Welcoming.....Kiera Elizabeth Demke

We went to my 39 week appointment, just to find out that I was still only dilated to a 2 1/2, that is three weeks in a row, even though the night before Randy and I went for a mile walk. So we decided to help her a bit and get my membranes stripped. Doc said that if it worked that we would be in having a baby that night. We got really nervous and though it was it. I was feeling a little crampy all day. Unfortunately, the night came and went. We were sad but figured it was just because she wasn't ready to come. Wednesday morning, I woke up and was still feeling crampy but nothing too crazy. I went about my day and ran lots of errands in preparation for her arrival.....someday! Randy and I went on another walk that night but this time it was a mile and a half long. I was having contractions during the walk, 4-6 minutes apart. Is this it? We were so excited but didn't want to get our hopes. We went home and relaxed and after about an hr the contractions got farther apart enough that I could fall asleep. I woke up at 3:30 to contractions again, 4-6 minutes apart. But by 4:30am, I was back asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I decided that I should go in to the hospital just to get checked and see our progress. When I got there, I was barely a 3 and left the hospital, a "loose" 3. We went in just to get checked so we weren't too bummed when we were discharged. We went home and got everything ready for real. I had to find a babysitter for my two foster boys in case we went in that night. By 2pm, I called Randy to come home from work. The contractions were still 4-6 minutes apart but getting stronger, although I could still breathe through them and sometime I could talk. Sadly, he couldn't just yet so his mother came over to spend a few hours with me. We took the boys to the park and walked around the track while they played on the playground. Finally, we decided it was time to go to the hospital. We walked back home and made dinner, packed up and left.

Once we got to the hospital, I got checked and was a 3 1/2 and within a half an hr, I was up to a 4. They admitted me. I told the nurse that I wanted to walk around as much as possible. So Randy and my mother, kindly walked and walk and walked with me around the hospital floor. Randy was such a good sport. He rubbed my back lots which was where most of my pain was. He kept talking to me to keep my mind on something besides the pain. :) We didn't want an epidural. It was a decision that Randy and I were not comfortable with and we were pretty headstrong about it. Not to mention, everyone was telling me that I couldn't do it without getting something for pain. So I had to prove it to them, right?! I think in the back of my mind, I thought I couldn't it either and that it was more likely an unrealistic goal. So I had to prove it to myself too. LOL. We went back to our room and got monitored a bit and then went back on out to walk more.

Then it began to really hurt and I understood why so many want the epidural. I had major back labor. Once I started to get discouraged, the nurse checked our progress and I went form a 6 to an 8 in an hour. I was so relieved and then......I threw up! After that things just took off so fast.

Oh, did I mention that my MIL showed up about this time. She said, "Eh, I've had 12 kids and I know that this is going to take forever." She thought that we wouldn't have a baby until 6am, so she took her sweet ol' time getting to the hospital. LOL. She got there about midnight.

I finally told the nurse that I had to push. She checked me and I only had a little lip left and then I could start pushing but I was not about to wait. While she was on the phone with the doctor to get his permission to push through the lip, I was lightly pushing until they told me to stop, the baby was coming out. The pain lessened when I tightened my tummy. HAHA! I pushed through my first contraction and during the second contraction the doctor entered the room. He got ready and everything seemed to be great. Until the doctor dropped his glove......The nurses ran to get him another one and handed it to him just in time for him to get a few fingers in and catch our baby. She was not going to wait for anyone either. She wanted out! :P

I just can't believe that we did it. She is so precious and she has been such a joy and our first week together really hasn't been bad at all. She eats really well and doesn't cry too much. I thank her everyday for coming into my life and doing her part in this whole experience to make it so much easier than it could have been. :)

So enough with the reading because I know you are dying to see pictures. So, here we are.....very happy to introduce to you our precious baby girl.

Kiera Elizabeth Demke
6 lbs 12 oz
19 1/2 inches long
Born: Fri, Oct. 29th
Time: 2:32am

Our first family picture! (Sorry about the gray blob, I figured it wasn't appropriate to post a picture of my boob.)
She is so precious. This was such an amazing moment.

She has got her daddy's hair, so curly.

:) Everything just felt so natural. I loved it.

6lbs 12 oz. Randy was hoping for a 7 pounder. Almost!

HAHA! I just love this picture.

The first time that Daddy got to hold Kiera

Randy and his mom video taping baby Kiera. This is her first grandchild. :)

She loved her bath.

Oh, so nice!

