jordan's story

Well, our baby girl did not want to wait until March 4 to be born! I had been feeling pretty uncomfortable the last few weeks of pregnancy. My feet were very swollen. I was having more and more Braxton Hicks contractions, and I felt like the skin on my stomach was going to split open. I truly felt like I couldn’t get any bigger. I was supposed to work until February 26, but my boss jokingly said on Friday, February 5 when I was having a contraction that this better not be my last day. I laughed it off. Little did I know…

Without going into too much detail, the next morning I started having early labor symptoms. I shrugged it off at first thinking it was just a sign labor would be coming in the next month. When I consulted my “What to Expect” book, it said the symptoms I was having meant the baby could be born in 24 – 48 hours. Then I began to panic. So that day Chip and I went into overdrive washing every outfit, blanket, and burp cloth, installing the car seat and packing our bags for the hospital. I felt fine most of the day and didn’t even have any contractions. By the end of the day, I wondered if it was just a false alarm. Sunday morning I woke up and was still experiencing the same symptoms, so we decided to call the hospital. The Labor & Delivery nurse said not to come in until my contractions were 5 minutes apart. At that point I wasn’t having any. Of course, I felt fine most of the day but then at 3:30 pm I began having contractions. They were pretty painful, but were 2 hours apart.

Monday morning I called my doctor and she had me come in. She checked me and I was already 2 – 3 cm dilated and 80 – 90% effaced. She agreed that I would be having this baby before March. I asked her when she thought I might go into labor and she said it could be a day or two or a week. All we could do was wait.

I was having contractions off and on for the next 2 days, but they never seemed to progress. Most days they even stopped. I was having constant lower back pain, which I know now was actually still labor pains.

That Wednesday afternoon I took a nap on the couch around 3 pm. About an hour later I was awoken by a contraction - a quite painful one! Before I could get off the couch to walk it off, I felt a pop and then a gush. My water had just broken! I knew that meant I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. Chip and I grabbed our bags and the car seat and headed out. Within 5 minutes I was already having contractions, luckily not very painful. They were less than 5 minutes apart within another 5-8 minutes. Once I got to the hospital I was taken by wheelchair to labor and delivery.

The nurse hooked me up to the fetal heart & contraction monitor. My contractions started getting really intense and my back was killing me! Plus the contractions were "coupling" and coming in waves of two back to back. Not fun! The nurse checked me and I was already 6 cm dilated in just a few minutes. The nurse said I’d be having this baby tonight. I knew my mother would be excited – she liked the idea of the baby being born on 2/10/2010. My doctor was called in and she checked me out and said this little girl was down very low and that was why I was having such painful back labor. It wasn't much longer until I wanted an epidural.

I debated getting one since I didn’t know how bad the pain of child birth would be. Chip and I did take a Prepared Child Birth (Lamaze) Class where I learned breathing techniques I used up until it got to be too painful for me. In the end I am glad I got the epidural, it made things much more bearable. After I got it the nurse showed me the at least 4 inch needle that was stuck into my back - at that point I didn't care, I felt so much more comfortable. The only bad thing was that the epidural made my blood pressure drop suddenly (a potential side effect that I was concerned about since I have low blood pressure to begin with) which in turn made the baby's heart rate drop. I was put on oxygen and laid on my side and my pressure and the baby’s heart rate came back up in a few minutes.

By 8:45 pm (4 hours later) I was already 9+ cm dilated and by 9:15 pm I was fully dilated. I started pushing at 9:30 pm and the baby was born at 10:21 pm. When the baby's head came out the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. I had to stop pushing while the doctor tried to get some slack on the cord to loosen it (she couldn't), tried to get it off the baby's head (couldn't, it was too tight), and then she clamped it and cut it. A few seconds later the baby was out. We decided to name her Jordan Elizabeth.

Jordan was laid on my chest for just a second. She was so blue and looked like she wasn't moving. The nurses took her immediately to the warmer and began to clean her and suck out her nostrils and throat. I asked if she was breathing because she didn't cry nor did she seem to move much. It seemed like a long time, but in reality was a few seconds, before I heard Jordan let out a cry and squirm around. She had a much more normal coloring to her by then. The nurses noted she seemed to struggle a little when she was breathing and they thought they heard fluid in her lungs, so she was immediately taken to the NICU. It would be 3 hours before I saw her again. Chip went with Jordan when they took her off to be examined. He would take pictures of her and then come back to the delivery room I was in and let me see them on the viewfinder. He also told me she was 6 lbs 4 oz and 20 ¾” in long. Not too bad for being born 3 weeks early.

