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

Independence Day Weekend in California

Matt had Thursday, July 4th off this year, so he worked 30 hours Monday through Wednesday, and on Thursday morning we took off as early as we could manage (which isn't nearly as early as we could've left without two little ones). The girls did pretty great for the five hour car trip to Matt's parents' house in California.

on the road

Charlotte and Grandpa
Happy Fourth!

We loved the weather and the backyard!

Check out that huge, orange dragonfly and the beautiful water lily.

Charlotte and Daddy 

Elise loves going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Grandma and Charlotte 

trying a carrot right out of the garden

Now, that's a fun way to get kids to eat more vegetables!

Elise pulling up carrots with Grandpa

She loved the cherry tomatoes.

Charlotte enjoyed the peas

Grandpa and Charlotte napping

Grandma and Elise playing

I loved watching these two together.

A friend of Matt's parents let us use her pool while she was out of town. It was so nice!

Elise, of course, loved the diving board.

We also had some fun in the kiddie pool in the backyard.

Elise loved playing with the apples that had fallen from the trees.

We also ate way too much delicious, homemade cherry pineapple ice cream.
So yummy!

saying goodbye

Bad traffic on the way home, 20mph on the freeway, was a little rough on everyone, but we made it!

This was such a fun little weekend trip. It was so nice just to visit and relax together. Thanks, Patti and Craig, for having us!

Memorial Day 2013: Bouncing, Eating, Splashing

 For Memorial Day, we got together with my sister, Holly, and her family and had a lot of fun. We went to BounceU, where they have big inflatable bounce houses and slides for kids to play and jump on, and Elise had the time of her life. Seriously, it's like that place was designed for kids with her energy level and thrill-seeking tendencies. This slide was so fast, and she couldn't get enough. I had a lot of fun roughhousing with her in a cushy environment. Charlotte enjoyed playing some too on the Rody horses (with help) and in this one car thing, but most of the time she napped in Matt's arms.

our thrill junkie

climbing up all by herself

Charlotte enjoying herself in the car thing

At one point, Elise was scaling the outside of this thing (which is definitely not allowed, haha). I think my heart actually stopped for a second when I saw her.
[photo from BounceU Facebook page]

And then I didn't really take any more pictures that day, whoops. We went back to Holly's house (for the last time, they're moving to a nearby house) and ate and played there. My brother-in-law, Jonathan, is the Master of the Grill, and Matt was his trusty assistant. Jonathan grilled (amazing) pork chops, hamburgers, hot dogs, and bratwurst, and we also had chips, potato salad, and awesome watermelon. According to Jonathan, the best method for choosing the perfect watermelon is to grab one at random. You do whatever works, right?

The kids swam in the kiddie pool after we ate, and they had a ton of fun splashing around, then bailing the water. Elise's favorite thing was to dump buckets of water over herself repeatedly. Hudson, Holly's youngest, wasn't interested in getting in the water. Maybe that had something to do with the four other rambunctious, bigger kids already in there? Charlotte napped through this too (she woke up for the eating part earlier, she's a big eater/grower lately).

Such a fun day together. Holidays at Holly's are my favorite. I don't know what we're going to do when they're out of town for Independence Day this year!

California Vacation, May 2013

We had a fantastic vacation to California to visit Matt's side of the family. Matt's brother Mike and Mike's wife Amber were visiting from Florida, and Matt's sister Natalie was visiting from Utah, so the whole Asay clan was there at Matt's parents' house. We were grateful to get to visit with Matt's Aunt Ann and to see his Uncle George and Aunt Rachel and their boys. Family reunion!

First we did some visiting.

Elise enjoyed dressing up Grandpa and Daddy. Here she is coming to give me a lei too.

Grandpa having too much fun

Ann read and read and read to Elise. Thanks for all the new books, Ann!

Elise loved this little princess cot that she got to sleep on.

Mike playing with the cat, Toby, by getting him to chase a stream of water

Amber and Patti chatting

 New, matching bathing suits from Grandma! The girls loved this pool so much, Grandma and Grandpa sent it home with us.

Mike, Natalie, and Matt

Craig, Mike, Natalie, Patti, and 

Mike and Amber

our little family

 Elise adores Ann.

Charlotte and Natalie

On Friday, we went to California Adventure and Disneyland! It was the girls' first trip and my second. So much fun!

Grandma and Elise when we first got there

 The new Cars Land was so well done.

Luigi's Flying Tires ride

Elise got to ride once with them and once with us, right in a row, since Charlotte couldn't wait in line and we had a baby swap pass.

Then we rode the Little Mermaid ride.

 Elise really wanted to go on Mickey's Fun Wheel, so some of us went on that while the rest rode California Screamin'.

Charlotte kept sticking out her tongue to taste the wind when we were at the top.

My little daredevil loves heights.

After lunch, Elise fell asleep as we were heading over to Disneyland.

And then we saw two princesses. While Elise was sleeping. I almost took her picture with her in the stroller asleep next to Snow White, but I decided against it.

Snow White
(who had the most obnoxious voice ever, even though it was supposed to be in character)

Belle

the castle

 Then my camera died. So that was all the pictures that I got of Disneyland. We met up with Matt's Aunt Rachel. We ran off while the girls were sleeping and rode Indiana Jones, which I hadn't ridden before since it was out of service when I went last. Then I came back and went through Tarzan's Treehouse with Elise.  Then we all went on the Jungle Cruise. (Charlotte didn't like the boat much. I think she may have issues with motion sickness.) We split up after that, and Elise, Charlotte, Patti, Ann, and I all went to Fantasyland while the rest of the group did the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. The Fantasyland group rode the carousel first. Then Patti and Elise rode the Casey Junior Circus Train while Ann and Charlotte hung out and I waited in line for the Dumbo ride. If Elise says she rode on the pumpkin, she means the Dumbo ride. I went to take care of Charlotte (I love the Baby Care Center at Disneyland, great for nursing moms), and the rest of the group got together and saw the parade. Then we all had dinner, complete with glow sticks thanks to Ann, and Elise, Charlotte, Matt, Ann, and I all headed home. Mike, Amber, Natalie, Patti, and Craig stayed a little longer.


Saturday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was great. Elise is really into pandas right now, so that was perfect.

Mike and Amber consulting the map

cute Natalie

lots of turtles

my little monkey, hanging with the monkeys

swinging with Grandma and Grandpa

10-month-old panda cub

panda mother

enthralled

me and Charlotte with the flamingos

checking out the pelicans

egret

zebra ends

polar bears

They don't have these at the Phoenix Zoo. Wonder why.

koala sleeping

After the zoo, we went to Coronado Island. This was Charlotte's first time seeing the ocean and Elise's second time. Elise was a couple months older than Charlotte when she saw the ocean last.

loved the sand

tried to eat the sand

Aunt Natalie took the girls out to wade in the waves.

Craig and Patti staked out a bench for me to nurse on, and Patti helped make it possible for me to stay modest.

Sunday we took it easy and visited together. Mike and Amber parted ways with us after Coronado on Saturday, and Natalie had to leave in the middle of church on Sunday to catch her flight.

Elise swinging with Grandpa

somersaults!

Grandpa shared the few ripe boysenberries with Elise.

Monday we had to say goodbye.

The girls we tired. We all were.

Such a great trip and a fun time with family!