March: Basketball and Mission Calls
2 hours ago
Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Aliya's Baby Blessing
We would like to let you each know of the blessing of our baby. We understand that some of you may or may not be able to attend due to your circumstances, but we wanted to invite you. We will be blessing her on the 12th of July, church starts at 9 am and we will be attending all three meetings. We will go over to our house afterwards for lunch. Melanie would ask you to bring a side dish of sorts. I would like to invite my dad, grandpa's and each of my brothers (this includes all of the in-laws of the same, meaning dad, grandpa's and brothers) to stand in the circle. By the way one of my nit picky things is no bouncing...unless of course she really needs it. I would be honored to have you there to share in our happy day.
Jason
Jason
Friday, June 12, 2009
Aliya's Birth Story
In January 2008, I got a really strong impression that I would get pregnant with Aliya before the end of the year. I didn't know when but I felt like it would happen. In April we found out that Jason would need surgery to help us get pregnant, but we weren't going to be able to have the surgery until at least August. We decided to have a special fast and invited as many friends and family as possible to fast and pray with us that whatever needed to happen would and that we'd be able to get pregnant. Josh was involved as well. (You may recall the post, that in June he told me he wanted to pray for us to have a baby, and when he got done with his prayer, he told me "He said Yes.") Because of Jason's shoulder injury on trek, we had to post pone the surgery. In August, Jason told me that I needed to attend Education Week. He didn't have to twist my arm. It was during that week that I realized I was pregnant. We were so excited and felt so blessed.
My pregnancy was a lot harder with Aliya than it was with Josh. I contribute that to the fact that I was 40lbs overweight to begin with and thus out of shape. Plus with Josh, I was getting massages and chiro adjustments weekly, which I didn't start getting massages with Aliya until my 3rd trimester. My morning sickness was worse and lasted longer. (Wow, remembering this takes the urge away of wanting to get pregnant again anytime soon!) But as with most things in life...it was only temporary...time came to be delivered. :D
In my mind, I had established that Aliya would come on May 6th, even though her due date was the 1st. I figured she'd be late, since Josh was late. (Plus trying to help my sanity by not getting my hopes up that she'd come early or at least on time.) The week before my due date, I went to my appt with Dr Dayton (He actually delivered me 30 years ago) and he decided to strip my membranes. I wasn't expecting that so then it put it in my mind, that she just might come early, or perhaps on time. On Monday, April 27th, I started having contractions. I'd been having similar contractions for a while but they were sporadic. These were very consistent so I started timing them. At first they were about 5-7 mins apart. So I went and got a massage, they didn't stop, I came home and I started washing walls (yes nesting like crazy!!) still, they kept getting closer. They were consistently about 3-5 mins apart, sometimes they'd be only 2 mins or even 1 min apart. It didn't seem to matter what I did, they didn't stop. I had called my doula and she decided to come over. We went walking and they got worse, however I was being stubborn and didn't want to go into the hospital to get checked (even though it'd been 7 hours of this already). My problem was that they weren't painful. They were uncomfortable, but not painful. I wasn't sure if this was really labor or not because when I was induced with Josh, the first five hours of being on the pitocin, my contractions were regular and progressively got stronger but they didn't get painful until about 30 mins after they broke my waters. So finally after another 2 hours and them still being consistent, I sent Jason and Josh to bed (it was 11pm) and Becca and I went to the hospital to get checked. We ended up being there for 2+ hours (UGH!) I was definitely having contractions but they weren't making me progress. Dr. Gammette gave the OK for me to leave, and the nurse asked what my pain level was. I said about a 2 or 3. She asked if I wanted Morphine to take at home so that I could sleep. I seriously laughed at that. Hello, my pain level was only a 2 or 3, why would I want Morphine? Anyway, I went home and went to bed. The contractions continued to happen consistently until I ended up being induced after she was a week overdue. So I basically felt like I was doing continuous crunches for almost 2 weeks. (Yeah, it wasn't fun!) I was worn out and seriously done being pregnant. I think had they not stripped my membranes, it wouldn't have been as hard mentally, but those last two weeks were ROUGH! I was doing everything I could to help myself go into labor. I went to the temple twice, I scrubbed the walls in my hallway, I scrubbed my living room floor, I mowed my lawn, I went walking EVERY DAY, sometimes 2-3 times in a day, I did "curb" walking, you name it, we did it, (short of Castor oil...yeah NEVER gonna do that!) I even went to a wedding reception the day after my due date and danced (great video of me doing the "cha cha stomp" courtesy of Jason...it's hilarious!). I ended up having my membranes stripped 3 times, (2 x by Dr. Dayton and once by Dr. Gammette. As the Dr said, "Its a process") but when he wanted to do it a 4th time, (it was the day before I was going to be induced), I opted out. ;D Its PAINFUL!!
