Eli's at home check up

The hospital that we delivered at offered an at home check up within the first week of being discharged. I was so happy that they offered this! I got very used to the hourly check ups that they made on both Eli and I while we were in the hospital! I was breastfeeding and wasn't sure Eli was getting "enough".  Eli was born at 6 lbs 3 oz (Thursday) and when we were discharged he weighed 5 lbs 13 oz (Saturday). Our at home check up was on Monday (just two days later). The nurse weighed Eli and told us that he was ALREADY at his birth weight! What a huge relief this was! It was also a precursor to how fast Eli would gain weight... :)

Here is little Eli on the day of his check up. only 5 days old!

So little!!!!

The Birth Story

Time to get back into the blogging routine since our little Eli came into the world! I think I should start off with my birth story. Caution: It's long. But I took it straight out of my journal :)


The story begins at my 37 week appointment. I scheduled my appointment on my day off from work and I was to see a rotating Dr within the clinic. Typically, I can count on my appointments lasting anywhere from 20-40 minutes... this includes waiting in the wait room. Ten minutes went by, then twenty, then I noticed that those who were there after me, were already being seen. Thirty minutes gone. I decided that if forty minutes passed and I still hadn't been seen - I would talk to reception. Ironically, my name was called right at 40 minutes. So, I am a little flustered at the length of time that passed before I was seen. The nurse took my blood pressure - and it was 140/82. She made a comment about how that was fairly high and that they were going to take it again. After about 10 minutes of waiting, my blood pressure dropped to 130/80. The Dr. came in and told me that I was 3 cm dilated and about 90% effaced. In response to my questioning the high blood pressure, she responded "well, being this far pregnant takes a toll on you little ones. We would like this baby to come sooner rather than later. This is going to be uncomfortable and you might bleed for the next couple of days." While on my way home, I was thinking through the appointment I had just had. Marty had just told me the other day that if I wanted my baby to come ... I needed to tell my Dr. to strip my membranes. Well, we were not in a hurry to have little man come. We wanted to wait for my mom to fly in (on Nov. 27th) prior to delivery. Yet, I had a feeling that the Dr. did just that - strip my membranes ... without telling me that she stripped them. 


That appt. was on a Friday. That Saturday David and I did a huge overhaul on cleaning/organizing the house. We finally found the glider that we wanted and purchased last minute items that we would need. I even decided to wash his clothes (something that I was waiting on doing until my mom got here). I somewhat packed our hospital bags as well. All that day I was bleeding and crampy and had consistent pain in my lower back. But, we got it all done. 


Sunday and monday had passed. I stopped bleeding and my back pain went away. So, I felt like I was in the clear. This little boy was not ready to come yet and would continue to "cook" for another 2 weeks. I told mom to not worry and that I would have him while she was here. 


Then Wednesday came. That night I just had the weirdest dreams. I just felt... odd. I woke up that morning after dropping Dave off at the bus and found that I was bleeding. I called Dave and told him. Luckily, I had an appt. with my dr. that morning, so I was going to ask her about it there. Dave was excited when I told him I was bleeding... haha. I was scared and anxious. I read prior to my appt that if I were to see blood - labor was around the corner (likely, 24-48 hours away). When I asked my Dr. about it that morning, she did not seem too concerned with the appearance of blood. In fact, she made it sound like labor could really be another 2 weeks away and I should not be concerned. So, I went to work. That morning I just felt so odd. At work, they decided to throw my a baby shower. It was so nice!! I wish I was able to enjoy it more looking back, but I was scared because I was bleeding and not sure when little man would make his appearance. I started having back pain - similar to the pain that I had on Saturday. This wasn't too concerning to me, as I was having back pain throughout the end of my pregnancy. However, around 11am, I started noticing that the back pain was coming and going.... and they were aligning up with my contractions (the braxton hicks ones) about 5 minutes apart. This was concerning to me. A coworker had once told me that if I started to feel contractions in my back, that I should worry. At lunch I went to go take Lucy out. David called me and asked how I was feeling. I told him "well, I think I might be in labor." - however, I wasn't fully convinced myself that I was. I was thinking that these contractions were just like my braxton hicks contractions and that there was nothing to worry about. I told Dave not to worry and if they get worse at the end of the day, then I will call the Dr. I did grab those hospital bags from the house at lunch - just in case. Then I went back to work. The contractions were more noticeable, but I could still talk and walk through them so I wasn't concerned. Around 3:30, they were starting to get worse. I decided to call my Dr. - who basically told me that I should sit in a hot bath and they were likely to go away. Around 4:00 I decided to go home. I laid on the couch and decided to time how far apart the contractions were and the duration. Throughout this hour, they were so painful that I had to arch my back and squeeze something throughout them. They were about 4 1/2 minutes apart and lasting from 40-60 seconds. I called Dave promptly at 5 and asked when he was coming home. He was thinking about staying late to work on projects... I told him he needed to come home. While he was on his way, I decided to take a hot shower to see if they would in fact go away. The shower helped... but they were still going strong. Dave got home and decided that we should clean the house before we went to the hospital. He wanted to stall for little bit because he thought that the hospital might turn us away for being there too early, or for me not being in labor at all. Around 6:15 we headed out. Ironically, there was traffic on the way to the hospital. There is never traffic!! There was an accident and it took us 30 minutes to go 1/4 mile. Throughout this, my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and REALLY painful. I was pretty scared at this point! Yes, it crossed my mind... maybe I will have this baby in the car! We had heard from a couple of people that I should eat something prior to arriving at the hospital, because they won't let me eat when I get there. So, we decided to take the extra 5 minutes and stop at a fast food restaurant. I ate half the hamburger and couldn't continue. I was in pain! 


