July 30, 2013

“So, Do You Have A Birth Plan?”





Yesterday, #2 of 2 of our summer babies joined us! (yes, Aleki is not living with us anymore, but we still consider him our son)  

TAU'AHO PEARCE BRADSHAW

Tau'aho's long awaited, prayed for and stressed over arrival was 29 July. He was 7lbs 15oz and 20.5 inches long. 

Lady Hiva had a C-section scheduled for this Friday, but early Sunday morning (0500 early) she started to have contractions. We pulled out the I-pad and took track of the contractions as they happened. (And yes, they have an app for that! Several actually) After two hours of hard contractions, we called the doctor and she said to wait an hour and see if they continue to worsen. Lady took a shower and got ready. Sadly, the shower slowed the contraction down. We spent the day waiting and counting...and waiting some more. The contractions never stopped, but they didn't become worse either. 

We went to bed (I say bed because we really didn't sleep) speculating when Tau'aho would finally come. We also made bets on how much he would weigh. Lady chose 8lbs 5 oz and I went 8lbs 2 oz...(see above so I don't have to tell you all who won. hehe) Again, about 0500h the contractions intensified. This time the doctor told us to come in so they could check. They didn't want Lady to tear through her cerclage. 

We packed all of the "go bag" stuff just in case and we rushed off to the hospital with all the morning traffic. 

When we arrived and the nurses set Lady up in the triage, the first nurse asked us, “Do you have a birth plan?” HA! Yes, we had a birth plan: try not to go into labor for 39 weeks, then make it to the hospital before the contractions cause the cerclage to rip through the cervix. That pretty much sums it up…

We didn't really tell anyone at that point because we weren't sure anything was going to happen. But after two doctors checked, they decided that Lady was starting to dilate through her cerclage (gulp! Sounds painful) and within twenty minutes she was in the operating room. I only had time to send one rushed text to Heather as I put on my scrubs and was herded back to Lady's side. 
I have said it before and I will say it again, Lady Hiva is one tough girl--emotionally, spiritually and physically. She was having contractions that put the Toco line way off the chart--literally, there was nowhere else for it to print--and when the doctor would come in she would smile sweetly and say, "Oh, its about a five..." (On the 1 to 10 pain scale)
 
In the operation I was designated to sit at Lady's head as I had other times. She didn't want me to see so they put up a curtain just below her neck...such a bummer I wanted to watch! I mean, who doesn't want to look when you hear the voices on the other side of the curtain say, "The bladder is out"? The anesthesiologist told Lady to tell him if she could feel pain or heavy pressure. Lady doesn't like attention so much she didn't say anything but she was squeezing my arms and hands so hard her fingers were white and I had bruises. Like I said, she is a tough girl. To say that I am proud of her is a complete understatement. 

When they lifted Tau'aho out we both were full of gratitude to hear him scream. It wasn't a rush to get him breathing as it had been with Vaitafe; Tau'aho screamed enough to let the world know he had arrived. Lady looked over as they were washing and weighing him and the first thing she said was, "He's so WHITE!" haha (Don't tell her that he has a white daddy...haha) 
Just out of the womb




I walked away from Lady just long enough to take a few photos of Tau'aho before he went to the nursery. Don't tell Lady but I was able to get a good view of the surgery several times too...at one point the doctors had four hands in Lady's stomach--no wonder it was hurting. 

As they stitched Lady up I went to watch Tau'aho be washed and all of the 'new baby testing done.' I loved it when he cried, not because I want to see my baby suffer, but because it meant he is healthy. It made me smile. As one of our good friends commented, "He's Lucky #7!" 










We settled into the day with our chubby cheeked guy. He was so heavy compared to any of other other children. We held his hands and wrinkly toes. We laughed as his hair curls when it is wet and talked to him as he sat wide eyed as if in thought. 

Once again, thank you all for your continued prayers and love. It is now time to celebrate once again because our little Lucky has joined us. 






