Katrina Aliece Kendell

We've known from the beginning that this little girl was eager and impatient to join our family. Our quick pregnancy and her early arrival have affirmed that.

Sunday morning I had a wonderful dream that I had gone into labor and had Katie. Boy, I did not like waking up and finding myself to still be pregnant. All during church I kept thinking to myself, "Gee, I sure wish my water would break." It did...but not until 8:45 pm when Shad took Tommy upstairs to bed. So we called the hospital and went in. They hooked me up to monitors, did their whole rundown of paper work and questions, finally leaving us alone to get a bit of sleep around 11. According to the monitor, I was having good, frequent contractions, but I didn't feel a thing. I figured I'd get a bit of sleep and wake up when the REAL ones started. I finally got up at 2 and walked the halls for an hour (in which time I finished reading the Book of Mormon for my Personal Progress Virtue project), but to no avail in producing productive contractions. In fact, my contractions decreased throughout the night to one every 20 minutes. I finally accepted pitocin at 9 in the morning. From there, labor and delivery went like a dream. Honestly, I really truly do find the whole process delightfully enjoyable. It's so nice to be part of something so natural, so powerful, so PAINFUL (yes, of course!) and then the moment that child fully leaves your body, all that pain is gone and absorbed in pure joy and love. Katie was born on Monday, October 24, 2011 at 3:24 pm, weighing 4 lbs 13 oz, and measuring 18 inches long.

We learned shortly after that that our little Katie was having trouble breathing. Really, when I finally had strength to go walk to see her 2 hours after she emerged from my body, she had an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth and even with that she was gasping for each breath. We had our friend, George Seamon, come to assist in administering blessings to all of us while we waited for the Neonatal team to arrive from Wichita. Their time kept getting delayed more and more, so we had more time to prepare for anything that might happen. At first we thought that I'd have to stay at the hospital and Shad would fly with Katie, but then my doctor gave me permission to be discharged and go with her. Then the Wichita folks told me I couldn't go because I'd be a liability, given my physical condition of having just given birth. It was a terrible thought to think of sending Katie by herself (and letting complete strangers take my baby away), but ultimately we had to be realistic. I couldn't drive to Wichita by myself and I couldn't not be there for her. So we decided to wait until the Neonatal team had Katie all stabalized and ready for flight before we went home. They gave Katie a breathing tube and then a bit of surfactant, which is a natural lubricant for the lungs that she'd have built up inside of me these next 2 weeks. I got to hold her one more time and say goodbye before they got her situated in her incubator for the flight.

Best feeling in the world: going home to your family, comfortable bed and a good, uninterrupted night of sleep 6 hours after giving birth.
Worst feeling in the world: going home empty handed 6 hours after giving birth.

We left Tuesday much later than we intended. We didn't leave Norton until after 2 pm, but we were well rested and well fed. Packing was the hardest thing because we weren't in any frame of mind to really think about things and we had (and still have) no idea how long we'll be here in Wichita. When we finally got to the hospital to see Katie after 7 pm, she was doing sooo much better than she had been when we last saw her. We stayed the night in a hotel next to the hospital with Shad's dad. He was on a business trip and stopped in Wichita to see us and Katie. It was perfect timing because we were able to get arrangements to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, but they didn't have room for us until Wednesday. Tommy enjoyed seeing his Bumpa and getting to share a bed with him.

Wednesday she was off oxygen and breathing on her own, though she had a breathing tube in that kept pressure in her lungs so it would be easier for her to take a breath. I got to hold her, change her diaper and take her temperature. We got checked in at the Ronald McDonald House and were a little overwhelmed at how nice and accommodating and homey it is. Really, we feel so blessed to be able to stay here.

