Rees Family

Aww, Croup!

2012-01-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

After several unsuccessful attempt to post a video of Andy from Christmas, I have decided to give up and just post some pictures. I am hoping to get the video up someday, but I will need to call up some tech support!

We've been lucky that Andy has been such a healthy boy. However, Dr. Grandpa sure got a panicky call from us last Tuesday when Andy woke up coughing so hard he couldn't breathe. He finally calmed down and was able to sleep, but I was nervous the rest of the night. I took him to the doctor in the morning and found out his barking cough was a classic symptom of the croup. Isn't that what Minnie May almost died of?! While there was no Anne Shirley with her handy ipecac to save the day, a steroid shot and a vaporizer seemed to help and our little boy is on the mend.

Here are some pictures taken the day before he got sick. It's a good thing I took them then, because his nose has been so runny I've almost been afraid his brain is going to ooze out next. In other words, he hasn't been very photogenic lately. Here's our cutie discovering how much he likes snow:

A Lot to be Thankful For

2011-12-02T09:32:00.001-07:00

This year for Thanksgiving we were blessed enough to have Grandma and Grandpa Fife come to visit us. We had such a good time! We had yummy food, shopped, saw the beautiful lights at Temple Square, and put up Christmas decorations. Thanks to Grandpa and his iPad, Andy has learned how to ask for music (he waves his arm like he is conducting), and Grandma finally got him to sign "more" (which he uses more like "I want"). Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures all together, so the following will have to suffice, but I think Andy's face says it all: We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

Happy Birthday, Andy!

2011-11-07T08:11:00.011-07:00

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by already. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was waddling around taking care of laboring women and being totally jealous as we waited for our little boy's arrival.

Andy has grown so much! At one year old, he:

Weighs 21.8 pounds
Is 28.5 inches tall
Has 13 teeth (and two more coming in)
Crawls speedily
Walks not so speedily (I think he would like to skip to running, though)
Climbs on everything
Eats anything he can grab (including hair and lint, if Mommy's not looking)
Says Hi
Waves
Hugs toys, and sometimes Mom and Dad
Is still the cutest boy in the world!

We decided to celebrate Andy's first birthday with a family party. Our little house was wonderfully crowded, but I think the birthday boy (and everyone else) had a good time.

Unwrapping presents with Daddy

Someone didn't want to let go of his new toys, even for cake!

Yum!

Andy lets us know he is full by throwing away his leftovers. How kind.

And just a refresher as to why Andy is still the cutest boy in the world:

We love our fall baby!

Before and After

2011-10-15T22:18:00.011-06:00

Ok, last post for the evening and we'll finally be caught up! Lance did an awful lot of work on the house over the summer, but perhaps what we are most proud of so far are the doors. When we moved in, the only interior doors that were finished and hung were the bathroom and furnace room doors. All the exterior doors were still unpainted. It took Lance several weeks to prime, paint, and hang all the interior doors, but the exterior doors were a nightmare. Since of course, they were already framed and hung, we had to take them off the hinges and then put tape and plastic over the whole house. We were actually without doors on the house for about a week. We were very blessed that no one broke in!

I didn't get pictures of all the doors (I'm sure it would bore you anyway), which we painted dark green on the outside and a lighter green color for the inside, but here is the best of them all.

Before:
After:

Ooooh! Aahhhh! It really is a great improvement and I am very thankful for and proud of my sweet husband who has worked so hard to make our house a home.

In other news, Lance told me a few weeks ago that the time had come to cut Andy's hair. I have been putting it off. There is just something about that fluffy, curly baby hair that is just so sweet I couldn't bring myself to do it. I knew he would look so much older without it! However, Andy has started to carry my headbands around as toys and when he manages to put them on his head I realized how long his hair had really gotten and I gave Lance the green light.

Before:

...during...

After:

The day after we cut it we realized that we had left the top too long, so it was back to the bathtub with our little boy for an extra trim. I didn't take another "after" picture, so this snapshot will have to do:

Andy has figured out how to push around the stepstool to get to what he wants (although he has an amazingly long reach even without it). Here he is turning off the digital box, which hooked up to the TV so we could watch General Conference, for the millionth time during the Sunday Afternoon session (I'm afraid I didn't catch too much of Conference this year).

With a new haircut and some new clothes (thanks to his most recent growth spurt), our baby is really starting to look like a big boy! I can't believe his first birthday is almost here. Sometimes I miss the inert little bundle that would nap in my arms, but it has been an amazing journey so far to see him grow into the wonderful, wiggly little--or big-- boy that he is now.

Picture Palooza

2011-10-15T21:37:00.012-06:00

Mom gave me a "hint" that I need to post some more recent pictures of Andy. In the hopes of cheering and speeding up her recovery, here are some from the State Fair and a photo session from a few Sundays ago when Lance brought out the camera and got a little picture happy.

Goodbye, Summer

2011-10-14T13:05:00.004-06:00

Well, now that it is actually starting to get a little chilly and the fall holidays are quickly approaching, I guess it is time to post our summer pictures. The following pictures are from a couple parades we went to, our visit to Grandma and Grampa Fife in California, the Annual Rees Family Lagoon Day, and various other summery activities. Enjoy.

Memorial Day

2011-06-04T12:29:00.011-06:00

Another Memorial Day has come and gone, which meant a trip up to Morgan for the annual Rees Family Reunion. I was scheduled to work all day Monday, but due to poor staffing on Saturday night, I was able to switch my shifts. I haven't done nights in a long time, and I've never done them well, so it was a tough weekend. I was only supposed to be on call, but of course since they were short I ended up being there all night long. As soon as I got home I got ready for 9 o'clock church, and boy, was that the most difficult meeting I've ever had to sit through. After being awake for over 24 hours, I even fell asleep chewing the bread!

Even though I dislike night shifts and I was sad to miss out on attending all of church with my family, I was very happy to have Monday off. If only the weather had been nicer! It actually snowed in Morgan the night before. Fortunately they have a big shop up there that was dry and warm where we met for lunch and games. We all had a good time, and it was fun to show off our cute Andy at his first trip to the ranch.

At the Morgan Cemetery

Having fun watching the action next to Aunt Erin, cousin Trey, and Grandma and Grandpa Rees.

Lance preparing to launch a marshmallow.

Wearing Grandpa Rees' hat (and looking a little dazed)

By the time we left, it finally stopped raining!

In other news, Andy now has two more teeth sprouting up and has learned to pull himself up on his feet. Pictures to follow!

My 15 Minutes of Fame

2011-06-01T16:54:00.002-06:00

It has been said that every person will get fifteen minutes of fame in their lifetime. I think I just got mine last week!

A couple of months ago, our hospital shut down our Transitional Care Center and since then, those rooms have been left stripped and empty. So when Verizon needed a hospital setting to film a commercial for their new medical communication technology, our hospital volunteered our TCC unit. The producers also asked, however, if there was a nurse available who would like to help out and earn a little money.

I was the nurse lucky enough to be chosen! My manager called out to the front desk one day and I just happened to be the one to answer. Apparently the commercial involved filming someone putting monitors on a pregnant "patient" and they thought they might as well ask for someone who would actually know what they were doing rather than simply getting an extra to pretend. So, they would just need about an afternoon of my time and I would be compensated. So I said, "Heck Yes!" Ok, actually, I just said, "yeah," but you get the idea.

