BABY IS HERE!!

After baby got cleaned up.

Showing off Brighton's hair - Proud daddy

Grandma, Grandpa Roy - Daddy, Mommy, Brighton & Grandma


Announcing the arrival of our son: Brighton Theodore - Monday, March 23, 2009 - 12:27 am - Weight: 7 lb 2 oz Length: 21 inches

The day finally arrived when the baby was ready to be born. As you know, I was scheduled to be induced at 6:30am on Monday, March 23, 2009. Well, lo and behold, on Sunday, March 22, 2009 at around 3 pm, I started having contractions that were pretty intense and starting to get painful. So, we headed into the hospital. We got there around 4:30-5 pm. They monitored me for awhile, then checked me. I wasn't "progressed" far enough to be "in labor" yet, so they sent me out to walk the halls for an hour. When we got back from our "walk", I had progressed a little more, enough so they decided to check me into Labor and Delivery. I checked into my room officially at 8 pm and at that time was dilated to 1.5 cm and 90% effaced. The nurse, thinking it was going to be a while before anything happened was, ready to give me IV pain meds to help me sleep but she wanted me to try to shower first to help me relax and work through contractions. I sat and rocked side to side on a "birthing" ball in the shower for a little over an hour and when I got out, I had dilated to 8 cm. My water broke around 9:30 pm on it's own, and I had the Baby at 12:27 am. All in all, it was a very good labor and birth. It wasn't as hard as I thought it could be, but it wasn't as easy as I was hoping either. It is definitely hard work but so worth it. I ended up using an IV pain medication and was considering an Epidural. But it went so fast, once it got started, that I didn't need it. We didn't even have time to get our "labor" bag, that I had packed, from the car. The labor bag had snacks for my husband and his mother (my very fabulous support team), comfort items for me, pillow and blanket from home, a book of Sudoku puzzles for my hubby and a handheld Tetris game for me. So, the next time around, the labor bag is coming in with me, no matter what, when I go into OB Triage.....even if I think they may be sending me home!!!

another trip to the hospital.....

Okay...I'm going to be infamous for all the trips to the hospital before I really go into labor. Yesterday morning I was having contractions all morning. Kind of sporadic and not too hard. Then around 1, they started coming closer together and settled into a 4-5 minute pattern. So, I called Dewayne around 1:38 and told him what they were doing. He was on his lunch break so he said he'd run back to work and let them know he was taking off for the day/weekend. He got home around 2. He showered and ate his lunch and then we headed into town. We stopped in Peters Creek, so I could use the bathroom and we could see his mom on the way in. We visited for a little while and because the contractions were still regular and coming strong, we continued into the hospital. I called on the way to let them know we were on our way in, so they could have the paperwork ready. When we got there, Dewayne dropped me at the door and went to park the car. Then, when he got in, I opted to just walk into the Maternity Center (it's not far from the parking garage) instead of riding in the wheelchair. We got signed in, which went fast because they had my chart pulled and ready up at the desk. Then, as we were walking back, a very strong contraction hit........I had to stop walking and hold onto the desk. Well, then once I got hooked up to the monitors, I stopped having contractions except for 2-3 small ones, but baby's heart rate was really high and causing a bit of concern. My BP wasn't too bad, 143/84, is one reading I remember. I am now, for sure, 1 cm dilated and almost fully effaced on one side of my cervix, don't know why the other side isn't effaced. We stayed for a while to see if baby's HR would go down and it finally evened out and came into the "normal" range. By that time, they had decided they wanted an ultrasound to look at the baby and make sure the fluid levels, placenta were good. It was so cool to see the baby's head down low (baby has dropped).....we couldn't even see it's forehead and we could see a little fringe of hair waving in the amniotic fluid and his or her little hands and lips, chin and the bottom of his or her nose. We then got "discharged" and we discussed going to the mall to walk around, so maybe I'd start having contractions again but we just drove through Wendy's to grab a bite to eat (a ceasar salad w/ no dressing for me, and a combo meal for Dewayne) and then came to Mom and Roy's and spent the night here. This morning, I was still having contractions but they aren't getting too close together. But Dewayne ran home to get some stuff, because Mom convinced him that it'll be safer if we stay here till I go into labor or we go in on Monday to be induced. So, we'll be "camping" out here till baby is ready to come!! :-)

I am scheduled..................

