Speaking of Easter....

Okay, maybe we're not speaking of Easter, but I was going through some files on my computer this morning and found this picture.

I think it was taken at Easter, just a few years ago. Okay, maybe it was actually taken in like 1982 or so, but the point is that I look a lot different now. So does my brother for that matter. I never realized he had such big ears. That's definitely thanks to my dad's side of the family.
I sure do think Asher looks like my brother - perhaps even more than he looks like Steve or myself.

Update in Pictures

If you can't tell, having 2 kids has pretty much meant the end of any consistency to the ol' blog. Life is just to busy. Here's what we've been been up to these last few weeks.

Goats have made acquaintance

Pumpkins have been carved

Skin has been inked

Many baths have been taken due to the introduction of self feeding with a spoon. Things have become messy.

Babies have grown

Cows have "moo-ed"

Garden Gnomes have visited.........

And those are just the things that have been photographed. Steve has joined me in the "30's club", we went to perhaps the strangest wedding ever, Asher has discovered that the stairs are a lot of fun to climb and Atley is now a much, much happier baby. Oh joy!

That's it for now folks.

2 Weeks In....

We're now two weeks into navigating the waters as parents of 2 and boy is it difficult! I tend to be one of those people that like to imagine the very worst, so that I'm pleasantly surprised when things are actually better than I could have imagined. This time though, I guess I could have done a little bit more imagining, because it's actually been way harder than I thought it would be.

We weren't sure how to expect Asher to respond to a new baby since he is still so young and little himself. He has had such a hard adjustment though, and life with Atley is a piece of cake compared to life with our little sweet Asher. He seems to have adjusted a little better these past few days, but still, it's been rough. I just feel so bad for him when he throws these little tantrums, because I know he doesn't understand all this change. Poor little guy.

Atley is finally doing well! It's been such a struggle these past few weeks to get him to gain weight. At the lowest, he had lost 14% of his birth weight, so we've had him in the doctor every other day for weight checks since we left the hospital. As of Friday, he still had 4 ounces to gain to get back to his birth weight. The doctor was skeptical that we could do it over the weekend since he's had such a hard time gaining, but I think little Atley was  determined that he didn't want to go to the doctor so often anymore either and went on a binge! Literally, this kid was eating every 45 minutes to an hour. Talk about a tired momma! All of the eating paid off big time though and over the weekend he gained a whole 13 ounces! The doctor said that this is unheard of, as most babies gain half and ounce every day at most. We are so, so happy that we don't have to go to the doctor again for 2 whole weeks! Hopefully little Atley will keep the weight and continue to gain, although I wouldn't mind if the eating slowed down a little. Last night was the first night that the doctor said we didn't have to wake him to eat every 2 hours and it was so glorious! This kid likes to sleep at night just like us, and only woke up once for a feeding. It was SO nice! Hopefully he'll stick with this routine, but I'm not convinced yet.

Steve went back to work yesterday and I missed him SO much! He has been such a great help since we came home from the hospital and pretty much has taken care of Asher completely on his own. I thought I would freak out about being home with both boys on my own yesterday, but I could definitely feel God's grace. We even managed to take a nice long walk, hang out with the neighbors and I took both boys with when we went to the doctor, although that part of the day was a challenge when I had to wake Asher up from his nap to drag him along with.


Here's some pics of our cute guys taken in the last week

He loves going to the park to swing!

Asher got to sit on Chris' motorcycle, he wasn't so sure what he thought of it!

Love, love, love my three guys!

My littlest cutie!

Asher loves taking walks in our enormous new double stroller

Introducing Atley Clyde

Our little guy has finally arrived, and I'm so happy to report that for the first time in what feels like forever I am no longer pregnant! Woo-hoo!

Atley Clyde was born on Friday morning at 9:50 am weighing 8 lbs. 3 oz. All went well, except for the doctors shoes got soaked and ruined during the surgery due to the extra massive amount of amniotic fluid that went gushing all over the table and floor in the operating room when my water broke. Funny stuff. This kid looks just like his big brother did when he was a newborn. It's really cute! We sure do know how to make hairy babies!