So last week I got a sneak peek at how the world of film operates. And actually, a lot of it was just sitting around, watching, and waiting. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. I was introduced to everyone as "The Nurse" and not only was a in a scene myself, but I was considered the consultant to make sure everything looked realistic. "Heather, what else would you have in a delivery room?" "Heather, would a nurse be allowed to wear earrings like this?" "Heather, how does this patient look in the wheelchair? Should she be wearing socks?" It made me feel pretty important, if not a little intimidated. (I'm still mad I forgot to have them put admission bracelets on the patient.)

There sure was a lot of equipment involved, too. Two suitcases just full of snacks for the cast and crew! The director sat on a metal bar on a "dolly" with the camera and the guy designated as the "dolly grip" was in charge of pushing the whole set up on the tracks for a nice, smooth shot. (I even got to try it once!) In my scene, I just had to adjust the monitors on my patient and look up at the screen and pretend I was pointing something out to her. It was kind of awkward because you have to "act natural" even though you know someone is not only watching you but zooming in on you, too! The good thing was, I really did just pretend she was my patient and struck up the usual small talk. And even though I had to readjust that monitor about fifty times (a little slower this time! Now, just adjust the one monitor. Now look up at the screen when I say, "look!" Ok, let's do it again!), we did have a real conversation and I think that's what made it look real, too. I didn't get to see what they filmed, but I did get the nice compliment from one crew member that I did better than some of the hired extras they've seen. Of course, I'd have to say that the nicest compliment came from the make-up artist, because when she saw me she said, "Oh, you look great! Your hair and eyes are great. We'll just add a little powder and lip gloss." It's gotta make you feel pretty good when the professional can't add much to you!

So, anyway, it was definitely interesting and pretty fun (not to mention the pay was quite good, too). It will probably only be shown on the internet, and it sounded to me like it was mostly for Verizon's own salespeople as they pitch their product to doctors and hospitals. However, I certainly hope I will get to see it myself and if I can, I will certainly link it to the blog. All in all, it was a good experience, but I don't think I'll quit my day job.

New Digs

2011-05-23T17:32:00.024-06:00

After much anticipation, we have finally moved!

We have certainly been busy these last two months. It feels good to finally have the transition over with and to be able to settle into our new place. It seems like there is so much to do- there are still several unpacked boxes laying around, and the house itself has need of several improvements- but it is finally beginning to feel like home. It is so nice to have a little more wiggle room- or perhaps I should say more room for our wiggle worm! Andy is a perpetual mover, and as his cousin Morgan pointed out, he is a very speedy "Marine crawler." It is also nice to be a little closer to work and a lot closer to family (especially for babysitting purposes!). Here are some photos of what we've been up to (and I apologize that I couldn't rotate some of them). They are mostly of Andy, but let's face it- he's the cutest one in the family!

Taking a nap while mommy and daddy pack

Andy's first Easter

Andy loves his milk! (Ha, ha)

First solids!

Day trip to Gardner Village. Andy loves to grab everything! And if he can reach it, it will certainly find its way into his mouth.

An older couple actually came up to us and praised us for using an umbrella stroller instead of "one of those big ones that's practically a car." Of course, we didn't tell them we had a bigger one at home!

Looking for new furniture

Meeting the new neighbors

...through the window, of course.

S'mores in the backyard (we have a backyard!). Lance whittled the mallow roasters himself :)

Enjoying the sunshine (there hasn't been much lately)

Unpacking boxes

Working on fixing up the doors with daddy (and that's a hard hat, not a bonnet!)

The Living Planet Aquarium

2011-04-12T12:40:00.008-06:00

Wow, two posts in one day! I know, it's crazy. I was going to put the aquarium pictures along with the previous post, but I felt they deserved their own and I figured I had better do it all at once or it might never get done.

We were invited to go with Andy's cousins to the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake. I think Andy enjoyed himself. He was very well behaved and it was cute to watch him try to grab the fish through the glass- no doubt to put them in his mouth, because that's where everything that he gets his hands on goes. Maybe he will end up loving sushi as much as his parents do.

Of course, he might be just as interested in his reflection as he is in the fish!

Andy is almost the same height as a Gentoo Penguin.

Outta the way, Dad! I want to see the fish!

Andy and the big frog...

... and the little frog. (Can you spot it?)

Family photo in the Amazon!

I know Andy is still small, but everything just seems more fun when you have a new little person to share it with who has never seen it before. Now we are hoping that we can make it to the Monterey Bay Aquarium this summer when we go to visit Grandma and Grampa Fife!

Just Andy

2011-04-12T12:08:00.008-06:00

Mom told me I've dropped the ball on posting pictures of Andy, so here's a whole bunch.

I think someone is ready for the next family reunion!

One of the many ways in which a sleeping Andy lies.

He has discovered his toes and he loves to suck on them!

We decided we had better label him in case anyone tried to claim our cute boy.

I think Andy is excited about moving to a bigger place. Here he is helping me pack!

What a good helper. Mmm, cardboard!

Rex Lee Run/Walk/Stroll

2011-03-12T21:16:00.007-07:00

Every year in March, the BYU Cancer Awareness Group holds a 5 and 10k run/walk to raise funds and to honor former BYU President and cancer victim Rex E. Lee. I am no athlete and certainly no runner, but when Lance and his brother Stuart decided to participate in the 5k this year, I figured Andy and I could tag along. Besides, if I took Andy with me, I had the excuse of the stroller to walk the whole thing instead of actually running it. Neither Lance nor I have exercised regularly lately so to our embarrassment, we were both quite sore and tired afterward... and poor Lance even ended up losing his breakfast. All in the name of a good cause!

The breakfast that Lance lost.

Looks like Andy wants his own number to wear.

I was pretty impressed by the sumo wrestlers...

...but I guess Andy wasn't!

We all had a good time, but hopefully next year we'll be in better shape!

Playing Catch-Up

2011-02-26T13:09:00.011-07:00

So, it's been a long time since I last posted anything. Sometimes the longer things go the harder it is to pick back up because you aren't sure if you should go back and talk about everything that's happened (which can get really overwhelming) or just skip it all and start over. I don't want to miss anything but I also don't want to bore anyone with a super long post. So here it is in a nutshell with accompanying pictures.
1. Lance started winter semester. He has decided to get a business minor and therefore will be graduating in December rather than April, which we figured was a good idea since construction is still suffering right now. The NAHB competition was in January and BYU took third place out of 40 schools. Lance did awesome and we are glad it's over!
2.Heather and Andy got to be spoiled by Grandma and Grampa Fife while Lance was in Florida for the competition. Mom/Grandma bought him this hat.I also started work again, which explains why nothing has been posted in so long. I've decided being a working mother is really no fun, but unfortunately it is a necessary evil at this time. Fortunately I will be able to go part time in one more week. We are also extremely grateful to Lance's mom, who watches Andy for us when I'm at work so we can avoid the whole daycare/RSV thing.
3. Andy is still the cutest baby in the world! He is almost 4 months old and has had teeth since January (!!). Many thanks to my dear sister Missy, who taught me to appreciate baby drool because ever since those teeth came in at three months, he's been full of it. Andy also smiles, giggles, is starting to roll over and grab toys and loves to put anything he does grab into his mouth. It is so fun to see him learn and grow. We love our little boy!

Reindeer on the Move

2010-12-20T01:47:00.007-07:00

Last week the youth in our ward took their traditional Christmas trip to Temple Square. Even though I am no longer in the Young Women's program, Lance still works with the Young Men and I wanted to come along so we decided to make it a family affair.

We actually ended up being really late and were probably only there for 45 minutes or so, but it was definitely worth it. When you are living so close to Salt Lake City, it really would be a shame not to take the time to see the lights once each Christmas season. Even though I've seen the display several times now during my Provo residency, it takes my breath away each time.

