Going Blonde...Again! Feeling Great! Wow...its good to say that!

Brown

Blonde =)

I know a lot of people dont like me as a blonde but I just love being one. It truly is a fact that blondes have more fun! Now that we are going to Kauai, I have to go back blonde! Im soo excited to be feeling better. This has been such a long haul for me. I never knew how sick I was. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. When I was in the hospital I could barely move my legs because of the water in them. It was truly life altering to see myself get like that. So far the only permanent reminders are some stretch marks. Im hoping that in the near future(after I am done having kids) I will be able to have them treated with some laserage =). I had my last check up yesterday and my BP is back to a very low normal...110/63 and my weight is back down to pre-pregnancy weight (50)lbs GONE! My oh so glam hospital look! Ewe! How crazy that my body has corrected itself so quickly and that just a month ago I was within inches of having a stroke, Suffocating from fluid around my lungs and on seizure watch. My doctor said that it is very unlikely that I will have it again with another pregnancy. He also was sad because there are no high risk dr's on the island. My mom continued to encourage me to move back with her to have the second baby =) hehe...
I seriously am feeling so great lately. Evan was so sweet and took me on a little shopping spree to one of my favorite places...Target. I got a whole bunch of really cute dresses. Im OBSESSED with dresses right now and dont wear much else. Its sooo easy! I dont even have to try and coordinate any tops/bottoms and people think i spent all this time to look nice! LOVE them! All I need is a tan...maybe I can hop in the pool a couple times before Kauai comes!

Jackson is growing growing growing! He has put on 10 ounces in 1 week! I cant believe he will be 1 month old tomorrow! A TON has happened in this little month called JULY! Poor thing, he has to have his Circumcision next Wednesday...so say a prayer for him. Evan cant even imagine it. Jackson is such a great baby. For the hell I had gone through during this pregnancy, I sure lucked out with this angel! He sleeps sometimes 3 hours straight and all he wants to do is eat, maybe smile for a minute then go back to sleep. What a gift from God! A sleeping Baby! So far so good with no colic and infant gird stuff(acid reflux). Here is a pic of him on our first walk together and of his Grandpa John holding him for the first time.



So I know I mentioned this on Facebook, but we got the bill for our hospital services. Jackson's bill was a whopping $130,000!!!!! At $6300/day for the NICU and two weeks, It is no wonder. My bill for St. Josephs was a cool $40,000. The ironic part is, is that the most expensive parts for me were the fricken Phlebotomists. The JERKS that made my arm look like Id been doing hard drugs for twenty years, charge like $1300/draw. I HATE them! They sucked! If any of you ever have to have blood drawn, DONT LET THEM MASSACRE YOU! You have a choice. If they start "digging" for a vein, tell them you want a different person to do it. Its NOT worth it and they need to be reported!
This is just a random internet photo, but its how I felt!
Over all though, St. Joes was a great place to deliver. My parents treated Evan and I to our own private room for the post partum stay. It was sooo nice not to have to share a room after going through all of that! Can you imagine being surrounded by a 15 person "ethnic" family while trying to get up out of bed without passing out?!? Ech!

On our plate for the next couple weeks are Kauai preparations. We have to sell Evan's truck, find out how to ship my car, how to ship all of our stuff, find a place to live and start going through storage. Evan is also traveling a lot right now for training. He is in NY right now and will be home Saturday! Thank goodness because we miss him terribly!

Till next time =)

The Most Overwhelming, Wonderous Week of our lives!