Okay, everyone........the news you've all been waiting.....well, maybe not THE NEWS you've been waiting for but the next best thing. If you don't hear before Monday that I have had this baby, we will be going into the hospital to be induced. Monday, March 23rd at 6:30am. Since my due date is Saturday and "that doesn't work well for the Dr.". But if I do go into labor naturally it's okay, it's just not a good time to induce. So, this baby has a chance to be born before then if he or she would like to be. I'm hoping baby wants to meet us before then. :-)

Due Date.......5 days and counting....

Yep...it's coming up fast. I am so antsy and so ready to go into labor, it isn't even funny. LoL...yes, it is. With being on bedrest for the last few weeks, it makes me even look forward to labor. I am praying that all will go well and it won't be as hard as it sounds from some people's stories. I have read the book....or most of it, anyway, Childbirth Without Fear and it makes it sound possible to have a bearable labor without too much pain.....just a lot of hard work and concentration. So, we will see what these next five days bring. I have my regular doctor appointment tomorrow morning and we will be discussing when this baby will be coming.....if he (my Dr.) will plan to induce me and what day, if I don't go into labor naturally by Saturday. :-)

A trip to the hospital.......

Yeah, I know....it sounds promising but it sure wasn't. My BP starting going up yesterday, even with me laying down and I got a headache. So, I called the OB Triage line at Providence around 6 pm and told them what was going on. They said I should come in. I didn't like that very much so I called my doctor to see if he thought I should go in, too. Well, I got another Dr. who was taking his calls this weekend and he said I should go in. So, in we decided to go. But we had to take the labor bag, the coming home bag and the infant car seat, along with a couple of pillows and blankets for me, just in case we ended up staying in the hospital. We finally left the house around 9 pm and drove in. Now, all this time I was also having contractions, nothing really regular but I could kind tell that I had a few here and there. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the FHR monitor (fetal heart rate), a monitor to check my contractions and a BP cuff. Watching the contractions on the monitor was fun. Sometimes I couldn't even tell that I was having them, but they would show up on the monitor and actually make quite a peak. They took blood and made me give a urine sample to test for protein and dehydration (which were all negative, yippee!). Then after about 1 hour and 45 minutes of monitoring they sent me home. To lay down, behave myself and keep an eye on my BP and contractions and do "kick counts". Fun, fun!! And here I was hoping for a baby. But we came home empty-handed and tired and crawled into bed around 1 am. :-) But now the car is all packed with the essential things we need to head into the hospital, so we are one step closer to being ready to head to the hospital in LABOR!!

Baby Fever!!

So, I had a Doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning. And at that appointment, my doctor said that I will have this baby by my due date......one way or another. I am still having the high blood pressure and the lower number has been creeping up over 100. The doctor doesn't want to rush things, if I'm not ready to have the baby, but because of the bp he will induce me if I don't go into labor by my due date. So, in nine days or less.......we will be parents of a new baby boy or girl!! And I had just decided that I was going to be pregnant forever!! :-)

Wedding pictures

I love these pictures of us. So, I thought I'd share them with you.

