Welcome baby Ella!

Well, I'm glad I wrote my pregnancy reflection post when I did because three days later, little Miss Knowles made her arrival.

Ella Christine Knowles

May 16, 2012

Labor & Delivery

During the final weeks of my pregnancy, everyone would ask if I was ready for baby to come. While I was excited to finally meet my baby girl, I wasn't ready for her to arrive until after May 15th. Ethan's preschool graduation was the evening of May 15th and I didn't want to miss this important milestone. When I told Ethan that there was a possibility of Mommy and Daddy missing his program, he looked at me heartbroken and said: "But Mommy, I'm the puppy and it's very important." After that, how could I miss it? I think I told everyone that I talked to that I was going to make it until after the graduation program.

The morning of the 15th, I had my weekly doctor appointment. I was up 15 pounds, 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I had experienced a few contractions the night before, but they were more than an hour apart and then stopped completely the next morning. My doctor said it could be that day or not until next week. Without regular contractions, there was no telling.

My dad drove me back home from Beloit (he took me because driving in the car for that long was killing my upper back) and I went about my day.

Now it was time for the important Preschool Graduation program. Here's Ethan being a puppy:

During the program, I experienced my first hard contraction. I probably only had three contractions during the program. I wasn't sure if they were real or Braxton Hicks. The program ended and Ethan received his diploma. Kindergarten, here he comes! Following the program, we went to the Chicken Inn for ice cream to celebrate. I should have known something was up when I wasn't hungry for ice cream and didn't get anything. I NEVER turn down ice cream.

We went home and I tucked Ethan into bed. I decided to get on the treadmill and see if walking eased some of the pain I was having in my back. I walked two miles and experienced some painful cramps/contractions but nothing bad enough that I had to stop or even slow my pretty brisk pace. After my walk, I thought a hot shower would feel good to my back. In the shower, I had some more contractions and they were strong enough that I had to stop and lean over through them. However, they were still completely irregular and ranging about 20 minutes apart.

At 10:00 pm, I decided to go to bed. I was timing my contractions, not sure if they were real or Braxton Hicks, and they remained very irregular. I'd have a few small ones 5 minutes apart but then I'd go 20 minutes without a contraction.

Jim came to bed a few minutes later. At that point, the contractions were pretty painful but still were remaining irregular. As Jim climbed into bed, I decided that we should go to the hospital. I figured it was the most convenient time, before everyone was settled into bed and asleep. With the long drive to Beloit ahead of us, I thought we could head down there and see if labor picked up at the hospital or, if it wasn't real labor, we could just stay at the Super 8 hotel and look at induction options, like breaking my water, in the morning with my doctor. I made the call to my Mom to come over to our house and stay with Ethan. I had decided to leave him home sleeping since there was no reason to wake him up in the middle of the night to hang around the hospital for hours waiting for something to happen.

Mom came over to our house shortly after 10:30 pm. I gave her some instructions, apologizing for calling her over late at night, and then we were off. I told Jim not to drive recklessly as we had all the time in the world. I also sent a text to my doctor to let her know we were starting the 1.5 hour drive.

By the time we reached Kirwin, about 20 minutes away, I told Jim to "Drive Fast"! The contractions were now regular and less than 5 minutes apart and hurt! I was beating the car dash, spinning around in my car seat to try and find a comfortable position and in pain. Sitting in a car seat is not the optimal laboring experience.

Jim's experience driving police cars fast came into great use. We did the rest of the drive going 100+ mph. Seeing deer on the edge of the road added an extra layer of fear for myself. Jim did an amazing job remaining calm, holding my hand, rubbing my lower back, breathing with me, all while maintaining the car at a very fast speed.

We called the hospital when we reached Downs, about 30 minutes from hospital, and warned them that we were almost there and that the contractions were now only about 2 minutes apart and very intense.

