This is a Good Story

On Thursday October 7, 2010 Owen Matthew Flores Snow arrived into our lives. Here’s the story . . .

At 7:30 a.m. Matt and I woke up and got ready to go to the hospital. I got in the shower and reflected on how much our lives were going to change in a couple of hours. So many emotions came over me . . . excitement, fear, gratefulness, and the list goes on. Luckily, I had packed everything the night before so basically we just had to shower, get ready, and go. We didn’t want to leave Nala all alone in the apartment, so we decided to drop her off at Matt’s parents. Before we left, we said a prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for blessing us and allowing us to be parents to a son we were about to have.

It seemed like we were running a little late, but after dropping Nala off, we arrived at Riverton hospital in perfect time. I had so many things that I wanted to bring up to the hospital. I packed my main bag (of course), my laptop, my camera bag, pillows, and purse, but decided to just bring up my main bag. After walking into the hospital and riding the elevators up, Matt told me he was so excited to use the blue phone to let them know we were here. Matt picked up the phone and calmly said, “We’re here to have a baby”. The doors opened and we walked to the front desk. The lady at the desk was a little shocked that we weren’t in a hurry. I had to explain that I was having a scheduled C-Section.

They walked me into the pre-op room where I had to get into a hospital gown, give them a urine sample and have an IV put in me. The nurse stuck it in the back of my hand. It hurt so bad. They took my temperature, blood pressure, and asked me a ton of questions. I looked at the clock and it seemed like time was racing by. The anesthesiologist and my Dr. came in to prepare me for what was to come. They handed Matt some scrubs (which he looked so cute in). I could tell by the look on his face that he was getting nervous. I kept saying mini prayers in my mind to help comfort the both of us. If anyone knows me, I get super paranoid about things that most likely wouldn’t happen, for example, I was nervous that I wouldn’t make it out alive.

I could hear my family waiting outside. 12:05 pm came and it was time to walk into the operating room. As soon as I entered the room, I could feel the hairs on my arms and neck stand straight up because it was freezing cold! In order for them to put the spinal block in I had to sit on the table, bend over and hold Matt’s hands. I could sense Matt’s nervousness because he was squeezing my hands way too hard. I had to tell him to soften up just a bit. Once the spinal block was in, a warm feeling rushed into my legs. It was like having a heating blanket put on my legs. It felt amazing. About 3-4 minutes after that my legs and stomach were completely numb.

They began cutting me open. It seemed like it took about 5 minutes until they told me they could see and pull the baby’s little butt out. Matt told me he had a cute butt. He started taking a bunch of pictures, and I must say the pictures that he took were pretty good! He got all the pictures that I asked for. His head came out a couple seconds after. The Dr. told me that he’s glad I didn’t deliver vaginally because there was no way that I could push that head out. The Dr. showed him to me for a quick second and at that moment I fell in love. This was my child that I had carried for 9 months, the child that I was so scared of losing throughout my whole pregnancy. Here he was, screaming away. Matt watched the nurses clean him off and weigh and measure him. He weighed 8 lbs and measured 20 inches long.

After sewing me back up, they wheeled me back into the pre-op room for me to breastfeed him and spend time with him before family could come in. It seemed like I had only 5 minutes with him before my family came to meet him. I’m so grateful that Owen is healthy. Matt and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for trusting in us to raise one of his children. We love him so much and don’t know why we didn’t bring him into our lives sooner.

Here are some pictures from that morning.

Can you tell I'm a little nervous?

I love him . . .

Sorry this picture is so graphic, but I think his little butt is so cute.

He was Frank Breech. That's why he has little frogger legs.

The septum that divides my uterus in half was pushed up against his face.

His nose is a little smooshed here. Don't worry, it has straightened out.

Our first family photo

Me and Baby

My Mateo and little Mateo

I still have so many things that I want to write about the hospital stay.

Hopefully I will get to that this week.