Today, Shad and I took shifts in seeing Katie. Tommy's been a little difficult with all the confusion and instability in his life, and we're doing our best to help him and be understanding. So Shad went to see Katie first while I stayed with Tommy in the waiting room. When Shad came out, he said he was told about a Ronald McDonald Family Room up on another level of another wing in the hospital where you can get food and relax and watch tv, etc. We're so glad to know about this room because now we'll be able to spend more time with Katie at the hospital. It'll make things so much easier with Tommy. We ate lunch, then I went down to see Katie. They wanted me to try breastfeeding her, but it was a little overwhelming for her and she started hyperventilating. We let her calm down and not worry about it. She and I had a nice hour of skin to skin time instead, and they gave her lunch through an IV tube they have in her nose that goes directly to her stomach. By the way, I don't think I mentioned it, but that's the only tube she has in her face now. No breathing tubes or respiratory assistance at all. She's on her own! She's also on her own with body temperature now. Before, she was in a bed with a heat lamp and pad, but now she's in a regular bed and learning to regulate her own body temperature. She's really doing so good. Before I left, her nurse commented to me on how cute Shad was with holding his daughter. Today was the first time Shad got to hold Katie and her nurse said that he just cuddled her so sweetly and rocked her and talked to her the whole time, telling her anything and everything he could think of.

Well, I need to get myself some sleep now so that I don't fall asleep again rocking with Katie tomorrow.

Let It Be

This song helped me stop being mad at a librarian today. I feel better. Thank you, Paul. I don't want to talk about it though. She was a shrew.

Well we left Thursday for our business trip to Colorado around 4:30 pm when Shad got off work. Business trip? Yes. It's a business trip when everything is scheduled down to the hour, you're constantly on the run from place to place trying to get as much done and see as many people as you possibly can in the limited time you have. It's also a business trip when you come home and wish you could go on a vacation. We do enjoy it, though; we've just decided that Colorado and Utah don't, and probably won't ever, count as vacations. We stayed at Shad's brother, Dan's, place and it was nice to be able to see his son, Ryan, that night and Friday morning before he went to his mom's for the rest of the weekend.

This is how Tommy was sleeping Friday morning. What a cute kid. He really didn't want to sleep in his pack-n-play, so we were suckers and let him cuddle with us.

We got to go to the temple Friday morning with our favorite Colorado friends, Mark and Robyn Bailey. That was actually a new experience for us--to go with friends. It was nice to be able to enjoy the socializing in the car and a bit in the temple. It was fantastic. Then we ran a couple errands, picked up Tommy, visited Priscilla and finally made it back to the Baileys' to play games with them. We played Smallworld and Shad hasn't been able to get it out of his mind since. Thankfully, a friend of ours here just received that game for his birthday on Monday, so we graciously offered to help him break it in on Saturday. After Smallworld, we went to my parents' house for a couple hours for dinner and visiting until Tommy begged to go to bed.

It was nice to wake up Saturday morning and realize that we didn't have to leave that afternoon. Very enjoyable. We got to see our friend, Chris, in the morning, then have lunch with my parents and leave Tommy with them while we went to run errands. That was ideal for all parties involved--Shad and I wouldn't have to get Tommy in and out of the car or deal with him complaining that he didn't want to shop; Tommy would get to play and nap as he pleased; and my parents wanted more time with him anyway. Win, win, win. Ugh, but we forgot how long it takes to run errands when everything is more spread out, there's traffic, and then people in your way in the store so you can't go to where you want at the speed you want. And you get stuck in Walmart trying to find something for 15 minutes before you find an employee to tell you it's at the complete opposite end of the store. But at least we got it. That took hours longer than we had accounted for, so by the time we picked up Tommy, and visited with David and Von for a short 20 mins, we were much later in getting back to Dan's for dinner than we expected. That turned out to be a good thing because as we were pulling into his condos, my sister, Lori, was pulling out, thoroughly lost. She was trying to find Dan's place so she could visit with us and Tommy more. She was able to turn around with us and follow us there.


Tommy was glad that Lori finally made it to Dan's with us, because she shared her mini Oreos with him, and that was super exciting.




I love this boy's face.

