Family of 3

Nash's birthday story

I woke up this morning like any other morning, rolling over and trying to get 30 extra minutes of sleep. My plan was to wake up at 7, and be to work by 8- but thank God for laziness! At 730am, after waking from my 30 minute snooze, Lia got into bed again to cuddle with me real quick before work, and then immediately jumped back up and ran to the bathroom. I was a bit confused, but when i heard "Hon, I think my water broke", it was go time!  Lia laid down after a bit of initial excitement and did some Hypnobabies scripts on her ipod while I ran through the house and gathered our stuff for the hospital. After Heather came over and fixed Lia breakfast, and she was done eating we left for the hospital. Because of Lia's recent complications with high blood pressure we have to be a bit more careful, and instead of waiting til she was further along, we went right in. Upon arrival, they verified that Lia's water had indeed been broken, and moved her to her birthing suite. We got the nicest room in the hospital, according to the nurses (I guess the ladies from the Sister Wives show delivered there?) and settled in for the long haul. Since our trip to the hospital was on such short notice, our primary Doctor wasn't on call but they did call him and he said he would be able to come down, which made us feel better. Since Lia's water had just randomly broken, we totally thought we were going to be able to go all-natural unmedicated and use our Hypnobabies-- but because of Lia coming in 2 days before 37 weeks, and her blood pressure being high they said we would need to start the Pitocin and get thing moving. We weren't enthused to go this way, but the Doc said that's what we needed to do. They started it at a low level and if we could continue naturally from there, then we could. Lia's pressure waves (contractions) started, and we used Hypnobabies techniques to get through them.  The waves started coming pretty fast and hard, and Lia started to feel very nauseous because of a side-effect from the Pitocin and every time a peak of a contraction would hit, Lia would have a violent dry heave, making the contraction worse. We used Hypnobabies techniques to get through them for 2 hours and Lia was getting to the point where her nausea was soooo bad, and she was starting to panic a little. We decided the best thing would be to start the Epidural, and not a moment too soon, because when they came in they said that her blood pressure was getting so high that it was either they start the epidural or start magnesium...which is not pleasant. Since Lia had already decided to go with the epidural, the anesthesiologist was on his way. She performed like a champ and he placed it with no problems, and afterward she started feeling SO much better, and she was very glad she did it. (even though at that point she would have almost had to do it anyway for medical reasons) But after a few minutes, her BP went from a dangerous 180/110 to a normal 130/74, her HORRIBLE nausea went away, and she was able to relax and ride through her pressure waves with ease and comfort. I was so relieved to see her doing better, because the combination of the nausea and dry heaves rockin her during her contractions was very hard to watch. I must say, the chick is tough as nails and went from being dilated at a 4 at admission, all the way through those terrible dry heave contractions and got up to an 8, totally unmedicated before it just got to be too much and was skyrocketing her BP to dangerous levels. Anyway, her contractions were going smoothly now, and after a while our magnificent doctor, Dr. Bean showed up and we all felt SO much better about everything. He really puts Lia at ease just by even being in the room, we all just love him. After a little while longer just calmly riding out more contractions, it was time to start pushing! Our amazing nurse Paula grabbed one foot and I grabbed the other, pulled them up, and Lia started pushing, all the while our nurse saying how impressive her pushes were and how great she was doing, and she really was. After just a few pushes i saw my first glimpse of his head, and lots of light brown hair, and things started getting VERY real. Lia pushed and pushed and opened all the way, and then all we had to do was rest a little bit while Dr. Bean took care of a C-section a few doors down, and come back to take care of us. Lia continued to push more and more, getting the baby closer and closer, and then Dr. Bean came back and it was GAME ON! pushing, pushing, and the finally his head popped out, and the rest of his purpley body came easily out after, although a little sideways. His cord was very short, so it was all we could do to kind of put him up on Lia's lap, but he was already very happy and not crying at all. A few short moments, and they had me clip the cord, and because he was technically considered a preemie because he was 2 days before 37 weeks, they had some respiratory specialists check him out before giving him to his beaming, proud and very tired momma. At this point I was crying so hard i could barely see him, because at first glance I couldn't believe what a beautiful baby boy we had made, it turned me straight to mush. He checked out just fine, and was soon united with his waiting mommy and was happily cuddling and looking very happy. Let me just say that this kid is the most mellow baby I have ever seen, they could hardly get him to cry during his assessment! They let us hang around with him for about 2 hours before they moved us downstairs to the Mom and Baby wing, and I went with him to get all cleaned off, while they went over some stuff with Lia. Once again, mellow and chill, he sat through his bath and measurements without making a peep, and was SO good and calm the whole time, and he only fussed when the nurse came and put lotion on him (if you know me, he's a chip off the block for sure... lol) The nurse in there told me that he was actually measuring and has the development of a 38-39 week baby, not 36 and change. After that, I got to proudly wheel my newly clean little man back to his waiting Mom, Grammy, and Paupie, and now here I sit, remembering it all and trying not to cry.

