Charles the Magnificent

Here are some more pictures of Charles Isaiah in his first couple weeks of life! He makes us happy. If you have taken some good pictures while visiting, we would love you to send them our way!

 squishy:

banded together:

 

 magical glowing baby:

at the hospital:

 Mom got yummy hospital food:

 Cousin Will!

Newborn Drollette

This is our family! He was born after one. Weighing in at 8 pounds 9 ounces and measuring 20 inches long.

Easter Time!

We enjoyed watching General Conference last week, at home on Saturday and at Grandma Poulsen's house on Sunday. It seemed like almost every talk addressed new parents and the joy and responsibility of having children! Hurray! We were sorry to see that Grandma was a sick but have been glad to hear that she went to the hospital and it is taken care of. Uncle Chris is taking great care of her.

We are also impressed with the new bible videos and have been having fun checking for new ones every few days. I think my favorite one for Easter is "Jesus is Resurrected," because that event was so wonderful, and I like the way the actress for Mary expressed the feeling of seeing the resurrected Savior.

It was great to be together and do some fun things; this is our Easter feast!
We had shredded chicken sandwiches with cheese and lettuce, mmm, and the drink is orange kool-aid with frozen berries, which also deserves an mmm.

Here I am telling the baby how adorable he is. It's true. I feel high levels of adorable babyness in there.

We dyed eggs, a favorite tradition of mine. See the fun we had:

Yep, that's the Boeing symbol! Most of you know, but I haven't mentioned on the blog, that we will be moving to Everett, Washington for Aaron to start working at Boeing. He starts May 11. All our wildest dreams are coming true :)

Last but not least, three more pictures showing my enlargement:

34 weeks:

38 weeks:

39 weeks:

hahaha

Stillness

It has now been about a month since my preterm-labor excitement, and there is about another month until our due date.

Baby is still inside! (Though he is certainly not holding still in there).
I am still:


Rosie's preferred spot is under the blanket, on or by my legs. She loves when I hold still long enough for her to take a good nap.

It's a funny situation we live in; I could have a baby today, or in a month. Contractions have been coming anywhere from 10 minutes to 4 hours apart. Aaron and I have to be ready to go at any point, but also ready to wait and keep doing normal things as much as possible.

Of course, the most important thing is this little baby! We thought he would have come by now but we are so glad he is still developing in my nice warm cocoon. At this point all his systems are in working order, but he should build up brain and fat for a few more weeks.

As humans, we like being in control and knowing what is going to happen. The whole process of pregnancy teaches us to accept the unexpected, be ready, and wait. (At times perhaps also to expect the unaccepted? I don't feel that way much though).

A couple favorite scriptures:

" Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." Doctrine and Covenants 123:17

"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Isaiah 40:11

I am thankful that Heavenly Father has a plan! I am thankful for my ward, my family, and most of all my Aaron. I am also thankful for my dog, my ukulele, my fridge, and my internet connection.

One birthday celebrated, another delayed

Aaron's birthday came on February 5th, and we celebrated it with some decorations, little gifts and yummy food. Here is the 25-year-old himself, with dog.

Here is the cake!Another pregnancy photo, at about 28 weeks:

On February 16, during the night I woke up feeling like I had cramps, a constant tight feeling. The feeling matched with contractions but contractions are supposed to last only about a minute, come and go, and at 31 weeks pregnant only come once in a while if at all. Aaron gave me a blessing, we waited a while for it to stop, but after I threw up we called the doctor, who said to go in to Labor and Delivery, so off we went!

Once we found the labor and delivery area, they hooked me up to monitors and started taking tests. It was fun to hear and see the baby's heartbeat and the ups and downs of my contractions. Less fun was getting some urine to check for infection, finding out how dilated and effaced I was, and something called a fetal fibronectin test that checks for a protein that shows up 1-3 weeks before going into labor. Results of those tests: baby heartbeat good, contractions every 2 1/2 minutes (in real labor they are usually 3-5 minutes apart), no infection, 1 1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, and the fetal fibronectin test had a problem and couldn't be read. They put an IV in to give me fluids because throwing up had dehydrated me, gave 3 shots of Brethine (weird stuff that made me shake all over, but stopped the contractions) and a shot of Betamethasone (helps the baby's lungs in case he is born early).