Eight days ago Evan and I walked into the St. Joseph's Lobby not knowing what to expect. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday were 4 days of torture and exhaustion. Thursday night was one of the most trying nights of my life. I have never relied on God more than that night. That morning I had woken up with my eyes swollen shut. My nurse brought in the scale to see how my fluid retention was going. I had gained 6 lbs. over-night. Can you even imagine gaining 6 POUNDS in one night??? I had NO idea that this was why my Doctor had taken my condition so seriously. He knew how bad things could and would get. I was drinking my 4000 ML of water a day and only eliminating about 500. Thursday night was terrifying. I could not breathe. They sent me for a chest X Ray but there was nothing. Turns out the bag of fluid around the liver was getting so expanded that I was being suffocated! I sat in my hospital bed in extreme pain for 12 hours, crying out to God. I was literally crying out for help. SO SCARY! The nurse was an idiot and did know what to do so she just kinda watched. She informed me that they had moved the C Section up from 330 to 10 AM. I am telling you that if they would have waited till 330, something bad would have happened. I started having contractions which made the epi-gastric pain even more unbearable. On top of everything else that night/morning, AN IDIOT of a phlebotomist came in to draw MORE blood. He came in about 6 AM and started trying to make small talk about the flowers that were in my room. He was a complete nerd and thought it would be nice to ask my opinion on dating and the role flowers played. Lets just say I was not in the mood for pleasantries and informed him that if he wanted a grocery store carnation girlfriend, that that was fine with me.




We got to delivery time FINALLY and things started moving right along. They had to give me more BP meds in order to operate. At that time I was at 200 over 140 or so. they had to bring it down to 160 over 100. The epidural was a breeze. Ive had cortizone shots that hurt worse than that. My anesthesiologist was an Awesome Irish guy who was EXCELLENT! It was quite the feeling to not feel anything haha. I had a catheter put in which would prove to be a God send! It was just a little embarrassing to be spread eagle with all of these nurses (male and female) walking around!


Evan was brought in at about 1040AM. He looked so cute in his OR garb. At this point I was shaking violently and uncontrollably from the epidural/morphine. Poor guy was so scared! I heard the nurse announce start time at 1049 AM. At 1051 Dr. Linzey said,


"We have clear fluid"...I knew that they were in.

"There's Jackson's Butt, There's Jackson"





Our little boy was born. They moved him to the isolette to clean him up. I could see him to the left of me. I just started balling. His little cry was loud and strong. It was so beautiful. All of the nursing staff were giving me the thumbs up. Evan went over to cut the cord. He tried hard to not cry, but i caught him wiping away the tears. He was here and he was so tiny but so strong. Ill never forget when they brought him over to me. He was crying but as soon as he heard my voice he stopped and tried opening his eyes. My heart melted and is something I will NEVER forget for the rest of my life. The rest of the surgery went by very fast as I couldnt keep my eyes off of my new little guy. I was shaking so bad that by the end of the surgery I had thrown my neck out and a day later, felt like I had done a million hours of neck and shoulder weight exercises! Phew!


Recovery room was great. The drugs had not even begun to wear off so I had no pain. The next 48 hours left a lot to be desired in that area haha. Although, this whole C Section thing was NOTHING compared to my knee surgeries! Saturday I got up and started moving around. It was also the first time I got to go and see my son. I stayed in the NICU for 5 hours straight sitting in a rocking chair. This was WAY too much for the first time up. My Preeclampsia had not yet begun going away so I BLEW UP and was in an EXTREME amount of pain. That scared the heck out of Evan and I, so we decided that I was not allowed to spend more than a couple hours in the NICU. So sad for this mommy, but I have such confidence in the team there that I know I have the freedom to recover fully myself so that when Jackson comes home, I can take care of him.

Well, thats pretty much the story of his delivery. I have a lot of other stories to write about, so I will get there soon! Here is just a quick list of things that have gone on and I will go into detail very soon about!

* Jackson's little fight against a Staph infection. SCARY!
* Evan's AMAZING job finalization and more concrete plans for Kauai
* My extreme underestimation of my struggle with Preeclampsia and emotional trials in recovery

Some people are nurses & some people are nurse haters...

