Esther Keightley

Hi, this is Mike posting because Robyn hasn't been discharged from the hospital yet. So for those of you who don't want to hear the story (or want to hear it from the master storyteller, Robyn) just scroll down to the last paragraph for the summary and latest info.
Anyways, Thursday the 14 or so, we went in to the doctor and they said that she was dilated to a "1", meaning the baby could be here in about a week to 3 weeks. SO we got all excited. The next Thursday, the doctor said Robyn was still at a "1", so I got slightly disappointed because I needed "her" here (we hadn't decided on a name yet). But the next day, Robyn had regular contractions for 18 hours straight until her parents arrived from Singapore, when for whatever reason, the contractions calmed down to once ever 20 to 30 minutes. I was even slightly more disappointed because I was excited to go to the hospital and get this baby out even though it was really more up to the baby and Robyn than my school schedule (I have tests all next week, so that would have been difficult to work through).
Anyways, the contractions stopped Saturday morning, and so we had a nice day with Mom and Papa Sampson (Robyn's parents). At 4AM Sunday morning, the contractions started up again every 30 minutes or so, only Robyn said they were more intense. By 7AM they were every 8 or 9 minutes apart, and by 8AM Robyn only had 3 minute breaks in between contractions that lasted 2 minutes. We called the hospital at 9AM, and they saw on file that Robyn was only at a "1" two days before, so the nurse told us to have her drink water and take a hot shower and it should stop the contractions if they were not the real thing.
Robyn couldn't hold down water and showered but was still having the contractions, so to distract her, I grabbed a few of Robyn's old favorite Bible cartoons (that we have from working for the company that made them) that she liked as a kid, and one of them was Esther. Watching that calmed us all down and we felt good about that name.
We called back the hospital at about 10:30 or so, and they said come in, so we showed up at 11:00, finally checked in at 11:20, got up to the delivery room by 11:30 or maybe even later because all the while Robyn had to stop, stand up and have a contraction every other minute. The nurse was asking Robyn, her mom, and I questions all through Robyn's contractions, and checked to see what Robyn was at after finishing her questions. By then, Robyn was at an "8," which means within anywhere from an hour to three or four, the baby will be there. We were all a little shocked that she was at an "8" (especially the nurse, who had me press the "emergency" button on the wall to get people in to help), and so a med student, a resident doctor, and a few other nurses rushed in. Robyn hadn't wanted an epidural, but when she heard she might have to be in that pain for 4 more hours, she said she wanted the epidural. They paged the anesthesiologist, but 2 contractions later after the nurse told Robyn not to push and she responded "I CAN'T not push!!!," the water broke and the head doctor and anesthesiologist had not made it yet. Two contractions later, the baby's head was showing, and some amazing pushes from Robyn and the baby came out, only crying intermittently when the nurses had to prod or poke her. So Robyn did it all without drugs!

So Esther Keightley was born 5 lbs 11.8 oz, 17 and 3/4 inches long at 12:37 PM Sunday, January 25, 2009 (not more than an hour after we made it to the delivery room). Both mom and baby are doing great!

Thanks everyone for your love and help throughout the pregnancy!
Enjoy the pics (and no, they are not in order) !

just kidding...

So after having contractions for 24 hours (until 7:30 this morning) the contractions stopped. I guess she decided it was too much work and decided to quit...
Anyways. So she's not coming immediately, but when our little girl decides to come we'll let you all know. :)

These better be real...

So at about 7:30 this morning I started having contractions. I've continued to have them every 4-7 minutes for the past 11 hours. I'm still not entirely sure that they're the "real thing" but after 11 hours of this, I certainly hope this is the real deal. I can still walk around and talk through the contractions and they're not getting any more intense or closer together. But their not getting easier either, which if this was the real deal I think it's about time to move on to the next phase of labor, thank you very much. I'm not terribly patient when it comes to these sort of things, can you tell? Do you think that will be a problem? he he he... Wish me luck. I'll need it if these are the real deal and I'll need it even more if these are false labor pains because that means I have to go through this all over again!
Any suggestions on what to do during the break between contractions? :)

Ok...

I'm ready for our daughter to get here. I know all you mothers remember when you got to this point. I'm just tired of being pregnant. I know, I know. There's nothing I can do to make it end any sooner, but I would sure appreciate it if our little princess decided to come sooner rather than later. :) I had my appointment with my midwife this morning and she said things are about the same as they were last week. Although she did say that our baby has lowered into position even more. So I get to have more lung capacity at the expense of my bladder. So according to my midwife, the baby probably won't decide to come before her due date. Oh well. This is all part of the experience of motherhood, right? It's part of the whole initiation process, right? Right...

