Finally Here!

After much waiting and many uncomfortable nights and days, weeks upon weeks of swollen ankles, 6 bottles of tums, not being able to wear my wedding ring for 3 months, being at a 2 and 70-80% for 4 weeks, having my membranes stripped twice and going 6 days past my due date....LILLY ANASTASIA ROBERTSON is finally here!

I was induced on Monday, January 19, 2009. I was called at 7:30am to be informed that they would be ready for me at 8:30. After I got there the nurse, with very tiny hands and short short short fingers checked me and was way off from what the doctor had me at....you have to meet a 10 on the Bishops scale to be induced before 41 weeks for your first baby at the AF hospital. I had been at an 8 for the last 3-4 weeks and the nurse said I was a 6 so she wouldn't even start my IV until the doctor came because they might send me home (i was 41 weeks the next day)...DUMB! of course he wouldn't send me home!

After two hours of waiting..Doctor Haskett came up to check me himself (monday is C-Section day). By then I had another nurse, thank goodness...her hands weren't as small so I didn't hurt so much. This nurse started my IV and hooked me up to the monitors. When Dr. H came in Lilly had a couple of late decelerations and he said "oh, I guess you have to stay"...it was funny. Because he took so long, Mike gave him a new name...Dr. Hasselhoff.

They started me on Pitocin and the contractions came and stayed. I asked for my epidural before things got too bad and before the Dr. came to break my water. It's a super strange feeling...I really couldn't move my legs which sorta got annoying..but I was so relaxed. Unfortunately I had to be redosed twice towards the end of my labor. Lilly was OP and it was making me have horrendous contractions in my back. All I could do was cry and try to breathe through them. Mike was great holding my hand and watching them on the screen. I don't know what I would have done if my mom and Mike weren't there!

I had to have oxygen on a few times because Lilly's heart rate was a little wacko every now and then...but the oxygen seemed to calm her down. It took me a while to dilate completely....after I finally got to a five, I went really fast. The nurse called the Dr. and had me start pushing. Once Dr. Hasket got there he started talking about needing to use forceps because she wasn't tolerating the pushing. Then he said that if she continues to have such major drops in her heart rate, he was gonna take me back for a C-Section and things would go really fast. At this point Mike was basically scared to death, trying to play it cool and not show it. My mom and I were suprizingly calm throughout the whole thing...being nurses probably had something to do with it. Thankfully the forceps were only needed for a few pushes and our little angel was here. Because she was delivered via forceps, the Dr. had to cut her cord fast to hand her off to respiratory and the nursery nurse. Right as he cut it, Mike leaned in a bit and got sprayed really good. His face was covered. The look on his face was priceless...because of it though, he didn't cry when he finally got to see his baby girl.

Lilly came into this world at 9:45pm on January 19, 2009. She weighed 7lbs5oz and was 19.5in long. I only pushed for about 20 min total. She is absolutely perfect in every way. She had super long fingers and toes and fairly big hands and feet to go with them. She looks just like my 2 day old picture but has more hair than I did. Feedings are going great and she's a great sleeper, once we get her to bed...she thinks she needs to eat twice after her bath before she'll stay asleep...but she only wakes up like once during the night...usually between 2 and 5...which is awesome, but when once she's up it's for 2 hours. Which means mommy is up for 2 hours. But then she'll sleep again for like 3-4 hours, so mommy gets a little more sleep.

She's now just over a week old and doing awesome. She's such a joy. We can't help but just watch her whatever she's doing. She is such a blessing to have in our home. We love her so incredibly much.

My mom was here for a long time before Lilly got here and was only able to stay for about a week after her birth. It was hard to see her go and I still cry because I miss her, wishing she was here to help me and keep me company while Mike's at work and school. I'm so thankful for everything she did for us. I hope I'll be able to live up to the mommy standard she set for me. She's the best mom anyone could ask for and I'm so blessed to be her daughter.