It was Thurs May 7th. That night we decided to go out to dinner as a family. We had some gift certificates so we went to Macaroni Grill. Wow, I didn't know their food was so good! Josh was excited to tell the waiter that he was getting a baby sister the next day. :D After dinner we went home and I was planning on getting to bed early to try and have a good nights sleep, but I was too excited and couldn't get my brain to turn off, so I took a bath. It was like 10:30pm. Friday Morning at 3 am I woke up to empty my completely squished bladder, and then couldn't go back to sleep, so I took another bath to at least relax. Then I still wasn't tired so I made german pancakes for Josh and Jason for breakfast. (Dr Gammette had told me not to eat or the hospital would send me home). I finally went back to sleep at 5am, and then woke up @ 6:30am got up and ready to go to the hospital. My visiting teacher Sis. Davis came to watch Josh. We got to the hospital by 7am g
ot checked in and while we were filling out paperwork, I jokingly asked the nurse if she was going to let me eat. She sounded shocked that I hadn't eaten, so I told her what my doctor had said and she told us that they only didn't want you to eat if you're having a C-section. I definitely wasn't doing that! I just needed the pitocin boost. :D So she went and got me milk and graham crackers and orange juice etc and let me eat! Wahoo! At 8am we met our nurse Katie. We talked for quite a while and got to know her a little. She was great. 8:45am I finally got hooked up to the pitocin. After I was hooked up, Katie got the birthing ball for me and I 
settled in on that. At this point Jason and I got some quality time together, he massaged me through the contractions. He sat behind me in a chair and held me. It was really tender. When Sis. Davis brought Josh at about 10:30am, Jason took him down to the cafeteria for both of them to get some food. I focused by myself in a deep meditation while they were gone. Katie came in to check on me and asked me if I was getting enough of a break in between contractions. I was doing great so I told her to go ahead and put it up to the next level. Becca came at 11am and massaged my shoulders and neck. I meditated this whole time, focusing the energy of the contractions to open and soften the cervix. The contractions were a lot more painful this time, even before they broke my waters. But I was very calm and focused. The 
nurse checked in several times, she was concerned that I wasn't getting
enough rest in between contractions so she wanted to slow the pitocin but I told her to go ahead with it, that I was doing great (I really was.) Jason came back with Josh and Josh wanted to help massage me, so he got behind me and massaged my back. He has such a loving touch. Its so neat to have him serve me. Then he wanted to watch a movie so since I wasn't using the bed, he climbed up in it and put the head phones on and watched his movie on the laptop. When Corinne came at about 12:30pm, I got up on the bed so that Becca and Corinne could massage my legs and feet because they were so swollen from the edema. We turned Josh's movie off, and listened to music on the laptop...it was so awesome. It really set the tone for the environment I wanted to have. (Jason had set up a playlist for me of relaxing and spiritual music) I progressed pretty quickly. By 1pm Dr.
