Brooklyn's Birth Story

It's been busy, busy these past few days. Lindsey was under strict instructions to let me know if there was any indication that she was going into labor. Her original due date was May 25th, but got moved back to May 22nd, so I'd been on pins and needles worrying about whether or not she was going into labor and if I'd make it to Boise in time to help her through the labor. Last Thursday afternoon, May 24th, I got a text from Lindsey around 2 p.m. indicating that she'd lost her mucous plug that morning. When she and I talked later (in the midst of a leaky bathtub plumbing repair at one of the rental units) we came to an agreement that I'd wait until she called to tell me she was having labor pains. After talking to her and Darvin I started worrying a bit about that decision as I had Erin the day I lost my mucous plug. I called Erin and Briana to help me remember their experience with the same. They'd both had the babies very soon after, so I changed my mind, called her back and told her I'd head to Boise on Thursday night. After going home, finishing some last minute chores, getting ahold of Gums, dropping Bear off at Gums, etc. it was about 6 p.m. before I was able to head out of town.

I arrived in Boise about 1 a.m. MST. Thomas let me in the apartment and we went to bed. Not long after I started hearing noises. I kept thinking Lindsey and Thomas would be coming in anytime to wake me up and tell me we were heading to the hospital. It turns out that Lindsey woke up around 3 a.m. having contractions that she couldn't sleep through. I was hearing her get up to go to the bathroom. She determined that she'd wait until 7 a.m. before waking us. We (Thomas and I) actually slept until around 8 a.m. Got ourselves up, showered and grabbed some breakfast and then headed to the hospital around 9 a.m.

We went to the maternity triage unit on the 2nd floor of St. Luke's Hospital. They took Lindsey and Thomas back to one of the exam rooms where they put her on the fetal monitor for about 1/2 hour before they'd check her. When they checked her she was still at 1 cm dilated (the same as her appointment the previous Tuesday), although she was 80% effaced with was progress from the 50% effaced on her appointment. So they sent us home! Lindsey was thoroughly disappointed and sure she should be further along for the amount of pain she was in!

We headed to IHOP for breakfast and then went to Michael's to pick up some Weathered Wood bulletin board paper for Briana to use as a 'floor' to take pictures of Brooklyn. Then we headed over to Cabela's to buy a few running t-shirts that were on the Memorial Day weekend sale & watched them feed the fish. We went to walk the mall, then headed to the church distribution center to check out their selection of scriptures. They were already closed, so then we went to Deseret Books. When we finished there we ate dinner at Subway and then headed back to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 6:30 p.m. We went back to the triage labor area. They monitored Lindsey again for about 30 minutes and then checked her. This time they told her she was at 90% effaced but still dilated to 1 cm. They asked her if she wanted to spend some time in the jacuzzi tub for about an hour and then they could check her again. So we went to a room where Lindsey labored in the tub. After the hour was up they took us back to the exam room. When they checked her again. This time they said she was only 80% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated (different nurse checked her). She was frustrated and said she'd die if they sent her home.

They let her get back in the jacuzzi tub and when they re-checked her a little after 9 p.m. she was dilated to 2 cm. The nurse called the doctor who OK'd Lindsey staying another hour to see if she would dilate to 3 cm (the magic number to be admitted!). After a little more than an hour in the jacuzzi tub we went back to the exam room. At almost 11 p.m when the nurse checked her she asked Lindsey what her numbers were previously and then told Lindsey she was at 2.5 cm and then said, I'll give you 3 cm. HOORAY!! We were IN! I asked the nurse if it was possible to strip Lindsey's membranes and she said "Let me help you out" and proceeded to do so. The nurse asked Lindsey when she wanted the epidural and Lindsey said "Now"! So they started an IV, which they had to fully administer before they could give her the epidural, and started the admitting process. They took us to a labor room. Where we waited for a little while until Brock, the nurse anesthetist, arrived. He gave her the epidural around 12:15 a.m. Watching him give her the epidural was a little creepy! I admit, I decided to sit down after awhile as he was poking some wire like thing in and out of the 'hose' in her back! One of these days I'm going to watch a youtube video of someone receiving an epidural so I can get the commentary to understand exactly what he was doing in each step.