37 weeks . . .

and 5 days!
Matt and I went to our weekly Doctor's appointment today and Baby Owen hasn't
budged from the spot that he's been in since early 2nd trimester.
My Doc said that he didn't think that physically turning the baby would be successful,
(because I have that weird shaped bicornuate uterus), so we decided
on doing a C-Section. Before scheduling it though he wanted to make sure the baby
was breech so I had an ultrasound done. I love those! It's like a treat when I get one of
those done. We saw baby Owen and found out that he's Frank Breech.
That's where his feet are all the way up by his head. How uncomfortable!
Oh and I almost forgot to mention that the septum that divides my
uterus in half was pushed up against his cute little face. I felt so bad!
He has no room to move at all!

So . . . the date is set. I will be having my C-Section next Thursday . . .
October 7th to be exact! Aaahhh! I can't believe I will be holding my little one
next week. MOTHER OF PEARL I'M SO EXCITED! There is still so much
that needs to be done and I don't think I have time to do everything.
I wanted to get my thank you cards out, finish this baby blanket that I've been knitting,
clean the crap out of our apartment, organize his clothes, and the list goes on.
My last day to work is next monday so that at least gives me two full days to be productive.

Well that's that, and since a post isn't a post without pictures, I found these while I was working
on my 2010 goal for the year. These were from Halloween of 2005.








Man we were skinny! Looks like diet starts next month!

36 Weeks . . .

and 5 days to be exact.

I had one of my first weekly Dr's appointments today.

It looks like Owen is still breech and most likely if he doesn't turn

in the next week I will probably end up having a C section.

My Dr. says that we will talk about the option of

physically turning him next Monday, but I've heard that

it's kind of dangerous to do that for the baby.

He says that it's also really painful too. . .

Looks like I will be having a C section.

Cake Pops

Yesterday my sister Sheryll came over to help me make cake pops for my baby shower today. Why am I making my own party favors you ask? Well you see, I am OCD and if I could have planned my own baby shower I would have, but that's just weird . . . and annoying.

But aren't they gorgeous? They are so delicious by the way.

For those that aren't familiar with cake pops,

they are basically

what they sound like . . . cake on a stick.

If you want to learn more about them, visit the queen of baking.

My Birth Wig

A lot of people tell me they think Owen will have plenty of hair. Oh how I wish he would! If only he could pop out with gorgeous shiny hair! I'm having doubts that he will though because I haven't had any heartburn lately . . . well, that is until today.

I'm not sure if he's going to take after Matt's side (and be a cute little "whitey" with blue eyes), or after my side (and be a tan little asian man born with a wig). I always tell people I was born with a wig on and I'm not sure they believe me. Here's a picture of me and my wig as a baby. Unfortunately my parents don't have any pictures of me at the hospital (I was the 3rd kid, so it wasn't as important to take pictures of their 3rd kid. j/k).

I'm 35 weeks today! I can't believe how time has gone by so quickly. My Dr. says that

Owen could arrive 3 to 4 weeks early, but he's not certain. He says that he can even go the full 40 weeks. Hopefully he'll stay in until he reaches 40 weeks. The longer the better right?

The furniture from JC Penney hasn't even arrived yet. So basically all I have in

his room is a crib without a mattress. I absolutely hate them! I will

write about how horrible they have been in a later post though.

Until next time. . .

My Maternity Pictures

My sister Sheryll did my maternity pictures a couple weeks ago,
and my sister Yves came to help.
I must say that I am quite pleased with the results.
Most of them are edited by me . . . It was sort of a collaboration.
Here are a couple of shots.

My sister Yves told me to play with my scarf on this one. . .

I didn't quite get what she meant.

It was weird being in front of the camera.

I felt bad because I kept joking around and pulling weird faces.

They were pretty annoyed.

Thanks for putting up with me.

This one hurt like a mother.

The grass was all pokey

and there were spiders crawling all over me.

I think the first one is my favorite.

