Can't Get Enough of You Baby.

Life has been pretty awesome since we came home on Saturday.
Katie is such a wonderful baby.
We can't get enough of her!
The first night was a little tough because she was really hungry, but couldn't seem to stay awake long enough to eat.
So basically, she'd whine, i'd feed her for a minute, she'd fall asleep, i'd nudge her awake, she'd eat for one more minute, then fall asleep, so i'd put her in her bassinet, and then 5 minutes later we'd do it all over again.
On top of that, the first few days of nursing seems to be really painful so i'm sure my squeals of pain and my whole body tensing up really wasn't helping the feeding situation.
Finally, the pain and everything just got to me and I broke down crying.
I felt so awful that I wasn't able to feed my own baby!
We'd been nursing just fine during the day but the pain was just finally getting to me.
I felt like such a failure because this wasn't the first time I couldn't handle the pain (my epidural.)
Brad decided to make up some formula for her and he fed her while I just cried.
After that, Brad ended up staying up for quite a while just holding her while I tried to sleep for a while.
In the end, neither of us got much sleep and ended up not being able to go to church, but things have been much smoother since.
Nursing is still a killer, but i've been pumping occasionally, which hurts a lot less, so that I can still feed her when i'm too sore to do it the regular way.
It's been especially helpful since my milk came in yesterday afternoon and I am SUPER swollen.
Enough about breastfeeding.
Katie makes the cutest faces and sounds, it's so fun to watch.
She sleeps really well, although she pretty much refuses to sleep alone.
We can lay her in the bassinet, but she'll only sleep there for a few minutes before she starts squirming a ton and making sad noises.
She much prefers to sleep being held or just being close to us, so we've been co-sleeping a bit.
I don't really mind because I love having her so close to me!
She's just so warm and cuddly. :)
Brad absolutely loves her which makes me love him even more.
How sweet is this?
That's her favorite way to sleep and if I lay her on my chest she immediately tucks up her legs and falls asleep.
It's so cute.
Just thinking about it makes me smile.
She is just the sweetest little girl.

Katie Corinne Odasso

It all started on Tuesday night.
I had been having on and off, non painful contractions all Tuesday, but by Tuesday night they started to become fairly regular, at least one every 20 minutes or so.
(Bytheway, my mom arrived on Sunday and was staying with us.)
Around 10 pm, I decided to start keeping track of them.
Somewhere around 1 in the morning, they were 3 minutes away and pretty uncomfortable.
I went into the living room and woke up my mom, who told me that I still had a long ways to go, so I decided to try and get some sleep.
Around 4 in the morning I woke up because they had become painful.
Everyone got up and dressed and we stuck around the apartment until 5:30ish when we decided to head to the hospital.
After all, they were every 3 minutes, lasting about a minute each, and strong.
Sounds like we should have been heading to the hospital, right?
Well, we got there and I had one walking up the the front doors, I had one while we were checking in, I had one while I was changing into a robe, and then I got on the exam table and they completely stopped.
They had me walk around for a while to see if my contractions would start up again, but they didn't and finally Dr. Allred came and sent me home, basically saying that it was false labor.
I know this was my first baby, but that labor was not false!
Anyway, the rest of the day, Wednesday, was spent walking as much as possible with my mom to try and start things up again.
Unfortunately, I only had maybe 3 contractions the entire day.
Lame, right?
I went to sleep and woke up Thursday morning with wet thighs.
For the next hour or so, I could feel liquid kinda seeping if I moved to much or leaned forward or something, and I grew concerned that I might have been leaking amniotic fluid.
We went into the clinic and Dr. Allred tested me and didn't find any amniotic fluid present, but they did an ultrasound anyway.
What he found was that I was pretty low on fluid and that perhaps there was a tear high on the uterus or that the baby's head was sealing off the hole, so that's why they couldn't detect any of the fluid or whatever.
He told me that because the fluid was low, I could either go to the hospital right then and get things going with Pitocin, or try and walk around for a couple of hours and get labor going.
If the walking didn't work, I needed to go into the hospital anyway so they could give me Pitocin.
He was worried that if my water had indeed broken or I had a tear, that the baby was at risk for infection and since it had already been 6 hours or so since it might have happened, that I needed to have the baby as soon as possible.
We decided to try walking, so my mom, Brad and I walked downtown Rexburg for a few hours, then went home, had dinner, and went to the hospital around 6:30 because I'd had a few contractions, but not regular.

