Brelan Randall Foster

So I wanted to write about Brelan's birth. He's 5 1/2 months old now! I can't believe it. Time is going by so fast. But it's such a big event, I feel like it should get it's own post about it so we can remember. Brelan Randall Foster was born on August 5, 2011 at 3:38 pm. My birth story went like this:

Wednesday, August 2 we went to the doctor for our 38 week check up. After being checked, the doctor said I was completely closed and (to our relief since my year mark working with Banner wasn't until August 9) said it was very unlikely I would deliver before my due date on August 16th. However, little did we know the little stinker would be born just 2 short days later! On Thursday night we were hanging out at Randy's parents house. The guys were playing around the world ping pong, and asked if I wanted to play. I was feeling extra tired that night and declined thinking I didn't want to accidentally put myself in to labor even though it was tempting to play! So instead Randy and I watched Scarface (haha random I know, but on tv so there was a lot of bleeped out stuff). After that, against my better judgment since I was so tired, and was feeling a little achy (period cramp type stuff) we decided to go to a movie with Ashtyn and Aaron (my sister-in-law and her then boyfriend, but now husband :) ). Randy said, "It's probably the last time we'll be able to go to a movie before we have the baby!" How right he was! It was a late showing and all through the movie I started feeling contractions, but I blew it off thinking they were braxton hicks.

We got home that night at 12:30 and I went straight to bed, even though the contractions seemed persistent. At 3:30 am I woke up from the contractions which I started timing which were 5 minutes apart. After a half hour I woke up Randy and let him know I was still contracting. There was no going to sleep after that. Poor Randy was in a panic. He just didn't know what to do, so I finally called my mom at 6 am and talked to her about what labor was like. After having several contractions while on the phone with my mom and dad, she told me it sounded like real labor. I still wasn't convinced though since sometimes they were 2-3 minutes apart and then I wouldn't have one for 10 minutes. So I layed on the couch while Randy did the dishes and threw a load of whites in the laundry. Up to this point, we hadn't even packed a bag for the hospital since we didn't think we were going to deliver until closer to my due date or after. So he started throwing stuff together while I stayed on the couch. Finally at 8:15 he convinced me to get in the car and at least drive out to one of our parents houses so we could be closer to the hospital in case I was in labor. (Apparantly he didn't want to deliver a baby in the car!). So we got in the car, and he drove... to the hospital. Haha.

On the way I had another delay of 10 minutes between contractions so I told him unless I had another one in the 3 minutes left to get to the hospital we weren't going in. That would be embarrassing if it wasn't real labor! Plus I wanted to be able to eat as long as possible. Lol. But I did, so we walked in to the hospital at 8:45 and went in to triage. There they checked me and stated I was dilated to a 2. Since it wasn't very far (although much different from where I had been Wednesday at a 0) they told me to try and walk around the hospital postpartum area to see if I dilated any more. So we walked around and around til 10:30 when we saw my doctor, Dr Beck, in the halls checking up on one of his other patients. He had us go back to the triage area where he decided to check me again. When he did he said I was dilated to a 4 and that I was going to have a baby today! I instantly started crying, because first! Scary! And second! I hadn't met my year mark yet! But alas, it was time for little Brelan to come.

So they had to wait for a bed to open up so we waited in the triage area for a little while til 11:45 or so when they took us to our delivery room. I didn't want to be tied down to the bed with an epidural yet so we tried to walk some more, but the contractions were getting more and more painful. Each time I had one, my sweet hubby would press against my back to help counteract the pressure (it works great by the way! And helps a lot with the pain! ). But finally I decided I was ready to go back to our room. The nurse there started an IV and then asked if I wanted her to get the anesthesiologist. I was unsure cuz I didn't think I needed it yet, but told her to go ahead. Good thing she did! By the time he came about 45 min later I was definitely ready to get the epidural. Those things are wonderful! And not too painful. The worst part was the little numbing needle and that only lasted a second, and the scratchy scrub thing they do to keep it sterile. I told him I wanted the least amount of drugs possible, so he gave me a low dose that at the time took away all the pain of the contractions, but I could still move my legs and wiggle my feet.


