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November 8th 2012

November 8th started out like any other day.  I had an appointment with my OBGYN and we were going to discuss the day to induce me.  I had been dilated to 3cm for several weeks, and I didn't think the baby was going to come without additional coaxing.  I told my darling husband to have his phone on him because I was going to call him at 10:45 and let him know the details.

My doctor walked into the room and we immediately started discussing dates.  Kevin wanted me to have it on a Friday so he could take the weekend and all of Thanksgiving week off, but that was over a week and a half away. I wanted the baby out sooner.  We then realized that she hadn't done the exam.  As she was feeling around she gave me a funny look. She then informed me I was dilated to 7cm.  I had not had any contractions in the past few days, and was certainly not in active labor.  She then offered me options.  I wanted an epidural .  She stated I could go into labor naturally,but by that time, the window for an epidural may not be open.  She then stated that I could have the baby today!  The hospital was really busy, but I could show up in an hour, they could break my water, and my little boy could be here within a few hours.  I wasn't sure I was ready for that, but I wanted-needed the epidural. I chose to have him that day.  I am a wuss. I am not afraid to admit it, bring on the epidural and pain meds.

As I was leaving the clinic to go home, eat a lunch, and gather my things, I called Kevin. No answer.  I texted him. No response.  So I emailed my sister-in-law, Tina, to tell her I couldn't go to Banana Republic shopping , that I was going to have a baby (if you know me, you must realize I really wanted to have this baby.  Who turns down shopping at Banana Republic?).  I called my mom, Kevin's mom, and then tried my husband again. No answer.  Tina had called me back by then and offered to take me to the hospital.  Since it had already been about a half hour, I thanked her and she came up to get me.  As we were pulling into the hospital, I still had not heard from my bratty husband, so I called his work. The secretary told me he was off campus for lunch. I told her that if she sees him, let him know his wife is at the hospital having his baby. I should have thought of that earlier.   He called me back within a few minutes, asked almost no questions and came down. I think I was in trouble for not being at the pushing stage since he had to leave his salmon lunch.

It was super busy at the hospital and we finally got a room almost 2 hours later.  It took them over an hour to start my IV and another hour to start the Pitocin.  They kept increasing my dose, but I was still not having any contractions.  Finally just before 5pm my doctor showed up and broke my water (nasty stuff).  My little boy pooped in utero, so we had to make sure that the pediatricians were on standby for when my little guy came.  I was very nervous, because I wanted my epidural, but they kept telling me to wait until I felt pain.  If I didn't wait, I wouldn't know if the epidural was working. Within 15 minutes of my water breaking, I felt the contractions.  I wanted my epidural NOW! I am so glad I did. Those suckers hurt. I am glad I never went into labor naturally and had to do that for hous. During the epidural, my body went into shock (I hate pain) and I started to get nauseated.  I vomited during the procedure and got a nice large bolus of zofran to make sure that didn't happen again. Epidural was in, and I was a happy girl.

Kevin and I had discussed his role during delivery. He was not to have a role.  He would either wait outside the room or face me during the labor.  He gets a bit queasy and I didn't really want him seeing all that nastiness  He was in agreement, until the time came.  I am not sure what came over my man, but he decided to take part in the entire process. About 30 min after the epidural, the nurse checked me, and I was ready to go.   She paged the doctor, and we started to push.  The doctor lived about 10 min away and it would take her about 10 min to scrub in.  So, we got started.  After about 3 contractions, the nurse stopped me.  When I asked why, she told me that if I wanted the doctor to deliver the baby, I needed to wait for her because he was there. Finally after about 15 min, the doctor and the pediatricians walked in.  On the 2nd contraction, out he came.

Kevin has always mocked my mini head.  I will never take offense again, and I hope all future children of mine have heads just as small.  He was 7lbs 8oz and 21inches of perfection. He didn't inhale any of his fecal matter, and his apgar score was 10!

Kevin may have held my leg an watched the birth, but he was not about to cut the cord.  Once they had him cleaned off, Kevin went to go check him out, but had to sit down. Another good thing about a fast delivery, the baby and I were the only patients. If it had gone any longer, Kevin may have needed some medical attention.

