Making Up For Lost Time

*It will take you longer to read this post, than the amount of time I spent in Labor and Delivery*

I remember as a kid the following line...Our family would be running late for something and my mom would be on my dad about slowing the car down. My dad's reply was always, "Just trying to make up for lost time..."



So here we are WAITING for little miss Braelynn to show up, as she was running late...about 2 days late.

On Sunday night we had our friends Brian and Christine over for dinner and we played games into the evening. They headed out at about 9:30 and Christine suggested that I could try Jumping Jacks to help move the process along.

Kent and I decided to go for another walk and he teased me about the Jumping Jacks. I agreed to do 3 and felt like an absolute fool...9 months pregnant, 10 o'clock, and Jumping Jacks in the middle of the road. We had a good laugh, headed home and went to bed.

About an hour later I realized that this "I gotta go pee" feeling was a little rhythmic, so I started counting the time. Each sensation lasted about a minute and there was about 7-8 minutes in between each one. Hmmm...could these be contractions? I start poking Kent and say "I think I'm having contractions." He's a little dazed, but gives a smile. I then feel a little trickle, so I add in "And I think my water just broke!"

We start packing things up and I call my mom to let her know that we are heading to the hospital and to stay tuned. Kent made me some macaronni and cheese and I once again attempted to time the contractions. I started second guessing myself because one was 5 minutes apart and then another was 1.5, and then 3....it made no sense. I did know that they were quite strong though!

We pack the car full like we'll be gone for a week and head to Chandler Regional. We get into the hospital and let them know that we think we're going into labor. I'm still trying my pain management strategy of "it only lasts a minute and then you get a break. Suck it up and grin and bear it." The admission staff was quite impressed...that or they thought I was another faker.

We go into Triage and they hook me up to everything. The nurse still hasn't guaranteed that we would be admitted though, because she still needs to check my dilation. I'm at 5 1/2, so she says that we will be admitted, and that it usually takes about an hour/centimeter and then another 1-3 hours of pushing for first-timers. It was about 2 a.m., so I brace myself for a LONG morning.



At this point, I'm looking forward to the relief of my latest contraction, but no such luck! I immediately begin another contraction before the current one ends. This pattern continues and I start thinking, "okay, if there's no break between the contractions then I might want to go ahead with the Epidural. There's no way that I can handle this for a few hours before I even start pushing." I started to understand what the word, "hard" meant.

They take me to Labor and Delivery and I feel like I gotta push as they roll me into the room. I tell the nurses and they tell me that pushing time comes later. One nurse says, "you know, she's having a lot of contractions. We may just want to check her dilation."

Wouldn't you know it...I was at a 9! In 20 minutes I had gone from 5.5 to 9! The nurses then start moving a little more quickly and tell me if I feel like I have to push to go ahead and push.

They page the on-call Doctor and let me know that if I get an Epidural it would take about 15-20 minutes to get into my system OR I could have a baby in 15-20 minutes. I honestly had a hard time deciding and that's when my nurse pipes in "you don't want one and it's only going to make this last longer. You will have your baby in the next 15 minutes I promise." Okay then...here we go!



I give a practice push and on my gosh, there's the head! They then tell me to really dig deep and give another push. I wanted to watch in the mirror, but as I'm watching this I'm saying "there's no freaking way I can do this." The nurses are saying "yes you can!" The doctor puts on her coat, sits down, I give 3 more pushes...and out pops our baby girl!

I still cannot believe how fast it all went. I was a celebrity there that day. I had nurses coming to my recovery room because, "they had to see who this girl was...!"

So, to tie it all together...Braelynn certainly made up for lost time!



Here are her stats:

Braelynn Michelle Burton

Birthday: September 21st, 2009 3:35 am
Hair: Black
Weight: 6 lbs 15 oz
Length: 19 inches








"She's short and she's skinny - but she's strong" (comment and video upload courtesy of Kent)

Gettin' Busy

D-day is officially here, and no baby yet! Bummer.

I've had lots of fun keeping myself busy though.

Project #1-



I MADE curtains for the nursery. For those of you that know my mom, she is a master seamstress. My idea of carrying on the family talent, is to call her and ask her to sew XYZ. However, now that I'm about to be a mom I am seeing the necessity for knowing how to sew.

Since I don't have a sewing machine, I had to improvise. Without getting too detailed, these curtains started out as a flat sheet and some ribbon. Wallah- you now have a pair of curtains. I still need to finish off the bows for the tie-backs, but other than that, they are done.

Project #2-



We already had set up the crib, but I needed to decide which bedding I would use. A friend of mine and her mom made a beautiful little blanket that sorta served as the inspiration for the room. I had been wanting to do a farm theme, but have decided on Pink, Yellow, and Green. I know that's not really a theme, but it is at least a color scheme :)

Project #3-



I haven't had very many contractions and so a friend of mine gave me some advice...get on your hands and knees and scrub the floor. It keeps your mind occupied for quite some time (especially with all of our tile) and the squatting position helps everyone get into position.

