AZ TIME (-ish)

1:30 am Water broke
2:00 am Checked in to Hospital
3:00 am Dilated to a 1
6:30 am Dilated to a 1 and a half, Kare is no longer amused with Curtis' jokes, EPIDURAL
7:45 am Dr. will come with Patocyn (sp?)
....

While Kare and Curtis are taking care of business at the hospital, I will be updating everyone. Hi! I'm Crissy, Kare's sister. My details may be a little sketchy... and spelling and grammar WILL be poor... but Kare can fix them later!

So Curtis had only had a couple hours of sleep when Kare started having contractions. Being the super nice wife that she is, she laid there quietly and timed her contractions for a while without waking him. She literally waited until the last minute to wake him. As soon as she thought it was time to go to the hospital, she leaned over and started rubbing his back and then GUSH!!!

Who's water actually breaks at home? Only on TV, right?

Well Kare rushed the bathroom and said, "Curtis! It's time! I think my water just broke! We need to call the doctor!"

Well Curtis, shook himself awake and then said, "What? I don;t know about water breaking. Where's the book." He then grabbed his book and started reading.

Kare was like, "Okay, I'LL call the doctor."

Kare said it was so cute that he was just sitting there reading while she got herself ready to go.

They got checked into the hospital and Kare was at a 1.

When I talked to them on the phone, Curtis was asking me what Charles did to make it easier for me when I was in labor. He also said he wishes they could just hook him up in a bed so that the pain could just transfer to him and he could bear it instead. So sweet. :)

He also went on about how tough Kare is. She's great with needles, spiders and bugs. She doesn't even ask Curtis to kill the huge spiders for her anymore. She just does it. So she's going to do great.

Curtis also keeps saying, "I'll be a father any minute. But Kare laughs when I say it will be any minute. I don;t know, maybe it will be in a few hours."

Kare says the contractions feel like her "monthly" cramps. Poor girl feels labor every month!

More to come...

Happy Fathers Day!

It is 1:58 am and Curtis and I are off to the hospital...wish us luck!

Movies in the park

With the baby possibly coming any day now, Curtis and I are trying to spend as much time together as possible. This has been made difficult by his work schedule, most of the time I only see him from about 7pm - 11pm, and most of that time is spent eating dinner and getting ready for work. However, we are trying our best to make the most of the time we do have. We are now on the 6th Harry Potter book and we manage to read a few chapters a day, whether it is while Curtis is eating, getting ready for work, or trying to fall asleep, we make sure we fit in a chapter or 2.

The weekends are great. Curtis gets off work around 10am on Saturday morning and goes back around 11pm Monday night. He probably doesn't get as much sleep as he should during the weekend because if he were to stay on the sleep/wake schedule that he has during the week he would be asleep all day and up all night.

This past weekend Curtis and I went out to the park by our house for "movies in the park", something we have been wanting to do for the past month. Our plans to go in the past had been thwarted once by Stake Conference and another time by a movie that we weren't too interested in seeing. Fortunately, the movie on Saturday was Iron Man, which Curtis and I were both excited about. Our plans, however, were nearly ruined again, this time by the weather. All day long there were outbursts of heavy rain and thunder, which would only last a few minutes before the sun came shining through again. (Curtis and I would go and sit out on our patio to listen to the rain, but most of the time it would end as soon as we got out there.) As the evening came the rain seemed to subside so the show was able to go on. There was a great turnout at the park, lots of families complete with a bunch of screaming children and teenyboppers who were more interested in finding a cute boy than actually watching the movie. However, despite the excess noise, we were still able to enjoy the movie. They even provide free popcorn and soda! There was only one minor attempt to ruin our night when it started sprinkling mildly about half way through the movie, however, Mother Nature decided to be kind. It was, overall, a great night (despite all the ants that decided to come home with us in our cooler).