When we pulled up to the hospital, the nurses met us in the parking lot. They instructed me that I wasn't allowed to have the baby in the parking lot and that we had to make it into the delivery room. It took everything I had to get out of the car and into the wheelchair. I told them that I wanted to be checked and then given drugs.

I stripped off my clothes as quickly as possible and got on the hospital gown. They checked me and I was 5 cm. At that point, my legs started shaking. They tried to start an IV but had trouble. They checked me again and I was at 8 cm dilated. They called the doctor in and went back to trying to get the IV started. They told me that they had to have a bag of fluids in me before they could contact the anesthesiologist for an epidural. They finally got the IV in after multiple attempts, which were actually a welcome distraction from the contractions, and started pumping it to try and rush the fluids so that I could get drugs.

The doctor arrived about 20 minutes after my arrival and check me for progress. I was at a 10 and ready to push. Then the bad news, there wasn't time for pain relief. I kept telling them that this wasn't my plan! Didn't they know that I'm a planner and I hate when things go off course? I had no intention of having a baby drug free!

Soon, I was pushing and holy heck did it burn! I cussed, accused the nurses of "not helping me" and was slightly panicking. (There was a student observing in the room and I made her cry. I guess she wasn't prepared for the screams of pain that I was dishing out...oops.) Jim, of course, remained calm throughout everything. He did a great job of helping me to focus and breath. The doctor reminded me that the better I pushed, the faster the pain would be over. After that, I got down to business and focused.

Ella was born, after three pushes, at 12:50 am on May 16th. I was at the hospital less than an hour when she made her appearance. Thank goodness the labor and delivery went so quickly! I can't imagine doing a natural childbirth through a long labor and delivery.

The student observing took this picture immediately after birth.
We look exhausted, but we were so happy!

I can't believe how quickly the pain was over after the delivery and how different the recovery was in comparison to Ethan's birth. I felt like Wonder Woman having given birth naturally. It was painful and it terrified me, but, in hindsight, it was amazing. The recovery difference was so worth the extra pain during delivery. That pain is temporary and then you feel so much better after the delivery! No spinal headache, no back pain from the epidural, no drugged out baby, etc. If we have another child, I will opt for a natural birth plan.

My parents brought Ethan to meet his little sister later that morning. One of the happiest moments of my life!

We immediately fell in love with our little girl. She is a welcomed addition to our little family.

Baby Knowles is a...

 GIRL!

We found out right before my birthday that we are expecting a little girl.

I had no instinct as to what gender the baby may be. The pregnancy has been very different from Ethan's, but I felt our family history of all boys probably outweighed everything else. Some of the different symptoms with this little girl have been breakouts, all day nausea, throwing up, and just feeling icky/sick most of the time. With my boy, my skin never looked better, I threw up occasionally but didn't feel sick, and I loved being pregnant. I finally started feeling better at around 22 weeks this time around. Now pregnancy is getting to be a little bit more fun and enjoyable.

With Ethan, my biggest cravings were Sour Patch Kids, Sugar Babies, and Ketchup/Mayo combo on hamburgers or french fries. This time I'm loving lemon anything, donuts and pastries. There is a lemon danish at our local bakery that I could eat every.single.day.

When the ultrasound tech told us we were expecting a girl, Jim and I couldn't stop giggling. The giggling and disbelief lasted for a couple of days. We have nephews on both sides of our family, but no little girls, so we figured we were destined to have boys. This will be the first granddaughter for both sets of our parents. We have a feeling this little one will have her grandpa's wrapped around her fingers.

Right now, I'm overwhelmed at all the things I need to learn about with a little girl. Like what the heck is a "ruffle butt" or "baby legs" and do I need them? Baby trends have changed a lot since Ethan was born and I feel like I'm starting over from scratch. As far as baby gear, we'll reuse Ethan's baby furniture, but will obviously need to get a new wardrobe for little Miss. Knowles. We'll also need to replace our car seat and travel system since they have long expired since Ethan was a baby. That's what we get for having so many years between our little ones. Oh well...looking at the bright side of good excuses to shop. And, of course, little girl items are so cute!

