Parker Kekai Schaub's Arrival

I wanted to document my labor story with Parker before I forgot all the details...

I had an OB appt on Nov 15, 2016 and Dr. Taylor checked me and put me at being dilated to a 5, it wasn't much of a surprise to me because I knew like the rest of the kids you would come a bit early.  He went on to say that he didn't think I was going to make it to the end of the week without going into labor.  I didn't have to take my last Makena shot either bc they said if you came soon it would be alright.  I do believe that shot assisted in my carrying you longer, although at times it was tedious to have to go in once a week to get the shot it was well worth it in the end.  A couple of times when we were out of town my Mom had to give me the shot and so did my friend Jessica!  I hadn't felt any contractions or anything different really, so we just went about doing what we needed to that week and waited.

We went to our Friendsgiving that Friday on the 18th and all the girls there were so shocked that I was walking around at a 5 and thought I was going to go into labor at any minute, I still hadn't felt anything though.  My worries were getting the best of me and so I called the nurses at the hospital and asked if I could come in so they could check me.  We called Sis. Turney and she came over and watched the kids for us and we went to the hospital, we had a nurse check me and to her she said she only felt like I was at a 3 or 4, which kinda explained why I hadn't had contractions or gone into labor yet. She listened to the heart beat and monitored me for awhile and said everything looked good and that we could head home. She also had called Dr. Taylor to let him know that I had come in and he said just to make sure I went to see him for my next appt the following week.

My next OB appt was that following Tues on Nov 22, I went in wondering what Dr. Taylor was going to say since he had put me at a 5 and then the nurse had only said I was at a 3.  He went ahead and did another culture check on me and still was confident about me being at a 5 again, I did trust him and thought maybe the baby would come that week.  He checked me a bit longer down there than normal and I was wondering what he was doing!  He had offered to "stretch" me out a bit more to help me go into labor, but I told him it was fine and that hopefully I would go on my own soon.  He was bewildered that I hadn't yet and sent me on my way and told me to call him in if I did so he could do my v-bac.

After my appt I had some errands to run so I went to Walmart and walked around a lot, at this point I was so pregnant I was so slow at doing anything.  I did feel more bowling ball pressure down there than normal, but didn't think anything of it.  I also felt the tendency to pee more than usual, but still thought I didn't have any major changes in regards to actually seeing any signs of true labor.  It was late so I called Jeff and asked him what he wanted to do for dinner, and of course we just decided to get In & Out.  The In & Out in Kingman is always so busy, and their drive thru line to get food seemed to be taking forever and I was in Jeff's car too.  I made it home and we ate and it was about 6:30 p.m.  After we ate I decided to just rest in the recliner bc I was pretty tired, as I was laying in the chair I felt a cramp in the front of my uterus and knew that wasn't normal.  Jeff and decided that when I felt anything in regards to labor we would just head to the hospital right away.  I went back into our room and tried to walk off the feeling and waited to see if it would come back and it did.  Jeff was on the computer and I didn't want to tell him just yet that I was feeling contractions and wanted to finish packing my hospital bag. 

I had been so anxious about going into labor with this 3rd baby bc Paxton's labor was so traumatic for me and happened all too quick. I just wanted a more peaceful labor where I could hopefully get an epidural to ease all the pains of labor.  I finally hollered to Jeff from the bedroom to let him know that I was feeling contractions and we should go to the hospital soon.  Carol Turney was top on our list to call to watch the kids, she is the best and was excited to come over and take care of them for us.  I sent her a text message asking her to come over and she responded right away saying she would be there shortly, it was about 7:30 p.m.

Jeff started loading up his fiat spider convertible car for us to take to the hospital and I told him I was just going to wait outside and that the contractions were coming quicker.  Carol came and gave me a hug and wished us luck, I couldn't talk much bc it was starting to get more painful.  In my heart I knew that this was going to be another quick labor, AGAIN. 