We're still in the hospital now. Going on day 5, so as you can imagine we're pretty stir crazy. At the last weight check Atley had lost 12% of his birth weight and had elevated bilirubin levels, so we're hoping all is better today and we can go home. Either way, I will be discharged later this afternoon, so we're just praying that we won't have to go home and leave the baby here. I'm feeling pretty optimistic that things will look up and we'll all be leaving together though. I'm excited to start living life as a family of 4.

Asher's doing great and having so much fun with my mom. He still doesn't really have a clue about what's going on. He does seem pretty annoyed if he comes to visit us at the hospital and the baby starts crying though. It's funny to watch him get impatient and annoyed because someone other than him is crying.

Without further ado, here are some pics of our sweet little guy:

Meeting Atley for the first time

Asher meeting his little brother. He wasn't so sure what he thought of this invader.

Our first family photo!

Can you tell that I'm totally smitten with this kid?

Steve thinks he's okay to.

We're back! Actually, we've been back for a few days now, but I've just been trying (quite unsuccessfully) to catch up on life. We had such a great time visiting my family, but it's so, so good to be home. There's just something about traveling with a baby that makes life a lot more stressful. Maybe it's just our baby, but regardless,  we're ready to stay close to home for awhile.

We had such a great time visiting with family that we haven't seen in awhile. For most of them, it's been years. I still can't believe that so many of our out of state family made the trek to Montana to visit us while we were there. 

Our biggest priority for the trip was spending time with my 94 year old grandma. I really wanted her to meet Asher. The reality is that at her age, everytime we say goodbye I know in my heart it could be for the lat time. Unfortunately, my great aunt bobbie passed away just 2 weeks before we got to town, so it was a little sad not having her at our family functions.

Here's some of my favorite memories from our trip.....

Spending time with the Eisenharts and the Kavanaghs. I love these guys so much! I was so glad that Sam & Sara were able to make it up from Bozeman while we were in town. Can't wait to see the newest addition to the Kavy family in just a few weeks!

My mom soaked up every single second with Asher. It was nice for us, cause we got a break! We went out on dates and double dates with Andy & Mandie quite a few times while we were home after Asher went to bed and Mom was on babysitting duty. 

Asher hanging out with great grandma. He also got to meet his second cousin Allan  (named after my grandfather) who came to visit from Washington.

Funny picture - Andy & Mandie are trying to make Asher laugh, and grandma is blinking but it looks like she's sleeping. This is the best family picture we could muster up.

Asher absolutely LOVED his Uncle Andy and Auntie Mandie. They are going to make such great parents someday.

Our last day in Montana after all the hoards of  family had come and gone.  I still can't believe how much snow there was in the mountains. Hopefully it won't flood once it melts like has been predicted. My mom lives just 1/4 of a mile away from the big Flathead River, so it could mean very bad things for her.

__________________________________________________________________________________
So that was our trip. So great, but so tiring. Now it's time to get back into the swing of life here in Madison and prepare for this baby.  Just 7 weeks left. I have had no nesting instinct whatsoever thus far, so I'm trying to get my butt in gear and get ready for this little guy to join us. I felt so accomplished yesterday when I washed the newborn inserts for the carseat. I still have a long ways to go, but at least most of it will hopefully be easy stuff. I checked in with the doctor as soon as I got back into town and my levels of amniotic fluid hasn't really changed much in the last week, so that's actually a good thing. There's still way to much fluid there. but at least it's not growing so rapidly. I had understood when I talked to the doctor before I left that I would be going in for weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests, but I found out this week that I'll actually have to be going in twice a week from here on out unless things drastically improve. I've been super frustrated about this as it's not easy when I have Asher to care for, but really, whatever it takes to make sure our little guy is safe is worth every inconvenience to me.
That's it from our end!

The things we take for granted...

