The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

Today was our first visit to the pediatrician. We go to a little clinic on 300 So. and 850 E. Aiden had only lost 2 ounces since he was born. He is already quite a hearty eater so I am not surprised. The check up went well, the doctor had no concerns and was pleased with all the things that she checked. This is good news because on Monday night we had a little scare. As of 4:30 Tuesday morning Aiden had only had 2 wet diapers total since his was born. (By this point an infant should have had 6, one on day 1, 2 on day 2, and 3 on day 3.) This was a bit worrysome to my mom and I, and Aiden was pretty upset and I was unable to calm him. I can not begin to tell you how blessed that I am that I was able to go into my room, wake my sleeping husband and ask him to give our newborn son a blessing. The priesthood is an indispensable and amazing power to have at our disposal. Anyway, the blessing brought about a miracle and little Aiden has been having plenty of wet and poopy diapers ever since. Hooray! I sure do love my little family. 🙂

For those of you who are curious I thought that I would let everyone know how labor and delivery went. We went into the hospital Friday morning at 7:20 a.m. and was dialated to a 4 and 80-85% effaced when they checked me in. The nurses started the pitocin drip at 8:39 and were feeling optimistic that I would deliver late afternoon/early evening. When the doctor came in he was equally as optimistic and this gave me a bit of optimism as well. My doctor then went to clinicals from 9-12 and came back at 12:30 to break the amniotic sac. Just prior to that I had the anesthesiologist come and give me the epidural. (I had been given the advice to have the epidural before having my water broken because the contractions tend to really kick in after that.) It took the doctor a few minutes to break the sac because the membranes were really thick.

By 2:30 or so I was dialated to 6 cm, 95% effaced and the baby was at a zero station. I had been told earlier in the day that it should take about an hour per centimeter of dialation so I thought I would possibly deliver between 6:30 and 8:00 p.m. Well, around 5:00 the nurses noticed that my contractions were starting to do strange things (I had been given an internal monitor by this point) and decided to turn the pitocin off to see if they would regulate themselves and also to reset the receptors in my body. I had also not dialated or effaced anymore and they started tossing around the words “cesarean section delivery.” This for me was metaphorically the “crap hitting the fan” and I had Brandon give me a blessing, I also started to pray and I am sure that many others did as well. There were no changes during the 5:00 hour and they restarted the pitocin around 6. By 7 there will still no changes and the doctor was coming back in to deliver some twins by c-section. He came in about 7:30 and checked me. I was dialated to 8 cm and 95% effaced! Hooray! It was a relief after 4 intense hours of worrying that I might need to go have a c-section. The doctor also mentioned that Aiden was turned and looking to the left instead of at the floor

At that point the doctor left to go deliver the twins and my new nurse suggested that I try laying on one side and then the other to encourage Aiden to roll and face the direction he needed to. At 8:20 or so they decided to check me again and much to my astonishment and disbelief they said that I was completely dialated and 100% effaced! They even got a 2nd and 3rd opinion just to be sure. Aiden was also at a +1 station and I was starting to have intestinal pressure that they assured me was the baby descending the birth canal. So, they called the doctor to see if I could start pushing and since Aiden had been having variable heartbeats during my contractions (causing me to be put on oxygen) he said that I should wait to push. Luckily the oxygen regulated Aiden’s heart beat. Well, when they told me I had to wait to push I was like, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” The catheter had been bugging me ALL DAY, and needless to say the epidural did not help one bit. It was not helping the pressure that I was feeling either. The two things it needed to ease it didn’t. I had also been watching my contractions all day and they were very shallow contractions, contractions that had I been willing I probably could have braved my way through.

Anyway at 9:05 the nurses received the go ahead to start having me push and the doctor came in about 10 mins. later. Fifty minutes after that I had a handsome baby boy layed on my tummy for a brief moment before they took him to clean him up and clean amniotic fluid out of his mouth and belly. So there you are. (Oh and when he was stitching me up I could feel most of it, meaning the epidural wasn’t effectively blocking that either. Geez!)

Needless to say I think that next time I will try really hard to be patient enough for my little one to start labor on it’s own. I also think that I will try going without an epidural, but will request a local anesthetic in the event that I need stitches again.

The status report is that we are at home now. I am still very low on sleep and will be on pain meds for a few days. Aiden passed all of his tests at the hospital but has been spitting up his food a bit and it took 3 attempts for the nursery nurses to finally get all of the amniotic fluid out of his tummy (he was gagging on it because it was unusually thick). Brandon couldn’t be a more proud papa (and I love the gentle way he interacts with Aiden). So there you are. You will never know the love that you will feel when you become a parent. I can not believe the love that fills my heart for my little boy.

