Love her!

Holding on for dear life.

Sunday photos

I'm sorry - but come on - she's adorable!

Grace's "crib" in the NICU.

Latest update...

We were able to "room in" (sleep-over) with Grace overnight at the hospital on wednesday night. Usually the baby gets to go home the next day when they do the "rooming in" night, and that's what we were told at first... but then the next morning it was official that Grace was not gaining any weight... in fact, she'd lost a little bit more. Her growth chart over the last 11 days has been pretty bad. She was born at 6 lbs 3 oz, and she is at 5 lbs 15 oz right now. We're making a big push to make her eat AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE and make it possible for her to prove she can gain weight. The latest word on when she can come home is "2-3 days of weight gain" but we've also heard something about waiting until she's back up to her birth weight. We just don't know much yet - and we're trying to be patient and upbeat for her sake. It's just a waiting game...

Staying overnight with Grace was a wonderful blessing for us though. To be alone in a room as a family for the first time was so wonderful. It was a sweet experience, and yet 20 times harder to leave the hospital without her the next day. :( But we're hanging in there and we WILL get her home sometime soon. Maybe by thanksgiving?? Goodness, I hope so. We're continuing to pray for miracles! She had another priesthood blessing last night and we've asked the Lord to help her understand that she needs to eat more and stay awake during her feedings. Ryan and I know that not only is Heavenly Father aware of her, but we have also felt the presence of family members who are on the other side of the veil. They're staying close to her and I'm sure she knows as well. We're so grateful for the priesthood and for the Gospel. We have been blessed and humbled through this experience.

Stay tuned for more updates. :) Thanks everyone, for being excited to see pics and videos of her! It's all I can do as far as showing her off and keeps it fun for me during a not-so-fun time. I can't wait for you all to meet her!!

For your viewing pleasure

I know it's not the greatest quality, for some reason, but I hope you all enjoy seeing her in more than just a photo. :)

Our Beautiful Gracie May

Details of labor and delivery are in the previous post (scroll down)...

The night (possibly the morning after) she was born. I really hate these first few pictures because she looks so sick and so tired. The delivery was very traumatic for her little body and she was beginning to fight a major infection.

It kills me to see this picture.
First family picture...
Daddy is in love!
I could kiss those toes everyday!
Right before I was discharged without taking my baby with me... Probably the hardest moment of my life.
Looking MUCH better without the tubes in her mouth and nose. I even love it when she cries.
Gracie was patient with daddy's first diaper change. He did great! (he lucked out with an EASY one)
Ryan feeding Grace a bottle lastnight.
I love her sooooo much. We're going to be the best of friends.
Grandma Goates with Gracie. She was so awake and alert! She's even showing signs of dimples on each cheek... let's see if a little fat on the bones can bring them out!

Baby Time?!?!

For those of you who want all the fun details ...

On monday afternoon, November 9th, I started feeling some cramping and having pain in my lower back. I was at work, and already feeling pretty yucky/tired, but I decided to just keep working until 2:30 like usual. After talking to my mom on the phone about the cramps, I went for a little walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes while I wrote down each time I felt that same pain. Within 45 mins, I had a whole list of times ranging within 3 to 5 minutes of each other! After a little prodding from my mom, and more time passing with the same amount of "cramps" (aka contractions!), I called my doctor. The nurse told me to hurry to the hospital and have them check me. So I called Ryan home from school and we headed to St Rose De Lima Hospital.

When we got there, the nurse was absolutely sure I was just dehydrated and that she'd end up sending me home after making me drink 32 oz of water. However, as she checked me, I was indeed dilated to 4 cm already! I was actually in labor! I can't tell you how much of a shock it was to me... in fact I was pretty much freaking out. I couldn't believe it was already happening. I was still 3 1/2 weeks from the due date, I didn't have a fully packed hospital bag, and I hadn't even pre-registered at the hospital yet!

By 5:30 pm, I was admitted. By 7 pm (ish), I was already dilated to a 7 and in waaaaay too much pain to believe I could handle the rest without a little help from Mr. Epidural. We called the anisthesiologist in and he worked his magic. He was from the U of U, and it turned out my nurse was too! It made me feel right at home. :) Thank the heavens for epidurals, by the way. Anyway, the baby's heart rate in the beginning of the labor was really high (tacicardic) so the nurses were already worrying about that. Then when they broke my water, a few others major issues cropped up. My amniotic fluid was infected and the baby had been sitting in all that yucky fluid. I also was running a fever of almost 101 which meant the baby was way too hot as well. At that point, whenever I had contractions, the baby's heart rate would dip way down. They put me on an oxygen mask around 8 pm and had me moving into different positions which they hoped would help the baby's heart rate stay under control a bit better. The best position for her seemed to be with me on my hands and knees on the bed... NOT an easy task when your legs are practically numb. Ryan's friend, Justin Bruner, came to the hospital to give me a priesthood blessing sometime during this chaos because I was extremely nervous. Shortly after that, the baby's heart rate was getting so low, and taking so much time to get back up, that my incredible nurse injected me with something that was supposed to stop my contractions and help the baby survive the few more minutes until my doctor got there. Doing that probably saved the baby's life (as it was explained to me later).

By 8:40 ish, my doctor walked into the hospital room, immediately got ready (along with the NICU nurses and a few other delivery nurses) and within MINUTES had me ready to push. As my first contraction started, I pushed... then I pushed once more and the baby's head was free! But then everyone started freaking out and telling me to stop. The cord was wrapped around her neck twice. They cut it off of her right there and told me to push with all my might... so I did. One more push (during that same first contraction) had the baby completely out. Grace May Turner was born at 8:48 pm on November 9, 2009.

