Friday, August 1, 2014

 Macie has made so much progress this summer with her swimming.  She can now swim without her floaties and she is very comfortable in the water.  At the beginning of the summer she wouldn't even put her face in the water.  Now she jumps in, floats on her back, and can swim to the side of the pool.  We love "Swim Kids."  Their lessons along with Don working with her, has made all the difference.
 Oscar is definitely the 3rd child.  I forget to get my camera out.  And I hardly have any video.  We didn't take any video of him right after birth.  Probably because we were preoccupied with whether or not he was breathing okay.





; 
 Poor little Oscar in the NICU.  : (

The story of How I Got Hit By a Bus (ie. Oscar's Birth Story)

July 6th- 5:30 AM
I woke up to some very mild cramping. During the night I must have been having cramping too because I remember waking up several times because of it.
I couldn't go back to sleep and stayed awake to see of they were actually contractions and if there was any regularity to them.
They were about 10 minutes apart and lasting for about 20 seconds. But they weren't remaining consistent.
I called my Dad when it became a reasonable hour and he told me, "Well it doesn't sound like much.  It could turn into something but it also might be a few days."
(Melissa makes a grumpy face)
I had called him because I wanted to know if he thought I should take my shot of blood thinner.  If I was going into labor I didn't want to take my shot because I have to wait a certain amount of time for it to be out of my system, otherwise I might not be able to get an epidural.
He advised me to take my medicine.  I figured either way, things were moving slow enough that it wouldn't end up being a problem.  (More on that later).
8:30 AM Took my medicine.

It was Sunday, and I decided I would go to church instead of sitting around feeling anxious, wondering what the near future held.
By the time I arrived at church, the contractions had picked up again and were becoming pretty consistent.  I sat through Sacrament meeting okay, but during Sunday school and relief society I mostly just paced the halls. The contractions were coming about every 5-8 minutes and lasting about 20 seconds.  The pain was still bearable, obviously, otherwise I would not have been at church.  But by the time I left church at 2 PM, things were starting to hurt.
I was feeling nervous that things were progressing too fast, not great if I wanted my epidural, and boy, did I ever want my epidural.

I got home from church and packed my hospital bag.  My friend Elizabeth, offered at church to take my kids, I was grateful.  I wanted the kids gone, I couldn't deal with the distractions, and also they were beginning to worry about me because they could tell I was in pain.  Luckily my friend Steffanie stopped by with some numbing lotion, and she was able to take the kids to Elizabeth, by this time I did not want Don to leave me alone.
It was 2:30 PM and the contractions were every 3 minutes and lasting around 40 seconds.
They were painful, but I was still coping decently well.
I called the on call nurse who told me I should go to the hospital.
Hooray! One step closer to my epidural.

We arrived at the hospital, I was dilated to a 4 and they admitted me.  The contractions slowed down at the hospital.  My Douala friend Emily told me this would probably happen, she said labor usually slows down when you change location.

I got to my delivery room probably  around 4:30 PM.  I was hooked up to my IV, and the strep B antibiotics were started, blood was drawn to see if my blood clotting level was safe for an epidural.

My Doctor came in and introduced herself, Dr. Galloway, she was a very chipper lady with a strong southern accent who I instantly liked, probably because she kept winking at me and calling me "baby." I sat in my rocking chair, rocking away, making sure she knew I wanted my epidural.  When the results came back from my blood test, she told me they were not even close to where they needed to be, and I couldn't get my epidural.  And that is when I turned into a 13 year old, ugly crier.  She said in her nice southern accent. "Honey, we don't want to paralyze you."  I thought, "I'll take the risk!! I promise I won't sue!" But I didn't say that.  I just cried.  I must have been a pathetic sight because she said, "Well let me go talk to the anesthesiologist."  She came back within a few minutes and said, "Good news! He'll do it!"  And the clouds parted and I saw a rainbow of hope.

It was only a few more minutes and my hero walked through  the door with his mammoth needle.  He was a chipper Doctor as well, with a Southern accent, he was also of Asian decent, which is not a combination you see very often.  Of course he was my favorite person in the room.  He gave me my epidural and I sunk into my bed in complete relief.  I thought, the worst is over, I did it! I turned back into a normal person instead of an emotionally unstable pre-teen.  It was now about 6 PM.

My nurses switched shifts, and my new nurse was Erin, who I also instantly liked.  We figured out she was Mormon when she mentioned she had 5 kids.  I told Don he could leave to go pick up the kids and take them to his sister Julie's house for the night.

