New Pics of Gregor

Hopefully these show up okay. They were taken with Jake's phone, which has a decent camera on it.

He's just so happy and cute! We love him :)

Ebates

For those of you who have never heard of Ebates, this is what it is. It's an online service that gives you cash back for when you shop online. You just need to go through the Ebates website first, and then click to go to the store website. Ebates will give you a certain percentage back! Plus, when you first sign up and use it, they will give you an additional $5.

Go check it out using this link:
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=YNaMqMsnQOdN3bidozISYA%3D%3D

The last six weeks

I've been a slacker with posting pictures lately, more so with taking them. Gregor is growing so quickly and gets cuter every day, I need to be better about recording it!

This is Gregor in his swing soon after we came home from the hospital. It was still a bit chilly in May, so we kept him well bundled :) I have a picture of Jake sleeping in the recliner with Gregor sleeping on his chest, but Jake didn't have a shirt over his garments, so I won't post it. That's usually what I would do in the mornings after feeding Gregor, and we'd both get a nap. Lately, he doesn't take that morning nap anymore, so we're finding a new routine.

This is after we gave Gregor his first sponge bath at home. His hair is curly when it's wet, so naturally Jake gave him a fro. Then add his wide eyes, and it makes for a great picture! He wasn't a huge fan of sponge baths in the beginning, but now that he can be fully submerged in the water, he enjoys bath time.

 He's just so cute!

 My attempt at a family picture because I didn't have one yet. Not very good, but at least it's recorded!

 Just another cute picture.

Chillin with Dad while wearing a very cute outfit! This was taken the beginning of June, so when Gregor was about 3 weeks.

These were taken on Father's Day, Gregor being just over a month old. We were in the car with my parents on our way to my brother Brandon's house for dinner. Gregor fell asleep holding Daddy's finger!

These are when Gregor was 5 weeks old, and he's on the couch attempting to talk to me!

And again chilling with Daddy. Notice how they're in the same position :)

Gregor is so fun! We are enjoying him very much!

Announcing the Newest Bigler...

Jacob Gregor Bigler was born May 15, 2010 at 11:15pm. He was 7 pounds 8 ounces and 19.5 inches long.

Labor began Friday evening around 6pm. Amber noticed her contractions getting a little bit more intense than the normal Braxton Hicks contractions she was used to. They were irregular, however, so she didn't pay too much attention. Later that night around 10pm, contractions started to become more consistent, but with the same intensity. After monitoring for a couple hours at 5 minutes apart, it was time to call the doctor. After assessing my situation, he said to go ahead and come to the hospital. At 1 am, Jake got everything ready to go, put Amber in the car and set off for the hospital. The nurses got us to a room, told Amber to change, and then came back to check her. She was barely dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced - which is what she was that morning at her pre-natal check-up.
One hour later, they came back to check again. The monitors indicated that contractions were now 3 to 4 minutes apart, and the baby's heartbeat was good. However, Amber was now dilated to barely over a 3 and still 80% effaced - not much progress. The nurses decided to wait another hour before making any decisions. After another hour, still just over a 3, and now 90% effaced. However, effacement does not allow admittance to the hospital. Amber and Jake now had to go home with the worry of when to go back to the hospital. (Below is Jake waiting during the hour in-between checks.)

