My Dream Delivery

First, here are some pictures of our very little, very beautiful girl:



Okay, here's the skinny on my "dream delivery"....

I wanted to try to go "natural" (meaning no epidural) with Max but it sure didn't work out that way. I was attached to pitocin, vitamins, fluids, epidural - you name it, it was on my IV tower. I am SO not opposed to an epidural, but I've always wanted to try going without.

Well, on Sunday morning at 5:05 a.m. I was brought out of my peaceful slumber by my water breaking! I hit Ty on the arm pretty hard (he's not always easy to wake up and I had to get out of bed so that I didn't ruin the mattress or something) and told him that my water broke. Shortly after, we called Labor & Delivery who said, "See you in 15 minutes!" We got the van and Max all loaded up, dropped Max off at Tutu's house and were at the hospital shortly after 6:00 a.m. By this time my contractions were just starting but weren't very strong. By about 7:30, though, they had gotten quite a bit stronger. I'd spent about 40 minutes in the jacuzzi tub (loved that!) and got out to be checked. I was dilated to a 3. Not super encouraging for me. The nurse told us to walk around the halls for a while and then she would check in on us again. We spent some time out in the halls - thank goodness for the railings! - where my contractions were getting MUCH harder. We got back in the room where I was starting to talk epidural. The nurse checked me and said that I was at a 6. The anesthesiologist was in a c-section and wouldn't be done for a half hour, so she said to just keep working through my contractions and we would make a decision once he got out. Well, she came in a little while later and asked if I just wanted him to come in or if I wanted to be checked first. I wanted to be checked. I was at an 8 1/2! I knew that I could totally do it then. This was at about 9:30 a.m. I spent most of the time up on my knees on the bed with the back of the bed up and my arms dangling over the edge. Ty was allowed to rub my lower back at that point. Okay, REQUIRED would be a more appropriate word, but I couldn't handle him touching my arms or shoulders. I get pretty silent while I am in labor, and probably even more so this time. It was a really spiritual time for me. I spent a lot of it in prayer, asking for strength to get me through each contraction. I thought a lot about the Savior and kept a picture of Him in my mind in the Garden of Gethsemane. Don't get me wrong, I also felt a lot of pain, but I am so thankful for the strength and comfort that I received. I am grateful to have the perfect empathy of the Savior to call upon. I am also so thankful for the nurse that I had! She gave me really good advice (like to keep my upper body as relaxed as possible during each contraction - hard to do when you just want to grip the railing and your husband's hand as tightly as possible, but it really helped. She also told me not to fight against the pressure. I can't explain why that was a key phrase for me, but it was) and many words of encouragement. Having the perfect man by my side also helped a ton. When he told me "you're so strong" and "you can do this" I really believed him. His arms probably got tired since I couldn't let him off of back-rubbing duty, but he never complained.

I lost track of time after about 9:30, but pretty soon I was needing to push. I had to push through the last bit of cervix and then she was right there. The doctor got there as I was pushing. I think I pushed 5 or 6 times and he was there for the final three pushes. I remember being amazed when they said that I had just pushed her little head out and that on the next push I would have a baby! Sure enough, out she came into my arms. A perfect baby girl with a very cute cry. Tears were flowing all around. We are so in love with her. We're amazed by her head of dark hair since Tyler and I were both blonde and somewhat bald. She's also got an olive skin tone which is strange coming from her pale parents. We love having a baby in our home. I love thinking about her spirit and what she is like and who she will become. I am in awe of this whole process and of the trust that Heavenly Father places in us to raise His children and to return them Home to Him. I love that Tyler and I are in this together. He is such an amazing and thoughtful father. Oh, we are so blessed!

I am feeling really good. I was up and around right after she was born. I had two days where I was easily worn down, but today especially I am feeling fabulous! Ty has taken this whole week off and I have to say that I have the best husband. I really want the world to know just how great he is. I haven't had to worry about anything. Yesterday all of the laundry was done and the house has been regularly tidied up. I receive continuous reminders to not "be a hero" and take it easy as well as reminders to drink water. He even brings me water while I'm nursing. He has been amazing and I wish that he could ALWAYS be at home. I love being around him. He and Max have had a lot of fun bonding time as well and Max has been loving it. A favorite activity has been tower building. They also went to the park and ran errands the other day. I am going to love having these two little people! We went to Target today to get a few things and a lady asked me if I'm feeling overwhelmed since Max and Kelly are so close in age. I guess that I've had my moments where I am just nervous about being a great mom to two kids, but I don't feel stressed about the age thing at all. This is the way that we wanted it and I am sure that it will have its challenges, but I love that they are so close in age! He's had a few moments of jealousy (like he wants to be on my lap when I'm nursing Kelly) and a few fits, but mostly he loves to kiss her and see what she's doing. We love our little man...here are some pictures of him as well.

