Rowan's Birth Story

The week Rowan was born I had been feeling contractions, and was already dilated to 3 cm. Wednesday night I was feeling some pretty strong contractions, and thought maybe it was time. Later that evening the contractions lightened up, so we just figured it was pre-term contractions. The next morning around 9am I felt my water 'break'. Since Liam's water technically broke 2 days prior to being born, we were unsure how much time we had. I wasn't feeling any strong contractions like the night before, but we knew if the water had broke we should get to the hospital to have it looked at. I was 98% sure this was the real thing, so we spent the morning packing up and finishing up some last minute things. We dropped off Liam at Grandma's house, and then headed over to the hospital around noon. They confirmed that the fluid was amniotic and since I was only at 3.5 cm, and not contracting, they offered to give me some pitocin. We decided to wait to see if I progressed on my own. Mike ran to get a bite to eat since he hadn't had any food that day...when he returned they checked me again and I was the same so we decided to get started on the pitocin. They kept checking me, and I was progressing very slowly. Shortly after I started to feel some pain in my back, and told them I would want my epidural soon. 20 minutes or so went by and the anesthesiologist was not there. I guess I just figured the Dr. was already at the hospital, but he had to be called in. And since it was Thanksgiving, people were busy with their family dinners...They said he was on his way, but another 20 or so minutes went by and he still was not there. I was going to just wait till I really needed it to ask for it, but I am glad I didn't because it was close to 2 hours before he showed up, and I had progressed to 6 cm. He had to go in twice because the first one was going into a blood vessel. After I got the epidural both our heart rates had dipped, and they had to keep adjusting my position to make sure we stayed normal. They also turned off the pitocin until the Dr. could get to the hospital. My normal OB was not available that day, so his partner filled in. I didn't know anything about him, so I was sad that my OB wasn't going to be there. After they turned off the pitocin I didn't progress any on my own, so when the Dr. showed up around 7pm, they turned the pitocin back up. Finally about an hour or so after I was finally at 10 cm. The nurse adjusted the bed and told the Dr. we were ready. She was going to have me push a little, but her head was already crowning!! The doctor came in, and they had me push about 3 1/2 times and she was born at 8:34 pm! They took her over to the prep cart, and wiped her down. The nurse said she was the stickiest baby she had ever seen....I joked that it was all the creamed honey I ate! They let us hang out for 2 hours in the delivery room, which was nice since I had been rushed out with Liam, and ended up passing out in the bathroom. I was able to let the medicine wear off and take in the experience. She started nursing right away, she was a natural!! Then we moved to my room around 11pm. They took her to give her a bath, and check her out. After she was returned Mike was able to say goodbye. He needed to get home to let the dogs out and feed them after being inside for 13 plus hours. Rowan and I spent the night and next 2 days eating, sleeping (me only cat naps) and bonding. She loves being held and wasn't too happy if I put her down. One of the nurses told me that Rowan was the ONLY baby born in that hospital on Thanksgiving. And also one of only a few there the whole time we were there...which is quite remarkable considering we live in Utah county, probably the #1 county of births in the U.S. Before we left they told us that she had a heart murmur, and the Dr. checking her out wanted to see her the next day to see if it was going to be an issue. We took her to be checked out on Sunday, and the Dr. said it appeared to be fixing itself, and to follow up on her 2 week visit to be sure. We are slowly getting used to having a new born again, and no sleep, but are just loving our new addition to our family.

Welcome Thanksgiving Baby

I will post the birth story soon, but just wanted to announce that our little girl came one week early in the evening of Thanksgiving day, November 26th 2009. Her name is Rowan Kendall, coming in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and is 19 inches long. She has a lot of beautiful hazelnut brown hair, and we are already smitten by her!


Mom and baby

Proud Daddy


Rowan sleeping 3 days old

Baby Bump #2 (38 Weeks)

So I have to admit that I'm a little surprised that I've made it to 38 weeks. Unlike a lot of women out there, I am not in any hurry for her to come. I actually love being pregnant...and it's kinda a bitter sweet moment now because we are fairly sure (not 100%, but close) that she will be our last kid. I started to pack some things last night for the hospital, but still need to do some last minute things before I'm ready-ready. Not a whole lot else to report. I've been going weekly now to the Dr's to be checked and measured and all seems well and normal. I have had some small contractions here and there, and I can tell my body is getting ready for her to come.

