Fish Lake

Rudy sitting in a rugged chair at the Lodge.

Rudy's mosquito costume.

Becoming one with Fish Lake.

Ella, me, Rudy, Jason, Mike, Aubrey(on Mike's back) and Bailey at the beaver dam. (Ask Jason for all his dam jokes. ugh. :) )

In front of the cabin with our niece, Ella.

Jason's family has this great tradition that's been around since his mom was a kid (with a few gaps in between). Each year, the family packs up and spends a weekend at Fish Lake, this beautiful, ice cold lake somewhere close to Scipio, UT, I think. (Jason always drives, I just enjoy the ride...or try to...sometimes I can be a bit of a wimp about car trips. I bet I'll always be the first in our family to ask, "Are we there yet?". But I digress...) Anyway, it's great because Mom and Dad pretty much worry about everything and we just show up. They rent this big rustic cabin just across from the lake and Mom packs in enough food to feed an army for a week, and we mostly just sit back and enjoy each other. It's beautiful. The boys get up at the crack of dawn to get out on the lake and catch fish for dinner that night. (Mom's always got a plan B dinner, just in case the fish are smarter than the fishermen that day.) I went out with them the first couple summers after Jason and I were married, but last year I was pregnant and mornings were not my specialty, and this year...well, let me tell you about this year.

I'd been looking SOOO forward to going to Fish Lake this year. I was stoked about showing Rudy the coolness of it all. I was excited to introduce a new tradition to this age old tradition...the first Annual Fish Lake Talent Show, and I was just plain excited to be out where the air is filled with a clear, clean pine scent even when you haven't just mopped the kitchen floor. :) So when my throat was sore at the beginning of the week, I rushed to the Dr. for a cure. "It's just a cold, he said, you should be feeling better in 4 or 5 days." I was feeling much better by Thursday as we packed our stuff into the car and loaded our rat up with extra food and water for the weekend. And then Rudy sneezed and grinned up at me with boogie river flowing from his nose to his lips. Eew. Probably nothing, I told myself, as I threw the humidifier into the pile of "to be packed" items, just in case.

Well, it was not nothing. It was my cold, reincarnated. Only this time it was angry and out for revenge. Poor little guy. Poor me. Poor Daddy. Poor rest of the family that had to listen to Rudy wake up screaming every 45 minutes all night long. Jason actually peeled himself out of bed and went fishing, on my urging. Rudy and I stayed home and tried to forget that we didn't sleep the night before. One nice thing about the situation is that I had tons of sympathetic adults surrounding me who volunteered for such chores as sucking snot out of a beet red screaming child. Side note about the nose sucking ordeal. Rudy is way into cars and trucks right now. His whole world stops when one goes by. If he ever gets this into girls...I guess he'll just be a normal teenage guy. (Hopefully he's a teenager before that happens!) Anyway, his Aunt Katie was going at it with the boogie sucker on the front porch of the cabin and Rudy was screaming in protest. And then a truck drove by. He stopped his screaming and squirming and watched, captivated, as the truck passed. And then he picked his protest up as though there had been no interruption. As distressing as it was to watch my little man screaming, it was also hilarious to see this little scenario play out each time a car or truck passed, which was relatively often, since we were so close to the marina.

By Saturday, the cold had got its seething tentacles around me and Rudy, and by Sunday all three of us, (Jason, Rudy and Me) were victims. I don't think anyone else in the family caught the cold. Or maybe they did and just didn't want to make us feel bad about sharing the misery. We usually go to Church in the almost 100 year old lodge at Fish Lake to top off our trip before we all drive home. Our family just packed up and left. It was nice to be home. Rudy was more willing to nap in his own room and bed, and things just seemed better once we were in the comfort of our own little home.

In spite of that nasty mean spirited cold, we managed to have a good time and even still enjoyed performing in the talent show. I sang a little song about mosquitoes while Jason and Rudy buzzed around the room in mosquito costumes I made for them the week before. I could even still taste Mom's great cooking! I must say, though, I hope never to experience another Fish Lake trip quite like this one. ;)

Milestone Number Two

Rudy is hitting milestones left and right, I guess. This morning, he greeted me with something brand new... a solid number two nugget instead of his usual peanut buttery smear. I actually considered taking a picture and then realized what I was thinking of taking a picture of. I think Rudy will thank me for not posting pictures of his 'business' to the Internet. I guess when you're a parent of small children, the term "gross" just doesn't seem to apply to as many things as it did before. Apologies to anyone who is wrinkling their nose that I'm even discussing poop at all. It's just too cool to have my little boy making big boy poos not to document it!