God must have wanted me to have more children because he answered all my prayers.  I wanted a fast delivery- for selfish purposes-I wanted a cute baby. I did get a very handsome baby.  I think most babies look like aliens, but my baby was stinking adorable.  He was healthy and perfect. Bonuses for me: I did not poop on the table, I did not tear, or get cut (no stitches) and no hemorrhoids!. Recovery was a breeze.  Other than the ibuprofen they gave me while i was leaving the delivery room, I needed no other pain meds. Remember, I already said I know this isn't normal. The nurse said that this was the easiest delivery she had ever been a part of.  Thank Goodness.

 Our first family picture

 Me and my new little man

 After his first bath

no cone-head or stork bites.  He's cuter than a c-section baby!

 Going home. These are tight on his little body now.

 Big hands, so he can palm a basketball. 

 /love those big eyes

I think funny faces are the cutest

He was baby Hill until a couple hours before discharge.  When I put my foot down about Klaus, Jaxon was one of the few names we agreed on.  Kevin was back peddling saying he didn't want a "Jack", that is why there is an "x".We love this little man and it still seems surreal that I get to keep him.

I will do a separate post later on his first month.

Across America- Day 7- Grand Tetons

So we had finally reached our last National Park, the Grand Tetons.  They were gorgeous, unfortunately for Kevin, weather was not so cooperative for his pictures.  I guess that means we will have to go back some day.  When we arrived, smoke from all the nearby forest fires made it difficult to see anything, then a big storm came in and got rid of the smoke, but covered up the mountains with clouds.  I had to sit in a pull out for over an hour because Kevin was convinced the clouds would move.  And do you know what?  They didn't.  All was not lost.  We did manage to get some pictures in before giving up and taking off. 

After the Tetons, we went down to see grandma in Utah, and then off to Reno for a couple weeks to see Kevin's family, thank you again for letting us crash there and be squatters.  Finally after too much stress, we finally made it to our destination after being homeless for nearly a month.

Across America Day 6- Yellowstone

Our next stop on our trip across America was Yellowstone.  Neither Kevin or I had really been and seen all the things that tourists go see.  I find geothermal activity quite fascinating, and Kevin had been DYING to see buffalo roaming through the bread basket of America, so this was to be a wonderful day. We were well rested from our stay in a seedy motel in Cody Wyoming, but it had a bed and a shower and made this pregnant lady so much happier.  

 On our way into town, the Eagle scout spotted a giant moose just chilling in a field. 

 Our first geyser, the Dragon's cave.  It smelled like dragon breath too, but it made loud noises and made a ton of  steam.  I think any time I saw the ground steaming for the first like 2 hours, I got super giddy, until all the sulphur started  giving me a headache. 

 One of the Gem's of Yellowstone is their Grand Canyon.  It was pretty impressive.  We stopped for a family photo. 

 A nice little shot of Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon

 I felt better so I was willing to hike.  Kevin told me we were going to go to the bottom of the falls seen in the above pictures.  I wasn't so sure, but we hike the 320 odd steps down to the bottom and Voila! There is the view.  Was it worth it? It wasn't as bad as I thought it;d be. On our way down, people were parked along the side of the stairs gasping for air and looking like they would die in moments, but I guess long legs help a bit there. 

 You can see some of the steps.  On the way down, some lady looked at me and said "oh you're pregnant! You are going to have a healthy baby."  I think pregnancy has made me overly sensitive. I looked over at Kevin and asked him what she meant by that?  If she is saying I am fat, I will push her off this mountain.  I chose to believe it was because I was doing something active, but she still better hope we never see eachother in a dark alley.  

 While we were there, it was HOT and DRY.  We saw a couple fires, and so the smells of sulphur and smoke encircled us all day. They seemed to keep the flames under control for the most part, and luckily it didn't stop us from seeing what we wanted to see. 

 Kevin's dreams came true.  He got to see his buffallo.  We actuall saw a mini heard of them, but this was his favorite.  He is expelling some liquid waste, and of course we had to go and interrupt him for a picture.  And I know you are concerned, but don't worry, Kevin got his bison burger later too.  He was a happy boy. 

