Max at 9 months

Maxwell is now 9 months old. How did that happen? No seriously. It feels like yesterday he was lying on my chest, unable to lift his head and sleep longer than a couple of hours.

He is very mobile the last few weeks. He crawls all over the apartment like a champion. He couldn't figure out crawling for a long time. He did the army crawl/scoot for a couple of weeks before he figured out the full crawl. He is also very good at cruising around on the edges of furniture. He has even figured out how to get from standing to crawling position without falling and hitting his head. Which is good, because I am fairly sure he had a concussion last week. He was crawling around at the church as I was cleaning up after a fundraiser. He made his way to a trash can and tried to stand up. He pulled it down on top of himself and hit his head on that hard floor.

Maxwell Rao Kurth

On Friday, August 6, 2010 at 7:18 pm a miracle happened; His name is Maxwell Rao Kurth. He entered the world weighing 8 lb. 10 oz. and 20 in. long.

Max was due to be her on August 2nd. That day came and went and no Max. Luckily I had an appointment with Dr. Juarez on the 5th. At the appointment he told us that there were two options: 1). Wait another week, wait and see if he comes on his own or 2.) induce labor.

I said, "Do I get to choose? If it's my choice I'd like to induce." I didn't want to wait for Max to decide he was ready. I WAS READY. School was over so I didn't have to worry about my class or substitute plans. I wanted to meet my son! I wanted him to be here while my mom was in town. I didn't want to run the risk of him coming really late and my mom being gone by the time he got here. So Dr. Juarez called the hospital and set up an appointment for me to go in and be induced.

We went out on a date that night because we figured it would be the last time we would have alone time together for a long time.

On Friday morning at 8:00 we went to St. Rose Dominica Hospital -Sienna Campus. We were taken to the room where we would spend the rest of the day. I changed into my gown and they put an IV in my hand which administered Pitocin (a hormone used to induce labor) and fluids to keep me hydrated. I laid in bed and waited. They had monitors hooked up to me to monitor the baby's heart and my heart. As well as monitors detecting contractions length and frequency. Taney seemed to enjoy watching the monitors that showed when I was having contractions.

We spent the day reading together, napping, watching TV...and waiting. We were both anxious and excited to meet our son.

At about noon our nurse came in and told me she was going to break my water. I was excited at the though, in my mind water breaking was the real beginning of the process. She broke my water at 12:15. It was one of the weirdest feelings ever. I had no idea that it would be that much liquid. She told me that anesthesiologist would be right in. He ended up having to go into an emergency C-section so he didn't come to give me the epidural until about 12:45. It was the longest half hour of my life.

Before she broke my water I was having contractions, but the weren't really painful, they weren't even really uncomfortable. But that half hour between when she broke my water and when the epidural came was pretty uncomfortable. I was pretty happy to see The Epidural Man.

Within a few minutes I was beginning to feel less and less of my lower body. It wasn't long before I couldn't feel my legs at all. The nurse came back in about an hour later to have me roll over on one side. I was shocked that I couldn't even roll over on my own. My legs were so heavy.

I napped and watched TV for another few hours. I watched the contractions getting closer and closer on the machine, but I couldn't really feel them. They watched me closely and we all waited for the little man to make his entrance.

At about 6:35 the nurse came back in and told me we wee going to practice pushing. She explained to Taney what she needed him to do and she explained to us what was going to happen. We practiced pushing and during the next few contractions we started to push. They called Dr. Juarez and he got there about five minutes to seven. I started pushing right away and pushed through every contraction.

I couldn't see anything that was happening, so I gauged what was going on by the look on Taney's face. Earlier in the day the nurse had told me they would probably have to do an episiotomy, so I was prepared for that, but apparently Taney missed that conversation. So he was not prepared for what he saw when Dr. Juarez made the incision. Seeing the look on his face freaked me out a little bit. When Max started crowning his face looked a little pale. He was not expecting his head to be so soft.

When Taney's face turned from pale and scared to pink and smiling I knew it was almost over. He saw the face, and head. He had me stop pushing while the doctor was cleaning him out when he decided that he had enough and he was ready to be out. He stuck his arm out and wiggled until he was free.

They took him out and placed him right on my chest. I stared at him and rubbed his little legs as I thought. "That's my baby."