Kelly Anne Foster is Born!!!

(update provided by Tyler)

Here are some pictures from today's events. Kelly Anne was born at 10:53 am and weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 inches long. Dana was incredible and is my hero! I'm sure she will update more tomorrow.

I heart Saturdays!

Today has been the perfect Saturday! Max woke us up and we all just hung out in our bed for a while. Then we had breakfast and got a few things done around the house, got showered and hit the road for the park. It is SUCH a gorgeous day out today! The sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and it's 56 degrees. Perfect! I love days like today when all of the colors seem so sharp and beautiful. We played on the swings and slides, kicked the soccer ball around a bit, shot some hoops, and ran fast through the grass (Max LOVES to run fast!) Onto Subway for lunch and then dropped Ty off to ref some basketball games. Right now Max is sleeping and I'm going to clean the floors and possibly do some rearranging in our bedroom. Then we'll pick Ty up around 4:00 and we have the whole evening ahead of us to enjoy each other. It's just one of those Saturdays, you know? Everything feels really happy and looks beautiful...there's something about today that seems extra great! I love having my husband home. I love our little family!

Random

*Many of the pictures below are NOT actual pictures of me and my little family. I haven't been a good picture-taker lately - the camera is in the hospital bag. Plus I thought the pictures I found would be funnier anyway!*

Okay, in an effort to keep my mind on something BESIDES the fact that I am still pregnant and don't have a wonderful-smelling, sweet baby girl in my arms....I am going to post a few random thoughts and details of life lately.

Tyler is on a shaving strike until Kelly is born. I think it's really funny. But I don't think he was anticipating it taking this long. His beard has gotten to the itchy stage and he doesn't really love how he looks with it. I like the look until we get to about 7 days in, which I think we have reached. Don't get me wrong, he's still very handsome with this facial hair, I just prefer a little less and so does he. So don't be surprised when you don't recognize the man in the pictures with our new baby in his arms. It is, in fact, Tyler Michael. Although I have to say that he looks much better sporting a beard than the dude in the above picture.

I thought I was going into labor again last night. Lots of good, hard contractions that lasted about an hour - hour and a half. Then they stopped. I'm beginning to wonder if my body even knows how to do this on its own. With Max my water broke and I had good contractions for several hours...then nothing. After 20 hours of pitocin-induced contractions (12 of which I had no epidural) Max FINALLY came. So now I am wondering how things are going to play out this time? Ty gave me a beautiful blessing last night and then today I read Moroni 7 (one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon) about charity. I realized that part of becoming Christ-like is to have patience and long-suffering and to endure whatever is handed to you. I guess I hadn't thought of charity in that light before. I know that this little woman is coming and I should just continue to enjoy my one-on-one time with Max and the good sleep that I know will be missed very soon. (By the way, I see the doctor again tomorrow. We'll see if there's any progress. I'm going to ask about him stripping my membranes...)

Don't laugh...I went to a ballet class this week! :) Imagine me and my belly trying to be graceful and balance on my tiptoes (which I did several times!). And know that I have never done ballet in my life. Actually, maybe I did when I was 6 or something. There's a lady in our stake who teaches it at the Church two times a week and I thought I would give it a shot. It was fun and a pretty good workout, but I just kept laughing to myself and thinking that I would love to have it videotaped and play it back whenever I need a good laugh. Although while I was following the very graceful instructor, I felt like I looked a lot like the girl in the picture above. :) I'll probably go back again... There's also an exercise class that meets three times a week at the Church that I've been attending. I've been jumping and lunging as much as possible. I'm loving the freedom a car has given me! The benefit to these classes is that Max gets to run around the gym with other kids while all of us moms are in there doing our thing.

We've actually had several sunny days this week that have been quite warm. And for those of you in Vegas and Arizona and other warm climates...I'm talking 50's, which means that I don't have to wear a jacket outside; high 60's means it's time to break out the shorts! This has meant lots of trips to the park and playing outside and going on walks. I've been in heaven! We've been to Waterfront Park three times and spent many hours throwing rocks and sticks into Dyes Inlet. It's been wonderful. Words can't describe how happy that has made me! And that probably goes double for Max who loves to run around and be out-of-doors.Speaking of Max, he is seeming so old to me lately. Probably because I've got newborns on my mind, trying to remember what it was like. He is putting so many words together, giving some words adjectives. I am so impressed by these little minds that absorb things so quickly! It seems like we only need to tell him once what something is and then it's committed to memory. He loves every kind of sport but is partial right now to soccer and, of course, basketball. He's got pretty good skills too - I took his soccer ball with us to the park the other day and we kicked it back and forth for quite a while. He can just kick it as it comes rolling to him. Probably most kids his age can do that, but I like to think that it's pretty amazing. Let me be a proud mom! :) I also sometimes think that he's a little bit French. The way he says diaper and paper sound like a Frenchman. It cracks us up every time.