Kohl......our Toy Poodle

Her first bath at "home"!
A little itty bitty puppy came to live with us on March 21, 2008. She was a gift to Dewayne from his mother, Ruth, for his birthday last year. She was only a month old on March 7th, the day after his birthday, so we didn't get her then. We knew what Mom was planning but we didn't know what kind of puppy or when we would get it. After much discussion and deliberation, we finally named her Kohl.......because she is black, we were tossing around names that meant "black" for a few days. When we got her, she weighed about two pounds and was six weeks old. She seems so tiny and fragile. She couldn't climb the stairs and she would cry because they scared her. Her breeder said she was a full blood toy poodle and she'd get to be about 6 pounds when full grown. She slept in the bathtub to start with. She had a little bed in there, a potty training pad and some toys, along with her food and water dish. Soon, she was too big for the bathtub and figured out how to jump out. She moved into the bathroom. We soon figured out that the toilet paper wasn't safe on the roller. We'd come home and all the toilet paper that was on the roller would be shredded all over bathroom.

But it didn't take her long to grow. She grew and grew and learned how to go up and down the stairs. Pretty soon, she learned how to jump up onto the couch, then up onto the bed. When she was 9 weeks old, we met with her breeder and she showed up how to give Kohl her shots. She had her first one at 6 weeks, the next one at 9 weeks and the last one at 12 weeks. At 12 weeks, when she was due, Heidi (my niece, who lives in NC) was here and with her help, we managed to give her her shot. It was quite an ordeal.....I don't like needles used on me, but I really don't like using a needle on a dog. She will then need booster shots every year.

As she learned how to use her "potty pad" instead of the carpet or the rug by the door, her area expanded. As her bedroom or confinement area (or "jail"), she now has the bathroom and the hall and sometimes the back room. If I accidently don't get the computer room (or spare room) door latched, she expands her area a little bit. When one or both of us are home, she is usually free to run amok about the house. Unless we are eating something tasty and she is hard to fend off because we aren't at the table, then she goes to "jail".


With her "mommy" & "daddy"!




Showing off her "show dog" haircut!!


She is a good dog. She is trained completely to use her "pad" in the bathroom for going potty. She will go outside but we haven't trained her to tell us when. Which is lucky for me, because I am confined right now and she goes on her own into the bathroom whenever she needs to relieve herself. We make sure she comes into the bathroom with us if we are showering or the door is going to be closed, because that is her "potty" area and it wouldn't be kind to block her path and then punish her if there was an accident due to our negligence. We can now have the toilet paper roll on the roller by the toilet. AND we are planning to train her to go potty outside when the weather warms up! :-) As a big dog person (we always had big dogs when I was growing up), I must say that this little dog has made me love her like no other dog has. Since Kohl has been our "baby" for a year now, I hope when our baby arrives she will be able to adjust to having a new kid on the block!!

Two Weeks Left.......maybe!!

Well, I am now at the 38 weeks of gestation mark. Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday, we were telling everyone that we were expecting in March and here we are.....counting down the last few days. Of course, the first three months just dragged by. Then the next five and a half months just flew by. Now that I am on complete bedrest the days are going slower again but still 14 days till that magical date that is sitting on the calendar waiting. The baby may decide he or she would like to come earlier.......or that staying in my tummy longer might be a better option......but still it's nearing the time when we get to meet our little blessing and give this baby his or her name. I folded all the Newborn and 0-3 month onesies, sleep & plays, socks, mittens, towels and washcloths, receiving blankets, hats and the fleece blanket, that were washed in preparation. Now they are ready to go into the baby's little "dresser", which will most likely be one of those plastic tote drawer things. It just needs to be brought in from the garage and wiped down. Do you think I'm ready? I don't know. I am starting to feel more prepared for the impending arrival of our little "monster"!! Kohl* doesn't know what to think about all the little baby stuff that has been hanging around the house lately. She thinks it may be toys for her to play with but she gets in trouble when she does try to get into it. Poor little poodle......I am sure it's confusing her. She is such a sweet dog and I hope she will adjust well to having the new baby in the house......she has been our "baby" for a year now, so it will definitely be an adjustment for her.

*I will try to post a blog on the arrival of Kohl into our life with pictures, etc., at a later date. I don't have any of my Kohl pictures on my laptop yet!!