One little monkey, jumping on the bed...

Well, Rudy and I have reached a milestone in our lives: Rudy's first big bump. It's a toss up as to who shed the most tears. I knew the day would come when he'd have an owie that would linger a bit longer than a couple kisses and one round of The Itsy Bitsy Spider, but I still wasn't prepared for it. Not when it was my fault! I had Rudy on the bed (I KNOW babies are safest on the floor, etc., etc., but we were just playing as I was getting ready for a run...) I stepped away for a moment to grab my socks and discovered that Rudy is officially capable of transporting himself through time and space in a blink of an eye. Now you see him, (THUD) now you don't. Yikes! Miracle of miracles, he only grazed the open drawer in his path from bed to floor, and no serious injury resulted. I grabbed my screaming child and examined him as best I could through my hazy eyes. I called my mom for reassurance that everything would be okay, which she eventually got around to giving me, after reciting all the signs and symptoms he may show in the next little while to indicate that something deadly serious had happened. (She's a NICU nurse, can you blame her?) Anyway, within a 1/2 hour things were back to normal in our splendiferous life, though I nixed the run and opted for a quiet stroll around the neighborhood to soothe my frazzled nerves. Looking back on the event with a bit more serene mindset, I realized that Rudy clutched the prize he'd sacrificed his body for through the whole ordeal--a sparkly red pen---as if to show me, "Look! At least I got what I was going for!" He's a determined little soul. I can't wait to meet the teenage Rudy...or maybe I can. :)

Jason came home after all the tears were dry and only Rudy's manly bump remained. He says Rudy's going to be a great receiver someday, since he's willing to sacrifice his body to avoid a fumble.

Final batch of pics to catch us up. Enjoy!

More Pics of Rudy between May and July 08

A few pics to fill the gap between birth and July 08.

These aren't in any special order. Isn't he a cutie? :)

And then there were three.