At 1:30 am I was wheeled into the nursery to see her. She looked so much better! The nurse said she was breathing fine now and that she coughed out most of the fluid in her lungs. All her tests came back good and she was in good health. We stayed and watched as the nurse gave her first bath. I noticed how much hair Jordan had! There must be some truth to the old wives’ tale about heartburn during pregnancy! After they put her in the warmer to get her temperature back up, she was brought to me and Chip at 3:30 am and we got to hold her for the first time. She was so tiny, but so adorable! We are truly blessed that Jordan had a safe and healthy birth and that my health throughout this pregnancy was good as well.

2009 - a year of change

Here I sit on this New Year's Eve thinking about all the things that happened in 2009. I remember Chip and I driving home from my parent's house in Kansas City last January and talking about what we thought and wanted to happen in 2009.

To borrow a much overused phrase from our then president-elect, I wanted 2009 to be a year of "change". I had a few specifics in mind when I made this statement - some happened, some didn't. Some were good, some were not so good, some where expected, some not-so-much...overall I'm grateful for what this year brought and what lies ahead in 2010. Here are a few of the highlights...

A change in church
2009 started off with Chip and I feeling led to look for a new church. After five + years at our previous church, we felt that we were looking for something that would give us more of an opportunity to feel more involved and invested in not only the church and its members, but the community as well. We visited over 5 churches in the local area, but didn't feel like any of them were for us. It was getting to be depressing. I happened to be reading the newspaper at work one Monday and came across an article about a program called Kidstuff being put on by a church called Beachside Community Church. Why I read that article I have no idea, we didn't have any kids. Anyways, that article led me to do some research into that church. I liked what I read, so I mentioned it to Chip.

Chip did some research into the church as well and was interested in meeting with the pastor. We met up with Shaun, the church's pastor, at the Dairy Queen in Niceville. Chip came prepared with a typed up list of questions to ask him (what can I say, I am married to an engineer!) and Shaun answered everyone of them. We felt good about this new church and the goals and direction they were headed in, but it still took us a few more months to commit. The church didn't start having Sunday services until the end of August (which was 5 months away at the time), so it was hard to commit to something we couldn't "see" in action for a few months.

In the end, we did start serving in and attending the church and have really enjoyed all the new people and friends we have made, getting to be a part of starting up a new church (and all the hard work that it entails), and feeling like we are where we are supposed to be now.

A change in travel (a dream realized)
2009 also brought us many new and exciting travel adventures. Our first trip was to Albuquerque, NM in March. Chip had a conference out there so I decided to join him and explore the Southwest. Highlights included a hot air balloon ride, a side-trip to Santa Fe, and a death-defying tram trip up to Sandia Mountain.

Two days before I joined Chip in ABQ, he called to say we were a go to be on the Rick Steve's London & Paris trip May 24 - June 1. I cried when he told me that! I have dreamt of going to Paris for as long as I can remember - and now I was getting to go!!! I've blogged about this trip before, so I'll spare a regurgitation, but this trip was amazing and one I will never forget. All of the fabulous history, artwork, landmarks, and pastries and I saw and ate will linger with me for the rest of my life. I can't wait to go on another international trip - hopefully to Italy in 2011 ;)

2009 also took me to Austin, TX to visit my good friend Bethany. I had a wonderful time visiting her, her husband Ben, and their daughter Violet and thoroughly enjoyed Bethany and my "girls day out" which included hiking, pedicures, creme brulee french toast & frozen peach Bellini's, and a movie. Also worth mentioning was our lunch earlier in the week at Flip Happy Crepes - it was delicious and still fresh in my mind :)

I also went to Kansas City in August to visit my family and to belatedly celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. I got to give them both a fun surprise - the news they were going to be grandparents - disguised as a birthday gift. I'll always remember the look of shock, surprise, and then excitement on their faces once they realized what they were looking at (a framed ultrasound picture). I'll also remember my sister's reaction - priceless :)

A change in family
2009 also brought us the exciting news that our family would be growing by one, though not until March 4, 2010. We found out I was pregnant in late June. I was happy, but still in shock. Don't get me wrong, this was planned - as much as you can I suppose, but still it was a surprise when you realize that it is actually going to happen.

