I haven't done a blog since I was teaching English in Ukraine but I figured now is a good time to start up again. I want to be able to remember everything that is going on with my little family! I am learning how to balance life with a baby girl, Scott's full time school schedule and everything else this crazy world throws our way. Let's start with Chloe's birth story...
December 2, 2014
Today I had my 37 week appointment with the OB. Scott came with and what started as a normal appointment spiraled out of control quickly! It started with me trying to pee in a cup, which by the way is a joke at 37 weeks. They took my blood pressure and it was still high which made my OB nervous since it had been high for over a week. She had us go into another room and do another stress test to make sure everything looked good with Chloe. Thankfully the stress test was completely normal. My OB came in a talked with us for little and she said since I was over 37 weeks which is technically full term she wanted to talk about inducing me that night because of my high blood pressure. She was worried if we let it continue to stay high it might turn into pre-eclampsia. So after a quick talk, and a lot of jitters, she tells us that we will be checking into Salt Lake Regional that night for an induction! Scott and I both started to freak out! We are having the baby tonight! We left the appointment and headed over to Target to get some last minute baby merchandise. We got home and started to pack up our hospital bags and put together Chloe's room!
This is the last picture of me pregnant!
At 8:00pm we rolled into Salt Lake Regional Medical Center and checked into the Women's Center still both in shock that this was actually happening! We got admitted into our room and I got to put on the hideous hospital gown and waited for the nurse to tell us the plan. The first thing on the agenda was to get an IV.. the thing I was dreading the most. I hate needles so much. The nurse had a hard time trying to find a vein that would work for the IV (story of my life). She picked a spot on my left arm and after moving the needle around and around inside of my arm, and me becoming very queasy and light headed, she gave up and tried another spot.
The second spot wasn't any better and she had to take it out again. At this point I wanted to punch the nurse in the face. She went and got another nurse to try and put in the IV. The second nurse came in a took a shot at putting the IV in my right arm. She got the needle in and was very confident it was a good spot and started taping it to my arm when I started to notice the spot on my arm was starting to swell and hurt ALOT!!! So I told her to take it out. My arms were hurting to much. They decided to get the anesthesiologist to come up and do the IV. At this point I was dreading getting poked AGAIN. The new nurse came up and put the needle in my left hand and it was perfect! Thank goodness. Once the IV was in they started me on the fluids and the waiting game began... They gave me the first dose of medications to start the induction and hooked me up to the monitors. I was contracting every 3-4 minutes but I couldn't even feel them! The nurse told us to get some sleep and let the medicine do the work.
The next morning they came in to check on me and gave me some pain medication for the contractions. My OB came by about 8:30am and me out. Sadly I still was not dilated or effaced. The doctor decided to insert a foley balloon to help me me start dilating. This was super painful... the doctor noticed how much pain I was in and called up the anesthesiologist. He gave me my epidural, which I was so nervous about, and it didn't even hurt! Love the pain juice! Once the epidural was in the waiting game continued. Scott and I watched a lot of HGTV and TLC. At 2:00pm Dr. Robinson came in to check on me and I still was not dilating so they started me on PIT to try and get things moving along. She also broke my water-I didn't even know she broke the water! Gotta love that epidural. At 8:00pm the doctor came by again to check me out and I was finally dilated to a 2! I was pretty sad that things were progressing so slowly. I just wanted to meet my little girl! The doctor told us to get comfortable because she wasn't coming yet. I tried to get some rest but the contractions were getting stronger and closer together thank goodness for the epidural. The next
morning at 4:00am I started to feel a lot of pressure down low and called the nurse in. She checked me and said I was dilated to a 10! Hallelujah! Music to my ears! Finally the ball started to roll! The nurse sat me up and taught me how to push and then said "are you ready?" So for the next two hours I was doing 3-4 pushes every contraction. I was so so tired. At the beginning I felt like I was going to throw up but thankfully I kept it down and at 7:29am on December 4th Chloe Lillian Crisp was born. She was the most beautiful-cone headed- baby ever! She was 7 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches long. Sadly I only got to see her for about 15 seconds before the nurses whisked her away and hooked her up to oxygen. That was really hard for me to deal with. I was so sad that I couldn't stare at my new baby daughter. Scott went with the nurses and I was left in the room to wait. After waiting 3 hours for the epidural to wear off they wheeled me over to the nursery and I finally got to hold her! That was the most surreal moment ever. Scott and I were smitten from the very beginning.
Once Chloe was able to get off the oxygen I was able to start breast feeding her, but since it had been a while they had to insert an IV into her head to keep her blood sugar up. It was so sad to see all the cords hooked up to her. The nurses all loved her and said she just would 'Coo' while she was sleeping. It was so adorable. We both just couldn't believe our little girl was finally here! Once Chloe started eating more they were able to remove all of her cords and IV and she was able to get her very first bath and they moved her from the NICU side of the nursery to the regular side! It was so exciting!
That night Scotts Mom surprised us by flying in and staying for a day to see Chloe! On December 6th we were able to take Chloe home and OH MY GOSH it took so long for the hospital to discharge us. We waited forever! While waiting Santa Claus came by and took some pictures with us. That was pretty fun. Finally they got us all discharged and we took our little girl home! It was so crazy to drive home with a baby in the car but we were so happy to finally be home =)
Chloe has been having a hard time putting on the pounds and keeping them on. She's having periodic weight checks that have not been going so well. She kept spitting up all the milk I was giving her so on Friday the 27th I called the doctor and she said to take her up to Primary Children's hospital and have her checked out. So Scott & I headed up to the ER and the doctor admitted her into the hospital because she was only 6 lbs 6oz. They had to do an Ultra Sound, X-Rays, and put an IV in her arm. It was so sad to sit there and watch her get poked and prodded. 
Once we were admitted into our room Scott ran home and got a bag packed for us since we were going to be staying overnight. The doctors had me pumping every 3 hrs and then feeding it to Chloe in a bottle to make sure she was eating the full amount needed. It was so exhausting to pump that often and then to feed her right after but it was nice to see that she was getting all the milk she needed. 
Poor Chloe had to get a lot of blood taken and tested and thankfully everything came back normal. She didn't seem to care she was in the hospital at all. She was just as adorable.
I was so happy to finally be home! The next day Scott's mom flew in for the week. YAY Gaga is here! I was so excited to once again have some help and have some really delicious home cooked meals! She was so excited to be here and hold Chloe and Chloe loved being held all the time. 
It was so fun having her here for New Years too. We stayed up and watched the ball drop and ate Shrimp and had sparkling cider. I cannot believe it is already 2015! 2014 flew by! I was pretty much pregnant for the whole year. I am so excited to see what this new year will bring our little family!
Scott's parents were nice enough to watch Chloe while we went out on date. We went out to dinner at Ichiban! Oh my gosh I was craving Sushi so much and I could finally have as much of it as I wanted. YUMM. After dinner we drove downtown to look at the lights on Templesquare but it was so cold out that we just looked that them through the car window. They were so pretty!
Chloe's already 1 month old! I cannot believe how fast time has gone. I feel like we just brought her home yesterday. She is the cutest little bundle. She still loves to 'Coo' all night, gets the hiccups about 5 times a day, sneezes lots, and has started to smile a little. She loves to be swaddled and Scott likes to call her his little "Sweet Pork Burrito". She has already been such a sweet blessing in our lives, she is a little slice of heaven and we love her so much!
