Mini Van Birth

 Disclaimer: I wrote all of this down before I could forget the details. When you are reading this that somethings might not make sense, my spelling is probably terrible, and the grammer is probably even worse. Please remember I just gave birth and delivered a baby.

Our due date was Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2013. I was hoping she would wait until the end of our fun for the day. I had talked to my mom earlier and she was hoping the baby would come on the date or shortly after. My mom could come for a visit over the weekend to help after I had the baby, and this particular weekend would be the best because she could stay an additional day due to President's Day.
 Our Valentine fun concluded and Rocky and I put Melodie to bed. I was talking on the phone with my mom (it was around 8:30pm) who asked a question that I didn't answer. "I think I'm having a contraction," I said. At first my mom thought I was joking, but realizing I wasn't she instructed me to call when we were leaving for the hospital and we hung up. I told Rocky this would be a good time for him to get some sleep because the contractions were not painful, strong or consistant yet. He went to bed and I called Auntie June to put her on standby to watch Melodie. I watched The Big Bang Theory and Project Runway and then at around 9:30the contractions started to get stronger, hurt and slightly more consistant. An hour after that I woke up Rocky to help time them and called June to tell her she would definately be needed tonight. By the time she arrived, Rocky and I finished packing up our last minute things. At about 11:30 we thought we were close enough to the hospital guidelines for admission (Baby #2 or more - 7-10 min. apart, 40-60 seconds long for one hour). We were at 6 min. apart for 30 seconds for one hour. So I called the hospital and I was told they should actually be closer to one minute long and that I should call back in an hour (before if they did get closer to one minute). The conversation was actually longer, with me truly believing it was time to go in, and her telling me that I might not be in true labor. But the problem is, if you go in when you're not suppose to they will just send you home. So we kept timing and hoping they would get longer.
 After about a half an hour they were about 45 seconds long. We started talking about calling back and decided that we would if they stayed that consistant for a little while more. And then 15 min. later (45 min. after my call to the hospital, so it's now after midnight) I doubled over in pain and my water broke. And my pain didn't stop. Rocky called the hospital to tell them my water broke and we were coming in while June helped me get ready to go (clean off a bit). I couldn't believe it, but it seriously sounded like the girl on the phone still wasn't sure we should go in and she wanted to talk to me. The pain still hadn't stopped and I was furious. I grabbed the phone and told her we were coming in because my water broke and I was in constant pain. I was in a state of panic and rushing Rocky. I wasn't feeling an urge to push, but I felt something wasn't right. The fact that there wasn't even a few seconds of relief from the pain really concerned me and I was not handling it well.
 We were in the car and on our way to a hospital that is about 20 min. away (side note: There is a hospital about 1 min. away from my house. There are also several hospitals on the way to the one that our insurance dictates that we go to. Just another reason I'm not a fan of insurance companies). We turned off the street we live on (still in the neighborhood) and I pretty much lost it. I was screaming, "This isn't right! The pain isn't stopping! Something's wrong! Aaaahh!" The pain was much worse now that I was sitting and I was even more concerned. We turned onto Beach Blvd (for those of you who know where we live) and screamed to Rocky, "Pull the car over! Call 911! Something is wrong!" Rocky, thinking this was the pain talking, kept driving and reassuring me. Knowing something was wrong took off my bottoms, reached down...and felt a head.
 I instantly felt calmer. It was strange, but now that I knew what was going on, I really did calm down. It was odd that without pushing I was delivering a baby, and I was still worried, but I wasn't frantic. I said to Rocky (not quite as crazy as before), "Pull over and call 911! The baby's head is out!" At this point he looked over and in a complete emotional role reversal he became the panicy one. He pulled the car over and called 911 as he got out of the car and came over to my side of the van. I was pretty much ignoring him because he was repeating the things the 911 operator was saying, but I just remember thinking that she was saying very obvious things (now that I look back at it, she was saying things that you might not know if you'd never had a baby before and she was probably assuming Rocky was going to have to deliver the baby). I had my hand holding her head and after a few minutes (still not feeling the urge to push) said to Rocky, "The rest of her is coming out!" and caught her by the backside with my other hand. I put her on my stomach and covered her with a towel. She started crying and then I noticed the ambulance coming down the street the other direction. It took them a few minutes to get to us (There's a divider and they turned down another street instead of making a u-turn. In their defense, Rocky wasn't being very clear on where we were. In his defense, he was watching his wife give birth and deliver her own baby in a mini van).
 They arrived at 12:45 (we were told later because we completely didn't think to look at what time she was born). One of the paramedics looked us over and I remember him saying to the others (there was a fire truck and two police cars as well) that I was being very calm. The baby and I were loaded into the ambulance (after some manuvering...we were still attached by umbilical cord) and were on our way to a different hospital. Rocky followed in the van (escorted by police).
 And that is the story of giving birth in our mini van. The only complication caused by this was slight. Because the umbilical cord wasn't clamped and cut right after, our baby had something called polycythemia. Luckily they caught it quickly and it was taken care of just by giving her formula (I was sad about this, but it was better than an IV and taking out blood and switching it with saline) to thin out the blood. I think the birth certificate is funny. For place it says "automobile". The location is the cross streets and the attendant (physician, mid-wife, etc...) is me!
 And here she is! This is our little one who made quite an entrance:

