Saying Goodbye

We received some sad news today in our family. My Grandpa on my Dad's side of the family passed away this morning due to complications with his cancer treatment. This past week has been hard knowing that he was having procedures done, and then learning that there were complications that came up with those procedures. The doctors put my Grandpa in a medically induced coma to help him try and heal, however he wasn't doing as well as they had hoped. He had a problem with his heart and the doctors were going to put a pacemaker in to help him. We got the call this morning that he didn't make it.

I know that my Grandpa has lived a full life. He has been reunited with all his kids and has met his grandchildren. He loved his family so much and is going to be so missed here on earth. I know the next time I see him will be in heaven, and I am looking forward to that day.

His funeral is on this coming Monday, and I wish I could be there. Thankfully my brother Michael is planning on going (he is going to school in TN where Grandpa lived). I am praying for all my family members to be able to grieve and heal from the loss of a dear sweet member of our family.

We will miss you so much Grandpa Buddy. LOVE YOU and can't wait to see you again.

Pretty in Pink

My baby girl is styling in pink! She received some beautiful flowers from her Aunt Chrysa! So we decided to take some pictures with them.

Spoiled Momma

I am a seriously spoiled momma! My sweet little Mary-Brenna loves to eat (she takes after her momma at that age), and also loves to sleep! She has blessed me with a couple 4-6 hour stretches at night. Thank you Amanda for the tip on swaddling, she absolutely loves it and it helps her get some great rest.


I am also spoiled in having my parents here to help me out. Mom and Dad have been wonderful! They have been willing to step in and watch her for me while I have been able to take some naps. I have to say that is a blessing. They have also been a wonderful support system. We are turning into a great team! Thanks Mom and Dad, I couldn't do this without you!

Welcome Home Mary-Brenna

Mary-Brenna is finally here! She didn't come into this world in the most normal of circumstances but they were the perfect circumstances for my beautiful baby girl.


The journey to bring Mary-Brenna into the world really got going on Friday morning (bright and early). I wasn't far enough along at that point to stay at the midwifery, so Mom and I went back home to try and get some rest and hopefully make some more progress. In the afternoon I started feeling a lot more and by 4:00 I was feeling enough to give the midwifery a call. They had me come in and I labored there from 5:00 on. I made some good progress throughout the night, leading me to be about 7 centimeters at around midnight. They broke my water and really thought that it was just a mater of hours before I would be ready to push. However, at 4 in the morning, I was still at 7. I had a choice to make at that point, go into the hospital or continue to labor at the midwifery until the doctor would be there. I chose the midwifery route and stayed there until about 8:00. At that point I was still at 7 and it became evident that something else needed to be done. We got ready to go to the hospital and the doctor was notified that I would be coming in. I got there around 9:00 in the morning. They got me all hooked up to an IV and we waited a little bit for the doctor to get there. It wasn't long before we had a good plan in place of giving me some medication to help increase the intensity of my contractions. I wasn't on the medication long when the situation took a turn. My midwife noticed a rapid change in Mary-Brenna's heart rate, it jumped from 135 to over 200 beats per minute. They gave me enough time for the medication to work out of my system and ruled out that it was the medication that caused this change. It became clear in a very short order that an emergency c-section was necessary.

And so the prep began. Throughout all of it I was still working through contractions (that was not so fun). When they got as much done in the birthing suite as they could they wheeled me off to the operating room. My doctor was wonderful and held my hand while I was getting my spinal done. My mom was able to come in as soon as they confirmed that my spinal took. It was so great to have her there, I have to say I was nervous about my little girl. They worked fast and before I knew it I heard a sweet cry from across the curtain. Mom was invited to look across the curtain to see her and she was telling me just how perfect she was. My doctor held her head over the curtain for me to see for a moment before handing her off to the nurses and the pediatrician. At first her heart rate was normal, and then the next moment it was high again. They let Mom go over and see her while they were checking her out and held her out for me to see before whisking her off to the nursery.

While they were sewing me back up (oh wow that sounds strange), Mom got to stay with me. I was shaking a bit afterwords, and let me tell you that that was a weird feeling, I only felt from about 3/4 of the way up my stomach to my head. I wanted so much to wiggle my toes, but no could do. When they were done I was scooted out to recovery and told I could see her in about an hour. When I was done with recovery they wheeled me out to the nursery and let me see her. I held her hand and talked to her. The pediatrician filled me in on how she was doing, and the plan was for her to be transferred to Providence if things didn't turn around soon. Shortly after I left the nursery however, her heart rate went back down to normal. It was amazing and the doctors were so shocked. Thankfully we were both able to stay out in the valley for our hospital stay.