How is it possible to wake up every morning and think that some of life's problems just seem to big for God when you look at this view of His creation? I can't believe that for the first 18 years of my life this is what I woke up to every morning when I looked outside my moms living room window and was never really in awe. I guess it's true that you don't know what you have until it's gone.
For now, I'm enjoying the beauty of Montana, all the different little local coffee roasters that make some of the best coffee in the world, the perfect summertime weather and once in awhile a sip or two of Steve's beer from some of the great local breweries, but most of all I'm soaking up every single minute of spending time with my family.
Watching Asher interact with his 94 year old great grandma has provided us with priceless memories and having family come from California, Washington and Idaho just to meet the new addition to our family while we're in town has made us feel so loved. Yes, I may come from the most dysfunctional family ever, but the family members that we have that are "normal" are some of the best people I've ever known.
One more day and then it's back to reality. Have I mentioned lately just how badly I want to move to California to live closer to my brother? Well, this trip has sealed the deal. We have decided that one day this dream will be a reality - hopefully sooner rather than later. For now though, it's back to another day of breathing in fresh air while we're surrounded on all sides by beautiful mountains.

Easter

We had such a busy weekend. Steve's folks came for a visit and Asher was so excited to see them! The last time they saw him was when he was just 4 months old, so he's changed quite a bit. It was a good weekend. Steve was so, so wonderful to me. He knew that I wasn't feeling so hot, and also knows me well enough to know that when I'm feeling that way hospitality is not a strong point of mine. He took care of everything all weekend - cooking, cleaning and everything else imaginable. I felt like I was getting the royal treatment because I really didn't have to lift a finger all weekend. What an amazing husband I have, I really think I'm the luckiest girl alive!

We got Asher all decked out for Easter. We got to a casual jeans and t-shirt kind of church, but I had found this cute 3 piece suit on clearance at Macy's a couple of months back for just $4.00, so I couldn't resist to get him all dressed up! He looked so handsome! Good thing we have 2 weddings to go to in the next month, that suit is gonna be getting some wear!

 Steve's parents also brought him the highlight of his weekend....a wagon! It's all pimped out to, with seatbelts, trays (you know in case you need to color while you're being escorted around),cup holders and an awning. He LOVED riding around in it....and playing with the box it came in. :)

 We also spent some time at the park. Asher's new favorite past time is hanging out on the swings. It's so cute to hear him squeel with delight when we push him on the swing.

It was a good weekend, but we're all tired out. Asher especially. He's not used to having so much excitement and has been sleeping so great these last few days. Yesterday he didn't get up until 7:45.  We have a busy few days and weekend in front of us, and then things should slow down for a couple days again. We're all looking forward to that!

Yes, I'm really getting old.

It's crazy how once you hit 30 everything seems to go downhill. More and more, I've been feeling like an old fogey lately and last night my suspicions that I just couldn't party like I used to were confirmed.

My brother played a show in Los Angeles last night and it just so happened that this particular concert would be streaming live online (it was some kind of special event or something). The last time I saw my brother play live was probably 12 years ago when I went to California to visit him on a weekend that he had happened to have a gig, so I thought it would be fun to watch him last night. With the time difference though, by the time he finished up playing it was around 12:30 here. In other words, way to late for this old dog. This morning, as I was pouring my cup of coffee I realized two things:
1. I really am getting old! To old to stay up late, and so old that I don't really appreciate anything if its after the hours of 11 pm.
2. I really, really love my brother. There's not to many people that I would stay up so late for, but my brother happens to be one of them.

It's been awhile since I've seen my brother, so I'm hoping that soon we can all get together. Poor little Asher hasn't even met his Aunt and Uncle yet.

St. Louis Wedding Weekend!

We had a double-whammy for Halloween this year. We got to celebrate in St. Louis and Madison - so fun!

It was also the big wedding weekend and I was so happy to see one of my favorite people get married to a wonderful man. We're so happy for Nadia and Justin - they are just perfect for each other!