Thanksgiving Family Pictures & Recap

I loved Thanksgiving this year! I had an excuse to eat for two and wore elastic waist pants with no shame. I may wear elastic waist pants every year, pregnant or not, going forward. 

When we arrived at my parent's home for dinner, I grabbed my nephew and made him take some quick pictures of my little family in the backyard. I can't remember the last time we had a picture with all three of us in it at the same time. (Actually, I guess it's all four of us ---> check out that baby bump below.)

For being quick pictures taken on my cheap camera by a 16 year old, I think they turned out great!

During the day, I spent lots of time in the kitchen preparing for the big meal. I made dinner rolls, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, a relish tray, and sweet potato gratin. 

I made Bobby Flay's Sweet Potato Chipotle Gratin by popular demand. The recipe only has three ingredients but has such a depth of flavor and has a "wow" factor presentation. The recipe is from my Mesa Grill cookbook by Bobby Flay but you can find the recipe online on Food Network.

I tried a new recipe for dessert this year. It was also from Food Network and is Sunny Anderson's Hazelnut Pumpkin Pie. The pie had a very creamy texture that was a mix between cheesecake and traditional pumpkin pie. I found the recipe on Pinterest and am so glad that I tried it even though I'm not a huge fan of hazelnut. Several people commented to me that it was the best pumpkin pie they had ever tasted. It will likely become my go-to recipe for pumpkin pie in the future.

Food photos from foodnetwork.com. I was so busy running around on Thanksgiving that I completely forgot to take any pictures.

Baby #2 is on its' way!

Thanksgiving day seems like the perfect day to say that Baby Knowles is coming in May. Yep, the turkey isn't the only thing in the oven today.

We are so thankful for this addition to our family. I shared my struggles with infertility and being diagnosed with PCOS back in this post but will share some more information below since it's something a lot of people have had questions about. It's been a long journey, but I am now in my fourth month and ready to share with the world. If you aren't interested in all the talk about infertility treatments, and I don't blame you one bit, you can skip ahead to the pregnancy section below.

Fertility Treatments

(Please remember, this is just what I did and what worked for me. I'm not recommending this regimen or medication to anyone. My only advice would be to find a reproductive endocrinologist that you are comfortable with and that takes the time to listen to you and devises a plan that is customized to your specific goals and how far you are willing to go during treatment.)

We have been trying for a second child for about three years. Within those years, we have taken some breaks while dealing with career changes, emotional drain and other events that arise in a family that required our focus and energy.

My first step in seeking medical treatment was to see my regular OB in Hays. I was prescribed a drug called Clomid that is supposed to make your body ovulate. Due to my PCOS, I do not ovulate regularly, if at all. Unfortunately, my body did not respond to the Clomid. After trying various dose strengths, it was clear this drug was not working for me.

I was referred to the Center of Reproductive Medicine in Wichita, KS. This clinic is wonderful and I couldn't recommend Dr. Tjaden and his support staff more. His nurses took amazing care of me. However, going to Wichita was a draining experience. Wichita is about a four hour drive from Phillipsburg. With all the monitoring that needs to be done under fertility treatments, and at short notice, I was sometimes making the drive back and forth from Wichita every other day. Often my appointments would have to be first thing in the morning, which meant the additional expense of hotel accommodations on top of the gas, meals, etc.  Our insurance also didn't cover any fertility testing or treatments, so all appointments, lab work, ultrasounds, medications, etc. were out of pocket. It's impossible to put a price on the blessing of a baby, but boy, the price of getting pregnant with this one is staggering.

Under the care of the Center of Reproductive Medicine, we finally were able to find a combination of medications that worked for me and that my body responded to. It took a lot of different testing, trials and errors to find the right combination and regime and it wasn't a quick or easy process.

I took a drug called Femara, which is similar to Clomid, and is designed to make your body gear up to ovulate.