.....and I am not the nurse. There have been 4 nurses so far. The first one, named Orn, barely spoke english. She was sweet enough but made a confusing mess of my admittance. The night nurse was kellie and she did use more than half of her brain which was nice. She fixed the mess of medication lists that Orn did before and was easy to talk to. The third nurse, Angela, who was sweet was having a hard time being smart. I had to tell her half of what to do. Anyways, the last nurse is really why I am writing. Kim oh Kim. No bedside manner and sent me for an ultrasound at 11 pm after I was sooo tired and needed to sleep. The baby was sleeping too so his heart beat wasnt all over the place. She came in and was like, Im gonna send you down to ultra sound which takes like an hour from beginning to end. I was like, "Are you freaking kidding me. This kid has been tested more times in the past 48 hours than that old guy who looked like death in the elevator. " This nurse just was like well, you can refuse it and take a chance. I was like, "ok so now your going to make me look like a bad mom if I dont go." Ehhhh....so i went and the baby scored 8 out of 8 on his test for all of his reactions. i finally got back to bed at midnight...soo tired and trying to keep from being too nasty to this no it all nurse. I woke up this morning and had to get my blood drawn, again! This "blood" nurse is horrible. She sticks the needle in and then starts searching for the vain. I thought that you were supposed to try and get it on the first try. Oh well. I had two shots yesterday. One of them nearly made me pass out. I was having a horrible migraine from taking the ambien so they gave me a shot of demerol. It was horrible for about 20 seconds then it hit me and became marvelously loopy and slept the rest of he day away. i love da good drugs!

Anyways, the baby is looking great! We should find out today about the ultra sound results, how big he is, lung development etc...He is almost a full 34 weeks! That is huge. Well every week and day for that matter is huge. He is 4.4 lbs as of Tuesday. Woo Hoo! That is excellent for a 33+ weeker. Praise God! All of his prenatal vitals have come back outstanding as well so the neonatologist is very optimistic about Jackson being ok.

T-13 days...Maybe

So I am sitting here in my hospital bed watching those stupid nutri-system commercials with the moo moo to mom/jock Jillian while waiting to watch Home and Garden's best ideas of how to use silver wear as decor a million different ways (annoying)... Just got shot in the booty with anti nausea medicine which hurt like a jerk to stop me from throwing up... Im waiting for my Heart Healthy breakfast...Oatmeal,fruit and non-fat milk...mmm... hey it had that little heart next to the menu choice. Props to me!

Last night they gave me some Ambien to sleep better. i have never been so dizzy in my life. Im still dizzy actually. My blood pressure has held its own this morning, which was good after throwing up all morning. They did however up my dosage of medication to 200mg. of the Bp drug. On top of the dizziness i woke up with my eyes like completely swollen shut! AHHH! I guess i drank too much water yesterday and my body couldnt eliminate enough of it. Oh what an after picture I will have after all this mess! I guess someone would have to catch a before picture first haha.

As you can tell, I am being a little more candid than usual. I just think that going through all this makes for a good more dramatic read, so im going with it. haha. The updates will be many. The drama will be high I am sure. Anything could happen.
Today I am going in for a complete ultrasound which will be interesting. We are going to find out the weight of the baby which is vital! I have a feeling he is on the small side. An average weight for a 33+ week baby is 3.75-4 lb.s. That is so tiny! I got another shot last night to help the growth of his lungs. Ill get another one today to finish the treatment. We are really hoping to get him to 5 lbs. He will be fine if he is born anytime, but the increase in weight and development is vital to keeping him out of the NICU for weeks on end! My sweet little baby boy. It just breaks my heart. If he has to have any tubes I am going to be a MESS!

Hopefully I will get some fun pictures of this little slugger today. That would be fun. Ill definitely try and put them up!

Anyhow, This seems like its going to be quite the adventure. One way or another we are going to be a mommy and a daddy very soon and that is overwhelming but so exciting for us. All we want is for our son to be ok.

Ok I have to stop because Im getting all emotional...and i didn't put on the right mascara for crying this morning...bahh

Kauai or Bust!

So I guess I am allowed to start blogging about our impending career venture! For about a month, Evan has been in the process of interviewing for a position as a Fuel Cell manager/ Marketer on the island of Kauai! Yes, Kauai! The island where we said our I Do's a little more than a year ago and where our hearts truly lie. After having no response from the Naval recruiter for months, Evan contacted his career advisor at Embry Riddle. Who knew that these advisors could actually work!? He informed Ev about this job that was based in kauai! Evan applied and received a call back. The ONLY call back out of about 50 applications he had sent out. He had his initial interview with the VP of operations and they hit it off right away. We werent counting our chickens yet at all because there were two other applicants. The Vp however, told us that Evan had the best resume. So, we started getting hopeful! He had a second impromptu interview the following week with two other guys. Went very well! He had a third interview which included going to one of their fuel cell plants down at Pendleton. Again, Evan had a great time and enjoyed getting to know the company and its employees! This week he is expecting the final word on his hiring. All of these employees have given Evan their recommendation for the job. The Owner of the company is going to call him and have a phone interview. We should know if we are packing up and moving to Kauai by then!

