Bringing Baby Home

Love her little outfits!

Floor time!

She is such a good sleeper!

Her first cold! :(

She is so aware of her surroundings

Going for a car ride

Bright eyes

Snuggling with daddy :)

Mommy loves her!

On the billi-bed to get rid of Jaundice


We have had lots of new adventures since coming home with our baby Kiara. She has been such a blessing in our lives! We have had multiple doctor's appointments to check her weight gain and she continues to impress the doctors. We are so proud of her for doing so well!

In the first week that we came home, she was put on a billi-bed because she had jaundice. Thankfully they were able to set it up at home and we had nurses come to the house daily. She did really well on it and other than feedings, she slept the whole time without any fussing! What a brave little girl :) Praise the Lord that she only had to be on it for about 30 hours.

She continues to grow at a great rate. She did lose some weight in the beginning but that is normal for all babies. Her lowest weight was 4lb 3.5oz! She quickly regained that weight and then some. At her one month check-up she weighed in at 6lb 2.5oz!

She is a great sleeper! She still wakes up to eat about every three hours, but she usually sleeps in between those feedings. She is most active in the evening. That is when she decides she wants to stay up and play :) So we cuddle a lot and have tummy time. She isn't that impressed with tummy time and usually only tolerates it for about ten minutes. She would much rather be held, which I am happy to do :)

She is no longer wearing preemie clothing. She has moved up to newborn! While a lot of the clothes are still baggy on her, she is long and needs the bigger clothes.

It has truly been a blessing to have Zach at home this entire time. He was able to take 5 weeks off of work and we have enjoyed having him here. He has had a lot of time to bond with Kiara and I think it will be hard on all of us when he goes back to work. Just another adjustment that we will have to get used to :)

I am loving being a mommy! I couldn't ask for a greater gift. She is our little miracle and she blesses our lives each and every day! Our lives have totally changed since she arrived and we love it! I find myself just watching her for hours on end. Each little sqeak and wiggle amaze me. I love watching her grow and learn new things. Her little smiles brighten my day. And while I don't want her to grow up too fast, I can't wait to see what an amazing person she will turn into! I know that God has amazing plans for her life!

Welcome Kiara Elisabeth!

Our little bundle of joy has arrived! Kiara Elisabeth was born on October 9th at 9:15 pm. She weighed in at 4 lb 8 oz and she was 16 1/2 in long.

In my 33rd week of pregnancy, I went to a Doctor's appointment regarding my blood pressure. I had been having complications with it and it was getting worse. I had already been on medication for a few weeks because of it. At my appointment, my Doctor decided that I officially had preeclampsia and he was not letting me go home. I was admitted to the hospital from his office. I spent the next two weeks in the hospital being continuously monitored and tested. My family and friends were amazing! They continuously called, visited and brought me little things to occupy my time and keep my mind off of what was happening. We knew that our goal was to make it to 35 weeks, even better if we could make it to 37 weeks, but 40 weeks (my due date) was out of the question. I was given steroid shots to increase the probability that Kiara would be able to breath on her own and I was only allowed out of bed to do the basics like brush my teeth and take a shower. We were doing everything in our power to keep Kiara in for as long as possible and to keep my blood pressure as stable as possible.

At 1am on October 9th, we decided we had made it as far as we were going to. I was officially 35 weeks and two days. My blood pressure had reached a critical point and they were unable to lower it. I was induced. They told me that I could be in labor for the next two to three days since I was so early and they didn't think my body was ready to have this baby. Immediately I began having contractions. They were a little sporadic at first, but within about an hour they were very regular and I was having them about every five minutes. I continued to practice my breathing while I waited for Zach and mom to arrive at the hospital. I had told them to take their time since we thought things were going to take so long. They both arrived at about 1pm. By that time, the contractions were much worse. I was really having to focus to get through them and I was having a lot of pain in my back, not back labor, just pain. Thank Heaven for the tennis balls that Zach had brought to the hospital. Mom and Zach took turns rubbing my back with them during every contraction. By that time, my contractions were only about two minutes apart and lasting for over a minute. Which meant that I was having maybe 45 seconds to rest in between contractions. It was very hard work! I knew it would be difficult and I had said from the beginning that I did not want any drugs. I refused to have an epidural due to my fear of needles. I wanted to remember Kiara's labor and delivery and I didn't want to risk passing out due to the needle!