Amy, the labor and delivery nurse, checked her again around 12:50 a.m. and miraculously she was dilated to 5 cm! At 2:55 a.m. as we were all taking a little nap all of a sudden there was a swarm of nurses (3) rushing into our room. They'd turned down the fetal monitor in our room, but apparently the baby's heart rate had dropped. So they got Lindsey up on her rubbery/numb legs and onto all fours. They put an oxygen mask on her, gave her some ephedrine(?) in her iv to increase Lindsey's blood pressure. They left her there for a little while monitoring the baby. Everything went back to normal so they had Lindsey lay back down and the nurse checked her again and she was 9 1/2 cm dilated and told Lindsey that her 'water' was bulging and that if Amy pushed hard enough she'd break the water! At this point Amy said she was going to call the doctor. Thomas followed the nurse out of the room to refill Lindsey's water bottle.Lindsey and I heard this giant 'pop',Lindsey jumped and she felt a huge gush of amniotic fluid! She and I started laughing!! Amy checked her (3:20 a.m.) and noticed there was some meconium in the fluid so she told us that she'd have the NICU staff come down in case Brooklyn swallowed any of the meconium.

At 3:45 a.m. Amy had Lindsey start pushing. It was a bit of a slow go to begin with since Lindsey was numb from the epidural. Amy was an awesome coach in teaching Lindsey how to push correctly and Lindsey was a quick study. When the baby crowned you could see that she had a head of dark hair and it looked like she had a pointy cone head.

I'd never seen such a point on the crown of a baby's head! At 5:09 a.m. sweet little Brooklyn was born at St. Luke's hospital. She was 20 inches long, 7 pounds 8 ounces and her head circumference was 13 3/4 inches. We're so happy to welcome this beautiful little princess into our family!

Happy Day!

Today started out like any other Saturday. We'd invited some friends the Seger's over for dinner. So most of the day was spent cooking and cleaning. Darvin bar-b-cued some spicy chicken basil & tomato dogs and chicken skewers, I'd made some marinated vegetables skewers that we bar-b-cued as well. We had homemade potato salad and Darvin cooked some biscuits in his grandpa's biscuit dutch oven. They were cooked to PERFECTION! We had corn on the cob and strawberries, watermelon and black cherry ice cream for dessert.

Unfortunately I've been one day behind schedule with my running training program all week since I was too tired on Monday. So that meant I HAD to get my run in today. It was the 1st workout of week 7 on the couch to 5k training program. This is a 5 minute warmup and then 25 minutes of continuous running. Well I didn't get the run in this morning, so I knew I had to get it done tonight. Seger's stayed pretty late and then after cleaning up and putting away I needed to add some music to my MP3 player to keep me going on these longer runs. Darvin got some of his CD's out and tried to download music to the computer and then my MP3 player for me. He was getting frustrated, so I finally tried my hand at it. After some trial and error I got it figured out and had downloaded quite a few songs. I was getting ready to remove the MP3 player from the computer and knocked it slightly with my hand and the MP3 player fell apart! After some finagling I was able to get it back together and as long as it's plugged into the battery section of the player it shouldn't fall apart. I'm strongly considering getting the super glue out to try for a permanent fix.

So...after all this we were working on getting out the door right around 10 p.m. Thankfully Darvin has a head lamp that I can borrow when I go out at night and Abby likes to run day or night. I was a little worried that she'd be too tired tonight since she'd played so hard while Seger's were here. But there was no need to fear, she's always up for a run! I was determined to get this done! And I was also determined to beat my previous best which was running continuously for 15 1/2 minutes.

I decided that I'd run at the high school track. At night I prefer to stay off the county roads, it just seems too dangerous to be on them as a pedestrian in the dark. We did our 5 minute warmup which usually takes us from our house to the street light on the corner of Zier and 96th Avenue. Then started the running. I decided that I'd run for 5 songs without looking at my watch to see how much time I had left. We got to the track and around and around we went...Part way into it I decided that it would be all right to look at my watch after 4 songs. Well when the 4th song was over I realized that we hadn't gone around the track enough times to be close to the 25 minutes so I decided to wait until we'd gone around the track at least 2 more times or when the 5th song was finished. My watch is a Garmin Forerunner 405 and it beeps at me when I finish an interval in the workout. Unfortunately when I have my headset on to listen to music I can't always hear the watch beeping at me. I don't like to look at it too often or I tend to get discouraged and think I can't complete the workout. So, pathetic! But it is my true story!!