On Monday Curtis and I tried to think of things to do that we wouldn't be able to do once the baby is here (without having to pay for a babysitter). However, we were unable to come up with anything! We considered going to the movies, but there aren't really any movies out that we were interested in spending the money on. Plus, the seats in the theater are ridiculously uncomfortable and we doubted that I would be able to sit in them for 2 hours when I have a hard enough time getting comfortable as it is. We also talked about how now would be a good time to go to the temple, but with the temple 3 hours away that wasn't going to happen either (not when I am almost 39 weeks pregnant anyway). We finally ended up going out to eat and then coming home to watch a movie. Two things that can be done even with a baby...Oh well.

In other news: I had my doctor's appointment today and everything is looking good, which is always a relief to hear. My doctor also informed me that about 70% of his patients actually deliver on their due date! I sure wouldn't mind if Nathan decided to wait and come on his due date (the 24th) because by then Alli will be here! However, I hope that he doesn't decide to wait too much longer. My doctor said that they don't let their patients go more than a week past their due date. After hearing this I felt, for the first time, that the end was in sight! No matter what happens, Nathan will be here by July!

We Took a Vacation...

So Karalee and I never get out. We just enjoy one another's company so much that we simply gaze into each other's eyes for entertainment--and we don't have to go anywhere to do that! Well, we also read and plan for parenting as of late. But we actually managed to get out last Saturday.

There is this place in the area that I work that offers a very panoramic view of the rest of the area where I work. I thought Karalee might enjoy the view, and at least this would provide us an excuse to get out of the house.

So I learned Saturday that much of what Karalee sees on any road is pure peril, but the perils multiply exponentially (in her mind) by narrow dirt roads that switch back up the side of a mountain and can be traversed by cars in which she finds herself. Well, we had to travel up just such a road, in just such a car, carrying just such a Karalee in order to arrive to our destination in the Coronado National forest at the base of the Huachuca Mountains--a half-mile north of the Mexican border and about 18 miles southwest of our home.

We made it--alive--and managed to eat a little picnic, but in the car because it was quite windy and cold that day. We also managed to snap a few photos of the view and of ourselves before we narrowly (pun intended) escaped the mountain and its treacherous roads.

Karalee thinks she looks very "big" here, but I choose to say she looks very cute! And, the last photo of the stunning sunset.

P.S. This area is also where a lot of illegal human smuggling occurs.

Nesting???

I have heard of women nesting towards the end of their pregnancy, and I am thinking that my charades of today might fit into that category. I woke up this morning at about 5:30am because for some reason all I could think about was how dirty my house was (which is strange because it really wasn't dirty at all...). The thoughts of everything that I had to clean consumed me until I couldn't take it anymore. So when Curtis got up at 5:30 I decided that I should get up too. I then proceeded to straighten up the house, do the laundry, iron Curtis' uniforms, make Curtis breakfast and pack his lunch, clean out the fridge, make jell-o (I have no idea why...), scrub the kitchen, clean the bathrooms, and straighten my hair...all before 7:30... now what I am I going to do with the rest of the day??

Update

Well, I haven't written in a while because I'm afraid that my life is just plain boring. However, I figured, boring or not, I should update you all on what I've been up to.

Most importantly, the baby has not come yet. He is due in 3 weeks, and for some reason I am getting the feeling that he will come sooner than that. Maybe it is just all the excitement building up. As excited as I am about meeting my new little one, I used to absolutely dread the idea of giving birth. You see, I am a pretty big wuss when it comes to things like pain...and needles. Lately, however, I am not nervous at all. The only thing that worries me is something going wrong. Other than that I feel no fear or dread, just pure excitement! I figured that towards the end of my pregnancy I would be OK with the idea of giving birth simply because I would want this baby out of me, but that is not the case at all. Sure I am uncomfortable at times, but for the most part I feel great! I think I don't dread the idea of giving birth anymore because I am overcome with the excitement of finally getting to hold my little boy, and I am ready to do whatever I have to so that I can finally hold him! And, strangely enough, I am somewhat excited to go through the whole experience. I don't know why, perhaps just out of curiosity. I might be singing a different tune when the contractions come though...we'll see.

