Rick & Angi's Page

Pics of Reese at Birth

2009-05-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

Reese's Birth Story

2009-05-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Reese Catherine Hotz was born at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women on Thursday May 14, 2009 at 1:03 am. As was true for the rest of her life from the time of her conception, her entrance into the world did not lack for drama.

Our doctor, Dr. Colleen McNally, offered to strip my membranes on Reese’s due date (May 12, 2009). I eagerly accepted this offer, as I was extremely uncomfortable in the final weeks of pregnancy. I had gained 50 lbs and had been at home for 2 months awaiting Reese’s arrival. This was way too much time to think and to wallow!

After the membrane strip, Rick and I returned home and the evening was business as usual. I awoke to fairly unpleasant contractions at about 4:00 am. They felt different than any of the million I had had previously and I definitely could not sleep through them. I laid there in bed for an hour before waking Rick up. We began timing contractions and they were about 5 minutes apart. They stayed 5 minutes apart for several hours, and also increased in intensity – again, this was the first time that I had any lasting changes in intensity, so I hoped this was finally the real deal. At about 11:00 am we decided it was time to go to the hospital. Nothing had changed for several hours, but the fact that the whole process was still continuing made me think it was labor (the longest any patterned contractions had lasted previously was 3 hours). I did think it might be too early to go based on the level of pain I was experiencing, but since this was our first baby I really didn’t know what to expect. I was also GBS positive, so wanted to get there in plenty of time to receive the necessary antibiotics prior to delivery. We were also supposed to be continuously monitored during labor because of Reese’s velamentous cord insertion (i.e., umbilical cord abnormality that could lead to stress during labor and delivery). So off we went!

We got checked in and hooked up to the monitors. It was then the moment of truth – cervical check. Unfortunately my cervix was still at 3 cm, which is what it had been at our doctor’s appointment the day before. I was pretty disappointed, but rather than send us home, the nurse ordered us to go walk the hospital campus for 2 hours and then come back. So, Rick ran me ragged all over the Sharp campus. Contractions definitely became more intense during the walk, which made me hopeful that I would make some progress in those 2 hours and be admitted. This was the case (I made it to 4 cm!) and we were admitted to the hospital at about 3:00 pm after meeting with the doctor on call from our doctor’s office, Dr. Binno. We let our families know that Reese was on the way.

We got up to our room and met our first nurse. We let her know that my hope was to get through the delivery without pain medication. She said that was great, but to let her know if I changed my mind at any time. She was awesome about checking with me about how I was doing and watching my demeanor through contractions. I was able to breath through them for a couple hours, but the continuous monitoring made this more difficult than I expected. My ability to change positions to make myself more comfortable was limited because if I moved too much, Reese would go off the monitor. So, after a couple hours of laboring in our room, I requested fentanyl (narcotic pain killer, level below epidural in the pain relief world) to give me a little relief. This helped immensely and I continued to labor.

The doctor came in to see us at about 6:00 pm to see how we were doing. There had been a shift change at 5:00 pm and Rick and I were happy to see that the doctor on call for the night was Dr. Brambhatt – we had seen her many times in the office and were happy that she would be the one to deliver our baby. At this point were both sure she’d be born on the 13^th considering labor had started at 4:00 am that day!

When she checked my cervix, I was a lousy 4.5 cm! Ugh!!! Despite contractions getting much more intense, virtually no progress was made. Dr. Brambhatt offered to break my water or give me pitocin to speed things along if I wanted to. I declined both. I knew I didn’t want pitocin because I thought that would mean the end of my epidural-free delivery. I should have let her break my water, but I was secretly hoping it would go on its own. So, she said she’d be back at 8:00 pm to check me again.

Over the next couple hours, the contraction pattern went a little haywire. I’d have sets of contractions a couple minutes apart and then none for 7-8 minutes. Intensity stayed about the same. We got a new nurse at 7:00 pm and she got pretty aggressive with having me shift positions to try to get contractions back into a good pattern. By the time Dr. Brambhatt came back at 8:00 pm, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. She checked me and she said I was still 4.5 cm. When she looked at my face, she said “maybe 5.” I opted for her to break my water to get things going. So, break my water she did!