Sunday morning we had a delightful breakfast with Matthew and Lisa before church, with time to spare for Matthew and Shad to play some Magic. Lisa wasn't feeling well, so she didn't go to church with us when we went. We went to 11:00 sacrament meeting, then left to go meet up with Paul and Wendy so that Paul could fix Shad's computer. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, my old friend and BYUI roommate, Brittaini Milner, was walking in with her mom and husband. I shrieked and jumped out of the car. I had forgotten that she and Jay moved back to Aurora a few months ago. I haven't seen her since her wedding 3 years ago. They will definitely make the priority list next time...and she'll have a little dumpling of her own then, too! Paul did get our computer fixed and we are soooooooooooo thankful to have our computer working again without any expense. We left their place around 2:30 and made great time in getting back home at 7:30. Shad's family came over to visit for a little, help us unload the car, and then trade cars back (we had traded cars with them to have a reliable vehicle for a 300 mile trip). Tommy was so glad to be home in his house with his family and toys and bed. Monday and Tuesday were a little rough for him, however, as he had to readjust to leaving blankie and cork in his crib and not being able to spend all day walking around with them.

Okay, so last week Shad started to actually enjoy work. He was getting some good laughs and fellowshipping with coworkers. On Monday, however, he found out that he didn't qualify for the apprenticeship program. No one had bothered to tell him that, he had to ask. And they couldn't tell him why he didn't qualify, because the lady couldn't find the rejection email. So he's been a bit discouraged with work this week, feeling that he's lost what he was working toward. Not to mention, he and a coworker finally came up with a good analogy to describe what they do: Take all your silverware spoons and throw them in the sink. Spend the next 10 hours (with 2 15 minute breaks and 1 half hour lunch) staring at those spoons. Once every 3-5 minutes pick up one of the spoons and wash it. Occasionally pick up a spoon, measure it and compare it to the other spoons to ensure that they're all uniform. Then continue staring at the spoons. At least that made them laugh:)

I've started working on crocheting Katie's sweater finally with the yarn that I got in Denver. I've been waiting for a while to be able to do this and I'm excited to get it going. I've had to teach myself a bit of new crocheting skills with internet help and I'm hoping that I'm doing this right. Time will tell and then I can start over if I need to, I guess. It's been nice that Tommy has been supportive of my project. We sit together and watch The Wonder Years on Netflix and rock in the rocking chair while I crochet and he's always quick to tell me to start the next episode when the screen goes red. Other projects on my list to do to keep me busy and productive until Katie arrives: finish unpacking the office; can soups; finish reading the Book of Mormon; finish her sweater and maybe a bonnet and booties?; decorate the kidlets' bedroom; transform a white pillow case into Tommy's ghost costume; finish typing the first of Shad's many journals and transfer everything to ldsjournal.com; beat Alexis (one of my Laurels) in finishing Personal Progress; ...I think that's it. Not quite sure. I should probably write these things down.


Here's a picture that missed getting posted a while ago. Tommy brought a pair of shorts to me a couple weeks ago and since he was already dressed, I didn't know what he wanted me to do with them. So they went on his head.


This morning my little hobbit decided he didn't need first breakfast, so we just got to sleep until 7:30. And at that point, sitting in his high chair, he asked so nicely to watch Mulan that I couldn't refuse. So here's my boy, barely awake, watching Mulan.

And then we went to the library just after 10. It was still only in the 30s and Tommy was very nice and didn't fight me when I made him wear his coat. Poor little boy can't move his arms to save his life, or pick himself up off the floor when he trips. I should have at least moved the blanket to his basket under the stroller...hindsight, though.


And what did we do when we got back from the library? Finish watching Mulan, of course!


It has occurred to me that, given Tommy's meal and snacking habits, I should watch the clip in Lord of the Rings where the hobbits name all their meals so that I can call Tommy's accordingly. Add that to my list of projects.