Anyway, I held out and when I looked at the watch I had 2 minutes and 40 or 50 odd seconds left. When I saw that, I decided I COULD finish the workout without walking. I actually wasn't sure how long the run was because I didn't double check it ahead of time. That was probably a good thing because I probably would have been psyching myself out convincing myself that I couldn't run a continuous 25 minutes. Anyway, I am so happy that I went the whole 25 minutes without walking at all! I ran a full 2.01 miles and had an average pace of 12:26. I came home sweating like a pig-a first for me on my runs. I am tired, but not exhausted, I feel like I CAN be ready for a 5k race in a couple of weeks AND it IS possible for me to keep training and be able to run a 1/2 marathon in September.

Oh, HAPPY DAY!

Beginnings and Endings

It seems that life is a compilation of beginnings and endings. Some in our family so far this year:

At the beginning of the year Darvin's family experienced some temporary endings with the death of his mom and some of his dad's siblings. We know that we will someday be reunited with them. Very soon we will experience the joy of some new beginnings as we welcome two new little granddaughters (Brooklyn Giles and Vona Rush) into our family within the next month. The time that the Pascual family lived with us came to an end and then we began a journey with a new chocolate lab puppy 'Bear'. My 4 1/2 years of service as a Seminary teacher is fast coming to a close and who knows what new journey will begin with a new calling?

I'm grateful for the life experiences that we are given that help teach and guide and strengthen us as we travel through this mortal experience. Sometimes it's so hard for us to see who we really are, sons and daughters of our loving Heavenly Father with the potential to become divine beings like He is. It's pretty amazing how much our Heavenly Father loves us and that he knows us better sometimes than we know ourselves.

I remember when Darvin and I received our patriarchal blessings (it's a special personal blessing from God given by a man called as the Stake Patriarch). When the patriarch had finished giving the blessings he asked, "You don't really realize what great things God has in store for you do you?" I really didn't! I have a little better understanding now, but I'm sure I have a long way to go until I fully understand how I can best become an instrument in God's hands, and learn to totally subject myself to His will.

One of the things in my patriarchal blessing that had always perplexed me was that it spoke of me impacting the lives of the children and the youth of the church. I thought I had the children part 'down pat' from Primary teacher, Primary President, Nursery Leader, Cubmaster and Primary Chorister callings. I was confused about how I would ever see the fulfillment of the promise to work with the youth. When, after many years, I was called as a counselor in the Young Women's organization and then as Young Women's president I thought "ah hah" THIS is the answer!! Well that may have been part of the answer, but it certainly wasn't the 'fullness' of the answer! lol

Years later when I was called to teach Seminary and got to teach both young women AND young men I realized THAT was a big part of the answer. What a very special 4 1/2 years it has been. It has not been without trials and hardships. Teaching a class 5 days a week to sleepy teenagers for 50 minutes beginning about 6:30 a.m. every morning is not a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination, but it IS one of the most fulfilling opportunities I've been blessed with in my life. It has forced me to take studying the scriptures seriously. It has given me the opportunity daily to ask for my Heavenly Father's help and guidance in preparing and delivering the right gospel messages to my class.

My poor husband has sacrificed his sleep right along with mine. He has had sleep problems for many years. He has trouble falling asleep and trouble staying asleep! So he consented to sacrifice so that I could have the opportunity to teach the whole 4 year cycle of Seminary-Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and Church History. I appreciate his willingness and his patience as I have stayed up many a late night either finishing preparation of a lesson or making some crazy treat to take to my class the next morning! He has endured days of crankiness on my part due to lack of sleep and sometimes days where I feel disheartened because of my concern for the decisions some of 'my' Seminary kids are making or because of a particularly hard day in class.

Interestingly, part way into my Seminary 'teaching career' the structure of the Seminary program changed and our service was placed under the stewardship of the various Stakes rather than under the Church Educational System (where it was previously). At the time of this change we were 'set apart' as Seminary teachers.

As a word of explanation for those not of our faith, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints all of the responsibilities of the church are filled by volunteers. When we receive a 'calling' we are 'set apart' (given a blessing). During this blessing we are given the 'keys' to be able to fulfill our calling. Many times this blessing involves counsel and comfort or reassurance that our Heavenly Father will be with us to 'make up the difference' for any personal shortcomings that we may feel that we have in our new calling.

