Warning: Reader Discretion Is Advised! hehe

CAUTION: BIRTH STORY & THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO IT (may be TMI for some....)

-July 11th, 2011-

5:00 am: Tanner wakes up for work just like any other day and I get up with him to go to the bathroom. I laid back down and I felt something wet "down there". So, I got back up and tried going to the bathroom again thinking maybe I didn't completely empty my bladder (oh, the joys of pregnancy!).....but nothing. So I wiped (hey, I said reader discretion advised..haha) and it was clear but had a pink tint to it. I thought this was weird so I texted my sister and told her the scenario. She was telling me what to do and we were trying to figure out if my water broke. I laid back down and felt another trickle of something. So I got up and walked to the bathroom. Liquid trickled down my leg. .I was still feeling fine and told Tanner to go ahead and go to work.
6:00 am: Almost instantly after he had left, the contractions became really intense. I was trying to find ways to make myself comfortable but nothing was working. I started feeling nauseous so I grabbed my phone and walked to the bathroom.
6:40 am: I was leaning over the toilet as I called Tanner, crying, and all I said was, "You need to come home," and I hung up. I immediately threw up and amniotic fluid gushed everywhere. Yup, my water HAD broken.  Tanner got home and quickly packed the last minute items for the hospital bag and called the hospital for me. The ten minute car ride to the hospital seemed like an eternity and I texted my family and told them I was heading to the hospital. I laugh now because my dad texted back and said, "is it for real?". I told them I would update them once I got admitted.
7:30 am: We got to the hospital and Tanner went in to the ER waiting room to get a wheelchair to come get me. Even though it took me a while, being my stubborn self, I started walking there anyway. Once again we were in the triage. I had told the nurse that my water had broken but she looked at me funny and doubted me because I wasn't wearing a pad to catch the amniotic fluid. She said they had to run a test to see if my water broke. She inserted the speculum and almost wasn't going to swab and said "it's looking pretty dry". That's when another big gush came out and she said, "well I was wrong. you definitely ruptured". I was then 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. She told me they were going to admit me and move me into a delivery room and handed me a hospital gown, robe, mesh underwear and a pad. As I was unfolding the pad, I noticed how INCREDIBLY HUGE it was. Tanner and I looked at each other and we started laughing. Yup, more and more amniotic fluid was gushing with every laugh.
*At this point I lost track of time...*
When I got to my birthing room, my nurse Diane (who I absolutely love love LOVED!) was going over a few things with me. The midwife on call came in to talk to me and she said I was doing really well with my contractions and asked if I had done hypnobirthing because of my breathing techniques. I had told them I was thinking I wanted an epideral. The midwife said she thought I didn't need one and suggested a hot bath and fentanyl. Anywho, we decided to test out the whirlpool tub to see if that would help manage the pain. NOPE. At this point, my sister & labor coach Steph  arrived. I told her the bath wasn't helping so she went and told my nurse I really wanted an epideral. So I get out of the whirlpool and into the hospital bed. I was 6 cm dilated.
The contractions were getting more and more intense with each one. I was trying my hardest and really focusing on my breathing but it wasn't helping. The nurse had me watch a video about epiderals and ordered one for me. I started getting really, really nervous. I have never had a problem with needles but this was really getting to me. I started shaking, not sure if it was because of the pain or because I was nervous. The anesthesiologist came in and she was getting things prepped. I was shaking really bad at this point and of course had to get a contraction right as she was about to insert the needle. Somehow I managed to sit still enough. It took about 15 minutes for the epideral to kick in and I was literally. in. HEAVEN! Thank god for meds! haha.

My nurse checked me again and I was 8 cm dilated. Meanwhile, the rest of the family was showing up throughout the morning and everyone was in attendance.
My nurse and midwife decided they would let my body do all the "hard work" on its own and let the baby labor down.

I

The next couple of hours were actually fun. It was me, Tanner, my mom, dad, 3 sisters, Tanner's mom and aunt. They were all telling stories and we were all laughing and having a good time. Everyone was shuffled out of the room to check my progress. I was complete! YAY!!! Now it was only a matter of time before I felt the urge to push.
Well, the epideral was working so well that I never got that urge. The nurse decided to check me again. She was about to and said, "I see hair!" Tanner went and looked. I was really excited to hear that he had hair (the excrutiating heartburn was worth it afterall...) and asked Tanner, "How much?" and he replied, "Enough!".
2:00 pm: It was time to push! 22 minutes later and Kaelor was here! As he came out, so did the remaining amniotic fluid. Ok. It shot out! And all over Tanner's jeans.....hahahahahahaha. poor guy!
Tears of joy immediately filled my eyes. He was so gorgeous!! That was the happiest moment of my life.

Love at first sight

So happy.

I held him on my chest and we waited until his umbilical cord stopped pulsating for Tanner to cut it. He then latched on right away after that and started eating. What a blessing!! Then everybody got to hold him and admire him.

He weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz and was 20 in long.

~Kaelor Malik~

Fuzz head :)

My precious boy

 Kaelor,
I love everything about you. It still amazes me that you are mine. I could stare at you all day long. Your favorite place to be is in my arms and it melts my heart. I am so, so blessed to have you in my life. It seems as though you change, develop, and grow each and every day and with every new day, I love you more and more. I love you baby boy.
<3 Mommy

Is it time?

Friday: July 8th. I had my weekly checkup with my midwife. I was 38 weeks 2 days. I was 1.5 cm dilated and 75% effaced. I had my sister come with me to the appointment. After talking with her, she told me some different ways to induce labor naturally. She swept my membranes and told me to get a pedicure (accupressure induces labor). She said if that didn't help to go try accupuncture. After the appointment, I was feeling pretty good, just a little bit crampy. The day came and went and Tanner and I went on our evening walk. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I insisted on speedwalking, walking up hills, walking down hills...lots of walking!