Broken Things, Fixed Things, and Running Away From It All

I'm writing from my mother-in-law's house today because that's where I had to go to get some internet access. Not that anything is wrong with our INTERNET, it's the other electronics in the house that aren't working. My computer has never connected to our internet with our wireless router...but it does EVERYWHERE ELSE. And our internet provider tells me it's a problem with my computer, not the router. I don't believe that. I'm using my computer right now and successfully connected to the internet through a wireless router. Anyway, so there's one piece of electronic that doesn't let us use internet at home. But that's nothing new. The new ones are Shad's computer and our play station. Shad tried to turn his computer on on Sunday by pressing the on switch in the normal way any human being would do. However, it collapsed into the motherboard and is currently stuck there, disabling the computer from turning on. That was our main source of using internet. I took it to the computer repair shop in town today and they said they don't even work with that kind of problem because it involves taking apart the whole computer. They were helpful in getting the disc drive open so I could have my prenatal yoga video back, though. I'll take what little help I can get! And then the play station. Well it just refused to turn on on Sunday, period. And that just 5 minutes after the computer problem, so we were a little overwhelmed and frustrated. Of anything that I would have LIKED to break, my water did not.

Tommy spent Tuesday and Friday afternoon/evening at his grandparents' house. Tuesday was out of necessity for both of our emotions and sanity--we just woke up on the wrong foot with each other and were frustrated and snappy and just plain mean. So Nana came and picked Tommy up after work. Tommy and I were both very apologetic and nice to each other the next day. Then on Friday, Tommy kept asking me the whole day, "Nana? Baba? Bye bye?" So I called Nana when she got off work and she came to get Tommy. He was sooooo excited to see her, he jumped off my lap and ran across the room into her arms when she walked in the door. He then got his shoes and Nana got his car seat and we went outside. He was sooo happy to go into Nana's car and wave goodbye to me. Oh, that boy was so happy to finally have what he'd be asking for all day. And then I was told later that while at their house, Bumpa (Baba) came home and Tommy ran into his arms. But Bumpa really needed to use the bathroom, so he had to put Tommy down and that boy just CRIED and CRIED until Bumpa came back out. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but Tommy is just so attached to his Bumpa and can't seem to ever get enough of him...especially since he's a busy Bishop, as well.

Our friend and neighbor, Joe, came over on Monday to fix our car. It needed a toggle switch installed in the dashboard to manually turn on the fan so that the car won't overheat after 2 miles anymore. Now let me just say, that 2 miles has been nice because over the summer it barely lasted 1 mile before overheating. So now that our car is fixed, we're set to trade cars with Shad's mom so that we can get to Denver this weekend. We just don't want to test out the car on such a long trip yet. But we're excited to have a long weekend away, and yet even with the extra day from Shad's 4-day work week, it's packed full with things to do and people to see. Apologies if you didn't make the priority list this time.

I was super busy and productive on Monday. It's amazing what can be accomplished in a day when the one-year-old decides to sleep all day and I have no connection to internet. I mopped all my main level floors, vacuumed the living and dining room, did dishes, folded laundry, cleaned a bathroom, scrubbed cabinets and the kitchen trash can lid, cleaned the kitchen sink and also had time to collectively read 2 hours of scriptures while enjoying my back massager. I would have done yoga, too, but that DVD was stuck in Shad's computer.

Yesterday I tried to peel and cut a couple of my "squmpkins" for a squash soup and found that the skin was beyond peelable and also beyond cutable...even with my Cutco knives! I called my aunt Suzanne for advice and we decided that the best bet would be to try roasting one in the oven. I did, and it worked, but turned out that there really wasn't anything worth using on the inside. Luckily, I had one normal yellow squash and was still able to have my soup. I decided that the rest of my squmpkins will be fall decorations.

Well, I don't have any of this week's pictures with me, so they'll just have to go with next week's writing.

???

Yep, that about concludes all the brain activity I have at the moment, but I'm still determined to get this done today. Today hasn't been the most fantastic of all days--Tommy's been missing his Dada and I've had absolutely no physical energy and the combination has made the two of us very frustrated with each other. Even simple things like reading a book turns into snapping and throwing fits. It's also super windy, so we've been kept inside the house, making matters even worse. So he just went to Nana's and I'm now trying to accomplish all the things on my to-do list that can be done from my butt on the couch. This is one of those things.

