2014 in Review

It's time for the annual New Year quiz! If you'd like to reread the reviews from previous years, go to the 2013 review and the links to the other years can be found there. (I'm lazy, ha) I should get a cookie though, because I finally fixed the stupid formatting for this stupid entry! (if you look at the previous years you'll notice the font looks wonky compared to everything else on the blog)

1. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

In 2013 we started making a theme for the year rather than do resolutions and I think it's a tradition I'd like to keep. Last year's was "Let virtue garnish thy thought unceasingly". We haven't had a chance to come up with a new one for 2015, but trust me, we will. 

2. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Uh yeah, about as close as you can get! Me!

3. Did anyone close to you die?

The family has made it through another year unscathed. Though I just recently started watching Downton Abbey and in the last episode one of the characters was killed and I am still livid from it.

4. What countries did you visit?

Hawaii really needs to be considered its own country because it's kind of depressing to visit this gorgeous tropical island and then realize you're still in the Amurica.

5. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?

Anything that we were lacking this past year, we will have in 2015. We've bought a house and had a baby. Maybe I would like to develop some closer friendships. We came to GP knowing very few people, but we were able to make friends and now I would like to develop those friendships further. 

6. What dates from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory and why?

December 9th, Astrid's birthday! As well as April 1st, that's the day I found out I was pregnant.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I hate to be a broken record, but having a baby was a pretty big deal. I think another one though was that I had a real grown-up job this year working at the physiotherapy clinic.

8. What was your biggest failure?

I don't think I failed at anything this year. It was a good year.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Being pregnant wasn't always sunshine and butterflies. It kept me from playing rugby this year and that was a real bummer.

10. What was the best thing someone bought you?

A house. Joe is so good to me  

11. Where did most of your money go?

Into our house. And I'm sure only more of it will go there next year...

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Any time we went back home to visit. My convocation. Going to Hawaii. And having a baby.

13. What song will always remind you of 2014?

Let It Go. I was going to list other songs as well, but really, that one just blew up so much that nothing really came close.

14. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Happier.

b) fatter or skinnier? Fatter, sigh.

c) richer or poorer? Poorer. Thanks, house.

15. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Rugby. I missed it. And yoga. I started doing it late in the pregnancy game and I wish I'd gotten into it sooner.

16. What do you wish you'd done less of?

I regret nothing.

17. Did you fall in love in 2014?

Yes. I'd say I'm quite smitten with Astrid. She's pretty stinking cute.

18. What was your favourite TV program?

Fringe (still). Downton Abbey has been pretty good (I like watching it while I feed the baby)

19. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

No.  

20. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I am pretty lame, musically. I've been stuck on the same stuff for years. Maybe this year I will venture out and try to find new things.  

21. What was your favourite film of this year?

Joe and I just watched Hercules and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Ooh, and Xmen: Days of Future Past was pretty freaking amazing. I'd say that was my favourite.

22. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

I turned 24. Joe and I went out for dinner at a new place in town called the Sawmill and we were disappointed.

23. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Being more social.

24. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?

Flowy shirts and stretchy pants (in other words: maternity wear).

25. What kept you sane?

Work, Joe, facetime and yoga.

26. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Rhett and Link from Good Mythical Morning and the Fine Bros were my entertainment of choice this year.  

27. Who do you miss?

I still miss the friends and family I have back home, but it doesn't hurt so much when I think of them any more.

28. Who was the best new person you met?

Brandi and Oaklan were two awesome people we met while up in GP and we were quite sad when they moved away. We've been able to make new friends since they left, but no one loves Settlers as much as they do!

29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:

Don't slack off when it comes to living the gospel. Say your personal prayers and read your scriptures everyday.

The Birth Story

In case you haven't heard, I'm a mom now. Our little Astrid was born on Tuesday, December 9th at 6:19 pm. I've been asked if it feels weird being a mom, but the weird thing is that it doesn't feel weird. It feels totally natural. Of course, I do pinch myself every once in a while because I can't believe I'm in this stage of life already, but I am happy and that's all that matters.