One thing has definitely changed since my last post. I have "dropped". I think I noticed it the day it happened (about a week ago). I can breathe again and I am no longer getting kicked in the ribs! My belly is very noticeably different. Curtis can even tell that there is a big difference, which is saying something because he is not the most observant kid sometimes. It is strange because my belly seems smaller, like I have gone backwards in time. I don't feel as big, and I don't look as big (notice I said "as big"...I am still huge). I have a bit more pressure on my hips...but it is not too bad. This is really exciting for me because it is just proof that the baby really is coming! I had to immediately look up what exactly "dropping" meant in terms of how much longer until the baby comes, and the general conclusion I came to was about 2-4 weeks for first timers. I noticed that I dropped when I was exactly 36 weeks...so that seems about right.

Curtis and I are starting to make arrangements for when the baby comes. I am planning on packing our hospital bag today, and I have the phone number to his work and the protocol for how to get ahold of him on a post-it note by the phone. Curtis carpools to work, so we are not quite sure what to do about that. It would be pretty inconvenient for the baby to come while Curtis is at work with no car. I suppose he should start driving himself, but we save so much money on gas while he is carpooling. Perhaps in a week or two he will have to drive himself. Hopefully though the baby will be nice and choose to come when Curtis is home.

In the meantime while waiting for baby I have been reading a lot and Curtis and I signed up for Netflix. We have only had the subscription for 2 weeks and we have already rented 6 DVDs and returned them. Of the 6 DVDs 4 of them were for me, I am watching "House" starting with season 1! We also rented The Prestige, which Curtis and I loved, and Flyboys, which was mildly entertaining. I finished all of my "pregnancy" books (which is good on account of I am not going to be pregnant much longer), and a couple of my "what to do with a new baby" books. I am about to start "What to Expect the First Year" but I think that one will take a while. I also have been reading Harlan Coben's "Myron Bolitar Series" which Alli lent to me. I finished the last one that I borrowed from her and had to run to the library to get more! The library is so close to our house, I have a feeling that I will be making plenty of trips there. Curtis and I are also reading Harry Potter, and we are getting close to finishing the 5th book.

These past few weeks Curtis has been on the midnight shift. At first I thought this shift was great! The plan was to go to sleep soon after he left at 11:00 pm, and wake up when he got home around 9:30 am. However, I found myself staying up reading until the wee hours of the morning (about 3 or 4 am) and then sleeping in until about noon or 1:00. I am not a fan of this because by the time I get up and get going, most of the day has passed me by. As time went on I started staying up later and later and found that I wasn't going to bed until after the sun came up! So this week I figured that I ought to change my sleeping habits. Fortunately, I had not yet gone to the library to pick up the next Harlan Coben book, so I had nothing to read at night. I forced myself to go to sleep around midnight last night and wake up at 8am. It is now 1:00 and I have accomplished so much! Curtis, however, just went to bed around noon, so I probably won't see him until about 8:00 tonight. I thought that because I would be sleeping while he was at work that I wouldn't be so lonely. But even now, although he is just down the hall sleeping, I miss him like crazy! Unfortunately for him I am weak, and occasionally will go into the bedroom and wake him up so that I can talk to him. For this reason I am pretty sure he is not a fan of the midnight shift.

Curtis has been so good about helping out around the house. He spends most of his day off doing all the scrubbing and deep cleaning that I have given up on trying to do. I feel bad that he does so much while I am sitting around the house all day, but on the days that I decide to try to do all the cleaning myself I end up in all sorts of pain. He never complains though, he is just amazing like that! And I suppose I can make it up to him once I am no longer pregnant.

So that's it. I am just killing time waiting for Nathan to decide he is ready to join the family. I am ready for him whenever he chooses to come. I like the idea of him coming soon because I am so excited to meet him, but I will be just as happy if he decides to hang out for a while and not come until my due date, at least then I will have family and friends here to help out. It is crazy to think that my next post could be the announcement of Nathan's birth...but maybe something exciting will happen before that.