D Day

At a previous check up my doctor told me for my sake he hoped the baby would come early or he would be a 10 lb baby. He also requested that I wait to have the baby until after the weekend because he would be out of town. Of course, our son was born that Friday. He was due 08-21-08 so Tau and I had our bags packed and were ready to go camping that night with our friends. I got up for one of my routine bathroom stops at 5:30 am and my water broke. This being my first time, I thought since I wasn't having contractions, the hospital would send me away so I continued to go about my day. I curled my hair, shaved my legs, packed my bags, etc. Tau heard me and woke up. I told him my water had broken and he almost fell out of bed. I assured him that all was well and that we could still go camping that evening as long as I didn't get dirty. We went back to bed and I woke up at 7:30 am to call the doctor just in case. He said I should go in right away but it was my sister Naomi who convinced me an hour later that I should go in or I could kill the baby. I got out of bed to tell Tau we better go. He hadn't gone to sleep since I woke him earlier. He was running around the house washing dishes, cleaning the tubs, sweeping, etc. I guess he was pretty excited.

Getting ready to go to the hospital.

We checked in at 8:30 am and I was still only dilated to a 1. Tau and I went walking around the building for an hour, we danced a bunch of our old Living Legends numbers and I did Hawaiian warm-up basics and still no baby. They hooked me up to the monitor and the nurse was surprised to see I was having contractions, but I couldn't feel them. By 10 am they hooked me up to pitocin and cranked it up to the full dose so that by 2 pm I could feel my contractions and dilated to a 5. Thats when I called in my "team" (I invited my mom and Liz to attend the birth and help me just in case Tau passed out - he gets kinda queezy with the sight of blood). I dilated to an 8 just fine with their help and one of those big bouny ball thingy's.

Waiting for baby to come. Check out my view.

My team of coaches

Then my nurse changed to an old fashion one that wanted me on my side in the bed with a monitor on the baby's head, and oxygen for me, even though every thing was fine. I was upset because she wasn't letting me do things my way. I could handle the contractions sitting on the ball, but they hurt way too bad laying down. I couldn't relax this way. Finally I gave in and asked for a walking epidural (Hello? Why in the world did I try to go natural? Epidurals rock!) I wasn't trying to be tough or anything, I was just afraid that with Tau's and my size, I would have to have a c-section and an epidural increases the chance of having one. It was then that I was glad I had so many coaches. Each one was great in their own way and the best one of all was Tau. He worked so hard that as soon as I got the epidural, he passed out (not from the sight of blood mind you, but because helping me wore him out) We let him sleep for a little under an hour. I guess having a baby can be very stressful to the husband too.

Before the epidural

2 minutes later with epidural

He was out cold. How cute

I reached a 10 by 7:30 and seeing as how my son was going to be born on 08-08-08, I tried to push him out by 8 pm. LOL! Good story ... he decided to come at 9:34 instead.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for ... I present to you, Noa Tauailoto Ioane. Born Friday, 08-08-08, the 8th grandchild. 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long.

Before bathAfter bath. Look at all that hair

2008 - One Crazy Year!

Baby On Board


Okay so I wasn't lying when I said I was a bad blogger. I guess I should get everyone back up to speed by recapping a little bit of this crazy year. First I'll address the obvious ... Tau and I found out we were going to have a little baby boy. I knew two weeks before I told Tau because I wanted to wait and give him the positive pregnancy test as a Christmas present. When I told Tau he asked if I was sure and I started to sweat. I had only taken the test once. What if it was a false positive? I never thought to confirm it. I had Tau rush to the store that night and we took the test three more times. Every time I took it Tau asked if I was sure. I would just look at the double lines and doubt would come rushing in (that darn second line got lighter and lighter with every test). I don't think we totally believed it until we saw the ultrasound and heard the heartbeat 8 weeks later. Tau finally made the connection (referring to the two weeks before I told him I was prego), he said "Oh, so thats why you were crying all the time". With the new addition to our family coming shortly Tau and I rushed to tie up some loose ends and get "ready".