One of the highlights of Temple Square this year is the new cut-away model replica of the Salt Lake Temple. It is absolutely amazing. I think it is not only a great missionary tool, but it is a special treat for members as well. It was really neat to see how all the rooms actually fit together, and to get a "sneak peek" at the areas even regular temple patrons rarely get to see, like the Assembly room and the study where Talmage wrote Jesus the Christ. I wanted to take a picture, but it was much too crowded (which I guess is a good thing). I recommend reading the article and seeing pictures of it here.

Something special about visiting Temple Square in the last few years has been how nostalgic it makes me for Germany. These past few times we have taken the Trax into the city center, which always invokes fond memories of riding the U-bahn. Even walking around Temple Square reminds me of all the Fussgaengerzone (pedestrian areas in the city center) I've trod as a missionary and a visitor in Germany. The only thing missing is the Weihnachtsmarkt! What I wouldn't have given for a piping hot brat, some pommes frites (eaten with a fork, of course), and a deliciously sweet crepe saturated with melting Nutella filling. Mmmm....

All in all, it was a fun time. At least, Lance and I enjoyed it- Andy slept through the whole thing so I'm not sure what he thought of it. But he sure looked cute!

Andy's first train ride!

This outfit is still a little big for him- he's not really this huge!

Pictures never do the lights justice. You'll have to come see them for yourself!

Andy's Blessing

2010-12-13T13:17:00.015-07:00

We've had a wonderful weekend. Although it was threatened by Lance coming down with a fever on Thursday, he was feeling better by the next evening and we still got to participate in all the important things we'd planned on.

On Saturday Lance's nephew Morgan was baptized. He asked Lance (his favorite uncle, I'm pretty sure) to confirm him. There is always a special feeling at baptisms and we were glad we were able to support Morgan.

Lance has been so busy lately we haven't had much time together, so the three of us had fun running around and window shopping all afternoon. In fact, we had so much fun that I totally forgot to pick up the sandwiches I ordered at Costco for the family get-together the next day until Costco had already closed! We had to scramble to find something to serve, but it turned out alright and we just laughed about it.

Of course, the crowning event was Andy's blessing on Sunday. We were fortunate to have so many members of Lance's family come, and of course to be able to do the blessing in a ward we have come to love so much. We just wish the Fifes could have been there to make it complete. Grandma Fife bought his blessing outfit, so I felt like you were all there in spirit. Lance did a wonderful job, and thanks to his sister Erin the blessing was recorded and we will be able to transcribe it and save it so that Andy can read it himself someday. We are so grateful to have our sweet Andy in our lives!

Here are some pictures of our wonderful weekend. We wish you all could have been there!

He's getting so big!

The blessing outfit Mom bought. He's almost too big for it!

This looks like a smile, but I think it might be the beginning of a cry...

I think he's saying he's done taking pictures.

Love the bowtie!

One happy family!

Santa's Little Helper

2010-12-07T15:57:00.008-07:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our place! The stockings have been hung in the vicinity of the heater with care- well, two stockings and a baby sock, that is. We also spent a fun Family Home Evening choosing Needles the Third. Lance always does a great job putting on the lights-- he can fit an amazing number of strands on one small tree! But our favorite part so far has been the visit from one of Santa's own little helpers. This is turning out to be the best Christmas ever!

Isn't he adorable?!

What We're Thankful For

2010-11-29T20:27:00.007-07:00

This Thanksgiving was a very special one. It's always wonderful to take the time to count our blessings, visit with family, and eat lots of delicious food. We had a great time visiting Lance's brother's family in Erda this year (which is up by Tooele- I know, I had never heard of it either. In fact, I don't even know if I spelled it right). Unfortunately we forgot our camera, but when we got home we did get a picture of what made this Thanksgiving so special:

I guess the real reason why this year was so great was simply because last year Thanksgiving came at the one of the saddest times of my life- the very week I had found out I had miscarried and the day after I had my surgery. So in way, it's been a bittersweet Thanksgiving- bitter as we remember the hurt we experienced last year, and amazingly sweet as we have seen how greatly the Lord has blessed us since then. My testimony has grown of how the Lord truly knows what is best for us and how much He loves us.

With the official arrival of the Christmas season my heart is especially full. This year, I have a greater appreciation for the love our Heavenly Father has for us. I never knew how much my heart could grow until our precious Andy was placed in my arms. If I cringe when my little boy has to get his blood drawn, or when I worry that he is sick or hurting, I catch a glimpse of the deep pain and amazing restraint it took for our Heavenly Father to let His Only Begotten, His own precious Son, suffer so tremendously to bring about the atonement. How grateful I am for that amazing sacrifice! And how thankful I am for this special time of year, when we celebrate the birth of our Redeemer. As I look into my little boy's eyes, I remember that our own Savior was once a tiny baby, born in humble circumstances but destined to save all of mankind. How wonderful to know that because of Jesus Christ we can each be clean and whole, and together we can be a forever family. And that's what we're thankful for!

Cast Your Vote!

2010-11-17T19:35:00.006-07:00

Who do you think Andy looks more like-- his mommy or his daddy? (Ignore the fact that Lance has his teeth sticking out in most of the pictures.) These were actually quite difficult to take- I had to try to hold noodle-neck Andy up while Lance snapped a one-handed photo. However, I don't think we could recreate the yawn picture in a hundred takes! It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Proud Papa

2010-11-15T18:03:00.007-07:00

Lance is the cutest daddy ever. We got to go on a couple walks this weekend and part of the purpose was just so Lance could show off his handsome boy to some of our friends and neighbors. I love to watch him puff up his chest and brag about his son!

The Third Piece of Rees has Arrived!

2010-11-08T17:30:00.014-07:00

After working 8 of my 12 hour shift, I was able to pass off my laboring patients to my fellow nurses and be admitted myself! Andrew Elliott Rees arrived at 2:50 am on October 30th, 2010 weighing a grand 8 pounds 11 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. No wonder I was so uncomfortable! We are much happier having our not-so-little Andy on the outside rather than on the inside. He's wonderful! But enough with the talk. Here are some pictures of our sweet boy:

Not just a cone head- a tube head is more like it!

Can you get a cuter face?

First family photo! I was pretty swollen by the end, but I'm blaming that puffy face on the IV fluids.

Andy meeting his cousins Morgan and Josh.

Meeting Grandpa Rees

The Billibed of Torture! Andy had to be in this bed 24/7 for two days to help get rid of his jaundice. We're glad he's looking pink again!
Grampa Fife making sure that Andy really is healthy (for his mommy's sake)

Saying goodbye to Grandma and Grampa Fife. Wahh!

Andy learns that just because you can suck on it doesn't mean it will taste good!

We are grateful that both mom and baby (and daddy!) are doing well. Thanks to everyone who sent cards, gifts, and good wishes. We have such awesome friends and family!

Laboring Away

2010-09-11T15:47:00.007-06:00

For Labor Day we decided to labor away by going fishing with Lance's family up at the ranch. It's only my second time going, and I can't say that my skills are improving. However, I really did catch a fish this time- only to try pulling it out too soon, resulting in a free grasshopper for the fish and wounded pride for me. Oh well!

Getting the net ready

First fish of the day!

The fish that Lance caught. Pretty big, but not big enough to hide my round belly!

My teacher showing me how it's done

This is where I caught (and lost) my first fish!

