Monroe's First Easter

In our first dress

Ready for church

The Burkle family altogether:

Dennis, Deb, & Zach Burkle

Rod, Jess, Karter, & Jensen Schulz

Josh, Megan, & Kaiya Burkle

Zach, Erin, & Monroe Runcie

Family Picture

The cousins: Karter (4), Kaiya (1), Jensen (1), Monroe (1 wk)

Monroe traveled for the first time this weekend.  We drove to North Platte for Easter.  The whole family was home, and we had a lot of fun.  The three older kids loved the easter egg hunt, and the men had fun playing basketball.  We didn't make it all the way home before Monroe decided she needed to eat.  I had to feed her in a gas station parking lot.  Otherwise, she traveled very well.  

Monroe's Room

I love how Monroe's room turned out.  I wanted something unique and mature looking.  I had to get a lot of help. Zach and his parents painted the squares; his mom made the curtains; my friends, Emily and Nicole, helped design the letters; and, my mom made the quilt and pillow on the rocker.  We had a lot of fun projects, and everything turned out perfect.

Birth Story

My doctor decided to induce me seven days past my due date.  We went to the hospital on April 13th for an evening induction.  When I arrived I was 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced.  I was given Citotec throughout the night.  At 8:00 the next morning, I had made no progress.  My doctor broke my water and started me on Pitocin.  The next four hours were miserable.  They were filled with intense labor pains and nausea.  The nurses tried to get me to walk around, take a shower, and bounce on the ball to take my mind off labor.  However, anytime I moved, I would get nauseous and throw up.  I found out later that the hormone present during the first few months of pregnancy that causes nausea can come back during labor.  At about 12:00, I decided I could take it no longer.  The nurse called my doctor to see if they could order an epidural.  Thankfully, he said yes. 

The next eleven hours were long.  I was in much less pain, but I continued to be nauseous.  My progress was slow, and my energy was draining.  Then, Monroe's heart rate started to drop.  A number of different times, the machine would alarm, nurses would rush in, they would give me oxygen, and flip me onto my knees.  At one point they even called my doctor and started prepping the C-section room.  I never panicked because I knew it wouldn't help, but my family was definitely going crazy.

At 11:00 pm, it was finally time to push.  Unfortunately, in between pushes, rather than resting, I was throwing up.  We also found out that I had a hot spot in my epidural.  I could feel everything on my left side.  If they had known earlier, they could have fixed it, but at that point, it was too late.  After only an hour of pushing, my doctor offered forceps.  I quickly agreed.  With one push, I made more progress than I had on all the other pushes combined.  One more push after that, and she was out.

29 hours of labor was not what I had hoped for.  Of course, in the end, it was all worth it.  Monroe is the perfect gift from God, and we thank Him for her.  

Our perfect miracle has arrived

Monroe Elizabeth Runcie

7 lbs 7 oz, 21 inches long

Born at 12:14 am on April 15th

Mommy and Daddy love her so much!