Lastly, a word of advice to all you future moms. The nurses (any and all of them) make or break your labor and delivery or hospital stay. If you do not like a nurse, it is your right to send them away and request a new one. Don’t by shy or hesitant to do so. I was lucky enough to have wonderful nurses until just before we left. Had we been there much longer I would have requested a new nurse for Aiden. She was just a bit gruff. Anyway I better go snuggle my sleeping little boy. 🙂

Well, tomorrow is the big day. At some point tomorrow (or in the wee hours of Saturday morning) I will officially become a mom. It is all still somewhat surreal to me, I mean me? A mom? I have been praying and hoping for this moment for years, since even before I found my sweet husband (knowing of course that I would need to first meet and marry my true love). The 17ish months that it took to finally have a successful pregnancy were long and heartbreaking and I began to wonder if I would ever be a mom in this life. Then the miracle came and June 11th I found out that I would indeed be a mom because I was officially pregnant! You would not imagine the relief I felt to have finally been blessed to have a healthy pregnancy.

I really have been blessed throughout the entirety of my pregnancy, I had minimal morning sickness (only 2 or 3 episodes), and minimal nausea. I have had heartburn pretty much the entire time, gestational carpal tunnel, frequent use of the restroom (I doubt this surprises anyone) and swelling in my feet and legs. It has also been hard to sleep at night but even then I have managed to get enough for my needs. Lastly, Aiden has been a good boy and has not kicked me in my ribs, he has however been putting his little foot right up between my ribs and the placenta and pushing outward with all his might, causing a little tender spot every now and then. I only hope that all of the blessings of my pregnancy continue to hold out through labor and delivery. Part of me is afraid that my good fortune will run out and that everything that could go wrong, will. Brandon doesn’t think so, and so I am leaning on him for support.

As for becoming a mom my most recent thoughts are those of, is this really happening? If so, how can it be? In some ways I still feel newly graduated from high school or college. I don’t know that I can accurately express my thoughts or feelings about it, but each time I am about to enter a different phase of my life, a different scene in the play of life, I look at the phases/scenes behind me and wonder if they are really finished, did I do all that I was supposed to and say all of my lines correctly so that I would be more fully prepared for what I was about to encounter. In a way I still feel like that 16 year old girl trying to fit in.

On the other hand, I have been groomed for this moment my entire life. I have always been good with kids (meaning they have always seemed to gravitate towards me). I have worked with various age groups in child care (the most recent being infants 3-12 months old), and have helped my friends with their kids through out the years. I have even held a church calling in the nursery with toddlers 18 months to 3 years old. After all of that, and reading a few parenting books, including Dr. Spock, I have very little to worry about. Not to mention that when you become a mother there is an instinct that kicks in and kind of guides you through the times that you could never be prepared for.

So, as I stand on the edge of the cliff that is motherhood wondering if I have done all that I can to prepare, if I can remember all that I have learned, and if I truly have the strength within myself for this eternity long responsibility. It is all that I can do to trust that my husband, and family will provide me with the support (advice, tips, and comfort) that I need and that Heavenly Father will be my constant companion providing guidance, inspiration, and answers to my prayers. I can also recall that when I have entered new phases/scenes in the past that it hasn’t taken long for me to get used to my new surroundings. Remembering those things I can now cinch up my parachute, (finish up any last minute things to prepare the house for Aiden’s arrival) and step up to the edge up the cliff hand in hand with my husband. We will keep everyone posted and continue to provide updates and pictures on the website. Off we go…

     Hey!  I won’t even begin to try and remember all the things that we have done in the last two weeks.  Most of the time Brandon is looking for jobs or doing homework.  I just kind of kick it around the apartment and do various projects or dishes and laundry.  Brandon is really enjoying school and is excited and already preparing for a filming project that is coming up in his intro. to visual media class.  He also dreamed up a new project and yesterday we went and he bought some acrylic so that he can make a clapper board.  He is also looking forward to the possibility of going skiing during the ski free times.  He has held off so that he is not up the canyon and unavailable by cell in the event I were to go into labor. 

     This weekend we watched Pres. Hinckley’s funeral on television.  It was a nice tribute to an amazing man.  Sunday evening was Ferguson Family night at my cousin Josh’s and it was fun to see my extended family.  Yesterday I got our taxes filed and Brandon’s FAFSA filled out.  Hooray! 