Now, if that doesn't seem like hard work, I'll have you know that I did have to go to work that evening. After getting up early and spending the day in the sun, staying up all night with laboring women leaves one completely exhausted. Fortunately for me and my patients (honestly, I feel my critical thinking skills seriously diminish after midnight), I am now officially done with my night shifts! Although there are some fun people I'll miss working with, I look forward to being home every evening with Lance and going to sleep in my own bed at a normal hour. I'd better stock up on sleep while I can... only seven more weeks until our little one arrives!

Fifevergnuegen 2010

2010-08-09T11:31:00.011-06:00

This year for our Fife Family Reunion we rented a three story beach house for the 20 of us in Destin, Florida. It was incredibly humid but we managed not to melt away! I've never seen such white, fine sand and the water was always warm. We had fun going across the street to the beach every day, swimming in the pool in the back yard, seeing Le Grand Cirque, shopping, playing games, and just being together. It was wonderful to see everyone again and two years seems way too long to wait for the next one! Here are a few highlight pictures from our adventures in Florida:

I can't believe that after the months of planning and anticipation it is already over. So, where are we going next time? I'm already looking forward to it!

Preview of Things to Come

2010-06-12T13:19:00.005-06:00

We finally got an authorized view of our little baby! Lance and I went to my 20 week appointment to spy on "Squiggy" and make sure everything is ok. So far, so good. And to answer the question everyone is dying to know... (although I think Mom spilled the beans already):

It's a BOY!!

Can't you tell by the way he's already flexing his muscles for the camera?

No? Maybe this picture is a little more helpful...
I hope showing his man-parts on our blog isn't inappropriate... but he wasn't shy down there. His face is another matter, though.

Here he is covering his face with his arms. He wouldn't let us get a good look of his face, but aren't his arms cute? What lovely bones.

And just to prove he's ours... looks like he's a thumb sucker already!

We are thoroughly excited. It's still crazy for me to look at those pictures and to think that that little being is inside of me. It will probably be even more surreal when he's on the outside! So, now we can officially start to consider names. Any good ideas?

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2010-03-12T21:18:00.003-07:00

This looks a lot easier than the traditional way: But do they come with a satisfaction guarantee?

The Fruits of my Labors

2010-02-17T11:08:00.005-07:00

Some people seem to think that health care workers are the same as hospitality staff-- like your waiter or hotel manager, where "the customer is always right."

Granted, I do perform a lot of similar duties. I get you beverages. I change your sheets. I provide warm blankets, pillows, and I try to make you comfortable. But then, I go even a step further. I change the nasty bloody, poopy towels from under you. I help you to the bathroom. I give you important medications and inform you about them. I can tell you how your labor is progressing. I help to make sure that you and your baby stay healthy and safe.

Now, I certainly do believe in choices, and I think patients should chose their care providers and facilities according to what suits them best. I also believe in respect and appreciation, and sometimes patients take what we do for granted. It's the attitude that we are simply there to cater to them- especially in labor and delivery. What I do can be very difficult. It's scary knowing that my actions can totally change a patient's outcome. In fact, I pretty much hated nursing for the first six months and only tolerated it for the next six. But what got me into this mess was wanting to help people, to calm and comfort them in times of stress, a chance to make a difference to somebody. Sometimes what I do goes completely unnoticed. Sometimes people get angry no matter how hard I try to please them. And sometimes, you win the lottery.

In the past few weeks I have gotten two lovely handwritten notes of appreciation from patients that I have taken care of. One sent me a picture of her cute baby girl along with her letter. Another came all the way back to the hospital to give me cookies and a note. I don't know if they understand how much that means to me! Perhaps it is simply their grateful attitudes more than any kind of extraordinary care I might have given them that prompted them to do it, but it sure made my day nevertheless. There is nothing quite like knowing that something you did made a difference for someone else-- especially in my area where emotions are high, there are a lot of expectations, and things can change in an instant. It feels so good to know that there are those who not only appreciate what I did for them, but so much so that they made a special effort to tell me. As I approach my two year mark in nursing, it's nice to finally know and feel that what I do is important-- and to even enjoy it!

Thank you!

The Last Two Months

2010-02-04T16:03:00.011-07:00

After two months of frustration and feeling out of touch with the world, we finally got our computer back. Now that it is healed from its 300+ viruses, it is running much smoother and we can go back to doing homework at home, keeping up with family and friends, and spending hours giggling over Cake Wrecks. Ah, it's good to be back!

Meanwhile, we haven't been all boring. There was that time that our apartment almost burned down.
So that explains the smell coming from behind our bed...

The time I had to go to three baby showers in one week.
(Lots of card making going on at our house!)

Did you know that only pregnant women shop in the baby aisle at Target?

Then we decided to spruce up our bathroom decor...
... and Lance did the unthinkable:
He asked if there was any way we could clean it so that he could still use it since it was new (ick!) but I told him I refuse to kiss a potty mouth.

And lastly, there was the time we got together with friends to show off who's got the best Wii skills around. And we sure showed them... who's got the best team unity!
(My model is at school so we'll have to do with the flowered couch.)
Although we were both pretty intimidating, only Lance pulled through with some true competition. But I did make a pretty good seven layer bean dip!

I guess I'll have to hone my skills a bit more before we meet the Daniels family for a rematch, but many thanks again to Mom, Dad, and Laynie, who gave us a very merry Wii Christmas last December. At least now the playing field will be somewhat even at the family reunion...

So, 2010 is off to a fairly good start, and let's hope that as we continue to move forward, each year is better than the last.

For Ziggy

2009-11-28T22:10:00.001-07:00

Today I found my safe spot.

Have you ever had a safe spot? It’s like in tag, when you map out a safety zone where no one can get you out. Some may call that cheating, but maybe it’s just good strategy. It’s your rendezvous spot, the place where you can pace your breathing, think clearly, and think out your next move.

On Tuesday I found out that my baby had died. Two week s ago I saw his little heart beating on ultrasound now only to witness his absolute stillness. Lance came with me to my 12-week appointment to see our baby for himself, since last time I had used the ultrasound machine at work to sneak a peek. He tried to calm my fears when the Doppler picked up only my heartbeat. But all those fears were confirmed when the doctor announced that our baby looked very small for 12 weeks. Very small.

No blood flow. No heartbeat. Not even a recognizable shape. My baby had died and my body didn’t do anything about it. I felt betrayed. For two weeks at least I had gone on, ignorantly, planning and praying for something that would never get the chance to fulfill the dreams I had created for it.

Maybe it’s my fault. I prayed so hard for my baby just to “hold on,” to stay firmly attached to me in order to continue growing. My body did hold on, even after my baby couldn’t. The literature says that many early miscarriages are a result of chromosomal abnormalities incompatible with life. I guess that’s why my baby didn’t really look like a baby. But even so, I can’t bring myself to think of him as only a bundle of cells or mass of tissue. Because he was mine. Or perhaps even better, Ours. Our creation, Lance’s and mine. Our baby. Our hope. Our chance to work with our Father in Heaven in fashioning the most marvelous gift of all: Life.

On Wednesday I had my first surgery ever. I underwent a procedure called dilation and curettage to clean out my womb. But instead of scraping out my uterus, I feel like they scraped out my heart. It’s strange to know that in just fifteen minutes I went from being pregnant back to my regular self. Nothing special. No need to avoid certain foods or medications, no excuse for weight gain. Just me, in the singular.

I put my baby name book in the closet. My stash of pregnancy information and prenatal vitamins are safely tucked away under the bed. And Lance’s Christmas present to me, a beautiful wooden rocking chair, will stay at his parents’ house for now. I guess that’s the key phrase right there: For now. Because amid the tears and the confusion, the pain and the sorrow, there is peace. There is peace because if we let him, there is someone who will give it to us:

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite (Psalm 147:3-5).