Now, I really wanted natural childbirth, but I had accepted that if something went wrong, or either myself or the baby were at risk, medical intervention would be completely understandable and accepted.
Because the fluid was low and because my labor was being so wacky, I said ok to the Pitocin.
Before the finally gave it to me, my contractions started to be fairly strong and regular, but they gave it to me anyway.
As soon as it kicked in, my contractions didn't hurt at all!
Haha!
Anyway, the Doc came in a while later and found the membranes to still be intact or whatever, so he broke em and took me off of the Pitocin.
Then things started to REALLY hurt.
The timeline of the next few hours is pretty unclear but at some point, my mom let them give me some IV drugs!
I was a little sad that Brad hadn't stuck up for me and said "she doesn't want any drugs!" because I was a little vulnerable and totally let it happen but oh well.
That's why I will definitely have a midwife next time.
The drugs, Fetanyl or something, didn't really seem to be doing anything and the pain started to become almost unbearable.
I knew it was going to hurt beyond anything I could have imagined, and sure enough it did.
I was clasping onto Brad as if I was about to die, biting his hoody and crying and yelling at my mom and saying crazy things.
I vaguely remember saying things like "I don't believe in natural childbirth!" and "Give me something!"
I told Brad so many times beforehand that he needed to be strong for me because I knew the pain would probably get to my head, but I know it was hard for him to see me in pain, so he signed the paper to let them give me an epidural.
I was 7 or 8 cm dilated and definitely in hard, HARD labor with contractions 1 minute apart, but they were going to give it to me anyway.
20 minutes later, this Nazi like Anesthesiologist came in to drug me up.
After having to hold completely still through 2 extremely painful contractions, he was done.
A while after that, I was able to sleep for the next hour or so, which was the one thing about the epidural that I am really grateful for.
I think I could have handled the rest of the pain and the delivery and everything natural, but being able to rest and sleep for a bit was the most wonderful thing.
I was SO exhausted.
I woke up because I started to be able to feel each contraction a little bit in my pelvis, so I started pushing against them.
Finally I got up all the way and told them I was ready to really push.
And so it began.
3 hours.
I must say, it didn't feel like 3 hours to me.
Maybe only half an hour.
It was really difficult for the first while because I couldn't really feel what I was pushing!
Stupid epidural.
I decided to lay on my side instead because that's how I was when I was sleeping and able to feel the contractions.
Sure enough, laying on my side helped me feel when the contraction was coming on and when I needed to push.
It was when the head was finally visible that I could really push better.
I got back on my back when the doctor came in, and he flipped her head into the right position (she had been facing my hips rather than my back), and helped get her outta there.
I guess her head had been really blue and when I got her head out, the cord was around her neck. :(
After getting the shoulders out (which hurt more than the head and was what actually made me rip a tiny bit) she slid out and they placed her on my stomach.
She was so beautiful.
Brad started crying and almost instantly every pain and discomfort I had been feeling was gone!
The wiped her off while she was on my tummy and the doctor gave me one or two stitches and then... life was wonderful.



After Brad cut the cord and after we enjoyed her for a bit, I let them take her to get her weighed and measured and all that good stuff.
7 lbs, 14 oz.
20 inches long.
5:32 a.m.

The next few hours are also kind of hazy.
Pictures being taken, starting to breastfeed, first bath...
I had to wait two hours in bed until the epidural wore off and then a nurse came in who helped me to the bathroom and take a shower and then they moved us into the Mother and Baby unit.
Once there, we pretty much just chilled for the next 24 hours.
I was so, so, so tired and tried to sleep as much as possible, but the darn hospital isn't very accommodating when it comes to rest.
Someone came into the room at least every 2 hours, checking one thing or another.
It was super annoying and I wish we had just been able to go home right away, but the hospitals want to check every little thing, multiple times for hours and hours (and make more money at the same time) so we had to stay.
At least the steak and shrimp dinner that Brad and I got that night were pretty good.




Isn't that just the best sight ever?