Mom was able to stay the night with me for the two days we were in the hospital, which was wonderful. Mary-Brenna was able to be brought to my room around midnight on Saturday night. From then on, she was able to be in my room with me, which I loved. I felt so bad for my little girl, she had to have an IV for fluids and antibiotics and she had to get her heals poked every two hours to test her glucose levels. I was so thankful when the tests came back and she was able to get her IV taken out and no longer get poked.

Monday was a special day, we got cleared to come home! Mary-Brenna was all checked out by a doctor and given a green light to go home. I was cleared in the morning by my doctor to go when she could. Mom and I enjoyed our "Celebration Dinner" and then we were discharged. We got home around 8:15 Monday night and it was so wonderful to spend a night in my own bed.

Mary-Brenna has been home for a day and has done wonderfully. Dad was able to stay home today and help out which was wonderful. He held her while I took a nap this morning (thank you Daddy), and watched her while I got up and moved around the house a bit (walking is good for a c-section patient). Tomorrow is a check up with her pediatrician to make sure all is well. Hopefully more wonderful days with my sweet daughter to come.

The wait continues...

And so the wait continues for little miss Mary-Brenna to make her appearance. My due date of October 24th came and went without the addition of a sweet little girl. But hopefully that wait will end soon.

This past week I have been feeling a lot more happening inside, which is great. I am getting nice and uncomfortable, which Mom loves! Walking has become an interesting task, in that I no longer walk, I waddle! Mom has long since past me in the speed department in walking. I have to ask her to slow down when we are out walking around. I think she is really enjoying her new knees. I am looking forward to being able to keep up with her again here soon.

The past couple nights I haven't been able to sleep like I normally am. Contractions keep waking me up. I have to consciously try and relax and breath through them so I can go right back to sleep (well kind of).

I am 11 days over due as of today, and only have until Sunday to have her at the Midwifery (their rules, not mine). If I have her after that then I have to go to the hospital. My midwife seems to be pretty happy with what she is seeing however, and is hoping that either today or tomorrow is the day. If I don't have her sometime tonight, then I get to take Castor Oil tomorrow morning (not looking forward to that) to see if we can encourage things to pick up their pace.

As my friend Joe put it, Mary-Brenna's lease is up and it is time for her to move on out. It is just a matter of finding what is going to persuade her. Pictures of this sweet little girl will come soon. I know I am super excited to meet her (I am just really tired right now).

Donut Saturdays!

My Mom had an amazing idea! She realized that we do not get together with the families that we love nearly enough. So she started thinking of a way in which we could try and get together with these families more often. She decided to take a leaf out of our Pastor's book and suggest donuts! I mean, who doesn't like donuts? No one I know, that is for sure.

We started by taking donuts over to my aunt and uncle's house to enjoy with them and their two sweet boys. It was a great morning full of yummy donuts and a lot of great play time! It is always fun to get together with family.

We continued adding families to our Saturday mornings, and have even extended this to Friday evening movie nights. For Saturday mornings, we are now bringing over pans and batter to make donuts fresh at our friends houses. And for Friday evening movie nights we let the family pick the movie and we bring over everything to make some yummy freshly popped popcorn (via my mom's stove-top popcorn popper).

My dear brother loved this idea when we told him what we were up to. He wants to make sure that we do this as much as possible while he is home this Christmas. I think we can accomplish this for sure Michael!

I am a lame blogger!

I love looking at others blogs, I am just terrible at posting new things about me. So here is a quick recap of this past summer/fall before other new posts get added.

June 2010: Mom and Zoe healed up really well. Mom went back to work, slowly but surely adding more and more hours into her work day. I also finished my last class for school! Officially done with my bachelors degree!

July 2010: Mom hooked me up with an awesome temporary job. One of the offices in Mom's building needed a temporary receptionist, and Mom put in a good word for me. I sent in my Teacher Certification application, so that I could be in the highest category of substitute teachers.

August 2010: I continued to work at HomeState through the third week of August. I awaited my Teacher Certification from Juneau and started substitute teaching. I also finally received my college diploma from UAA.

September 2010: I continued to substitute teach throughout the month of September, and received my Teacher Certification from Juneau! My dear friend Michelle also hosted a baby shower for me and my sweet little girl. I was so spoiled at the shower. Mary-Brenna will want for nothing that is for sure! Thank you everyone who was able to be there, and all those who were not able to make it.

October 2010: I subbed up through the 15th of October. And then it was time to wait for my little one to get here. The countdown was on at that point. I had been feeling some braxton hicks contractions, so I knew I could be having here at any time. My due date of October 24th came and went without a sweet little baby.

Well I think that is a pretty good update as of what has happened since my last post. More to come soon!