10 Weeks, Part 1

Ten weeks ago today, Baby Olivia arrived.  I haven't had much time or inspiration to write about her arrival until recently.

On the early morning of July 5, I went into the doctor's office for a routine weekly check-up.  There, I learned my blood pressure had shot up almost twice higher than my normal.  It wasn't a complete surprise since my ankles and legs have been swollen for several weeks prior.

"We take blood pressures very seriously around here" was what my doctor told me.  He immediately marched me up to the Birthing Center for blood tests and monitoring.  Mom was with me that day.  She had another appointment at the health complex.

That was a Tuesday.  On Tuesdays, I meet with a group of ladies and pray.  We pray for just about everything under the sun.  That particular morning, with Wendy and Renee, I remember praying for the baby that she'll grow up to be a great woman of God.  That morning, a theme ran through the meeting.

"God is good.  God is sovereign!"

Renee even had a song; Renee always has the best songs for the moment.  It was just a typical morning that day until the doctor's visit.

I got to the Birthing Center.  One of the nurses made me change into a hospital gown and took several tubes of blood for analysis.  I asked her, "Will I be able to leave in a couple of hours?  I need to get to work."  She chuckled and answered, "If you're lucky..."

By noon, I was hooked up to magnesium solution by IV to prevent seizures.  Nope, I was there to stay.  I was coming down with preeclampsia.  I was to be induced.  The baby will have to be delivered to cure me.  I called John, "We might have ourselves a baby by the end of the week."  I called work, "Don't think I'll be in for the rest of the week."  I called Wendy, "God is good.  God is sovereign!"

From noon on Tuesday to the afternoon on Thursday, I was hooked up to saline and more magnesium.  Except going to work, John stayed with me in the hospital, through the beeping machines and the nurses stopping in every hour.  He's a trooper.  By noon on Thursday, my water broke, I was in labor and in intense pain.  By around 3pm, the nurses were having trouble monitoring the baby's heart beat.  She was going into distress.  Through the pain and grogginess, I heard, "Emergency C-section."  More doctors and nurses swarmed into the room and whisked me away into the OR.  The last thing I remember was betadine being poured on my stomach.

When I woke up, John was there looking relieved.  They had a hard time reviving me.  They told me the baby was fine and she was very cute.  I was relieved.

So, Olivia was born on July 7, 2011, the year of the rabbit, at 3:25pm, weighing 3 lb, 10 oz and measuring 16.5 inches long.  She was born almost 5 weeks premature.

Still groggy from the magnesium and very uncomfortable from the C-section, I had to wait until the next day to see my baby.  That's OK.  Daddy had already gotten to hold her and take pictures of his little Bunny.

Miss Olivia- 5 weeks

Here she is!

Six more weeks to go!

Images of the little girl who will make her grand entrance in 6 +/- 2 weeks. From my perspective, she'll make her exit. Her little legs have been busy kicking me. These images were from early April.

It's a girl!

It's been a busy winter! Trek through Taiwan in early January was spectacular. It was wonderful to see relatives (Grandma especially, aunts, uncles, cousins). It was great fun to show John around the Island and take him to the old homestead.

It wasn't so much fun to be in the first trimester of pregnancy though and traveling through Taiwan at the same time where it's an island of food, glorious food. It was actually quite miserable to have no appetite when there was so much good food to eat at all times of the day and everywhere! I still took in as much as I could.

This spring semester has been hectic. The students either have spring fever or senioritis. It's been hard to engage and motivate them.

Today, the baby is about 21 weeks old. The first ultra sound revealed that it's a girl! Here's looking forward to pink bows, puffed sleeves, and tea parties! I think she's going to look like John and will have lots of hair when she's born.

Autumn

It's been a while since my last post. I had a pretty busy summer, mostly at work. I had 3 research students in the lab... technically 4 but only 3 were actually there. This semester, I am teaching 2 courses again, one with a weekly lab. The students are very motivated and seek help when they need... always a good sign.

It's been 7.5 months since the wedding. Everything is going very well. We had a blast playing with our vegetable garden. We had a tremendous harvest of tomatoes, peppers, and basil and tried lots of recipes with these items. Next summer, more varieties will be added. Aside from bunnies helping themselves out of the flower bed, there was a hungry groundhog that helped himself to our tomatoes. Some home improvement projects will start over the autumn. In a few days, another advanced degree will be added to the family. John will earn a Masters in something related to computers.

Most exciting of all, we are planning a trip to Taiwan in the first 2 weeks of the new year!

Hungry bunny

The previous owners of our house planted a row of lilies. They are all getting ready to blossom, and I looked forward to seeing the radiant colors. Every morning, though, we would notice the stems of the lilies becoming bare one by one. Earlier in the spring, I planted sunflower seeds; as many as 15 seedlings emerged up from the ground. I looked forward to the brighten mammoth sunflowers. Day after day, I noticed the leaves gnawed away one seedling after another; some were plucked out of the ground completely.

On Friday, my dear husband drove into the driveway and caught this little rascal red-handed!

March 6, 2010

Even more snow!

Round 3... for the winter of 2009-2010! How appropriate that exactly 17 years ago today, we arrived in the US for the first time, welcomed by the blizzard of 1983! This storm is the 3rd this season, dumping over a foot of snow. School canceled classes for the 2nd day in a row. We've well surpassed the most snow accumulation in a season at 71.6 inches, previous record was 65.5 back in the winter of 1995-1996!

More SNOW!

Another big snow storm this weekend. We got about 2 feet all together!

Winter!

One week into winter! The weekend right before, we got about 10 inches of snow. (The picture above is from 3 years ago... but they all look about the same anyway.) This past weekend, we got tons of rain which melted everything.

We're on Christmas break right now. I'm on a condensed break this time. The new spring semester will start on Jan 18th. I may have just enough time to get prepare for it.

68 days until the big day!