Adelaide Kristine

Brett and I made our way to the hospital just after 12:00 AM on Feb. 28th. We needed to be sure to come after midnight because they couldn't induce me until I was officially 39 weeks. I got checked in, with monitors on, and IV in and was ready to go by 1:30 AM.

This is when they inserted both a Foley bulb and a dose of Cytotec to get my cervix ready. I was pleasantly surprised that I had progressed to 2 cm before any induction methods. After 2 hours the Foley bulb came out (3:30) because I had progressed to 4 cm. The next step was to break my water but my doctor recommended that they wait until 6 AM. I decided to get my epidural while we waited and was able to finally rest a little. So fun that in a place like Temple we would go to church with the anesthesia resident on call this particular night. They broke my water on schedule at 6 AM and I was measuring at a 5 cm. They started pitocin an hour later at 7 AM on the lowest level.

At 7:30 AM my doctor came in to check me because noticeable drops on the monitors made it look like baby's head was already engaging; I had progressed to 7 cm. My Dr. ran off to the clinic while I finished dilating.

The problem was that for unknown reasons, my epidural was wearing off. When it was first put in, it was great; I couldn't even tell when my contractions were happening. After about 45 minutes I could feel the tensing of the muscles but it still didn't hurt at all. By 7 AM I knew it wasn't working like it should because my contractions were getting to be more painful than before the epidural. At 7:30 AM I was really miserable during the contractions. It was really bad... The nurses sent for anesthesia to come adjust the epidural but now along with contraction pain I felt all the pressure of baby coming and the need to push. When your body says to push, there is no way to not push. Nurses started running around racing for both the anesthesiologist & my doctor.

A new anesthesiologist came to give me a boost which I don't remember making a difference. I do remember being really annoyed that he was asking me all these questions in such a casual tone when I was clearly in far too much pain to be having a calm conversation. (*doctors have to put up with a lot, that's for sure) Doctor made it across the hospital just in time; I pushed through 3 contractions and little Adelaide was part of the world at 8:19 AM. That makes less than 7 hours of labor.

She has lots of hair and it's a little bit lighter than Ellie's was. She weighed 8 lbs 3.8 oz and was 19 in long. We weren't sure on a name for most of the day, but when she finally opened her eyes and looked at me for the first time, I knew this was our little Adelaide :)

A Shower for Baby Girl

My wonderful friend Claire threw a baby shower for me last Saturday. She is due a week before me and still had the energy to put together this cute party for us. We are so grateful to her and all of my other amazing friends who could make it and have fun with us.

Ellie had a blast opening all the presents.

I'm 35 weeks and ready to get this party started! (please let this baby come early... or at least not be late)

Fall Family Pictures

- Photo credit: Paul Rasmussen

Christmas with Cousins

We've had a really great December this year! Brett is enjoying his pediatric rotation while Ellie and I have been singing Jingle Bells, decorating the apartment, and eating way too much sugar.

Our First Christmas Village

Lookin' Good this Winter & Helping Mom Decorate Sugar Cookies

TMEA Christmas Social : We watched the Polar Express while we drank hot chocolate, decorated cookies, colored, and even met Santa who gave Ellie a new book.

This was the first year I tried out several of my Rasmussen family traditions on my house. I made my mom's caramels, and we made our own gingerbread houses. Ellie just wanted to eat all of the candy and didn't care much for decorating the house; I think she would have tried to eat all of it and was very disappointed that I didn't let her try....

We spent Christmas morning in my parents' house with my sister Helen and her family. Ellie loved going through her stocking and opening presents, and took her time with each one. I think she was most excited for her doctor play set, Mr. Potato Head, & the juice from her stocking. 

  

after opening our presents we went to church and Christmas night, all of my siblings came over for a big Texas BBQ.





November

Brett is very happy to be wrapping up his internal medicine rotation with a shelf exam tomorrow morning followed by Thanksgiving break in Houston. While I can't say he cared much for internal medicine, he was so happy doing GI (gastrointestinal) work. I'm not sure anything else will top it.

Ellie is very excited to see her cousins soon. She had so much fun trick-or-treating with her friend Noelle. After every house, she would run up to me and show me her pumpkin bucket and tell me that they gave her candy. I laugh at little because she seemed genuinely surprised and pleased each time. I hope she is able to keep that sense of awe and gratitude as she gets older. We dressed her up as Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. Brett was the tin man & I was the scarecrow. (Brett and I shamelessly stole a lot of her candy and gave the rest to her in rationed increments)

My friend Claire and I had our Temple Symphony Chorale choir concert recently; I really enjoyed the repertoire this semester. I'm a little bummed to not be able to participate next semester, (I'm having a baby in the middle of it) but it turns out I can get my choir fix elsewhere. I was just asked to lead the choir at our church!!! I've never really led a choir before but I'm over-the-moon excited to try. Music has always been one of the main ways that I feel God's love, and I hope this will be an opportunity to have more of that in my life.

Baby #2 is doing well and getting bigger all the time. Ellie goes to my appointments and likes to sit next to me on the bench so she can watch them use the Doppler, take my blood, etc. This pregnancy is going by quickly as I often forget the fact that I'm pregnant because we're so busy. We don't have a name yet but are trying to narrow down our list.

*On a less positive note, I hate cockroaches. HATE them a lot, and our apartment is overrun. We want to move... and live in a house. Also, being sick stinks. Especially when it lasts for more than 2 weeks and you feel like a useless lump on the couch :)

I think she's been watching me do my makeup ;)

We sure love our zoo and having Dad around to come with us!

She loves to sing all the time. I think she's gotten it from Brett actually because he sings several songs with her every night before bed. He's gone during the day obviously, so it's become kind of their thing; their Ellie/Dad time if you will.