The wedding and reception both were gorgeous! Unfortunately, I didn't really take any pictures. Sommer got this one of Nadia and Asher though.

Doesn't she look gorgeous?!?! She was such a beautiful bride and it did my heart good to see her so happy at her wedding. There's just something so great about being able to rejoice with others. I find myself always crying at weddings - don't know why, but I'm always just so happy for the bride and groom that it makes me tear up.

It was also sooooo fun to be able to see some of our friends while we were in town. We got to take dinner to the Nathan and Jamie and it was so great to spend time with our dear friends. Jamie is such a trooper and I already deem her a super mom even though she hasn't had the baby yet because of how amazing she has been with being on complete bedrest. I can't imagine how difficult that must be, but she is still so positive and it's so challenging to me.

Also got to spend time with the ladies and it did my heart good.

Asher got to spend time with his favorite girl Amanda and that did his heart good!

All in all, it was a good trip. I don't think we'll be making it back to St. Louis for awhile though. It really is a pain traveling with kids and as much as we love seeing everyone it's just exhausting trying to balance our time when we come to town now that we have a baby. Truthfully, it kinda takes the fun out of it.

We miss everyone in St. Louis dearly, but our life is in Madison now and we're fine with that. We love going home to visit, but I think we've decided that our visits will be few and far in between now. We'll definitely plan a trip back next spring sometime to meet the newest little addition to Nathan and Jamie's family, but other than that we're sticking close to home.....at least for the next 3 weeks until Asher gets his first trip on an airplane! :)

I'll post some pictures of our cute little Halloween charmer tomorrow. As for now, it's back to catching up on life.

Job Offer: no pay, long hours, always on call. Benefits will last a lifetime!

Whenever Steve and I have some time to ourselves to sit down and talk I always seem to ask him the same question.....What are you learning in life?

In order to ask the question I feel like I need to be able to answer it myself.

So here goes with what I'm learning in life.

I'm learning that sometimes the little things are the most important. Things like spending quality time with my family and not over committing my time to things that are really non-essential.

I'm learning to think about what I'd like to call "the 5 year rule". Will it really matter in 5 years? If the answer is no, then I don't feel bad about letting things slide. I'm learning that this precious time with my constantly growing child is really what I'm called to right now.

So many times people spend their whole life looking for their calling. Guess what mine became the day I got pregnant? Caring for this child. I don't take for granted this tiny human being that God has graciously lent me. I know that raising this child to know and love Jesus and be good to and respect others has now become my calling and I don't take that lightly. I don't ever want to be the mom or wife that puts my family on the back burner, so for this season of life my calling is to my family and I embrace that with all of my heart. Sometimes I find myself feeling down because I feel somewhat insignificant. I struggle somedays with feeling like my whole life revolves around pumping, feeding the baby, changing diapers and folding laundry. Really though, I know there's so much more to it than that and I want to treasure every single moment that I have.

I can't even begin to count how many times my mom has told me that the most devastating moment of her life was when she first went back to work and had to take us kids to daycare after my dad left us. To this day, she still feels guilty that she had 2 more years at home with Andy than she did with me. At least once a week I get an email from her telling me how proud she is that I decided to take a leap of faith to quit my job in order to stay home with Asher. She said those few years she had home with us kids were the absolute best years of her life.

I may feel insignificant, but I know that God has called me to "just be a mom" in this season of life and ultimately that is the most important job I've ever had. I'm learning to focus on what's really important. This may be a lifelong lesson, but at least I'm learning as I go.

Asher's dedication

My Dad and Stepmom were here visiting from Montana last weekend, so while they were here we had Asher dedicated at church on Sunday. It was so special for us as a family to be able to make a commitment in front of both our church and our family to raise Asher to know and love Jesus and have our church family pray for us to do that.