First night downstairs........

Well, I didn't have to sleep downstairs all by myself. :-) My husband joined me in the spare room on a twin bed.......LOL, Kohl wanted to sleep in here with us, too, but she had to stay in her area. Whenever I got up to use the bathroom, you could hear her try the door to see if I didn't latch it completely when I came back to bed. It was a little tight, but I slept better than I have been sleeping lately....mostly because Dewayne was beside me all night, I am sure. When I asked him how he slept, he said he slept okay for the first part of the night.......so, we will see if he decides sleeping upstairs tonight might be a better choice for him. :-) I love him so much. He is so thoughtful and sweet. He gave me breakfast this morning, made sure I had clothes for the day (since they are all upstairs), moved the phone downstairs to be by my resting place, moved things for my entertainment close to me and off to work he went. :-)

Complete Bedrest but with a stricter Regime

Okay....I do understand that complete bedrest means you are supposed to be down and only be up to go to the bathroom. Well, now I have been smudging that line just a little. I was hanging out upstairs in our bedroom, which means that to use the bathroom, get snacks, etc., I had to come downstairs, then head back up the stairs when I was done. :-) I also was okayed to go to the chiropractor for adjustments and get a massage. But no more. I must stay horizontal ALL THE TIME. Except for short, fast bathroom breaks and NO MORE STAIRS. WAAAHHHH. It means I have to be downstairs, which means it will be easier to grab a yogurt from the fridge on my way back from the bathroom. It also means that my husband will be sleeping upstairs alone and I will be sleeping downstairs ALONE on the couch, in the spare room on the twin bed or on the futon in the back room. Unless, he wanted to set up the futon close to whatever "bed" I end up on, so he could be nearby at least. But, really now maybe he will actually get some real sleep without me tossing and turning and groaning beside him. Since Friday night, my discomfort has increased (I think it's due to the size of my belly) and my ability to actually sleep well has decreased. I had some pretty strong contractions yesterday and they even started getting regular, almost down to the every ten minutes that the Dr. said would be our sign to head into Anchorage to Providence Hospital. But then they tapered off and we tried to sleep. :-) Baby hasn't dropped or "lightened" yet, and the Dr. says that usually happens sooner when it's your first. And because I'm carrying so high, that it should be very obvious when it does happen. I am starting to get to the place where I just want to have this baby, so I don't feel big and ungainly anymore and I get to meet this new person who will be changing our life, so much!!!

Ooops......

I think I overdid it just a bit. I woke up this morning when Dewayne got up to get ready for work around 6:50. I only got up to use the bathroom and take my vitamins, then came back to bed for a while. After he left, I went downstairs and made myself a breakfast smoothie. Then came back up to bed until around 8:50. I had a massage and chiropractor appointment at 10:15, so I took a shower.....I am thinking a shower before my massage, isn't such a good idea. The massage and adjustment felt great but by the time I got home after getting the car washed and running a couple of important errands (I was able to stay in the car the whole time), I was starving (I picked up a quick salad w/ no salad dressing from McD's) and I could feel my blood pressure was up......so, I soon as I got into bed, I took it. 153/99......ouch. So, I am lying very studiously on my left side, doing deep breathing and relaxation exercises, trying to will my BP to go back down to a more normal level. And to think.......my BP this week has been running in the high 130's/high 70's-low 80's. It was looking pretty good. You know, I guess there is something to this bedrest thing, after all. Baby, I'm sorry.....I will do better, just for you!!!

A New Tradition.....

Not really..........................I'd rather that not going to church on Sunday morning didn't become an actual tradition!!