Jeff pulled up to the ER and opened my door for me and thankfully I could walk on my own, but had to stop every couple of mins to let the contractions pass.  They called the labor and delivery floor and had a nurse come down with a wheel chair.  The elevator ride up to the 2nd floor seemed to take forever and by this point the contractions were coming hard and strong and I knew our little boy would be here very soon.

I knew it was close to him arriving bc I always feel the urge to go poop when the baby is close to coming, so of course I headed straight to the toilet.  The nurse who was actually assigned to me was a girl I knew from the gym, she was very sweet and it was nice to see a familiar face there. She gave me a gown to change into and Jeff was trying to help me as much as he could and told me I needed to lay on the bed.  I didn't want to bc once I'm on my back I feel like the contractions hurt even more.

The nurse was trying to ask me a ton of questions and I was trying to answer them from the bathroom. At the same time Jeff was trying to help me change and kept saying, "Elle, you have to get off the toilet and on the bed!" I was stubborn and didn't want to so then he proceeded to pick me up and kinda dragged me over to the bed. The nurse was on the computer still trying to get all my info and wanted to put an IV in and Jeff told her she better check me soon bc I go really fast, she kinda disregarded him and so he reminded her again to check me a couple of minutes later.  Her name was Rashelle and she finally did and then confirmed and said out loud, "She's at a 10 already and the baby is coming!"  Some other nurses rushed in to help her and said that Dr. Jackson was already there and they had tried calling Taylor in but he didn't answer. 

At this point they were trying to tell me not to push with the contractions but it was hard not to, the baby wanted to come out.  In a way I was thankful that Dr. Jackson was there bc I really liked his bedside manner when he had delivered Paxton. Everyone walked in and started coaching me to push with the contractions and Dr. Jackson was watching them on the monitor and knew when I wasn't.  It was going to be another natural labor for me again, it's so hard to prepare mentally for one.  I never felt what they refer to as the "ring of fire" when I pushed Pax out bc his head was so small, but boy did I feel it with Parker bc he was bigger.  That's when I wanted to stop pushing was when I could feel his head crowning bc it burned and pinched so badly!!!!!! 

Jeff kept saying, "Come on Elle, he's almost here...I can see his head! Give it 1 more good push!" I was trying hard to give "good pushes" to satisfy everyone, but it was so painful and I wanted to mentally and physically check out.  I could feel that Dr. Jackson was stretching my cervix and working with me to get the baby out which I appreciated bc I swear he pulled the baby out more than I was pushing him out.  Jeff said at the beginning he also broke my water.  It was 4 pitiful, painful, natural pushes later and our sweet heavenly little boy Parker Kekai was born!  I finally got to experience a labor where they put the baby on your chest right after delivery.  To both Jeff and I he looked like Paxton's twin and had a full head of hair.  After the delivery I was still in a bit of pain and had cramps and back aches so I couldn't fully enjoy holding Parker, but I was just thankful he could be there skin to skin with me like he was supposed to be.  The nurse finally gave me some ibuprofen so that helped, not an epidural but it helped!  

It definitely was a more calm experience compared to the other 2, still a little stressful bc of how quick I go, but I felt blessed to have a healthy enough body that would allow me to do a v-bac successfully.  I remember the night Paxton was born I had a nurse named Linda who was also the lactation consultant at the hospital and she came into the room while I was in labor to do my IV, it was comforting to see her.  There were 3 nurses total there along with Dr. Jackson and Jeff.  I think it was a blessing in disguise that Dr. Jackson was there bc I honestly don't know if Dr. Taylor would have been "in the moment" as much as Dr. Jackson was as far as assisting me through the whole labor, it was meant to be that he delivered Pax and Parks.  I even made my 6 week follow up appt with Jackson too. 

A little after Parks was born and we had some 1-1 time with him and then they transferred us to a nicer room.  Jeff had been in touch with both of our families letting them know I was in labor with Parker, it was such a blessing to be able to deliver him at a normal time.  Once we got into our new room it was time to try my hand at nursing him, I was determined for him to get a good latch the first time around and not struggle with BF as much as I had with Annabelle and Paxton.  Our room was pretty nice and there was a fold up bed for Jeff to sleep on, I'm glad that Carol was staying the night with the kids so that Jeff could stay with me.  Sweet boy slept pretty good for his first night, I didn't sleep at all bc there was just so much going on and too much to think about and prepare for.  

