garrett family

welcome elias william garrett!

the contractions were averaging about 4 minutes apart and aaron and i decide to call the hospital. the clinic nurse said that we could come in and get checked out to see how far along i was in my labor. once we arrived i was, to my sirprise, only 3cm and 100% effaced. the MD decided to do a non stress test to see how the baby was handling the contractions. the test showed that the baby was fine but not optimally handling the contractions so the MD on call decided to admit us and break my water to get this show on the road.

this is me all gowned up and hooked up to the monitor before my water broke (still smiling)! once my water broke, there was no turning back. the contractions were way more intense and coming about 2 minutes apart. after a couple of hours of some good labor i finally opted for the epidural.

and now i am smiling again :) i was checked soon after the epidural was in place and was 5cm! we were headed in the right direction. pitocin was started to help my contractions and i was periodically checked throughout the night. all the while, my family was on the road from california! my dad, mom, and sister arrived at the hospital around 10pm and i was about 7cm dilated, then 9cm, then 9.5cm, and then i just stayed there. 9.5cm for 4 hours. one last check to see if i was complete at 10cm or else we were heading into a c-section. but alas, 10cm i was and we were going to begin pushing. the plan was to push for up to 2 hours. the labor class we took did a great job preparing us how to breath through the pain and gave us info on pain management options. but the actual pushing is a whole different ball game. after that first push i turned to aaron out of breath and said, "this is really hard! it is going to be a long 2 hours." and it was because 2 hours turned into 4 hours! at this point, the on-call MD went home and my primary OB arrived on shift. she was great and we really worked hard to push this baby out. but finally, she made the call to go ahead with the c-section because my pelvis wasn't big enough to let this baby through.

here i am being wheeled to the OR and i dont know if you can tell in this picture but i was feeling nothing at this point. its amazing what some concentrated lidocaine and morphine can do! i literally couldn't even lift my head and could barely keep my eyes open. but i was still fully aware of what was going on and the excitement was overflowing. aaron was able to be in the OR with me and brought his camera along to capture one of the best moments in our lives. here are some shots.

through the sterile field window you can see them pulling the baby out and bulb suctioning him. his cry was such a glorious sound :)

elias william garrett
8 lbs. 7 oz. <-- this was a shocker to everyone in that operating room. no wonder he couldn't fit! 21 inches long

the c-section went without complication and we settled back into the labor suite. grandma, grandpa, and auntie were waiting anxiously to meet the newest member of our family.

it was a big day for everyone, especially elias. he was such a champ and tolerated the 28 hours of labor, surgery, and even his first bath! i wrote in my previous blog that we were so excited to meet the feet to fill this pair of cute green socks. well here they are!

we stayed in the hospital for two days and were blessed to have visitors come by.

my aunt and uncle and 2 kids were vacationing in WA and were able to stop by!

aaron, elias, and i had a great experience at evergreen hospital. we loved all of the staff and couldn't say enough good things about our OB doc. all that to say...we were ready to go home!

going into 39 weeks!

we spent the afternoon at carkeek park at the EHS company picnic. it was a beautiful day and a beautiful park and with delicious catered food.

we couldn't resist!

and we have a praise! aaron had a 90 review at his work and it went great! of course i knew they would love him, but it is truly a praise to God that he has found favor there and has been working during a time when the architecture field is still fragile.

and lastly... i am heading into 39 weeks. i cant believe it has already been practically 9 months in waiting and counting. and it really can be any day now. my OB appointment today revealed that i am 2cm dilated, 90% effaced, and our baby is at -1 station. station refers to where the baby's head is in relation to the pelvis. it typically goes from -3 (baby's head floating above the pelvis) to +3 (head out of pelvis).

all to say...we are heading in the right direction! aaron and i are so excited and still amazed that we will have this little miracle in our lives very soon :)

"this is what summer is all about"