The Equinox

So some of you may know about my "crap wagen"...also known as a volkswagen passat. Well...the driver's side door didn't lock, the alarm didn't work, the windows were known to roll down when the car was already off for a while, and the interior lights didn't work, among other things.  We actually got it sold and ended up getting $500 more than our asking price. We took some time to look at different Chevy Equinoxes and test drove a couple, coming very close to buying two different ones. With the help of Mike's dad and his connections we were able to get an awesome deal!

We ended up with a 2008 2LT Chevy Equinox in Slate Gray, our color of choice. It has 18000 miles and the following perks....... leather seats, seat warmers in the front, electric seats, wood grain, 17" wheels, AWD and lots of other fun stuff. It's such a great car! I love it!!!! We got an awesome interest rate and didn't have to change our approved loan or anything like that. Our payments will be very manageable, and above all, our sweet baby girl will be safe!

Year in Review: 2008

One of my friends did this on her blog and I thought it looked like a good idea. Plus I'm bored outta my mind at work (which isn't bad with only 10 days till my due date...better than nonstop running) and am trying to not fall asleep...something the nurse I'm working with today was incapable of. She's been asleep for like 30 min! haha....

Anyway....here is our 2008 year in review....

January - Our first New Years as a married couple. Mike joined ROTC at BYU to see if he wanted to be in the Air Force after he graduates.

February - One year anniversary! Rocky is one year as well. Mike decided we were going to go on a cruise and booked it (thank you Pell Grants!)

March - Spring break for us...we went on a Mexican Riviera Carnival cruise. It was 7 nights and it was awesome!!! Two days after we got home I took my NCLEX-PN and passed, recieving my LPN nursing license!

April - I stopped birth control without telling Mike, thinking it would take us a while to concieve...guess not...two weeks later I was pregnant, but didn't know it. We went to France to visit Grandma Gisele after school ended at the end of the month. Mike got his Private Pilot License.

May - We cut our week trip to Europe short after 4 days because Grandpa Keith died and his funeral was a few days before our original date of return. We moved (drive) to Baltimore, Maryland for Mike to do summer sales (NEVER AGAIN) Rocky stayed with my family in Colorado and was spoiled. Found out I was pregnant. Learned that we don't like the east coast. Mike has a new love....Blue Crab....Obrycki's is his new favorite place to eat....much cheaper than his other fav, Ruth's Chris.

June - Baltimore is HOT! Mike sweats to death everyday doing door to door. I give it a try with him a few days...not so great being pregnant! I threw up for the first and only time my pregnancy. First OB appointment, we see the baby do a little dance and find out how far along I am....due date Jan 13.

July - Baltimore is still hot and we still don't like it. I teach kids craft classes at Joann - not worth my time! We go to Bath, New York to visit my best friend from high school, Alyssa and her family for the 4th of July. We severely miss Utah summer....all the city days and the freedom fest. NASCAR at Dover and trips to Washington, D.C. I learn that theme parks are not fun when you are pregnant. We go to Anapolis to see what it's like and eat at Leune's...slightly cheaper and better than Ruth's Chris, which is next door.

August - We flew home for a weekend for a family reunion...Mike got to meet two of my cousins who got home from missions. On our trip home we bumped our flights twice and each ended up with $800 in flight vouchers! Tyler flew to Baltimore to visit, see the sights including the Air and Space Museum(s). The three of us drove back to Utah, stopping in Dayton, Ohio at the Air Force National Museum for a whole day....the boys LOVED it. I got more swollen possibly than I have this entire pregnancy on that 31 hour drive at just 18 weeks. We picked Rocky up in Colorado Springs on the way home. We got to go to Lake Powell, just us and Mike's parents and had a great time. Mike turned 24 (old man!) and the next day we found out we were having a little girl!!!!! Soooo excited! School started again...Mike took 20.5 credits! Crazy! My last semester!

September - I started my nursing preceptorship in Labor and Delivery...and that's definately what I want to do! We both just trudged away at school. It kept us pretty busy! We decided to name the baby Lilly Anastasia Robertson.

