6 month update...

So since it has been about 6 months since my last post, I figured I should probably update this, especially with all that has happened. Our daughter, Kiara Marie Rodriguez, was born April 26, 2010 at 12:49 PM. She was 6 lb 11 oz, 19 inches long. I was having pretty bad contractions every 3-4 minutes Saturday night/Sunday morning, so we went into Labor and Delivery to have me checked. Lo and behold, nothing. I was not dilating at all so they sent me home. The contractions continued the rest of the day, every 3-4 minutes all through Sunday night, and finally Monday morning about 8 we decided to go in again. It was a good thing too, because by the time I got there I was dilated to a 4. They got me the epidural (which was amazing, especially because it let me get a little rest after 48 hours without sleep) and a little over an hour after getting the epidural I had dilated to a 10 and was ready to push. Less than an hour after that my baby was here! So all in all, it was a pretty easy labor. My mom and Missy came down to help us out with the baby, and it was so great having them here. We stayed in the hospital overnight, then I convinced my doctor to let me go home. It was really frustrating trying to rest and recover when every 15 minutes a new staff member came in to check on me or talk to me about something, or just introduce themselves. Most of them I never saw again. My breaking point was when the phlebotomist came in and woke me up at 5 AM (only about half an hour after I finally got the baby to sleep after feeding her and fell asleep myself) to take my blood for some routine testing (hematocrit and hemoglobin). I don't know why it was necessary to do that at 5 AM, but I was so pissed that I wanted to leave right then. We finally got to leave around 3, and we went home where Jase and I finally got some uninterrupted sleep thanks to Mom and Missy taking care of the baby for us. They stayed until Saturday and we had a great time, then they headed back up to Colorado to meet my niece, Lily Michele Nimer, who was born April 30. Kiara has been growing well and doing great! Here are some pictures from the past month!

Kiara in the hospital the day after she was born

Coming home from the hospital

Relaxing with Aunt Missy

Kiara with Grandma



Kiara in her swing. She loves that thing!

Spending time with Turbo!

Kiara and Lily

School has been going pretty well, I have passed all of my classes to this point and am on track to pass my last class of the year, Host Defense, which is over a week from tomorrow. Then we're free for the summer! We are going to Colorado after my last test, where we'll bless the baby and pick up Kriton, who is flying over with my Grandma and Aunt Val. After that it's back to Lubbock where I'll be doing some shifts in the ER here as a preceptorship, then we're off to Lake Powell for 2 weeks before school starts up again. It should be a great summer!