We went to church last Sunday, but with me starting to get uncomfortable, especially with sitting or standing for any period of time, it wasn't too much fun (not that church is supposed to be FUN, but you are supposed to be able to enjoy it and actually sing and listen to the sermon). Then, on Tuesday, when I was at my Dr. visit, he told me that I needed to be doing complete bedrest, no more working and no more partial bedrest! So, thus came about the no going to church on Sunday morning "tradition". I have always enjoyed going to church on Sunday. I love the fellowship, worship, listening to the sermon. I miss that when I don't have it. We listened to a sermon online this morning for our church service and it just isn't the same. I am very thankful, though, that we have that option. I am happy that Hockinson ALC has their website and the archived sermons. Once this child is born, then as soon as we are able, we will be back in church on Sunday mornings. I want our children to love going to church on Sunday mornings and whenever there is a special service as much as I do.

The Beginning of My Life.........

The keepsake birth certificate from the hospital!! :-)

I was born on April 25, 1976........in the Cowlitz General Hospital in Longview, Washington. The youngest of the 16 children of Theodore Elden "Ted" and Mary Irene (Matson) Kandoll. I was spoiled (at least that's what "the big kids" say) and have found a lot of baby pics of me. Presumably because I was the youngest, it was my older siblings who these took pictures of me........Because I haven't seen a lot of baby pics of my older brothers and sisters.

Check out my nifty car seat....I believe I was close to 4 months old in this picture. Crazy how we survived this stuff.

Here I am with my sis Ruth holding me and someone else showing me a little tree frog.

In this picture, I am reading a book! ;-)

My parents........

I thought I'd take a little journey back in time and write a little blog on my parents. Mama passed away on August 17, 2007 and Papa passed away on September 3, 2008. Just a year and seventeen days apart. After being married for 54 years, I can only imagine how much Papa missed her. Whenever I talked to him and it was a month, or six months, or seven months after Mama died, he would say, "It has been a month, six months or seven months today that Mama went home." He knew every day exactly how long Mama had been gone. He felt her absence keenly and longed to be in Heaven with her and Jesus. His prayers were answered and he is now "Home in Heaven" with Mama and Jesus! As much as I miss them both, that was their reason for living, the end of their Journey of following in the footsteps of Jesus and striving to live in His Undying Word.



Their wedding day - February 1, 1953



The day I moved to AK - May 27, 2003

I love both of these pictures and I will treasure them always. The memories I have of my Papa and Mama are priceless and the example of the life they lived will always be with me. May God's Peace always live in our lives the way His Peace was so much a part of theirs.

Some of My Shower Gifts........

My friends Marissa and Amberly had a baby shower for me on Friday, February 13, 2009. Along with help from my mother-in-law, Ruth. It was fun and we played some really fun games. I was a little embarassed to be the center of attention, but I did enjoy it. I wish that I didn't have to be on bedrest, it would have even been more fun, but I was a little tied to the couch, reclining, and had wonderful people waiting on me. Thanks, girls and Mom!!

This blanket was made by Diana (Warnke) Olson....I love the penguins and the silky edge.

This blue one has bumble bees and cars on it......my friend Carol, who was a co-worker from my first job up here in Alaska, made it. She is thinking we are having a boy!! :-)

Brandy Olson made this cream and brown one. I love the silky edge (what is it about silky edges?), the little monkey faces are just adorable and the colors will work wonderful for a boy or a girl. I want to get a sock monkey to go with it!!

Brandy also made the nursing cover-up, which will come in very handy for when I am back at work and need to nurse the baby at my desk!! :-)

My friend Trish made these wonderful and very perfect for boy or girl, shoulder/burp cloths.

As you can see, I decided to post pictures of just some of my other shower gifts. All of the gifts we got were special and I loved them all. I just love baby things and when those baby things are for my BABY, it's makes them all the more lovable!! These gifts are special because they were MADE for my baby. The fourth blanket, a crocheted one, I was given at my shower and had to give it back so she could make it bigger. :-) It is beautiful, red and cream. I can't wait to get it back finished. I will post a pic of it when I get it back from Marissa.

I am amazed with all the talented friends that I have!! It almost makes me wish I was the sewing, quilting, crocheting and creative kind of girl. :-)