Shortly after the birth, my mom went back to our apartment to get some sleep (she had stayed up all night, unlike me with my epidural), but came back and was with us for most of the day.
Cynthia and Stephanie came and visited around 11 and then my brother came by around 3, followed by Daryn around 3:30.
Thanks for the visits everyone!
After Brad and I had dinner at 5, he headed home to shower and get his laptop and while he was gone, I decided to take a nice long shower at the hospital.
After he got back and I was done with my shower, my mom headed back to our apartment for the night.
We didn't get much sleep that night, especially when a nurse came in to take blood from my arm at 6 a.m!
After telling them at 8:30 that we'd like to leave as soon as possible, we didn't end up being able to leave until after 11.
I guess there was a lot of other babies they were getting checked out in the nursery or something.
Finally, we were able to go home.
My mom left to start heading back to Cali shortly after we got home and settled in.
She was such a great help for the week and i'm so glad she was able to be here.
She would have stayed longer, but she said we really didn't need any more help and that we seemed to have everything under control, unlike other of her children when they became first time moms :) Haha. So she left to make it to her meetings in church tomorrow.
It's been absolutely great since we've been home.
I've taken a few naps and Katie has been sleeping and eating quite a bit.
She is so cute and we love to just look at her.
And she loves to look at us!
She'll stay awake for long periods of time and just look around, it's so adorable.
She pretty much doesn't cry ever and loves to snuggle.
We're still working on the breastfeeding thing, but i'm sure we'll get it down in the next few days.
Brad has been changing most of the diapers, which I think is perfectly fair, since breastfeeding has been very, very painful.
It's supposed to get better in the next couple days, so i've just got to bear through it.
Man, mom's do so much.
Go tell yours that you love her!
We absolutely love our little girl and are so happy to finally have her home with us.
Thank you to everyone for your love and support and y'all are free to hold her anytime! (If we actually know you that is, considering this is out in the blogging world for anyone to read.)

Things I've Learned from Being Pregnant

First and foremost:
Husbands are the
Best
Thing
EVER.
He rubs my back, rubs my feet, paints my toenails, holds me up while I try to put my pants on, fills up the bathtub for me, makes me breakfast in bed, picks things up off the floor, helps me get off the couch, holds my hair back when I throw up, and kisses and touches my belly lovingly all the time. :)

Second:
As soon as people notice my belly, the conversation will only be about pregnancy/the baby. I'm so appreciative of the people who talk to me about normal, everyday things!

Third:
I will never ask another pregnant woman "How are you feeling?" I've heard this question more times than I even want to imagine. The thought is nice, but no matter how I answer, no one is satisfied! If I say "I'm feeling great today!" they'll be surprised and ask if it's true and why aren't the other days great, and etc... If I say i'm "ok" or "alright" or "just fine" then they'll try and delve deeper into why i'm not feeling on top of the world. Here's a hint, if i'm laughing and smiling and walking normal, I'm having a good day. If I look tired, am holding my belly and waddling, and am not wearing any makeup, i'm probably not feeling so great.

Fourth:
There are some foods I will never look at the same again. Once you've seen how it looks after being digested for a bit, you never forget.

Fifth:
Apparently, intense physical pain is just another part of life.

Sixth:
It is very important to keep a good supply of toilet paper in the house, along with snack foods and antacids.

Seventh:
My face is going to look fat in every picture taken during the last trimester, no matter the angle or lighting. It's unavoidable. And because everyone wants to take pictures of me and my belly, i've learned to just grin and bear it, despite the fact that I will not be pleased with how my face looks.

Eighth:
Taking time for myself is IMPORTANT. Sitting in a bubble bath with an ice cold Shirley Temple and listening to Maria Mena has been one pastime that has been an absolute lifesaver when this whole pregnancy thing leaves me feeling tired, achy, and overwhelmed. Taking 10 minutes to actually do my makeup and wearing heels to church boost my confidence like nothing else.

Ninth:
I love pillows.

Tenth:
Feeling my baby move inside me in response to Brad's voice is the most wonderful feeling in the world. She's not even here yet, but she still knows him and recognizes him. How amazing is that?! It just makes me feel like we're all so much more of a family.


I'm sure there are plenty more things I could list, but there's ten for ya.
I've only got about a week left of being pregnant, hopefully, and while I can't say that i'll miss it, I will say that there have been some good times, some wonderful feelings, and life lessons learned.
All in all, i'm excited for our next baby, but will definitely give myself a nice big break before I have to be pregnant again.

Can I vent for a bit?