I was grateful I only had to push for 25-30 minutes. The doctor went to hand the scissors to Taney so that he cold cut the umbilical cord. He wasn't really interested. The he offered the scissors to me. I didn't want to do it either, so he cut it and they took the baby over to the other table to be cleaned up and checked out.

Taney went over to be with the baby while the doctor and I finished with everything else. I am sad I didn't get to see it, but Taney tells me that as the nurse was checking him out he showed her that all his boy parts worked by peeing all over.

I knew it wold be more after the baby came out, I just wasn't prepared for hat much more, and I wasn't prepared for how gross it would be. Dr. Juarez was taking care of the afterbirth and such when all of the sudden the placenta squirted all over. He was covered, from neck to knees in blood and grossness.

Once he was all cleaned, checked out and dressed they brought him back to me. I just couldn't stop looking at him and thinking about how beautiful he was.

After the nurses had everything cleaned up they all left the room and let us have some time alone as a new family.

I loved to watch Taney hold him. He's going to be such a great dad.

After Taney got a chance to hold and bond with his son I took back and tried to breastfeed him. I really had no idea what I was doing, but got the hang of it later.

After about an hour our nurse came back and told us that they would be moving us into a room upstairs.

I had to stand up to change my gown, go to the restroom and move to a wheelchair. But there was a problem. I still couldn't feel my legs. I had most of the feeling back in my right leg, but when I tried to stand on my left leg I almost ended up on the floor. So she brought in this "thing" to transport me to the bathroom. It wrapped around me and had these arms that held me butt while I eld on to bicycle type handles in the front. It was all on wheels so I stood on it and she wheeled me into the bathroom. As it turned out my butt was still kind of numb because I couldn't tell if I was sitting on the toilet or not. It was so awkward to have someone standing there, basically teaching me how to pee with the stitches.

We packed up all our stuff, and the baby and we wheeled to the elevators and upstairs. There we met our new nurse and settled into the room where we would spend the remainder of our stay. By this time it was about 10 o'clock and I was exhausted, but wanted to stay awake to see my mom when she got there. Her plane was landing at about 11 o'clock. Taney had planned on going to go get her, but Kari called and offered to pick her up so he cold stay and bond with me and the baby.

He started his bonding time by changing the first diaper. He did it without prompting and without complaint. He's such a good daddy and husband.

After what felt like forever Mom, Kari and Jessica came in. I was so excited to see my mom, and she was so excited to see her grandson.

She held him and had a hard time letting go.

But eventually she let Kari and Jess hold him. After they all three had their fill of Maxwell they went home. I gave mom the keys to my car and my apartment. Kari and Jess took mom back to our apartment and then they went home. I'm glad we have such good friends who act as our family when we're away from family.

It was about 11 o'clock and I finally got some sleep. But shortly after mom left the nurse came back in and had to check my vitals. Then she took Max out to give him a bath. By midnight I was finally asleep. When I woke up Max was asleep next to me in the plastic crib thing. He was beautiful. I went back to sleep until about 4 o'clock when a lab tech came in to take my blood. I tried to go back to sleep after that, but every time Max whimpered I woke up. So I sat and cuddled with him for a long while. I didn't realize it, but I I had been holding him, just looking at him, for several hours. I got up and changed a diaper and got back in bed with him.

We hung out all day. Dr. Juarez came in and gave me the OK to go home 24 hours after delivery. Mom came back and brought me deli sliced ham and crackers. I'd been craving ham because I couldn't have lunch meat while I was pregnant unless it was heated throughly. So I was delighted to eat the ham and crackers. Mom and I just hung out and cuddled with Max. We saw the pediatrician, Dr. Fernandez, in the afternoon and she gave us clearance to go home at 24 hours if we wanted to. Part of me wanted to stay, but the other part of me had cabin fever and needed to get out of that sterile environment.

So at about 7:30 the nurse came in with discharge instructions and papers. She explained everything to me. She took Max out to get his first shot and then we were able to go home.

The first night at home was scary. Mas was cranky because of the shot and he wasn't sleeping AT ALL. He wanted to be held all the time. Taney and I were a little stressed and really tired because we were silly and didn't really sleep in the hospital. We were up almost all night. I knew we'd be tired but I didn't realize how tired. Being up every 2 hours to feed him was overwhelming. I was really glad my mom was there to give us a break. Thanks Mom!

Journal

I'm going to attempt to keep a journal of our life for my son. Since I don't have a good record of keeping an ACTUAL journal I'm going to use this blog to keep records. Wish me luck.

