Monday, May 30, 2011

Crazy thing called love

Many of you know that I'm very happily married to my husband Joshua, but what do you really know about our marriage? Well lets start with the begining.
I first met Josh in highschool. We had been in the same school/grade since 3rd grade but I barely met him when we were seniors in high school! That September we met at a football game while my best friend and I went down to the snack bar to get a drink. He was so adorable and shy when we first met. After that we became friends on myspace. We became really good friends until we started becoming serious in Jan/February of 2006. I seriously think we talked all the time. We talked the first thing before school, during lunch, after school and at night. lol, I guess you can say we were inseperable :D
I think I knew things were serious was when I got really sick in May. Things weren't feeling right with me so I told my mom to take me to the dr. I had lots of dark throwing up, major cramping, and periods of extreme weakness. This couldn't have come at a worse time, because the prom was only days away but The dr thought it would be best to check into the hospital to get me checked out. I was terrified because I had never had surgery or ever stayed over night at the hospital. Well after being turned into a human pincushion the dr told me that I had a mass the size of a grapefruit on my ovary. I didn't know what to think or feel about that! luckily I had Josh and my family there to make me feel better. The mass turned out to be an ovarian cyst. It caused lots of pain, but at least it wasn't cancerous! The whole time Josh was there bringing me coloring books, food, and stuffed animals. The best part about this was that the dr released me just in time to go to the prom! After prom things became real because Josh was leaving to BMT in July! That meant that we had 1 1/2 months to be together before he left.
We spent all of June just hanging out at my house with my pets and just having fun. In July Josh proposed to me before he left to basic traning! He got down on one knee and presented me with the prettiest heart engagement ring! :D That was a bittersweet day because I was so happy about the commitment but sad that he had to leave me for 6 weeks! While Josh was at BMT, I wrote him a letter everyday that he was there. Even when nothing exciting happened I still wrote. Finally all the letters became a reality when I finally got to see him at his graduation in September! We only got to be together for 2 days, but it was all worth it. I was so proud to see him in his uniform. He looked so different, but I had to get used to this new look because he would not go back to the boy with the long hair and baggy clothes. After those 2 days he left to his tech school in Mississipi. I saw him for 2 days again and then had to leave him [again]. He had to now leave for the second portion of his school in California. Time passed and now it was time for Christmas! Luckily he had 3 weeks of vacation! We spent all the time together taking pictures and just hanging out like we would before he left. Then we decided to get married on January 1st 2007. In the military you don't always have time to plan wedding like the movies you just do what feels right. We were so happy to be married on New Year's Day, because it was symbolic that it was a new year and new adventures. After we got married we spent the next day hanging out as happy as can be because I knew that the following day would bring sadness with a see you in a few months. He left 2 days after we got married to finish school. When he came back in March we were getting ready to PCS to our first duty station in ND. After that we've been together ever since. The rest is just history :]

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

11 things in 2011

When everyone starts the New Year we all want to better ourselves or make goals to conquer.
What are 11 things you want to do in 2011?

Here are mine [in no particular order]:
1. Get out of Minot.
2. Start on college courses
3. Get a bike and attempt to ride it 3-4 times a week
4. Take AJ to Disneyland!!
5. Sell some photography
6. Grow my hair out until it reaches my elbow..lol
7. Get 2 tattoos
8. Learn 12 new recipes
9. Audition for a symphony
10.Take AJ and Mocha on more walks.
11.Take a picture of a celebrity

Hiatus

As my life sort of starts gettting back to normal I return to blogging about the holidays. It's been a few months since I've done any writing and I really miss it.

Let me recap on what went on while I was away.

Well, November consisted of food and fun. We had my sister fly in from Texas to spend Thanksgiving with us. It was a pretty low key holiday in which we had; ham, mashed potatoes, veggies, and of course pumpkin pie. Azura tried her first solids then. She really seemed to like the green beans and pie. When we were taking pictures of her she did a sneaky peak and dove into the pie. Ever since then she has been doing that with pie or cake. lol. After that, we even decided to do some black friday shopping at Walmart. There were some good deals on toys and my sewing machine. But We ran into some jerk that was talking about kids. I wanted to punch his lights out. I would understand if Azura was being bad and crying, but she was sound asleep the whole time!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

City of lights

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you visit?