As Promised...

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions that helped fuel the creative juices I needed in order to finish the assignment for my storytelling class. As promised, here's the link to the recording of the story, but don't expect much because it wasn't that great. Oh and, Sarah S., I hope you don't mind that I told a story about you... :) Love you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NKl9tVpymc

Chinese New Year/ Mike's birthday Party

Every year since before I can remember, my family has thrown a Chinese New Year party. When I moved off to college, I kept up the tradition. This year, Chinese New year is on Jan 26th, which is the week that our princess is due. I couldn't face the thought of not having a party, so we decided to have the party a bit early and to celebrate Mike's 25th birthday at the same time. :) We had an Asian potluck dinner, a white elephant gift exchange and some yummy dessert. I was fully prepared to make a cool cake for Mike's birthday, but he wanted mint brownies (click here for the recipe) and mint ice cream. We ate far too much yummy food and laughed the night away. Here's some pictures.

Here's some of the decorations we pulled out in honor of the festivities.Here's the spread of yummy food we had.
We took the legs off our table and set it on paint cans in order to achieve the traditional Asian table. I was mean and made everyone eat with chopsticks too. :) Too fun. :)
Here's some of the crew waiting for the white elephant gift exchange to start. It was too fun!
Brad and Kjirstin show of their prizes: a sweet warm hat and some books.
Scott and Necia ended up with lots of hot cocoa, some kit-kats and an incredibly annoying frog key chain.
Brian ended up with this fabulous pencil holder full of candy. It has a picture of one of our other friends and says "#1 Friend" on it. I can't remember what Julie got because she's not holding it in the picture...oops...
Ben (who actually served his mission in Thailand and even served in my parents branch for a while) and his wife Sarah made off with some Magic cards, a diaper, and a sweet hat.
Justin and Jessica made off with far too much candy, a random Mike creation of toothpicks and marshmallows and some home decor from Halloween and Christmas.
The pictures we got of Meghan and Brad (on the left) and Jordan and Jenny (in the middle) ended up fuzzy, so this picture will have to work for both of them. Meghan and Brad ended up with a Beatles CD, a homemade tape including some President Kimball and Space Ghost, and... ok I don't remember what Brad got. Jordan and Jenny ended up with the movies "Catch me if you can" and "Ball Above All".
All in all it was an incredibly fun night and my only regret is that our house isn't big enough to fit more people in it!

Happy Birthday Mike!!

January 19th, 1984 was a very significant day for me, although I didn't know it at the time. That was the day my amazingly wonderful hubby was born. So in honor of this splendid occasion, I am responding to the husband tag from my sister in law. Here's a few things about my sweetie.


1. Where did you meet?
We met in our singles ward. Mike actually doesn't remember the very first meeting that we had. We were both in the same group for a service project that our ward was doing. He remembers my beautiful red-headed roommate though. But he got over that when she stood up and he realized she was much taller than him. :) We really started getting to know each other when my girlfriends and I started hanging out with his apartment. The infamous toilet papering incident was probably the first night we had a conversation. It was after a ward talent show and I had noticed his apartment because they had done this skaters video and he had noticed me and my girlfriends because of the lipsync we did to Saturdays Warriors. We decided to toilet paper their apartment that night, but in the middle of doing so, another one of their roommates got home. We hid in the bushes and trees while he went inside. Just before he stepped in the door he reached down and picked something up off the ground. That's when Nutterface [name has been changed to protect the guilty] said "Oh no! He took my camera!" Obviously Nutterface was inexperienced in the toiletpapering arena. So we planned a way to get it back. We contrived some excuse for getting in the apartment and then ended up chatting with them forever. Finally Alicat asked for a tour of the apartment and while on said tour we saw the camera, Alicat slipped it into her pocket and we were home free. It was the start of a beautiful relationship between the Pretty Ones (my group of girlfriends) and Pirate's Cove (Mike's apartment).


2. How long did you date before you got married?
We dated 4 months & then we were engaged. 4 months later we were married.


3. How long have you been married?
Today is our 18 month anniversary.


4. What is your favorite feature of his?
His smile and his eyes both tie for first. They just melt my little heart.


5. What is your favorite quality of his?

He is always trying to become a better person. He's a total "Peter Priesthood" and that is incredibly attractive to me! :)


6. Does he have a nickname for you?
Smacey. I can't remember exactly how it came about, but it's something to do with me being his smiley face. I have so many nicknames for him but my two favorite are "toast" (something to do with the yeah toast song) and "Mike Wazowski" (from Monsters Inc.).