So....what is Logan Energy? It is a company that is founded in finding alternative energy sources through propane using fuel cells. Evan would be in charge of all of the Hawaiian islands and report back the findings and research to the company and market it throughout the islands. They are very small in size which we love as it creates a very intimate and loyal working environment. They have military/government contracts, so the funny thing is, is that we would still be employed by the Navy in a way. A fun thing happened that we didnt even expect. We found out that they really wanted the references to find out if Evan was a Christian. Turns out, this is a Christian company. The President feels that the success of this company is due to the faith of the employees. We had NO idea that this company was Christian. Overall, we feel that this is a huge sign of encouragement and that things are falling into place naturally! Life is so funny when you try to force things to happen. We were gunning for the military so hard only to have it fail to produce results. When it comes down to it, Evan and I have faith in what God has in store for us. We know that He would never let us down and that His plan for us is far more perfect than we could ever make on our own.

If Evan is hired (and we should find out this week), than we will have the baby here and move to Kauai in September. There, we will set up housekeeping for a very long time! We are also very excited because there is unlimited potential for my career in event planning. The gal who did the flowers for my wedding has already offered me a job with the St. Regis. I told her that i didnt want to work too hard right off the bat with a new baby. She was glad to hear that. I would also be able to teach violin on the island and after some research have found that i would be the ONLY suzuki method violin teacher on the whole island!


Here are some of the things that Evan and I are elated to look forward to in the near and distant future...


Raising our children in one of the most beautiful if not the most beautiful places on earth.



This would be in our backyard!


Living in a smaller community. We are sick of Orange County traffic and Orange County drama.




Raising our children in a smaller church family.



Creating a successful business in event coordination and design.




Evan starts his own aviation business on the island.

An Amazing Baby Shower!

Last Sunday was the baby shower for little Jackson! Let me tell all of you that we are so extremely blessed with amazing friends and family! What a gift it was to see all those who came to celebrate this precious little boy! My mommy went way over the top with this one! I am so grateful for her in our lives! We are pretty much set for little Jackson thanks to all who came and showered us with blessings! My cousin Jennie was an extreme help behind the scenes and was taking pictures for me the whole time. Hopefully I will be able to get those and share them with everyone!
Jackson will pretty much be the best dressed kid on the block! He got some of the most adorable outfits I have ever seen! I will definitely upload some pics of those!

Stay Tuned to this post for some awesome updates on the party! Thanks!


The King of the Jungle Cake

Daddy Evan practicing with the Baby Bjorn Sling from Great Grandma & Grandma and the adorable Stuffed Giraffe from Two Monkeys in the Orange Plaza from Joy


Great Grandma Kroeker bought him this adorable Moses basket which I am sooo excited to use!

Our Bouncer from our dear friend Laury Kuelpman!

An adorable sweet little outfit from Auntie Suzie Parker

Another of my absolute fav's! A velour suit for him to be oh so snuggly in from his grandma Lowie. My tummy is getting so big that it got stuck in the picture.


These are the best shoes ever...from my sis-n-law Laury!


Today Evan and I went and got the last couple necessary things for the little one! I was so excited to get these two things! The swing and Pack N Play! I Just love this set. They will work well for all of our kids (boy or girl).




I also ordered the Glider and ottoman today. It will take about 2-4 weeks to get here! Im so excited to rock this little prince in it. needless to say I am over shopping for a while. My feet were so swollen at dinner tonight. Im just not doing very well with this rest thing.



Jackson is getting HUGE! I swear just from last night to tonight, something big happened haha. Maybe he flipped! We will find out Monday at monitoring. All I know is that a new level of discomfort has set in =). Yesterday Evan went to Spin class at the gym and it sounded like so much fun! That is my absolute favorite thing to do! I decided that maybe going and just getting on a bike would be fine and it would help me feel less water logged and HUGE! After the first ten minutes out of the saddle I was tired and the bike seat was pushing up my bladder while the baby was pushing down on it. Needless to say it quickly went from being one of my fav things to being the most uncomfortable experience of my life! I do feel a good soreness about me though today! So that feels good!


