we can be more on top of it with the meds already ready and building up my blood supply beforehand. I'm not too worried. Mike and I want more kids, and I know that we will be allowed to have them, just hopefully with not as many complications next time :) Sorry again this was such a long post, but thanks for indulging me! Hopefully I'll get up pictures soon!

Baby Steven

Sorry everyone that it has taken me awhile to update this post. I've been trying to play recovery and its been quite the ordeal, but now everything is going much better and we're home finally thank goodness. So while I'm sitting back and being lazy with my Mom slaving away in the kitchen, I thought I'd take some time to blog about how our wonderful little miracle, Steven, came into the world.

The whole thing started Thursday morning after I'd had a rough night of really bad menstrual cramps. I woke up at 6:30 to go to the bathroom to find a very big "bloody show" I remember my sisters always saying that they had this the day before they delivered (sometimes hours before) and I'd read online that this usually meant that your cervix was opening and you'd be having the baby soon most likely. So I got really excited and told Mike. Then neither of us could go back to bed...too excited and my cramps were still pretty bad. Around 7:30-7:45ish the pain transferred to my lower back. I'd get this feeling while on my period so I contributed it to the cramps. However, when I called my sister, she asked for more details and after I explained that the pain came and went, she thought I was in labor and having a back labor instead of front. Next time it happened I paid more attention to my stomach and sure enough it was contracting, but I was just feeling it in my back. Around 9 something we went into the doctor and I had started dilating, went from a 1 1/2 two days ago to a soft 3 and 90%. They sent me home to keep walking and trying to progress farther on my own and with orders to take a nap.

Home we went and we were able to take about a 2 hour nap. We then kept walking around but while consistent, my contractions weren't getting harder or closer together-they ranged from about 5-10 minutes apart. The office closed at 5, and I wanted to be checked one more time before they were gone, so at 4:45 we went back in and I had dilated to a 4. Rachel, the midwife who was checking me and was on call to deliver, said that she wouldn't be surprised if I was in the hospital by 8 or 9 tonight. She was right! My contractions finally started hurting (haha who wishes for that? ME!:) and for half an hour were coming every other contraction 3 or 6 minutes apart so averaging about 4 minutes. Then the next half hour they were every 2 to 3 minutes so we decided to head on up and above is the admitting picture when they checked me. I was dilated to a 5! So sad, I was hoping I'd be farther along but oh well. Below is a picture of me in the bed after getting admitted and having my IV started.


I was wanting to try to go natural, so after Rachel arrived we headed off for a walk around the hospital to keep the contractions going, bouncing on the ball, even did the jacuzzi before I was ready to push at 11:45.


Here is Mike geared up and ready to go! Our Midwife, Rachel, was very nice and awesome! She was willing to let Mike do as much as he wanted to with the delivery and so he gowned up and she put her hands on top of his as he helped guide Steven's head out. Mike ended up not finishing helping because he felt bad about "roughing" Steven up when she was helping his head out. He wasn't able to cut the cord initially either sadly (he was able to trim after under the warmer). This was due to Steven having the cord around his neck twice, he swallowed some meconium, and he was floppy and didn't cry right away. Rachel threw him on my chest to cut the cord before they whisked him away and I remember thinking, "Holy cow! That was in me? He's HUGE!" And then it registered I hadn't heard him cry yet and so I kept yelling over at the warmer to the NICU nurse and Respitory Therapist (RT), "Is he okay? Is he going to be okay?" My nurse, Carli, reassured me he was crying now and pinking up so he'd be okay. Then I turned back and looked down at Rachel and saw her face and thought, "Am I okay?" She looked really worried and then turned to my nurse and said, "She's bleeding, get pitocin running right now and get cytotec now!" Rachel was really calm about it all, but I could tell it was serious and I remember at one of my sister's births where she was bleeding and they kept instructing her to tell her body to stop bleeding, so I started telling myself to stop. After a little while Rachel gave a big sigh and said, "Okay, I think we're okay...my heart really got racing there for a minute but I think we're in the clear now." So, back to Steven...he was born at 1:08 AM Friday morning on September 9, 2011 and weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz and was 22 inches long! Can you say BIG baby? :)

Here is a picture Mike got of the clock shortly after Steven was born so that we could remember.



Steven at the warmer being worked on by the RT and NICU nurse. All is well :)

Mike was able to help my labor nurse, Carli, give Steven his first bath and change Steven's first diaper. I think this might have been one of the very first diapers Mike has ever changed which made for an entertaining and fun experience :)

The diaper change :)

Beginning of the bath.

What a sweet Daddy :) Carli had to keep telling him it was okay to press harder to get him clean.

Mike was scared to do this part so Carli washed his hair.

Carli was an amazing nurse and such a support for me. While pushing and inbetween contractions she stayed right by me and kept telling me I could do it when I'd look at her and say I couldn't. I was able to brave it through and go natural...crazy I know! But yes, I was really grateful for all of the support I got through Carli, Rachel, and of course my amazing husband Michael during that time. I couldn't have done it without them. By the way, you may have noticed, Carli was pregnant as well and has two little kids already so she had great experience and tips for me.

Proud Daddy with baby Steven.

And enjoy some pictures of little Steven.