I decided to take this a step further and scrub the grout. I've never cleaned the grout specifically and now seemed like the perfect time. Oh my goodness...I didn't know that our grout was this color! Now that my grout is clean, I feel like I have been living in filth since the day we moved in. The grout had always been that darker color. Lemme tell ya...I am so glad I took this project on!

We had a doctor appointment yesterday. I only dilated another1/2 cm, but she's REALLY low and I'm quite ripe (thank you Evening Primrose Oil, and thank you Brenda!). I just need to have some contractions. I am trying to walk some more and apparently we can do other activities, but I'm not so excited to try that in my current state (sorry Kent)...we'll see what time brings though.

We'll keep everyone posted!

Woo Hoo!

I just got back from my weekly doctor appointment and we could be holding our little girl any day now!

I am dilated 2 cm and he could feel her head (I think that is the coolest!). My doctor said that she is really, really low and in a good position.

We made an appointment for next week, but he said to be prepared to see him before then. I guess sometimes just checking is enough to stir things up. Yikes- I want just a few more days!

Somehow I made it through 9 months without getting sick and yesterday I woke up with a cold. That is the last thing I want while giving birth.

I have had a few little contractions here and there over the last few weeks, but nothing to really sneeze at. However, in the middle of last night I had 2 big ones, that literally woke me up and knocked me outta bed...I guess that's where the 2 cm came from!

It has been really nice to focus on baby stuff now that WE HAVE OUR COMPANY BACK!!!!!! I guess ADRE got sick of having a 9 month pregnant lady coming in every day. Tuesday afternoon I felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. I am so glad that everything went so smoothly. It really could've gotten a lot uglier.

Sigh...it's nice to have a few nice stress free days before our world gets turned all around again :)

We'll keep you posted!

Some Minor Challenges and Setbacks - Making Us Stronger

The past few months have been a bit of a challenge for us.

Some of the challenges include:

• Having my credit score downgraded to the bottom 10% - not because I'd ever been late on a payment (I'd never been late on a payment in my life up to this point) - but because my profile matched many others with real estate holdings that are upside down who've ended up defaulting.
• Our property management company was shut down (the entity's licence was suspended) by the Arizona department of real estate (due to my unlicensed activity from 4.5 years ago when I first created the company and didn't know what I was doing).
• My real estate licence has also been suspended, same reasons as mentioned above, but this time affecting my ability to get listings as a business broker (RE licence required to be a business broker).
• Trying to sell the property management company for less than 1/3 of it's true value in distress (due to the suspended licence issues), only to have the buyers flake out at the last minute.
• Not being able to get a merchant account setup for our online clothing store, which has been shut down.
• My one and only credit card (the company) has gone out of business and it's been impossible trying to get credit.
• The sellers of the technology company we were trying to buy have flaked out on us for the 3rd time in the last 6 months now. They keep chickening out. Apparently another buyer has suddenly come on the scene.
• The SBA won't approve any loans right now. They're telling us they're declining people with perfect credit and solid businesses - 99% decline rate is what they're saying. My chances of getting an SBA or conventional business loan? Not that good.

Ok - I'll stop with the moan list. Things could certainly be worse. Our designated broker for our property mgmt company told us just a year ago when we first hired her that she has everything in life she could possibly want - spiritually, financially, family, etc. So much has changed in 12 months. Now, their family is really struggling to stay together, they're getting foreclosed on in a the next 9 days, and the car repo guys have been trying to break into their garage to get the cars out - they're behind on everything. I really feel for her and her family. She works her butt off for $9.00 an hour, and it just isn't enough to keep up with the bills. She broke down and cried a few times when we had her and the would-be new-buyers over for dinner this past week.

Our loving bishop has met with us 3 times in the past month to make sure we're doing okay. He asks if there's anything he or the ward can do for us. "Just keep us in your prayers" is all we ask. Fast offerings are meant to sustain life, not lifestyle. We're going to be okay. We have savings and we have 3 month's supply of food storage.

We appreciate all those who've prayed on our behalf. We have no fears. We're actually grateful for this time in our lives. It's brought us closer together and has helped us appreciate the eternal things more - each other, this new little girl that's on her way (any day now!), our covenants, our friends and extended family. How grateful we are for the gospel and the promises extended to us by the Lord.

Today in Priesthood session, one of the councilors in the bishopric quoted some excerpts from this month's Ensign, talking about marriage advice. How funny - he quoted my excerpt and had no idea I was one of the contributing writers.

Some other ideas that were brought up in the meeting, quoted from the book, "His Needs, Her Needs":

Her needs:

Affection

Conversation

Honesty and Openness

Financial Support

Family Commitment

His needs:

Sex

Recreational companionship

Attractive spouse

Domestic support

Admiration

Carly is calling me for dinner so I gotta run.