October - Mike got hired at Cabela's in the footwear department. Too bad it's not a commission job...cause he kicks butt at it. I got hired at the Utah State Developmental Center as an LPN. We'll be able to live a little more comfortably and not really have to worry about money as much. We used our travel vouchers and went to Alaska to visit the Tippetts for a week. It was really cold and snowy. Mike suprized me with two nights at a cute lodge style hotel on a frozen river. I had NO idea. I'm starting to feel a little big.

November - Both jobs are going good. We never get to see each other though. All we do is work and school. I get exhausted quickly from being up so early and then waiting up for Mike to get home and have lots of break-downs because of it. People start predicting that I'll have the baby by New Years because she has dropped a bit and I carry her completely in front. My first baby shower was at Grandma Mert's...huge turnout...tons of stuff! Turkey day comes and goes...I worked and then we went to Brad and Jody's new cabin. My family was here for the week.

December - I finished school completely! YAY! Freedom! I turned 22. Mike did very well in school this semester and his GPA should be going up quite a bit. He took the AFOQT, but we still don't know how he did on it. He'll be applying for an ROTC scholarship in Jan!!! Christmas came and went. We had to open presents at 4:20am because I had to work. My family is here. My mom is staying until the end of January now. My 2nd baby shower was at Lynette's...lots of loot! Lilly is set!.......and.........................NO BABY! gah! I'm huge and just want to be finished!

A lot happened last year for us. We feel so blessed to have survived all the ups and downs and to have so much support from our friends and family. We are adjusting to never seeing each other and are hoping to see a lot more of each other while I'm on maternity leave. We are so excited to become parents in the next few days and feel so blessed to be entrusted with one of our Heavenly Father's children.

Hopefully my next post tells you that Lilly is here.....or that we got a new car.....either one should happen soon!

Belly Shots

I wanted to surprise Mike with some maternity pictures for Christmas. He knew that I wanted to get some really good pictures done to document my big belly. My cousin Allie, who is absolutely amazing and even did our engagement pictures, came over with Missy (sisters) and they did a photo shoot while Mike was at work. It was lots of fun. I told them they had to edit the pictures really good to get rid of the train-track stretch marks. They ended up doing like 250 pictures!!! I picked a few of them out and had them printed for Mike. They are still working on editing the rest of them. Here are a few of the pics....

  

Getting close!!!

I will be full term on Tuesday, December 23...37 weeks! yay! 

My birthday was on Tuesday. I'm 22 now....and feeling old...oh, wait, no that's just the extra weight I'm carrying that makes it so hard to move around...and forget about going up any stairs! yikes! Gma Mert took us out to dinner for my birthday. We went to Olive Garden and had dinner with Amanda, Josh and Rykkar, Spencer, Andrew and Gma. It was nice to see everyone. I feel like all I do is work...and then when I get home from work I just want to sleep because I'm sooo exhausted, so I really don't ever see anyone. I rarely see Mike as it is. The day before my birthday I took my nursing final. I officially finished my degree in Nursing when I was 22. Now I just gotta come up with $300 to pay for my NCLEX so I can take it and get my RN and then make a little more moolah.

The nursery is well on it's way. We decided we are going to make a canopy to go over the crib...for our little princess. So we're trying to figure out exactly how to do it with the stuff we bought. Mike's been going to craft stores with me and helping me find flowers to use to make baby gifts for other people and more little "big" flower clips for headbands. We have one more thing to sell, a chair to wrap and store and a plastic file cabinet to empty and throw away (it's collapsing on itself.) and the nursery will be nothing but a nursery. I still need to get some Dreft and wash Lilly's clothes and her little blankets. Speaking of things to do. I need to pack my hospital bag and have all that stuff ready to go, just in case. We got the stroller/car seat from Mike's parents last night and Mike put it all together as soon as we got home. Now we have to figure out which car we want to put the base in...until we get another base. There's still one more baby shower on the 30th...so then we'll have to find room for all of that stuff.

Mike tells me everyday that it still hasn't sunk in that we are having a baby in 3 weeks (I really hope I don't go over. I told him it probably won't hit until we get home from the hospital with her. I am so looking forward to having her in our lives and we are already very grateful for the opportunity we have been given by Heavenly Father to bring one of His children into this world and nurture and care for her.