...aaron said as he wrapped corn on the cob in foil and put them on the grill. yes, though cloudy part of the days and with random sprinkles of rain, the sun and summer is here. and we have been enjoying grilling with friends and family. this past weekend, gabby and katie drove up from california with our baby shower gifts in toe, which was a blessing. we washed all the cute clothes and blankets and are ready to meet the feet that will fill these :)

after a quick weekend of touring around the city, gabby and katie headed back to the golden state and i headed into my first official week off of work!

i didnt think 38 weeks pregnant would feel any different, but oh as each day passes by, my belly grows and it is quite uncomfortable! i really couldnt imagine doing my job in this size and am thankful that i dont have to :)

and this weekend aaron and i went on the hunt to find blackberries. we started driving east on i-90. we found a plethora of blackberry bushes but all the berries were green. but we took advantage of the 80+ degree weather and pulled off the road to lake keechelus.

apparently this is a lake/reservoir that is part of the columbia river basin and feeds the yakima river. it felt cold on my feet but aaron and bandit still went in all the way!

and with a sunburn already formed, we all got back into the car and went back home. we stopped by luther burbank park just to see if our own berry bushes were producing ready to eat blackberries...and they were! we picked over a pound of great looking blackberries! it is so addicting to pick berries, and so satisfying getting a bag filled.

next on the list is blackberry puff pastries :)

home stretch- 36 weeks!

this past thursday marked the day that we are 36 weeks pregnant and considered full term! we had a jammed packed weekend, again with beautiful sunshine! friday i was completely blessed by friends who threw aaron and i a baby shower. it was a great night to be outside in the backyard of my co-worker's house- we spent the evening eating good bbq, red cabbage salad, fruit, and homemade snicker doodles; we had good conversation and laughs, and played some fun games.

saturday was the 1st of 2 sessions for our labor and birth class. it was actually quite informative and we will definitely be practicing those breathing techniques.
saturday was also mercer island's 50th birthday which was celebrated with a big fireworks show. the morris' and clark's came over for some jerk chicken, corn on the cob, and marinated shrimp and then we all walked over to luther burbank park to sit on the grassy hill overlooking lake washington with thousands of others. it was one of the best fireworks shows we had ever seen!

sunday was session 2 of our labor and birth class and now we are ready...well, as ready as we are going to be! and yes, the moment i have been waiting for the past 8+months is finally here...wait for it... maternity leave!!! wednesday night will be my last shift of work for what i hope will be a nice long leave :) i just want to put my feet up, do a little nesting and resting, and wait for the day the baby decides to come :)

and my sister and her friend are taking a road trip to drive all of our baby shower gifts up from the bay area and will be here this weekend. now summer can begin, and little baby...you can come anytime now!

summer has come at last!

aaron and i hopped into the car to take advantage of the sunshine that has finally come to the pacific northwest. we headed out to fall city, wa in search of some good food... and we found it at small fryes. after our bacon cheeseburgers, fries that are actually fried in lard, and our chocolate malt (with extra malt of course) we continued our drive up i-90.

next stop was denny creek, a nice mild hike for my 7 1/2 pregnant self. i ended up sitting on a rock while aaron and bandit crossed over the rushing creek to go see these little falls.

and our day ended soaking up the last bit of sunshine in a small city called tolt. our walk was very pleasant and in addition to the nice fresh air and relaxing noises, we acquired multiple mosquito bites- i would say summer is here (at the beginning of july)!

the next day we drove to a strawberry patch and picked 2 1/2 pounds of fresh strawberries and paid $2.50. and i sure got my squats in :) the strawberries were much smaller than one would find at the grocery store but they were very flavorful.

it was a another beautiful day and we drove and drove and drove. did i mention we bought a new car? yep, i feel like such a grown up! here it is pictured below. we traded in the mustang and were completely blessed by finding such a good deal on this X3. we are so thankful that we have a reliable and safe vehicle before our little boy is born.