My husband (Hercules) and I were married August 25, 2010. It was such an amazing day. There is nothing better then getting married to your best friend.
We planned on it just being the two of us, getting through school and Hercules getting through the military...But mid September we found out we were expecting a little addition to our tiny family! We of course were excited but terrified because this was not part of our plan and we didn't know the first thing about being parents! We felt totally unprepared. But as time went on I realized we would never be dealt something we couldn't handle.
Hercules left for basic training in Fort Leonardwood, MO on November 9, 2010. It was one of the hardest nights of my life. We hadn't been apart for more then a few days up until this point. Add the pregnancy hormones and I was a wreck. Luckily, Hercules got to come home for Christmas Exodus on December 19th and on December 21st we found out we were having a girl! We were so excited!
After 2 weeks home Hercules had to leave again, it would be another few weeks until I would see him again, but in February 2011 my mom and I went to Missouri and saw Hercules graduate and become an official U.S. soldier! It was such a great moment! The time we spent together was bittersweet because I knew we only got to see each other for a few hours before he had to leave again. His next stop.. Fort Huachuca, AZ. Fort Huachuca is about 15 miles north of the Mexican border. This is where he did is advanced training and I didn't know when I would see him again or if he would even be home for the birth of our little girl.
Turns out I did get to visit him in April for a couple days but after that weekend I knew I couldn't travel anymore because I was due in just a few weeks.
We knew we had to plan my labor around a weekend if we wanted any hope of Hercules coming home for it. This turned out to be much harder then we thought. At the hospital Iwas going to you cannot induce labor before 40-42 weeks so we were kind of out of luck there. So I took it into my own hands. (no judgement please) after trying everything, I finally bit the bullet and drank castor oil. I promise it's just as nasty as they tell you BUT, it worked! I started labor Thursday May 12, 2011 and went to the hospital around 7:00am. My mom and best friend Kenzie came along and then started the chaos... In military training you are not allowed to keep your cell phone on you at all. Thankfully just the day before Herc's SGT let him check his phone between classes until the baby came. So we called and called and left message after message and finally he called back.
He was told he had about 10 minutes to get back to the barracks and pack and make a shuttle (the only shuttle) up to Tucson. He made it to the Tucson airport but then had to wait for the next flight at 3:00pm.(4:00 Utah time) I was dilated to a 10 at around 2:00 and the Dr. said he would try and wait but couldn't promise I would make it and that if it started getting too dangerous we would have to proceed with or without Herc. Herc was on standby for his flight and was #6 in line for one seat. Thankfully everyone gave up the seat for him.. I'm sure the uniform didn't hurt his cause :). Well his flight landed 20 minutes early around 7:40pm and my hairdresser/family friend/lifesaver picked him up and drove incredibly fast to the hospital where Herc arrived at 8:00 and little baby girl arrived at 8:22pm.. Thank goodness for early flights and speeding! Hercules made it just in time! Little Lila Drew Hercules was here, at 6lbs 9oz and 19 inches long!
After the best weekend of our lives Hercules once again had to leave but near the end of June he graduated his advanced training and was on to the next phase of language training in Monterey, California. This time I got to join him so I moved on June 30th!
In August Lila got very sick with a Urinary Tract Infection. This was one of the scariest times of my life. She had a temperature of 103 and had to stay in the hospital for two days. She had an IV and was just so helpless. Turns out UTI's are not at all common in babies and we had to have 2 tests done. An ultrasound and test called a VCUG which is where they inject a dye into the bladder and see if there are any problems. After these tests we found out she has what's called Vesicoureteral Reflux. Which means the tubes from her bladder to her kidneys didn't form correctly and the urine backflows back up into her kidneys. This makes them more prone to infection and every time there is an infection it severely damages the kidneys. It is graded 1-5 and she has a 2 on the right and a 4 on the left. She will most likely have to have surgery within the next year to correct the problem. For now she's on long term antibiotics but other then that she is healthy and the happiest baby I've ever seen so for that we are grateful!
Anyway, here we are starting a new year and getting by. We move back to Utah in February! We are so excited to be back with family and friends yet sad to leave the ocean scenery and great weather.
I promise future blog posts will be much much shorter. And if you actually made it through this post I salute you!
Thanks for reading :)
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