* I still need to get some more shower pics from my cousin to upload! Stay tuned!

The Low Down on the High BP...

Phew...this week has been quite the week! Starting last friday I have become a human pin cushion. Monday we had a follow up appointment to some high blood pressure from the week before. Evan and I were not really prepared for the news we got on that visit! The nurse practitioner informed us that my liver and kidneys were not functioning quite that well and that with my 150/100 bp that they would start to think about delivering me if it did not go down. So, our hour long appointment turned into a marathon day of fetal/maternal monitoring and blood-work. Needless to say, we were shell-shocked but didnt panic. The following morning I started having some bad back pain and saw stars, so I went in to get checked. They checked me out and decided I didnt have to go to the hospital, just that i had to rest and start a blood pressure med that is safe for the baby. My blood-work from Monday came back completely normal! This means that my pressure is not high allll the time. So meanwhile, I am going in as an outpatient for monitoring twice a week. This will just keep an eye on my Pregnancy Induced Hypertension and make sure it is maintained. This condition does not go away until the baby is born. It either is maintained or gets worse very quickly. The baby is doing just fine. He is happy as a clam in there and is not being affected by this whole thing. He is still breech (head-up position). He has a lot of time to turn head down though. Regardless, it looks like we will have a July baby and probably by C Section. Mothers instinct says mid-third week of July.
So, I am working hard to relax. It is very hard! Today for some reason I got a huge burst of energy! I felt like doing everything that needed to be done!! In all honesty, I think i did too much today! I have to go in for monitoring tomorrow and more blood-work. I have to get my hypertension checked weekly with the blood-work. Woo Hoo! Anyways, thats about it for now. We are all working together to help keep my stress levels down. Evan has been an angel of a husband, bringing me ice-chips and relaxing hawaiian music. I love him soo so much and he is going to be the best daddy ever!
I will make sure and keep everyone up to date with all of this baby news. It was definitely an eye opener on how soon Jackson will be here! We cant wait but want him to be as big and as healthy as he can be!

Till next time =)

Random Events of a week in our lives!

So, Yay! We got our amazing baby furniture this last week. It was such an amazing blessing as we literally got $1000 worth of furniture for $300. Jackson is going to be sleepin and getting his diaper changed in style! It was so fun taking out all of his newborn-6 month clothes and packing them all away in the dresser drawers. The custom crib sheet is done so far. It is going to look so great! I thought id take a few pics of the outfits I am so excited to see him wear. Thanks for indulging me!












We saw "Up" the other day. It was a very refreshing movie! I loved how it showed that love can last forever! What an inspiration to young people around the world. It also showed the heartbreak of divorce and it effects on a child's happiness. I couldn't help but think of my grandparents who were an item since elementary school. They are so cute. I loved that it showed that kids are growing up in a concrete world and their idea of roughing it is going to a hotel that is more than an hour from home. Go camping people!!!! Enjoy the real entertainment of the world. Im soooo sick of video games becoming such a huge part of life for these young people. If you have not seen it, you should definitely go and make it a family affair! Well Done Pixar!




Yesterday we took Teddy the doggy to get his summer shave. This is the first summer shave that we have gotten him since his adoption from the pound. He is normally this really pretty Red head, tri color blondie dog.




When he came back, he turned into a Weimer Reiner with an Australian Shepherd head! I cant believe how much his body looks like that of a weimer. Weird huh? It makes sense. He has a lot of little quirky behaviors like a weimer.



We had our 30 week appointment today. It didn't go that great. My blood pressure was a little elevated. I have been having some swelling in my feet and face =(!!!!! All the things that I am craving I cant eat anymore, but thats ok because they are all not that great for me! Basically I have a really hard time listening to my body! I feel like a lazy bum if I lay down when I am tired. I have to go out and do something all the time so I feel productive!!! However, I do wake up and my eyes are swollen and it feels like I have taken 8 sleeping pills!! Lesson: Listen to my body and rest! That is what the doc says. I have to monitor my BP every day and put my feet up 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night. Bottom Line...De-Stress myself!!!




