Vera's Birth Story

I went to my last doctor's appointment on Tuesday, August 12th. Thirty-nine weeks and six days pregnant. I got indoors just before a strong storm started outside, with strong wind, rain, and hail. There was rain water coming in under the door, and the door kept blowing open from the wind. Still dilated to 3cm and 70% effaced, just like the previous week. I was a little frustrated about no change since I had been having lots more contractions, some of them pretty painful. We talked about induction, which I was nervous about since my induction experience with Elise wasn't the best (no epidural at first, I don't know what I was thinking). I called Matt, and together we decided on Thursday at 3am. The other options were that night at 8pm (we didn't feel like we could be ready in time) or Sunday (I didn't want to be pregnant that long).

My due date, August 13th, came and went. More rain. More, stronger contractions. That night after our girls were fed and bathed, we brought them to my sister Holly's house to put them to bed. We explained to them that in the morning we wouldn't be there because we would be at the hospital but Daddy would pick them up later so they could visit the baby.

We came home after they were asleep, got some things finished up, and went to bed. Two o'clock came too early, but we woke up and started getting dressed. Then, about 2:30am (we were going to leave for the hospital at about 2:40), Matt noticed a message on his phone. We called the hospital back, and they told us they were too busy to take us for the induction. They would call us when they could take us. They wouldn't give us any kind of timeframe. We went back to bed and woke up about 6:30am not feeling very rested. Elise and Charlotte were at my sisters house still. We hung around all morning. We even watched a movie. Feeling super guilty that we were at home with nothing to do while my sister juggled her own kids (Did I mention she has five, one of them only two months old at the time?) as well as ours, we headed to her house. We fed our kids her food for lunch, put Charlotte down for a nap that ended up literally lasting 10 minutes, and hung around some more. More contractions. No news from the hospital. We decided that we needed to get our kids home, fed, and to bed in their own beds.

By this point we were starting to get pretty frustrated, and I was getting pretty uncomfortable. We ate dinner, bathed the girls, and put them to bed. I kept going back and forth about whether or not we should go to the hospital since my contractions were getting stronger. Once the girls were asleep, we finally decided to call our friend Sierra so she could come stay at our house with our girls while we went to the hospital. The people at the hospital took our information, checked me in triage, and decided to keep me there. They sent us back out to the waiting room for over an hour (busy hospital). It was after 11pm when they finally brought me back to a room. I was GBS positive, dilated to 5cm and contracting, and I had had an appointment for an induction, so they couldn't really send me home. They started me on penicillin. Crazy burning sensation in my hand I don't remember having with the other girls, but apparently that's normal. I got really shaky. I really wanted an epidural at this point. They gave me an epidural (hallelujah!), and I finally got to relax. Matt was super tired; he doesn't do well on little sleep. I was tired too, but feeling much better after the epidural.

I didn't relax long. A little before 2am, I finished getting my first dose of penicillin. Ideally, they want you to get 2 doses, 4 hours apart, just to be safe. The nurse told me to pull myself up in the bed so she could check me, and when I did I thought I felt my water break. I was right, and things happened quickly from there. I was at 6cm when my water broke. The doctor arrived shortly after that, and before I knew it I was ready to push. Just a few short pushes, and Vera was born! It was a little after 3am, so almost exactly 24 hours after my original appointment for induction and two days after my due date. No tearing or stitches. No complications. Just a beautiful baby girl.

Vera Helen Asay was born at 3:04am on August 15, 2014. She was 9 lbs 1oz and 21 inches long. Healthy and perfect. We love her so much. We have been so richly blessed.

my whole world

beautiful baby Vera

I love this moment.

best big sister

Our girls are lucky to have this man for their Daddy.

My sister Holly and I had babies just two months apart.

I love baby yawns.

so very alert, right from the beginning

love

going home

"Trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!" -William Wordsworth

Peaks of Cuteness

I have a theory that about every three months for the first year, babies hit peaks of cuteness. Let's face it: few babies are truly adorable looking at birth. Around three months or so, though, oh man do they start to get really cute. Then again at about six months, when they get really chubby and start sitting up, they peak again. At about nine months is my favorite age, when they're mobile but not walking yet and still have plenty of chub but also plenty of personality. And then who can deny that the first-steps phase of an about-one-year-old new walker is seriously cute? But still, nine months is my favorite.

Charlotte is seven months old, just past her six month peak and headed into my favorite peak. Six months to a year is such a fun time. When Elise was about six months old, I finally started to feel like myself again (I know, that's really late). At about six months was also when Matt really started bonding with Elise. With Charlotte, both of us have come around a lot faster, but this is still such a fun age. We are enjoying her so much.

Charlotte has started some serious babbling lately, and I can't get enough. Can you blame me?

She has also recently started clapping. Like, when you sing "If You're Happy and You Know It," she claps. Or if you just say, "Yay!" or mention the word clap, or clap for her. I haven't gotten a great video of her clapping yet, but here's something to give you an idea. So cute.