If the Savior knows the name of every star in the sky, surely he knows mine. Even if I don’t understand the plan, he does. And because he has felt it himself, he can heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds. And as I have tried to let go of my disappointment and let the Savior aid me, I found my safe spot. The place where I could catch my breath and plan out my next move.

I found it on the couch. As we knelt to pray, Lance wrapped his arms around me and nestled his head against me. And I felt safe. Warm. Like nothing and no one in the world could tag me out. I felt as if the Savior was using my own sweet, dear husband to let me know how much He loves us. I felt, like Lehi, that “… the Lord [had] redeemed my soul from hell… and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15). And for the first time in days, I felt peace. It was the point when knowing things would be alright and believing they would became the same. And instead of wondering if I did something wrong, I prefer to think on what Lance said just after our prayer. He said that maybe there was a little spirit up there that so wanted a body, and so wanted to be our baby, that he just couldn’t wait-- even though his body wasn’t meant to last very long. I’m not saying it’s doctrinal, but it is nevertheless a beautiful thought, and one that has brought me comfort.

There will be relapses. There have been already today. And I have no idea how difficult it will be for us to finally get our baby. But it’s going to be okay. One of the greatest challenges of our lives is to learn to trust in our Heavenly Father’s plan. And he has provided even for that, through the gift of his Son. As Elder Nelson said, “Thanks to Him, no condition is hopeless. Thanks to Him, brighter days are ahead, both here and hereafter. Real joy awaits each of us—on the other side of sorrow” (Oct. 2005 General Conference). So here’s to that other side! Through the help of our Savior, may we find it more quickly than we had even hoped.

7+18=20?

2009-10-26T19:30:00.002-06:00

Announcing..... Fifevergnuegen #20!

Stats:
ETA: June 7, 2010
EGA: 8 weeks
Sex: Unknown at present
Current size: Approximately .63 inches, .04 ounces (raspberry size)
Hobbies: Swimming, Water Polo
In utero name: Ziggy

Seeing the Future

2009-10-25T19:43:00.006-06:00

This year for the annual Rees Family Halloween Party, Lance and I decided to take a look into our future. It isn't exactly pretty....

A future Grandpa and Grandma Rees?

Settling down with a nice bowl of chili to warm my aching bones...

Great Uncle Lance posing next to the Halloween decorations

My, how quickly fifty years go by... how young we were in that wedding picture in the corner!

The party was a success and everyone had a good time-- even us old geezers.

Monumental Move

2009-10-21T12:18:00.005-06:00

Last Friday we got to witness a monumental move. A true testament to engineering ingenuity. A climax in constructional creativity. And it was about as exciting as watching grass grow.

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little harsh-- especially since Lance was so excited (this is the guy who used to pray for the tractors and other construction equipment as a kid). And actually, it was really cool. Around 10pm the existing bridge exit for American Fork Main street was closed to traffic so that spectators could watch from it as the new bridge was put into place. This new bridge, weighing in at 4 million pounds, is the largest bridge ever to be moved. Ever. Using some fancy equipment with wheels and a really, really big remote control, half of the bridge (complete with driving surface, guardrails and sidewalk) was inched over both south- and northbound lanes of I-15 to rest over the previously completed pillars. The second half was moved Sunday night. It took over three hours just to get it in place. So my comparison to watching grass grow is accurate- they could only move a bit at a time, making frequent stops to make sure nothing had twisted or shifted out of place. It was one of those things where if you stare at it you can't see it moving, but as soon as you look away and then look back, you can tell it isn't where it was before. In between staring across the street and listening in on the familiar awkwardness of a couple on their first or second date standing just behind us, I actually fell asleep for about half an hour. So, when I woke up, it looked like the bridge had actually jumped across the highway instead of crawled.

I think Lance may have stayed there all night, if by midnight I didn't have to go to the bathroom so bad from that free hot chocolate that was no longer keeping me warm. However, we did have a good time, and it's neat to say that we witnessed history in the making.

Going Steady

2009-10-10T14:09:00.003-06:00

After a year of "floating," I am finally settling down. I just got my permanent schedule for American Fork Hospital. Now instead of taking turns at three different hospitals, I will just go to one and I'll have the same two week rotating schedule until the powers that be decide it needs changing.

Overall, my schedule is pretty good and my manager has a way of making one feel she's getting a deal. I only have to work two nights out of my six rotating shifts, and all the rest are day shifts. Which is lovely-- except for that Sunday. I do have to work every other Sunday, which really stinks, but until people stop having babies I'm afraid someone's got to do it. And one of those "someones" is me. At least for now. The nice thing is that I do have my schedule set now for the rest of the year and the one to come, so it is easier to plan. Not only that, but I can forget about trying to fit in with three different sets of staff, remembering what each hospital does differently than the others, and so forth. What a relief.

My new schedule starts in November and I look forward to leaving the pool and just being able to stay in one place. As a friend of mine once said, "Monogamy is key!"

The Third Annual Fakesgiving Feast

2009-09-29T10:47:00.003-06:00

For those of you who don't know, Fakesgiving is fun-filled, friends-and-family feast which falls on the fourth Sunday of September. As a relatively new holiday, there are still many traditions in the making. However, it always involves good friends, good food, and declarations of what we are all fakesful for. Examples: "I'm fakesful for homework," or, "I'm fakesful I get to wake up at 4:30 am tomorrow," or how about, "I'm fakesful that when I realized I had just enough eggs to make my dessert on Sunday I dropped one on the kitchen floor," etc, etc...

This year, my dear friend Kalli hosted Fakesgiving. She is usually the driving force behind the holiday, mostly because she is the best hostess and the best cook. However, we all bring a little something and simply enjoy each other's company. With all the myriad ways there are to keep in contact with friends these days, it's amazing how seldom I actually do. It's been quite a while since I last saw my Mountainwood buddies so it was fun to catch up on what's new and to remember good times and old jokes. It's funny to think about all the things that have happened since the first Fakesgiving, and what perhaps will happen before the fourth. I guess all holidays are like that-- milemarkers in life that make us look back to see where we've been and to happily anticipate what's coming.

So, three cheers for Fakesgiving! May we all be thankful for it.

The Fatherland and my Mother's Land

2009-09-13T13:35:00.025-06:00

Ever since I got home from my mission to Germany at the end of 2006, I've been wanting to go back. Turns out Lance has felt the same way, too. So this year, Lance and I decided to save up our money and go for it, before life gets too complicated. Fortunately, we also got to go to Austria in the same trip and spend some quality time with Mom, Dad, Laynie, and my cute Omi at her home in Graz. Here are a few highlight pictures from our trip:How we felt when we got there

My cute Omi

Graz

Visiting the salt mines in Salzburg

Die Ruine Goesting above Omi's house

The Freilicht Museum in Stuebingen

Vienna

Dortmund!!

Schloss Nordkirchen

The good old Mission home in Hamburg

Flensburg

Dresden

Waiting for some good eats in Munich

Schloss Lindenhof

The famous Neuschwanstein Castle

Can't wait to go back!

Something to Blog About

2009-05-29T17:54:00.002-06:00

Lance and I have been serving in the nursery almost as long as we've been married. As a result, neither of us has been to any adult Sunday meetings in almost nine months. Now that I am involved with the Young Women organization and Lance continues as the ward Executive Secretary, we've finally graduated to attending classes where full and complete sentences are the norm. Having Lance return to Elder's Quorum meetings has produced an interesting effect, however. Namely, that he likes to volunteer for everything.