All I have to say is, oh my god. As soon as she broke the water, labor was a whole new animal. I have never felt such horrible pain in my whole life – the increase in intensity was absolutely instantaneous and I could not believe the difference. Reese had been well-engaged before the water was broken, but man, what a difference a few mm makes! When her head was in direct contact with my cervix, the intensity of the pain blew my mind. The other very important note at this point was that there was blood present when the waters broke. There was no way to tell whether the blood was from the cervix or the placenta, but apparently it was not an amount that we needed to be concerned about yet. But I digress…

Three contractions passed and I asked for the epidural. I knew there was no way I could make it to 10 cm without relief considering it had taken 16 hours to get from 3 cm to “maybe 5" cm. So, the anesthesiologist came in at about 9:00 pm. By this time, I was crying through each contraction and had gotten the shakes. My entire body was shivering uncontrollably. Apparently this is a “normal” occurrence during labor. It sucked. It made it very difficult to hold still to get the epidural, but it was a success and by 10:00 pm I was feeling much better. I could still move my legs and easily change position in the bed. I also could still feel all the pressure and a little discomfort down south. Before the epidural, everything hurt. After the epidural, I noticed that most of what I felt was coming from my back and butt. I told the nurse, and she did a very thorough check of the baby’s position. She told us that Reese was right occiput posterior (ROP) also known as sunny side up. This explained the length and intensity of my labor – Reese was facing my stomach rather than my back making the passage of her head through my pelvis extremely difficult – makes it feel like it’s twice the size that it really is. I was pretty bummed, but determined to continue. Also at this point, Reese’s heart rate began to deviate from the ideal pattern; nothing to be alarmed about yet, but required attention. We went back to frequently shifting positions to see how she was affected.

Dr. Brambhatt came back in at 11:30 pm to check on us. She reviewed all the heart rate data, talked to the nurse about the bleeding that was still occurring, and then checked my cervix (now 6 cm). She said it was time for us to talk. She told us that the bleeding coupled with the heart rate had her a bit concerned. She said one or the other on its own would not worry her, but the two together made her lean toward placental rather than cervical bleeding. She also said there was absolutely no way to confirm it and if I continued to labor, one of two situations would result. One – I could end up with a perfectly normal vaginal delivery or two – Reese could crash and we’d end up with an emergency c-section. She offered an immediate c-section as an alternative to continuing with labor and then left us alone to discuss it and decide what to do.

As scared as I was about having a c-section and as much as I wanted to deliver vaginally, Rick and I decided fairly quickly to have the c-section right away. We were now 20 hours into labor and had only gotten from 3-6 cm so who knew how much longer it could take to get to 10 cm considering her position. They could not give me pitocin to speed things along at this point because of the bleeding; the risk of hemorrhage was too high. That being the case, we thought it unlikely we’d make it to 10 cm before something went wrong if the placenta was the source of the bleeding. After everything we’d been through to have Reese, one mode of delivery versus another was not worth an ounce of risk that anything would happen to her. We let Dr. Brambhatt know we were ready to meet our daughter.

Everything went pretty quickly from then on. The anesthesiologist came back and numbed me up the rest of the way, I signed my consent, Rick got geared up for the OR and we were on our way. The OR staff got me prepped while Rick waited outside. Couple things I will never forget about getting prepped… First is the sensation of falling while being moved from the bed to the OR table. They tip you onto your side so they can slip a sheet underneath to slide you with. Being numb and having no control of your body makes it feel like you are going to crash to the floor. This was a very strange feeling and you can’t help but try to catch yourself despite the staff saying you will feel this way and that they will not drop you. The second had nothing to do with the procedure, but was quite funny! Dr. Brambhatt asked what she could do to help get me ready and one of the nurses said she could strap my legs down. One of the straps was stuck underneath the bed and as she tugged on it to get it loose, Dr. Brambhatt lost her balance and fell down. She didn’t fall hard, and everyone had a good laugh.