Rees came in to brake 
my waters. There was meconium in the fluid, and he could feel the cord, so they used a 
uterine catheter to help continuously flush out the meconium and release some of the pressure in the 
uterus to make sure the baby came down first and not the cord. He gave me oxygen to make sure that Aliya would get enough too. He also called the NICU team to be on hand so when she was born they could do a deep suction down into her lungs and stomach to make sure she wouldn't have any complications. It made Jason nervous but I felt a strong peace that she'd be fine and everything would work out. My contractions got worse, as expected. My back labor was so INTENSE. It was much worse with Aliya than it was with Josh. I felt the urge to push when I was only at a 7. I had to breath through the contractions so as not to push, but the body does what it wants when the urge is that strong...I managed to do it with the help of Becca breathing with me. She is an incredibly talented and gifted doula! She knew just what to say and when to say it! Jason, my strong and able sweetheart, saved me by his strength in being able to give counter pressure on my low back and hips during the contractions. He was like my security blanket. Even if I wasn't having a contraction, I didn't want him to take his hand off me. Corinne was at my feet continuously massaging and Becca was holding my hand putting pressure on the acupressure "pain" point and helping me breath. She also talked me through what was going on, telling me how to breath etc. It was amazing. The pain was so intense, I had the thought of wanting something to make the pain go away, but then I remembered the blessing Jason gave me to be able to use the Power of the Atonement an
d at the same moment Jason whispered in my ear to give the pain to the Savior. I then had a renewed energy and peace that I could do this, with His help
...I could give it to Him. The time seemed to go by quickly, even though is was so intense. Finally I was ready to push...but it was so much more painful to push than it was with Josh, when she crowned, we realized that she was posterior, (a good reason for it being more painful!) I worked with my body and with Aliya and it took about 15-20 mins to push her out. She got all suctioned out after she was born and was doing great, it took
about 30-45 mins before I got to hold her, but when they gave her to me, she had an 
incredibly strong rooting reflex...and she latch
ed on immediately
. I was very emotional...very happy and filled with the Spirit. As I held her I was just overwhelmed by her sweet and strong spirit. I felt so blessed that she had finally come to our family. It was so incredibly sweet to watch Josh and his excitement to see her and hold her. Jason was of course all smiles. My mom was able to be there and Tausha (My 1st Counselor) had been watching Josh for us there at the hospital so he could be a part of this wonderful miracle. Everything worked out the way I wanted it to. The Spirit was so strong and I appreciated the added strength that I felt by everyone assisting me. I seriously feel so blessed to have such a wonderful and actively supportive husband! He was completely present and there for me. (When the Dr came in to deliver me, Jason was sure to tell him that I didn't want an episiotomy. He smiled and said, I wouldn't need it. Which I didn't, nor did I tear. Yeah for me!)
I'm so grateful for the overwhelming love that I felt from the Savior. I felt His presence and power. I have a deeper understanding of the atonement and how to let go. After I had gotten settled into my room, and was reflecting on my experience, especially being able to give it to the Savior, I had the thought that as my children grow, and go through their own "growing" pains, that I would again need to turn them over to Him. My testimony has grown so much in the realization of the need to teach my children the principles of the gospel and what the commandments are etc, but by far, most importantly, I need to teach them the Power of the Atonement. I can't protect them from all the bad things in the world, no matter how much I want to. But I CAN teach them how to give their pain and heartache and sins over to HIM!
I'm so grateful to be a mom. What an incredible gift! I know we'll be successful parents if we rely on the Savior and Heavenly Father to teach us how to teach them! I have a feeling that we'll have help from the other side of the veil as well. :D
One last thought, while I was pregnant with Aliya, I felt that she was a VERY STRONG spirit. Because of this, I had the thought that she might be handicapped. But as time passed, I felt a peace that she would be very healthy and normal. When she was born, as I got to hold her and meet her face to face, I again felt the strength of her spirit. But what was interesting, I felt this power of rememberance, like I was remembering my own strength, my own power of who I was before I came to earth. I feel we each have an inner power (because we are literal children of GOD) that we just need to remember, and then rely on the Savior for our "humanness". I appreciate the lessons that I'm being guided to learn. I know my Savior knows me and loves me. He won't let me fail.
My pregnancy was a lot harder with Aliya than it was with Josh. I contribute that to the fact that I was 40lbs overweight to begin with and thus out of shape. Plus with Josh, I was getting massages and chiro adjustments weekly, which I didn't start getting massages with Aliya until my 3rd trimester. My morning sickness was worse and lasted longer. (Wow, remembering this takes the urge away of wanting to get pregnant again anytime soon!) But as with most things in life...it was only temporary...time came to be delivered. :DIn my mind, I had established that Aliya would come on May 6th, even though her due date was the 1st. I figured she'd be late, since Josh was late. (Plus trying to help my sanity by not getting my hopes up that she'd come early or at least on time.) The week before my due date, I went to my appt with Dr Dayton (He actually delivered me 30 years ago) and he decided to strip my membranes. I wasn't expecting that so then it put it in my