We arrived at the hospital and we see one nurse. She said that there was no other patients in labor and delivery so if I was in labor, they would need to call the on-call Dr. They hooked me up to the machines and strapped the heartbeat monitor on for Eli and then the contraction monitor for me. Right away, they could see that my contractions were coming about 3 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute each. After 4 contractions, the nurse said "well, I'll go call the Dr." Another nurse came in and said that they were moving us into our labor and delivery room. This was about the time I started to get a little panicky. I am not ready for him to come! Mom isn't here yet! Yet, it was happening. The nurse asked about whether or not I wanted an epidural, I requested that I get one as soon as they would give it to me. The nurse said they would call the anesthesiologist on call. When the Dr. arrived (around 9pm) she checked to see how far dilated I was - at this time, I was at a 6. She then broke my water (weirdest feeling ever) and then hooked up the heart rate monitor directly on Eli's head along with the monitor for my contractions. The previous monitor only measured the length of the contractions - this monitor would measure how strong they are. While we were waiting for the anesthesiologist, I decided to call mom and let her know that I was in labor. Looking back, I probably should have waited until after I got the epidural! Mom didn't answer, so Dave called Dad. Dave told Dad that I was in the hospital and that I was in labor. Dad handed the phone to mom, Dave handed the phone to me, and we just cried. Mom wanted to be there so badly, and I wanted her there too. Yet, Dave and I have done so many things by ourselves in the 6 years of marriage, that I felt it would be fitting for us to welcome our first baby, the one we tried for for so long, by ourselves.


I received the epidural around 10:00. That was heaven. The epidural was pure heaven!! I stopped feeling the contractions the moment she successfully inserted the spinal tap. However, I had to sit REALLY still while she put it in for about 10 minutes - in the space of those ten minutes, I had the strongest, most painful contractions I ever had. After the epidural, I decided to call Mom back. I was more calm at this point and was able to express to Mom how much I love her and though she wasn't physically there, we were going to keep her updates as if she was there. I started shaking. Not because I was cold or in pain, I was just shaky. This worried Dave a great deal. The nurse told him they were just "pregnancy shakes" and they are very common. After I called mom, I called Jen, and then Kim. I just told them that I was in labor but that everything was fine. They were hard phone calls to make, but I felt at home with Dave by my side.


After I made those three calls, Dr. Clevenger came in and said that she wanted to check how far I was dilated. It had only been an hour since I received the epidural. She checked how far dilated I was and then asked "Well, are you ready to push?" Thinking that she was joking, I laughed. Then she looked at her nurse and said that I was dilated to 10 and that she thinks that I should start pushing. This freaked me out! I wasn't ready to start pushing! I wanted to enjoy this epidural for a few minutes longer! I wanted to take a nap maybe! 