Once Rick came in, they got started quickly. I was grateful that things were moving along, as I was anxious about the whole process. I was also still suffering from the shakes and was looking forward to getting some medicine that would stop the shaking after the surgery was done. Rick and I remained focused on one another through the procedure. I was really surprised at how much tugging and pulling I could feel. They really had to work to get her out of there! I have no idea how long that took, but it felt like an eternity to me. None of it mattered though when Rick looked at me and said “She’s out! She’s here babe!” I began crying immediately, especially when I saw Rick tear up too. Reese took her first breath a few seconds later and we got to hear her voice for the first time. Let me tell you – this child has a good set of lungs!

Rick was able to watch the nurses clean her up and within just a couple of minutes, they brought her over to me. It was amazing looking at her, I couldn’t believe she was really there and safe. She was so beautiful and had quieted down as soon as she was wrapped up. The anesthesiologist took several pictures of her and of us with her. At that point, Rick and Reese left the OR so I could get stitched up. It felt like an eternity that I was away from them, and I was glad to see them when I got into the recovery room.

Unfortunately, it took a little while for the anti-shaking medicine took effect and I could hold my baby. Rick was a very proud papa and was clearly in love with his daughter, so watching him with her took away some of the sadness at not being able to hold her myself. I can’t describe the feeling when I finally did get to hold her. Anyone who is a parent knows that moment changes your life forever. Along with sheer joy, the next strongest feeling I had was relief; relief that our very long journey toward parenthood was finally over. We had done it, we had made it through, and we had our baby girl.

Almost 39 Weeks?!

2009-05-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

Man, I can't believe that I am nearly 39 weeks pregnant. I never thought I would make it this far. It is obvious no one else did either, because every single person I talk to says "I can't believe you haven't had that baby yet!" I am very sick of hearing this. Our families are constantly asking for updates. Here's what I think... "Ummm... Don't you think if there was news, we'd tell you?" I am a grumpy whale of a pregnant woman. Leave me alone. By all means, talk to me about everything going on in your lives, I could use the distraction and I really do want to know! But let's ignore the elephant in the room OK?

That said... Here is my latest belly pic from a couple of days ago. I think it is obvious when you look at this why I am over the comments and questions about my pregnancy :)

More belly pics

2009-04-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

Alright folks. Here is my belly from 34 weeks. This was my first day off "strict" bed rest -- meaning that I went from being allowed out of bed to go to the bathroom and shower to being allowed up for those things in addition to feeding myself and making the occasional short trip out of the house; provided of course that I was not going anywhere that required walking or that I be upright for more than an hour.

And here is 35 weeks. Not sure if you can tell or not, but the baby dropped. It feels very obvious and definitely looks lower in person. For some reason it doesn't look as obvious in this picture. We find out next Friday (36 weeks + 3 days) how big she is.

Nursery Update

2009-04-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

The baby's room is almost done. My mom and Rick put a lot of time into getting everything ready since I have been on bed rest. I wish I could have done more myself to satisfy my nesting instinct, but is has come together quite nicely despite my lack of participation (beyond directing from the sidelines of course)!

We are still awaiting the arrival of the glider, which my mom will bring down once the baby is born. But, Sue has finished the cushions and they really came out nice. We could also use a couple pictures on the wall, but other than that... Here it is :)

It is a small room, so it's impossible to get a single shot of everything. Here's the view from the door:

Here's the side with the changing table and TV. Bassinet will be moved into our room once the munchkin makes her appearance.

The opposite wall will be the glider's home once it arrives. Here are the cushions that Sue did:

This is the bookshelf that my mom painted to match the baby's bedding set. It came out sooo cute and is hanging on the wall above where the glider will sit. I am so glad she had something to do while she was stuck in the house with me for two weeks.

Here is a close-up of the crib. You can see a few of the critters on the quilt that my mom put onto the bookshelf. There is bumper yet because Rick and I cannot agree on which bumper to use. He really wants the one that came with the bedding and I really want the SIDS approved one. We'll see who wins (of course it will be me, but he is a stubborn man).

Here are the belly pics!

2009-02-19T17:45:00.001-08:00

20 weeks:

26 weeks:

27 weeks:

I haven't taken one for 28 weeks yet, but I'm looking about the same as last week. You can see I popped out a little again from 26 to 27.

Baby's Room... so far...