Graduation

The first thing on the list was to finish our education. In April Tau and I finally graduated from the Y. Tau received his Master's in Public Administration and I got my Bachelor's degree in Public Health Education. Tau's parents came out form AZ and we had a little BBQ afterward to celebrate.


After school was out of the way, Tau kept busy working for LDS Philanthropies as a donor liaison and playing city league softball and church basketball. Even though I walked in April, I kept working on an internship with the American Red Cross (teaching CPR/first aid/HIV/AIDS awareness) during the summer to receive my diploma. I just got it in the mail today. Hooray! Its official!

House Hunting

The next thing on our list to do before the baby got here was find a place to live. We had been staying with my parents in Pleasant Grove to save up for a home. We started looking in November with our realtor and after 7 months and a couple of offers we finally bought a condo in Springville. It was actually one of the first places we looked at but passed on (we had a really patient realtor). I'm glad we did though because the market was better when we finally made our offer. I love having my own place, the only problem is we still haven't decorated it because I just can't bare to put a hole in our nice new walls. I am determined to get over that soon however, so all of our pictures can stop taking up space sitting in a pile in our living room.



You might not be able to tell from the pictures but (for those of you who are curious) we have 9 foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances, beige walls, travertine tile, and knotty alder cabinets (spelling?). It is a three bedroom, 2 bath condo with a walk in closet in the master and a jetted tub (Tau loves that), a small patio with storage, and (my favorite) a separate laundry room with a folding counter. The neighborhood is really nice too. We have a Walmart a mile away and an elementary school and park just around the corner. My favorite place to walk to is down the street because our neighbor has a small farm with swans, emus, kangaroos, reindeer, etc. It's pretty crazy, I like to walk by and look at all the animals. I can't wait till my Noa gets older so he can enjoy looking at the animals with me.

Babymoon ...

I have been advised by several people to take a babymoon before the baby comes. I was determined to go somewhere exotic, but it just wasn't in the stars. Tau and I were able to do some fun things together however before baby came. I really enjoyed spending one-on-one time with him and strengthening our relationship. Here are some of the bigger things we did.

Valentines Day

Tau surprised me and took me to Chefs Table. A very nice restaurant overlooking Provo. I was so giddy because Tau even dressed up to match me. It might seem like a silly thing but it made me smile all night that he took the time to think about that. I felt really bad about the date though because my morning sickness was working overtime that night and the smell of my delicious steak made me nauseous. I ended up only taking one bite and then resigned to watching Tau eat his dinner while I boxed mine up and tried to hold my lunch down. Still it was one of my favorite dates and one I will remember.


California Trip

We visited Tau's cousin Ray and his family in Cali. We rented a convertable while we were there (Sweet!) We went for their newest daughter's baby blessing and while they were there they spoiled us with delicious food (i.e. phily cheese steak sandwiches and Honey Bunches of Oats french toast topped with bananas.




The Stadium of Fire 4th of July celebration...

...featuring Miley Cyrus and the Blue Man Group. I really wanted to go to this since I have never been and won't want to go when I have kids (I'd rather watch my kids do fireworks on future 4ths).


Lets just say that the Blue Man group and the Fireworks rocked. Miley ... well ... the tweens loved her, but I couldn't convince Tau to get up and dance along with the crowd.




We also flew to Arizona to visit Tau's family. His mom and sister threw me a surprise baby shower while the men went out and golfed.


Despite the heat (110 degrees plus my little baby heater), it was a very relaxing trip and we wished we could have stayed longer.

Baby Showers

Along with the baby shower in Arizona, one of my best friends Becca Welch and my mom threw me baby showers in Utah. It was fun to see all of my friends and family again. Thanks to everyone who came and who sent gifts. Everything we have gotten has come in very handy.


Well that is just some of the things we were able to do this year before our lives were forever changed. I will get some more pics up soon. I promise