To make things even more fun, I found out Bethany was pregnant too when she called me to wish me a happy birthday...yay!! It has been fun to go through this with her and get to call or email her and talk about all the strange and new things we're going through. Then a few months later our other friends Austin and Ashley called to say they were pregnant, too. A baby explosion! It is fun to all go through this together.

When I was 12 weeks along we found out we were having a girl. We have a name, but have chosen not to reveal it until she is born. Not so much so we can pull a "I know something you don't know" type thing, we just want to make sure we are set on this name before people start calling her this and also because we don't want to know people's opinions of the name. We know someone will always not like it. Too bad, go have a child of your own and name it whatever you want :)

We are just 9 weeks away, give or take, from our little girl coming into this world. We're eager to meet her and begin this new phase of our lives. Her room is just about ready for her - whether Chip and I are is yet to be seen :)

So, what statement will I make about 2010 and my hopes for it...I don't really know. 2009 did bring some change with it, which I tend to enjoy and sometimes welcome. I'm not one for "routine". I welcome whatever 2010 brings as a chance to learn and grown, to have fun and make new memories. Life isn't always easy, nor the things that happen always enjoyable or predictable. But one thing I have learned this year is that those struggles and challenges remind me we aren't in control and can't control things. These things do, however, serve to make us stronger, develop our character, and teach us to be grateful for the blessings we do have instead of focusing on what we don't have.

As a close to this long-winded post, here is one of my favorite videos (and memories) from our trip to Paris. It is Chip and me eating some ice cream on a bridge in the Île de la Cité listening to an accordion player playing "Que Cera Cera".

Happy New Year to you all!

be my friend

Dear friends,

I don't condone caving in to peer pressure, but I have. Inadvertently, really. I have now joined Facebook. So, all you people out there that told me to do it need to now go on Facebook and add me as a friend, if I haven't sent you a request already.

That is all. Thank you. :)

my girl

Say hello to our little girl!


I had my 12.5 week check up a little over a week ago and the doctor told us she could tell us the gender if we wanted to know. Chip and I both wanted to know...I don't think I could have waited the whole 9 months. Anyways, she did the ultrasound and said we are having a girl! We were both very excited - especially since we won't have to deal with the whole Philip John Flater V name debacle. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she really is a she and that we won't get a surprise at the next appointment that it is really a boy. Which would be fine if it did happen, honestly. We'd be excited either way - just as long as they don't find a hidden twin in there :)

Now that I'm in the second trimester I am feeling much better! The queasiness has pretty much disappeared and food is starting to taste better again. Woohoo! I'm not craving anything yet, but at least sweets seem slightly appealing again. I ate chocolate the other day - the first time in months and it actually tasted good!

In other news, Chip and I are looking to buy a house in the area. No luck yet. We've seen probably close to 30 homes over the past few months, but I've only seen one I'd consider putting an offer on and it was way over our price range...of course! Most of the homes in this area are old, which I'm fine with as long as they are well maintained. Most aren't. Some don't even look like they've seen a fresh coat of paint since 1983. So who knows what will happen. Our lease doesn't run out until the end of April, but with the first time home buyer tax credit expiring the end of November and now a baby, we have a little more motivation. Though I finding it hard to "give up" and call Niceville my permanent home. Moving out of state doesn't seem like a option anytime soon. Oh well, I'll deal.

I'm so excited that this weekend marks the start of the college football season. I'm ready to park it on the couch and watch a few games. It somehow makes me think it is Fall even though the 90 degree temps outside remind me it clearly isn't. FYI to those of you with a Chick-fil-a, if you wear your team's shirt on Monday you can get a free chicken sandwich. Yes!! I love Chick-fil-a!!

Last weekend also marked the first Sunday service of our new church, Beachside Community Church. Chip and I have been involved with it the past 5 months. Up until this past Sunday we had only been meeting in small groups on Wednesday nights and occasional Saturdays for planning meetings. The first service went very well. Everything looked great, we had over 250 people attend, and over 70+ volunteers all make it happen. Hats off to the Shaun, Jim and the rest of the Beachside staff for their hours of hard work over the past 2 years to make this a reality. Chip and I are blessed to get to be a part of it and help invest our time and resources into helping start up this church. Our next service is September 13 at the Boys and Girls Club in FWB.