 To recap, Nash Ryland Gerke was born on 5/25/2011, at 8:40 pm, 13 hours after Lia's water broke, he weighed 6lbs 11 oz, he was 19 inches long, has a full head of light brown- blondeish hair, and is most definitely the cutest thing I have ever seen, and has turned his Dad into a sobbing pile of mush, and totally captured the love of everyone who sees him. Lia is doing great, and just nursed him successfully for the first time, and both  momma and baby are doing excellent.

We are incredibly grateful to God for giving us such a beautiful, healthy son-- and Thankful for the love and support of all of our friends and family. If i haven't texted you back yet, it's because I sent out 76 picture message announcements, and got back over 100 replies full of wishes, cheers, and prayers. We would also like to thank our wonderful neighborhood for supplying us with meals while Lia was on bedrest, and all of you who gave generously at baby showers and to all who have helped us with other needs as well.

I also apologize for any inconsistencies, or spelling or grammatical errors, as it is 2AM.  :)

Thanks for sharing this special day with us!
The Utah Gerkes

Now with 100% more Tia.

As you might have noticed, our awesome banner art is now new and improved, and has 100% more weiner dog.  :D

Preparing for Baby Nash's Arrival

Wow, I am not so great at this consistent blogging thing. It's been just a few weeks since I started and I am already lagging behind.

I have some extra down time on my hands since I have been sentenced to bed rest. UGH.

Here is the thing about bed rest; there are days when I think "There is nothing that I would like more than to just sit on the couch all day long and read." Until I am forced into doing this and then my mind instantly changes and becomes rebellious saying "I can think of 1,000 things I would rather do than sit on the couch all day and read!"

The only one who really benefiting from all the bed rest is Tia. She is loving me being home all the time and cuddling in blankets with her. I guess she deserves a little of this before her life is completely tossed upside down by the baby.

Anyway, so here I am stuck on the couch and I still have a lot I need to prepare for. I still haven't figured out how to use the car seat yet, the baby room isn't finished and honestly I am just now starting to believe that a baby is actually coming. And he is coming out of me.

I definitely could understand how the whole stork thing got started because it does seem as though someone will just drop him off on my porch. If only.

The twice, sometimes three times a week non-stress tests, the constant monitoring of my blood pressure, and the trips to the doctor remind me that he is definitely on his way and causing a bit of havoc on my poor body.

But I have found a bit of silver lining.

First, it has made me appreciate what an awesome guy I landed with Isaac. There is nothing that he won't do and without an ounce of complaining. I am so blessed to have him as a baby daddy. Second, I am getting a small taste of what parenthood is about; not me. Which I am beginning to realize I might be better at it than initially thought. Thirdly, well I could only come up with two, but that is pretty good right?

Well, now they are going to change all my plans and induce me on June 4th. Stay tuned for further details and pictures of the little guy to come.

Princesses and Cowboys

Over the weekend I watched the Royal Wedding with my grandma and mom. What an amazing spectacle! Everything was so incredible and Kate, the new princess, was stunning.

All women across the world were thinking the same thing; it was is fairy tale come true.

In a land far, far away (London is pretty far) there was a simple girl who met a Prince and they fell in love. After the most incredible wedding of all time, they get to live in a palace happily ever after.

Every woman dreams of this! It is embedded in us from a very young age. (thanks Disney)

One thing I noticed was that very few men dream of being the Prince. This is confusing to me. Why is there a strong draw for the girl to become the Princess, but absolutely none for the man to become the Prince Charming and sweep her off her feet to live in his castle?

I believe it's because his dream has nothing to do with castles, princesses or amazing weddings.

His dream is to ride on his horse, with a large hat, pistol in the hostler, and ride into the sunset. That's right, every man wants to be a cowboy. I have yet to meet a man, straight or not, who does not secretly wish this. What is it about the old west that is so enticing to men everywhere? I don't know the answer to this question.

All I know is the only thing our two dreams have in common is a horse.