Neither Steve nor I came from a healthy family dynamic, so we are so excited to be able to change our family tree in this respect. What an honor it is for both Steve and I to be able to be a part of changing our family for the generations to come! We know that raising kids is tough work and we're bound to mess up, but hopefully those mess ups will be with the little stuff that's not quite as important. More than anything we want Asher to grow up in a stable, safe environment that models the love of Jesus. We always want him to know that he's loved and supported no matter what.

We've got a big job ahead of us, but we are so grateful to God for this opportunity to be parents to this amazing child that we are so completely in love with!

Asher's First Trip to the Lou...

Asher made his first trip to St. Louis and was finally able to meet some of the most important people in our lives! So exciting! It was a busy and long few days. I've learned that traveling with a baby is not so fun. Not only was our car completely packed with all the stuff we had to bring, but just being in a new place with not a whole lot of familiarity was hard for the little guy.

We spent the majority of our time with Steve's parents, but managed to get a little time in with friends as well. It was sooo good to see everyone! This will be a post with lots and lots pictures!

Some of the highlights of our trip:

Taking Asher to the arch for the first time. We lived in St. Louis for 6 years and rarely went down to the arch - I even worked just 2 blocks away for 4 of those 6 years. It's kind of one of those things that once you've seen it the first time you don't really need to go back again. Anyway, so after not having been to the arch in a few years I was reminded of how just amazing it is. I just can't imagine all the thought and planning that went into constructing something so amazing.

He also got to meet Grandma Rodriguez for the first time and as expected all she wants to do is spoil him rotten! She's so excited to finally be a grandma! It's the moment she's been dreaming about (and all we've been hearing about) since Steve and I even started dating. I think she has more items for a baby in her house than we do!

I'll admit it was a bittersweet trip for me. Seeing our friends was so great, but it made me so, so sad that our little boy won't grow up surrounded by the people that matter the most to us. It's so sad to know that Asher won't get a chance to really get to know the people that know us best. I hate that our friends have, or are having kids and Asher won't grow up with them. Moving back to St. Louis is something that will most likely never, ever happen for us though, and I'm okay with that, just sometimes a little sad about all that we're missing out on.

We got to spend time with Nathan and Jamie (check out her cute little baby bump) and we are so, so excited for the addition that will be coming to their family in January....a little girl! We can't wait to meet the little beauty! It was so good see these guys and to be able to spend some time with Erica as well.

We also go to see Nadia and she was completely smitten with our little guy (who am I kidding, she's smitten with ANY baby). Next time we see Nadia it will be on her wedding day. We're so excited for her and Justin!

Thankfully, we were able to get together with Tim and Amanda for a quick visit before they left town for the weekend (coincidentally, they were coming up to Madison). Asher loved Amanda! It was cute to see him get all snugly and flirty with her! It was the first time I've ever seen him make it really obvious that he liked someone. I dressed Asher in his favorite neck time onesie that Amanda had made him and she stocked us up with some more that she had made for him! Prepare to see lots of pictures of Asher with cute polka dot neck tie onesies on in the upcoming weeks!

Asher also got to meet old man Freet while we were in town. I think it was the first time that I've ever seen Dan hold a baby, and he did pretty good. It was really cute to see him get so excited.

Last, but not least, I got to see one of my favorite people in the entire world. No matter what, a trip to St. Louis is never complete without seeing my amazing friend Missy. I so wish we would have had more time together, but I'm so grateful for the time we had and for her amazing margarita's that force me to pump and dump. Ha! Ha! Love you SO much, Bodum!

It was so good to see everyone! Now that we have a baby our trips to St. Louis will be a lot less frequent than they have been in the past year. It's just to difficult to plan and pack for the baby and I was surprised by how difficult it was for Asher to adjust to getting out of his normal routine. We are looking forward to heading back to town to see everyone in October for Nadia's wedding though!

Meeting Grandma....

My mom was here visiting last week and fell absolutely in love with Asher. I literally had to ask to hold him at times because she just couldn't get enough of her new grandson. It was so cute!

We had a good time! I loved being able to get some things done around the house while she held him and actually took a nice long shower without having to listen to the baby monitor the whole time. Just one of life's luxuries that I use to take for granted.