Astrid certainly took her time coming into the world. Her due date was set for December 6th, but in true Polynesian style, she wasn't too concerned about being punctual.

My contractions started on Monday the 8th at 2:30 in the morning. It was exciting and scary to think that by the end of the day I'd have a baby and be a mom (that thought turned out to be wrong). The contractions continued all day long, but they never became consistent. I checked in with my doula periodically throughout the day and she reassured me that even though things were going slow, that it was okay and I should try to go about my day as normally as possible. So me and my mom ran some errands in the morning and then Joe and I went to sign some papers for our mortgage at noon (oh yeah, we bought a house. I'll have to share more on that later). I had a nap in the afternoon and after dinner I had a bath and watched Sleepless in Seattle by my doula's recommendation to enjoy my final hours before becoming a mom. When I went to bed that night, I had come to terms with the fact that baby wouldn't be arriving until the 9th and decided to try and get as much rest as possible to prepare for what lay ahead.

At 11:30 pm, my contrations started to pick up in intensity so that I couldn't lay in bed any more when they came. I got my doula to come over around 2 am and we all worked together as the contractions slowly started becoming stronger and more consistent. (we had Fringe playing in the background the entire time. Thank you, Netflix). Finally at 6:30 am, Tuesday morning, I decided to head over to the hospital and hopefully be admitted in. When they checked me at 7:00, I was 4 cm dilated, but they weren't sure they were going to let me stay so they put in a call to my doctor. Because I was positive for strep B, they ended up keeping me and took me to the my room where I would eventually deliver.

After 5 gruelling hours, my conctractions were 1-2 minutes apart and had become quite unbearable. I had gone in with the resolve to give birth without any drugs, and so far I hadn't had anything for pain. At noon they checked me again and rather than tell me I was 7 or 8 or even 9 cms dilated they told me I was STILL 4 cm. My heart sank when I heard this. I was so tired and in so much pain and I had a whole 6 centimeters to go still. At that point I didn't care about going without drugs. There was no way I could last until 10 cms and have any strength to push without getting any rest.

The first thing I asked for was the gas because I had heard such good things about it from other women. I got it, but all it did was make me feel dizzy. Instead of wasting time with the small stuff like morphine or fentanyl, I went straight for the epidural. When I was making my birth plan, getting an epidural was out of the question. I was going to labour without pain killers, but if things really sucked, maybe I'd take some morphine. Little did I know I would be in labour for 36 hours before I would be told I was still only dilated at 4 cms.

By 2 pm I was hooked up to the epidural and numb from the stomach down. I hated the feeling that my butt was asleep, but I loved the fact that I no longer felt like I was dying, so I didn't complain too much about my tingling bum. I scarfed down the lunch that had been waiting for me since 12:30 and then I promptly barfed it all back up. I had forgotten that I was still nauseous from the gas I'd had earlier. I had a granola bar instead and then fell asleep for several hours. I woke up after 5 pm because I had started feeling some contractions again. I told my nurse and I was allowed to have another shot of the good stuff.

Things continued to ramp up and I could really feel the pressure increasing in my abdomen. At 5:30 I felt like I had to take a huge poop. I told my nurse and she got things ready for me to start pushing. I started pushing at 5:50 and the nurse told me I'd probably be pushing for an hour before baby arrived. In my head I saw this as a challenge and so I pushed with all my might. I ended up pushing for 29 minutes and at 6:19 I became a mom.

The hospital policy was that I could only have two people in the delivery room with me when I had my baby. But I had Joe, my mom and my doula all with me. Joe and mom held my legs and my doula was at my head coaching me along. I was later told that the nurse let everyone stay because we made such a great team and she didn't want to break us up. It was really great to have such great support. I am so glad I got a doula because she was able to coach us all along and she helped Joe and my mom to know how best to help me. Even though the birth didn't go exactly as I would have liked, the experience was the best that it could be. And in the end I got a little girl like I wanted! 

And now, pictures!

Just a day old in the hospital

Bindi being Astrid's guard dog 

All smiles while getting burped!