 I thought the colors of the springs were incredible.  They say the different colors are caused by bacteria.  I don't usually like bacteria, but they do make for pretty pictures, bad smells, but lovely to look at. 

 Another picture of one of the springs.  They were so clear too. 

 As we pulled up, we got our first spotting of an active geyser.  I didn't keep my cool very well and this pregnant woman rushed off to make sure she got to see it spray.  I know most of them only go off at random, and I was not about to miss it.  Kevin still makes fun of me for my nimbleness.  I guess I deserve it for all the rock-loving teasing I give him. 

 Just a bunch of shots of the springs and the crazy bacteria-algae surrounding themt. 

 This is the largest geyser. they said when it is active it shoots out 4000 gal/second. 

 Grand Prismatic Spring

 What would a trip to Yellowstone be without seeing Old Faithful. Apparently the geyser gets its name from being so accurate when it will go off, You know within about a 20 min window of when Ol' Faithful will blow.  And she did.  

The fetus and me. 

 Kevin wanted to make me a widow.  He walked out on the ledge over the canyon and wanted a bunch of pictures.  Apparently he doesnt want to meet his spawn . Good thing he lived. I kinda like him. 

 These were some groovy little mud geysers.  They just bubbled.  It was pretty interesting. 

I have about a thousand pictures like this.  Kevin LOVED the wavy ridges outside the springs. 

Across America Days 3-5

Well, after we finished at Pictured Rocks, we headed out.  We were now further away from our final destination than when we started in Chicago,but we weren't in an excessive hurry.  We drove through Wisconsin and most of Minnesota.  After a stop in Minneapolis in a real Hotel, with a real bed and shower, I was recharged and ready to move on.  We were off to South Dakota to check out the Badlands, Blackhills, Mount Rushmore, and a few other national monuments.
We made it to the Badlands National Park with only about an hour of daylight, so we did a quick drive through and stopped very quickly at select locations and then moved on.  They were quite beautiful, but I was hot and glad that I wasn't spending all day in 100+ degree weather without shade hiking in the formations.

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Once we were done with the badlands, it was time to make Kevin's dreams come true.  We were almost to Mount Rushmore!!! My hyper American husband has talked about going since I met him, and I was never going to take a trip to South Dakota for any reason, but since we were driving across the country, it was the perfect time to make my man happy and go see all the rocks that he wanted. I think he has reached his Zenith.  He is self actualized and can die a happy man.  We camped in the Black Hills and got up at the crack of dawn so that we could be the first people to arrive at this amazing display of American exceptionalism.
Kevin showed some impressive tolerance as we pulled in and it was packed with foreigners blocking his way and walking into all of his pictures.  Don't fret though, we got plenty of pictures.

Once we were finally finished at Mount Rushmore, we still had plenty of daylight to burn, so we were off to our next adventure.  We wanted to hit up the 2nd largest cave in the world, so we headed to Jewel Cave in the Black hills.  Since I was carrying the fetus, I was too large to go spelunking (you had to fit through a tiny concrete box as seen below).  We ended up settling for a cave tour.

We were just trying to make the most of our time, so once we were finished in the cave, it was time to move on.  We drove all the way up to Wyoming near the Montana border to check out The Devil's Tower National Monument.. It felt like it was 200 degrees outside, I had camped too many nights already and this was an extra hour or so out of our way, I was dirty, I am sure I was smelly, and 30+ weeks pregnant.  I was not a happy camper, BUT let's look on the bright side.  It is a GIANT rock in the middle of nowhere.  I know someone who LOVES rocks.  In fact, I am just hoping this trip that we took full of rocks does not encourage someone very cute to try to go back to school to become a geologist.  Say a quick prayer for me. Kevin was in Heaven (yes, good rhyme, I know). There is a ton of Indian folklore about this rock because of it's strange groves in it. So not only did we drive up to it, but we hiked around it. I think I deserved an Oscar that day for my performance on trying to look even slightly interested and I deserve something else for going on an additional 2 mile hike around the monument in 200 degree weather.   I was not in a good place at this point and yes, I made sure we had a hotel this night.  In hindsight, I am glad I went, in part because I never have to go again, but it was a pretty cool place.