The doctor and nurse told me to stay in bed on Thursday and come in on Friday morning for another Betamethasone shot and fetal fibronectin test. The fetal fibronectin test came back positive, which means I was at risk for having water break and going into labor within the next few weeks. Possible causes: dehydration, working too much and putting too much pressure on the cervix. My guess is that it was (at least partly) those two long school meetings I had on Wednesday sitting on hard chairs. Anyway, I don't have to sit in any more meetings because I am now permanently a stay at home mom! Yay! I am not supposed to sit upright or stand at all except to go to the bathroom or eat. Bedrest gets boring occasionally but if it keeps little boy in there until he is more developed, it will be good. The nurse said if the baby is born after 34 weeks he will probably be ok to take home from the hospital. We are almost there! Of course, full term would be ideal and that is still 6 weeks away.

Aside from the risk of premature birth, it was kind of fun to get a taste of the labor and delivery rooms, equipment and procedures, and even the feeling of starting to go into labor. We feel more prepared. I am very thankful for priesthood blessings, medical care and good family and friends. Aaron is very sweetly taking care of me. We are sure that whatever happens it will be ok.

Notice our cute bassinet and my new ukulele on the side table! I have had plenty of time to play it.

Holidays continued

We flew to Oregon for a delightful Christmas break. Rosie traveled well and loved the excitement of a busy extended family and being with people all day. All 7 siblings in my family and our spouses and kids were able to be together this year, which is wonderful. We played games, cooked for each other, told the story of Jesus' birth, sang, talked, relaxed, and played with the nieces and nephews! Some sicknesses went around, but we enjoyed the time together very much. A glimpse of our Christmas morning:

Will and Grandpa enjoying a big apple:

I am still growing. Here's 24 weeks:

This tag was a gift from Nathan. It says "Future Missionary." :)

The rare occasions of being all together call for family photos! These show the pretty green and wet of a mild Portland winter. I love these funny people!

I feel very blessed to have been able to spend the holidays with Aaron and our families in Wyoming for Thanksgiving and Oregon for Christmas. It was nice to focus a little more on the Savior in celebrating his coming to the earth. I am excited for a new year and new goals. I'm thankful that my pregnancy is going well, that our new ward is good, and that we always have new opportunities. Life is lovely.

Holidays part 1

Here are some pictures of what is happening in our life this time of the year:

We went to Star valley for Thanksgiving! It was beautiful and fantastic to be with our family there. We feasted on delicious food, played games, watched the 6 yorkies play with each other, and rested from work. So great!

20 Weeks


17 Weeks


Ultrasound of the baby at 22 weeks. It's a boy! I know we would have been excited if it was a girl, but we are super excited that it is a boy. It's just cool knowing, being able to cut our list of names in half, choose colors for things, call him "him" instead of "it" and think of his future more specifically.


Savior of the World Play stage that we were part of in the beginning of this month. Being in the play was a cool way to make friends in our stake, learn more about the Christmas story and Jewish customs of the times (such as, swaddling bands weren't crude strips of cloth but pretty bands that the bride embroidered during the year-or-so long betrothal, that were wrapped around the bride and groom's hands at the wedding and then used to wrap their newborn children). We enjoyed looking down as "angels" from the choir stand on the events.

I (Aaron) am done now with finals, and can relax and figure out what to do next while Corinne finishes up teaching before the holidays.

We moved to Spanish Fork, on short notice--we just realized that it would be a lot easier to commute for next semester if we are there, and we can escape the plumbing problems in our old apartment. I think management will be a lot better in our new one.

We will be going to Oregon for Christmas next week. We are looking forward to it. Happy holidays everyone!