Thanks Sheryll for wanting to photograph me

even though I was a pain!

I have another photo shoot today and this one will be with Matt and Nala.

So I will post those once I get those back.

The View from up here

So this is probably how people see me.


... but this is what I see


My sister-in-law Tiffany hosted my first baby shower. This shower was for friends, coworkers and some of Matt's family. It was way fun. We had yummy chicken salad sandwiches and pavlova! It was M-A-Zing! I had my sister Sheryll photograph the event so I will post them once I get them back.

Matt was so excited for me to have this shower. I think it's because of all the gifts we would get for baby Owen. He wanted me to look good for it but said that my toes looked like "snaggle toes". He gave me a full on pedicure this morning.
In this picture I'm leaning a little forward so you can actually see my toes. My feet are a little pudgy right now, but didn't he do a great job?

Thanks Lovey! And thanks to everyone that came to my baby shower! I'm so grateful for all of you and am so happy that you guys came to support! You guys are awesome!

33 Weeks

Here's a picture of me at 33 weeks. I feel like the baby is growing so fast. Early in my pregnancy it seemed like my pregnancy was dragging on and that October would never get here, but now I feel like I don't have enough time to get ready for the baby! I really only have 4 weeks until he is full term and our furniture hasn't even arrived. Aahhh!

I've been so busy lately with random projects. My Aunt is having a ward luau and normally I would tahitian dance for them, but seeing that I'm already 8 months pregnant, I don't think it's going to happen. Our good friends Emily, Mari, and Ele are helping us out and are tahitian dancing for us. They are dang good by the way. I've basically just been busy helping out with that. Oh yeah, and I've also been busy knitting a baby blanket for Owen. Knitting is so hard! I love a good challenge (even though I've started over about 5 times).

Anyways, here are some random things I want to remember . . .

baby movement: Owen is moving like crazy. He also gets the hiccups a lot.

stretch marks: I found 3 the other day. I hear that a lot of women get them in the last month of pregnancy, so I figured I am bound to get them. It doesn't bother me though. They just add to all the other stretch marks that are on my butt and my sides.

weight gain: 13 lbs

food cravings: mozzarella cheesesticks from Apollo Burger. I've had them 3 times in the past 6 days. Peach cobbler, pad thai, and diet coke.

heart burn?: Unfortunately no heartburn. I hear heartburn is associated with baby hair. I think my child will be bald. Matt was a bald baby so I'm pretty sure he will take after him.

I think that's it. Until next time.

I Need This

So if anyone wants to buy me this comfy pillow I would be forever grateful.

It's only $168 on amazon.

28 Weeks

Third Trimester Baby! Here's a picture of me last week at 27 weeks. I will be 29 weeks on Wednesday! I can't believe how close I'm getting and that in two months my baby will be full term! My doctors appointment is this wednesday and I am dreading the whole glucose test. Not because I've heard the drink is terrible, but because I eat lots of sweets and am scared I actually might have gestational diabetes.

Matt and I sold our condo in Murray and moved back to our first place we lived when we first got married. We love it so much. It was a pain in the butt moving and unpacking being this far along, but I'm so glad we did.

This Morning

I've been feeling so tired and fat lately that I have been so self conscious about my body. I know I shouldn't be feeling this way because pregnancy is one of the biggest blessings that I think I'll ever get to experience in this lifetime, and I'm so grateful that I get to carry this little one inside my belly and get to bond with him early on. It's weird, because I was telling Matt last week that I love this little guy so much and it's crazy because I haven't even met him yet. I mean, how do you love someone so much that you've never even seen before?

This morning I was getting ready for a big day . . . Matt and Nala's Birthday (That post will come shortly). I was doing my hair in my towel like I always do every morning, and today Matt looked at me and told me I looked really pretty. I was shocked, because I definitely did not feel pretty. My sister Sheryll is also a photographer and we both basically take pictures for granted. We both have been planning on doing my maternity pictures this month, but haven't gotten around to it. Matt said he wanted to do some of me, so I basically got my camera out and put it on the right settings and let him shoot away. Here's a sneak peak from my fancy little photo shoot this morning. Thank you honey buns! I love you!