Some people have asked if Steven has red hair and I can kind of see why this picture might show that. However, I can't really even see hints of red normally. I would say his hair is medium brown and very cute. I was shocked we had a baby with hair since both of us were bald, but Steven has a head full! :)

My first time holding Steven for real. He isn't breast feeding (my mom at first thought he was), we're just doing skin to skin that they recommend as soon as possible after to warm him up and to help the bonding process. I don't know how much I needed it...I was already bound as tight as you could get to this little boy the first time I saw him but I still enjoyed holding him :)

Another sweet picture of Steven. I just love this boy so much! :)


The room that we stayed in on the Mom Baby Unit had its air conditioning broken. Lucky for me they found a fan that kept me cool, but it was way too hot for Mike to sleep so after that first night he went home and would sleep. I woke up Friday night to find this:

Mike had gone home for the night but was missing us too much so he came back up and was holding Steven when I woke up. He ended up going back home because try as he may, it was just way too hot in there! I felt bad he wasn't able to stay, but I'm glad he was at least able to get good sleep and that he loves us so much to come back in to see his wife and son, even in the middle of the night! Love this man, love my son. I am so grateful for both of these amazing individuals in my life and still can't believe we've been so blessed with such an amazing son!

Friends, Park City, and baby stuff :)

Mike and I are really lucky to have so many good friends here in Rexburg. The very first couple we had over after getting married were the Schenks and lucky for us they have been around since. We just barely started becoming better friends last semester, but I sure am glad we did! Mike and Nick get along great and Lindsay loves to read...need I say more? :) The other great quality about this couple is their son, Koen, who is a doll and so much fun! Mike and him have a really cute relationship and Koen just LOVES Mike, no joke! Its really cute and makes me happy to see it. But anyways, awhile back we went on a picnic with these awesome guys and then played some frisbee golf. Here are some pictures from that. Above is Nick and Mike going out to play.

Throwing the frisbee.

Little Koen eating his lunch while we ate ours.

Lindsay and me...this girl is awesome! So glad she's my neighbour :)

A few weeks ago we were able to go down to Park City to visit Mike's parents, his sister Stephanie, and Ryan, his little brother. I was surprised the doctors said it was okay to go, but they did, so we went! It was a fun trip and was nice to see family. Ryan is attending his first semester at BYU and we were able to help him move in. It was fun remembering back when I moved into the dorms for the first time, and shortly after met Mike! Before moving in, we were able to have a few days with Ryan and so Mike went and did the Alpine Slides, runs, and many more activities with him. I didn't do as much...I didn't really feel like having Steven come and join us :) Above is Mike coming down the slide.

Mike and Ryan on their way up to the Slide.

Ryan coming down the slide.

Next are some things that I'm really excited about! We finally got a diaper bag! I'm so fickle and can never decide what I want, but I'm excited about this one and feel good about my choice. Yes, it has flowers, but I figure it doesn't look too feminine and looks more like a purse than a diaper bag anyway so Steven hopefully won't mind :) The next project I've been wanting to do for a while was decorate a wipes container. One of my friends did it to hers and I loved it! So I called up one of my other good friends and we got together and decorated these while our husbands played some video games (their daughter Chloe was already asleep). It was a lot of fun! I'm just sad I wasn't thinking and didn't get pictures of us doing it together or at least both of us with our end projects. But anyhow...may I present my wipes container! :)

Here's the front view. I used extra fabric that was left over from the bumper pads and curtains I made for his room and then ribbon from our wedding cake.

The back

And the side...this ribbon was generously donated by Ashley, the girl I did this with. It still opens and so is completely functional and was so much fun to do! It didn't take very long at all...just cutting time and hot gluing time. Though I am kinda a perfectionist sometimes so it might have taken longer than it should have but I would do it again in a heart beat! The next project we talked about doing is making those hanging diaper containers. I still have left over fabric and think that would be so cute to match everything and I really don't think it would be hard to do at all! I've started making a pattern out of newspaper and Ashley has a sewing machine we can use so this might just happen! I'll have to post a picture if it actually does and if it turns out looking okay :)

Baby Steven where are you?

The other night Mike wakes me up in a panic reaching over me and said, "Steven, Steven! Where are you?" I took his hands and put them on my belly, reminding him that Steven was still inside and not crawling around like he was dreaming. But really...where are you baby Steven? Just because the doctors say your due date is September 11th doesn't mean you can't come play early...I'm just sayin :) I'm not quite sure where my body is at currently, I have my appointment tomorrow, but as of last Friday I was dilated to a 1 and 70% effaced so at least something is happening! Mike has been really cute and wants his buddy to come play before he is back in school so every day he has been taking me on walks, having me walk stairs, bouncing on our exercise ball, and eating spicy food. So far nothing too much. More contractions than normal, but they don't hurt or anything. I guess we'll just have to continue the waiting game and remember that its not our choice really when he comes. I still can't believe I'm almost 39 weeks and that its here! It hits me every once in awhile that I'm going to be a mom and have a baby 24/7 soon for the rest of my life...kinda crazy and sometimes scary! I'm more curious about labor, most of the time I'm not too scared but I'm sure that will change once labor actually starts. I'm still working and that's going well. Haha, I keep getting coworkers or doctors saying, "You're still here? You look like you're going to pop!" I don't think I've gotten too much bigger the last little bit, but I think I just got big so fast that they all assumed that I was due in August and am over due now. I don't know...just a theory. Anyways, I'll keep you all posted and let you know once out little guy decides to make his entrance! :)