I woke up in the morning starving and wanted to order all the food.  It was nice bc they had a "Mommy Menu" where you could order food at anytime and anything you wanted, I took advantage of it!  For some reason after labor I was wanting a sprite with ice and I usually don't drink soda. I wished that we had family who lived here so that they could come to the hospital to visit,  I know some our friends would have stopped by but most everyone we knew was out of town for Thanksgiving.

It was nice to have nurses cater to your needs, food brought to you and not have to worry about being on a schedule. The next day was a Wednesday Nov 23, 2016 and Jeff had off work for the rest of the week, so we just enjoyed lounging around in the hospital room with our new bundle of joy.  Jeff left pretty early in the morning to go and take care of the kids and so that Carol could go home.  Initially I had been stressed about asking someone to come and watch the kids while I was at the hospital and as I was thinking about all our friends and ladies in the ward Carol Turney instantly popped into my mind.  She is one of the most kind women I have ever met, and she's actually the stake RS president right now too.  I just felt like the spirit confirmed to me that she would be perfect to ask and would willingly help us out when needed. I sent her a text and her response back I will never forget, she said, "Oh Ellie, I would be honored to come and help you out, thank you so much for asking me!" It was an answer to my prayers!  She was so good about following up with me and checking in or letting me know when she was out of town, it just worked out perfectly for her to take care of Annabelle and Paxton.

That morning Dr. Taylor had stopped by to check on me because he had heard that I went into labor. He said he had missed hearing his pager because he was at his son's basketball game and was sorry that he had missed delivering me.  I then started laughing a bit and asked him what he had done down there at my last appt when he was just "checking" me and then he admitted to kinda stripping my membranes and stretching me out more, made sense why I had gone into labor that night! I think it's just funny that he didn't tell me that. 

We thought that I would be discharged from the hospital that following day on 11/23 bc that's what they had told us earlier, but then one of the nurses came in saying that they couldn't find that Dr. Taylor had done the Group B swab on me at 35 weeks.  I don't remember him doing the test either, so then they told me Parker was at risk of getting it and it was really bad if babies caught it and that we would need to stay another 24 hours to monitor him.  The pediatrician Dr. Khan didn't think at all that he would contact it, but wanted to play it safe and have us stay.  I was ok staying but just didn't want to spend all day in the hospital on Thanksgiving.

Later on that day Jeff brought the kids in to meet Parker, they were so cute with him and so so excited to finally see their little baby brother.  It was hard for Paxton to understand that he needed to be soft with him all the time and not to touch him on the face or head.  Annabelle just wanted to hold her little brother, I could already tell that she would be such a great big sister taking care of her 2 brothers.  It was so crazy to think that we were now parents to 3 kids, and they were all ours!  Jeff was getting bored with the kids at home so we let them stay and they watched a movie in our room, it was nice to have the company.  

Thankfully the 2nd night in the hospital I was able to sleep a little bit more which was good because I needed the extra rest.  I think since I was a 3rd time Mom the nurses hardly checked on me, I mean every now and then they would come in and bring me new ice water but that was it.  The next morning I watched the Macy's parade a bit with Parker and other people came in to get some paperwork done and then we just hung out until we got the ok to leave.  Dr. Khan showed up and I asked if we would have to stay until that night, but he said that he wanted us to go home to be with our family on Thanksgiving so he gave the ok to discharge us that early afternoon! HOORAY!!  I called Jeff and told him to get the kids ready and come down to fetch us!  I started packing everything up and Parker had fallen asleep so I was able to get everything ready before Jeff and the kids came.

I was so excited just to go home and figure out our new life with our little Parker.  It's customary for them to have you sit in a wheel chair even on the way out, so I held Parker in his car seat on my lap and the nurse wheeled me downstairs and Jeff got all of our luggage. We loaded up the car with our total of 3 kids in tow and were on our way home...finally!  How humbling it is to be chosen to parent 3 of Heavenly Father's spirits, the labor had gone better than I expected and although it was quick I'm thankful for the love and support I felt from Jeff, the nurses and Dr. Jackson.  WELCOME HOMESWEET LITTLE PARKER KEKAI!!! 