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Recently...

So, it's been a crazy few weeks. The week of Thanksgiving was insane. My family was here from Colorado. They drove here on the 21 and then my mom threw me a baby shower with my gma, aunt and cousin. We got lots and lots of stuff (meaning mostly clothes). It was way fun! Afterwards, we all went to see Twilight. Mike had to work so he didn't go, and he said that he didn't care. I dunno if that's true or not. Despite what everyone else thinks....I really liked the movie. I thought they did a good job with it.

I had to take that Saturday off of work which meant that I had to work Monday instead...which also meant that I would be working Mon-Sat, 5:30am-2pm. It pretty much sucked! I was soooo stinkin exhausted. On Thanksgiving I was supposed to leave at 1:30 and say I didn't take a lunch (which I didn't) but we had an emergency and I had to go with someone to the ER about 20-30 min before I was supposed to be off. Of course I was stressed and upset and exhausted. I got back to work around 3 and left from there...the person was still at the ER but someone that had just gotten to work came and relieved me and the other girl. What a day! When I got home I broke down. It didn't help that my mom kept asking if I even wanted to go up to Mt Pleasant to eat....plus being pregnant and sleep deprived and ever since we got married...if I cry once in a day, then I cry all day and can't stop! I hate it!...The food was good though.

Anyway, I the Monday before Thanksgiving my family helped us paint the nursery and then a couple of days later Mike and my Dad put up the chair rail. My mom and dad bought us a crib at my request (instead of a glider) and then mike put it up on Saturday night. He read all the instructions and everything! He's such a good hubby! I'm so thankful to have him in my life!

Now I'm 34 weeks and starting to feel like it. I'm definately glad to be done in 6 weeks!

Dining Out

Dining out was on Saturday, Nov 1. for those of you don't know what dining out is, it's a formal dinner where it's pretty much required to have a date for ROTC. there are rules of the mess that the cadets MUST follow and if their date is doing something really bad, then they may suffer the penalties for him/her. by penalties i mean being sent to the grog which is a toilet on a table filled with nasty drink (whatever they wanted to put in it) or they might have to do something embarrassing in front of everyone. here are the actual rules of the mess.......

Thou shalt enjoy thyself to the fullest!

Thou shalt not be late.

Thou shalt make every effort to meet all guest.

When the mess is formed thou shalt remain standing until seated by the President.

Thou shalt not leave the mess whilst convened. Military protocol overrides all calls of nature. (they made an extra announcement for this one...it didn't apply for anyone who was pregnant...i'm the furthest along by far)

Thou shalt participate in toasts unless thyself or thy group is being honored.

Thou shalt ensure that thy glass is always charged.

Thou shalt not murder the Queen's English or any other language.

Thou shalt always use proper toasting procedure.

Thou shalt not laugh at ridiculously funny comments unless Mister President first shows approval by laughing.

Thou shalt not question the decisions of Mister President or Mister Vice.

Thou shalt express thy approval by tapping thy spoon on the table. Clapping thy hands will not be tolerated.

Thou shalt not begin eating a course of the meal before members of the head table.

Thy reputaion shall be placed at risk if thy bow tie rides and an obvious list.

Thou shalt not grog members of the head table.

Other rules included always escorting your date and dates always had to be on the left. Very hard for us to do because i move fairly slowly. anyway, BYU catering did the event, and the food was not that good. there was this huge cake that was gorgeous and it tasted sugar free to top it all off.

 

i searched all over for a dress and shoes and all that and finally lucked out like 2 days before the event. mike's sister did my hair and everything was great. i worked 8 hours that morning and was fairly swollen and could barely move my knees, ankles, and toes. there was a dance afterward and you can imagine how great i felt...haha..to top that off, mike stepped on the top of my left foot with his heel which is horse-shoed. it still hurts. we had fun at the dance though. i was the only prego that stayed for the dance. we were neglectful and only took a couple of pics though......

One of the speakers at the dinner was Col. John M. McCain, the commander of all of Air Force ROTC. mike was excited to have him there....