Jake and Amber got home about 4:45am and immediately went to bed. The hospital had given Amber some pain medication that would also help her sleep. She slept for a couple hours before her contractions came back and were more noticeable - still at 3 to 4 minutes apart. However, they weren't any more intense than they had been before. She got up about 8am to walk around and clean up some of the house. About 9:30am, the contractions started becoming more intense and seeming to last a little longer than before. She went and took a bath, which seemed to help some, but there were still a few even the warm water couldn't take away. Then the lower back pain began to settle in with each contraction and would not go away in between. She got dressed, and the contractions became too much. At noon it was decided it was time to return to the hospital. The worse that would happen is she wouldn't progress, and they would send her home again, so why not?
They got to the hospital and checked in. The chief nurse came in to check, and Amber was dilated to a 4! Progress from before, but still borderline for staying. The nurse left and an hour later, Amber's regular nurse Erin came in to check. Amber was now at a 5 and was finally admitted! Erin immediately began to prep for the laboring process and notice the doctor and anesthesiologist since Amber had requested an epidural. Erin got the IV, but couldn't find a good vein to put it in. She tried on the back of the right hand, didn't work and gave Amber a bruise instead. :( Then she tried in the left arm, which didn't hurt as much, but it still didn't work. So Erin went and got another nurse. This other nurse tried in the right arm - didn't work. So they called in the anesthesiologist to do it, and hoorah, it worked. Then Amber was prepped for the epidural and found they're not as bad putting in as she's heard. In 10 minutes, her pain was gone, and she was a lot more calm and relaxed. She was checked again and dilated to a 6. The doctor came in and broke her water to help things along. He predicted the baby would be out around 6 or 7 that evening. The nurse came back in another hour and checked - Amber was at a 9.5! However, it took a bit longer to get that last 1/2 cm than expected, and another worry - the baby was not face down, but facing directly to Amber's left - hence the back pain. Amber was assured he would turn during the birth and with pushing.
The shift change occurred at 6pm, so Amber got a new nurse - Tiffany, who was amazing! Tiffany had Amber begin pushing at 6:15pm to crown the head. As soon as the head crowned, then she could call the doctor to finish the birth. Two hours later, Amber was still pushing and the head still had not crowned. The doctor poked his head in to check on things and told Amber that they don't normally let women push longer than 3 1/2 hours. If that was the case, then we were looking at a possible c-section. Amber tried her hardest with pushing for the next hour, but not much progress had been made. The doctor let her continue to push because the baby was not being stressed. By 9:30pm, there still was not much progress. Jake's parents arrived from Idaho, and Rick and Jake gave Amber a blessing. In the blessing, Amber was assured that the baby would be born the normal way. A new wave of hope settled in the room and Amber was able to continue pushing. They told the doctor they wanted to keep pushing until 10pm and he let them. Still not much progress. The doctor order the epidural be stopped completely (Amber was already not allowed to push the button for the last couple hours). By 10:30pm, a little more of the head was showing, but it wasn't enough. The doctor order petocin be given to Amber because Amber's contractions were beginning to slow down. The doctor stayed in the room at this time to help with the pushing and was prepping for a c-section as well. He allowed Amber to continue pushing for a bit longer. By this time, five people were around Amber to help, and Amber was told the entire nurse staff that evening were cheering for her. Finally at 11:15pm, enough of the head was showing, the doctor performed an episiotomy, and out came Amber's beautiful baby boy, crying and healthy. Amber immediately began bawling with relief and joy and couldn't see her baby through the tears. Jake cut the umbilical cord, and the nurses whisked him to the cleaning station while the doctor attended to Amber. It truly was a miracle!

Now Amber and Gregor are figuring out nursing while Amber's body recovers. It's been such a joy to have Gregor in our home! He's been such a good and content baby and is very patient with his parents.

Oh how wonderful the end of a semester is :)

Today is the second-to-last day of finals at BYU, and Jake is so excited! For one of his classes, Construction Management 105, his final was to build a model of a house from the plans. The house is an actual house in Spanish Fork which his professor designed. Jake worked really hard on it and finished it a couple hours before his final today. Here are the pictures:

The front

The garage

The other side of the house

And the back!
He was so excited to have it done and proud of it. Hopefully his professor feels the same way :)

Updates....

I am now just about 33 weeks along, which is crazy and scary! I have so much to do during that time (i.e. finish my thesis) as well as prepare for the baby's arrival. My baby shower was last weekend, and my friends and family are amazing! I got many clothes, blankets, and miscellaneous baby stuff that I was very grateful for. At my last doctor's appointment, we found that I am definitely gaining enough weight, and our baby's head is down already - yay. I'm not sure if he's facing anteriorly or posteriorly. I was measuring well and healthy, which is always nice to hear.

As far as the job hunt goes, I had another interview with Karl G. Maeser Prep Academy that I felt went fairly well. I really like the environment of the school, and I would also have the opportunity to coach Science Olympiad, which would be a lot of fun for me. They said the next step would be for me to come in a teach a lesson so they can observe me in action, but I haven't heard when that will be yet. Hopefully they haven't found anyone better! Other school districts have not yet posted their available jobs yet, so we're kind of in limbo at the moment, which is frustrating for me. But, I'm trying to be patient and trust that the Lord will provide. In the meantime, I pretend to be productive :)

Free Cookbook!