     Lastly, if Aiden is not born by Friday I will be induced.  I have 3 more days of pregnancy!  Woo hoo!  Well, I guess that is all, until next time…

I had another prenatal appointment today. I was dialated to 3 cm. and still just 85% effaced. My fundal height has now officially reached 40 cm. Last week the doctor told us that he would be out of town during Aiden’s due date and that we could schedule to be induced, so we made the appointment today. For those of you who are curious I am scheduled to go into labor and delivery on Friday February 8th to be induced. This is fine and well and is nice because there is an official and ultimate end in sight, but for Brandon and I we would really prefer that Aiden makes the decision to travel down the birth canal and into our arms of his own free will before next friday comes along and would appreciate any prayers offered on Aiden’s behalf. We will continue to keep everyone posted in the event that Aiden does arrive sooner. But in my excitement I would like to end by saying 8 days and counting until our little boy joins our family!

This evening the beloved prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints passed away surrounded by family.  News reports state that his passing was due to complications of old age.  I find comfort in knowing that he was preceeded in death by his lovely wife Majorie Hinckley and that their reunion in Heaven was nothing less then a joyous event.  Ever since my return into full activity of the church in 1999 the only face I have ever known as “the face of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” has been that of the kind and wise President Hinckley.  I have grown to love and trust him and am sad to see him go, but I trust that the next prophet of the church will become as beloved as Pres. Hinckley was and will bring his own unique personality to the calling.  Brandon also feels a sense of loss and he remarked, “it seemed that he would be a permanent fixture of the church.”  Which leads him to have a sense of disbelief about the loss.

Okay, alright, I was hoping that my next entry would be annoucing to the world that Aiden had arrived and that is why I didn’t write an update after my last prenatal visit. He has not yet arrived so I thought it would be a good idea to write.

As of Thursday I was dialated to 2 1/2 cm and 85% effaced. My fundal height was 39 cm. The doctor also explained that he will be at a conference in Park City Feb. 11, 12, & 13 and that if we wanted to be sure that it would be him delivering our baby then we can arrange to be induced Friday Feb. 8th if Aiden makes it that long. We plan to make an appointment for induction on Feb. 8 this week just in case. The doctor said it would be easier to cancel the appointment then it would be to squeeze us in.

So there you have the latest baby news. We promise to spread the word once Aiden arrives. Until next time…

     For those of you who enjoyed 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight’s Tale, or The Brother’s Grimm and look forward to the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight, it is sad to note that Health Ledger was found dead in his New York home earlier today.  Reports say that he was found on his bed with an open bottle of sleeping pills nearby.  I have always felt that Heath Ledger was a talented actor and am slightly saddened by his passing.  Though Brandon is greatly saddened at the early loss of such a talented actor, he is grateful that “The Dark Knight” is in post production. 😉

Well, our most major news this week is that yesterday I had another allergic reaction.  We went to a luncheon at our bishops home and after filling my plate I grabbed what looked to be a harmless chocolate chip cookie.  I ate my food periodically smelling the chocolate chip cookie to make sure it smelled normal…even my mom’s chocolate chip cookies (which she carefully bakes so that I can eat them) for some reason have a faint hint of peanut smell so I deemed the cookie to smell ok.  Nevertheless, it was the very last thing I ate.  (In hindsight I think Heavenly Father might have been trying to warn me not to eat it, I NEVER smell cookies that many times before finally eating them.)  Anyway, I ate probably oh, 2-3 bites of the cookie (thank goodness I didn’t eat all of it) and started to feel the familiar tingling in the throat and swelling of the lips.  I was somewhat baffled as to why I was reacting to what I thought was a regular chocolate chip cookie but since the cookies were all home baked I chalked it up to the fact that maybe they had been baked on the same pan as the nutty cookies and the oils had mixed.  Anyway, I asked Brandon and the bishop to give me a blessing and Brandon and I drove home so that I could take a loratadine (which is an antihistamine) and I brushed my teeth, gargled some mouthwash and ate a couple otter pops before we headed toward Desert Star to go and see a play.  Well, on the way to the show I started to feel bad again, my mouth and throat felt ok but I started to itch and my esophagus was burning.  Upon parking at the theatre I tossed my cookies.  So I sent Brandon in to see what he could arrange for seeing the show another time and decided that we should head home so that I could try and recover from my allergy.  Well, I was really thirsty so we stopped and bought a sprite at 7-11 and I used the restroom.  Well, as we passed 3300 south on state street and my breathing became increasingly restricted, I decided that we had better go to the emergency room at St. Mark’s.  We got there and Brandon dropped me off at the door while he parked the car.  I went in and explained what was happening and within just a few minutes I was in a room being attended to.  They took some blood and then gave me some steroids and a dose of epinephrine.  You would not believe the shock of each nurse and the doctor as I explained that I am allergic to Benedryl and that the reaction I have when I am given Benedryl is anaphylatic shock.  Because that is generally what they give patients having an allergic reaction it just baffled them extensively.  I have decided that I need to type up a little card that I can give a doctor in the event that I can not talk so that they don’t give me Benedryl to help me.  That could potentially be fatal.  They also gave me a dose of breathing treatment on the nebulizer.  That took me back to my childhood, and was actually oddly comforting.  After all of that they monitored me for another hour or so before sending me to labor and deliver to have Aiden monitored to make sure that all was well.  When E.R. discharged me they sent me with a prescription for an Epipen, prednisol, and pepcid to prevent another reaction to that same nut.  They told me that sometimes there can still be bits of nut that haven’t come out yet, or just the memory of the nut and that those can cause a second reaction with 10-12 hours of the first.  Needless to say they took very good care of me.