mind, that she just might come early, or perhaps on time. On Monday, April 27th, I started having contractions. I'd been having similar contractions for a while but they were sporadic. These were very consistent so I started timing them. At first they were about 5-7 mins apart. So I went and got a massage, they didn't stop, I came home and I started washing walls (yes nesting like crazy!!) still, they kept getting closer. They were consistently about 3-5 mins apart, sometimes they'd be only 2 mins or even 1 min apart. It didn't seem to matter what I did, they didn't stop. I had called my doula and she decided to come over. We went walking and they got worse, however I was being stubborn and didn't want to go into the hospital to get checked (even though it'd been 7 hours of this already). My problem was that they weren't painful. They were uncomfortable, but not painful. I wasn't sure if this was really labor or not because when I was induced with Josh, the first five hours of being on the pitocin, my contractions were regular and progressively got stronger but they didn't get painful until about 30 mins after they broke my waters. So finally after another 2 hours and them still being consistent, I sent Jason and Josh to bed (it was 11pm) and Becca and I went to the hospital to get checked. We ended up being there for 2+ hours (UGH!) I was definitely having contractions but they weren't making me progress. Dr. Gammette gave the OK for me to leave, and the nurse asked what my pain level was. I said about a 2 or 3. She asked if I wanted Morphine to take at home so that I could sleep. I seriously laughed at that. Hello, my pain level was only a 2 or 3, why would I want Morphine? Anyway, I went home and went to bed. The contractions continued to happen consistently until I ended up being induced after she was a week overdue. So I basically felt like I was doing continuous crunches for almost 2 weeks. (Yeah, it wasn't fun!) I was worn out and seriously done being pregnant. I think had they not stripped my membranes, it wouldn't have been as hard mentally, but those last two weeks were ROUGH! I was doing everything I could to help myself go into labor. I went to the temple twice, I scrubbed the walls in my hallway, I scrubbed my living room floor, I mowed my lawn, I went walking EVERY DAY, sometimes 2-3 times in a day, I did "curb" walking, you name it, we did it, (short of Castor oil...yeah NEVER gonna do that!) I even went to a wedding reception the day after my due date and danced (great video of me doing the "cha cha stomp" courtesy of Jason...it's hilarious!). I ended up having my membranes stripped 3 times, (2 x by Dr. Dayton and once by Dr. Gammette. As the Dr said, "Its a process") but when he wanted to do it a 4th time, (it was the day before I was going to be induced), I opted out. ;D Its PAINFUL!!
It was Thurs May 7th. That night we decided to go out to dinner as a family. We had some gift certificates so we went to Macaroni Grill. Wow, I didn't know their food was so good! Josh was excited to tell the waiter that he was getting a baby sister the next day. :D After dinner we went home and I was planning on getting to bed early to try and have a good nights sleep, but I was too excited and couldn't get my brain to turn off, so I took a bath. It was like 10:30pm. Friday Morning at 3 am I woke up to empty my completely squished bladder, and then couldn't go back to sleep, so I took another bath to at least relax. Then I still wasn't tired so I made german pancakes for Josh and Jason for breakfast. (Dr Gammette had told me not to eat or the hospital would send me home). I finally went back to sleep at 5am, and then woke up @ 6:30am got up and ready to go to the hospital. My visiting teacher Sis. Davis came to watch Josh. We got to the hospital by 7am g
ot checked in and while we were filling out paperwork, I jokingly asked the nurse if she was going to let me eat. She sounded shocked that I hadn't eaten, so I told her what my doctor had said and she told us that they only didn't want you to eat if you're having a C-section. I definitely wasn't doing that! I just needed the pitocin boost. :D So she went and got me milk and graham crackers and orange juice etc and let me eat! Wahoo! At 8am we met our nurse Katie. We talked for quite a while and got to know her a little. She was great. 8:45am I finally got hooked up to the pitocin. After I was hooked up, Katie got the birthing ball for me and I 
settled in on that. At this point Jason and I got some quality time together, he massaged me through the contractions. He sat behind me in a chair and held me. It was really tender. When Sis. Davis brought Josh at about 10:30am, Jason took him down to the cafeteria for both of them to get some food. I focused by myself in a deep meditation while they were gone. Katie came in to check on me and asked me if I was getting enough of a break in between contractions. I was doing great so I told her to go ahead and put it up to the next level. Becca came at 11am and massaged my shoulders and neck. I meditated this whole time, focusing the energy of the contractions to open and soften the cervix. The contractions were a lot more painful this time, even before they broke my waters. But I was very calm and focused. The 
nurse checked in several times, she was concerned that I wasn't getting
enough rest in between contractions so she wanted to slow the pitocin but I told her to go ahead with it, that I was doing great (I really was.) Jason came back with Josh and Josh wanted to help massage me, so he got behind me and massaged my back. He has such a loving touch. Its so neat to have him serve me. Then he wanted to watch a movie so since I wasn't using the bed, he climbed up in it and put the head phones on and watched his movie on the laptop. When Corinne came at about 12:30pm, I got up on the bed so that Becca and Corinne could massage my legs and feet because they were so swollen from the edema. We turned Josh's movie off, and listened to music on the laptop...it was so awesome. It really set the tone for the environment I wanted to have. (Jason had set up a playlist for me of relaxing and spiritual music) I progressed pretty quickly. By 1pm Dr.