Matt said the only thing he wants to change about this is where it says "gianne snow photography". He says it should be "matt snow photography". Please! I put it on the right settings and edited them! Anyways, I love how you can see Matt in the top right of the picture. It's kind of artsy with a mix of stalker in it. j/k. This is our first professional family picture all together!

Matt's and Nala's Bday is today and our Anniversary is Tuesday! We have a busy week this week!

Funny Story

So at work my coworker and I were heading back to our department from a meeting we just had, and decided to take the elevator back to our desks. On the ride down we stopped at 2 different floors, and picked up about 8 people on the way. So all in all, there were about 12 people in this tiny crammed elevator! Normally it wouldn't feel like a big deal to me, but lately I've been so claustrophobic. I think it's a pregnancy thing. Anyways, at work I like to lug around this gigantic water bottle that I bought at Target (It seriously is huge!) As I was waiting in the elevator to get to my floor, I looked down and noticed that there was this huge puddle of water that I was standing over. Apparently my trusty water bottle had leaked and no one (but me) had noticed. When I realized what had happened, I yelled out "Oh crap! Is that me?!" And at that moment, you could see everyone's frightened faces, and when I say "frightened", I mean eyes widen, jaws drop, some guy even stuck out his hands towards me as if I were going to fall or something. When I realized what was going on and why they were acting like that, I just kept waiving my water bottle around in the air like a crazy maniac and yelling "NO, NO! WATER BOTTLE! NO!" I was so embarrassed! Once we got to our floor, I hurried out and realized that it would be rude if I didn't clean the puddle up. I kind of just mumbled that I would come back and clean it up, but my coworker said he had it under control and swooshed the water around with his feet. He hurried out and the elevator doors shut.

23 Weeks

Here's a picture of my belly at 23 weeks. I don't know why, but it doesn't look very accurate. I know for sure my belly is much bigger, but it doesn't come across that way in the picture. I was even constipated at the time too. I think it has something to do with my striped shirt. Hmmm.

My sister Sheryll went to Seattle to see her brother-in-law graduate from High School. While she was there she picked up this cute little onesie at an art store. I love it! It's got a camera on it! How cool is that? He's going to be my cute little photography assistant! I'm so excited to dress him in this when he gets bigger!

Here's a fun little survey for my blog book.

How far along?: 23 weeks and 5 days!

Weight Gain?: 4.5 lbs (I lost a bunch of weight during my first trimester)

Stretch Marks?: Not yet, but I know I'm doomed to get them. Doomed I say! Doomed! It runs in my family, and I have a couple from when I went through um . . . you know . . . puberty and stuff.

Maternity Clothes?: I've bought a couple of shorts and a shirt from A Pea in a Pod and JC Penney. I also bought some from Target and love them. I have this amazing little stretchy elastic item that Matt got me that I can put over my jeans that I can't button anymore. I love it. I definitely need more clothes though!

Food Cravings?: Let's just say everything! I would list everything, but it would be like 2 paragraphs long, so I'll just list the main things. Arby Sauce, Spumoni, Broccoli, Tangelos (It sucks I can't find them anymore), Anything my mom cooks, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apples (Jonagold only), Awesome Blossom (from Texas Roadhouse), brownies, and the list goes on.

Movement:? Crazy movement! I can feel him kicking, punching, adjusting his position, maybe hiccup (but not so sure he's hiccuping or just kicking). Last week his head was like poking out of my belly! There was this super hard round spot that Matt and I could literally see.

Name?: Owen for right now. We aren't 100% certain. We are still deciding on his middle name.

What I miss?: I miss not feeling tired all the time. I really really miss rollerblading. Matt and I used to rollerblade almost every single day at Liberty Park last summer.