One last random story. We bought a new vacuum cleaner 2 weeks ago. Our old one wasn't broken, but it was a 10 year old hand-me-down that just wasn't cutting it. I know everyone says how great a Dyson is, but I refuse to spend that much on a vacuum. For that price someone should be doing the vacuuming for me. Anyways, we bought a Shark Navigator which is basically a Dyson but less than half the cost - plus if you buy it at Bed, Bath and Beyond and use the 20% off coupon it gets even cheaper. All I can say is wow, and eww! I couldn't believe how much dirt, dust, lint, pet hair, etc it sucked out of the rug!! It was really gross, but our rugs looked and felt clean. They even looked fluffier. So we are very pleased with it and recommend it to anyone in the market for a vacuum.

Ok, I'm done writing for now. I'm sure you all enjoyed the bit about the vacuum. I know, I'm a dork. Whatever! I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend watching football, relaxing, and eating free Chick-fil-a :)

Summer Recap

I'm still here! I know I've been really bad about updating my blog the past two months. After surviving the terrible 4-day work week with the incredibly long days, I just didn't want to come home and spend anymore time on a computer after being on one for 10 hours. Can you blame me?

Here's a quick update of our summer (I liked Emma's Facebook-style list so much, I am going to copy it):

July:

-4th of July weekend we had our 4th annual "Party till the Cows Come Home" at Ashley Henkel's parents house. Fun was had by all. No diving contest; it's just not the same without Emma plus no one wanted to compete with me. I did eat plenty of homemade chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Mmmm!

- Double Birthday Weekend - Austin and Ashley came later on in July to celebrate Austin's birthday and mine as well. We went to see the college's summer musical Beauty & the Beast, I got to be Queen for the Day (awesome!), and we went to the beach where I burnt the tops of my feet really bad. Not fun! I did get a steam mop for my birthday (yes, I wanted that). I really like it. It is a Shark Steam Pocket Mop.

August:

- Chip went to Monterrey, CA for the annual Bombs and Warheads Conference, yes there is such a thing.

- I went to Kansas City to visit my family and celebrate my dad's "milestone" birthday a little belated. (I'm a good daughter, I didn't even mention the age he turned). I was able to give him his birthday gift in person, which was the news he was going to be a grandfather. Yes, you read that right.

Introducing....

our wee one! I'm currently 11 weeks along and due March 8, 2010. I seem to be feeling better now. I had a few week bout of all-day sickness. As long as I had a little something on my stomach at all times, I was ok. I still don't want any sweets, which anyone who knows me is rare! I'm feeling a little less queasy now, so maybe I'm getting past the morning sickness part? Woohoo!

It was priceless to surprise my parents in-person with the news - especially since this will be their first grandchild. I made a print of this sonogram picture and put it in a frame that said "grandkids". I'll never forget the expression on my dad's face when he opened it! He just stared at it for a few seconds and then his eyes widened and he asked me "are you pregnant?!" My mother, who was on the other side of the room, said "WHAT!?" They both were speechless for a few seconds, a rare occurrence, but then were excited. Telling my sister the news went even better! We simply put the picture frame on a table along the wall in the Family Room. She walked by and it was liked her eyes just found it. Her first words were, "is this a joke?!" Once she realized it wasn't, she was speechless too and then had to sit down. I think she was a little shocked. I guess she still sees me as a kid, so it is weird a "kid" is having a baby. Need I remind her I just turned 29?

- We need to watch the Weather Channel a little more. Apparently there was a Tropical Depression/Storm something off the coast that was coming towards us yesterday. We figured it out after a call from my mother. It wasn't so bad until our power went out at midnight...until 4:30 am. And then as soon as it came back on it went out again for another 30 minutes. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep last night. No AC=no sleep for me. I'm going to bed early tonight! I also noticed when I came home for lunch today that a big old oak tree fell on our neighbor's townhouse. They are out of the country right now, and we're looking after their place. Luckily after going in the house and looking around, it missed breaking any windows and doesn't look to have caused any damage to their place. Phew!

Well, I think I have sufficiently covered the past few months. I'll try to be better about updating my blog a little more frequently. I probably will also cave at some point and setup a Facebook page. Apparently people might be looking for me on there? Whoopee, yet another thing for me to try to keep up with...and fail :)

they always come in threes

Thanks Mother for reminding me today that deaths usually come in threes. Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and now....Michael Jackson!! Say it isn't so!

I talked to my mother at lunch today to see if she had looked at the CD of pictures I had mailed to her of our London/Paris trip. We talked briefly about Farah Fawcett dying. She then mentioned, "You know, these things always happen in threes. David Carradine died a few weeks ago, so it has been too long. I don't know who'll be next, but I bet someone else will die soon."