Aria Natalia Adams

 

6 lbs. 14 oz.

19 inches

 

Valentine's Day

Before I start on our Valentine's Day this year, here's some background on how we've spent other Valentine's Day. Before Melodie was born, Rocky and I would spend the evening together, but not go out much. It's too crowded and a lot of time prices go up. Not something I enjoy. Melodie's first Valentine's Day I set up the table so that in the morning there were surprises waiting for her. She didn't really know what was going on, but a tradition was born.

The next year I thought it would be fun to have a little get together (I refused to call them parties) so Melodie could celebrate with friends. Another tradition was born and lasted until Mel started school. This year (and the next Melodie also spent the night with her Nana Raggles and Auntie June where she decorated cookies and was generally spoiled.

In 2010 Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, so we had the get together the Saturday before and I found the cutest heart dress for her to wear to church. 2011 was the first year we didn't have a get together, but Melodie had a blast celebrating at preschool.

I also made these yummy flavored whipped cream filled strawberries. Rocky and Mel loved them. I really should make them again.

In 2012 I found another cute heart dress, so just for fun she wore it the Sunday before Valentine's Day. This year she was in kindergarten. The teachers had the parents make cards that they presented to each kid and then had a little party. She received a lot of Valentines!

 This year was a lot of the same in the morning. The table was set with little gifts, I put together a special lunch for Mel to take to school (only the Valentine's stuff is in the picture), and at school they had a party.

 

Aren't those flowers beautiful? They were from Rocky and Melodie (the chocolates are my gift every year from Rocky - he picks out my favorite See's candies).

 To change things up a little bit, I took Melodie to Knott's Berry Farm after school. She had fun at Camp Snoopy, but she had even more fun at night when we went with Rocky and she went on big rides that I couldn't take her on.

 

You'll have to wait for my next post to find out how our Valentine's Day ended. There was some excitement!

 

 

 

 

 

Heart Hair

Baby is due today, but so far she's been comfy and there's not a sign she's ready to come out. That could all change in an instant, but I'm glad that so far we've done some of our fun Valentine things. Before she makes her appearance I wanted to first share the fun things I did to Melodie's hair. Last year was my first attempt and it turned out pretty cute. I did heart pigtails. The idea and instructions came from my favorite hair blog.

So this is how Mel wore her hair to kindergarten last year. She looked adorable.

This year I did three days of heart hair. We started on Tuesday (there wasn't school on Monday) and today was our third day. Here's Tuesday's hair style, again from my favorite hair blog. It's called a twist-braided heart.

Not bad, but next time I'd but the top part closer together. When getting ready for school I don't have a lot of time to fix mistakes like I used to, but I still think it's a pretty style.

 

Here's Wednesday's hair style. I saw a picture of these three interlocking hearts on pinterest, but it didn't link to a website. I figured that making the hearts would be the same as the ones I did last year, and then I just played with it to do the best I could.

It looks good from the side, but I didn't like the look so much from the front. I think if I were to try it again I'd try the interlocking hearts in the back.

And here's the one from today. It's called heart down from this blog. I've been wanting to try this one for a while. Mine didn't turn out as perfect as hers, but I still think it's pretty. When I do it again, I'd make the weave part a little tighter. I think that would help.

 Happy Valentine's Day!