2009-02-19T17:38:00.001-08:00

Well, I forgot to take a before picture, so here are a couple during. We started out with boring brown walls:Added orange to the top half, and taped off the pattern for the wainscoting:

Here it is all done:

It really came out so nice. I can't wait to get all the rest of it done. It's going to be sooo cute!

New office/guest room

2009-02-19T17:31:00.000-08:00

Before:

After:

We still need to hang pictures and curtains, but this room is otherwise done :)

Bathroom Remodel

2009-02-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

OK, here is the first of a few pic heavy posts :)

Hideous bathroom before:

A couple during:

And here it is all done! Rick built the shelves himself and did a great job!

Two months since my last post!

2009-02-18T22:16:00.000-08:00

Well, 2009 has been eventful (if nothing else) so far! I can't believe February is almost over and my last post was right before Christmas. Many, many things have occurred in these past 8 weeks, which I will be sure to post about in detail (including pics!) this week. But...

In summary:

We had a wonderful Christmas here in San Diego. Rick and I had a very lazy and easy morning bumming around our house and opening presents from my family. We spent the rest of the day at Jerry and Sue's with the rest of Rick's immediate family. Rob and Lauren's twin boys made Christmas fun -- they are at the perfect age of two; starting to get the concept of Santa and really enjoying opening presents.

NYE at Kristian and Elena's was a lot of fun, despite the fact that I was not as drunk as everyone else. I was lucky to have a few other pregnant ladies around to keep my sober company. Actually -- it was a pretty tame party when stacked up against NYE's of the past... And I was grateful for that. It was really awesome to get to spend some quality time with John, Andy, and Erin.

Rick, Duff, Barney, and I became homeless for five weeks starting on December 29. Kitty was lucky (or unlucky) enough to stay at home. As pretty much all of you know, our tiny and very outdated bathroom was remodeled during that time. Thank goodness we have very kind and loving friends and family who put up with us and our dogs completely taking over their homes while we were out of ours. Many thanks to Jerry & Sue and Kristian & Elena (and Nacho too!). Pics of our lovely new space to follow.

Ever since we moved back home, we have been working on a seemingly never-ending list of projects. Rick built a very lovely set of shelves in the new bathroom, we spruced up the entryway with a new table and mirror to complement our recently relocated linen closet (yes, it is now in the entryway), installed shelving in the utility closet, bought a new shed, and last but not least... We started on the baby's room. My mom was kind enough to come down and do some of the heavy lifting and painting that I cannot do at the moment. We moved all of the office stuff into the spare bedroom and painted that room too. Then we moved on to the baby's room: pulled up carpet, added wainscoting, and painted. That may seem like a short list, but let me assure you... it was a bitch. I'm sure baby girl will never fully appreciate what we went through to give her such a lovely room. Still a lot of work to be done -- new carpet, curtains, furniture, closet organization, etc. but we got all the hard parts done. Thanks Mom, I don't know what we;d do without your slave labor! Thanks as well to Jerry & Sue for their day in the trenches with us. Progress pics to follow.

My belly is growing bigger every day. I am starting to feel awkward with managing the bulk :) I have gained 25 lbs, if you can believe it, and am now in the third and final trimester. 12 weeks to go until we get to meet her. I can't decide whether I want it to go by quickly or slowly, as I am enjoying being pregnant but also anxious to have her in the outside world safe and sound :) Latest ultrasound measurements estimated her weight at 3 lbs, just a little bit bigger than expected at this point. So she is doing great.

That pretty much brings us up to speed. I'll get pics posted as soon as I can, but right now it's bed time!

A tip to view my scrapblog:

2008-12-21T19:32:00.001-08:00

Hmmm, it appears as though you must click on "view full size" to get the scrapblog to load. Otherwise it just sits there with a black screen saying "loading scrapblog..."!

New Obsession...

2008-12-21T19:22:00.001-08:00

Pumpkins :)

2008-11-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I know I'm a little slow. But... here are our pumpkins from Halloween this year. Rick's is the grim reaper, mine is the other. Don't know what to call mine exactly! We got many a compliment this year, I think it's the best work we've done.

More Shower Pictures...

2008-10-13T20:53:00.001-07:00

Barney and Duff had a good time too.

Jenny had the guests play a game "what's in your purse?" Sharon's friend Jackie won the prize for having the greatest variety of items.