The drama doesn't end there, but the rest of that evening is still somewhat of a blur and a really scary/sad memory for me. There were periods of feeling lonely because Ryan was with the baby in the NICU and I was by myself... there were periods where nobody would come tell me what was happening with the baby... but mostly I was simply in shock over what had just happened. I couldn't believe that all of that had happened within 5 hours! I was a new mommy, who had only seen her baby girl for about 5 total seconds before they rushed her off. I was too overwhelmed with worry and sadness and heart break to even enjoy it.

But good news is all that follows that story... because every single day Grace continues to show more and more improvement! They've taken her off of the oxygen, and only have an IV for the antibiotics and some other nutrients they are giving her. I've been able to feed her every 3 hours during the day (although she's not doing too great with nursing yet). I feel like she truly knows who Ryan and I are when we are near her and she'll sit and look at us with her beautiful eyes. She even made faces at me this morning and there are hints of dimples in her cheeks! We'll see when she gets some fat on her bones!

End of October

Ryan finished yet another block (finals) week. Eight tests, to be exact. But the end of the week is always wonderful because then he has no studying to do all weekend! Since this baby is due in just one month from now, I've been feeling the time crunch and the need to get everything ready for her. So yesterday, Ryan was such a wonderful husband/daddy and spent 4 hours with me getting the room ready. Here is what it's looking like so far...
There are still a few things to put up on the walls, including a needlepoint project I'm going to frame soon, and her name above her crib. Plus we're waiting on the crib skirt to come in the mail (to cover up all those diaper packages and boxes under the crib). But other than that it's definitely coming together!

Ryan has started shadowing a doctor every wednesday afternoon until the end of the semester. His wardrobe is really lacking in nice clothes because he hasn't had a need for them except on sundays. By next summer, though, he'll need a full week's worth of shirts, ties and slacks for his rotations. I decided to take him to buy a new shirt and tie a couple weeks ago since Burlington Coat Factory has his favorite brand for only $10. Here's my cute student-doctor ready for shadowing... Doesn't he look nice? ;)

As some of you know, we have made it a rule in our home that Ryan is not to play ANY contact sports anymore... he tends to get injured every time. His school buddies decided to plan a flag-football game for this morning to get block week off their minds. I did allow Ryan to go... even though it was going against our original understanding... plus I knew he deserved some game time with the guys. Well he didn't end up getting hurt - thank heavens - but he did come home looking like this...
Tonight was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat and chili cook-off. I won 3rd place for my white bean chicken chili! (I won't mention the fact that Ryan was one of the judges ... and I was the one that made the prizes) I can't tell you how many people commented on my big belly in some way. Whether it was people saying I should have dressed it up somehow, or they would jokingly compliment me on my costume as a pregnant lady. Needless to say, I felt/feel extremely conspicuous these days. Especially when I'm getting a braxton hicks contraction and my stomach looks all tight and distorted. You can literally see the position the baby is in and it feels so embarrassing to me! But oh well. :) It doesn't last forever and, honestly, I'm happy to be pregnant! I'm so excited for this baby girl. But still, I'm very much looking forward to the end of this process.

(picture at 36 weeks)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Baby Update

Too much information alert...

I went to the doctor today, at exactly 35 weeks. At this point, I am dilated to a 1, I'm already 50% effaced, and the baby is head down! My doctor says I have a good chance of going into labor before my due date - but I know better than to get my hopes too high. So we'll see what happens! We're so excited at how quickly it's coming though! Just one more month to go. (or less?)

Now I REALLY need to finish up all the things left on my list.

Those Mormons...

I love being a "mo-mo". And I love it when we're out on errands, or on vacation somewhere, when I see a little family or a couple that totally looks LDS. You know how you can just tell? Sometimes we'll pass another couple at Costco or something and we all smile at each other because we're all thinking, "Yep... we know."

Lately there have been things I see, hear or notice that make me think "I love being Mormon". Some examples...

-On our drive to church each sunday, we like listening to sunday appropriate music. We aren't lucky enough to have an FM100 in the Las Vegas area, and just about the closest thing to it is a christian rock station. But even that is too loud sometimes. So usually I'll turn my ipod on for the short drive to church. The station that our monster cable works the best with is 98.1 which is usually just full of static. But every so often if we turn it to that station in order to get the ipod going, we'll hear some music coming through. Recently, one sunday, we even heard the Mo-Tab singing a hymn through all the static! We were so excited! But even MORE exciting was the Kalai song "On My Mind" that was playing today. (p.s. If you don't know Kalai's music, you must look into it, or come to me for some samples. He is one of my all-time favorite local musicians) Sure... he's not exactly "sunday appropriate", and Ryan was sure to remind me of that. But it made me feel close to Salt Lake for a moment. :) So, THANK YOU, St. George radio station for reaching us in Henderson on sundays.

-Yesterday I went to the mall to find some things I need for after the baby is born. There was some kind of kid's Halloween party going on and there were tons of little kids in costumes running around. I saw one little girl who was dressed as a BYU cheerleader. It made me smile 'cause I immediately thought, "ha! You're mormon too."

-Last week I was telling my friends at work that I'm going to bring funeral potatoes to the office halloween potluck. One of the ladies looked sort of grossed out and said, "What in the world are funeral potatoes?!" My other mormon friend and I laughed because I forget not everyone in the world knows what those are. It's a shame though since they are my ALL TIME favorite dish. But honestly, it is quite morbid that we call them that... You can find funeral potatoes being served at any farewell open-house, pot-luck, christmas party, or pretty much any LDS gathering. So why do we call them "funeral" potatoes? Oh well.

It's a mormon thing!