I am so frustrated with our upstairs neighbors.
First of all, let me say that the couple who lived above us last semester were pretty loud.
They exercised in their apartment everyday and tended to vacuum around 10:30 at night 2 or 3 times a week.
While I often complained to Brad about the noise, I never talked to the couple about it because it really wasn't annoying enough to start something over.
And then the current couple moved in.
I honestly think that they couldn't possibly be any louder.
I'm not sure whether they are just constantly wearing work boots and high heels as they walk around, or have hearing problems and need to have their TV turned way up, or if their front door gets stuck so they need to shut it really hard, or what...
But they are very loud.
I've been getting more and more annoyed as the weeks have gone on, and especially as they've done exercises that involve jumping while we're watching Lost or the Office at 8 o'clock at night.
And especially on the rare occasion I go to bed before midnight and I can't sleep because it sounds like they are stomping around or jumping on the bed.
Unfortunately, my prego hormones kind of increase my emotions ten-fold, so this weekend I finally boiled over.
I wrote them a note addressing the noise issue and left it at their door.
I will admit, it was pretty passive-aggressive and because they don't know me or my sense of humor, they apparently thought it was "extremely rude" and decided to write us a note back.
Now, I was expecting them to perhaps apologize for the noise, explain that they didn't know how loud their everyday activity was sounding to us, and maybe sympathize with the fact that I am 9 months pregnant and barely sleep as it is.
But no.
They write back with all this crud about how they are "never up past 10" and never exercise "later than 7pm" (which are both bull) and how they choose to live here, as do we, which is why they would never complain to their neighbors.
They suggested we take some of their "options into consideration" in the following list that they so nicely listed.
1. Find different apartments with better insulation
2. Move to an empty apartment on the third floor
3. Invest in ear plugs.
Maybe it's just me, or is that SO RUDE?!
Perhaps my initial note was a little too bold, but I tried to let them know in it that complaining is not something I would normally do and I was only doing so because it really had gotten to a point where I couldn't handle it anymore.
Brad practically told me that I shouldn't be angry they wrote such a mean note back because of what I had written in the first place.
But I would not have written the note if they hadn't been so rude for the past month and a half!
Anyway, I wrote another note today that I really wish I could give to them, but Brad won't let me.
In it, I apologized for the first note and the fact that they didn't understand the jokes I made about what sounds like sumo wrestling and roller blading.
I explained that even regular things like closing kitchen cupboards or a lively conversation can be heard by us downstairs, so if they could keep their activity to a minimum during the apartment quiet hours, it would be greatly appreciated.
I also pointed out that they ARE up past ten because I can clearly hear them walking around, watching TV, running the dishwasher, etc.. and they I know they did whatever jumping exercises they do past 7, because it was the most annoying while trying to watch Lost on Tuesday from 8-9.
Yes, this second note is definitely more upfront than the first one, but it's because their response just makes me so angry!
I tried to be as lighthearted as I could while still trying to make them understand that they are really, really loud, but I guess that's pretty hard to do without some types of people getting offended.
Anyway, I wrote a new note that is very short, basically saying that I'm sorry for the first note and that I just wanted to point out that what can sounds like normal noises to them can sound very loud to us and asked if they could keep their noise level to an minimum during quiet hours.
I figure i'll leave it outside their door with some brownies or something.
The real me would very much like to give them my original response note and maybe even complain to the managers, but because Brad thinks that this whole thing is stupid and pointless and doesn't want to have to apologize for my behavior, i'll try and just back down and let the rude people continue being rude.
BUT if they ever wake our baby up while she's sleeping, Brad is not gonna stop me from letting the anger fly.

Getting Closer

2 weeks left!
2 weeks until the due date that is.
Who knows when she'll actually decide to come.

This week has been a busy one for Brad.
He's been meeting with a lot of different people about jobs and internships, which is exciting.
He also had a tooth pulled out on Tuesday that had been bugging him for days and at the same time, they fixed the crack in his tooth so he no longer looks like a hillbilly! Haha.

Tomorrow should be a fun day.
Other than it being the two year anniversary of our first date, there's quite a bit going on.
We'll be heading to St. Anthony in the morning for the Free Fisherman's Community Breakfast.
I guess there will be awards for local people and it's the start of fishing season or something, but we'll be going for the free pancakes and bacon. :)
After that, we'll get more free food for lunch!
The company Brad is interviewing at today holds a free lunch on Fridays, so we'll head over there and show everyone how pregnant I am so that maybe they'll be more likely to hire the guy with the pregnant wife.
Next up in the day will be, hopefully, my second to last doctor's appointment.
I'm going to ask them to check if i'm dilated and maybe I will be a little bit!
Friday night is the Farmer's Market of course, and I haven't missed a week yet, so we'll check that out.
Maybe they'll finally have some fresh produce?

Other than all of that, we're pretty much just hanging out at home, waiting for our little girl to arrive.
I've definitely reached a point where I am bored out of my mind most of the day, so having a new baby should be a welcome addition to our home to keep me busy.
We just can't wait. :D

16 Days?

It's something like 16 days until my due date.
Craziness!
It's so exciting and I keep waiting for that scared/worried feeling everyone keeps talking about, but it hasn't come!
I'm not scared or worried at all.
Unexplainably (is that a word?) intense labor pains? Bring it on!
Squeezing a human head out of my body? Let's go!
Brad and I are both just so ready for her to be here.
We love her so much and we can't wait.

This blog won't be very long because I guess i'm just not in the mood to type, but I thought I should at least give a little update.