We took a pontoon boat ride on lake Mendota - Asher's first time on a boat! He looked so cute in the life jacket that was huge on him!

My mom had a good time, but was so sad to leave and cried like a baby when I dropped her off at the airport. Being a grandma for the first time has changed everything for her.

Meeting Grandpa...

Asher met Grandpa Rod for the first time yesterday. Steve's dad was in town just for a day for work, so we got to meet up for dinner and introduce him to his grandson. Never have I so quickly seen such a big guy turn into such a sappy teddy bear! Grandpa was absolutely enthralled with meeting his grandson for the first time, and it was so cute!

The grandparent mayhem will continue for the next few weeks. My mom's flying in for a visit on Monday and has literally been emailing me every single day for the last month telling me how excited she is to meet Asher.

We'll head to St. Louis over labor day weekend to see Grandpa Rod again and introduce Asher to Grandma Rod.

Two weeks after that my dad and stepmom are coming to make their introductions.

It should be a busy month with lots of family time!

Two Weeks Already....

Our little sweet Asher is two weeks old today. It's amazing how much life can change in just 14 days. This kid has completely stolen our hearts and we are head over heels in love.

Steve goes back to work tomorrow. I'm not sure who's more upset....me or him. He is so sad to have to be separated from our boy all day long and it's so cute. He has been such an amazing help to me as I've been in recovery. Not once have I done a load of laundry or any cooking. Speaking of cooking....we have been so blessed by all of the amazing people that have brought us meals. Seriously, it's been the biggest help ever as the thought of putting together a meal in our exhausted state seems like pretty much the most impossible task ever. We have been so amazed by all of the friends that have gone out of their way to support and welcome our little man into the world.

Asher is doing well. He's really such a sweet little baby and is overall pretty much happy all of the time. We love it! We've had a few fun experiences in the last week and a half. We gave Asher his first bath, during which he pooped 3 times and peed once. Needless to say, the bath took a little bit longer than expected.

In this last week Asher has started to make eye contact with us. It's so sweet and special. He also makes some pretty great faces.

I stopped by my office to pick up my paycheck this week and ended up not being able to leave for 2 hours. All of my residents were so excited to meet Asher and as soon as I walked into the building the phone chain started as they all called each other to spread the word that the baby was in the building, It was so sweet to see them all get so excited!

Steve and I are doing well. We're pretty much exhausted, but that's to be expected. Strangely, our bodies seem to be adjusting. We'll see if I still say this after reality sets in this week and I'm on my own while Steve's at work. It should be a busy week. Between Asher and myself we have at least one doctors appointment every day. I am healing up nicely and have been slowly weaning off of my pain meds so that I'm able to drive again. Tomorrow I'll go to get my incision checked out and feeling confident that everything will look good. As tiring as the last few weeks have been, I've really felt God's grace in my recovery. It's been painful and tiring at times, but every day I'm starting to feel a little bit better. We've been taking walks every day, and although I still am not getting around like I used to I know it's only a matter of time.

For now though, all I want to do is soak up every minute that I have with our sweet boy and treasure every single moment that we have together. I can already see how much he's grown and changed in just 2 weeks, and I know that before we know he'll be growing like a weed. I want to get all of my snuggles in now while he'll let me. I never really get sick of holding him and looking into his sweet eyes. I never ever could have imagined that I could feel this much love in my heart for this little man that I've known just a mere two weeks, but Steve and I are both in agreement that our lives will never ever be the same now that this precious little guy has come along and completely stolen our hearts.

The Birth Story....

Caution: this is long!

It was Saturday afternoon. I was feeling pretty miserable and asked Steve to go to the store and get some spicy food to make me some enchiladas for lunch, hoping that maybe it would bring about labor. Little did I know....