Sequoia's Last Days

So when we found out that Sequoia had cancer in July, we really didn't think she had much time considering the symptoms she was having. But, most of the symptoms seemed to clear up, and to our surprise she made it past her 13th birthday a couple months later. Her health did slowly decline over the months, and we knew that we would have to make that dreadful decision of putting her to sleep. Mike kept telling me that it was time, but I didn't want to hear it. She had a great way of hiding her pain and discomfort. One day I did come home and she had been stuck on the floor with a bowel movement under her. That on top of falling more often, and being scared to go down the stairs in the backyard is when I came to the realization that the time was near. We discussed a time that would be good. I wanted to schedule it on a Friday since I don't have work, and I could go home and cry my eyes out. We also wanted to wait till after Liam's party because we needed to focus on that, and not be sad about Sequoia. So, I had made the appointment for November 13th. The first part of the week, she had a few pretty good days, and we both were kinda second guessing our decision. But later in the week she did have some more accidents in the house, and was falling more, so we did feel it was the right time. Wednesday evening Mike took some pictures of me and Sequoia. The following morning she had another accident in the house, and fell several times on the floor. I cleaned it up, and as me and Liam were leaving for the day, I asked him to say 'Bye Doggie', which I do most mornings...he usually will say 'bye' but this morning he said 'Bye Doggie'. It was bitter sweet because it was so cute, but I also knew it was the very last time he would say 'Bye Doggie' to her as we left the house. That evening when I returned from work, she was not right at all. She could not get up, and her head was tilted to one side and her eyes were moving rapidly back and forth. I noticed that she had vomited on her blanket too. We had thought that maybe she had a stroke and/or that these were symptoms of her body shutting down, and that she might pass on her own that night. We took turns all evening petting her and comforting her. I gave her the rest of the steak that Mike had cooked up for her, and surprisingly she ate it all! Mike got a tarp and we set it up in the bedroom under her blanket. He stayed up pretty late checking on her. We were unsure if she would make it through the night, but to our surprise she did. We got her packed up in the car and stopped at Grandma's house to drop off Liam. We let him say 'goodbye' to her, but it seemed he was a little afraid to because she wasn't the Sequoia he knew. We got to the vet's office and Mike had to carry her in. For many weeks before this moment I wasn't sure I wanted to be there when she was put to sleep. I leaned toward not being there because I felt it would be too difficult for me to see her like that. But, after thinking about it, and wanting to be there for her if she passed the night before, I decided that I did want to be there for her in her last moments. It all went fairly quickly...we asked about the symptoms she was having, and he said it wasn't a stroke, but could be from the tumor spreading to her spine or brain. He had a large syringe of pink stuff, and she didn't fight or struggle while he administered it. Mike was holding her head and she 'fell asleep' before the syringe was even done. She went very peacefully, and we were relieved that she was not suffering any longer. We stayed with her for awhile and gave her kisses, and told her we loved her. When we picked up Liam at Grandma's house as we were going to the car he pointed to the car and said 'Carsi gone' (Carsi is what he calls her because Sequoia is kinda a hard word for a 23 month old.) We were shocked that he even was aware of what was going on! Anyway, we decided to have a private cremation for her, so we will be getting her ashes back in a beautiful engraved cedar box as well as a ceramic paw print. We also requested that we get all the bolts from her hip surgery back. I will be glad to have her remains with us as a reminder of her wonderful life we shared with her.

Rest in Peace Dear Sequoia

9-14-96 to 11-13-09

This is my most proud picture I've taken. This was taken before digital camera's. I took Sequoia out to the back yard after a snow storm, and used up an entire roll of film on a cheap camera. This picture was pure luck! And I love it...she looks so beautiful here. I wanted to post a little something here to mark the end of her life. Although, I will post an account of her last few days with us after I've gathered my thoughts.

Sequoia Is One Lucky Dog!

As sad as I am to have to say goodbye to our sweet dog Sequoia, I have to say she is one lucky dog...Had we not been the ones that picked her out of the litter way back in November of 1996, she most likely would have not seen her first birthday. She had severe hip dysplasia at only nine months old. I was still living at home at the time, and was saving my money for a new vehicle. I decided to use the money for her to have a surgery on both her hips...$3,000 later she was as good as new! She walked, and ran and jumped as well as any healthy dog. She was always so happy to see us when we got home that she jumped on us. She has lived a good long life, and we will surely miss having her around!

Happy 2nd (Early) Birthday Party!

For Liam's 2nd birthday party we decided to host it at The Living Planet Aquarium. We also had his party one month early because Rowan is due right around his real birthday which is Dec. 7th. We had the party room for 1.5 hrs. so it was a bit rushed, but overall I think everyone had a good time. We first had a light brunch with bagels and fruit, then we had a treasure hunt with the kids. Liam did not like the activity at all, he just wanted to run around the aquarium and do his own thing...after the treasure hunt, we had to quickly have cake and open presents. Again, Liam didn't want much to do with this, he just wanted to run around and play...guessing this is normal for his age.

I think his favorite part of the whole party was his balloons. He held onto those things and punched them all over the place, it was pretty funny!


He also liked the fish tank in the Sunken Ship party room...Here is a picture of him and his 2nd cousin, Rainier checking out the fish.


And here is a picture of him and his cousin Madison checking out the tank.


And he and his friend Landon checking out the tank....


Here is Liam taking a rest on the floor after running around...


And a picture of his Birthday Cake!


And Liam showing an interest in his gifts for a short second!

After the party, all the guests were free to explore the aquarium...Liam loved splashing in the stingray tank, and crawling around in the ocean caves. Overall I think the party went well. It felt a little hectic and rushed to me, but that is probably because I was the host. It was fun, and the best part of all was I didn't have to clean our house at nine months pregnant : )