Well, two hours later Michael Jackson dies. Seriously, did she jinx him?

I have always enjoyed his music. I mean, come on, who hasn't danced like a zombie to Thriller?? Who hasn't mimicked his moon walk, crotch grabs and high-pitched shrieking? Well, maybe not the crotch grabbing.

Michael, you'll be missed...for your music. Not all the alleged things that you did behind closed doors.

a tale of two cities

We're back from our trip to London and Paris - actually we got back last Monday night, I've just been too busy to update my blog. It's hard to whittle down 1800 pictures to 30 or so of the highlights.

Our trip started in London. After our 9 hour transatlantic flight (LOVE the tvs in the back of the headrests on the planes and the 200 free movies!!), we landed in London around 9 am (3 am US Central time). After making our way through immigration we got on the Tube and went off to our hotel. Around 3 pm we met up with our tour group. There were 26 other people in our group from all over the US. Our tour was through Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door. We highly recommend his tours - small group, they take care of everything, and you really learn about the history and culture of a place. Our guide's name was Martin. He was from Wales. Martin was great fun and had a fun personality. Chip and I ate dinner with him one night in London at an Italian restaurant called Ask. It was nice to get to know him more and talk about life in the United Kingdom and how their economy is going through a similar time like ours is.

I found London to be clean, friendly for the most part, and full of interesting history. It was weird to see all the cars driving on the left side of the road. After nearly getting run over by several taxis, I finally figured out which way to look when crossing the street.

Some of the sights we saw in London were: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, took a Thames River cruise, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the British Museum and Library. We saw the crown jewels, Henry VIII's armor, the Rosetta Stone, the Gutenberg Bible, pages from Leonardo da Vinci's journal (in his own handwriting), and many other neat things.

One of my favorite places to see was Westminster Abbey. You couldn't take any pictures inside, but I wish we could have. The architecture was amazing, especially the ceiling detail in the Henry the VII Chapel. One neat thing were all the people buried there: Sir Isaac Newton, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and George Fredrick Handel just to name a few. Like them or hate them, these people had an impact on our lives. The Abbey is also where every king and queen of England was crowned.

After a few days in London we took the Eurostar train to Paris. The train ride lasted about 2.5 hours and went under the English Channel. We arrived in Paris' Gare du Nord. I was SO excited to be there. From the train station our group got on a bus and headed out to our hotel. Along the way we saw the Moulin Rouge, the Champs Elysee, the Arc de Triomphe, and made a quick stop at the Trocadero to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower - one of many for Chip and I.

Paris was as wonderful as I hoped it be, though there was a lot of graffiti and pigeons everywhere. We found the people to be very nice and treated us well. It was fun to get to use my french. I was very proud of how hard Chip worked to learn key phrases and how he always tried to speak french when we went out.

Some sights we saw in Paris were the: Eiffel Tower, Seine River cruise, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Saint Chapelle, the Conciergerie (prison where Marie Antoinette was kept before going to the guillotine), countless museums including the Louvre, Montmatre, and several others. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Rodin's The Thinker, Whistler's Mother, several Van Gogh paintings, and Monet's Waterlilies. All were amazing! I still can't believe how many original paintings we saw! I was so happy when Chip finally agreed with me how cool it is to see the real painting as opposed to a print. You can see the brush strokes these famous artists made on the canvas as they painted, the globs of paint, and their signature. That is just the coolest thing to me!

Our last day in Paris we took the train out to the Palace of Versailles where King Louis the XIV, XV, and XVI lived. The size and opulence of the palace was still amazing even considering today's standards. Again, it was just the coolest thing to be in a place where so much history took place. We tour the palace and saw the famous Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed that ended WWI. We also saw Marie Antoinette's bedroom. Our audio guide said 19 princes and princesses were born in that room and 2 queens died there.

After 10 wonderful and action-packed days we boarded a plane for home. I always get vacation let-down when I have to come back to real life. This time was no different. At least I have the 1800 pictures and dvd of videos to remind me of what a wonderful time we had.

Ok, ok time for the pictures! Click here for about 30 of the pictures from our trip. I'd love to write more about my trip, but know most of you are falling asleep at the keyboard right now. Even my mother won't read it all, she'll just scroll down to the pictures so don't feel bad :) Enjoy!