JOY!

On Saturday afternoon pmc, cpc and I were driving through Parley's Canyon on our way to my mom's cabin at Bear Lake for a "June Birthday's Party" (there are now 5 in our family!). Pmc asked me an interesting question. "Five years ago, would you have imagined that you would be driving to Bear Lake with your husband and child?"

Now for those of you who don't know this about me yet, I have been baby hungry for decades, I always pictured this amazing prince charming, and Bear Lake is my favorite place! I could have imagined it five years ago, but I don't think I ever truly believed it would actually happen.

I thought I felt joy growing up, whenever we spent time at my cabin at Bear Lake. I thought I felt joy as a missionary many times. I thought I felt joy the day pmc and I decided we wanted to get married, I thought I felt joy the day we did get married, and I thought I felt joy numerous times over the past 1 1/2 years. And I'm sure I did, in a smaller way. But the overwhelming feeling I have had now for the past 10 days can only be described as JOY! Now I'm not saying that Bear Lake, missionary work, or marriage are lesser "joys" than having children. What I'm saying is the combination of these things has culminated in nothing less than pure joy! I'm so glad that there is a word to describe it! I'm sure it will only continue to grow, but right now I can just be grateful for what I do feel.
My favorite part of the day has been when pmc comes home from work. It was so hard to let him go back to work on Wednesday. Cpc and I have really done well at home. I'm gratefully recovering very quickly.....all the nurses at the hospital seemed really impressed. And I appreciate the help that people have offered me. However, there is simply nothing like having our little family all together! When we're all together we learn from each other and grow together. For example, here's cpc teaching us that even he's not too little to remember to pray!

Family Adventures

On my last day of nannying, we went bowling. It was so fun, I absolutely adore these kids! I will miss them so much, but luckily my little sister took over, so I'm sure that will keep them from disappearing from my life. On Father's Day we went to pmc's parents house to check on Belle (the dog) who had apparently been acting very strange. Sure enough, she just wasn't herself and it made pmc very worried. He just sat on the floor holding her for a while. I think this picture of them is absolutely adorable! For FHE one night we went to a Salt Lake Bee's game, which we'd been trying to do for a couple months. This picture is pmc with his "rally cap" in the last inning!

Now a quick tribute to pmc (for a belated Father's Day)...I want everyone to know what a romantic pmc is. I adore him. The day before I went into labor, pmc called me from work to "ask me out." He even asked for me by my first name just like when he asked me on our first date (I go by my middle name but he didn't know that because we went my Elder and Sister in the mission). He told me what time he'd pick me up, and then showed up right on time with a beautiful Gerber Daisy! We went to Five Guys for dinner. It just opened here in Salt Lake, and we'd both been so excited because it was a favorite in Maryland for both of us. Pmc happened to get a chance to chat with the owner, and so he told him we were there to induce me into labor. He said to be sure to let him know if it worked, I guess we better do that! Anyway, then he took me miniature golfing, and picked my ball up for me on every single hole (it was just too difficult to bend over that much with that big belly). Isn't he cute? Pmc was very cute about my birthday. He made sure the staff at the hospital knew it was my birthday, they brought me two cakes! He also had my dad pick up my birthday present since he couldn't. However, my when my dad went to get it, it was not available and had to be ordered in. Pmc got me a painting that I absolutely LOVE! Also, pmc has been such a stellar dad so far! He adores his son so much, and I really have as much confidence in his ability to take care of him as my own motherly instincts. He's amazing! Besides that, I do believe that cpc adores his father, you can just tell from the look in his eyes. Thank you pmc for all you do for your family, especially for the well-written blog posts, and beautiful slide show, timed perfectly with a beautiful song! Cpc and I love you!Alright, so since we got home from the hospital we've just been adjusting. Cpc is really doing well: feeding well, sleeping well, playing well. Here are a few special pictures. One of me and my sister with our babies, one of Grammie with cpc, one of Grandma & Grandpa Hooper with cpc, then a 4-generation picture with my dad and Grandma Ruthie!

