Swine Flu?

On Thursday Brendan told me our next door neighbor had the swine flu and he wanted to move Hazel and I up to his parent's house for a few days. I told him we would be fine as long as we didn't come in contact with the neighbor. Later Thursday night while I was sleeping I started to get the chills. I had them for an hour and a half and could not get warm. Brendan tried to put lots of blankets on me, but my whole body was shaking. I had a fever of 102 and my body ached. Brendan was worried I had the swine flu and wanted to take me to the emergency room. He called the emergency room and asked if the baby could get the swine flu from me. Someone told him she could get it through my breast milk. This really concerned me because I needed to feed my baby. I called my mom (it was 4 a.m. in California so I'm sure she was a little concerned to hear the phone ringing) and asked about feeding Hazel. She said she had never heard of such a thing. Brendan called his mom and she called a nurse who said it was fine to breast feed, but I should cover my mouth so I didn't breathe on her. The rest of the night Brendan and Hazel slept in the living room. Whenever I needed to feed Hazel I washed my hands a put a face mask on and Brendan brought her to me. Then Brendan would take her back. It was terrible.

The next day Brendan took me to urgent care to have a flu test. I tested negative for both A and B, so he said it was viral. He gave me a prescription for something strong, but Tylenol works fine for me. I've never been to the doctor for the flu, but I was worried because Hazel is only three weeks old. I kind of felt dumb because I'm sure they get lots of people who have the flu and freak out and think it's the swine flu. I wouldn't have normally gone in but I needed peace of mind. I guess I only had the 24 hour flu because luckily I feel fine now.

Baby Blessing

Even though Hazel is only 2 weeks old we did her baby blessing on Sunday. It was the best time for all of our families to be here together. It was also Brendan's mom's 60th birthday. Brendan's sister flew in from Seattle with her two kids, and Brendan's brother flew in from Dallas. Both my parents came and out of all 11 kids in my family 8 of us were in town for the blessing. Brendan planned a fun weekend. On Friday everyone went kayaking down the Provo river. On Saturday we went up to Brendan's grandparent's cabin and had a big BBQ. The nieces and nephews had a great time. On Sunday after the blessing we had a BBQ up at Brendan's parent's house. It was a fun filled weekend.


Hazel Mae Rowland.

Up at the cabin Brendan took the nieces and nephews for a ride in the mule.


My mom and dad at the cabin.

Brendan's dad and brother cooking at the BBQ.

Our nieces and nephews after the blessing.

Brendan's mom with our nephew Montgomery.

My aunt Jolene, my mom, my sister Breeze, and I at the BBQ.

Brendan, Hazel, and I.

Brendan and Hazel.

Birth Story

Some people wanted to know how my birth went, so I'll briefly share. I took the day off of work on Thursday, May 28, because it was field day and I didn't want to be out in the hot sun. I also had a doctor's appointment because I was a week overdue. At my doctor's appointment they did a non stress test and then an ultra sound. Everything looked fine. They said I had plenty of amniotic fluid, in fact I had so much they said my baby was swimming. As they did my non stress test I was having a few small contractions. I was dilated to a 4 and was 70% effaced.

When I got home from my appointment I noticed I was having contractions every 5 minutes, but they weren't very strong. This was around 5 p.m. I called my instructional assistant and made sure she could sub for me at work the next day. I was kind of sad because it was the last day of school. I also called my doula and gave her the heads up that I was going into labor. I labored the whole night which made me exhausted. I tried to sleep between contractions, but it was only 5 minutes. At 5:15 a.m. I was laying in bed having a contraction when my water broke. I woke Brendan and we went to the hospital. I got to the hospital around 5:30 a.m. I was dilated between 6 and 7 cm and was 90% effaced when I arrived. I then had Hazel at 10:30 a.m.

I did everything naturally. The hardest part was pushing. I pushed for 50 minutes, and it seemed like forever. I was very pleased with how everything went. I really liked my midwife, and it was great to have Brendan and the doula helping me while I labored.

Baby Hazel!

Hazel Rowland was born on May 29 at 10:31 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and is 20.75 inches long. We haven't picked out a middle name yet. I will update more info about her birth and more pictures later.