For the next couple hours I tried to rest, but my anxiety kept me from falling asleep.  I had a fear that the pain would return.  Erin stayed with me and helped distract me by talking about things.  I started to feel this strange sensation in my left pelvic area, like it was cold.  As time went on, I realized what that strange sensation was, PAIN! My fear was coming to pass!  The epidural was failing on me!  Don still wasn't back yet and I was getting increasingly nervous.  I was given more epidural medication, and tried different positions to see if I could fix it, but the pain just got worse.  By the time Don got back, I was starting to feel desperate again.  The anesthesiologist came back and adjusted the needle in my back, to no avail.  Half of my body was feeling the contractions again, and at increased intensity, and half of my body was numb.  About this time, I pregnant girl from Billing came in to talk to us about how we would be paying for everything.  Perfect timing.  Yes, I can think of nothing more I would rather be doing, than to talk to you about which card we will be paying you thousands of dollars with.  I would have to stop the ridiculous conversation for contractions, and she so patiently just stood there and waited. you might think she might say to herself, hmmm.  Perhaps I should come back later.  But no, that social grace seemed to be lost on her.  I am guessing her pregnancy must be her first, because if she had ever had a baby, she would have understood that labor is not the best time to be discussing forms of payment.  Anyway.  the anesthesiologist decided he would re-do my epidural. And this was about the time I had my second mental breakdown of the day as he was re-inserting my epidural.  Oh, and the girl from billing reappeared, and was just standing by the door in the middle of me sobbing through my second epidural.  seriously, the girl needs some sensitivity training.  My nurse told her to go away, thank goodness.

Thankfully this epidural worked, and soon my bottom half was completely dead weight in a matter of minutes.  It was probably around 9 PM by now.  Not long after, my Doctor came in and said things had progressed and it was about time to push.  She broke my water and we all got excited that it was smooth sailing from here on out.  I figured I would push for a few minutes and poof! It would be over!  I had Don call my dad and tell him the baby was coming sooner than we had predicted (Ha! that's funny in hindsight!) and if he wanted to be here for it, he better come soon.

Well I pushed. And I pushed.  And...I pushed. And no matter how much winking and calling me "baby" she did, I still couldn't get that baby out.  My Doctor told me that my contractions were not strong enough now so it was decided that I would get some pitocin, and take a break, and she would go deliver the other lady who was having better luck than I was.  So I tried to rest, and tried to sleep, but once again, my anxiety kept me from really relaxing.  I don't know if it was from the drugs, or from exhaustion, but this is where things become a little foggy.  My Doctor eventually came back in and we tried again.  And I fell asleep between contractions.  It seemed like I pushed forever.  And I think the baby was in a little bit of distress.  I began to wonder if I would ever get him out.  FINALLY I did.  I don't even know how long I pushed overall. I would guess about 2 hours.  He came at 12:01 AM July 7th.  He was 6 pounds and 15 ounces.  And I didn't even see him right away.  He was taken to the other side of the room where he was being taken care of by an increasing amount of nurses.  He didn't  cry at all.  Not a great sign.  It seemed like a long time, but then again, by this point I had no concept of time or what my name was, but eventually I was handed my baby.  And the poor thing was just making little grunting noises and looked miserable.  I held him for probably 3 minutes, and then they took him to the NICU for the night.

The rest of the night is one big blur. I remember my Dad and Liz came to visit in the delivery room, and I remember everyone left me to go visit the  baby up in NICU.  And then I remember being wheeled to my postpartum room.  And I remember visiting the baby in the morning with my Dad, and falling asleep while holding him in the NICU. And falling asleep basically when anyone started talking to me, including Doctors and nurses.  I remember some conversation with the NICU Doctor who was telling me why Oscar was in the NICU, and I remember trying really hard to understand what he was talking about, but well, all I remember is something about his lungs and air pockets.  I am sure I will see see all these 2 minute conversations show up on my hospital bills.  ($200 for Dr. whatshisname?  When was that?  Oh that must have been the Doctor that came in and said "good morning" and then left)  I do remember that when I held Oscar for the second time, he became very calm and I felt like he knew who I was.  later that night when I got him back, he was crying while Don held him, but as soon as I held him, he stopped instantly.

I of course was sad that Oscar had to go to the NICU the first 24 hours, but it was also kind of nice I had that time to recover a little, as I was in pretty bad shape after the long delivery.  By Monday night Oscar was back in my room and Tuesday night was when we left the hospital for home. The girls came and visited me at the hospital Monday night. They were so excited to meet the baby and I was so happy to see them.  They were really good girls for Grandma Mary during my hospital stay.  When I arrived back home Tuesday night, they were  sleeping in my bed, waiting for me to get home.  I got quite the welcome home.  We all missed each other.  I did enjoy my hospital stay though.  My favorite part was ordering my food, and getting dessert with every meal.  I ate more than I did on our Honeymoon cruise.  A lot more.

