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!

Almost there

I am 39 weeks along as of yesterday.  I don't feel at all like I thought I would at 39 weeks.  I'm not swollen or uncomfortable yet, but that could still be coming.  I had a doctor's appointment today, and I have made no progress in the last three weeks.  I don't want to go early, so I am okay with the lack of progress.   I am going to want to have this baby eventually, though.  The doctor does not want to induce anytime soon, so that is good.  He said I can go one week over for sure, and then we'll have to talk.  As of now, it looks like we'll be holding this baby in two weeks or less.

 

I didn't realize how much I'd grown in the last month until I saw this picture.

Sleeping arrangements

Before we move the beds back, I wanted to get pictures.

A couple months ago Zach moved from our bed to the couch because neither of us were sleeping well.  His constant movement, which previously I didn't notice, was keeping me up.  And, he thought my pregnancy pillow took up too much room.  

Over spring break, though, we were complaining about the sleeping arrangements.  I jokingly suggested that he should move the bed from the spare room into our room.  The next thing I knew he was taking it apart and bringing it in.  Who knew that our room could hold two queen sized beds.  This is how its been for about a month, and we've loved it.  We're going to have to move it back soon, though, so that my family can sleep there when the baby comes.

We're having a baby!

Pregnancy has had its ups and downs.  For the first 11 weeks, Zach had to give me shots in my hip.  The medicine prevented a miscarriage, but the shots were not fun for Zach or me. I was also one of the lucky ones who got morning sickness.  I was sick from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed for 12 weeks.  Even on prescription nausea medication, I threw up everyday from week 7 to week 19.  I was extremely thankful when that ended.  Then pregnancy got fun.  

Zach and I had a continuous debate about whether or not to find out the gender of our baby.  In the end he won, and we decided we would find out.  I had a condition, though.  We were going to find out in a fun way. On the 20th of December we had an ultrasound.  We had the doctor write the gender of the baby down on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope.  We then took it to the bakery and had them make a cake that was either pink or blue on the inside.  Neither of our families knew we were finding out, so it was a surprise for everyone.  We cut into the cake on Christmas morning in front of Zach's family.  Then we put the cake back together and had my parents cut into it that evening.  It was so much fun, and we were completely shocked.

Before we cut into the cake 

Our first glimpse of pink

Everyone's reaction

I am now 35 weeks along.  I have loved feeling her move around and hiccup inside.  Zach has enjoyed watching the "alien" moves.  We have also enjoyed decorating her room.  We are expecting her arrival around April 6th.  We can’t wait to meet her!

20 weeks

25 weeks

30 weeks

35 weeks - almost there