At about 2:30, I was only at 1cm. But at least I had made it to that! At about 5pm they had to give me oxygen to make Kiara "happier". That also helped me get through the contraction better and I actually slept for about 30 minutes, even through the contractions! At 6pm, my doctor arrived and I was at 2.5cm and 3/4 effaced. They decided to break my water! This increased my contractions even more! At about 7:30, I decided to have them give me Fentenal thru my IV to try and take the edge off of the pain. This allowed me to have a little time to breath in between the contractions. I still felt the worst of the contraction but I didn't feel the beginning of them and I didn't feel the end. Even though I needed to have some drugs, I am still proud of myself for not succumbing to the epidural.

At 9pm, I was in the middle of a contraction when I suddenly had the urge to push. My mom pushed the call button for the nurse and within about two minutes, 10 nurses and my Doctor were in the room and setting up. They did a quick check and said that I was "complete" (10 cm). I pushed through the next two contractions and Kiara was born! They immediately began checking her, the NICU nurse had to make sure that everything looked good. She was breathing on her own, she had apgar scores of 8 and 9! She was perfect!

We had to be very careful about keeping her body temperature up and making sure that she was nursing well, she did great, and making sure that her blood sugar didn't get too low. She did great with all of those things and she never had to spend any time in the NICU! Praise the Lord!!! On the night of the 10th, she had her carseat test and she passed with flying colors! All babies under 5 lbs have to pass the carseat test to make sure that they don't stress out while in the carseat for long periods of time.

We were both discharged on Monday the 11th in the morning. We went through the routine paperwork and packed up our things. We arrived at home with our little one by about 1pm on the 11th!

Too much excitement!

For those of you who know me, I have never been one to do things the easy way. And it looks like pregnancy is no exception!

I had a bit of a mishap the other day. It had rained for the first time in what seemed like forever! I had just gotten home from work and after pulling the car into the garage, decided to walk across the street to check the mail. Now, let me stop here and give you a little background information. I have been dealing with rather swollen feet, all thanks go to our beautiful baby girl; and the only shoes I can get my feet into, and barely into for that matter, are my flip-flops. Now I have been wearing them for so long that the traction has completely worn off and they can get quite slippery when wet. So, back to my original story, I had just walked across the wet pavement of our driveway and back into the dry garage. Now, I haven't done the splits since I was a little girl, but somehow I managed to do the splits at that moment. My left foot shot out in front of me and my right knee came down (really hard!) on the cement floor of the garage. Thankfully I was able to catch my self from falling completely on my face and belly by sticking my hands out in front of me. Kiara must have felt like we had gone on a roller coaster! I was able to gather my belongings and hobble my way into the kitchen where I proceeded to drop everything and hop to the sofa in the living room. Now most people know that pregnant women can get quite emotional and I praise God everyday for a husband that puts up with me. I called Zach in hysterics and told him what had happened. At the same time, I was watching as my knee was swelling to twice its size and developing the most colorful bruise I have ever seen!

After getting off the phone with Zach and calming myself a bit, I called my OB doctor to let them know what had happened. Since Kiara was still moving around like crazy and seemed quite content in my belly, they determined that she was probably just fine and I should take some Tylenol for the pain and get some ice on my knee. I followed their directions.

By the next morning, my knee was in more pain than the night before and it was very sore to walk, bend and put any weight on. Zach took me to the urgent care where we stayed for the next two hours before we were able to see a doctor. He was very sorry for my injury, but due to the fact that I was pregnant, he did not feel comfortable doing an x-ray. After feeling my knee, he determined that I hadn't shattered my knee-cap (a very good thing!), but he wasn't sure what damage I had done to it. He suggested that I get a knee brace to wear, use lots of ice, keep it elevated and stay off of it. He said that my bursa was quite swollen, which would give me a lot of discomfort but there was also a good possibility that I had a hairline fracture in my knee-cap. We won't know for sure unless we decide to do an x-ray later.

So, for now, I am trying to follow the doctor's directions and we will just wait and see. It could be a long waiting game. Pregnant women tend to take longer to heal since the baby is always taking what they need from the mother, like calcium that would help with healing bone. It also doesn't help that I will continue to gain weight since the baby is growing, and this will just add extra pressure on my knee and make me even more unstable than I was to begin with.

I am asking everyone for extra prayers for healing and pray that it is just really swollen and not broken! The last thing I want to deal with when I have a newborn is a broken knee! Been there done that, and I don't feel like repeating that.

I hope you are all doing great! We love you all and thank you for your prayers!

