The Bird

Brandon is not usually a hunter, but remember in January he went hunting?

Well, the bird he is holding got stuffed and mounted. I'm not one for the display of animals, but this bird is mighty fine, such pretty coloring. So there he sits on our ledge in our house.

3 Days Old

At the hospital, they don't take the regular mug shoot that they used to do when I was little. They had a professional photographer come into our hospital room and take these. Of course I had to buy them, they made me cry. She is my precious little one!

Back to Normal

Things are back to normal. That is in my feet. During my pregnancy I retained A LOT of water, I mean A LOT. It was a hot summer. It was hard to walk, I mean waddle. It took me a long time to get from point A to point B. I had to buy 1 size bigger and extra wide of shoe, cause even flip flops were too tight. Thank goodness things are back to normal in my feet, all my shoes now fit and I have my ankles back. No more KANKLES! Phew!!! What a sigh of relief! Can you see the difference? During my pregnancy this was only the ailment I had. I was never sick, didn't have any issue except for KANKLES! All worth it for my baby Kaylen.

During Pregnancy

After Pregnancy/Normal

HOT Stuff!!! The New Brandon!

I'm very late at this post, but I wanted to share how proud I am of Brandon. Brandon has worked so hard at losing weight and he looks amazing. Check it out! This man is hot and he is all mine!

BEFORE (in May)

AFTER (in July)

Photo Shoot!

I can't get enough of this of this girl. Look at her..... So cute!

*Thanks to my sister Shannon for taking these pics!

Kaylen's Birth Story

I'll start this story at the moment I went to my doctor appointment on Wednesday Sept. 1st. I went in for my weekly weigh-in, and getting "checked". The doctor said again, "Nope, still no changes, no dilation, nothing!" I was fine with that. I have convinced myself that I was going to have this baby on October 1st, one more month. He started looking at my chart and noticed that I had high blood pressure today, he then looked at how swollen I was. He started talking about me having preclammsia and since I was already here, he wanted me to get monitored down in Labor and Delivery. So that night my plans were changed from going out to dinner with my parents and going to Costco. I got monitored for 2 1/2 hours, checking my blood pressure every 10 min, giving a urine sample, a blood sample, and them checking the baby's heart rate and amniotic fluid. Everything was fine, but they said I needed bed rest for the next two days. So, Thursday morning, I slept in, but when I woke up, I noticed some blood, the doctors office told me to come in for another "non-stress" test, so my appointment was set for the afternoon. So there I sat calling my sisters and my mom and just chilled on the couch. As talking to one of my sisters I felt some pressure, which was a contraction. I started to time them, 10:30am was the 1st one. And they were every 20-30 min apart after that all day long. My "non-stress" test was from 2:30-3:30 there I sat hooked up to the machines. Again, everything was fine, and I went home to sit on the couch again. When Brandon came home from work, he made dinner for us, cleaned all 3 bathrooms, and even vacuumed the whole house. I guess he was nesting, I'm so lucky that he has helped me out for 9 months. We even went to Wal-Mart to grab a few things. At Wal-Mart the contractions were still coming, but more intense where I had to stop and breathe. We got home and started getting ready for bed, but at about 10pm, there was more blood. We called the hospital and they said not to worry, but 5 min later, more and more blood. Then the contractions were very intense. We called the hospital again and they told us to come in to get checked. It took us about 20 min to pack our bag and get out the door. At that point, contractions were about 3 min apart. I was in a lot of pain especially in my back, every time a contraction came I would call for Brandon and he would come running to rub my back. Needless to say the car ride to the hospital seemed to have taken for ever. I wish someone else could have driven us so Brandon could rub my back, during these 3 min apart contractions. We got to the hospital and I went to the bathroom again, and again more and more blood. We then went to Labor and Delivery and no one was around, I started looking for people, saying "hello, anyone there, help!" Someone came and we got settled in a room at 11:30pm . The doctor on call checked me and said I was only dilated to a 4, he acknowledged my Birth plan that I had taken to my doctors on Wednesday and said we will see what we can do. He was concerned with the amount of blood I was losing. He told us that my placenta was rupturing and if the baby's heart rate would drop that they were going to take the baby by an emergency c-section. So we waited and waited, I had one nurse all to myself since I was a serious case. The doctor came again and they assessed the situation, they were weighing the amount of blood I was losing and they checked that I was only dilated to a 6. The doctor said we were running out of time. I was losing blood faster than I was dilating. So they said since I don't have an epidural and the baby's heart rate drops, they will do a c-section and I will be put to sleep and Brandon won't be able to be there. They said if I get the epidural now, they will do the c-section and I can be awake and Brandon will be there. So we chose the epidural and to do the c-section right then so I would be safe and so would our baby girl. My Birth plan went out the window. I was still trying to finalize things with a Doula. All I could do was just wait.

During the c-section, I lay there listening to what was happening and being said. The doctors were talking about the U of U football game that happen that night. The doctors took great care of me. Brandon couldn't watch all of the cutting and putting me back together in fear that he could get sick. We have some cool pictures though. Kaylen was born at 2:48am Friday Sept 3rd, 5 lbs 11 oz, 19 inches long. Brandon was by her side from the moment he could. He brought her to me as soon as he could. I couldn't believe that this precious girl was inside of me for 9 months, oh how I waited for this time. She was beautiful. I couldn't get enough of her and she is mine. I'm writing this with tears running down my face and just holding my little girl.

I was in denial that I was going to have my baby when I was having contractions that morning. I couldn't believe this was happening 2 weeks early. Today, Sept 17th was her due date, but someone had other plans at bringing her into this world two weeks early. We weren't ready, but with the help of my parents and my wonderful husband we are now complete.

Kaylen Mae Rauen

Kaylen Mae Rauen

Born Friday Sept. 3rd 2010

Time: 2:48am
5 lbs 11 oz
19 inches