7. What is his favorite color?
Blue


8. What is his favorite food?
Lots and Lots of chocolate


9. What is his favorite sport?
He's not a huge sports guy, but he likes football and even played it in high school.

10. When and where was your first kiss?

It was January 10th and it was on my front porch. We had gone country swing dancing and he was bringing me home. He gave me a hug then looked at me and asked "Would you like me to give you a kiss?" I responded "I'd love that" and then he kissed me. He then jumped down the stairs and clicked his heels on his way home. I went inside my apartment and swooned onto the couch. Then I jumped up and texted all my girlfriends (who I knew were still country swing dancing) and said "HE KISSED ME!" They all came over that night and I told the story over and over again. His roommates actually found out a couple of weeks later through one of my girlfriends. I guess guys don't share that type of information like girls do. :) This year we celebrated our "kissaversary". :)

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Honestly just being together. We like to snuggle together and watch a movie or read a book. Oh, and we always love eating together. :)


12. Do you have any children?
1 Fairy Princess on her way.


13. Does he have a hidden talent?
Not very many people know that he's a skateboarder (he says he's a nerdy skateboarder, but I think it's cool!). He plays the piano, sings and he even did a musical in high school (Pirates of Penzance). Oh I know! He can sew! He had a job where he would sew little mesh bags that they would then place seeds in. I was sewing the other day and he sheepishly asked me if there was anything that maybe he could sew.
I had no idea he liked sewing! So he made three pillows and helped with the cutting and pinning of the curtains I just finished for the living room. I've got some other projects that I'm hoping he'll help with too. :)


14. How old is he?
25 as of tomorrow.

15. Who said "I love you" first?
He actually said "I love you...r silliness" first and then fessed up later and said that the "I love you" had just slipped out and he felt like he had to cover it up until he knew how I felt. I willingly said I love you back. :)

16. What is his favorite type of music?
He has eclectic taste. He likes the Aquabats and They Might Be Giants, but he also loves Celtic and classical music too. Oh and he has developed a taste for showtunes too. He's always dancing around the house singing "If I were a rich man!" :)

17. What do you admire the most about him?

Pretty much everything. He loves the gospel and it shines through in everything he does. His determination to do what's right is awe inspiring. He also doesn't let anything get him down. If he faces a setback, he embraces it, learned from it and keeps moving forward. I also admire his constant thirst for knowledge. Any sort of knowledge. Science, math, english, cooking, dancing, space. He wants to know about it all and he wants to acquire as many skills as possible. I love it. And he's going to be a great father! Today in nursery we had a couple of kids that none of us could comfort except for Mike. He is fabulous! I love ya babe!



I tag Meghan S., Amanda S., Lesley B., Julie B., and Marissa O.

Prego...

So the other day I called my brother because I had missed his call. He answered the phone and said "did you have the baby yet?" :) Just about everyone I have called during this past week has asked me some variation of that same question. "Are you in labor yet?" "Any labor pains yet?" "Has your water broken yet?" No, everyone. I'm not in labor yet and our little girl isn't here yet. :) She's still in my tummy (which is really good because it's been bitter cold here lately, and I would be going crazy trying to make sure she's warm enough). Last night I had been eating salted popcorn and thus drinking lots of water to wash it down. Just as we were lying down to go to sleep I said to Mike "I feel water logged." Mike sat up in bed and said "REALLY?! What do you need me to do?!" I rolled over and said "What? I said I feel water logged." He replied "Oh, I thought you said your water popped." :) he he he... Apparently it's on everyone's mind. So just to let everyone know, I'm doing well and our little princess is not here yet. Don't worry, we'll let you know when she decides to come. :) When I went to the OB on Thursday she said I was dilated to a 1 and probably wouldn't go into labor for another 10 to 14 days. So this little one is keeping right on schedule. :) Which is good because she's not allowed to get here until Friday night when my parent's flight comes in (well that's the earliest she can decide to come). :) Hopefully she'll cooperate with the timeline I've set up for her. :) he he he... :)

Help me please!

So in an attempt to earn my degree I am taking a storytelling class. I have one week to come up with and tell a personal story. The problem is I don't know what story to tell. The teachers description is "something that happened to you." Not specific at all. Every time I try to think of a story I tend think of a challenge I've faced, that really wouldn't make a very good story. That or I can't think of anything at all! So could you all please please please help! Help me remember things that have happened to me or experiences I may have shared with you. I have a week to come up with the story, find an audience to perform it for and then share the story while having it videotaped. Then I get to post it on youtube so my teacher can watch it. It sounds fun and frustrating at the same time. Anyways, please help and start posting comments with reminders of stories that have happened to me. Thanks!