Anyway, back to Seminary. When I was finally set apart as a Seminary teacher, the one thing that I will never forget about that blessing was the promise that my service as a Seminary teacher would be a great preparation for me as I served a mission with my husband in the future. That was another moment in my life where I knew that my Heavenly Father knows me and loves me! I had never expressed verbally that I yearned to someday go on a mission with my husband.

That man of God who laid his hands on my head did not have any idea that this was a desire of my heart, but he received inspiration from our Heavenly Father to share that personal message from my Father. It helped confirm to me that Heavenly Father was pleased with my decision to serve in this calling and wanted to give me encouragement that my service would bless me down the road to help fulfill the righteous desires of my heart.

One more beginning on a lighter note! This year in October I celebrate my 50th birthday. I decided it was high time that I start taking better care of myself. To begin this process I gave myself a challenge: to run a half marathon before I reach my 50th birthday. I'm not sure what came over me since I've NEVER been a distance runner...never had the desire to BECOME a distance runner! I'm calling it some type of late mid-life crisis! So 7 weeks ago I started the 'Couch to 5k' program. Theoretically by week 9 I'll be able to completely run a 5k race! Unfortunately the 5k that I signed up for in Boise on June 9th was cancelled due to lack of participants. It's OK, I'll just have my own personal 5k on that day and then the stake will be hosting a 5k on June 30th. After the 5k I'll continue to work on increasing my distance so that I can run a half marathon in tri-cities in September. The runners that I know keep telling me that running is addicting and some day I'll be addicted to it to...at this point, I'm not buying it!!! But I'm remaining open-minded! The following is how I currently feel: ;^)

I'm also beginning a 'Getting Healthy' challenge. There are about 30 women that will be participating. We'll be broken up into small teams and will receive points for completing healthy habits each day like: exercising, not eating late, not eating sweets (except for once a week), drinking 64 oz of water, eating fruits and veggies, maintaining and losing weight, studying scriptures, journaling and saying prayers. I'm thankful that this opportunity has presented itself as it will work hand in hand with my overall goal of taking better care of myself!

Life is good!

Baby Bear's Story

Introducing the newest member of our family: Bear Clement, born Monday, March 5, 2012. Our cute little chocolate lab is our 'consolation prize' for having our grandkids move to Texas. He's got quite a family history.

My visiting teaching companion Denise Gum and her husband Gordon had to put their black lab to sleep the day after Christmas. They were, of course, heartbroken. In January Gordon decided that they needed to adopt a new dog. He found Daisy, a black lab, on Craig's List. Daisy was about 10 months old when they adopted her. A breeder in the area had originally sold her to a man who neglected her. The man left her in a crate apparently day and night and wasn't feeding her properly. The breeder (who was oversees with the military) got word of the abuse/neglect and sent his buddy to investigate. When the buddy saw the deplorable conditions Daisy was living in he told the dog owner he's was taking Daisy away from him. When the man protested, the buddy suggested that they could call the police and get him charged with animal abuse! So, instead, Daisy went home that day with the buddy.

Well, the buddy already had his own lab, a couple of kids, a small house and yard. So he couldn't keep Daisy. He nursed her back to health for a couple of months and then put an advertisement on Craig's List to which the Gum's responded. Not too long after the Gums adopted her, Denise noticed that Daisy's nipples seemed to be getting larger. They took her to the vet for her shots and inquired whether or not Daisy might be pregnant. The vet indicated that he didn't think so. A few weeks down the road they scheduled an appointment for Daisy to get fixed. All the while noticing that it looked like her belly was growing as well. Now mind you this was a malnourished dog when they got her AND the vet said that she was not likely pregnant so they were hopeful that this meant that Daisy was just getting super healthy again. Nonetheless, Denise made it clear to Gordon that if there was any way that Daisy was pregnant there would be no spaying!

Gordon dropped Daisy off at the vet on his way to work. Later that morning he got a message from the vet indicating that Daisy was indeed expecting. They x-rayed her belly and found that she was going to have at least 9 puppies! SURPRISE! Apparently the buddy who fostered her didn't realize that Daisy was old enough to get pregnant and his lab really enjoyed having Daisy come stay at their house! lol Gordon hurriedly made a whelping bed (although the vet didn't expect her to deliver for another 7-10 days). Thankfully Gordon isn't a procrastinator as the puppies were born within 3-4 days! And there were 10 puppies instead of 9! So the hunt was on to find good homes.