Reflections on Pregnancy

I thought I would take this time to jot down some thoughts, memories and reflections on the past few months. I am officially in my 27th week of pregnancy. It has been just flying by. This means that after this week, I will be starting my third trimester! Scary! I never imagined that this time would go so fast! I am trying to cherish every tired, sick and swollen moment.

I truly feel blessed that while I did have some bouts of morning sickness, I don't think I had it as bad as a lot of women. The only things that really set me off were listening to other people eat and the sight of raw meat. On the other hand, I have been battling with high blood pressure and swollen hands and feet. It has gotten so bad that I actually had to remove my wedding ring, after a five minute soapy battle. This has helped some but I feel so bare without my ring! I also don't feel like I am setting such a great example walking around town, huge as can be and without a wedding band. I have gotten some looks...oh well.

I really do love being pregnant. I enjoy the late night cravings of ice cream or honey nut cheerios. The times when a craving hits while I am at work and can't do anything about it...like the time I suddenly starting craving yams! As soon as work was over I made a bee line for the store and bought the biggest can of yams I could find. Let's just say that Zach wasn't too pleased to get home and find that the only thing I had made for dinner was a huge dish of yams with brown sugar and pecans...he really hates yams! I kind of felt bad, but I was really enjoying my yams! I think that was the strongest craving I have had this whole time.

To tell you the truth, I really love maternity pants! They are so comfortable! Too bad all jeans can't be this comfy. I don't like the fact that I had always looked at the maternity clothes with envy before I got pregnant, thinking "why can't they make non-maternity clothes that cute?", and now that it is my turn to shop for them...I am finding nothing cute! I am truly grateful to my mom who has found me some really fun tops, I don't know how she does it, but without her I think I would be walking around in sweats and Zach's over-sized t-shirts! Not exactly appropriate for work.

Now that I am nearing the final months of the pregnancy I am starting to wonder if I have enough time to accomplish everything! We are going to start our childbirth education classes in a week and a half. I am really hoping they are informative and helpful. It is my goal to have a natural birth. I know it will be painful but I think I am more terrified of the epidural needle than I am of the pain of childbirth. So, we are praying that the classes teach us some good focusing techniques and strategies. I am trying to read as much as possible and cram as much information into my brain as I can. I think there is more to learn about pregnancy and childbirth than can be crammed into a nine-month time frame! Oh well, I am doing my best.

At this point, I am planning on going back to work after our little girl is born. I have started looking into childcare and I am really disappointed in what I am finding. I don't think I will ever truly feel comfortable leaving my child in the care of another person that I don't really know. I want to make sure that my baby will be safe and really cared for! It feels strange taking tours of childcare facilities. It brings me back to the years that I spent teaching at one. I feel odd being on the other spectrum of things.

Well, I guess I have been babbling for long enough. I know that God has a plan for everything and it will turn out perfect in the end. I am just anticipating the day that Zach and I get to meet this precious little bundle of joy! Love you all!

It's a GIRL!

Our little girl's feet!

21 Weeks and feeling huge!

20 weeks

Our sweet baby girl!

It is official! We are having a little girl!!! We are so excited and can't wait to meet her...but not too soon! :) I am in the middle of my 22nd week now...more than half way done! She is very active and likes to punch her mommy! That's okay, I still love her!

We have started planning her nursery...it is a lot of fun! But first we have to tear down the puppy dog wallpaper that was already in there. Cute, but just not right for her. We haven't totally decided on a name yet, we have an idea but we want to keep our options open.

I will keep you all updated as often as I can. Love you all!

15 Weeks!

The baby bump at 15 weeks! Getting bigger and bigger all the time! Finally having to use actual maternity pants now...I tried to make my other clothes work for as long as possible :)

Our First Home!

Our front yard. We love the red door!

Our kitchen from the family room.

Kitchen and breakfast nook from the formal dining room.

The entry from the formal living room.

The formal living room from the entry.

The formal dining room from the kitchen.

The family room.



Welcome to our new home! After many months of searching and many, many houses...we have finally found the one! It is a quaint little rambler, located on the East hill in Kent. It has three bedrooms and two baths...perfect for our growing little family! We have started shopping for new flooring. We are replacing the carpet in the family room, and taking the carpet out of the kitchen and breakfast nook and replacing it with a very pretty vinyl. Our goal is to have the flooring done before we move in, near the middle of June. We have a nice fenced in back yard and the house is located in a nice quite development.

Well, I am posting my first belly photo. I am just finishing my 12th week. Getting close to starting my second trimester! Things are going great so far!