Go Red With Merck is offering a free cookbook when you answer questions about heart health and diabetes. Go to this website: http://www.goredwithmerck.com/go_red/goredwithmerck/consumer/index.jsp  to play the game and win your prize!

Teacher Fair

So today was the teacher fair at BYU where a lot of districts and schools came to recruit teachers to apply, or at least advertise what they're all about. I was fortunate enough to get one interview out of the fair, and I think it went well - I hope it went well. It was with a charter school in Lindon, Utah. The principal seemed really impressed with the experience I have gained over the last five years, and also that I brought up bringing Science Olympiad to the school. Apparently that's been something they have been looking into, so when I said that I wanted to do that, and I had participated in it myself while in high school, that made him happy. This school used to just be 9-12, and next year they are expanding to letting 7th and 8th graders in as well, so they're definitely looking for more teachers.
I also have a screening interview Monday with Canyons School District (located predominantly in Sandy, Utah). They're not my top pick, but I'm excited for an interview. And this year where there seems so few job openings, even for science, it's hard to be picky.
Please pray for me that I will find a good job for next year. This is really needed for my family!

My new craft table

So generally I have been doing all my cutting and ironing on the floor because we don't have a table for me to do crafts on. Well, being six months pregnant doesn't really allow me to do that comfortably anymore, so I was looking for a decent craft table on craig's list and KSL classified. I found one that was just in Orem, and it looked like a really nice table for only $30. So with Jake's permission and weight lifting skills, we got the table. As you can see in the picture, it is L-shaped and 41" tall (the desk to the right is a standard-height desk). We get back home and discover we can't fit the table through our front door, let alone be able to get it up the stairs. The top portion comes off, so we were able to bring that in, but the rest had to stay outside. Jake spent a few hours trying to see if he could unscrew it in some way to take it apart, and then we would just put it back together inside. However, it's a home-made table (the people we bought it from built it themselves), and not only were the parts screwed together, but also nailed and glued. There was no taking this thing apart unless we completely destroyed it. It was sad. So we decided to put it up for sale and look from something that would fit. I mentioned this to my visiting teacher, and it turned out that her husband (Jake's home teaching companion) does carpentry and the like for work. So they were able to take it to his work and basically cut the table into two pieces and separate the L. I was so excited that I got my table so I don't have to work on the floor as much! My crafts are bit more organized, which makes Jake happy, and now it's a bit easier to maneuver, which will help when we move in May.

I have the bestest friends ever...

In my life these last few months, I have re-realized how grateful I am for wonderful friends who are willing to help me with anything I need or that my husband needs. I don't know what I would do without them. Coming at three in the morning, testing my blood so I don't have to risk passing out in the doctor's office, helping with taxes, and rescuing Jake and me when we were locked out our vehicle. We are just so blessed, and I just wanted to say thanks to all of them!

I love my husband!

Jake is so good to me! He lets me sleep in and tries not to disturb me. He lovingly does the dishes when I'm slacking and puts up with my cooking weaknesses. He's been so great during this pregnancy and coming to all my doctor's appointments with me. He makes me laugh everyday with his weirdness :) I love him with all my heart and am so happy I married him! Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm so crafty.

I just wanted to share some of the crafts I have been working on lately.
The first one is my quilt I began about 5 years ago, and over Christmas, I finally finished the top!

 

Next is a cross-stitched towel for decoration in the someday kid's bathroom.

 

 

Lastly, this is a car-seat canopy that was super-easy to make. It only took me about 2 hours after pre-washing the fabric to finish. If anyone is interested in how I did it, feel free to ask.

And here is what the other side looks like. (Sorry the picture is upside down, but you can still make it out just fine.)

 

The oh so longed for pregnancy picture...

I finally decided to begin a family blog for Jake and I, especially since our family will soon be growing, which we are really excited about. So I'm starting the blog off with my first official pregnancy picture at 25 weeks. Yes, I know, pregnancy is more than half-way done, but you really couldn't tell I was pregnant beforehand. So here is the longed for picture from many friends and family:
This is actually me on a 'fat' day. I'm pretty sure I look smaller today. It's also a fairly tight shirt, which makes me look bigger, but there you go - the baby bump! :)