July 28, 2013

Rain and River at Great Falls




It was the first Saturday in a long time that Lady Hiva and I have not had something planned. We purposely did not plan something because we didn’t know if she would go into labor—she is now 39 weeks after all!

There was no baby on the horizon so we decided to go to Great Falls Park, just a short drive from our house.

It was a beautiful, cool day. We stopped to get some food on the way to the park and enjoyed the green, forested drive there. (MAN, some of those houses are HUGE! I need to find out what those people do for a living)

After waiting in a line of cars for entrance, we were greeted with this sign: The river kills. Stay out! Well, there went my idea of swimming—haha!


We walked into the park until we arrived at the picnic tables. It was fun to sit and eat while being entertained by the families walking, eating and enjoying nature.


Walking is hard for Lady at this point so we were glad that the lookout points for the waterfalls were relatively close to the Visitor’s Center. The view was breathtaking. We both coveted the group of water rafters just getting ready to go out. That is something we need to put on our “to do in DC list.”






Just as we were leaving the second lookout point it began to rain. Just sprinkles. Nothing to worry about. We found a tree and sat on our blanket. The view was perfect to see the river. As the rain began to intensify I suggested I could go back and get the umbrella. I took off running and by the time I reached the car the rain was thick sheets of heavy drops. I was soaked!

I grabbed a chair—for Lady to sit on—left my phone so it didn’t get ruined dashed back to Lady with the umbrella. I had to take off my slippers because running in wet slippers is not easy…I ran back barefoot. When I arrived Lady was standing up with the blanket wrapped around her. She was dry but the blanket was soaked. We stood there for a few minutes debating whether to leave or not. We opted to stay considering the walk back would be more wet than just waiting it out.



I rigged the blanket up in the tree as a make-shift cover and we read our books as droves of people walked drenched back to their cars.
The rain did eventually quit and we went for a walk. It was nice to be out in nature. But once it started to sprinkle again I suggested we go back to the car. (our progress wasn’t going to break any speed records!) Sure enough as soon as we started to drive away the flood of the sky was released again!

We arrived home and both of us looked like we had jumped in the river anyway! But hey, what is life without some rain along the journey?

July 27, 2013

My “Mormon Profile”




As you all know, Lady Hiva and I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—commonly referred to as the “Mormons.” Both of us were raised by parents that are LDS, but both our larger family circles are diverse when it comes to religions. Every day we are surrounded by people of all faiths and principles and we grow as we learn about their personal belief systems.

The last several months have shown that trials and challenges bring us all together—no matter our religious differences. We have felt the powerful impact inspiring words, prayers, and positive thoughts from people from all over the world.

I decided to join some friends and share some of my most personal beliefs and how being LDS has strengthened me. The platform to do this was a page on Mormon.org where you can meet and read about some inspirational people. People like you and I that have strive to be the best they can be.
 
Here is a link to my profile if you would like to read it:

Hi I'm Dustin Bradshaw

July 22, 2013

Crafty Nesting…




The other day we saw one of our friends had a cute cover for the car seat. She said she bought it online from a company in Utah—of course…all those babies that are born there! Haha.

Today I looked it up and they were really expensive. I told Lady that I could make those…I wasn’t sure she was convinced (No faith I say! No faith!) If someone else can do it, so could we! Right?

 So on our way home from work Lady and I stopped and picked up some material.

She went to go visiting teaching so and I went to work. Lady’s request was to have a warm cover for winter and a cool one for summer. With those instructions the covers took shape.









I finished the first one and talked Lady Hiva into trying the second. She did some sewing then gave up—she said that I was putting too much pressure on her. Me? No way?! Never…!

They turned out really great. Thankfully. Had they not turned out I would have been embarrassed that I told her I could do it and found out I couldn’t.










Now all we need is Tau’aho. I was hoping he would come today on Moana’s birthday…but alas he didn’t show up. After months of praying Lady didn’t go into labor we are now at the point we would be excited for Tau’aho to show up. Lady is especially ready to not be pregnant anymore. But until he makes his appearance we will continue our nesting preparations…