Heart Beat

Well, we had another doctor's appointment on Tuesday and we heard the heartbeat for the first time! It was so precious! Nice and strong at 164 BPM. You can actually see the baby pretty well too! If you couldn't already tell, I am just a little excited ;)

We also celebrated our 2 year anniversary on Monday. And as a gift to ourselves, we signed the papers on a house! The inspection is scheduled for Saturday. As long as everything looks great, we will be homeowners!

Lots happening in our lives at the moment...I will try to keep you all posted.

Surprise!

Surprise! We recently discovered that we are pregnant! I am about seven weeks along and will be due approximately November 11th. I have already gone to my first doctor's appointment and everything looks great so far! I have another appointment on April 6th where we hope to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It is so very exciting! We are thrilled and look forward to meeting this new little addition to our family. We ask that everyone pray for a healthy and happy pregnancy and baby! We love you all!

Oregon 2010

I took Zach to the Trailblazers/Celtic's game in Portland for his birthday.
This is the view from our seats.

We were waiting for the game to begin.
The final score! Go Celtics!
We decided to drive out to the Oregon Coast and visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory.
The Ship that is sitting outside the factory.

My husband, the farmer!
We were trying to get a photo with the Sign behind us...it kind of worked!
Stopping to take photos along the beautiful Oregon Coast.
Amazing!
Even though it is dark, I think this turned out really cute!
On the Astoria bridge crossing back into Washington. It was so tall!


We spent the weekend in Portland, OR celebrating Zach's 26th birthday. He has been wanting to see the Celtic's play for a very long time and they were having a game against the Portland Trailblazers, so we went to the game. We didn't have the best seats in the house but we sure had fun! It was an interesting game, the Trailblazers never had a chance and we helped get a few guys kicked out of the game. They were sitting right behind us and couldn't stop with the fowl language and bad attitudes. Everyone in our row (which happened to all be Celtic fans) were trying to calm them down...we finally had to resort to calling security. Other than that, it was really a lot of fun!

The next day we decided to drive out to the Oregon Coast and visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We sampled lots of cheese and fudge, got really thirsty and bought a huge jug of chocolate milk, which we immediately guzzled down. It was delicious! We watched them make, cut, and sort HUGE blocks of cheese, toured the rest of the factory, and read lots of interesting facts about cheese.

After we left the Factory, we decided to drive home by way of Hwy 101 North, which follows the Oregon Coast. It was a gorgeous drive and the perfect day for it! After stopping in Seaside for the Nike outlet store (which Zach loved!), we continued driving north to Astoria where we crossed the Astoria bridge back into Washington. Zach was a little nervous to drive on that bridge (he doesn't really like heights and that was a very TALL bridge).

We decided that we wanted to make our way back to I-5 to go home, the logical route would have been to drive along 6, but we thought that went to far south and we didn't want to take that long getting home. Instead, we decided to take a short cut off Hwy 101 that went straight East to meet up with I-5. This according to Google Maps on our phones, it looked like a large enough road and we didn't foresee any problems. Little did we know!

The road started off fine. It consisted of one lane each way, but it didn't seem like too many people were taking that route, so we thought it would save us time. After a few miles, we passed a sign that I just happened to read while passing. It read: Primitive Road, No warning signs. We just laughed and kept driving. A few minutes later, the nice road ended and we started driving on gravel! We thought, "okay, this can't last for too long!" so we continued to drive. Well, it turns out that it actually lasted for a very long time! After driving for miles and miles on muddy, bumpy, pothole-filled 'primitive' road, and only passing two other vehicles, we finally hit nice pavement again. We thought we were passed the worst of it. We were so naive! After a few miles, we again passed a sign that read: Primitive Road, no warning signs. We had no choice but to continue...there was no other route! So we kept driving along the bumpy, muddy, pothole filled road. It was a very long drive! On this stretch of logging road, the only vehicles we passed were quads, and here we were in my little Toyota Camry! We lost all phone reception, Zach's phone died and we could no longer could depend on our google map. We were driving blind and the sun was now setting!

Thankfully we finally made it back to civilization and were able to get reception on my phone (after being turned around and driving in circles for about an hour near Rochester). We eventually found our way to I-5 and from there it was smooth sailing! We have never been so grateful for smooth pavement and the comforts of home! We decided that if there was a next time, we would follow the rest of traffic and take the longer way home! :)

Overall, we really had a great trip! We are just very grateful to be home safe.