This is not a bad thing. I just find it kind of amusing. And, since Lance signed himself up to help out at the Church-run cannery in Lindon this morning, I decided to come along rather than feel bored and guilty at home, and it proved to be quite an, um, memorable experience.

After washing our hands and donning our plastic aprons and hairnets, we were given a little orientation about safety. There were illustrations to match-- a stick figure straining his back from lifting incorrectly, a pipe blowing hot steam, and hand with four fingers chopped off. We both giggled a little at that last one-- it was quite detailed. Oh, the irony.

Today's fare was pork and beans. The cans came down on a conveyor belt and passed the pork guys (Lance included) who made sure each can got a glob of ground bacon at the bottom. Meanwhile, the beans were washed in the hopper and also took a trip up a conveyor belt, which then dumped them into the machine which filled the cans. The belt under this machine shook wildly back and forth so that the cans filled up evenly. My job came next. The cans then passed under a juice fountain, where they were filled to the brim with a thin sort of tomato sauce before the lids were sealed on. I was to make sure the cans were full, and to keep stray pork and bean bits from clogging up the grate underneath, where the excess juice ran off. It meant that for about three hours I was splattered with hot juice while I stood in a breeze of pure steam. Man, I was so sticky afterward that if you had thrown me on a wall I probably would have stuck to it just like velcro! Although tedious and incredibly noisy, it was neat to watch how the machinery worked and to know that our efforts would bless countless numbers of people.

There were a couple of other jobs as well, including putting the cans in the giant steamer, and then packaging the finished cans into boxes. Then there was the brother behind me who was stuffing bacon into the meat grinder. Can you tell where this story is going?

Everything was fine until I heard the poor guy trying to yell over the tumultuous noise, "It got my finger! It got my finger!" He was clutching his hand tightly and looking desperate. The missionaries rushed him out of the processing area to the hand washing basin and stuck his hand into a pitcher full of ice-- you know, those same clear plastic pitchers they have in every chapel across the country. I turned around and indeed, there at the end where the ground meat came out, I could see the tip of a blue gloved finger amid the greasy chunks of bacon. They took the machine apart to remove it and put it into ice as well.

The police came and while everyone waited for the ambulance, I noticed Lance sit down on some nearby stairs. I went over to talk to him when he rather abruptly got up, ripped off his apron, and disappeared. Turns out the whole ordeal made him rather queasy! Although neither of us really saw any blood or guts, the idea enough was sufficient to make one nauseous. I myself had to concentrate hard not to notice how red the sauce was, and what the dried chunks on my gloves looked like. Lance had to pass the poor guy leaning over the basin in order to make it to the bathroom and almost passed out on the floor. As soon as he thought he was well he came back to man his post, tossing in the greasy, slimy bacon bits... you can guess how helpful that was. He ripped off his second apron and went to lay down in the waiting room until the shift ended, which was about 15 minutes later.

My heart aches for that poor brother. Fortunately at least his finger didn't actually get caught in the actual grinding machinery, where I'm sure it could have yanked in his whole hand. He was pulling out the ground meat at the end and stuck his finger in a little too far, where it got neatly chopped off right below the fingernail by the last rotating blades. The senior missionary next me me leaned over after the ordeal and said, "Well, this is certainly the worst day I've ever had here!" They've had plenty of minor cuts, scrapes, and burns, but no severed appendages. I guess we picked the lucky day to volunteer.

I hope the poor guy is alright. While Lance was outside getting the color back into his face, he heard the man say he had also just lost his job. A trip to the emergency room probably won't help his financial situation. Since we didn't really know him, I don't know how the story ended. We just prayed and hoped, and tried not to barf in the beans.

After our shift was over (and the new girls coming in had pretty wide eyes, having just witnessed the injured man making his way to the ambulance), we were allowed to buy some of the goods we canned for our food storage supply. We bought a case of pork and beans, ohne finger-- although I don't think I'll be able to eat it anytime in the near future.

Firsts

2009-05-27T16:30:00.007-06:00

This Memorial Day was my first Memorial Day as a married woman. Not just any married woman, but a woman who married the one and only truly wonderful Lance Rees, whose family has a huge reunion up at their grandparents' cattle ranch in Morgan, Utah every year. Therefore, it was also my first time at the annual Rees Family Memorial Day Reunion.

We started out the day by visiting the cemetery up in Morgan, where Lance's grandparents, great-grandparents, and others are buried. This was also a first for me, considering that visiting the gravesides of our loved ones on Memorial Day was never a tradition for the Fifes. Nevertheless it was very interesting (and educational, too). After that, we all headed over to the ranch, which is now run by one of Lance's uncles.
Although this was my first participation in the annual family get-together, it wasn't my first time visiting the Ranch. The place is huge, and it's beautiful. There's hills, a spring, a river, a reservoir, acres upon acres of land, and of course, cattle. We had a huge potluck picnic out on Grandma Rees' old lawn, with lots of games and general merry-making for the all the little ones. I was a little nervous at first, knowing there would be about a hundred people there that I didn't know, but it ended up being a wonderful day. The weather was great and the company was, too. And of course, the Rees Family Reunion wouldn't be the Rees Family Reunion without shooting the breeze-- and I don't mean conversation.

Yes, I'm talking about rifles and .22's. Clay pigeons and soda cans. Oh yeah, and some microwaves filled with fertilizer bombs. Of all the "firsts" of the day, I suppose this has to be the most notable: Even I took a few shots, believe it or not! I have to admit, this is a culture totally foreign to me, and I've never fully understood the draw of hunting. However, I will say that although I did it mostly to make Lance proud of me, it was in fact, enjoyable--mostly because I blasted my first two clay pigeons right outta the sky. And we'll just stop there! I was mostly afraid of knocking out some of my molars, and as anyone one who knows anything about shooting will see how wrong my technique is, I did manage to keep a hold of the gun and only had a mildly sore shoulder the next day.

All in all it was a great day. Hope the weather's just as good next year!

Odds and Ends

2009-05-19T10:15:00.008-06:00

I always mean to write more frequently, but somehow I never seem to get around to it. Today I showed up at work only to find out that I wasn't on the schedule, so they sent me home and I went back to sleep. So, with my newly discovered extra time I have decided to update the ol' blog.

I guess a lot of odd things haven't happened, but I do have something to say about an end-- Hansi's rear end, that is. It's fixed! The mechanics at University Collision did a great job of fixing him up and I have to say it is great to have him back. Although I am deeply grateful to Lance's parents for letting us borrow their car for two whole weeks, I felt about forty years older driving around in a Buick Century.

In other news, Lance continues to make good progress on the Chicken Mansion. Although he has not yet installed the electrical wiring or the hot tub, as you can see the roof is almost completed. We also scratched the tanning bed idea when we were reminded that spending several hours out in the sun on a mildly warm and windy day can cause extensive skin damage for free. I'm still peeling.

Lance shouldn't have all the fun-- I can play with wood, too. I promised Mom a picture of my project and so here it is: The pieces were already cut out, I just painted them. Of course, with the weather finally warming up I don't think it will be an appropriate decoration for much longer.

In other attempts to beautify our tiny space, we bought a hanging basket which has pretty much exploded outside our door. If you look in the window you can see Lance's reflection. He has joined a softball league again this year and we have fun going to the Thursday night games- especially when he wins.