Miscarriage of our sweet baby

It's easier for me to type about this now since it happened awhile back.  Just wanted to document it for journaling.  It's odd because with this pregnancy I never really "felt pregnant," not that I ever have a lot of symptoms, but this time around it was literally nothing.

A week before I had actually passed the baby I had been spotting a bit and knew that wasn't a good sign. I was hoping it was it was something called implementation bleeding and that it would eventually stop on it's own with no harm to the baby and that I would be able to carry full term, well at least anything past 30 weeks would be ideal in my situation.

The bleeding had continued on and I knew it was a bad sign if the color of the blood progressively got darker and it did.  I was scared and knew the inevitable was going to happen.  I woke Jeff up at midnight on Thurs 9/3/15 and told him I had a bad feeling that I was going to miscarry, I hadn't slept at all that night because overtime I went to the bathroom it was just more blood. To my surprise the miscarriage process wasn't as painful as I had read about or thought it would be. We didn't want to wake the kids up and I was feeling well enough to drive myself to the hospital so Jeff told me to just go.

It's so funny how familiar I am with the Kingman ER, thankfully they weren't busy and of course by the time I got there I could tell that the bleeding had become heavier.  I just wanted to get checked.  out and have it over with.  It was another battle even thinking of the emotions that would come afterward.  I checked myself in and it didn't take long for them to call me back.

I met the nurse and just told her I needed to go to the bathroom because I could feel that a lot of blood was coming and I wanted to just clean myself up.  She gave me some larger pads to use and let me go into the restroom.  When I got in there I sat on the toilet for awhile and pretty much just had to let everything pass, sounds a little gross but all the blood clots I had passed just reminded me of the texture of red jello.  My heart was just thankful that the pain had been a lot less than what I was prepping myself for.

My biggest fear was seeing the little fetus in the toilet, I knew for me that would just draw connections to the baby that I didn't want to have.  I hadn't even been to my OB yet for a checkup, so I never was able to hear any heartbeat from this precious little one, which I think was a tender mercy because had I felt and heard that sweet spirit I would have struggled more with letting go of it all. Now looking back at the experience I can see the small blessings that came from it.

After I had cleaned up a bit in the bathroom they had me go back and lay down while a PA came in to check me out, he said I had been bleeding a lot so it's good that I had gone in.  He was able to suction out more of the blood, then they did an ultra sound to make sure they didn't see the baby in there still but it definitely had passed.  I wish Jeff had been there with me, it was all just so much to take in at the moment and I had been pretty teary through it all. I couldn't help but think what the baby would have looked like and how my heart missed already not being able to know this little schaublet of ours.  I just wanted him to be there for that extra reassurance that he's always so good at giving me,  and to hold my hand and tell me that it would be ok and confirm that of course because of the gospel we would get to raise this little after this life.  I was trying to have a positive outlook and if anything I knew this was another reason I had to live a worthy life to return back to this sweet babe and be able to raise it. What a special opportunity that would be!

They had me go back to the bed and rest a little bit more before they would discharge me. The nurse kept asking me if I wanted any pain meds, but I told her I was fine and didn't need anything right then.  I wanted to naturally feel what my body was going through and how it was cleansing itself of the miscarriage.  The whole time I had been texting Jeff and letting him know what had been going on, I'm thankful for a spouse who always offers me consistent support through any problem that we have.

They finally let me go home at around 2:00 in the morning, they gave me instructions that it would be important to follow up with my OB asap to get my blood levels checked and see where my HCG levels were at.  The drive home was pretty somber and quiet, I had cried enough and just wanted to go home and rest more.  I was sad not to be pregnant anymore and did not look forward to having to conceive again in the future, it's so much work!