Ultrasounds: The Good, The Bad, and The Messy

Today was my first ultrasound. It was one of the most exciting days of my life thus far.

But it had a serious down side too. They require that you come with a bladder full. So they required me to drink 24 oz. of fluid an hour before my appointment and not pee until after the ultrasound. So, 9:45 I urinated. 10:00 I began drinking water. I drank approximately 30 oz. of water in 20 minutes. I left for the Dr.'s office at 10:50 and arrived at 11:05. I thought I was going to wet myself going over the speed bumps in the parking lot. Unfortunately the ultrasound tech was running behind schedule. My 11:15 appointment didn't begin until 11:30. I told the tech that I didn't know if I'd be able to make it through without wetting myself. She told me she only needed 2 pictures with a full bladder, then I could empty my bladder and we could see pictures of the baby.

I went to sit on the table and seriously thought I was going to lose it. She quickly snapped the 2 pictures she needed then gave me a towel to whip the goopy stuff off my tummy and sent me to the bathroom. I didn't get any of it off, and didn't even zip up my pants. I ran out the door to the bathrooms, AND THEY WERE FULL. At this point I was thinking, "just give me a trash can. I can't hold it any longer." Luckily one of the doors opened just then. HALLELUJAH! And there was much rejoicing!

I went back into the ultra tech room and she gooped up my tummy with that stuff and we looked at Jellybean for 20 minutes. When I first saw that little head I cried. She spent the first 15 minutes taking pictures of his organs, and taking measurements to see how he was growing. The first 15 minutes Jellybean kept legs crossed, and wouldn't turn so we cold see the sex. Then all of the sudden Jellybean did some somersaults and the ultrasound tech said, "Ok, those are boy parts" and she pointed at the screen. I was a little shocked. "Are you sure? I thought for sure it was a girl." She giggled, and he moved, full on crotch shot, "those are definitely boy parts." I thought for sure it was a girl, but I am so happy to have a boy.

I hurried to go see Taney as soon as I got the pictures. He was really excited. I had lunch with him before I had to go back to the Dr. office for my regular OB appointment.

They changed my due date. They don't know if it's because he's developing slower than he should, or if we conceived later than we thought. But we thought I was at 18 weeks 5 days, and the ultrasound had him measured at 17 weeks 1 day. Almost 2 weeks earlier than we thought. So my new due date is August 2. Other than that he is healthy. Amniotic fluids look good, blood flow through the 3 vessel umbilical cord, heart beat is at 143, which is great. All fingers and toes are accounted for. The ultrasound tech also commented on how big his ears looked (not really news I wanted to hear, but at least he's healthy.)

I couldn't stop smiling all day! Seeing the little guy move on the ultrasound made it all seem more real that before.

To celebrate I went thrift shopping with some friends and bought some more boys clothes and baby toys. I'm glad to be surrounded by friends who are like family.

Pregnancy Update - Week 14

I just wanted to give you an update of our pregnancy this far. Today I am 14 weeks and 5 days along (estimated, we can't be SURE until we have an ultrasound, but I'm pretty sure.) We went to the doctor again last week. Taney came with me this time. He was able to hear the heartbeat. It was cool to watch his face when he heard it. I think hearing it helped him connect with Jellybean (that's what we call the baby, because we don't like to say "it") a little more. The heart is beating at 162 beats per minute. Dr. Juarez said 160 is normal, so it's a little fast, but nothing to worry about, it just means Jellybean is healthy. That's exactly what I needed to hear! He asked if we were hoping for a boy or girl, we told him we wanted healthy, either way. So he's doing his best to assure us that Jellybean is indeed healthy.

I LOVE this doctor, by the way. Friends suggested him and I'm glad I listened. He has the most soothing voice, and answers all my questions in a comforting way, and always so I understand what he's talking about. And the nurses at the hospital say they like to work with him best, that's a good sign, too.

I'm scheduled for an ultrasound on my next visit, Feb. 16, and if Jellybean is cooperative we'll be able to find out the sex then. Keep your fingers crossed.

I was looking at some of the paperwork that they gave me at the Dr.'s office, with the estimated costs and insurance stuff, she highlighted and checked boxes of what they estimated. On one line she had circled twins. I freaked out for a minute. Then I realized it was vaginal delivery on the line above it that she had circles, and twins was just close by. Taney giggled because he's been hoping for twins.