And to wrap it up, just a quick mention of our past week. We had lots of fun with our special visitors from Germany, my old companion Becky and her husband (Lance's Golden), Manuel, and their cute baby James. Over the weekend we then got to go down to St. George for my cousin Wilma's wedding. The best part was getting to see Mom and Dad again, but the whole trip was fun. Unfortunately we forgot the camera so I don't have any pictures-- you'll just have to imagine it. And while you are imaging that, you can try to guess what happened to the bag of Amish Friendship bread I left on the counter while we were gone. Oh wait, you don't have to imagine that part. I have a picture.

That's about it. The only other new thing is that I've been called to be the Beehive advisor for the two beehives in our ward. I think it is going to be fun, and it will help me get to know the girls better before camp-- considering that my other ward calling is Assistant Camp Director. We'll see how that goes...

Good News and Bad News

2009-04-22T21:03:00.012-06:00

Utah Valley Hospital is my least favorite hospital of the three where I work. It's just a bit too big and busy for me-- I really prefer the smaller scale. Night shifts aren't my favorite either, so when I knew I had to work an 18L at UVRMC on Monday, I wasn't thrilled. I really did try not to whine too much (you'll have to ask Lance how effective that resolve was) but I still had to pray for a good attitude before I headed out at 5:30.

Well, it's a good thing Lance bought me that bike for my birthday, because I'm going to be needing it a lot more than I thought. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I hope the look on my face says it all:
The only good thing about these pictures is that it shows at least how lovely the weather has been lately. Ok, in seriousness the good news is that nobody got hurt. I was stopped, waiting for a car to pass so I could make a left hand turn into the hospital parking lot. The next thing I saw was a huge silver Dodge Durango in my rearview mirror, which suddenly swerved to the right and then smashed me. Turns out she wanted to pass me rather than wait for me to turn and misjudged how much room she had (it's a small road). She only lost a bumper. Hansi's whole rear end is maimed. And it all happened the very week that we were in the middle of switching our car insurance. However, it looks like it will all work out ok. And hey-- I didn't end up having to go to work after all! They put me on call and I was kinda shook up the rest of the night. So, to get my mind off of everything, we decided to bust out the Joe Smokey Silver. At least the rest of the evening was nice.
Mmm.... Grilled zucchini!

25 and Counting

2009-03-22T13:14:00.004-06:00

For me, birthdays are my business-- every time I go to work it is to celebrate someone's Birth Day. However, there's still something special about one's own birthday. My family still teases me about how I used to let everyone know that "someone" had a special day coming up... sometimes even a month or two in advance. I admit that the excitement is not quite the same as when I was little; I usually don't lie awake in bed on March 19th anymore, for example. Back then the whole day felt, well, different and my heart would beat faster each time I remembered that this was my special day. I guess the day is still magical-- just in different ways. And this year, I had as good a birthday as one can expect at my age :)

2009 means I celebrated my Silver Birthday-- and although I didn't get any silver, I did get something shiny. Lance has a wonderful knack for surprises, and this time he outdid himself. He bought me a beautiful shiny red-black-and-white seven speed cruiser, complete with klingel!

I don't think I've had a bike since my old banana seater back in the early 90's (doesn't that make me sound old?) and until my mission, that was probably the last time I really rode one, too. Lance is an avid mountain biker and recently I've wanted something simple just to ride around. I knew Lance was cooking up something when he left to "finish some homework" at school in the afternoon, but I really didn't expect a bicycle. It was a wonderful surprise.

The rest of the day was great, too. Lance had made me breakfast in the morning and while he was gone I had time to finish some work around the house while listening to the lectures on Haydn that Mom lent me. In the evening we went out to eat and then watched a movie at home. It really couldn't get much better. I was also happy to recieve several phone calls and messages from my family and friends. It's nice to know you are loved and remembered on your birthday, even without reminding everyone. So, thanks to all of you! And now I have just eight months to come up with something really good for Lance's birthday...

Thanks, Sweetheart!

One Lucky Day

2009-03-17T19:29:00.004-06:00

I just lived through the most harrowing shift I've ever experienced in my nursing career, short though it may be.

I was planning on an uneventful night shift at the smallest of the three hospitals where I work, even when I walked in and saw the patient board almost completely full when I arrived at six pm. There were only two laboring patients and the rest were postpartum or post-operative. Hmm, I thought, maybe they will even send me home after my patient delivers, as I am not really trained to do Mother/Baby work... It's almost as if I jinxed myself with overly wishful thinking.

By the time my patient delivered, there was only one room left on the floor for one very lucky person-- who ended up being just that. She came in at about five centimeters, planning an unmedicated delivery for her fourth baby. She was doing awesome-- chatty and upbeat even after her Certified Nurse Midwife broke her water, and man, that was a LOT of water, more than even the midwife had ever seen, she said. I, on the other hand, was starting to get a headache and hoping she would go "complete" soon. Baby looked a little stressed on the monitor as well, and when the midwife came back to do a cervical check, that's when everything went downhill.

The midwife felt the pulsing umbilical cord coming down before the baby's head-- a big fat obstetrical emergency called prolapsed cord. The midwife went to sound the alarm while I was left to push the baby's head up off the cord, which by the way, is very difficult-- pushing baby UP when mom's whole body is working to push baby DOWN. Every nurse on the floor came rushing in to help. Get her in hands and knees position. Get the meds. Call the MD. Set up the OR. Wheel her back! Find baby's heart tones! ( They were in the sixties- normal for baby is at least 120). Prep her tummy! Get in that foley catheter! By this time you could actually see the umbilical cord sticking out. As soon as the mom was safely under general anesthesia (and it's lucky anesthesia was there already instead of being called in from home, which was mostly due to a paperwork glitch), they sliced her open. It was only one or two minutes from cut to delivery. Baby needed immediate resuscitative efforts, but to make a long story short, mom and baby made it.

It was frightening to say the least, but the real effort on my part came after the delivery. General anesthesia is a yucky thing and is only used in obstetrics in real emergencies when an epidural or spinal isn't already placed. I couldn't leave the room until mom was stable and I had to do a lot of nursing care that I've never done before on my own. Not only that, but of course that budding headache exploded and I felt sick to my stomach. All the nerves and the excitement and the fact that I had eaten a grand total of two sandwhiches and a bunch of grapes in the last 24 hours combined to make me feel utterly miserable. When a hematocrit was ordered "stat" I was left completely alone with a butterfly needle and a syringe. Poor mom was so swollen I couldn't even see or feel a vein. That was my lowest point. It was almost three am. I felt sick. I was tired. I was worried for my patient and her baby. And I'm lousy at blood draws! So I just prayed, and poked. And poked. And nothing. I put my head down and was hoping to simply pass out when lo and behold! There was blood in the tube! It was an absolute and complete miracle.

This story is already long and more details would simply be boring. Needless to say, it was an incredibly difficult night. However, there was certainly a lot of luck that St. Patrick's Day morning-- or perhaps better put, a lot of miracles.

Of Loquacity, Conifers, and Vacuum Cleaners

2009-02-28T15:10:00.005-07:00

I have discovered that it is rather difficult to keep up a blog, mostly because I don't believe I have many "post-worthy" moments worth publishing here on my own personal-public journal (there's an oxymoron for you). Some people of course, have the talent of making even ordinary experiences seem quite entertaining simply by they way they retell it. I don't really think I am one of those people, but it won't stop me from posting whenever I feel like doing it. It's funny-- I am actually quite a loquatious person, and in fact I just discovered that in the two years and two months in which I've had my cell phone, I've spent at least 589 hours, 45 minutes and 53 seconds talking on it. However, when it comes to writing, I often draw a blank. Every now and then, though, I try to come up with something.