Look at that curly hair!

Our board. We completed all of our goals.

Once we got to our room, Dad and Kiera fell fast asleep.

Our foster boys came to visit.

Natalie came to visit too. She ran up to the window and said, "Goochie Goochie Goo" (However you spell that!)

Grandpa and his first grandchild.

Randy's first tar poo diaper.

Grandma and her little girl.

I love this picture!

We were trying to get some sleep

The boys went our with Grandma and bought Kiera her Halloween costume, Mrs. Clause. Oh and Randy made the flower and Yes, It really is a pine cone. LOL.

:P

That night we went trunk or treating. I didn't want to miss the boys trick or treating.

Such a big yawn!

She loves her boppy pillow. Look how peaceful she is.

Oh, I just love her so much!

So squishy! :P

We are just so grateful to have her. It is really fun to watch her move and recognize movements that she did in my belly. She had the hiccups all the time in my belly and still does. :) She is such a blessing and we are just so happy. I can't wait to get out and show her off to the world!

3 1/2 weeks to go!

I cannot believe we only have a few short weeks before we will see our beautiful little girl. It has been a long wait and I'm so excited to hold her in my arms. It has been a little roller coaster this whole pregnancy. I try to not worry! So here is the short explanation of it all so far.

By the 20th week, I started measuring small and ever since then I have never been closer than two weeks to date. Usually, I measure 3-4 weeks too small. I have had a total of 4 ultrasounds. Super frustrating because it costs so much, but I got lots of cute pictures of my baby! :) She is so pretty. It was also frustrating because every ultrasound showed that she was doing fine, she was the right size and everything was well until last weeks ultrasound. They baby's heart rate wouldn't increase above 120. We checked it 4 different times and got 106, 112, 117 and 110. The sonographer got kinda worried and went to consult with our doctor. He was nervous about it too so he personally walked us down to Labor and Delivery to have the baby monitored for a while. We spent probably close to 2 hours in a room hooked up to machines. Of course, her heart rate went up and was super steady at 120. She was fine! We don't know if maybe she was laying on her cord or what she was doing. She was moving around so it wasn't like she was sleeping. Hmm...



So when I went to my appt. this week, we scheduled an ultrasound just before my OB appt. just to make sure she was still fine and she is, for the most part. Now she is measuring 2 weeks small. Of course, my uterus has always been small but she has always measured on target. She did not gain anything from last week to this week but actually lost. Of course, it is not the most accurate measurement so she very well have gained something or at least stayed the same but she should be gaining more. Doc says that if she begins to fall behind anymore than she already has he will get concerned but so far he isn't overly worried. If she does fall behind, they will put me on super restrictions, almost like bed rest and give me steroid shot to help her grow. Hopefully that wont have to happen.

Here's a collage I put together of some of our ultrasound pictures. :)
We've only got a few more weeks so she needs to starting getting her act together otherwise we are going to have a tiny baby! :)

Other than all that, I've had a good pregnancy. Not very much nausea, just every so often. I feel pretty faint when I am standing too long or actively working so I have to sit down and relax. Now, my biggest problem is my large belly. I just want to bend over and sleep on my tummy and sit normally. HA!

Oh yes, as of Tuesday, I am 80% effaced and dilated to a 1. I can't believe it! Reality is totally starting to hit, I am going to have a baby here soon, real soon. And I cannot wait, the nursery mostly together, just a few more touches that need to be done to it. I'll post pictures when it's completed.

My Fabulous Birthday!

Just because I am forced to get older that doesn't mean I can't still do kid things for my birthday right?!

So for my 20th birthday this year, I wanted to do something super fun. I wanted a pinata. When was the last time you got to hit a pinata. It's been forever, right? If you go to a kids party, then it's usually broken before it gets to your turn. It's lame! I wanted to hit the pinata. :) Every year, my MIL throws a party for your birthday so when she asked what I wanted, my wonderful husband unloaded all my secrets. He told her that I wanted a pinata, my favorite candy is tootsie rolls, I love OREO cookies and milk and rocky road ice cream. I went to the party to find a beautiful Toy Story pinata filled with lots of different candy, even tootsie rolls.

We had some machinery that was going to be the lever for the pinata but for some reason it wasn't available so we had to improvise with a horse walker thingy! LOL. We, then had a blast busting the pinata and rushing towards all the candy. Okay, I didn't run but if I wasn't so pregnant, I would have! Oh, I forgot to mention the candy fell into lots of dried up old horse poop. HAHA! But I wasn't going to throw away tootsie rolls. I am pretty sure its one of the 7 deadly sins!

After the pinata, we went inside where I blew out the candles on my yummy oreo cake accompanied with rocky road ice cream. It was the best. :)Thank you Randy for helping plan the best 20th b-day I'll ever have and to your mom for putting it together!

Little bit of a Scare! :S

On Tuesday, I woke up to go to my usual OB appt. Nothing out of the ordinary. We got to the appt. and went in to wait for the Doctor to come in.

For those who don't know, our baby has a normally low heart rate. It never gets above 145 and is usually around 130 bpm. Our doctor still swears it's a boy. :) But at this appt the baby had a heart rate of 120. The doctor wasn't so nervous until the heart rate stayed 120 for the entire visit. He said sometimes with Boys they drop in their heart rate at about this time in pregnancy but it is usually only for 30 seconds or so. Also, when your baby is not moving/sleeping their heart rate can drop but our little girl was karate chopping the Dr. and we could hear it on the Doppler. She is an active girl and has always been. Everyone told me that I would probably not feel her until 18-20 except I felt her first kick at almost exactly 16 weeks. I could even see it. Just a few days later Randy was able to feel it too. And ever since that day she has always been active and I always feel her move and kick. :) I had not been feeling any decrease in her movement so I knew in the back of my mind that everything was okay. After a lot of questions and discussion, he came to the conclusion that we just have a tom boy in there who is going to love to play soccer. :P

The Dr. now began to measure me. So I'm 24 weeks and so my uterus should measure at 24 cm. Except I was only measuring at 21 cm. With the low heart rate and the fact that I was measuring 3 weeks small combined the Dr. decided he wanted an Ultrasound. They wanted to check to make sure the baby was growing correctly, the amniotic fluid was normal and that there wasn't anything serious going on. We know for sure that our dates are correct. We planned this pregnancy to the T. :) Not to mention, at our last U/S, our baby girl measured right on time. We left the office in a panic with the anticipation of returning 4 hours later for the U/S. I didn't want to go home because of the thoughts running through my mind of "What if's." Although my lovely husband kept reassuring me that everything was okay.

4 hours finally came and there we were back at the Dr. waiting to see our baby again. Last U/S, my bladder was not full enough so I made sure this time that it was. I had to pee so bad. When they called us back the U/S lady asked how my bladder was. I told her, "Oh, it's full!" I thought she was going to be so impressed with me....instead, she asked me to release some of it! Can you believe that? It was the most miserable thing. How do you stop your pee right in the tracks?! When I got backs she was like, "Umm, it's still a little full." OMG. Luckily, it was okay enough that I didn't have to try to release it again.

To skip all the details, our baby girl is completely fine. I just hide my babies really well which hopefully means I won't get as big. :))) (You can return back to breathing now!) :D She measures at 24 weeks, the amniotic fluid is just fine and when we checked her heart rate it was 143. :)) I don't know if she just doesn't like the Dr. or what! We got some lovely new pictures of her and reassured the Dr. that she is really a girl. :P I'll scan the pictures and post them.

We are just so excited and we can't wait to see our little girl and hold her. It's really crazy. I have been waiting for the big moment where I can really feel connected with her. And although I know that I have been gradually building that love, it was totally and completely reaffirmed when I saw her face so clear on the screen.

p.s. Randy told me although there was an inkling of a hope that we were really having a boy he is glad to know that his baby girl is still in there. :P

Poll

Tuesday, we have our first ultrasound to hopefully find out what we are having. I have stocked up on the orange juice. :P I feel the baby pretty often now and I first began to feel movement and flutters at 15 weeks. So I'm expecting that I have a pretty active baby. :) So hopefully everything works out right.

We are having a party on Tuesday around 5:30pm at our house. Let me know if you need directions. We'll do dinner and then have everyone guess what they think we are having and then show some ultrasound pictures and reveal the sex!!!!

We even have a few other fun ideas in the works. It really is going to be a blast. Come, see my big belly and our cute little baby. :P

Also, take poll on our blog. Boy or Girl? :)

Update!

Not much really going on.

I'm about 4 months prego right now and feeling pretty good. Nausea is slowing down which is so nice. Except that now I'm constantly light-headed. Got my blood drawn and the results all came back normal. Thyroid is fine...Iron is fine. Everything was good. I don't understand. I guess It's just my blood pressure that drops. I don't know! On the good side in 2 1/2 weeks, we have an ultrasound

We finally started planting in our garden. I don't know why it always takes us so long. Lame! I have no pictures but we have tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, strawberries, onions, a few herbs and some flowers. We still want to get more put in but we are just so busy. Or so we think we are! Lately, we have been helping Randy's mother. She has been having a few surgeries done, (don't worry nothing serious!), but she has been down and in bed. So a couple weeks ago, we stayed up there for about a week to make sure she got all her pills and that she ate....etc, etc. Since we have not been home it has been tough trying keeping things going here! And now, beginning Monday, we will be back up at her place probably for 2-3 weeks. Hopefully, I can get all I need to accomplished here before we head up there!

Oh, so if you know Randy at all....you know he never complains about anything especially if he is not feeling good. Two days ago, on Tuesday, he woke up and showered and got ready for work. For some odd reason, I woke up. He was all dressed for work but then he begins to lay down and get back in bed. He says that he doesn't feel good and he thinks he is going to throw up. I was thinking how weird. Randy is never sick. I almost don't know how to react. HA! He got back up and went into the living room. I thought about how he always tells me that he wishes I would wake up early to have breakfast with him so I decided to get up and have breakfast with him. I get out to the living room and he is like, What are you doing? He says, I'm not eating breakfast because I'm afraid i'll throw it up. After a few minutes, he told me that he just wanted to go back to bed and that he would go to work later. By 9am, I decided to check his temperature. 101.9. Within an hour it was up to 102.3. Also, if you knew Randy at all, you would know that he does not take medicine at all. So I allowed his body to try and relieve his fever on it's own which is not a bad thing unless it gets too high! Another thing about Randy is that he does not know how to sit still. If you can't find him, he is usually outside trying to find something to fix! I'm not even joking. So all morning he would not stay in bed but he couldn't. Finally after arguing with him, I allowed him to fold laundry while sitting up in bed. Silly kid. By about 5pm, I was beginning to get worried because his fever had not dropped at all. He was so miserable and I felt so bad. So I asked him to please take some fever reducer. Shockingly, he agreed and within two hours his fever was down to normal temperature. In the middle of the night, the medicine must have worn off and his fever came back and then the fever broke because I woke up to the sheets drenched in his sweat. Gross, I know. But I am so glad he is feeling better, not to mention I was getting worried that I would have to take the trash to the curb that night since it was trash day! That could have been scary!! :)

So that is about it. Not much else going on. We are going on a date tonight. Iron Man 2. Hopefully it is a good movie. :)

1st OB Appt

All I have to say is.......... I heard my baby's heartbeat today!!!

I was so fast and sounded exactly like a choo choo train.

Doctor said I was way healthy, which is something he says he doesn't tell very many women that. :)

Everything looked good and we'll have an ultrasound in 8 weeks and we'll see what we are having! Randy is hoping for a boy but I could care less what I'm having. As long as it is healthy and cute.

Help us pray that everything will continue to go well. :)

Growth in my Tummy

It all started about 6 months ago.

We had been discussing on when we wanted to start trying to have a family. I had been getting pretty baby hungry and we were coming up on our year anniversary so I had thought, it's perfect. And Randy isn't getting any younger and I didn't want our first child to have a 50 year old dad when he graduates high school...

So we decided that I would continue with whatever packs of birth control I had left, because I buy it in bulk, and then when we were done then we would start trying. Well, for those of you who do not know my crazy husband very well, he is strict when it comes to plans. What I mean is that, since we had decided to wait until all my birth control was used up, we could not stop the birth control any sooner or any later. I finished my last pack at the end of January. So that was when it was going to be. Whenever I mentioned quitting any sooner his immediate response would be NO, we planned on ending in Jan!! I am not sure if any of this is making sense, if not just ignore!

So the end of January came and I had no more birth control so we decided it was time. Well, for those of you who do not know me very well, I have been on birth control for almost 7 years straight. I've had some medical problems that has lead me to be on it since I was young. Well, I've always been told that when you have taking birth control for so long that it can takes months of trying to get pregnant so we were expecting that it would take us at least 3 months if not longer to get pregnant. We were soooo wrong!

A month went by and I was supposed to be starting my monthly cycle and I hadn't. So I thought, "OH man! This is it!" We bought some pregnancy test and went home to take them. We were nervous but excited at the same time! We began the test and to our suprise it was a BIG FAT NEGATIVE!!! We were so confused. I thought maybe it's too soon. So a few days later, we took another test. Again, BIG FAT NEGATIVE. I was like, "What! Then where is my period at!" Randy kept saying, "It's just your body trying to get all of the hormones out of it and getting back to normal." I was like, "Whatever!" HA. What was probably the weirdest thing was that I was cramping. It wasn't period cramps either, it was more like subtle and just uncomfortable. But because I wasn't on my period, I just ignored it. I just kinda let it go and went on expecting that maybe it was my body just trying to get back to normal. A week or so more had went by and I was texting my sister, who was really the only one who knew what was going on. I needed someone to confide in. She said, "Your pregnant, go take another test." I said, "I can't believe this. There is no way it is going to be positive I just took one less than a week ago. She said, "Just do it." OKAY!

So we sat down and began to get all nervous again. Took the test and again to our surprise..... BIG FAT POSITIVE. We were like, "WHAT!!!!!" No way, no way! We just took a test. There is no way that it was positive when we just had a negative test. Not to mention we took the test at night instead of first thing in the morning. I called my sister and told her! She said, "Come over and let's celebrate. I have ice cream." The next day we took two more test because I didn't believe it. And they were all so positive. I mean, there was no hesitation. No waiting. Immediately response. We just couldn't believe it.

We decided we would tell our family that weekend at a big party that we were having. Everyone freaked. Randy's family was jumping up and down and all of them were crying. All the girls at least. Randy has a large family with lots of brother and sisters and has no nieces and nephew. I mean a mother doesn't just have a bunch of kids and have no grandchildren. It was so fun.

So, I am 10 weeks along and have been feeling not too bad. Although I've been told that I have be pretty sick. I have been nauseated quite a bit but haven't thrown up unless I have taken my prenatal without eating properly. The cramping was because my uterus was expanding and it has subsided. I have been pretty tired and regularly take naps. Although I haven't had any crazy cravings. At least not one thing specific. Except, I can't really eat chicken. Sometimes it grosses me out and at other times it just taste really funky. My tummy has just been really uncomfortable. Whenever any pressure is put on my belly I get really annoyed. It's hard because Randy wants to rub my belly but I just can't have it. It's uncomfortable.

I feel like I am showing too. If you looked at me you would not notice but my pants feel tighter and after I've eaten my belly bloats!


Wow, I didn't realize how long this was. As you can tell, I like to talk. There is never such a thing as the simplified version of a story with me. Sorry. Not to mention, I kinda went into detail. I probably shouldn't be as open as I am. Oh well. :P

I will post again and update you about my doctor's appointment tomorrow. Wish me luck. And pray that everything will go well. Whew! I'm getting butterflies just thinking about it. :)

New Callings!

Randy and I were called like two months ago to be Ward Indexers. We have really enjoyed this calling. It's kind of cool to think about the fact that we are helping other members to do their geneology. It is so much easier to read text than to read a ninety year old film that was written by people with funky writing and crazy cursive. :)

Then a couple weeks ago we were called to the Friendship council where we are greeters to new members into the ward. We were already doing this and so they told us that they decided to just give us the calling.

Now, a couple weeks ago we were asked to be Temple Patrons. We are even more excited for this calling because not only are we constantly doing family history but we are able to go to the Temple and do work. It is so fun. We have already participated in really cool experiences and have felt the blessings of these callings.

We want to encourage everyone to be faithful in attending the Temple. We can testify that it is so worth it.

P.s. Tomorrow, I (Nikki) am going to receive my patriarchal blessing. I'm a little nervous. :) Not to mention, Randy speaks in church tomorrow. :D
Have a good night!

Graduation!

As some of you already know, I graduate from hair school in exactly 6 weeks. :D I'm getting a little nervous. :S I mean, I know my stuff, I do.... but the State is really, for lack of a better word, "anal" about the State Board. What I mean is they are not letting a lot of students pass the test because of little, stupid things and letting some students pass when they forgot some things. I really want to pass the first time I take it because then I can start working immediately. But what if it takes me like 3 tries!! Ugh.

Well, anyways. I need to not freak out and just continue on and practice, practice, practice. I graduate on the 8Th of March. :) Wish me luck!


Random thought: Yesterday in church I heard this quote from a lady, it said, "Share your testimony often, and if needed use words" ( Or something to the effect.) I just thought it was really awesome and I have thought to strive to continue to live gospel principles in hopes that one day my actions with influence someone. I encourage you all to do that same. :)