My friends in our ward threw me a baby shower on the 16th and it was lots of fun.
We played baby games and opened presents and ate sweets.
I think decorating and thinking up things to go along with the theme "She's Ready to POP!" with Cynthia and Stephanie was probably the most fun.
I love being able to use my creative side sometimes.

We also had a girl's night with many of the same girls who came to my shower.
We went this past Saturday and saw Letters to Juliet (which was really good) and then had ice cream at Dairy queen afterwards.
So fun.
I love my girl friends up here!

Last Friday was yet another check-up.
They did my group b strep test the week before, so I found out at this last appt that it was negative.
The doc also told me that my rib probably isn't cracked (Um, yes it is dude. This is NOT just "ligament pain" or "the baby kicking." Trust me, I have already experienced what those feel like.) and told me to just take Tylenol.
I think i've taken so much Tylenol this pregnancy that i'm becoming immune.
Can't you tell me some natural ways to help rather than just telling me to take drugs whenever I have a pain?!
Oh well.

I've had some "my body is preparing for labor" signs the last couple days, but because some people are apparently easily grossed out, I won't share them with you.
Funny thing, I posted on Facebook about losing a certain "plug" and someone in the ward interpreted that as "Kim's water broke" and because Brad and I didn't make it to church yesterday, the Relief Society presidency assumed I was in labor at the hospital and was going to pass around a sign up sheet to make meals for us!
Haha!
I guess some of my friends in the ward were like "No. Kim would have told us if she were in labor. She would have texted us" and stuff along those lines.
And it's so true!
So no worries to anyone.
Once i'm headed to the hospital, I'll probably mass text it and Facebook it on Brad's phone. Haha.

Brad's had an AWFUL toothache all weekend, and it just makes me want to cry.
I've never seen him so pitiful and their really isn't anything I can do.
He's been using orajel and taking pain meds but they really don't help too much.
Luckily, he was able to make a Dentist appt for tomorrow, so hopefully they can fix him up.
We can't really afford the dental bills right now, but that's what paying tithing and having faith are for, right?
Speaking of which, Brad has an interview at some place later this week, will probably meet with his advisor about an internship sometime this week, and got a call from Meleleuca today about an application he submitted.
Finding a job in this town is so hard, so please keep us in your prayers!

I guess that update was longer than I thought it would be.
Hopefully my next post will be more exciting or interesting though.
Adios!

Mother MAY I?

May is here already?
Guess what?
That means I am having a baby NEXT MONTH.
Cynthia and Stephanie have been planning a baby shower for me, and i've been able to help out.
It's been fun and we made and delivered the invitations the last few days.
Mother's Day was yesterday and was my first Mother's day as a mother!
(I think of myself as a mother already because only a mother could handle this pregnancy.)
I was so proud of myself because I was actually able to make it through all of church!
Sure, I was gone in the bathroom for half of the 3 hour block, but still!
Sadly, I left during sacrament meeting to throw up and pick something up from home that I forgot and I ended up missing the boys singing a song for Mother's Day!
Sorry I missed your singing Brad!
He does have the best voice. :)
After church, Brad gave me an apron!
Yay!
Seriously, I have been wanting to get one for the longest time and just never did.
He also got me some skittles, which are already about gone.
Thanks hubby!
Sunday night I made some BBQ drumsticks and invited Paul over to eat with us.
We had to wait a while because the darn chicken took twice as long to cook as the recipe said, so we just hung out and then watched Minute to Win It!
That show is awesome; everyone should watch it!
Mother's Day also marked exactly one month until my due date.
Crazy that it's coming up so fast.
I would really like if our little one came a few days early, but a tiny part of me really doesn't.
You see... Apparently there is a ward camp-out June 4th-5th and I would REALLY like to go.
And since Brad says there is no way we're taking a newborn on a camp-out (what a party pooper), i'll just have to hope that she won't have come yet.
Brad's been job searching and has an interview Thursday.
Unfortunately it's for an unpaid internship, but if he could get his internship out of the way this summer then that means we could actually be out of Rexburg by next summer.
My belly is still getting bigger and bigger and I'm scared my belly button is going to pop out!
I've stayed an innie this whole time, so maybe I can make it another month. Haha.
My doctor told me to take Zantac everyday, because i've been so sick and heartburn-y, and it seems to be helping, but only sometimes.
Speaking of doctors, I'm down to seeing them every week now.
It's kind of annoying and tedious, but oh well.
My Group B Strep test is this Friday and maybe he'll check me out and say i'm dialated and ready to go!
Wouldn't that be awesome?
Alright, i'm starting to ramble.
I'll try and blog some recent pictures later this week as well as how my test went.