A Day in the Life... Part II

Cpc was born today, June 20th, 2008 at 8:55 AM. That leaves about 9 hours for me to fill in:
From 12 AM to 6 AM, atec finished dilating, and our doctor arrived to begin pushing. Atec pushed good and hard through 3 contractions, but the doctor had to stop her after that because during the pushing, cpc's heart rate was dropping fairly significantly. This was a sign that he wasn't handling things very well. So we gave him a half an hour off, and tried again through 2 more contractions. Same result. So after examinations from four different doctors (3 residents and the attending physician), it was decided that cpc's head was turned a little bit, which was keeping him from dropping completely, and that her cervix was actually closing back up. That meant it was C-section time. The news didn't hit atec very well at all, but the situation didn't allow much time to settle down. It needed to happen, and it was out of our hands. Obviously if it were our choice we wouldn't choose a cesarean, but it wasn't up to us.
So, at 8:15 they wheeled atec off and told me to change into some scrubs and get prepped for the surgery. After I had changed, I sat in the room we had been in for the past 14 hours and thought about what was about to happen. I was a little nervous and worried about the increased risk, but once I joined atec in the operating room and could see things happening, I relaxed a lot and felt much better. I watched as they made an opening big enough for a baby to fit through, then they reached in and with very little trouble pulled him right out, clamped and cut his cord, and sent him across the room to be cleaned up and looked at, all the while he was giving an adorable cry that I'm sure meant "Mommy, it's OK. I'm fine." I know that's what it meant to atec, cause she told me later that she felt joyful relief when she heard those cries. (Later the doctors told us that they'd never done an easier C-section. He was so ready to come out, even if it wasn't the natural way.)
I stood alongside the pediatric team as they scored him, and with a pair of 9's, it was off to the nursery. Before we went there though, I stopped off to show atec her son. She was thrilled to see his adorable face and to hold him a little bit.
In the nursery, he got a quick bath and had his temperature checked, then a pediatrician checked his heart, lungs, and his eyes. He looked so fantastic, so healthy.
I decided to leave him there and go back and check on atec. Since she still wasn't back in the delivery room, I took the chance to call the grandparents and tell them the good news. Then I went to track down atec and see her through the rest of her surgery. They had her stapled up and back to the delivery room by about 9:45.
We moved over to the newborn area sometime between 10:30 and 11:30, and things have been pretty good ever since. We've had visits from Aunt Chelsia (and cpc's closest cousin in age LucyMae), Grandpa, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Shauna (along with cpc's closest in locale cousin, smc), and Grams and Papa rounded off the night with a visit at 8 PM. Then we got to get atec out of bed and onto her feet to take a walk - which went great! Atec said it felt so good to be on her feet and she even opted for a second lap around the unit. It's such a relief to see her recovering so well.
Cpc has been an angel all day. He's feeding as though it's instinctive (imagine that!?!) and he's pooping as though it's a recreational activity. He's pretty quiet and easy to soothe (how long does that last again?) As you can see, he's a beautiful, healthy, happy baby. Despite the baggage that a C-section inevitably totes, we have the most important thing with us now: the third member of This Little Cundick Family!