So since I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, I decided to take a nap. After I had gotten the epidural I was dilated to a 5. I slept for a while then the nurse came in and started pitocin cuz my contractions had started slowing down a bit. So I slept a little longer, and then the doctor came in and checked me and said I was like a 7 and he was going to break my water. It was silly, when he broke my water, I heard an actual "pop", instant pressure, and I could start to feel the contractions again. They felt like the ones when I first went in to labor. I told the nurse this and she said that was normal. So she left and then came back like a half hour later. Since they had blown this off before, I just mentioned again to my mom and Randy that I could feel a lot of pressure again. The nurse decided to check me this time and when she did she was like "Whoa! You are fully dilated and at a +3 station. It's time to have this baby, you're hardly even going to have to push!" Then she went to call the doctor. After that a couple of other nurses came in to help, and they started having me do some pushes. I did a total of 3 contractions worth of pushes while the nurses were looking at eachother and one said "where's the doctor? He said he would be here in 7 or 8 minutes?" When Dr Beck showed up and got all gowned up, I did 3 pushes with him in one contraction and whala! Brelan Randall Foster was born at 3:38 pm weighing 71bs 1 oz and 20.5 inches long


Here's some pics of us and our cute little guy after he was born. Don't mind my nastiness. But overall my delivery was great. I would definitely recommend only getting a light epidural. Towards the end I could feel my contractions again, but didn't feel anything while I was pushing and I could continue to move my legs the entire time. I guess I must be made to have babies, cuz if as far as my delivery went, I feel like it was pretty easy. At least compared to how I thought it would be. My mom was there with us when the baby was born, and Randy's family was waiting anxiously in the waiting room. So after he was born and I was all cleaned up, they came in to see the new little guy. From then on we had many visitors who came to see our new little guy. We feel very blessed to have him in our lives and for the many wonderful family and friends we have.

Little Brelan has brought us so much joy and happiness I can hardly believe it. He was a little stinker and came before my year mark so I didn't get paid maternity leave initially, but get this. The story is better here. We decided to appeal the denial since it was so close to my year mark, and guess what? I just found out a few days ago that the approved my request and will be back paying me for my short term disability pay. :) So life is good. We are loving being parents, and it's so fun to watch him learn new things everyday. Welcome to the world Brelan Randall Foster, we love you so much! :)

Pregnant :)

So I haven't posted for a while so I thought I'd do a quick update of my life. First off in big news, I am pregnant! We are having our first little boy due on August 16th. We are very excited and have been doing projects around the house to get ready for our little guy. I am 29 weeks tomorrow and can't believe how time has flown by since we found out we were pregnant on Christmas Eve. Here is a record of my baby bump thus far:

21 weeks

23 weeks

25 weeks


29 weeks

I think it's funny how at 25 weeks I look bigger than I do now almost. Shows what wearing a pregnant shirt can do! Anyways the last one also has the background of our nursery that we've been working hard on for our little boy. It's almost finished being painted and we are excited to get the rest of it put together. :)

Banner Gateway

So after 5 years of school, and hours and hours of study, I passed my NCLEX on June 22, 2010 to become an official licensed Registered Nurse! And now last Thursday I accepted a job offer to work at Banner Gateway in their Med/Surg department, day shift! I start August 9th and am super excited! It is a beautiful hospital and the closest Banner hospital to our house! Plus after all these years of school it's nice to finally be done! I am excited for this new chapter in our lives to begin and can't wait for all the knowledge I have yet to gain by being a nurse in the real world ;)

41 Days

It's so funny to look back on my ignorant days.. Those first days so long ago back in Jr 1 when I was so excited I learned how to do an enema.. Haha. I am now at the top of the food chain, a big ole Senior 2 with only 41 days til graduation. So close! Yes that is right, I have now just about mastered my nursing skills and will be set loose upon the unsuspecting world :- #. Haha. Life is good, me and Randy have had a wonderful year (can you believe it's been that long since my last post?!). In between the relentlessness of school we've managed to have a few fun trips. We hung out with my fam at Mesa Verde as we saw the indian ruins. We also went to Young for our second anniversary, and with Randy's fam to the Sand Dunes, and most recently over Spring break, Mexico (no worries, we didn't die :) ). The only misfortune is that it appears I wore too much sunscreen and came back almost as white as when I left. But alas, I will have a full summer to soak up the sun as I bask in the glory of NO MORE SCHOOL. But the most exciting part of the summer will be the trip Randy and I are planning to visit New York City and Washington D.C. as a graduation/third anniversary present ( have we really already been married almost three years?). We can't wait, it will be so much fun. :) Here are a couple pics of our fun adventures over this past year. And the one of Randy in the kitchen I couldn't resist. Haha I love him. Enjoy! :)