As soon as I got home Jeff was up and waiting in our room and gave me a big hug, I remember getting teared up again and just telling him how sad I was, but was thankful that the whole process hadn't been painful. I went back to sleep but had to get up multiple times to go to the bathroom, I was still passing blood clots, but they told me that was normal and I would continue to bleed for the next couple of days.

I prayed that my body would heal quickly and that Jeff and I could start trying again soon. More tender mercies that I saw from this experience were: my OB Dr. Whip had called me early the next morning bc he had gotten the ER reports and wanted to make sure I was alright. I definitely think that he went out of his way to check on me and I appreciated the gesture of kindness. I had told him what had happened and joked that I could never have a "normal" pregnancy. He scheduled me to come in the next day to follow up.  He said that he wanted me to get my blood drawn once a week until he saw that my HCG levels were back up.

Also, that same morning my friend Barb Charon had sent me a text saying that I had been on her mind and she wanted to check on me.  I felt comfortable telling her what had happened and wanted to talk to someone about the whole thing and it ended up that she was the perfect person to speak to about it bc she had actually experienced 13 miscarriages herself.  She listened and was just the friend I needed during that time. The next day the doorbell rang and here comes Barb with baskets of food and toys for the kids. She literally went to Walmart and bought us 4 meals, a bouquet of flowers, and lots of new toys for the kids.  She had made me a little basket of lotion, chocolate, magazines and other treats to get my mind off things.  My heart was so full of gratitude for a friend that listened to the spirit and who would just come over and sprinkle love on all of us, it's just what we had needed to boost our spirits back up.  She acted like it wasn't a big deal, but it really meant a lot to Jeff and I that she would take the time out to do that.

Another friendship I'm so blessed to have in my life is Nikki Saline, she of course through it all was sending me texts of encouragement and love.  I swear she is like my life line and I don't know what I would do without her and her daily texts!

Jeff was able to take the following day off so he could take care of the kids and he let me rest which was nice.  I'm glad this trial is over with and hope that we don't have to experience this again in the future.  It was difficult to not think about my due date and being a Mommy to that baby, but I have faith that this was part of the plan and it will all work out.  I know I can do hard things and this is just another experience where I needed to be refined!

Took a picture with Barb before she left...I told her she was our "Kingman Angel" 

The beautiful flowers she brought me, it was nice to have something pretty to look at when I was so sad about everything.  So blessed to have the friends we do here in Kingman. 

Schaublet #3!

Soooooooo, my period was really late and I couldn't help but think that I could possibly be pregnant!  I thought the chances were slim since Jeff and I hadn't been trying that long and usually it takes me awhile to conceive.  My cycles are usually pretty long, but my period was waaaaaaaay overdue at this point.  Jeff had felt like I should take a test too.

Thursday August 13th had been a pretty busy day since it was Annabelle's birthday, but I decided that night after the kids were in bed to go to the Dollar General store right by our house and just by a cheap pregnancy test.  I went and of course they were sold out of all the brands they carried, it was frustrating because the day before I had checked Walmart and they didn't have any either.  Come to find out though I was looking in the wrong spot at Walmart!  Curiosity was getting the best of me so I had to find one to take.  I drove down the street a bit to the 99 cent store off Stockton Hill and thankfully they were still open.  I had a hard time finding them, but they were in the isle right next to the cash register.  I had to get some last minute things for Annabelle's party too so it worked out.  The whole time Nikki Saline kept encouraging me to keep shopping for one, I tell her everything and it was such a relief to have someone else besides Jeff to talk to about possibly being pregnant and she's so supportive and helpful with figuring out baby stuff.

I bought 2 pregnancy tests just in case, I figured 2 positive responses were better than 1!  My parents were coming that Friday for Annabelle's party and I wanted to take one before they showed up that night.  I planned on testing that morning Friday Aug 14 while Jeff was at work.  I wanted to think of a cute way to surprise him with the news if I did get a positive result.  I actually didn't sleep much the night before because I was getting so anxious to take the test.  I was kind of doubtful about it only because I had felt no symptoms to make me believe that I could be pregnant, not that I get sick or anything but my breasts usually get sore.  I also have a crazy period and it comes and goes when it wants so I was also just thinking that I had a rrrrrrreally late cycle this month.  The tests I got actually had you pee in a cup and they included a dropper to collect your pee and then put your urine sample on the actual test strip.