After lunch I went down to the basement guest room to lay down for a few minutes and suddenly felt like I had wet my pants. I stood up to run to the bathroom and immediately felt a gush and yelled up to Steve that I was pretty sure my water had just broken. I hadn't been having any contractions to indicate that labor was on the way, so I was pretty surprised by all of this.

I immediately called our midwife and she told me to hurry my way on in to the hospital. We got to the hospital and because I had tested positive for strep B, I immediately was hooked up to an IV. The midwife checked me and I still was only dilated 1 cm. She suggested inserting some cervadil into my cervix to soften things up a bit and hopefully help me dilate more.

I was hesitant at first, because I really didn't want to take any measures to speed things along, but because my water had broken and I was showing no signs of labor the midwife thought this was the best way to go. Within 20 minutes of getting the cervidal I was having contractions just 3 and 4 minutes apart and they were SO painful - mostly I felt them in my back. Also, I got really nauseated. With every contraction I had to vomit and it wasn't long before the enchiladas were out of my system and I was throwing up the acid in my stomach. So not fun.

Around 6:00 pm I really started to feel the pain and was having a hard time breathing through the contractions. I tried sitting, standing, laying down, walking, and bouncing on the exercise ball. Steve was so great and so supportive through it all as were the nurses in the birthing center. Finally, one of the nurses suggested I get in the whirlpool tub and that seemed to help a little bit, so I hung out there for the next 3 hours.

Still vomiting, my contractions were lasting about a 1 minute and were still 3 minutes apart.

Finally, the next morning at 8:00 am the midwife suggested we check my progress to see how dilated I was. I was so discouraged that I had only made it to 4 centimeters. It was at that point that the midwife became concerned that labor would not progress unless we helped it out a bit. I wouldn't have been that big of a deal if my water hadn't broken the afternoon before, but they normally like to have the baby out within 24 hours of the water breaking. So, it was decided, much to my dismay that I go on pitocin to speed things up. I was so nervous about this as I've heard the statistics and that many times pitocin leads to a c-section, but because it really was medically necessary we didn't really have much of a choice.

At this point I was going on 17 hours of labor, still vomiting with every contraction and having horrible back labor. I decided around 10:00 am that I just couldn't take it anymore and asked for an epidural. Holy mother, it felt nice! Despite being numb and having to have a catheter inserted it was so nice to not feel those contractions. The vomiting slowed down, although never really went away.

We spent the next few hours watching the monitor to see how the contractions were progressing. Often times they would come right on top of each other and I was so grateful that I wasn't feeling them. I was exhausted, after having spent the entire night in labor, but unfortunately even with the epidural was unable to get some rest.

Around 3:00 pm our nurse rushed into the room and immediately paged the rest of the nurses and doctors on the floor. Within seconds I was surrounded 5 nurses, my midwife and 2 doctors. I was put on oxygen and they were moving me from one side to another and then ended up inserting something into me to attach to the baby's head. I don't think I have ever felt so helpless or scared in my entire life. I still didn't know what was happening, but happened to glance at the monitor and saw that the baby's heart rate was down to 52. All afternoon it had been between 130-160 (the normal range). I still don't really understand everything that happened as it's all kind of a blur, but they somehow ended up shocking the baby and eventually his heart rate went back up. The whole process lasted just a few minutes, but seemed to drag on for an eternity. After everything settled down and I realized that we had almost lost our precious little boy I lost it and couldn't stop crying.

It was then decided that I needed an emergency c-section. Avoiding a c-section unless it was absolutely necessary was the most important part of my birth plan, (literally, I had underlined and put stars next to that part of the birth plan just to make sure they knew my thoughts on the subject) so naturally, I was devastated.

The surgeon came in to introduce herself before they were going to start preparing for surgery and could tell how upset I was to have to have a c-section. Since the baby was stable again, she suggested we check just one more time to see if I had dilated any. As it turns out in that 15 minutes since the incident I had dilated from a 4 to an 8. Everyone was shocked. The surgeon said that since the baby was stable if we'd like we could disconnect the pitocin to make sure we kept the baby safe and then wait it out a bit longer to see if I would dilate to a 10. I was so happy!