One semester down, 3 more to go

So I did it! I made it through my first semester of Nursing school. I can now officially take vital signs, give injections, make beds (with people in them :) ), give enemas, check blood sugar, do a full health assessment (basically a full physical), feed people, do wound care/packing, put in an NG tube, move people with a gait belt or hoyer lift, do sterile gloving, put on ostomy bags, and give oral medication. Obviously I still need a lot more practice, but I am getting there. Now I have a lovely 2 week break before I start up again for summer. Whew! No rest for the weary! I've really enjoyed Nursing school so far though. It's interesting to me, that at first I thought this was what nursing school is all about, learning the skills. But since I've been in school, the focus has been more on realizing the whole of what nursing is which includes communicating, educating and caring with compassion. It's been really cool, and I've really enjoyed what I've been learning so far. Before I had always just wanted to get through to become a nurse practitioner, now I've realized that nursing really is a cool career. So who knows, I will still probably go on, but I am enjoying this for now.

Look at me in action. I am teaching the class how to perform an abdominal exam


Here is my lovely group, P4. And yes, that is a testicle model that Christy is holding up in front. For our first Health Assessment we had to teach the class we got the lovely topic of Breast/Abdomen/Testicular. Haha. Luckily I got to teach the Abdomen portion

We're Alive!

So I think it's about time I posted again! It's only been 5 months right? Well life's been busy, so that's my excuse, but we ARE alive! And we are living life well. I started Nursing school the end of January and that has been taking over my life. No time for anything else! My typical schedule is 8-4 at school M-F and then come home and spend the rest of the night trying to catch up on all the homework that is due the next day. It's a busy schedule but I'm liking it a lot. I'm actually starting to feel like I know stuff even though it's only been two months! I was watching House the other day (one of our favorite shows) and when one of the guys started crashing and the Dr's were throwing out all these medical terms from what was happening I was like Hey! I know what that means! I know what they're checking for! Haha I was excited :) Anyways, but this week is Spring Break, and a much needed spring break at that! I'm so excited I get to think of something else besides school and relax from the stresses of it! We are going camping this week with friends and we are very excited :)
Randy is doing well as well. Since I had to cut my hours back at work (from 30 to 10) he's been picking up the slack and working full time while he takes online classes. He's also been very supportive and helpful when I need to practice my "nursing skills" on him. I love him so much! He is the best husband I could have ever asked for!
Well I will try to be better about posting, sorry no pictures for now. Like I said we've been boring, but I will try to post some later. My husband is building some beautiful columns in our house that I will need to show off soon. Until then! :)

Disneyland Trip

Halloween Fun

For Halloween, Randy and I dressed up as super heroes Dirty Laundry (Randy) and Static Cling (Me). Check it out, here's us at our friends costume birthday halloween party :)

Putting the House Together

So we've been working long and hard on our house, (well sort of, haha more like slow and steady) and I think it's finally starting to come together! It's been a rough process getting it here though so I thought I'd show you some updates along the way. First, Randy insisted that we put in recessed can lights because it would look SOO much better than a regular lighted fan. Haha I swear he can never do things the easy way. :) So during conference mind you, he took it upon himself to cut out holes in our new ceiling to install these beauties. I must say though, even though it made a mess and looked like a recent snow storm in our living room that he left for me to clean up while he went to priesthood, it actually looks quite nice! We had trouble with the light strobing at first, but now that we've got the right light bulbs, they look awesome and there is no more strobe! Yay! So here's some pics of my handsome husband making a mess. Haha



We also, if you'll notice from the pictures above, had been living with nothing but a chair and lovesack in our front room for like 3 weeks because my husband refused to employ our green couches in our new house. His theory was, if we never brought it in, it would take less time to get a new one! Well he was right, I finally got sick of it and decided we could splurge on a couch. So we were on our way to go get one when Randy's mom called and said their neighbors were having a garage sale next door and they had a sectional out there for $300 that would be perfect! So we went and checked it out, and it WAS perfect! So we bought it and brought it home very excited to have a new couch. That was when we discovered this...




They had dogs!!!!! Boy let me tell you, that thing was covered in hair. When I told mom she said "Gross take it back!" But alas, it was too good a deal, so instead we spent about 20 hours with a lint brush getting off all the hair, vacuuming all inches of it, and then steam cleaning it to get out the stench and dandruff. It was so gross! Randy left some of the concentrated water in the steam cleaner for a day and about died when he opened it to rinse it out.


Ew! We emptied that thing of water just like this about 15 times. Yuck!

Anyways, we got it MOSTLY done, we're just finishing up a few cushions.

Tagged!

Hey so I've been Tagged by my sister Natalie, and am supposed to list 6 quirky things about myself. Here goes, sorry it took so long!