That's EASY for me...I'd chose Paris, France.


I'm soooo drawn to that place, and I have no idea why. I love the music, their language, their desserts [yum!], cheese & bread, and the movies! Everyone always disses Paris, but I would def. love to visit before I die.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The date

Today was an interesting day. It was our first "official" date since we have had our baby! Let me say, it was a bittersweet begining.

We dropped off Azura with our really good friend Sonja and quickly headed into town. I cried as soon as we walked out of her house not because I don't trust her, because I trust her like I would family, but it was our first time leaving her! She is only 10 weeks afterall!
When we headed into town we treated ourself to a quiet lunch at the Hibachi Grill & Buffet. It was nice not to take turns eating, and to actually take our time eating. The food was great and the atmostphere was nice and peaceful. After eating, we went to the mall to walk around and kill time before the ice skating rink opened. When it was time we headed to the rink to go skate. Josh and I have never tried ice skating so it was a really new and fun experience for us. It was really funny because there was little kids around 5 and 10 that were skating circles around us [showoffs] lol! I was having a hard time skating so Josh went to get me a helping thing, I looked like a grandma! But Josh took to the ice very fast which was nice to see. We spent a good 45 minutes there and then we decided to head home to see our bean. After chit chatting for a bit we went home to snuggle with Azura. It was great to see how happy and tired she was from watching Addyson and the pups run around.

All in all, we had a wonderful "first date" as parents. I'm very lucky to have an amazing friend like Sonja that I trust my angel with.

Monday, October 18, 2010

azura joy

I like to document special moments in my life because my grandmother [may she rest in peace] had alzheimer's and I know how heartbreaking it was to witness her not remember her children, grandchildren, and other memories of her past. If I happen to be given that hand in life I'd like to read back on these memories.
Anyway...
As many of you may know, Josh and I are proud parents to a little girl named Azura Joy. But what you may not know are the details of the very day she was born.