After about a week on the Femara, I started injections of Gonal-F. I had to give myself the injections into my stomach every night. During this entire time, I was being monitored in Wichita every other day with internal ultrasounds to see how many follicles were developing in my ovaries and how many looked like they would mature and release. I didn't want to become the next Octo-Mom!

Once I had enough mature follicles within the preferred size range, I took an injection of a medication called Ovidrel that would force my ovaries to release the mature egg(s). After the final injection, I took Prometrium during the two week wait to help optimize the conditions of my body for hopeful implantation.

I was very excited when test day came and I got a positive pregnancy test. After several years and too many negative tests to count, seeing a positive was almost unbelievable. I thought about telling Jim in some creative way, but I couldn't keep it a secret the moment I saw him. 

Pregnancy

This is from my first ultrasound, taken at 6 weeks. Doesn't it look like a profile of a gummy bear?

Morning sickness, or all day sickness, and exhaustion took their toll during the first trimester. I was actually in the hospital for dehydration at one point because I just couldn't keep anything down. I was also traveling all over the place for work during this time, like my trip to Savannah, and I'm sure I was a walking zombie during a lot of that time.

Glamourous bathroom self portrait of my belly at 8 weeks. A little bloat making its' appearance. 

We told Ethan he was going to be a big brother the day before Halloween. We waited to tell him until we felt we were in the clear and ready for everyone to know. We purchased the books below and explained to him that we bought them to help teach him about the new baby and that he was going to be a big brother.

 

 Ethan is very excited about being a big brother and is currently hoping it is a little sister.

Halloween Day

The second trimester brought with it more energy and less constant nausea and throwing up. I still get sick occasionally in the evenings, but nothing to complain about.  Here's a picture of my bump from yesterday in my office. 

I can't believe how much quicker I am showing the second time around - crazy!

Again, I have so much to be thankful for today. Plus, I get to wear elastic pants and have an excuse to "eat for two" today. Pass the pumpkin pie!

Chocolate Cream Pie

The other day, on Facebook, I updated my status that I was craving a piece of my Aunt Libby's famous cream pies.

Soon, many people from my family were chiming in with their own desire to also have a piece of her cream pie.

My cousin, Jonathan, who is my Aunt Libby's son, responded to my craving post by posting a picture of the pie Aunt Libby had made for him that day. What a jerk tease! 

The craving did not go away and I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands since driving 10 hours to visit my Aunt Libby wasn't going to happen anytime in the near future. I decided to make my first ever cream pie.

I found this recipe for "Grandma's Chocolate Pie" by the Homesick Texan and it looked like a winner. (I also used the crust recipe that is linked from this post.)

I was surprised at how easy the crust was to make and how quickly it all came together. I usually shy away from pies because the crust intimidates me but this helped build my confidence a bit. 

It was delicious! I happily shared some with my Dad, who is just as big of cream pie fan as I am.

Funny Side Story: 

When I was probably about 5 years old, my Aunt Libby hosted Thanksgiving at her home. The adults all sat in the formal dining room and us cousins sat in the kitchen at the breakfast nook. The counter was lined up with all kinds of various pies - pumpkin, pecan, apple and various cream pies. My family takes dessert very seriously. While the adults were in the other room eating their main course, I ate the very center out of every pie with my fingers. I wanted to see what kind they were.

I'm pretty sure that I would be tempted to do the same thing today.

Summer Vacation to Red Feather Lakes, CO

We went back to Red Feather Lakes, CO to where my Aunt and Uncle own a lake front cabin for our summer vacation.


Our first day of vacation, we stayed the day in Denver and went to the Denver Zoo.

While up in the mountains, we enjoyed numerous, long hikes.

We saw signs of wildlife, like these antler rubbings from moose, and came across a few deer and smaller animals.

But the wildest creature we came across was Dexter. He is a true mountain dog at heart!