1. I am the worst decision maker EVER! My family had no confidence in me that I would be able to plan my wedding during my engagement period, so my sister Andrea and I started thinking and planning what I'd want it to look like about 3 years before I was even CLOSE to getting married. And then when I actually did get engaged, I changed my mind again and took about 2 months of our 3 1/2 month engagement just to decide my colors!

2. Here's what I like to call my compassionate side lol. When I was younger I hated making others feel sad or letting them know when I didn't like things. Two prime examples: everytime I would play my sister Natalie in Monopoly, when I would be winning by a lot, I would feel so bad that she didn't have any money, that I'd give her some of mine until she'd turn the game around and beat me mercilessly. Haha thanks alot Nat! Second, everytime my mom, or anyone for that matter, would buy me clothes that I didn't like, instead of having her take them back and buy me new ones I did like, I'd tell her I really liked them, then hide them in the back of my closet until she'd find them 2 years later with the tags still on.

3. I hate wrinkled sheets on my feet. I think it drives Randy crazy, but every night I pull the bed sheets and blankets tight across the bed so when I slip in it's smooth against my feet. If it's not just right, I feel like I'm being suffocated and have to get out of bed and pull them tight again.

4. I don't really like being the center of attention and therefore often keep quiet in a crowd. Instead, I get my kicks from seeing others succeed. For example, I felt like I had won Jr Miss Arizona when my best friend Lindsey did I was so excited, and everytime I watched someone get a gold medal during the olympics I would get kinda teary eyed because I just knew that had to be the most awesome experience.

5. My husband is the creative one in our family. How often does that happen in a relationship? He's the reason our house is decorated in the way it is.

6. And finally, most of the time I prefer fruit over chocolate. There's just something about that fresh sweet taste!

We own a Home!!!!

(of course minus all the paper, that's gone now)

So today after 6 months of waiting and about a million different papers with our signatures on it, we are officially home owners! Yay! Our house is beautiful and we are so excited to live there. We got the keys around 4 pm along with a nice house warming gift from Centex. They gave us a nicely wrapped up box of goodies for our house ranging from a role of toilet paper to simple green cleaner to help us get started. They also gave us a gift bag with pretty orange and yellow tissue paper coming out the top. Not sure the protocol on what to do, we decided to wait to open the gift later inside our new home. So when we got there we opened the pretty gift bag to find... NOTHING! (Is that really what she said?) Yes that's what I said! A beautifully wrapped present of nothing but air. Haha, I mean I know the economy's bad right now, but has it really come down to giving people empty gift bags to show your appreciation? Haha we thought it was funny. We're still not sure why we got that, if they forgot to put something inside, or if that's what they meant to give us, but it was funny all the same. :) Anyways, so we move in tomorrow officially and we can't wait to get started living there. Randy already has a million projects brewing in his head that he can't wait to get started on. I have to keep reminding him that it's all in good time. Here a little, there a little. But we're so excited and hope you can all come see our new home one day soon :)

So we're kinda boring right now

Hey Guys

So we're kinda boring right now. Not too much is happening in our lives. Both Randy and I are both going to school and working full time to save up for our house, which officially has a closing date! September 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm! Yay! So at just under 3 weeks, we are surviving living on top of ourselves in moms old sewing room. Yep the tiny yellow room downstairs :) It's been really fun though being at home again. We're really grateful to mom and dad for helping us save some money before we move in.

Anyways, so I thought I'd just put some fun pics on here to update our 2008 thus far. Randy and I had our one year anniversary this year and to celebrate we went to a Resort for the weekend in Scottsdale. We had so much fun!

We also have spent some time up at Randy's parents cottage. It's really pretty up there and we went for a drive and found this really pretty meadow and what would be the coolest hideout as a kid! We also went to the Young parade which was a cute little thing the town put together along with a rodeo.

Other updates are (as if you didn't already know ;) ) we bought a house! We decided we really like hiking, and went a couple of times before Randy hurt his knee while playing basketball. He partially tore his ACL, and had lots of bone bruising and hurt tissue. BUT! He's getting better everyday and we hope he will be all the way better soon so we can keep up with our new goal to exercise three times a week and eat healthier! :)

We also celebrated Randy's 24th birthday, fed some duckies and played at the park, caught some crawdads with Steph and James, Jess and David, went to Mexico for a week, and had our first Valentine's day as a married couple where Randy set up a really sweet dinner for me in our friend's tree house (candle light dinner from Mongolian Grill ;) , roses, and all!)

Needless to say we have had an awesome first year together and are having so much fun being married and in love :)