Rudy was born on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. To tell his birthing story, I have to back track to the Sunday before his birth. My surges were coming pretty regularly (every 4 minutes or so.) I took a shower and tried all the other things that had helped them to slow in the past, but this time they were not slowing. After about 4 hours, Jason and I decided that tonight was the night. It was about 1:00 am when we headed to the American Fork Hospital with all our birthing gear, ready to bring home our beautiful baby boy. I walked gleefully into the labor and delivery unit and announced," I'm in labor!” The nurses showed me to the triage room where they had me strip down into a hospital gown. The checked my dilation. Still a 2! How disappointing! But I was 60% effaced, so they hooked me up to the monitor and watched me and Rudy for about 2 hours. Then they checked me again. Still a 2- and my surges had slowed to almost non-existent, so, they sent me home.
The nurse attending me told me I’d know it was the real thing when I just couldn’t stand the pain anymore- that’s when I should come back. I was so disappointed and confused. Launi had taught us that labor does not have to equal pain, and this nurse was telling me to gauge my readiness to come back by not being able to stand the pain anymore. How in the world is a Hypnobirthing mom supposed to know when its “time”? “You’ll know” everyone had said, and yet, here I was, packing up my things and going home, round belly and all.
Monday passed uneventfully labor-wise. It was a crazy day for Jason because it was his first day at his new job, plus he had his finals to take, all after staying up half the night with his wife at the hospital. I went to work to get my mind off the disappointment.
On Tuesday, my work took us all out to a barbeque place for the office Christmas Party. I ate the spicy BBQ sauce with all my meat, trying to nudge Rudy along. Still nothing. Tuesday night, (well, really Wednesday morning) at a bout 3 am, I woke up with stomach cramps. I thought I had a belly ache from all the rich foods I ate at lunch the day before. I made myself some ginger tea and took a warm shower to try to soothe my stomach, but the cramps just got stronger. Then, I had an epiphany- these cramps were rhythmic! Seeing as I’d never had a rhythmic stomach ache before, and I was nine months pregnant, I figured maybe these could be the surges I’d been so long awaiting!
I sat in the baby room and did my deep breathing through the surges, timing them now. Things got a bit uncomfortable as my lower back began to tense up with each surge. I tried the polar bear position to see if maybe Rudy would change positions and make things easier on me. No such luck. I contemplated the Rabazo technique, but was unsure if any Joe Schmoe could do it, so I opted out. I decided not to wake Jason because I wanted to be absolutely sure I was having labor surges before I made a fool out of myself again. I went back to bed and began to brew about how uncomfortable my last hospital visit had been. I lost my focus on deep breathing and let doubt and fear creep in instead. Surprise, surprise, my surges started to hurt. The more they hurt, the more freaked out I got. Jason woke up to my whimpers and asked what was going on. I told him I thought I was in labor and I did not want to go to the hospital to be poked and prodded, etc. Jason was great to remind me about my deep breathing, my positive affirmations, and all our preparations for a smooth and easy birthing experience. Using his own words, he helped me to regain my focus and relaxation. Things got way better, and my confidence that Hypnobirthing would work for us was bolstered. We lay in bed and breathed through my surges together. Jason kept his warm hand on the small of my back and applied pressure during surges, which really helped.
Finally, around 7 am we decided to pack up and go. I was sad to leave the comfort of my home, but happy that we would have access to medical assistance just in case we needed it. At the hospital, I slowly made my way to the labor and delivery floor, pausing to breathe through my surges. When they checked me, I was still only dilated to just over a 3, but I was 80% effaced, and my surges were going great, so they admitted me. I found standing and leaning on Jason, being on all fours in the bed, and the lateral position to be most comfortable for me as I labored, especially since the pressure in my back was still there. I was disappointed that my nurse was not familiar with the rebazo technique, but otherwise, she was phenomenal!
We did intermittent monitoring, which was great, especially because the nurse never made me lay down and strap the monitors on. She came to me where ever I was and held the monitors against my belly until she got what she needed. So long as Jason was right by my side, telling me how great I was doing and reminding me to breathe deep and relax, I felt safe and secure. My surges were more intense than I had anticipated. I had always pictured myself lying perfectly still and serene through the whole process. In the moment, I felt like I needed to move around quite a bit, often changing positions. I found that all I wanted was Jason- none of the other Hypnobirthing stuff like calming music or snacks or a Jacuzzi bath or anything sounded good to me. I just closed my eyes and focused on my body, my baby, and Jason.
Around 11 am or so, I felt the urge to start birth breathing, so I did. I began to feel stronger and stronger pressure in my surges. After about a half hour, my membranes released and the pressure grew. I was once again surprised at how strong the natural expulsive reflex was. I was now truly just along for the ride, and it felt good to be able to trust my body and my baby to take care of things. Birth breathing through my surges helped me keep from pushing with my lower pelvic muscles, which I felt a strong urge to do.
Finally, the nurse told me I’d be able to feel my baby’s head crowning with each surge. How exciting that was! Rudy was so close to being in my arms. With each surge, Rudy’s head stretched my perineum a little more, until at last it was ready to allow him to pass through into the fresh air. (It seemed like forever because I was waiting to meet my son, but in actuality, Rudy progressed through the birth canal so fast that the Dr. didn’t even have time to put on his gloves before receiving him.) I only had very minor tearing.
Because there was some meconium in the amniotic fluid, Rudy had to be taken to have his lungs deep suctioned out immediately after birth, so his cord needed to be clamped before it finished pulsing. Within a few minutes, a healthy baby was placed on my chest for some wonderful skin to skin time with me and Jason. It was one of the sweetest moments of my life. I felt strong and invigorated, elated and in total awe of our tiny child.
After we’d spend a couple hours together, and Rudy had nursed, we all went to the nursery to bathe him and have whatever other assessments done on him that were necessary.
By the time we got to our room on the mother baby floor, I was dizzy with hunger. My family was kind enough to bring me in a fruit smoothie and some Arby’s. I hardly stopped gazing at our son until 4 am the next morning, when I finally laid him in his bassinet and fell asleep. I’m so glad that I chose to use Hypnobirthing techniques to help me achieve a medication free child birth. I’m looking forward to having more Hypnobirthing experiences as the rest of our children make their way into our family, and expect it will only get better. I only wish I would have had more time to really practice my techniques a bit better. Next time, I will sign up for a class before the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy.