The Birth of Isaac

I woke up Thursday morning, a whopping  40 weeks, 1 day pregnant, and definitely feeling the part. This pregnancy had been so different from my first. I learned so much about my body, and was surprised by it, right up until the very end, it kept me on my toes. For a while we thought Isaac was going to come early because of all the contractions I had daily from about 20 weeks on. Even though I of course wanted to carry him to term, but if I didn’t, I tried to be as ready as I could be. After many membrane sweeps and long walks I had reached my due date and still no baby. And no sign of him making his appearance.  I think because I had expected to have had him by now, it made it seem like I had been waiting forever to meet him. I was glad he still had several more weeks in my tummy to grow though. 

Here is the last picture of Isaac still cozy in the womb 

So on Thursday morning, it felt like any other day. I was tired and sore, and ready to meet him. I had gone from “please don’t come early” to “okay Isaac it’s safe, you can come out now” then on to “okay seriously, please come out now.” At my last appointment on Monday I was still only 1-2 cm. dilated, and had my 5^th membrane sweep. Thursday felt like any other day, and I was convinced I was going to be pregnant forever. At 11 o clock that night I had my first “real” contraction. I didn’t know it for sure at the time, it felt like the other ones I had had daily, but I also felt it in my lower back. 3 minutes later I had another. Then another, then another. Each time 3 minutes apart. I had planned and hoped for a natural childbirth this time, unlike my first where I was induced at 41 weeks and had an epidural, so I knew I wanted to labor at home as long as possible. Whether this was real labor or not I decided at 12 midnight to go to bed. When I went to bed I had had one hour of contractions 3 minutes apart lasting about a minute each. I wasn’t in pain, just uncomfortable. I hoped it was the start of labor, but didn’t want to get my hopes up. Off to bed I went. 

At 2 am a contraction woke me up. I could no longer sleep through them. I woke up and on the very next contractions I had to lean over the bed and rock through them. They were 2-3 minutes apart, lasting a minute and causing a lot of pain in my stomach and lower back. I texted my cousin and she said “I think you should call your mom over, I have a feeling things could happen fast, you just want to be prepared.” My mom lived about 15 minutes away and was going to stay with our three-year old son Noah during our hospital stay. I walked into the kitchen to call my midwife at 230 am. Even though I was in a lot of pain with regular contractions, I was scared to call it the real deal, go to the hospital, only to be sent home. I told the midwife Jessie about the contractions, and told her I thought I was in labor. I even had a contraction while I was on the phone with her. I told her I would get ready to go, take my time, and call my doula when I got to the hospital. I was expecting and prepared for hours and hours of labor ahead of me, so I wasn’t in a rush to call my doula at 230 am. My husband walked out into the kitchen once he realized what I was doing up on the phone in the middle of the night. After I hung up with my midwife I had another contraction. That’s when things really got intense, fast. I remember hanging on to the handle on the refrigerator door, a little freaked out with how painful they had become all of a sudden. I texted my mom “I need to go to the hospital” but couldn’t text her anything more after that. Kyle finished texting her telling her it was time and to head over. From then on everything happened like a whirlwind. I walked around trying to pack the last minute things, but every time a contractions hit, I was on the floor, or holding onto something, leaning over, rocking, moaning, breathing, doing anything I could to just get through it. It got more and more intense and I started to get really scared. It was only 3 am at this point but I was in the worst pain I had ever felt. I was not scared to be in labor, but I was scared because since things had just started, I thought I was probably only 2-3 cm dilated and had HOURS ahead of me, and this pain was only the beginning of what’s to come. I knew that if things were just getting started, I didn’t stand a chance at a natural labor. I had read about methods to cope with the pain of labor, and one thing I learned was to not to try to tense up of “fight it”. I remember one contraction in particular I had when I was getting in the bathroom, I dropped to my knees and was hanging onto my bathroom counter, gripping it. I was frantic trying to escape it. I don’t know how else to explain it but for a second I was almost panicked, tensed up trying to escape the pain. After that contraction I realized “well that’s not possible,” so I just let myself go and face the pain. I realized it was inevitable and fighting it only made it worse. At one point I threw up, all the way from my kitchen running to the bathroom. During the midst of the chaos I somehow managed to lock myself out of the bathroom. Thank goodness Kyle knew how to pick a lock, and quick. And thankfully that was the end of my nausea. Labor had its moments of being the most un-glamorous thing I have ever experienced, hands down.  I waited for my mom to show up; to me it seemed like it took eternity for her to get there, but really she was pretty quick. Even though my birth plan was to labor at home, I had a new one at this point: get to the hospital as fast as I can to make this stop! Considering we were 30 minutes away (that’s with zero traffic) I was so ready to get to the hospital. At one point I looked at Kyle and said “we might have to call an ambulance”.  I was sweating like crazy and laying on the cold floor waiting for my mom to show up. I felt a huge sense of urgency. Not panic anymore, but I realized we needed to get there fast. But even at that point I still had a worry that I was going to get there, things would stop and I would get sent home. Kyle was really calm and level headed through all of this. He too thought I was just getting started, and had the lowest pain tolerance known to mankind, although he never said it. (Which is a good thing!). 

Finally at 315 my mom showed up. Kyle had loaded up the car and we were ready to go. I finished up having another contraction and was relieved to have the calm in between, I didn’t want to move I just wanted to rest while I had a second before my next one started, but he urged me to go so I got in the car. I crawled in the backseat so I had room to lie down or move around a little.  At this point I was having contractions probably about 1-2 minutes apart lasting 1 minute. I couldn’t think straight let alone time them. It had only been one hour and fifteen minutes since I woke up at two, everything got so painful, so crazy, so fast. All I could think about was getting to the hospital and getting the sweet relief of an epidural. If I could have used the phone, I would have seriously called the hospital and asked them to have one ready for me when I got there. They contractions kept coming, and I remember praying “Please god give me rest, please god give me rest.” I just needed a break to regroup and rest. I was able to breathe through a few contractions and be silent, even though the pain was excruciating I really focused and concentrated, and I took in every sweet second when I wasn’t having one. At one point Kyle looked back and jokingly said “Alice? You alive?” When we were about halfway there I said “Kyle I feel like I need to push!” he calmly replied “no, no, you’re fine don’t push.” I fought the urge as long as I could. As we were exiting the freeway I couldn’t sit, I literally felt like I was sitting on a bowling ball, I leaned onto my side or grabbed onto the handle above the window and held myself up. 

We pulled to the emergency room and Kyle ran out to grab a wheelchair, at that point I could fight the urge to push, I pushed and my water broke in the backseat of my new car. He met me with the wheelchair and I said “my water just broke!” “Are you sure?” he said. Oh yes, there was no mistaking that. From here on was like something from a movie. Kyle quickly rolling me in in the wheelchair saying “my wife is about to have a baby!” The people at the desk were very calm and asked me what my last name was about 4 times before we both yelled “PRIM! P-R-I-M!” I told them I was literally about to have this baby, and the other people waiting in the emergency room looked entirely freaked out. The nurse told Kyle he couldn’t leave the car there so he ran outside and moved it 20 feet to a parking spot while a nurse wheeled me upstairs. I kept telling her to hurry, but when we were in the elevator, I reached down and with another push, felt Isaacs head. That poor nurse started to panic going “oh my gosh, um, um!’’ the doors opened and she ran as fast as she could when she heard me give out a loud “ahhh-HURRY!” The double doors to labor and delivery opened and I looked down to see if I could see his head, I was met by about five nurses and told them “his head is almost out!” as I was holding my hand on his head right at the edge. I will never forget the feeling of shock and complete amazement as I was holding his head while he was entering into the world. It was so surreal.  Even though I knew I that along with having a natural birth, that means you have to feel everything. I was scared about tearing and no medicine to dull the pain. Surprisingly though pushing was NOT the hard part. It was more of a relief to be able to push since I had been fighting the urge for a while. It was what my body had been telling me I needed to do. While I did start to feel the “ring of fire” moms talk about, it was very slight and not painful and lasted only a few seconds since the actual delivery was so fast. The nurses ran me into a hospital room, ripped off my pants, and while still in the wheelchair I pushed his head the rest of the way out, then his shoulders seconds later, all in the same contraction. I grabbed Isaac and pulled him onto my stomach.  Right there in the wheelchair. Barely in even in the room. They unhooked his cord from around his right shoulder and I pulled him up more onto me, seeing his face for the first time. Those few moments were filled with complete awe for me. I will never forget seeing his face, and being overwhelmed with love. There is nothing else like seeing your child for the first time. You already are so in love with this little person in your tummy, every kick and twist and turn reminds you that they are in there. You imagine them, think about them, and wait to meet them. Then when you do, it’s the most amazing thing ever. I just kept thinking as I looked at him for the days that followed, “you’re here, you made it.” While I was still in the wheelchair, I heard Kyle walk in behind me, (only about 3 minutes after Isaac had arrived). I will NEVER forget the look on his face, when he saw me sitting in the wheelchair, holding our son. Complete shock and awe. He rushed over and cut the cord once it had stopped pulsating, and held his son for the first time as I walked over and climbed in the bed. My midwife showed up to deliver the placenta and check on me. I was so in love with my baby that nothing else around me mattered at that moment. I was able to push out the placenta while Isaac attempted to nurse for the first time. The oxytocin released from that helped me contract and finish delivering it. After a minute of nursing Isaac fell asleep and slept on my chest for almost 3 hours. I just stared, sleep was the last thing on my mind. 

 Isaac Wayne Hoverkamp 

4/5/13

7 lbs. 15 oz 19 3/4 inches

I was able to have my natural birth like I had prayed. I kept saying that I think God knew I wanted to do it naturally, but he knew I couldn’t handle a long labor so he made it quick for me. I was able to do it with no meds, not even an IV was needed afterwards. I had no tearing either. I was up and showered not long after and felt so great. Recovering was such a breeze.  I had my first contraction at 11, went to bed at 12, woke up at 2 and Isaac was born at 345am on April 5, 2013. If we would have stopped for gas, hit one more red light, or waited for one more contraction, Isaac would have been born in the car. He was healthy, weighing 7 pounds, 15 oz. and 19 and ¾ inches long. . I look back and can honestly say it was an amazing experience. I think up until I was in the wheelchair, part of me was still in denial that I was in labor, let alone hard labor. The whole time I thought I was just getting started. For as crazy and intense things got so fast, it really was such an amazing experience. We are so blessed to have him and such an easy labor. I have so much more respect, love and amazement at what my body can do. My body was MADE to do this. 

Birthday Bash

Wednesday we celebrated not only my birthday but a dear friend named Carly who was born on the same day, 9 years before me. Lots of people share birthdays, but this one is extra cool because our moms have been best friends for 41 years, and they both had their babies on the same day (just years apart).
Since i had Noah, i have a deeper appreciation for my mother on my birthday, knowing how it is to bring a baby into this world. I always want to give the moms and extra THANK YOU for having us :)
I had such a wonderful birthday. The saturday before my actual birthday we got together with the family and had lunch at Red Robin. YUM! And its just not a real birthday if someone isnt publicly humiliated at a restaurant right??

Thank you to all who came out-it was fun!

The day started off great with a delicious breakfast from my sweetie.

My actual birthday was wonderful, like i said. Heres a recap of the night:

 This was our attire. Who doesn't love a good 'stash?

Our moms went out of their way to throw a beautiful party.

As you can see, this stud enjoyed himself ;)

Got down on some pong. Even Noah!

What a beautiful person i get to share a birthday with!

 

And no one rocks a better Mustache than uncle mike!

The mamas who made it all possible! Love them.

 

My sweet Hubby went to 8 different stores to track this gem down, since my copy got lost a while ago. SO excited when i opened this!

 

Yay for being 22!

 

Moving Right Along

Wow. time is flying by! i just hit the 12 week mark. WHOOHOO!! as you can see i celebrated with a peach. hehe!

Today i went to for my 12 week check up with my midwife. And surprise! We got an ultrasound. My midwife Liz was having a hard time finding the heartbeat because the baby was hiding so she decided to do an ultrasound. I couldnt believe how much baby had changed since the last time (8 weeks). I dont think ive ever cried from and ultrasound, but today I came pretty darn close. Just seeing this little life beginning that is going to come in to this world and be so loved by kyle and noah and I makes me so excited. I know how much I love noah, and just knowing Im going to love this little person so strongly like that makes me so overwhelmed with love and all those warm fuzzy feelings. Haha. Its hard for me to imagine our family having one more person, but i cant explain how right it feels. Praise be to God for this blessing. Life is good.
On another note ill be starting physical therapy for my pelvis. When I was pregnant with Noah towards the end, I had HORRIBLE pelvis pain. It was hard to walk and sometimes i needed kyle to help me roll over and get up out of bed. It was BAD. I know pregnancy is full of discomforts, its to be expected but i thought this wasnt normal. My old OB at the time dismissed it as growing pains. When i talked to my midwife today I was so grateful for her care and willingness to go above and beyond to help. She referred me to a place to start physical therapy to hopefully ease and manage pain. Im really nervous for whats ahead when it comes to the pelvic pain because its starting so early and popping. oy! my midwife said its my pelvis seperating (that would explain the popping sounds) in the front and grinding against eachother. But you know what it could be way worse. Im grateful for and overall healthy and enjoyable pregnancy. My point in writing this was to see if anyone else went through this, or if someone is and their OB isnt listening to not just give up but keep looking for a care provider who will listen. Because i know how painful and frustrating it can be..

In case you haven't heard...

WE'RE EXPECTING!!!

  April 3, 2013.

First of all, YAY! Second of all YAY! We are praising the Lord for this blessing. I am grateful he has trusted us with another beautiful little person to love and nurture. and yes, its been FOREVER since ive blogged. I recently finished up another term of school (can i get another yay?!) which has given me THREE WEEKS off before the next term starts. You'd think id use some free time to blog about this baby i am jumping for joy about, but honestly i have been spending a lot of time running for the nearest garbage can. Haha. Yeah. pregnancy is brutal. Just saying. Absolutely an amazing miracle, and a huge blessing from God. But still brutal. With Noah i had little to no nausea/morning sickness, and with this one ive had quite the opposite. But i must say, i still do love being pregnant. Time is already going by pretty quick but heres a quick recap over the last few weeks :)

TA DA!!

There they are, in all their glory. haha. And i just wanna say that wet spot on the counter next to them is NOT pee. lol just water folks. Im grateful for being so in tune with my body. And because of that i knew from the start even before those two pink lines appeared that i was pregnant. I found out for sure only 10 days after i conceived. I also reeeeally have a feeling its a girl. I have from the very start. But i guess we shall see!

This is how we told our close family. We wanted to buy a shirt that said "big brother" but we could not find them anywhere, so we got crafty and made this :)

Here is my first ultrasound picture at 8 weeks. This is also the photo we used to make it "facebook official". I love the expression on his face. I am so blessed to be a mother to that beautiful boy, and now another little life. God is so good.

For any of you who have read a pregnancy book, the week by week size comparison always uses fruit to compare the size of the baby to, so, i thought it would be fun to do weekly pictures like this. Ive taken a picture of my belly every week since week 4 but i started this fruit picture at week 10.

I know what you're thinking. If im 11 weeks why do i look about 5 months. haha. Crazy right? In my defense i was showing at 3 months pregnant with Noah. I hear you show sooner with each pregnancy as well. The fact that my uterus is tipped forward is a huge factor too. If you remember i was doing the low carb diet when i got pregnant. I had lost 12 pound, and was soo close to my goal weight. My midwife was fine with me sticking to that diet since i was NOT starving myself or anything, but actually eating really healthy. And i planned on sticking to it. Until Morning sickness hit. At that point i do whatever i can to keep food down. Which mean a lot of crackers. The opposite of low carb. I was pertty bummed to not be able to stick to the diet because i was feeling so good and this time around i wanted to gain a healthy amount of weight during my pregnancy. So anyways doing what i can to make it through the rough days of MS (and yes, i admit, giving into a few too many cravings) i was convinced i had put on like 10 pounds. But to my surprise ive only put on three. As soon as this MS passed, i plan on hopping back on the healthy eating habits again. And to continue the prenatal yoga and exercise i started on. Until then im doing what i can to make it through the day.

And if any of you are interested id pass along what i am taking as far as prenatal care.
Far left is my vitamin D supplement. Most pregnant women dont have to worry about taking that, Im deficient in vit. D so thats why I take it.
PB8- is a great probiotic to take. helps the immune system which makes for a healthy mama, and baby!
Nordic Naturals DHA. great for brain and eye development. Nordic naturals rocks when it comes to fish oil. Super safe and good quality.
Rainbow bright prenatals are good and potent.
All of these you can buy at whole foods or even cheaper at vitacost.com .

Well I can talk pregnancy and all that jazz for hours. So i guess blogging is a good outlet for it. 
Hope all the other moms out there have a happy and healthy 9 months out there!

Seeing results!

So as some of you may remember reading back in January, one of my biggest new years resolution goals was to rock a bikini at the river this year. Which would make it the first time ive done this since having giant noah in my tummy. I started my diet about a month or month and a half ago.

AND GUESS WHAT??

It happened! oh yes, the meal planning and "lifestyle change" is totally paying off! I Haven't reached my goal weight yet, BUT this was a huge accomplishment.

Yay for summer!!

So Much

I feel like since i've been slacking, it would be impossible timewise for me to post about all the fun and exciting stuff that has happened so instead I will just do a quick recap:

Fourth of July with the cousins in Ridgefield.

Rivertime. Gemma has became a river rat.

The boys and I spent some time at home depot getting the back yard ready for BBQ season.

Id say it was a success.

Love having friends over to share this weather with!

Zoo trips.

It just isn't right if you don't stop at the cheese factory when you're in Tillamook!

One of our favorite spots to be. At the beach. (On dads birthday).

AAAnd a fun day at alpenrose dairy farm!

And there you have it folks. Thats us in the last two weeks in a nutshell.

Minus the homework part.

and stomach ulcers.

And wild puppies.

But thats another story. And not as exciting. So we will just skip that part and call it good!

Happy Birthday to you Papa Bear!

Barton to Carver was where my dad spent many happy years of his life floating the river. 

It is also where my mother and him shared their very first kiss.

It is also where his ashes were laid to rest. 

After we spread the remaining amount of them last year, Kyle and I decided we would float the river, just like he used to every year on July 11th, his birthday. When we did it last year we had SO MUCH FUN.

Wanted to do it this year but since we didn't have a babysitter we decided we would go to the beach with Noah and stop at a river along the way.

SO not exactly as we planned. But all in all we decided to make that a happy day remembering, celebrating and having fun in honor of my dad. 

I tried making this day not a day or mourning, but like i said celebrating.

But it was inevitable there would be tears. 

And God knew that. 

I had one moment where I broke down when I was eating breakfast at my kitchen table.

I have an app on my phone where I can read a daily devotional and a verse of the day. The verse of the day is completely random,  I have no control over which one my phone chooses. But during those 5 minutes I sat crying at the table, my phone lit up saying "dont forget to read your daily devotional" and so i clicked on it. and out of all of the verses in the bible that it could have picked for the verse of the day it just happened to be this one on this day at that very moment:

God knew exactly how to comfort me at that moment. I was blown away by his timing and love at the same time .

THANK YOU JESUS!