My Birth Story

It all started on Sunday. We were in Sacrament meeting and I started having contractions. Thankfully, one of my Midwives is in our ward and she came to see me after sacrament was over. She told me to go home and rest. I went home, crawled into bed and had a nap. When I woke up I felt a lot better! However while I was sleeping Lindsey determined we needed to have everything ready when this happens for real. We put the car seat in the car; got the stroller ready and I packed my birth bag at his request. This was annoying because I had planned on doing it when I was in labour so I had something to do. Don’t worry I had a list of everything I needed and wanted to do it then to pass the time.

Starting Sunday I had a headache but didn't think much of it to be honest. There was also this weird pain in my ribcage right below my right breast. I figured the baby was causing me grief.

On Wednesday I woke up and had a shower. I felt particularly lazy and thought to myself "I'm not going into labour today, I don't need to wash my hair!" Famous last words…

I then decided to go to Costco and get all the food we needed. Not thinking that I was about to go into labour, I picked up a lasagne as we were supposed to feed the missionaries that night. When I got home I really started to feel like garbage. I took a Tylenol and it didn't seem to help it a lot. I cancelled the plans I had for the rest of the afternoon and had a nap. Before I had a nap I thought to myself "I should find the camera, I have plenty of time for that!"

I had a midwife appointment at 4:30 and when I woke up I still felt gross. Lindsey had finished work early that day and he was in charge of putting the lasagne in the oven. I went to my appointment and when I mentioned I had a headache everything changed. My midwife had mentioned my blood pressure was high but I didn't think anything of it, as it was high the week before. She took my BP numerous times throughout the appointment and informed me I was going to the hospital. I told her that I was supposed to feed the missionaries and she told me that wasn't happening.

I called Lindsey to let him know that we were having a baby! He was more concerned with feeding the missionaries… I had to wait at the clinic to give a urine sample. Lindsey decided he would finish cooking the lasagne for the missionaries, go to McDonald’s for himself and pack up the car while I was still at the clinic. When I got home, the missionaries came to the door, we gave them their food and we went straight to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital, they took one look at my blood pressure, ordered numerous blood tests and then the doctor came in and informed me that I was having a baby today. Because my blood pressure was so high I ended up getting an epidural as one of the side effects lowers your blood pressure. They gave me the epidural before they induced because it was still off the charts (168 over 110 or something). After that they put a blood pressure cuff on me and I had my blood pressure monitored every 15 minutes for the next 24 hours (It was the worst). The doctors also put me on Magnesium Sulphate and a requirement for that is to have a catheter. This wasn’t according to my ideal birth plan, I can tell you that right now. I didn’t mind though, I was fairly easy going about everything.

After I was settled into my bed, the doctors came in to break my water. One of the doctors said something about there being a lot of meconium in the water. It was that lovely pea soup consistency. This is when I realize that absolutely nothing about this birth is going to go the way I planned it. Boy was I right.

It wasn't until 10 the next morning when I was given the ok to push. By this time I had a new nurse who I didn't get along as well with. I was pretty devastated but tried to make the best of it. When I was told at 10 that I could start pushing, I was ready!

I pushed for 2 hours and 1 minute (They kept telling me the 1 was important). Babies head was stuck and they equated it to someone talking on the phone. In that time I had to get the fetal heart monitor put into his head because they kept loosing the heart rate. When they were able to get an accurate reading they told me that Tada's heart rate was dropping and not coming back as quickly as they would have liked. The doctor told me that I had ten minutes to push that baby out or there would be medical interventions. I was pretty devastated and asked for more time what the side effects of waiting just a little longer would be. That's when my midwife chimed in and told me that this was the best option.


Next thing I know I have a slew of people around for the birth of my baby, my midwife, the nurse, a backup team of nurses, NICU team, and the two doctors that were going to pull him out (originally I just wanted it to be me, Lindsey and the midwives). The birth happened quickly, all I really remember is the pressure I felt and all the people in the room. I pushed and felt the shoulders leave and the doctors picked up my baby to show me that I had had a baby boy.

Tad is born and is whisked away because they're worried about the meconium and it takes what feels like an eternity to get our skin to skin. When it finally happened, I was beyond elated. 

I’m so grateful for the experience and the opportunity I have to call him my son. In these last few weeks my whole life has turned upside down. But I have loved every second of it.