Today's post came to me this morning while I was cleaning. Now, there are many things I was looking forward to when Lance and I got married. One of them was getting to spend all the holidays together -- especially Christmas, and how much fun it was going to be to decorate our own place in the traditional Yuletide fashion. I was also looking forward to all the fun household things we would get to buy, including my very first, very own vacuum cleaner. It isn't like I love vacuuming or anything, but there was something thrilling to me--perhaps because I have never owned one personally--in the very idea of choosing my own Staubsauger (German, literally "dirt sucker"). Lance and I finally decided on a fire-engine red Dirt Devil upright from the Home Depot.

So our first Christmas together was wonderful and our little apartment looked fabulously festive. After the holidays were over I was so sad to take down all the decorations and to denude our beautiful little Christmas pine tree whom we dubbed "Needles." However, that thoughtful Needles left us a lovely parting gift, namely, all of his needles all over the carpet. But never fear! My trusty dirt devil came to the rescue and I didn't really have a problem cleaning up. But Needles' gift was more far-reaching than any of us would have guessed. Even though there aren't any more needles in the carpet (although I will admit that Needles himself is still sitting outside our doorway), and we've already unloaded all the dust and gunk from our vacuum, every time I've turned on the vacuum cleaner since then the effervescent aroma of pine wafts through the apartment. Now there's a gift that keeps on giving!

Needles Then...
and Now
Our faithful Sentinel! Thanks, Needles.

S.A.D. No Longer

2009-02-16T17:09:00.006-07:00

I can still recall picking up a copy of the Daily Universe my sophomore year at BYU with a large color photograph of a few bitter, yet defiant looking students proclaiming February 14th as "S.A.D." Those of you who are not familiar with this acronym either 1.) Don't care a hoot about Valentine's Day (in which case you are probably male) 2.) Already have a significant other or 3.) Have never attended BYU and are therefore unfamiliar with its peculiar dating culture. Let me enlighten you: S.A.D. stands for "Singles Awareness Day," and anyone who has ever been lonely on the Day of Love knows that it can be very sad indeed. Although I will admit to being disappointed on February 14th, I have never been the embittered female/man hating/I'll-revel-in-my-singleness type, and instead for most of my life I have simply tried to tell myself that Valentine's Day is probably not all it's cracked up to be anyway.

This year, however, for the first time in my life, I had a Valentine-- and the day could hardly have been any better. In the morning we were able to attend the Provo Temple and then we braved the snow to buy groceries for our special dinner. In the afternoon we finally got around to returning some Christmas gifts at the Mall and then headed over to the movie theater to watch the new 3-D stop motion movie, Coraline. Boy, 3-D movies sure have come a long way. Gone are the old paper glasses with the cellophane red and green lenses. We were handed what looked like sunglasses in their very own individually wrapped, sanitary plastic bags. The movie itself had a very interesting plot, and if anyone tries to tell you it's creepy-- believe them! But we enjoyed it nevertheless.

The credit for our dinner idea has to go to Mom and Dad, who gave us a fondue pot for Christmas. We made an oriental beef broth fondue and enjoyed cooking sirloin steak, shrimp, asparagus, yellow squash, broccoli, and baby bella mushrooms. And since there was only the two of us, we each got four forks--which makes the wait quite a bit shorter! We also had a couple homemade dipping sauces and cold bottled Apple Beer. To top it all off, we had homemade mint oreo milkshakes.

We exchanged small gifts and then fell asleep watching The Sword in the Stone. It was a wonderful day-- probably just because I got to spend it all with the person I love the most. So, in the end I have to say that Valentine's Day really is all it's cracked up to be once you've found that special someone, and I'm blessed to declare I'm S.A.D. no longer :)

What Do You Do?

2009-02-05T20:09:00.002-07:00

What do you do on your day off when you have no kids to take care of and your best friend is busy doing school work? If you are me, you

1. Do crossword puzzles.
2. Pretend to be creative by attempting to be crafty (right now it's Valentine cards).
3. Do more crossword puzzles.
4. Go to the grocery store-- but only if the cupboards are bare and you are really craving ice cream.
5. Did I mention crosswords?
6. Call Mom.

What you don't do:

1. Write wedding thank-you cards which are almost six months overdue.
2. Clean.
3. Get up early and stay awake.
4. Check your work email (they might remind you of some responsibility you don't want to know about. Be warned: this is a particularly dangerous one-- only for those who like living on the edge).
5. Iron.
6. Exercise.

I'm sure I've just made you all suberbly jealous of my day-off routine. How is it that I can be blessed with so much free time and yet still manage to avoid doing anything useful? Trust me, if I could share some of it with you, I would. Of course, I would also remind you that on the days I do work, I really do work. This week I almost had to deliver another baby. The doctor was mulling around the nurse's station and then ran into the wrong room when the baby's head was poking out. I'm afraid I'm going to get a bad reputation at Orem Community Hospital!

Oh, and did I mention I need a new crossword puzzle book?

Catch Me If You Can

2009-01-28T12:45:00.002-07:00

As anyone who is remotely familiar with the hospital labor/delivery scene will know, it's true that the nurse does practically everything until the MD shows up with the catcher's mitt. Well, a few weeks ago I got that "wonderful" experience that every L/D RN will have at least once (if not more) in her career. I got to catch the baby.

Now, I have delivered a baby once in nursing school... of course "Mom" was a mannequin with a mechanical track running down her back and baby was made of plastic. So, needless to say, it's nothing like the real thing. Real people are a lot... squishier, to name one difference. Anyway, it was a routine pitocin induction for a second time mom. Now, I may not have been working too long in this area, but I have learned a thing or two about when delivery time is close. With the epidural rate for women at IHC hospitals running about 90%, this can be a bit trickier. However, there are two good hints that baby is getting close: Mom complains of pressure (which the epidural cannot take away) and baby's heart beat slows down along with contractions and comes back up again.

Mom was as happy as a clam, epidural working perfectly. Admittedly it had been a while since her cervix had last been checked, but as baby looked great and there were no complaints of pressure, we just mosied along. When mom said she was feeling a tiny bit of back pain, and could she get a redose, I thought nothing of it. The anesthesiologist got her all nice and comfy and then I noticed that that baby just wouldn't stay on the monitor. I finally decided just to check the mom's cervix, thinking that we must be getting close. Apparently all that was holding that baby in was the fact that the mom's legs were closed, because as soon as I moved them, there was that bluish-black, gooey little head making his way into the wide world. As I am unfamiliar with the set up of these hospital rooms (therefore not knowing where the emergency button is) I had to run out to the nurses' station yelling, "She's crowning! She's crowning!"

I had just enough time to run back in and pull that baby out. The midwife got there pretty quickly after that... but all the fun was over by then! Fortunately both mom and baby were a-ok, and now I can say that I have delivered a baby with my own two hands. What a day!

It's Official

2009-01-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have officially joined the in-crowd-- or at least we have submitted our application. Thanks to my brother Tim, we now have our very own blog. From here on out we can publish the details of our very small lives to the world at large. Kind of scary, isn't it? I can't guarantee that it will always be worth the two minutes you'll spend browsing it while skimming through the lists of blogs linked to your own site, but at least it will give me something to do when I'm off work and Lance is busy studying. So, dear reader, press on if you dare!

A New Blog For Heather and Lance!

2009-01-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

You can delete this post as soon as you want. Just wanted you to get a feel for the blog. You can ask Cindy where she got her template if you don't like this one.