A Day in the Life... Part I

Greetings to you all from University Hospital. With just an hour left, it is time to chronicle the day that was, since it has certainly been an exciting one.
At 4:30 this morning, I was awakened by my beautiful wife asking if she could see my phone. That may seem like an odd question to ask, but it made sense to me. My phone has an easy-to-use stopwatch on it, and she wanted to time both the frequency and the duration of the contractions she had been having for a little while. I willingly obliged, but tried to remain calm so that if this was a false alarm, I'd still be able to sleep. It wasn't. The contractions were steadily coming in 5-8 minutes apart, and lasting 45 seconds or so.
We got up and got the last few things packed, had a light breakfast, and put "Pride and Prejudice" in the DVD player to keep our nerves down. By 7 AM, atec said she was ready to go up to the hospital. So, away we went, with contractions 5 minutes apart and lasting up to a minute.
At the hospital, atec was checked and dilated to a 3. At times on the monitor she would have 4 or 5 contractions every 3 minutes or so, and then they'd slow back down a little. After being monitored until 10 AM, she was still only dilated to a 3. So even though she was clearly in early labor, it was not our time to be admitted yet. All the rooms at the hospital were currently full anyway, so that was fine with us. We'd rather get as much done from the comforts of home anyway, and then head to the hospital for the finish line. If only we knew then how long this race was! (It's a new event apparently... the 10,000 meter hurdles. Fun, eh?)
About 1 PM, we started timing contractions carefully again, and found that they were now consistently 2 minutes apart and lasting about a minute, sometimes more! This was a good sign, but also meant that atec's pain was increasing. We found ourselves in a bit of a pickle, because we had 3 options: Go fill the prescription for pain medication and stay at home, go into the clinic and see Dr. K since we had our regularly scheduled appointment @ 1:25, or go back up to the hospital and take the chance that atec hadn't changed and we'd have to come back home again! We called the clinic, and they suggested that we go back up to the hospital. So, we waited another hour and then went and filled the prescription! (We're so smart.) atec took a pill at 2:30, and by 3:30 nothing had changed. The pain wasn't alleviated and she was still having very regular, hard to manage contractions. So we came back up to the hospital.
Upon arrival this time, we were unpleasantly surprised to find that atec was STILL only dilated to a 3. (This did, however, validate our decision to wait to go back to the hospital at 1 PM.) Because atec's contractions were still so regular, the CNP wanted to try something new to help atec's cervix dilate. So she got a shot of Morphine and (I think) Fentanyl. Boy did that ever do the trick! It put atec right to sleep, which was a huge plus because at that point she had experienced 13 straight hours of regular contractions at least every 8 minutes, but usually even more often than that! She got the shot a little before 5 PM, and when she was checked again at 6:20, she had reached the magical dilation of 4 cm, and we were admitted to Labor and Delivery!
Things have been hectic but uneventful since then. We were happy to finally bring our things in from the car, and atec decided it was time to help her body relax by means of medication, namely an epidural. That happened about 7:30, and her contractions have been just about every minute since then, ever increasing in intensity, especially since Pitocin was added a couple of hours ago. We are slightly saddened to see June 19th go (it would have been such a nice day for a birthday, but we're glad that he'll almost assuredly not have to share his birthday with atec.
I will say that I'm pleasantly surprised by the amount of energy I still have left in the tank. I wound up with 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night, and I've slept a total of 2 1/2 hours in bits and pieces today. Adrenaline for a new father is a wonderful thing. I'll probably crash tomorrow afternoon.
That'll just about do it for tonight. I think we're expecting the baby in the wee hours of the morning. More to come when I get a chance, including pictures!

We Can't Force Him!

So as it turns out, unless I go beg for an induction (which I'm just not quite ready to do yet), our little boy is just going to come when he's good and ready! A hike up Ensign Peak didn't even induce me into labor....so we'll just wait until he decides he's ready.

Even though I've lived in Utah my whole life, I've never been to Ensign Peak. I've been wanting to go for a while, and Friday night I finally talked pmc into going with me (even though he was hesitant since I'm SOO pregnant!). I convinced him that it might help get our baby to come! Well, it didn't really work, but we sure did see a good sunset and enjoy some quality time together.

I love how beautiful the mountains look with the sun setting on them. I absolutely LOVE these mountains! I also love how beautiful the Great Salt Lake looks with the sunset! Can you believe I've also NEVER set a toe in that lake? One of my goals this year is to LIVE in my own backyard, since we obviously won't be doing too much traveling due to the ridiculous cost of gas! So watch out Utah, here we come!

Oh and by the way, to explain the song.....actually, I used to hate this song, and it slowly grew on me. I actually love this singer's newest song "The Call" but it's on lots of people's blogs right now, so I figured I'd revert to this one!

Shower, Cabin Fun, and a New Niece

The past two weeks have been pretty exciting:

Last Saturday atec's sisters threw her a baby shower with all her friends. We totally forgot to get pictures until everyone except Leslie had left! It was great fun though to have friends from elementary school through the mission there. We sure do feel spoiled by all the gifts!

That night she played a gig with the Millcreek String Quartet (the family quartet), before heading up to meet pmc at the cabin. Apparently moments after leaving the gig, her sister's water broke. Since we don't get cell-phone reception at the cabin, we were entirely unaware of this until Sunday night. On our drive home, there was a message saying we had a new niece!

Sunday was a beautiful Sabbath Day up the canyon. After church, we enjoyed a nice Sunday walk, and some time with our nieces and nephews.

Then of course, this week has been totally delightful getting to know our new niece LucyMae! She is so sweet and only makes us anxious for our little boy to join us!Therefore, pmc is somehow finding time to squeeze in last-minute projects. We put up a few pictures frames this week, and are finally going to paint our baseboards (as many of you know they've been cluttering our apartment on the floor since we moved in!). Pmc was especially excited this week about his new tool-belt!

One last note....atec has decided lately that it's hilarious to not answer her phone, just to put you in suspense of "does that mean they're at the hospital?" So just know that we promise to update you when the baby arrives! We'll be taking the computer with us to the hospital actually, and we're probably more excited to share our new arrival than you are to see him!