My clothes are starting to fit funny. I'm not that big yet, but big enough for my pants to be uncomfortable. I found a few shirts that were big in the belly, but haven't found pants yet. Friends recommended a bella band which I guess is a giant piece of ribbing and elastic to put over unzipped pants. I'm gonna have to invest in one of those soon.

Morning sickness is basically over, I think. I haven't thrown up for several days, and hope it stays that way. I did not like the few weeks when I was throwing up multiple times a day.

Other great news. Taney got his temple recommend last week. We're going this week to get the Stake Pres. to sign them, and then we're going to be sealed. We're REALLY excited!!! No firm dates on anything yet. I'll let you know as soon as I know.

Christmas Week

We drove to Oregon last week to be with my family for Christmas. It was a really long drive, but we had a great time. Here's some of the highlights of the week:

Saturday, December 19:

We woke up at 3:15 am and got on the road. We drove straight through and arrived in Salem at about 10:30 pm. I am so proud of myself, I only threw up twice along the way. (For those of you that know me, I get car sick SO EASY. I throw up going to and from church) I made it 16 hours without getting sick, and was only sick the last few hours. Much better than I expected. We got to Mom's house and had some food, talked for a while and then crashed for the night.

Sunday, December 20:

We got up and ate breakfast and hung out with my mom and siblings all day. Being lazy and catching up. It was an excellent day. We drove up to WIlsonville in the afternoon and spent some time with my dad.

Monday, December 21:

Today we spent the morning finishing our Christmas shopping. We had everything we needed except stocking stuffers. Taney and I split up in the stores and got what we needed. I enjoy shopping, but I especially like to shop with Taney.

We spent the rest of the day in Portland. We spent a couple of hours in Powell's. Powell's is a bookstore downtown that is a square city block and several floors. We could spend all day there, but we could also spend all our money there. We set a budget before we went in, and surprisingly spent $20 less than our budget. We love that we can buy used books there and they are still in great shape.

We spent the afternoon at the Oregon Zoo. It was much different than when I was a kid, but I enjoyed it just as much. We were much impressed by the big cats and the turtles. Because it was Christmas time the zoo had a display of lights set up. they were open extended hours for the viewing of the Zoo Lights. We stayed long enough after sunset to see the lights in the dark.

After Zoo Lights we drove across the river to go to McMinneman's Kennedy School. It's an old elementary school in NE Portland that McMinneman's has turned into a pub/hotel/movie theatre. All the McMinneman's have amazing artwork. Kennedy School is full of funny restaurants and bars. They are al school themed. They have a detention bar, an honors bar, the boiler room has ben turned into a small restaurant. The auditorium is now a movie theatre where you can sit on couches and watch a movie while enjoying dinner from one of the restaurants. We sat with Mom, Matt, Caitlin, Rob and Paul in the courtyard restaurant and had a delightful dinner, and good dessert.

The most impressive part of the day was that (except for finding parking at Powell's) I didn't get lost. And since I have no sense of direction, that's quite an accomplishment. I attribute it to my expert navigators, Taney and Mapquest.

Tuesday, December 22:

Tuesday was our lazy sleep in day. Taney and I laid in bed and watched TV for a few hours. One of the perks of being on vacation.

Later in the day we decided to meet up with old friends. We went to see Heather and Johnny. Because it was the day for the Las Vegas bowl with BYU vs. OSU. They are HUGE OSU fans, so they were having a big party. Of coarse we were the only ones rooting for BYU, which made it a little awkward at times. I think it's a good thing BYU won or we could have been in a really uncomfortable situation.

Later that night we had dinner with Megan, Aaron, and their son Ryan. Ryan is 2 and quite a handful. I don't think he ever stops moving. EVER. We took them to dinner and had some peasant conversation.

It was nice to see old friends.

Wednesday, December 23:

Wednesday we got to spend some time with my Dad. We went to Niki's house to clean out some of the things he had saved when he moved out of the house. I brought all my children's books and most of my games back to Vegas. I also threw out a lot of stuff that needed to thrown out LONG ago. But Dad didn't know what to keep and what to toss when he was moving, so he kept it all. I took 2 car loads to Goodwill and we packed our car as tight as we could.

I'm sad that I didn't get to go through all the Christmas stuff. There are over 100 Nativities that I would have liked to bring with me, but didn't have room for. It's such a beautiful collection, I can't wait until I have a place to display all of them. Someday, when Taney writes a best selling novel, or I win Teacher of the Year, we'll have a house where I can display all of them. Someday.