I also should mention that it took us 2 days to decide on a name.  Truthfully, I still am a little nervous that we made the right decision.  His name seems to be a polarizing one.  But I like his name.  And our other options just didn't seem right.  Our list was :  Gordon, Reed, Neils, and Graham.  We finally decided on Oscar Reynold Mortensen.  And son, if you hate your name, I give you permission to legally change it.

It has been 3 and a half weeks since Oscar was born.  And this account has taken me days to finish.  I find myself being constantly interrupted.  I am behind with basically everything.  Don has been a champ this whole time.  Cleaning, shopping, laundry, etc. He is probably just as tired as I am but doesn't complain.  I am grateful to be feeling better though.  The first week was rough.  REALLY rough.  I will spare you the details.  But I am giving myself pats on the back for only having one real mental breakdown every day for the first week.  By the second week I started to see some improvements.  And now besides the sleep deprivation, I am feeling more like a real human again. Thankfully Oscar is a perfect baby.  He has had a few rough days, but I think he just had gas, and we all understand days like that, don't we?  ; )  He sleeps pretty much all the time.  The girls really love him.  They fight over holding him.  But of course they only want to hold him at the exact same time. They seem to become very interested in him mainly when the other one becomes interested in him.  It is that whole human nature thing of wanting something you can't have.

I know I am biased, but Oscar is a really pretty baby.  His skin is clear and he has just a little blonde fuzz on his head.  He has the skinniest legs I have ever seen, and absolutely no bottom.  He is a petite little thing, but has really long feet.  We really love him.  I am slowly getting used to having a boy.  Not that he is any different than a newborn girl, but just the concept of having a boy and all that entails, brings a new dynamic to our family.

We have been really spoiled with dinners and gifts and help and I feel overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.  and overwhelmed by the number of thank you cards I need to write!  Maybe by next year I will get them done!  Like I said, I have a very long list of things I need to get done, but I usually choose sleep over productivity.

And well, that is the story of how Oscar came into this world.  We are grateful he is finally here and look forward to getting to know him  (and a full night's sleep).

P.S. If anyone wants to be a surrogate mother for the next one, let me know.  I'll make you some cookies or something,

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Summer Stuff

Yesterday was the 4th of July.  We had a pretty laid back day.  And that was fine with us.  In the morning we went to the ward breakfast. The girls loved the slip and slide.  And decorating their bikes for the bike parade...which I didn't get a picture of. (typical)  Right after that Macie went to her swim lesson, she is making a lot of progress.  She went up a level in just two weeks, she was really excited to ring the bell again and get a new blue ribbon.  She used to be so afraid of her eyes and face going in the water, but she practices on her own now putting her eyes in the water, I love seeing her new found confidence.  Speaking of Macie, she is eating an ice cream bar for breakfast as I speak.  Wow. My kids could get away with murder at this point because of the effort it requires for me to do pretty much anything.  
Anyway, the rest of the afternoon we cleaned, then napped, and then took the kids to see Fireworks out at Shnepf farms.  But we were too late to get into Shnepf farms (that was a shocker) so we just parked our car close by and watched from a dirt turn off.  Which actually worked out pretty well. We got sundaes and powerade from McDonalds, so the kids were satisfied.  And then they fell asleep on the way home, but of course woke up as soon as we got home.  It was a nice day.
Last week was also my brother and my Dad's birthday, and Tyler had his missionary homecoming.  No pictures of any of that.  We had a good time visiting with family after attending church to hear Tyler speak.  Later that evening we went to my Dad's house to eat hot dogs and cake for Adam's birthday.  We played a couple games. Dad was still in Colorado.  I guess it was our chance to relive our lost youth and have a party at the house without any parental supervision.  It was a really wild party.  We even got the ice cream out.
Dad's birthday was July 2nd and the girls were really excited to decorate, so I took them to Party City where they picked out some balloons  (which more than half popped on Dad's stupid popcorn ceiling), and some streamers.  They picked out rainbow streamers and Chelsey and the girls put them up around his house in random and funny ways.  Then we ordered some take out Mexican food and we played some Wii Party games and had cake.  I don't know how my Dad felt about, he is usually content to let the day pass without any sort of celebration, but my girls are excited for any sort of party.







And Chloe is making a lot of progress with her swimming too.  And I really like that it is something that Don and her enjoy doing together.  And I just try to stay out of the sun as much as I can.

See that little weird puff ball Macie is holding? Best 5 dollars I've ever spent.  She saw it at Party City a few days ago and I told her we could come back and buy it if she used the potty.  And she actually did! So I drove a half hour back to the store to buy it the next day. And she used the potty the whole day the day we bought it! We might have turned a corner.  At least she doesn't seem scared of the potty anymore, which I think was her problem, she couldn't figure out how to relax so she could "go."  