The monitor that I was hooked up to would increase in number when my contraction would get stronger. So, when the number got in the high 20's that was when I needed to push. I would push three times for 10 seconds and then stop for a minute or so until my next contraction came. In between contractions, Dave would feed me ice chips and kiss my forehead. He was so cute. He said I needed three spoonfuls of ice chips for each big push. We pushed for about 20 minutes and we weren't making a whole lot of progress. Dr. Clevenger then said that she wanted me to "labor down" , so we were going to wait for 30 minutes and let the contractions do their job to get baby further down the birth canal. Those next 30 minutes were the scariest, most nerve wracking 30 minutes EVER. They came and went, and the Dr. came back to try again. While pushing, I said that I didn't want a mirror to look at baby coming. But, the way that I had my legs up allowed me to view him come when he was closer. It was amazing motivation to see him come! Forty five minutes later, he was here. After the head was out, the rest of his body slid right out and they put him on my belly. He was amazing. Gorgeous. Handsome. Ours. 

Dave cut the umbilical cord and then they took him to get cleaned up and checked. He was 6 lbs and 3 oz of pure heaven. Little did I know... he would not be 6lbs for very long!!! Look at other posts to see how much he has grown! 

Little sleep was had for the next 48 hours while we were in the hospital. Eli would NOT sleep in the plastic container provided for him. He hated being swaddled. He wanted to be held. The medical staff was very strict when they said that we were not to sleep with baby. Well, that is the only way we were able to get ANY sleep. So I would hold the baby with the light on and rest my eyes (fall asleep) and once someone would knock, I would quick open my eyes and pretend I had been awake the whole time. Little did I know ... sleeping was going to be a struggle. 

Dave was really my gladiator. He did everything I needed. He changed ALL of Eli's diapers that first day. I could hardly move from the epidural and also the swelling from labor. Dave was so in love with this little boy that we brought into the world. Just completely smitten. Dave would also leave the hospital frequently to tend to our other little baby - our furry baby, Lucy. That was one of the hardest parts of being in the hospital was leaving Lucy. Luckily we had amazing neighbors that let her hang out during the evening times, and then Dave would come home 2 times during the day to let her out and play. Dave said a few times that it was hard to leave his baby to take Lucy out. I was so grateful that he did, because it took a lot of stress off!

He is just so beautiful! And that expression is to die for!

White Coat and New Job!

It's been awhile... and so much has been going on!

David only has two weeks left of his first year in Dental School. He had his White Coat ceremony early in May and his parents flew out from WA to be there for it. The White Coat is a symbolic event and it is given to the dental students right before they start seeing patients. One of the great things about the University of Iowa is that they really get you into the clinics as soon as possible. In fact, I have already been a patient of David's! The first patients that they see are for a prophylaxis, which means a "cleaning" to the rest of us. Then at the beginning of his second year he will start seeing patients for fillings. It is so exciting! It was just such a great moment to sit in that dental chair and have David do my cleaning. He was using all of the nonsense jargon that you hear at the dentist and don't understand a word they say. His dreams are really happening, and it is so exciting!

For the past 4 years I have been working as a Commercial Lines CSR at a small insurance agency in Rexburg, ID, Archibald Insurance Center. When they knew that I was moving (because Dave had graduated) they asked if I would continue to work from home for them... and that was such a blessing! Especially since we were planning on house-sitting for Davids parents in Leavenworth, WA and there are NO jobs in that area. As we moved to Iowa I continued to work from home for Archibald and it was really wonderful. But, days were long and I was lonely. I missed people interaction. I had way too many conversations with our dog than I would like to admit! So, I felt like I was ready for a change, but it had to be the right change. I looked on Career Builder only a handful of times. I was looking for something within 5 minutes of my home and with good benefits. Then, I saw that they were opening claims management company... literally, THREE minutes from my house. So, I checked it out. I sent in my resume. The next day, I got a call for an interview. I applied for an entry level position because I didn't want to shoot higher than what I was ready for. In my interview the gal told me that based on my experience and how the interview was going at that point that I was better suited for a higher position. Which is awesome! And really, I should have applied for it in the first place. I have 7 years experience in the insurance industry. To make this long story short (too late) I got the job! I am elated. I think it will be a really, really good thing for me. David can spend all of his time at school and studying without having to worry about me home alone all day long.

I start in a week and I am excited for what this new adventure will bring!!