After we finished with all my stuff in the basement we went to Abby's Pizza for Lunch. Taney loves good pizza, and he really enjoyed Abby's last time we were in Oregon. He was talking about going back for weeks before we left for Oregon. I don't think he was disappointed.

We had dinner with Mom and got to spend some time with just her. That was nice.

Thursday, December 24:

Today was our first Christmas. We did Christmas with Dad today. We spent the day playing games and talking. Paul and Dad especially liked Mario Cart Wii. Paul always surprises me with how well he figures out how to do things with only one hand. Dad made a really nice dinner and we opened presents. I got a "MAJOR AWARD." Remember in "A Christmas Story" when the dad gets the big crate and it's a major award. I got a let lamp. It's a smaller size, it stands about 18 inches tall. It made me giggle. He also gave me a wonderful picture frame that with glass matting and pressed flowers. It has great quotes. I really like it, now to just find a place to put it. I really enjoyed seeing Paul and Daddy open the gifts we got them. I think I like that better than opening gifts. I love to see their faces when they see what thought we've put into the gifts. We continued to play games and hang out. It was a good day.

Friday, December 25:

This was our next Christmas. We went to Mom's house this morning for Christmas. It was me and Taney, Mom, Matt, Caitlin, Rob and Valerie. We had a BIG breakfast. We want to start a Kurth tradition of having Orange rolls on Christmas morning. We had them for Thanksgiving with the Nelson's, but every time I make they don't turn out the way Kari's did. So I tried one more time. They were not as good as Kari's, but my family really seemed to like them. Once everyone had eaten a lot and we were all ready to go back to bed, mom insisted we open presents. I think she was more excited about it than anyone else. It was cute.

We spent a good couple of hours opening presents and playing with what we got. Watching people open gifts if my favorite part. I was really excited that my sister got me willow tree people. I have wanted them for a long time. She got me the couple. The beginning of my collection of willow people. Taney got me a set of DVD's that have children's picture books being read while the pictures flash up on the screen. I am pretty excited for that. He also got me an iPod. I am pretty excited about that, too.

Caitlin got Taney a chess set that he's really excited about. When he opened it he spent about 20 minutes just looking at the pieces with his mouth dropped open. He is really excited about it. the down side is that he probably wants me to play with him now, and I SUCK at chess. I understand how the pieces move, I just don't really have any strategy. I was really glad the Rob was there on Christmas day and they played together. Now he won't bug me to play with him for a while. Here's some pictures from the week.

Saturday, December 26:

Today we got up early and drove home. It was a LONG drive, but so nice to finally be home. As much as I love having time with my family it's always nice to be home. "I never realize hoe much I like being home unless I've been somewhere really different for a while." ~Juno.

Here's some pictures from this last week. Just thought I'd share.

So Blessed

As I was cleaning out a drawer a few weeks ago I found a list titled "Someday" that Taney and I had made when we were first married. It was a list of things we wanted/needed to buy someday when we had enough money to do so. I was surprised to look at that list and realize that now, only 2 years later we have almost everything on that list. Here's what our list included: Vacuum, Broom, Couch, Bookshelf, Ironing board, Pots and Pan set, Haircut, Car insurance, a Bike for Taney and a Computer. Things that most people would just consider necessities, or normal to have. Well, when we got married we had only $25 to our name and were still in college. So, we were those quintessential poor college students. The only thing we needed was food and each other. Now, only 2 years later we have all those things (well, except a nice pots and pans set, I still can't find one I like that's in the price range I want to pay) and more. And we barely think about how lucky we are. We think we couldn't live without those things. 

With Thanksgiving upon us, the last few weeks I've been thinking about all the things that I have and am so thankful for. I've also been thinking about that time when we were first married and all the blessings that we received, and the helpful people in our lives. Those who helped us with rent when we were just a little bit short, those who donated couches to our furniture-less apartment so we wouldn't have to sit on bean bags and video game chairs anymore. Those who became our friends, and essentially our family, when we were lonely. And those who kept us in your prayers. We are so blessed to have all the things that we do, and to have such amazing people in our lives. 

Daily I thank the Lord for all that He has given me and for the people that He has sent to be my personal angels. I hope that I never take for granted all the wonderful things and people that I have. That would be a truly sad day.