Belly Button?: Still an "innie". I think it might just pop out any day though. I should take a picture of my belly button everyday and make a fast picture video so I can watch it pop out! That would be so funny.

What I'm looking forward to?: Of course getting to hold Owen in my arms and rock him to sleep.

Milestone?: Making it to 6 months! Go me!

Where did my butt go?

This is my pregnant belly at 21 weeks. I feel like I've exploded since my last belly shot. So far I've gained 6 lbs. Aaahhh! My body is definitely transforming. I swear my arms have gained 3 lbs each, and all my weight from my butt somehow maneuvered it's way into my belly. I lost my butt! Where did it go?! But I have to say that even though my body has changed and will continue to change, I wouldn't give it up for anything. Matt and I are so lucky to have this baby and we are both so excited to add on to our family.

Matt felt the baby kick the other day. It wasn't just one kick, but it was like 5 in a row. Matt was so excited, and I was excited for him. He keeps asking me what it feels like, and the only way that I can explain it is that it feels like there's a baby inside me (helpful, I know).

We're having a . . .

Matt and I have known the sex of our baby for a while now, but I just haven't had time to write about the exciting news. We've known for a little over a month now. I found out at week 16 by going to Fetal Studios at South Towne Mall. The sonographer there was so great! He's actually a real doctor in Russia. I will definitely go back to him for my second child.

Matt and I had this really cute idea of revealing the baby's gender with all of our family, but we were way too excited to even wait. We actually didn't find out at Fetal Studios. The doc put the pictures in an envelope and Matt and I opened the envelope together back at home (well actually, Matt let me open the envelope first, so I knew before him). He's so great!

We both video taped our reactions, but unfortunately I don't have the cord to upload the video onto my macbook, so I'll for sure post it later on. Matt's reaction was priceless. When I told him what we were having, his eyes just filled up with tears and you could see the happiness in his face. I however looked like a spaz.

Here's a couple pictures of our little baby. Isn't he the cutest? I know that all baby's look the same at this stage in their life, but isn't he the cutest baby you've ever seen? He definitely has Matt's lips. Look at him pucker up for the camera! I think he wanted a picture of himself giving me a kiss (cheesy, I know).

And here's a picture of his genitalia! Isn't it cute? j/k. I'm totally kidding! Don't report me, I'm not like that.

Here are a couple pictures from my last OB appointment. He's grown lots!

A cute profile pic.

A cute picture of his nose and puckered lips. He was giving me a kiss again! I think he has my asian nose.

More genitalia! Please don't think it's weird that I'm posting this. I just want to have everything on here for the blog book I'm making at the end of the year.

So that's that. Until next time.

Baby Bump?

I had my second OB appointment this morning. I've been waiting for this day for forever! Mateo came with and we drove all the way to Riverton to see the doctor. I loved this appointment. This time they didn't stab me with needles and give me a surprise papsmear. All I had to do this morning was pee in a cup! I'm getting pretty good at it too! I hate to admit this, but normally it's just a mess. Boys have it so easy. The doc went over my blood work from before, answered some questions that I had, and listened to the babys heartbeat.

It wasn't the first time that I listened to the baby's heartbeat, but it's still so weird to me. It's like there's an actual person in my stomach. I've heard old wives tales about how if your babys heartbeat is above 140 it's most likely a girl, and if it's below 140 it's most likely a boy. The babys heartbeat was at 155 and I've had a feeling from the very beginning that baby snow will probably be a girl, but we'll see at my next appointment. I'm probably wrong but won't know until 4 weeks. It seems like an eternity that I have to wait. I'm probably going to do the whole Fetal Fotos thing and find out in 2 weeks, but I've heard it's not 100% accurate.

Well that's that, and since a post isn't a post without a picture, I thought I'd show what my belly is looking like these days. I don't know if that's a baby bump, or the Korean Barbeque that I had before this was taken . . . let's just say for now that this is my baby bump. :)