On a more emotional note...the other morning I was up early when Ty was getting ready for work. Max had woken up and I went in to put him back to bed. I sat on the floor next to him and sang him some songs but just couldn't bring myself to leave even after he was fast asleep. I stroked his hair and thought of all of the things that I love about him. I thought of his spirit that is housed within that little body and about all that he can accomplish and the responsibility I have to help him remember and realize who he is. I thought of how grateful I am to be a mom - to be HIS mom. Then I came back in the room and Ty was working on something on the computer. I laid in bed and looked over at him and suddenly thought back to how we met and how I felt the day we were married and how incredibly grateful I am that I am married to HIM. The tears were flowing. I love being married and that is because of how wonderful the man I am married to is. He makes it so easy. I have more blessings than I probably deserve...but, hey, I'll take them and be grateful.

That's what has been going on in my mind and life this week. Riveting, I know. Bless you if you've read through this all, but don't feel bad if you've just skimmed...it's been a nice distraction for me tonight.

What's worse...

than being 38+ weeks pregnant and having the stomach flu? Being 38 weeks pregnant, having the stomach flu AND your little boy having his first bout of the stomach bug at the same time. Thank goodness for the best husband ever who has been taking care of his two sickies! And thank goodness Max is such a happy sick kid. He hasn't had any real manifestations of being sick other than not eating hardly at all yesterday, sleeping a whole lot and cuddling constantly. Otherwise he's been singing and joking and making us laugh still. Ty always wants to snuggle with Max and rarely gets the chance so I think this has been kind of fun for Ty. "This too shall pass..." and then we'll really be ready for the little lady to make her entrance! Boy, are we ready!

Movin' Around...Movin' On

Movin' Around

We are officially minivan people! But more importantly, we are a two-car family! Hooray for us!!! We sold my car that I brought into the marriage just a few days before Max was born (21 months ago) so that we could afford a house. The house came just a few months later and while I missed the car, I knew it was totally worth it. The bummer part about it was that it stuck Max and I at home more than we would have liked sometimes. Tyler works on a Navy Submarine Base and has to go through two or three gates with armed guards to get to his building...gates that I am forbidden to pass through. So I could never take him to work. My wonderful husband, however, did ride his bike in to work and did a ride-share thing with a lady he works with who lives nearby. So don't feel too sorry for us, we had the car a few days a week usually. But there were times of frustration. We were planning to get a van in April or May of this year, but Tyler surprised me by coming home last Wednesday and taking me to start looking! I was thrilled! On Friday we found a great deal and decided to take the plunge. I haven't taken actual pictures of ours, but here's what it looks like:

The funny thing is that on my first day with my new-found freedom, I didn't go anywhere. I wasn't feeling especially well yesterday and didn't have anyplace I needed to be, so we hung out at home. Ty called from work to see where I would be going with my new set of wheels...boy did I sound lame! It's enough for me to know that it's there if I need or want to get out. :) And today we were all over the place.

Kelly continues to move around inside of me. We wish that her squirmy little body was in our arms instead, but we'll have to wait just a little while longer. *sigh* We went for a long, brisk walk on Sunday and tried a few other things that got contractions coming, but they just would not keep going. The doctor said on Friday that she had dropped even more from my visit the previous week, and boy has she! I have like 3 1/2 or 4 empty inches at the top of my belly. Maybe she's just a little bit too comfortable in this position. I know that I still have like 2 1/2 weeks until my due date, but as Ty knows I feel overdue everyday past 37 weeks. I'm getting a lot of projects done, though, and trying to keep busy so that I don't think about it too much.

Movin' On

Today we moved past the stitches. Yea! I took Max in and they removed the lovely things this morning. The lame part was that a scab had formed over the stitches and the nurse had to scrub off the scab to be able to take the stitches out. She was nice, but told me that if I'd kept it moist with medication then the scab wouldn't have formed and she wouldn't have had to do that. Right, lady. You try to keep medicine on a wound where you can't cover it with a band-aid and on a little boy who rolls around and wrestles and cuddles and sits on couches and chairs. It was in the worst place for that. I did my darnedest. The rubbing off of the scab was the worst part, the stitches coming out only took a minute. Max cried through a lot of it while I held him, but as soon as she was done, so were his tears. Brave little man.