I thought the girls were both asleep when I took this picture, but it looks like Chloe caught me.  It is sooo nice driving our new Ford Explorer with air conditioning in the back seats. The girls now complain of being cold, which is saying something when it is 105+ outside every day.  Although now that I look at this picture a little longer, I think this might be inside our Mazda, I just have to add that for journalistic accuracy.

 A couple weeks ago Macie had a tantrum and I banished her to her room.  When the gnashing of teeth stopped I went to go check on her, and I found her in the corner asleep.  Chloe then proceeded to build a fort around her, cover her with a blanket, and place some some books next to her, so when she woke up she would have something to do.  Chloe is like the Indian guy in "Little Princess."

In other news, I am still pregnant!! Hooray! Not. Really.  Having Macie at 37 weeks is making anything past that seem eternal.  I am officially 38 weeks and the way I get through the day is to say, "maybe today!"  I am trying to distract myself because if I have too much alone time to think, I want to rip my hair out and run around like a crazy person screaming, "take this out!!!!"  In fact, I had better stop talking about it because just felt that familiar claustrophobic feeling up in my throat.

Friday, June 27, 2014




*Wednesday night Don's nephew came home from his mission.  So we went to the airport to welcome him back.  
*I am 37 weeks tomorrow.  Which is when Macie was born.  Baby boy is already 7 pounds 5 ounces.  Part of me wants him to come now, part of me is happy to have him wait a couple weeks for my scheduled inducement.  I am terrified I will miss the window for an epidural because my medication (heparin) has to be timed right in order to get my epidural.  Basically I have 12 hours to wait after taking my last does of heparin for it to be safe to get an epidural.  I am TERRIFIED of doing this thing naturally.  It is obviously causing me some anxiety, I could barely get to sleep last night thinking about it.  I realize there is only one way out of this now and it involves quite a bit of pain.  
* Macie had some good ones today.  We were at Target and she saw a girl with blue hair and she said, "Hey! That Mom has blue hair!" And trying to intercept another too honest opinion I said, "Yep. Isn't it pretty?"  To which she replied, "No! It's weird!"  And that's when you just hope that the person being talked about has really bad hearing.  Also, she looked to be too young to be a Mom, so that was probably more offensive than the hair comment.
Also tonight: We were at a party and Macie got wet playing outside with the other kids.  She came inside and was mad about it and told me, "I'm all watered up! But I'm not a plant!"  I thought it was the one of the top 10 funniest things she has ever said and I couldn't help laughing.  Which made her mad.  Macie really hates people laughing at her, she takes herself very seriously.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

 Remember how I can't stop complaining about my feet and being pregnant?  well I went and bought some special flip flops with arch support.  Here they are.  I won't divulge how much they cost because I think it is a crime.  But I was desperate.  They seem to be helping.  I am on the final countdown now.  I am officially 36 weeks.  Which means I could have this baby any day now (but probably won't).  I am day dreaming of not being pregnant anymore.  Things I am day dreaming about: sleeping on my back and on my stomach, for my feet to not hurt, for my leg rashes to disappear, to run, to wear normal size clothes, to not have to give myself shots anymore, to not be freaked out about how bad labor is going to hurt.  Of course a new baby is also a pretty great plus.  I would like to fast forward time and get to the good part knowing that there is bound to be some unpleasantness, I mean labor is not super fun, either is the first couple weeks after having a baby.  But it will be worth it.  I just keep telling myself that.  I mean look at this kid-she is priceless.
Here is Chloe meeting Breeja Larson. swim kids had a big event and she was there for publicity.  She won a gold medal in London as part of the women's relay team (I think).  I asked her to give Chloe some advice and she told her to "remember to have fun, because if you aren't having fun, you won't swim fast."   I was kind of surprised, I was thinking she would say something like, "work really hard and practice a lot."  But I liked that she said to have fun.  I think Chloe is having fun.  We have fun as a family watching her race, and Macie loves being pumped full of snacks at her swim meets.  She seriously eats for 2 hours straight.

Macie Quotes

Upon drinking her lemonade, she returned the cup to me half full and said, "I like the juice, but I don't like the worms."

We drove our new Ford Explorer to a wedding and that was the first time Macie had taken a ride in the new car.  She was wondering a few days later when we would be driving it again and she asked me, "Where is the wedding car?"

At the wedding they gave out sparklers, afterwards she said, "I want more of the sticks and fire. I liked those."

My Dad was telling her that he grew up on a farm with horses and she asked, "and unicorns?"