A few of her favorite positions:

tummy time

happy face!

She can sit indefinitely these days.

explore/relax mode

on the go

Charlotte is not crawling yet, but she is starting to learn that she can move to get to what she wants. She stretches, rolls, and even pushes herself along with her toes sometimes to get to things. She gets her knees or her toes under her quite often, but she doesn't push up and put her hands under her, so she mostly just faceplants, then rolls with her bum high in the air. This video of her inching forward was taken on April 19th, the day Charlotte turned seven months old.

Charlotte's first tooth broke through on May 5th (bottom left central incisor), and the one beside it is due to pop through any minute.

Holy Hannah, I don't know what could be much cuter. Maybe Charlotte at nine months? Only time will tell.

P.S. I know this is absolutely a "my kid is so cute" blog post. And I'm not even sorry. :)

Charlotte's Birth Story

Charlotte Nicole Asay was born on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 1:37pm. She was 8 lbs 15 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. We're so excited that she's here! That's the short version of the story.

Here's the long version (with pictures).

I was up several times Tuesday night because I was having contractions. About 5 am on Wednesday, I decided I was finished trying to sleep and got up. I took a shower and got dressed, and Matt was about to leave for work a little after 6 am, but I asked him to look online before he left about how far apart contractions should be before you should go to the hospital. I couldn't remember exactly, and I didn't want to wait too long because I tested positive for GBS and needed to be sure I had time to get antibiotics intravenously at the hospital before delivering.

While he was on the computer, I was finishing getting ready for the day and I thought my water broke. I wasn't sure because the doctor had to break my water with Elise, so I had never experienced my water breaking spontaneously before. And there wasn't very much fluid. We decided we better head to the hospital to get it checked out for sure. We finalized our hospital overnight bags and called my sister. About this time, Elise woke up. While we got her fed, dressed and ready, my sister Holly headed over with her van full of her own kids and got there about 8 am to pick up Elise and take care of her for us. (Thanks, Holly!)

We got to the hospital around 8:30 am, where the woman we talked to seemed skeptical that my water was actually broken. They brought us to the triage center to get checked out.

About 9:15 am, they told us that my water was broken, but it was a "high break." They told us that the sac of waters had burst on the side instead of the bottom, which is why the fluid wasn't leaking very fast. All the labor and delivery rooms were full, so we stayed put for awhile. They put me on penicillin about 9:30 am, and Dr. Beck came in a little after 10:30 to break my water again in a lower place and to check my progress. They had started me on Pitocin about 10 minutes before, but the doctor told them to  stop the Pitocin because I had already progressed from 2 cm when I got there to 4 cm. He wanted to be sure I had 4-5 hours to get both doses of penicillin that I needed for the GBS. He gave me the okay to get an epidural, and I was relieved that I could go ahead with it since I was starting to get pretty uncomfortable. When they checked me again at 11:30, I was at 5cm.

At 12:40 pm, a labor and delivery room finally opened up and we moved there. Just in time, too! At 1:20, I was dilated to 10 cm. I had just gotten the second dose of penicillin in, so we were good to go!

At 1:37 pm, Charlotte Nicole Asay was born (Nicole after her aunt, Holly Nicole Rader). She was 8 lbs 15 oz and 19 3/4 inches. And so beautiful. I even got to watch the whole thing in a mirror, which was a neat experience (not literally, because it was actually pretty messy). That was the first time I had seen a birth. I didn't need an episiotomy, and there was no tearing (just like with Elise, except that Elise was only 7 lbs 11 oz). Pushing only took a couple of minutes.

Charlotte cried so loudly that the nurse kept saying things like, "Wow! She really has some lungs!"

 warming up before her first bath

bathtime

washing her hair

warming up again

The nurse made Charlotte this hat. I really liked my labor and delivery nurse, Tara; she was probably my favorite nurse of all the ones I had during my stay.

meeting her sister for the first time

Elise loves Charlotte so much already.

I hope they'll be best friends.

We had to stay in the hospital for the full 48 hours because the pediatrician wanted to watch Charlotte because of the GBS. I was a little bummed since I was eager to get home to be with Elise, but at least the food was good! I had salmon twice and various other (big) meals that I didn't even have to make myself.

Charlotte's first time outside

This was the day after she was born when Matt and Elise came to visit. The hospital has a cool garden area that you can visit while you're there.

Elise likes to use the Boppy like me.

going home

Elise looking at her own baby book.

tummy time together

My mom came to visit from Wednesday, September 26th till Monday, October 1st. It was great to have her help, and I was glad she got to visit with the girls.

On Sunday, September 30th, we got together with Holly's family and walked around the Mesa temple. It was nice to get out and to visit with family.

Elise has done pretty well with the transition to being a big sister. She is so cute with Charlotte, always wanting to kiss her and bring her toys.

And now I get to spend all day enjoying this sweet face. Don't you just love those chubby cheeks?