Jackson is getting huge, as expected! He is about 16 inches from head to toe and weighs about 3 pounds, gaining a 1/2 lb every week from here on out. He is still head up. The Dr. showed me how to feel where is head is. That was weird!!! At least now I know that his head is what i feel in my ribs and his feet are what are making my belly dance! It is so weird to feel him roll rather than just kick around. He is definitely running out of room in there! I cant to see this little love out and bouncing about. His daddy is beaming and cant wait to hold his little boy. Evan has been an amazing husband/daddy already. His latest daddy daydream is taking over when the babe gets up during the night ...and Im really tired... and just rocking his little boy to sleep on his chest. I am so grateful for a husband who loves me even with my swollen feet and face.


We have been having little coffee dates ( dont worry Im not drinking too much caffeine). It is such a special time to just sit together and talk like best friends do. It is so great to feel such a common bond and excitement as we prepare to create a strong foundation for our child and children.



Any-who, thats all for now! Quite a conglomeration of things I know =).



Things that are coming up for us are:

1. Baby Shower (june 14th)
2. Job Announcement! (hopefully soon)
3. UpDate on Pregnancy/ Baby JC


Stay tuned =)

Things of Late

Well I am not gonna lie. I haven't had the blog bug lately! I've been getting used to the third trimester which has brought on a lot more uncomfy preggo moments. Still throwing up breakfast everyday. My hands have started to get numb at night because this little guy is lying right on my nerve that leads to my hand. Finally, my feet and hands have started to swell a little bit. My feet only when I've been sitting on a bench for a while. I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going by. Jackson will soon be in our arms. I am praying he will come early so he can play with us a bit earlier! On the Navy front, we are still waiting on paperwork to arrive from Iowa to complete Evan's paperwork packet that they are requiring. It is starting to look like Evan will at least be home for the majority of the pregnancy if not for the birth! It is so precious to see him glow when he talks about his little boy.
We are really praying about the direction our lives will take in the near future. We truly believe that the Lord has our lives mapped out for us and will make our decision making easier when the time comes. It is so frustrating when we try and grasp opportunities the more they seem to slip through our fingers. It baffles me to think about how many other young couples are in the same predicament as we are. Completely educated, full of Ivy League knowledge at an Ivy league price, yet cant find a job to save their life. Even more disheartening is the lack of Integrity we have encountered within seemingly reliable institutions such as the military. Its really sad when Evan, an Ivy league educated, decorated war hero is discriminated against for being white. Luckily we dodged that bullet with ancestry records, but still...a low blow. I guess there are too many white officers. The things that we were willing to sacrifice for this flight job are not being respected at all, which is making our patience wear thin. I guess its just really hard because we try and find that bright hope in these opportunities. You know that feeling where you just are giddy and bouncing around everywhere because you are so happy that maybe allll the work you have put in will finally have paid off? We have had that feeling more than once. We were talking about it this morning and found it kinda sad that the feeling is just kinda wearing out for us. We are tired of feeling that joy and having it diminish because people are not doing what they said they would do. Just tell us it wont happen, STOP LEADING US ON ONLY TO STOP COMMUNICATING!! These are supposed to be people who dont do this kind of thing!!! Where has Integrity gone in our country? We LOVE feeling that kind of joy though. Its really hard to be discouraged time after time when we cant get enough of the happy bug!

Anyways, I dont mean to sound whiny, but these are the struggles we are dealing with right now. We find ourselves continuously re-centering our focus on God for a renewed sense of security and joy. It works pretty well =). We are convinced that the right doors will open and the wrong doors will be closed. Sometime soon would be nice though!

26 Weeks Preggo and & Sleepless!

Oh me oh my how the time is flying! At a solid 6 months pregnant, backaches and exhaustion have set in. I have not had a nights sleep in about 2.5 weeks now. Insomnia and backaches are killin me! Tossing and turning alllll night long is getting old! Poor Evan is being such a good sport about it even though he is losing sleep too! I have my next appointment on the 7th, so we are going to ask about what we can do! I might look into homeopathic remedies....maybe acupuncture. All I know is I dont want to be this tired before the baby even gets here! Anywho, we are getting so excited! We love feeling Jackson kick and watching him make my tummy bounce!