We waited for another 2 hours, monitoring contractions and the baby's heart rate. The midwife came in to check me and I was so hopeful that I had made it to 10 cm's. Unfortunately I was still at 8 though. At that point nobody felt comfortable with me waiting much longer. It was decided that we would take the lowest possible dose of pitocin to see if it would help and wait for an hour. If nothing changed in that time, we would definitely have to have a c-section.

Looking back, I was so happy for that hour. Steve and I spent that time praying and thanking God for keeping our little boy safe through the previous ordeal of the day and I spent some time praying for a miracle, while I also just asked God to give me a peace no matter what the outcome. As hard as it was, that was an hour I'll never forget. I really just felt a peace knowing that whatever happened God would be with us and submitted our lives and the life of our little guy to him no matter what the outcome.

Our hour was up and there was no change. As much as I didn't want a c-section, I felt a peace in my heart that this was the right choice. I didn't want to risk doing anything to harm our boy and whatever would get him out of me in the safest way was what I wanted to do.

They started prepping me for surgery and although I was at peace with the decision, I felt very scared to have such a major surgery. I had never been admitted to the hospital in my life, and the closest I have ever come to having surgery was having my wisdom teeth removed, so naturally the thought of them cutting me open and removing my insides to get to a baby was a little overwhelming.

They moved me to the OR and began prepping me for surgery. Whatever they gave me to numb me made me feel horrible and I immediately started vomiting again as well as started shaking uncontrollably. Steve got decked out in scrubs and after they had me fully prepped was able to join me in the operating room. Having him next to me for the surgery brought so much comfort to me. The surgery in itself didn't take all the long. After just about 15 minutes I heard the sounds of my sweet baby boy crying. They held him up for me to see before whisking him away to get tests done. I can honestly say that it was the most amazing moment of my entire life. Our midwife also attended the surgery and took pictures.

Here's my first view of our sweet Asher Struck Rodriguez.

Asher Struck Rodriguez was born with a boom on the 4th of July at 9:39 pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz and was 20 inches long.

Between my exhaustion and the medication, I was completely out of it at this point, but the one thing I knew was that I was so in love with this little boy. Steve went to join Asher for his tests and they started putting me back together. It's so crazy that it took only 15 minutes or so to get him out of me, and more than hour to put me back together. After Asher got all cleaned up they brought him over so that I could look at him while they continued to sew me up. I was still shaking uncontrollably, so I couldn't really touch him, but just to look him in the eyes was amazing.

For the rest of my surgery he just laid there and looked and me with not so much as a whimper. It was such a special time. Steve is such a proud papa!

We are so blessed to have this little angel in our lives! He didn't exactly come into the world in the way that we had anticipated, but we are just happy that he's here. After the surgery we were told that not only was he in a posterior position (hence the horrible back labor), but also had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. We are so grateful that God kept him safe and it actually made us feel very grateful for the c-section as who knows what could have happened otherwise.

Recovery has been rough. With the exhaustion of 29 hours of labor and all the emotional roller coaster this last week has been we've had a lot of ups and downs. My hospital stay was not the most pleasant. The day that my IV was finally disconnected and I was able to get up and take a shower I blacked out in the bathroom, hit my head and was unconscious for 3 minutes. Luckily, it was mostly due to exhaustion and the fact that I hadn't eaten in 3 days, so it wasn't due to surgery complications. My incision is very painful and I'm exhausted, but am healing up nicely and for that I'm grateful.

We were so blessed by all of the wonderful staff at Meriter. I can't say enough good things about all of the nurses and doctors that have worked with us.

We're all safely at home now. Asher is having some problems with his bilirubin levels and is on a strict 2 hour feeding schedule night and day. Between the c-section recovery and sleepless nights with all of the feedings we are absolutely exhausted, but that is to be expected with a newborn, so I guess I can't complain to much. Most of all we are just so thankful to have this little man in our lives!