The tale of a toe...

Growing up, the traditional Saturday was to clean up the house in the morning, go to lunch (at Steve's Krazy Sub) and play the rest of the day. Well now that Brian is in his 3rd year and has a more normal Dad schedule, I attempted to re-live my dreamy childhood Saturdays. After vacuuming, I attempted to slide the chaise - yes that's right, I have family in the furniture biz - back into place (one-handed of course, because I was holding Roxy), when the wooden foot ripped my big toe nail half way off. Well thank goodness Brian was there because I had to sit down, point the fan on my face and try not to look at it or think about it while he bandaged the mess. Well, I did my best to go on with life in my condition but decided that there was too much discomfort and the nail would have to go. After a good soak in the tub and a half hour of wiggling and pulling, Brian got the pliers. He got a good grip (with both hands) I held on tight to my toe, held my breath, and with a swift yank upward, my toe was nailless. I'll spare you that photo. Anyway, it actually feels much better now and I'm hoping the soft, sensitive skin will soon harden.

And now that I'm sure the toe will be fully functional very soon, I can announce that I am going to run my very first 5k. November 12th, Shun the Sun in downtown Mesa. There, I said it, now I have to do it. Anyone who wants to join me, I won't feel bad when you leave me in the dust. I'm just excited to start up this new hobby and hoping to enjoy it.

Roxy Belle - Birth Story

I'll start with my doctor's appointment Monday, July 25th. I was dilated to 1-2 cm and I asked Dr. Juarez to strip my membranes. He did but wasn't confident it would put me into labor. Then I reminded him that we had talked about induction and he told me that he had called my hospital on Friday and they didn't have any slots until Monday, August 1st. I told him that I'd really hoped to have her before then so that Brian could start his 1st rotation that Monday. He told me that he would call again while I got dressed. When he came back in he said I could cancel the rest of my appointments and set one for 6 weeks out because the hospital would induce on Thursday night at 7:30. Hooray!!

My mom drove into town Wednesday night and Brian and I made sure everything was off the checklist before baby time. Thursday evening the hospital called and said they were really busy and to call at 9:00. When I called, they said they would call us in the morning. We were all really disappointed. I tried to page my dr to see if he wanted me to try the other hospital but had no luck reaching him. For a while, I though about waiting to be induced Monday morning because I knew that if we took Friday morning, I would get the on-call doctor instead of Dr. Juarez. Well, we finally decided to go in when we got the call and hope for the best. We tried to get some sleep and we all popped out of bed when the phone rang at 6:30 and they said to be there at 7:30.

Once we got a room, the nurse (Mary) checked me and I was still 1-2 cm. She called the dr and he said to start me on cervadil (sp?). She got my IV started in one shot (woohoo!) and the induction started at 9:00. Regular contractions kicked in around 10:00 and I tried to hold off on having her check me as long as I could. At 2:00, she checked and I was at 4 cm. She said I could get my epidural and start pitocin and I said "let's do it". At 2:30 I got my epidural and at 3:30 they started pitocin. My labor pattern was good and baby was tolerating things good but each time Mary checked me, I was still 4cm so at 6:00 she called Dr. Kashyap to come and break my water. At 6:45, she broke my water and at 7:00 there was a nurse change. Mary had been really nice but I was ready for a nurse with some personality to come in and take charge and my wish came true. The new nurse was Jewel and she came in and was excited and energetic and it was just what I needed. She had me flipping side to side and before long, I was at a 10. The contractions were starting to hurt and I figured that it was just because she was descending quickly but pretty soon it was too much to handle so the anesthesiologist came back in to top off the epidural and Dr. Kashyap was called to come back down to deliver. When she got there, they started to set up the room and Jewel told her Brian was a medical student and wanted to scrub in and help with delivery so they got him suited up and broke down the bed. Well, I pushed through a couple of contractions and her head was out but then the three nurses jumped on my belly and started to push on me. I was a little confused and wondered why they were doing that but found out a moment later that her little shoulder had been stuck under my pelvis. I found out later that this is called "shoulder distosia" and that we are super lucky she didn't hurt her collar bone and that I didn't tear. At 8:35, Roxy Belle was born at 8 lbs. 6 oz. 20 in. She was covered in cheese so when the baby nurse asked if she could take her and clean her up, I said yes. Within minutes, there was a little knock at the door and in came Grandma, Lukas and Brooklyn. They were all so excited and everyone got to hold her before I did. When it was time for the kids to go so we could all rest, they cried that we couldn't come home and bring Roxy home with them. So sweet!

St. George

On July 20th, Brian was scheduled to take his Step 1 board exam in St. George. At the last minute, my mom decided to come to visit and help with the kids since he'd be gone over night and I was 9 mo. pregnant. Well, Brian decided it would be nice to have some company on the trip and to study on the drive so my mom was nice enough to stay with the kids (including their cousin, Jacey, who she brought with herfrom Mesa) while I drove him over. I came back the next morning so that she and Jacey could get home and me and kids drove back in the afternoon to pick Brian up. After the exam, we took the kids to see the St. George temple, to a cute little park with a fake stream, and to dinner before heading back home.

After the exam and before the new baby and Brian's first rotation, Brian wanted to have some special time with the kids so he took them out on special activities. Lukas wanted to go see Transformers 3 in the movie theater and to play the "Lego Captain Jack Sparrow" game on the XBOX. Brookie wanted to go the bouncy place and to lunch for eggs. You can see that the few days off he had were just what we all needed and they love their Dad more than he'll ever know.