In labor and delivery they hooked me up to the monitor that measures Aiden’s heartbeats and my contractions.  After what was probably 45 mins. the nurse came in and asked if I was feeling the contractions that I had been having.  I said no.  She asked if Aiden had been moving and I told her he had, then she explained that Aiden’s heart beat was a little high (185 b.p.m) and that my contractions were probably due to my being dehydrated.  She said that she had spoken to my obgyn and that because Aiden’s heartbeat was so high they wanted to monitor me a bit longer and also put an I.V. in me to give me some liquids to see if the contractions would even out and spread apart.  So we stayed another hour or so and I watched as Aiden’s heartbeat gradually went back down to normal and as my contractions spread out and became less intense.  At 8:00 or so they said that baby is doing good and we were given the all clear to go home.  Brandon brought the car around and the nurse wheeled me out.  It was a good dry run for labor in a few weeks.  We were there 5-6 hours and I didn’t get to eat anything (I did have two tiny apple juices to help with dehydration), we also didn’t have much to do.  I got to watch t.v. in the E.R. and I started a movie on Brandon’s Ipod in the labor and delivery triage room.  As for the cause of the allergy, we found out today at church that there had been walnuts in the cookie.  Bad walnuts!

As for the rest of the week, Brandon worked 4 1/2 at a temp. job this week and applied at what felt like a gazillion places.  Still no interviews but he plans to contact people tomorrow to follow up on the jobs he applied for.  He has also been enjoying school.

Friday night we invited some friends over because Brandon wanted to make sushi with them.  I of course knew from the beginning that I would be eating something else, but did taste a cucumber and rice roll (I removed the seaweed from it because it smelled terrible).  Brandon also made some chicken and rice asian stir fry which was good, I ate around the things I didn’t like and the seasoning was tasty.  As always his friends were good company and the time passed by too quickly.

Well, that is all for this week.  I promise not to have another emergency room visit in the near or distant future.  The next time I am admitted into the hospital will be to deliver a little baby boy into the world!  🙂  We will keep you posted!

So, for those of you who are curious, I went in for my prenatal visit today. This was the first visit at which the doctor checked my cervix, it was also at this visit that the strep b culture was done. I will not get the strep b culture results back until next week sometime but for those of you who are dying to know, I am dialated to 1 1/2 centimeters and I am 70% effaced. I am also measuring at a fundal height of 38 1/2. The doctor said that this is no indicator of when I will go into labor, but he has now given me the go ahead to go into labor whenever Aiden feels like it. It could be days or still a couple of weeks before he comes. Anyway, how exciting. My life will be drastically different before I know it. I plan to hibernate until the weather warms up permanently (to reduce the chance of Aiden getting RSV) but am SOOOO excited for spring and summer. He and I will go on walks, and enjoy the sunshine. Once he can sit up he will get to play in his tiny pool (with me close by to keep him safe). It will all be so much fun.

A few bits of information that you all should know prior to Aiden’s birth. First of all, I will have visiting hours (both at the hospital and once I return home) for the first few weeks while I adjust to nursing and having no sleep. They will likely be 2:30-6:30 but Brandon and I will keep people posted about the exact times and if I am nursing you will probably have to wait for me to finish. Secondly, Aiden’s baby blessing is tentatively scheduled for May 4th. (Tentatively meaning that I still have to confirm with the bishop) We are doing it so far away because March seemed too soon, April is conference and we didn’t know for sure which Sunday would be fast Sunday, and the next choice was May. Well, there you have it! Stay warm!