Usually I don't look at the test strip while waiting for the results, but this time I just stood by the counter and watched it...I saw one pink line show up and it was a dark pink shade and knew that was a good sign.  Waited a couple seconds longer and saw the second line show up!  I was INDEED PREGNANT!!!  I stared at the test strip for awhile, kind of in shock but also very happy.  Deep down and spiritually I could just feel like it was time for our 3rd little child to come into our home.  I'm always so hesitant to actually believe that I am pregnant so I used the 2nd test as well to confirm the answer! Of course that test came up positive too.

I stood there getting caught up in my own thoughts for a couple minutes and knew that I needed to get down on my knees and tell my Heavenly Father thank you...thank you for letting me be the chosen Mother to a 3rd child of His.  It really humbled me to think that Jeff and I would have 3 kids and that I needed to be a better Mom for all them and also a better wife.  I gave a prayer of thanks right there in the bathroom.  I felt the spirit come over me letting me know that this was a good thing that was going to happen and that we would make it through.

Nikki knew that I would be testing that morning and I just had to share my good news with someone! Of course I wanted Jeff to know first, but I just didn't want to tell him over the phone that I was pregnant.  I called Nikki around 7:15 a.m. and she answered and I couldn't hold back the tears and told her that I was pregnant!  She was so excited for me and said that she knew I would be. I expressed to her some of my concerns about another preterm labor or other complications that I could have along the way and she was just supportive and told me to make an appt with my OB asap to avoid any issues.  I couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed at the thought of Paxton's quick labor and didn't know if I could endure such a trial again.  I wish I could just hold babies in longer!  Nikki and I usually just text so it was a real treat to be able to chat with her about the baby news!  I'm hoping she gets pregnant with baby #5 soon so that we can be belly buddies!

Nikki helped me look up when my due date would be and it's around April 14-16, 2016.  I had been tracking when Jeff and I were doing the deed and so I based it off of when I'm pretty sure we conceived. (The week of July 20th)  I didn't want to use the last day of my period for the due date bc my cycles are unusually long.

Jeff loves chocolate so I just thought of to get him some Baby Ruth's with a note about Baby #3 being due in April 2016.  I also taped the tests on there so that he would believe me!  I taped the candy bars to the garage door so he would see it right when he got home!  He walked in with it and said, "Elle, did you pee all over my chocolate?!!?"  Ha ha, typical Jeff response!  Then he looked at me and said, "Baby?"  I knew he was happy, but we didn't want to talk too much about it in front of the kids.  Annabelle always asks me if I"m going to have another baby and she so badly wants a sister, but cute girl would tell everyone that there is a baby in my tummy if she knew.  We are going to wait to tell our family and friends when I'm past the 12 week mark which is mid Oct.  It's hard not telling my sisters because they know how badly I've been wanting baby #3!

Later that week Jeff and I were talking at dinner and he looked at me and said, "It's a girl!"  It's crazy that he said that because this whole time my Mommy intuition has been telling me it's a girl too, so for him to say that it just made me smile.  I hope we are right because I just feel like it's so important for Annabelle to have a sister.  My sisters mean everything to me and I don't know what I would do without them.  I just know that if she had a sister it would just be so fun for her, fun for her while they are young and especially beneficial for when they are older.  By the time this baby comes she'll be 4.5, so I know she will be able to do more to help me out.  I can already see her mothering skills kicking in because she loves to play house and take care of her babies.  I'm worried that Pax will be a bit jealous because he's still pretty clingy to me.

I can't wait for Jeff and I to go to the temple and maybe get a glimpse at life with 3 kids, or just even a confirmation that things will be ok.  I know that I could not be a better Mom without the help of the gospel and my Savior Jesus Christ.  My 1st appt is in Sept and I can't wait to hear this little babies heart beat!  We are anticipating your arrival baby Schaublet #3!