My family was in town and we were all having a great time showing everyone the sites around Minot and Base. That Friday we had rented a car so we could go to the State Fair and everywhere together in one car. Since everyone thought Azura would be early we thought having an extra car would be great for just in case. Well the weekend passed and no baby. It was time to turn in the rental and head back to base to be lazy. Well it was late in the evening and some of us decided to go to the gym. I had second thoughts about going because I was pretty tired from walking around the State fair, mall, and other places they had me walking to induce labor. Something told me to go, and I did. I walked a few laps around the track and then decided to check out a basketball to shoot some hoops with my Dad, sister and Josh. We played for about 30 minutes and headed home. I remember we got back in time for the news, and we watched it. I started to get a little pain, but didn't really think much of it. So I told everyone i was going to turn in early because I was just exhausted. Before hitting bed, I was going to take a shower when all of a sudden I started to get more "cramps". I told Josh that I was getting contractions and they were getting really close together. It was weird because everyone told me that I would have a LONG labor and contractions would be murder. When I got the pain I would describe it as bad monthly cramps. There was a shocked feeling on our faces, because we knew that it was time and time was coming FAST. So he told me to finish showering and he would tell my parents to get ready. As I finished, everyone else was preparing to go. My dad said he was not going to go because he was going to stay with my little sister. I begged Josh to tell them to go, and he finally did. We all bundled into the Tracker and headed towards the hospital. As we headed into town we called the hospital to let them know that I was in labor, they were going to page my doctor. The contractions were getting stronger and I was growing more nervous because it was finally sinking in that I was going to be a mommy within the day! When we got to the hospital they told us to head to the maternity ward [3rd floor]. Immediately they checked me in to a labor/delivery room and checked me over. They asked me questions and got my vitals which were all good. Then it was time to check my cervix. I was waiting to hear 5 cm, at the most. When the nurse yelled out "We have 8cm and a bulging bag" I went pale in the face. My heart sank because I knew that I wasn't going to get the pain medication I had my heart set on. lol. I wanted an epidural, but since I was so far a long they told me it was too late. All they could give me was some IV medication , nubane. Since I didn't know what to expect, I took it anyway. To make this night even crazier, they told me my doctor would not be there to deliver my baby! That is the worst possible news to hear. You have a bond with the doctor that cared for you for 8-9 months and then some complete stranger will deliver you first baby. I went even more pale. What else could go wrong? Well, the OB they gave me was terrible. She was arguing with the nurse that I was only 6cm and to give me an epidural, and it went back and forth until she checked again and said "oh wait, she is 8cm, let's break the water and get baby out." I freaked out because for a moment she toyed with my emotions by saying i could get my epidural. On top of that, she had the nerve to bring in an intern doctor! So I basically had 2 hands constantly checking my cervix, touching babies head, etc. It was very annoying. As soon as my water broke the contractions got even harder. It was still tolerable, but the pushing feeling came and I got scared. Like a lot of people say, it does feel like you have to use the restroom. I pushed for a really long time [around 45 min]. It was great when they told me they saw her head, that made me push harder. When finally she was out and I heard her cry. I cried because it was worth all the trouble I'd been through that night! The nurses put her on my chest and I saw the angel from heaven, Azura Joy. She looked at me with her big, beautiful eyes and gave her the biggest hug! They took her away to get her vitals and Daddy and Grandma went to be with her. I wanted it that way. Then I was left to get stitched up. I heard it was a really quick process, but when you have an intern doing it it takes forever! I was in so much pain from the delivery and this woman taking her time stitching me up. When she finally finished with me they cleaned me off and let my family come in to see me. It was great to see everyone in the room, even the little angel was wheeled in too! The sad thing was that I didn't get to hold her because my blood pressure was dropping to really dangerous levels and I was shaking uncontrollably. Even with blankets, I just couldn't stop shaking. I don't know what they put in my IV, but whatever it was helped the shaking go away slowly. I had to see my baby through my husbands hands because I was too weak to hold her. After that, I waited to be put into a recovery room. When it was time to go into one, they gave me more bad news. I had to share a room! I really thought that the experience couldn't get worse, but I was wrong. Honestly, I didn't mind so much that I had to share a room with someone else. The thing that bothered me was that we shared a bathroom. I was ready to leave the darn hospital as soon as I heard that, but I had to stay! Luckily I didn't have to share the room too long, she was leaving in a few hours. As soon as I got into bed they gave me something to eat and surprise surprise..Azura is wheeled in! As excited as I was to see her I really needed rest. They just left her there and said have fun! lol. Thanks, I hadn't slept since Sunday night and it was already Tuesday morning! It was a long morning I had with my little one. Luckily she was really good for me! My husband came back with my mom and sister and they helped watch her while I got some rest. The rest of the night I got more rest. The next day flew by too, with my family visiting on and off. We were ready to go home but the doctor advised us to stay until Thursday. Come Thursday I packed all my bags. I was ready to get out of the hospital and be home with my family. That morning we waited to be discharged. It was funny that AJ got dismissed before I did. lol. That's because the day before I was already being released without her. It made no sense. Anyway, the finally dismissed me and Josh and Grandpa were ready to take their girls home. Josh pulled the car around while my dad and I brough Azura to the car. We got in the car and didn't look back. By the time we got home I was exhausted and ready to stay in bed. Everyone ooed and awed at the baby while I rested, which was amazing! The next few weeks we watched her start to smile, coo, work her neck muscles, eat bottles like crazy, and suck her paci. Now she is 2 months old!
All in all, my labor was an interesting experience. I hope to never forget it, as crazy as it was! I labored for 3 hrs and had the most beautiful girl!





Azura Joy Rodriguez
August 3, 2010
3:53 am