Lucy, Pillows, and the Elections

It is getting way too cold way too fast. And unfortunately Lucy is the one really suffering here. If you remember, we buzzed her about 3 weeks ago and she has very little hair left. However, it is actually pretty awesome when we take her out to go to the bathroom.... no more sniffin around, takin her precious time. She is out, does her biz, and she comes running back. Potty time has gone from around 7 minutes to 3! You go girl!

We brought Lucy into our home about a year and a half ago. It was a very spontaneous decision and (with the exception of marrying David) has been the best decision we have ever made. She is so well mannered and just has so much love to give. I saw this comic the other day and it just melted my heart. This has Lucy written all over it.

 (Picture was taken from Prayerforce.org)

It's my day of birth coming up in a few days!!! I have been complaining to David that I think I am having a hard time sleeping at night because my pillow sucks. His family is NOTORIOUS for being perfect gift givers. They find something that you NEED but that you also WANT but wouldn't really think about getting for yourself. They are so well thought out! So David surprised me and we went Pillow shopping!! I was SOO excited!!! But, my question is this... why do they not provide a proper pillow testing station??? A pillow is like a nice pair of jeans, you don't leave without trying them on!! 

I didn't know David snatched this picture. But I am glad he did because I get a kick out of it. 

Is anybody else sooo ready for the elections to be over??!?!??!!?!? OH MY HECK. Iowa is a swing state so EVERY commercial we see is either Obama or Romney. 85% Obama, 15% Romney. Certain ones FRUSTRATE ME SO BAD. We watch Hulu and they will sometimes say "Which Ad would you prefer?" and all of our options will be for Obama... NONE!!! I WANT NONE!!! I would rather watch the youtube video "zit on my boyfriends back" twenty times. Seriously. It's been excruciating. It gets me riled up every time. Obama has had Morgan Freeman voice over one of his ads and even has had Jay Z on endorsing him. And that is one of my biggest frustrations... why is America looking at Morgan Freeman and Jay Z as the people that we look up to enough to sway our vote?? Why not somebody who has actually made a difference in the world? A scientist, a fireman, maybe somebody in the military?? UGHH. And then we get people tweeting out that "America seriously needs to reconsider voting for Romney because 'his' America is terrifying" I don't even think I need to go into that comment. So. Frustrating. 

I need something lighter to end this blog post on. Here is a picture of Lucy. She has the cutest habit where if she can be laying on both David and I, she will. Doesn't matter what crazy position she needs to be in, she will do it. So. Cute. The gray sweatshirt is me, and the khakis are Dave. Love them both so much!!!

Famous, embarrassed, pumpkins, and mis-use of dental equipment

David and I have been REALLY into The Voice this season.  I have a couple favorites, Avery is the first who is on CeeLo's team and also Collin McLouglin (He WAS on Adam's team and then Blake Stole him).We think Adam Levine is as cool as it gets SO we were thrilled to hear that Maroon 5 will be touring in March and they will be playing about an hour away.

On Friday we heard that our local radio station was giving away tickets to the show, so I told Dave that I was going to listen ALL day long and I was GOING to WIN. I was determined I was going to win. So I waited until I heard the Maroon 5 song and I then I started dialing. Here's how it went... busy, busy, busy, #8, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, #61, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy NUMBER 98. I had to be caller 100 to win. I was SO upset when he said caller 98! Called again. Busy. Called again... IT WAS RINGING!!! Then I heard someone on the other line say "Hello, who am I talking to?" It was right here that I realized I was CALLER 100!!!!!!!! I was freaking out. I SCREAMED into the phone. First of all, I have to say, I am SO GLAD that I was NOT on the air at this time. Because the DJ LITERALLY had to silence me to tell me that I had not WON anything. Yet. AND IT WASN'T EVEN FOR MAROON 5 TICKETS! It was for this thing called "Whole house room redo" and I won a key. Which means that I had to drive about an hour away to see if my key fits into the lock and if it did, I would win a buttload of furniture. Which would be cool. But, seriously, how did I listen to the radio all day long and miss that they were NOT giving tickets away?? I was so embarrassed. soooo embarrassed. But hey, on the bright side, I was on the radio! (thankfully after they edited it). YES. I am THAT Kami from Coralville. Don't be afraid to ask for an autograph. Ultimate fist pump.