Sharon's Wedding Shower

2008-10-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

I am very glad to report that after too long away from home, Jenny Meegan is in town for a visit. While I am not the reason she is here, I was able to steal her away for a couple of days to catch up. Sadly, we worked very hard most of the time instead of being bums. But... It was all for a good cause. We threw a wedding shower for her mom Sharon at my house yesterday. For all of you who know the Meegan ladies, you know time with them is always special, and I was so thrilled to get to see them both. I am especially happy for Sharon, as her wedding day is just around the corner now. There are few people who I can say really work hard at loving others, but Sharon is definitely one of those people. So, it makes me feel good to know she has someone around to give back to her every day.

Here are some pictures from the shower! It was a garden themed party since Sharon is an avid gardener and is in the process of redoing her yard.

5th Wedding Anniversary

2008-09-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

Rick and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in style. We decided to go all out and spend a day and night ant The Lodge at Torrey Pines. It is an absolutely beautiful hotel that sits on the cliffs in La Jolla adjacent to the famous Torrey Pines golf course. We went to the spa on Saturday -- my Mom and I have visited several times and it is the best spa I've ever been to! Rick got his first professional massage and loved it. We had dinner at the hotel that night and the food was really good. Rick had a steak (of course), and I had quail stuffed with sausage. It was delicious. We spent the night snuggled up in our room and then had breakfast out on our balcony overlooking a courtyard full of torrey pines and flowers. Here's the link to the hotel's website. Check it out!!!
http://www.lodgetorreypines.com/

Cutest dogs ever

2008-08-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this picture of my boys. Aren't they sweet? If only looks equaled personality. This was taken after Duff chewed my new pillow and a corner of the carpet. He does love to chew.

New fence

2008-08-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

The new fence is in! The last remaining eye sore (well, almost, we still have the hideous green porch light) is gone. Here are some pictures of the new beauty! It's much taller, so no more peeking in from the neighbors. We also extended it down the side yard and got rid of the ugly wrought iron gates (shown first for reference)!

New dining room table

2008-08-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our new dining room table. We are still missing 2 chairs (on special order), but I couldn't stand to wait. Thanks a million to my mom and dad for this awesome birthday present (for me and Rick).

Memory Lane Tag

2008-08-13T11:17:00.001-07:00

Memory Lane.... the tag that gets everyone involved. Got this from a friend and I thought I would play the game. Here's how you play: 1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and i had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember. 2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory of you. it's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you!

Awesome birthday present, awesome husband

2008-08-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well, not that you all don't already know how awesome Rick is, but.... He went to great lengths to get me a really wonderful, thoughtful, and beautifully spectacular birthday present for the big 3-0. We have always shared an enjoyment of good nature photography and buying a nice piece for our house was always on the "someday" list. Well, I got one for my birthday! It is from a gallery in Big Bear that we browsed with my parents a few months ago while they were visiting. Rick enslisted the help of his parents to pick it up for us. Here it is!

30th Birthday Celebration

2008-08-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well, we celebrated my birthday a bit early this year. Sorry there are no pictures, we kind of forgot that part!

We had a nice little get-together at our house on Saturday -- mexican food, margaritas, cake, and Wii! The food was great, but we had way too much! I forced leftovers on everyone who was willing to take them. Wii is so much fun, so thanks to the Frazees for bringing it over.

Thanks to everyone who came!

30th Birthdays on the Brain

2008-07-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, with my 30th birthday looming just around the corner, I got to thinking about Rick's big celebration last year. For those who may not remember (ahem, too much beer), we rented a limo and did a little tour of our local breweries. I thought I'd post a few pics from that event and then follow up with new pics from my own party this weekend. So keep your eyes peeled!

Boy's Trip to New York

2008-07-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

My Dad, Rick, and my brother-in-law Adam recently took a very manly trip to New York City to see a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. My Dad treated the boys to this trip thinking it was important for them all to see the stadium before it is torn down. It was a quick weekend trip, but they managed to squeeze in a lot of sightseeing too! Here are some pictures of the stadium. I have pics of Times Square and the Chrysler building too, but they just don't want to post! Oh well, just watch an episode of Sex and the City.