Just to show how badly Tommy wanted to leave the house, here he is trying to go out the door after Nana. He was so excited to see his car seat and put his sandals on, and then a little put out when she left without him (only to put the car seat in the car first).


Anyway, the past week has been pretty good. Seeing as I'm currently suffering from prego-brain (I think we need a scientific term for that, just to make us feel special), I can't remember specifics, really. But here are some highlights I CAN remember:

Tommy learned how to be "ferocious." I taught him to bang on his chest while yelling, as well as the stereotypical Indian war cry. Shad and I feel that both of these are an essential start to the skill set our little sprog will need to intimidate his foes when he enters the pirating business. And it's just cute.

Wednesday, after playing the piano for a double baptism, I decided to ditch the combined mutual activity (watching "17 Miracles") for something that I felt was more worth my time and of higher importance--family history. Nothing against that movie--I have heard good things about it--but, I've been being harassed by dead people. I didn't find anything new, but I got some names printed that are ready for temple work and I feel like they're currently appeased. Still, I will be ditching Sunday School and Young Womens whenever possible to hang out in the family history center and use their resources.

Friday afternoon we dropped Tommy off at his grandparents' house. He needed them and they needed him. He really missed them all week and when we stopped by on Thursday night on our walk, Bumpa wasn't there. Tommy refused to believe us telling him that, and so he walked all over the house looking for his Bumpa. He was much happier on Friday to see him there. Shad and I enjoyed a nice walk together, dinner and The Eagle, which we rented from Redbox. The folks brought Tommy home around 8 because he had been asking for bed. I love that he loves being in bed so much.

As far as General Conference goes, I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday's sessions. Tommy timed his naps almost perfectly. He slept through the whole first session and the last half of the second session. During the first half of that second session, he finally mastered the skill of walking with his push-pop vacuum thing. If I hadn't been so proud of him and happy for his hard work paying off, I'd have hidden the toy elsewhere. We did have to turn off his other noise making toys, and he was so excited to have them turned back on on Monday.

I really didn't get much out of Sunday's sessions because I was pregnant sick. Threw up right before the first session. Throwing up with such a big belly really hurts and I have a new-found empathy for women who are sick the whole pregnancy. My back and belly ached for hours afterwards and I was miserable. So I incoherently followed and took notes through the morning session and flat out didn't try in the afternoon. Goals I came away with, though, are to make wiser use of my time and to get the Young Women learning about family history work. I'll know better later this week what goals I get from rewatching Sunday's sessions with a clear mind. As a result of my being sick and confined to the couch, Shad made our dinner roast for us. I'll admit I laughed at him when he told me the ingredients and seasonings: potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, black beans and roast with garlic, salt, pepper, etc. Mostly normal except for the black beans. But then he told me he poured ketchup over the veggies and bbq sauce over the roast. That's when I laughed. Holy cow, it was AMAZING though! Honestly, I've never had such delicious, succulent, mouthwatering potatoes in my life. Soooo good! The leftovers are pretty much gone already.

Acting on my new goal of making wiser use of my time, I got back to list making yesterday. I did accomplish most of the things on my list. I read scriptures, relined waste baskets, made phone calls, cleaned up Tommy's room, cleaned up the living room and vacuumed, got caught up on dishes, finished my fall wreath, played with Tommy outside, made dinner and cookies, and delivered dinner to the Burris family. I was pooped and feel pretty certain that that's the cause of my physical exhaustion today. BUT the important thing is that I feel sooooo good about all of my accomplishments...and Shad has been wanting those cookies for a long time.
Now on to pictures--

Tommy has new dancing skills, which are no longer applied to only his 2 youtube videos. He'll dance to any music. And because his dancing is purely waving his arms around to music, he gets excited at church now when he sees the choristers conducting the hymns, and he dances with them.



Tommy often reminds me of Lucky from 101 Dalmations--you know, the puppy that's always up in front of the screen getting in the way of everyone's viewing. Tommy's not quite that tall yet, but I still always think to myself--and sometimes say out loud--"Down in front, Lucky!"


Tommy really likes the broom, and he really likes wearing his jackets on his head only.