Canning

It seems fitting that my first post on this thing will be about something that I absolutely love right now. I don’t know what it is about preserving food but it’s rewarding to know that I know exactly what I’m putting into my body and how old it is. We started canning last year, mainly as an excuse to socialize with friends who were canning the night we were thinking of doing it. After that, I was hooked! I started looking up other recipes but since it was the end of August, I (dumbly) assumed canning season was over and we had missed the boat. All throughout last year I was looking into how to preserve, what tools you needed, tips and tricks, etc. I was so excited about preserving things, I wanted to dive right in and get a pressure canner (I mean why not go all out)! Lindsey was so sweet he bought me an electric pressure cooker for Christmas to help me out with my new obsession! TANGENT – That pressure cooker has not been used for canning because I am too scared to can with it, but it is the best cooking tool I have in my kitchen!

This year, I was prepared! I wanted to make Marinara sauce and crushed tomatoes. I was scared with the undertaking I was embarking on so I had my mom help me. That way I knew that I wouldn’t kill anyone! Plus, it’s nice to have someone show you the ropes! We bought 80lbs of tomatoes and honestly, I don’t think it was enough… I mean we got a fair amount of tomatoes and marinara sauce out of it but after I started thinking about it, I could have easily done 40lbs of tomatoes for myself (the 80lbs was split three ways) nevertheless, it was an all day event. Lindsey and my dad spent the morning peeling the tomatoes, we had a Rubbermaid that we washed out and put all the skinned tomatoes into that. It filled up the Rubbermaid quite nicely (as well as a five gallon paint bucket). We got an obscure number of cans out of both recipes (I can’t remember now, this is why I need to write these things down earlier)

After the tomatoes, I got the bug again and started looking at what else I could preserve. My mom had caught the bug too; we decided to do hot mix pickled veggies, garlic, applesauce and jam. However, I didn’t get over to her house in time to make the jam so she did it with my dad. As they were canning the raspberry jam, my father asked how hard it was to make seedless jam. My mom said it wasn’t happening and left it at that. Thinking I would be a nice daughter, I decided to make some seedless raspberry jam for my father. Now, let this be a rule to everyone. When you’re making seedless raspberry jam, DO NOT use pectin. It turns it into a jelly (which we all can agree isn’t nearly as delicious and doesn’t spread as well)! Furthermore, if you would like seedless raspberry jam, just go to the store and buy it! 

Making that jam was the most labour intensive job I have ever done within regards to food preparation. Straining out all the juice and smashing everything together so only the seeds are left in a giant seedy ball is hard work and rather messy. It took me over three hours to juice, cook and process the jam. Honestly, I would like to say I would never be doing that again however, I know that’s not the case. I really want to perfect this canning thing and I think that means that I need to have another go with the seedless raspberry jam one day! Plus, by the time next year comes along, I doubt I’ll remember the pain and torment it caused me, I’ll just be ready to go all over again! And this time, maybe I’ll keep some for myself (I gave it all to my dad… he can be the guinea pig!)

All of this canning lead us to another problem… Storage! Our little townhouse is well, little and storage isn’t something that there is an abundance of! To solve this problem when we first moved in, I bought a small shelving unit and hoped for the best however; it just wasn’t cutting it anymore! So I asked my dad to come over while Lindsey was away on business to help me (which means do all the work while I make lunch as a thank you) build a shelving unit. I asked my dad to come when Lindsey was away because he doesn’t like mess or loud noises and well, I bask in both of those things!

I have to say, I am beyond impressed with the difference the shelving has made. I wish I took a before picture but trust me when I say that it is night and day in there! Now I keep looking around the house for other places we could build storage, however our house is so small, we don’t need to look far to realize, every square foot of this place is pretty utilized!

I wish we had houses like they do in Japan with the crazy storage solutions they have! There’s absolutely no wasted space anywhere. Oh well, one day it will happen. Until then I’ll just have to bask in the glory that is my new shelving unit!

Welcome

Well, the time has come to be like most married folk and start ourselves a blog!
Why a blog you may ask? Well, I feel it is important to chronicle our life, the ups and downs and everything in between. However, Linds and I are rather boring people so we are left in somewhat of a pickle.

So, I figure at the very least, Lindsey and I will be forced to have some occasional adventures because we have to post them and make it into something we can look back at when we're old and senile.

Honestly, we're not that exciting but here's hoping our adventures peak your interest enough to keep reading.