In other news, David and I decided that we needed to carve some pumpkins. I always give David a hard time because whenever we decide to do something creative he always manages to take over and take complete creative control and ends up doing about 80% of it. I don't know if I can really blame him. He is much more of an artist than I. But I told him that we were getting TWO pumpkins this year so I can do my own! We were looking up some designs online and I decided that I wanted to do Jack the Pumpkin king. David pretty much told me "good luck" because he has tried multiple times and hasn't been successful. I think I can blame the Allen gene in me... when I hear I can't do something... I want to prove people wrong! So I decided I was going to do Jack. We started out with knives and quickly found that these "instruments" were NOT going to work. Luckily David brought home his dental waxing kit because he has a huge practical exam on Monday. Who knew that dental waxing tools were perfect for pumpkin carving?

To many of you, you know that David LOVES to pop zits. Probably his one and only vice. I have heard him say that to be a dermatologist would have been another field he would have liked to go into... JUST because he loves popping zits and pinching pimples so much. The problem is that he doesn't have too many of them. So what does he do? He comes after me. I always have one on my chin and on my forehead and he just loves to give me that I-am-staring-so-deeply-in-your-eyes-because-I-adore-you look that leads into him leaning in to pinch my pimple. and you know what? I am a baby. and it hurts. So I REALY don't like when he does it. The other day he came home with a SWAG bag from dental school. Little did I know that this bag came with a nice bottle of topical anesthetic. You know, the crap they put on your gums to numb them before they stick you with a needle? He told me that he had some gel that would make pinching my pimple not hurt so bad. I trusted him. And you know what? It worked! I didn't feel a thing!!! It does make me worry, though. To what point does this end??!?

Livin Life in the Midwest

It still is a bit surreal to me to think that we are living in the middle of the country.

Whenever someone asks where Iowa is I tell them that we live on MIMAL's face. And it surprises me EVERY SINGLE TIME when someone tells me they don't know what or who MIMAL is.

MIMAL!! Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana.

Or if you ask my niece, Ryann, we live in Oh-I-Ah. So when we first pulled our truck in on Saturday morning we found that there wasn't a convenient place to put our truck so that we can properly unload. So, David and I decided the best way to do it (perhaps not the most efficient) was to pull our truck right by the garage and unload it as quickly as we can because we would be blocking traffic. We worked so fast it was insane!

And that my friends is when I was introduced to the glorious FEELING of living in a humid environment. Sure, I've felt humid before when we traveled to Mexico and Guyana, but it's a whole 'nother experience when you know that you are going to live in and NEVER escape the humid air. That's really my only complaint. Well, that and the really eerie feeling of not having any mountains around you. There is literally nothing higher than us. That's a bit freaky.

We live in a town home complex that is HIGHLY populated with dogs. Which I first thought was going to be awesome, especially since we were having to separate Little Miss Lucy from her favorite playmate Maggie. Well, within the first month of us living here she got sick. She was throwing up at least twice a day and wasn't eating anything. One night she threw up 4 times - so we made a trip to the vet........ at 4 in the morning.... She picked up something from some dog around here. AND THEN!!! Five days ago David found a flea on lucy. A FLEA!!!!! She has never had fleas!!! Well, this is what happened...

yes. we buzzed her. David found a total of 8 fleas on Lucy. We got her on flea medication and we haven't seen one since. We caught it just in time! Crisis averted. 

Fall is in full swing now and the trees are turning all sorts of beautiful colors. It is such a sight to see and one of my favorite parts of living here in the Midwest. There are many roads that come straight out of Father of the Bride. You know what I'm talking about... the road's that are lined with breathtaking deciduous trees?

**And for the record, I actually picked up the term deciduous from dental anatomy! That's right! Baby teeth are actually called deciduous teeth! I'm gettin' to know my stuff! Mesial, distal, lingual, buccal, occlusal... those are the names of all the SIDES of one tooth!!

More later!

Orientation and First Week!

David started orientation two weeks ago. After the first day he was so jazzed about starting! I loved that!! To know that David is excited and happy is a great confirmation that not only is dentistry what he wants to do, but that he is going to love going to school here in Iowa.

He described orientation as "so different and I love it"

As soon as the very first day the Professors treat you like what you are, a professional. A future Doctor.

 First Day of School! 

I love that he has to wear scrubs everyday!! 

How cool is this??? That is Harky the mascot. GO HAWKEYES! 

It's really hard to tell from the picture, but if you look really closely you will find that is NOT a real person.