Daisy was a great mommy from the get go. She delivered and took care of each of those little puppies. There were 8 black and 2 chocolate labs. Even the runt survived and flourished. We were blessed to be able to meet them and watch them grow from the beginning. From cute little baby mouse-like little burrowers with their eyes closed just looking for their next meal to fun little exuberant teething puppies. What a treat.

When we decided to adopt one of them Darvin mentioned that he'd always wanted a chocolate lab. We felt that it would be best to adopt a male to alleviate possible anxiety on Abby's part about having another female dog in 'her' house. Only one of the chocolate's was a male and he'd already been spoken for. Unfortunately, we fell in love with that 'little guy' (although he soon became the biggest puppy of the litter). Originally a work friend of Denise's had spoken for the chocolate male, but when Denise's son expressed an interest in adopting him, the work friend indicated that she wouldn't mind adopting a different puppy. When Denise's son changed his mind Denise felt obligated to again offer the chocolate male to her work friend. In the meantime, Denise had fallen in love with him too! She really wanted us to have him as she knew then she'd be able to see him more regularly. The work friend didn't mind and actually ended up bonding with one of the sweet little black females! So we were officially in the adoption process with Bear!

Darvin and I visited at least once a week and it was amazing to watch how quickly they grew and changed. When the puppies were 6 weeks and 2 days old the Gums, Fawcetts (the Gums neighbors) & I took all 10 of the puppies to the vet for their 1st set of shots and de-worming. That was quite the experience...7 of us and 10 squirmy little round puppies. I think we were the hit of the vet's clinic that day. All of the staff enjoyed playing and visiting with the puppies. Each of the puppies was weighed before getting their shots. Bear was 10 pounds 8 ounces, a half pound larger than the next largest sibling and he was a whole pound and 5 ounces larger than PJ, the runt! That next Saturday, April 21st was our official adoption day. We picked up Bear in the morning before Darvin had to head off to work. It's been a barrel of monkies ever since! Lol

We kennel Bear at night and whenever we're not in the house with him. Realizing that the kennel was way too big, we put a box in it to try to keep him at the front of the kennel. The first 2 nights home Bear figured out that there was a space to the side of the box, a path to his personal port-a-potty! So after 2 days of cleaning poop out of the kennel I decided to get smart and add some smaller boxes along the side of the big boxes, which seemed to work superbly! That is until one morning this week! I had taken Bear out of his kennel when I woke up around 5 a.m. and he went outside and peed. A little while later, as has become our routine, I took him out to poop and he did! Hooray! Then I left for Seminary. Darvin took him out again around 7 a.m. before leaving for work. I had some running around to do after Seminary. When I arrived home around 10 a.m. I was met by the smell of an outhouse, AGAIN!! I couldn't believe it! I knew we had the boxes stuffed in there tight and dogs will not soil their sleeping area, so what in the world? As I looked inside the kennel, there was Bear comfortable in his sleeping area and there on the TOP of the boxes was a great big 'surprise package' for me! That stinker (literally!) had figured out how to jump up on TOP of the boxes and made himself a nice new port-a-potty! Each day has brought more potty training 'excitement'. But we're finally beginning to see consistent success, Bear is beginning to whine to let me know that he needs to potty! I'm sure he'll become proficient real soon. In the meantime, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue! lol

And then there's the puppy chewing. Most puppies like to chew as they're in the midst of teething, but labs are particularly well known for their destructive chewing habits. Bear is no exception. He loves to chew...on anything!!! One of our friends said, 'Well look on the bright side, it'll force you to be a better housekeeper'! Instead of 'use it or lose it' I think my motto is going to have to be 'choose to put it away or HE'LL 'chews' to put it away'!

Things are not all negative and glum. This sweet little guy has already brought much joy into our lives. Darvin and I weren't the only ones that were depressed when the Pascual's moved to Texas. Abby had really been in a 'funk' since they'd moved away and now she's on her toes every day, trying to keep up with this young whipper snapper, rough-housing until she's exhausted, making sure that he's safe and showing him 'the ropes' (including digging in flower beds I might add...Don't teach him THOSE things Abby! lol)

On a happy note, this was the first day Bear had no accidents in the house! We're really glad that Bear's a part of our home. Now if we can just survive the next 2 years of puppyhood!