Rees came in to brake 
my waters. There was meconium in the fluid, and he could feel the cord, so they used a 
uterine catheter to help continuously flush out the meconium and release some of the pressure in the 
uterus to make sure the baby came down first and not the cord. He gave me oxygen to make sure that Aliya would get enough too. He also called the NICU team to be on hand so when she was born they could do a deep suction down into her lungs and stomach to make sure she wouldn't have any complications. It made Jason nervous but I felt a strong peace that she'd be fine and everything would work out. My contractions got worse, as expected. My back labor was so INTENSE. It was much worse with Aliya than it was with Josh. I felt the urge to push when I was only at a 7. I had to breath through the contractions so as not to push, but the body does what it wants when the urge is that strong...I managed to do it with the help of Becca breathing with me. She is an incredibly talented and gifted doula! She knew just what to say and when to say it! Jason, my strong and able sweetheart, saved me by his strength in being able to give counter pressure on my low back and hips during the contractions. He was like my security blanket. Even if I wasn't having a contraction, I didn't want him to take his hand off me. Corinne was at my feet continuously massaging and Becca was holding my hand putting pressure on the acupressure "pain" point and helping me breath. She also talked me through what was going on, telling me how to breath etc. It was amazing. The pain was so intense, I had the thought of wanting something to make the pain go away, but then I remembered the blessing Jason gave me to be able to use the Power of the Atonement an
d at the same moment Jason whispered in my ear to give the pain to the Savior. I then had a renewed energy and peace that I could do this, with His help
...I could give it to Him. The time seemed to go by quickly, even though is was so intense. Finally I was ready to push...but it was so much more painful to push than it was with Josh, when she crowned, we realized that she was posterior, (a good reason for it being more painful!) I worked with my body and with Aliya and it took about 15-20 mins to push her out. She got all suctioned out after she was born and was doing great, it took
about 30-45 mins before I got to hold her, but when they gave her to me, she had an 
incredibly strong rooting reflex...and she latch
ed on immediately
. I was very emotional...very happy and filled with the Spirit. As I held her I was just overwhelmed by her sweet and strong spirit. I felt so blessed that she had finally come to our family. It was so incredibly sweet to watch Josh and his excitement to see her and hold her. Jason was of course all smiles. My mom was able to be there and Tausha (My 1st Counselor) had been watching Josh for us there at the hospital so he could be a part of this wonderful miracle. Everything worked out the way I wanted it to. The Spirit was so strong and I appreciated the added strength that I felt by everyone assisting me. I seriously feel so blessed to have such a wonderful and actively supportive husband! He was completely present and there for me. (When the Dr came in to deliver me, Jason was sure to tell him that I didn't want an episiotomy. He smiled and said, I wouldn't need it. Which I didn't, nor did I tear. Yeah for me!)I'm so grateful for the overwhelming love that I felt from the Savior. I felt His presence and power. I have a deeper understanding of the atonement and how to let go. After I had gotten settled into my room, and was reflecting on my experience, especially being able to give it to the Savior, I had the thought that as my children grow, and go through their own "growing" pains, that I would again need to turn them over to Him. My testimony has grown so much in the realization of the need to teach my children the principles of the gospel and what the commandments are etc, but by far, most importantly, I need to teach them the Power of the Atonement. I can't protect them from all the bad things in the world, no matter how much I want to. But I CAN teach them how to give their pain and heartache and sins over to HIM!
I'm so grateful to be a mom. What an incredible gift! I know we'll be successful parents if we rely on the Savior and Heavenly Father to teach us how to teach them! I have a feeling that we'll have help from the other side of the veil as well. :D
One last thought, while I was pregnant with Aliya, I felt that she was a VERY STRONG spirit. Because of this, I had the thought that she might be handicapped. But as time passed, I felt a peace that she would be very healthy and normal. When she was born, as I got to hold her and meet her face to face, I again felt the strength of her spirit. But what was interesting, I felt this power of rememberance, like I was remembering my own strength, my own power of who I was before I came to earth. I feel we each have an inner power (because we are literal children of GOD) that we just need to remember, and then rely on the Savior for our "humanness". I appreciate the lessons that I'm being guided to learn. I know my Savior knows me and loves me. He won't let me fail.
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