Saturday: July 9th. I woke up feeling good. By this point I was getting about 5 hours of sleep a night since about 34 weeks because I just couldn't get comfortable. Thank you, heartburn/acid reflux. We went on our morning walk and I decided to try a few of the "tips" to induce labor.
 At around noon, contractions began. Coming consistently 3-4 minutes apart and never got any closer.Some of the tips I tried?  I ate buffalo chicken pizza, general chicken, and pineapple that day. And best of all, got a pedicure! We went walking at Falls Park, which was becoming our go-to spot.
 Later on that evening, Tanner, my sister, her husband, my nephews and I all went to church. The contractions were still coming 3-4 minutes apart. Even later that evening, we went downtown with the intentions of walking around and checking out Hot Harley Nights. I wasn't feeling all that great so we never got out of the car, haha.
At about 10:30 pm I finally gave in and called the hospital. The midwife on call wasn't picking up and it took us what seemed like a long time to get a hold of her. I talked to her on the phone and she said to go ahead and come to the emergency room and we will check things out.

Sunday: July 10th. They checked me and I was 2 cm dilated and still 75% effaced. I got all hooked up to the monitors and they observed my contractions for about 20 minutes. The nurse came in and said the baby was a little "sleepy". At that point I was pretty worried. She brought me some orange juice and saltine crackers. That instantly worked and got him moving! They told me to go walk the halls for an hour, come back to my room and they would check to see if I made any progress. Well, an hour came and went at I was at the same point I was when I had left. After a 3 hour hospital stay I was sent home.
I was feeling pretty bummed. I was getting so anxious and impatiently waiting for my son to arrive. When I left the hospital, the midwife told me that since this was my first baby, I could be in the early stages for a few days or even weeks. That evening I remember texting my family and telling them that I didn't expect to have the baby anytime soon and had given up hope of meeting him within the next couple of days (I was pretty excited to get to finally see the lil guy and when I was sent home from the hospital, I was feeling discouraged.)

This mama was not-so-patiently waiting!

Take 2

31w 5d

"39 weeks". 2 days old

"40 weeks" 9 days old

A picture is worth a thousand words...

The intelligender was correct!

Our little peanut @ 14w5d. We found it we were having a BOY!
1 week after our ultrasound, we decided we were naming him Kaelor Malik.

19w5d. Notice how he is all curled up, with his feet right above his head :)

27w5d. Hiding behind his arms.



So..I cheated. I summed up most of my pregnancy using pictures!

Fast forward.

Fast forward 1 year and 9 months later. November 16, 2010.
I had been feeling "weird" lately. I just knew that I was pregnant. I had bought a pregnancy test a few days prior but held off on actually taking it. Why? Because I just knew.
So...I finally gave in and decided to take it on that Tuesday night. Tanner came into the bathroom with me. I was feeling very anxious and nervous at the same time. Before I could even set the pregnancy test on the counter, the vertical line showed up. Shortly after, the horizontal line.

For the longest time, I thought the dark dark pink line was the control line (I didn't even bother to read the helpful hint to the right). The "pregnant line" showed up before the control line did. Holy hormones! ha. I was 4 weeks 6 days pregnant.



Initially, I didn't know what to think. I immediately started crying and hugged Tanner. We didn't say much of anything right away. We didn't have to. We both knew exactly what each other was thinking.

I texted (lame, right?) my dad, mom and sisters first. I was really scared of my dad's reaction. I had the text written, but it took me a while to actually send it. I did a lot of explaining, crying, and wondering those next few minutes(hours?). Tanner called his mom at work and told her. Tanner called his brother Charlie and told him that he needed to talk, so they went for a drive. I continued texting my family while he was gone.

The next few days were really hard, not because I was sad, but because we decided to look at this point in our lives as the blessing that it was. I wanted to tell the whole world. .but we decided it would be our little secret for a while :) Ok. Maybe only 8 days, haha. This post starts the story to the name of my blog. Miracles don't wait.

I was just a few weeks pregnant when I had my senior pictures taken.

Mid October '10

From the beginning...

Tanner and I met the Summer of 2008. We had a mutual friend. This friend had to run in their house, leaving Tanner and I in the car alone. Tanner turns around and says,"What's your name?" "Karlin" "I have a nephew named Carlin!!" Lets just say, the rest of the day he talked my ear off, haha. The rest of that weekend we had bumped into each other a couple of other times.

We saw each other a couple of times and said "hi", but that was about it.

Fast forward to 2009.

I was over at another mutual friend's house because it was his birthday. We all went up to his sister's bar to celebrate(it was also Superbowl Sunday). Well, Tanner and I meet up again. We talked a little and decided to play pool. It was Tanner and I verse Colten and Tommy. We won!! Haha. Later on that evening, everyone was going home so I gave everyone a ride back.

Everyone else was dropped off and I thought I heard Tanner say to drop him off, too. So, we pull up to his house and I drive away. I get a phone call from a number I didn't recognize and I answered it. "Where did you go?!" "Umm.. I'm going home. Who is this?" "Tanner. I said I had to run inside and get something" "OHH!! I thought you wanted me to drop you off" "No. Come get me" "Well, I have to go home" "Well can you bring my sweater back?!Its in your van." So I brought him his sweater back and headed home.

Apparently he had gotten my number from his cousin, sneaky, right?! From that point on, he texted and called me NONSTOP!!!

We started hanging out together on the weekends, along with our mutual friends, Colten, Tommy, and Ariel.

After a month of getting to know each other...we made it official. <3 02/16/09 <3

Our first picture together - Feb '09