Rock climbing was a favorite activity of Ethan and my nephew, Austin. (We were excited to bring my 15 year old nephew with us this year. We also had both sets of Grandparents along for a portion of the trip.)

As always, the scenery of breath-taking. We were even blessed to experience a double rainbow over the lake.

We tried our hand at fishing one day.

And horse back ridding another. A first time riding horses for both Ethan and Austin.

We enjoyed spending quality time with family...

Spending lots of time outdoors...

Laughing and having fun...

And...I even managed some relaxation time.

 



Bliss!

Bolder Boulder 10k Race Recap

In December of 2010, I went to Colorado to a Mason cousins Christmas gathering. We enjoyed shopping, eating, exchanging White Elephant gifts, drinking margaritas and catching up with each other.

Sometime during the consumption of those margaritas, we all agreed that it would be a fabulous idea to run a 10k together in the spring. In December, that seemed like plenty of time to train and prepare. No matter that I hadn't ran in years and had no routine or consistency when it came to working out.

Before I knew it, spring was just around the corner and I still hadn't been running with any consistency. Occasionally I would hop on the treadmill for intervals of walking and jogging but nothing too strenuous.

In March, I decided it was finally time to get my butt in gear and to start running regularly and started jogging three times per week following the Couch to 5k program. Come May, I could jog 4 miles without stopping.

Memorial Day weekend came quickly and I headed for Colorado to participate in the Bolder Boulder 10k event. I was very worried about the altitude and hills and how those would affect me but knew that I would have fun running with family and could walk anytime I needed.

There were over 60,000 participants in this race. I started in the "N" waves. The first waves started at about 7 a.m. and my wave didn't start until 10 a.m.

Before taking our place in the gate, we hit up the porta potties.

 

My cousin Jennifer who was the ring leader for getting all of us together.

And we are off...I am in the blue shirt behind the number "2" of the watermark in the picture.

The first stretch of the race. Perfect running weather - 60 degrees and cloudy with very little wind. A few rain drops fell during the race but the nasty weather waited to hit until later in the afternoon.

The woman in the pink shirt is Ginger, a friend of my cousins that ran with us. She had just completed a marathon earlier that month. She was a pleasure to meet and really fun to run with. We started with a nice, relaxed pace and just had fun taking in the sights and sounds. Lots of bands playing, belly dancers, people handing out beer shots, stilt walker, the works!

 

My self portrait that I took during mile 3 of the race. Sorry it's so blurry but you try taking a picture while huffing and puffing and bouncing up and down.

This picture was taken by the race photographers. Apparently, I'm a cheese ball even while running.

Another photo from the race photographers. Still cheesy and smiling.

Coming up the hill that leads to the University of Colorado's football stadium. (Another blurry shot courtesy of my running photography skills.)

Finally made it inside the stadium! Final push for a lap around the track to the finish line. See how full the stands are? It made me feel like kind of a big deal. ;)

At the finish line. Why do the other two look so fresh and I'm all red faced and sweaty??

Celebrating our conquering of the Bolder Boulder. 6.2 miles and my finish time was 1.06. A nice, easy run. Proud that we ran the whole thing without walking and taking time for pictures along the way and enjoying each other and the atmosphere.

Following the race, we visited the expo and then went back into the stadium to watch the International, professional runners. Then I enjoyed the Memorial Day service very much. They had parachuters representing each of the armed forces and one for the American flag that landed on the field, lots of patriotic music and honoring of a few veterans.

The Mason cousins that participated in the 10k. Jennifer, myself, Jonathan and Becky. (Jonathan ran in the elite group and placed 2nd for his age division. He represented us well!)

 

I enjoyed the event more than I ever thought I would and it reminded me of the runner's high that comes from completing a race. Maybe I'll sign up for a few more...

I'm already thinking it would be fun to make this a tradition and do it again next year. I love that we were able to bond over a healthy and physical activity. I think this type of event is a great example for the generation coming up behind us.