New Years Update

I figured it was about time for an update. :) Since this ended up being a bit of a novel, feel free to skip the details and just look at the pictures at the end. :) As of today we have officially four weeks to go until our little baby girl’s due date. Whoa! I can’t believe how fast time is flying! :) We’re SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited, but I kind of have the feeling that I should be doing much more to prepare for our little princess. Oh and by the way, we’ve narrowed names down to a few, but we’re waiting until we meet the little sweetheart until we decide on a name for sure. Anyways, life is going quite well. I’m to the point where I don’t sleep terribly well because my belly is so big and she moves around so much in my tummy and of course my bladder is currently the size of a nickel. But that’s ok. I accepted months ago that my days of a good nights rest are long gone. :) With Mike home over the break we’ve been getting the baby’s room all ready. It’s been so fun! :) We found a dresser on craigslist and Mike spent Monday and Tuesday refinishing it. It looks awesome now! Don’t worry, I was out of the house while he was working on it so as to not expose myself to the fumes. I received a sewing machine for Christmas, so I have been making stuff for the baby. I haven’t actually completed any of my projects yet, but I’m working on bumpers, a crib skirt, sheets, curtains, a diaper stacker, and I’m contemplating making a diaper bag for me, but we’ll see how quickly I can finish these other projects first. :) So much fun. :)
I just realized that I didn’t blog about our Christmas. We had a fabulous Christmas. On Christmas Eve we were invited over to some friends’ house for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner. It was great food and even better company. :) Then we came home and did the nativity together (see the previous post). We talked to my parents that night since it was Christmas morning for them in Singapore. My younger brother and sister and her husband were able to go over to Singapore for Christmas, and so I got to talk to all of them too. They are having way too much fun. :) Then after we finished talking with all of them we opened one present that just happened to be pajamas (just like all the other 24 years of Christmas Eve presents I’ve opened…). :) he he he…
Christmas morning Mike woke up at 6:30 in the morning incredibly excited to start opening all the presents under the tree. :) I was already up so I didn’t mind and we started opening all the presents under the tree. Thanks to our wonderful family and friends there were quite a few presents under the tree. Thankfully the majority of them were for our little princess, which made it even more exciting to open them all. She is already getting so spoiled! Thanks again everyone. :) After we had opened all the presents we made ourselves some yummy chocolate chip waffles with a wonderful spread of toppings. Mike added M&M’s to the top of his waffle because he said it needed more chocolate. he he he… :) We had a nice relaxing rest of the day as we chatting on the phone with family. We did take a break for a magnificent full fledged Christmas dinner, complete with a 10 pound turkey and homemade trimmings. :) So delicious! And we’ve been able to have turkey everyday for the past week too! I love it! :)
We also had a fun New Years Eve. We’re both part of the med school’s A Capella group called Chordae Harmonae. We were able to go with some of the members of this group to sing the national anthem at a Wave Soccer game. They’re the Milwaukee’s professional soccer team and apparently the oldest continuously operating soccer team in North America. It was kinda cool. :) We got a lot of compliments on it and I think the girlfriend of one of the singers might have videotaped it. I’ll post a link for ya’ll if it ends up on youtube. :) We had dinner that night at UNO Pizzeria. It’s a famous Chicago style pizza place. Oh it was SOOOOOOOOOO good. :) My mouth starts watering at the memory of it’s deliciousness… :) I am definitely a fan of the Chicago style pizza. Papa John’s got nothing on this place. :) We stayed up that night until midnight just playing games and chatting and hanging out. It’s been really nice having so much time to spend with each other. Especially since we know things will change once the baby gets here. :) So we stayed up till midnight and had sparkling bubbly at midnight. Our upstairs neighbors rang in the new year by banging on pots and pans and shouting. :) I didn’t even realize they were still up until they started making a racket upstairs. It reminded me of when we were kids and we would do the same thing. But I think we usually rang in the new years at about 9 o’clock when we were kids… :)
The first day of the new year we took down all the Christmas decorations. It was a bit of a bittersweet moment for me. I really enjoyed having a home to decorate this year and I would have loved to have the decorations up for a while longer, but Mike was itching to get them down. No he’s not a scrooge, he was just excited to re-arrange so we would have room for a roll top desk that we got off craigslist. It’s used, but it’s still a classic desk. I’ve always wanted a roll top desk, so I was extremely excited when we found this desk for such a steal of a price off of craigslist. :)
Anyways, for those of you who kept reading through this novel, life is wonderful and we are incredibly happy. We’re excited to meet our daughter here in a few weeks. :)
Happy New Year Everyone and enjoy the pictures! :)