We're also moving on to a new vocab phase. Well...kind of. Yesterday Max used his first sentence! It's a really short one, but it was so cute to listen to him put it together because he was really proud of himself. He says TONS of words and comes up with more all of the time. He can totally communicate this way, but it was fun to hear him put two things together and make a complete thought. He is constantly saying, "What's that?" to which I almost always reply, "What's that?" because he knows full well and just wants to be asked. Another thing about the Maxster is that he has supersonic hearing. I am grateful for his good hearing, but sometimes it's annoying. Like yesterday morning at 6:40 a.m. when he came running into my room asking, "What's that?" and then pointing to the direction of the sound saying, "Noise!" Ty had just left for work and the garage door was closing. Many a nap and night's sleep have been interrupted by his good hearing combined with some noise within the house or on the street - or the street over, for that matter. Anyway, yesterday he said it all together, "What's that noise?" No pause in between; a complete thought. The day was then filled with this first little sentence. He said it as often as he could. He really was proud of himself. I was proud too and we immediately called Dad at work to share the big news.

I am so grateful to be a mom. I am so glad to be able to be at home with Max and to know him so well. Almost every night Tyler and I talk about how cute Max is and how much we love him. The other day Ty was telling me that he loves when he finds things around the house that Max has left. Like the brush or shoes that he puts in our shower, or a little cord or q-tip sticking out of some small hole somewhere. He was saying that it makes him smile and he loves it because he knows only one little person in our house would have done that. Being a parent is so rewarding and so hard and so consuming and so very worth it. That's why I am so excited to be doing it again! I am nervous, still. I'm nervous about the delivery after Max's labor and delivery (ask me why if you don't know the story and want to know). I'm nervous because it's a totally different person with her own spirit and challenges and needs. I'm nervous because I can't imagine having more than one to look after. I'm nervous because I don't want Max to feel displaced. I'm nervous because I don't really remember what it is like to have a newborn and I hope I can recall the information that I need when I need it. I know that it will all flow more easily than I realize. That's how it was with Maxwell...I was so surprised that everything went so smoothly and that we knew how to care for him. I felt pretty relaxed about the whole experience. So here's hoping those feelings return this time around!

Hopefully my next post will be a birth announcement! :)

Stroller, Seafood & Stitches

We have some VERY generous friends. Not only have I had three super fun baby showers, but at the last shower we received a very nice gift - a double stroller! Max is a lover of strollers and so putting this together with Dad made for a very fun time.Tyler's youngest brother, Drew, was in town this weekend for a track meet. He runs for the BYU Track Team and they were competing at the University of Washington. So on Saturday we got to see him race (he ran his fastest indoor time! I am so impressed by Drew's skills) and then we hung out afterward. We were deciding on a place for dinner and Drew said that he wanted to eat someplace unique to Seattle. So we took him to a place we'd been wanting to try as well - The Crab Pot. (Turns out, though, that it's also in Oregon and California... :) ) The reason we could try it this time is because his wife, Kristen, wasn't able to make it. She is not a lover of seafood. So these pictures are mostly to gross Kristen out, compliments of her husband. I took the pictures, Kristen, but only with some prodding.

Drew in an arcade before dinner...

Real men wear bibs

The mallots...Ty's flew off and came across the table at Max. Don't worry, nobody was hurt.

They put down butcher paper and dump a bucket of seafood on the table. The crab was especially amazing!

My more "civilized" plate


Max thought it was really funny to put these shells in his mouth

Sunday started out normal. A nice morning getting ready and then Max was being really good in sacrament meeting. However, one misstep changed it all. Max took a step off of the bench and hit his head really hard on the hymn book holder. It was one of those that everyone in the room hears and says, "Ohhhhh...." Ty picked him up to take him out. A few minutes later one of my friends comes in from the foyer to get me. I go out and see a paper towel with blood on it and then Ty tells me that he's got a really deep cut and it will probably need stitches. I just started to cry and held Max. It doesn't take much to set me off these days, plus this was our first physical trauma. So we leave for Urgent Care. There was a pretty big wait and so I ran back to the Church to tell them I wouldn't be there to teach YW and Ty would be gone from YM. Then I rushed back to Urgent Care. The doctor saw him and told me that it was going to be traumatic. Thanks, Doc! They put Max's arms in a pillow case by his sides and then wrapped him in a blanket and put him face-down on the table while a nurse held his head and Ty held his body. I stood behind Tyler and cried for the first bit, but then I decided I needed to buck up and let Max see me...NOT crying. I wiped my tears and then stuck my face down in front of his. I could only see one little eye and he looked so filled with fear and confusion. It was so hard to see. But he seemed to calm down a bit when he saw me. Still lots of crying, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Only a few stitches and we'll go back in next Tuesday to get them out. Another badge for my Motherhood Sash! Max seems to be just fine. He woke up this morning and pointed to a pillow and said, "Pillow hurts!" He must have tried to roll over onto his back in bed. Poor guy. But already he is adjusting and turns his head to the side when he wants or needs to lie down.