Hiatt Twins have arrived - August 22, 2013

We have become parents and this is the story of how our lives changed forever...

I was pregnant for 38 weeks and 1 day by the time our sweet babes were born. The week leading up to their birth we tried EVERYTHING to induce labor. All the old wives tales are crap! Nothing worked for me. I was quite large, as you can imagine, and extremely uncomfortable by the end. At my 37 week appointment my belly was measuring at 45cm and I was 80% effaced and dilated to 2cm. We were anxiously waiting the big day. I swear, it took forever for that week to go by...

Since I was showing no signs of labor, my doctor advised us to get induced. I was ready by that point. My scheduled induction date was for Aug. 21, 2013 at 7AM. Of course, as you can imagine, I couldn't sleep the night before because I was SO excited! I was finally going to become what I had been dreaming about all these years. A mom. Oh, how I was ready. So we (Brint) woke up that morning and called the hospital for them to tell us that they were full and that they would call us when we could come in. I was bummed but allowed myself to get dressed, try to relax, and just enjoy the last remaining minutes I had with just the two of us. FINALLY the hospital called around 6:30PM informing us that the time had come! We were ready! 

 Once we got all checked in and ready, we got to enjoy ourselves and try to get the babies here! They hooked me up to Pitocin and it helped a little. So they knocked it up a few notches and slowly my progression increased. At around 9PM I started feeling some really strong contractions. I debated with myself how long I wanted to continue before asking for my epidural. I then came to the conclusion that since I didn't sleep the night before, having the epidural now wouldn't be a bad idea since I would be able to relax and sleep a little before the babies were born.

WRONG! Man-oh-man... I don't know what happened but sleep did not happen that night. I was shaking and trembling like crazy. I couldn't relax. Which was keeping me from progressing. By this time I had been in labor for about 5 hours and was dilated to 4cm... I felt like I was getting nowhere. I was starving, freezing, and exhausted. By around 7:30AM the new nurses came in and checked me and once they left I just broke down. Brint came and just held me... guess what, I was finally able to relax and rest in his arms. He is truly my strength and I don't know what I would have done without him there with me. At around 10:30ish Dr. Huish came in to check and and told me I was close and that he'd be back soon. He was right, at noon he came back and said "it's GO TIME!" That was the best news. This is us as they were setting up the room for delivery. We were ready to become parents and meet our sweet angels! 

Once I got the GO to push I pushed about 10 times and then at

12:30pm Rudger Thomas was born 

weighing 7lbs 2oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. 

 The moment I saw him I was in love. Then that first time when they place your newborn babe on your chest is something you can't describe in words. Those feelings are feelings I will cherish forever.

They gave me one contraction to catch my breath and then the nurses took Rudger because now it was time for little sister to come. After 2 good pushes she made her debut! 

12:36PM LaRee Joyce was born

weighing 5lbs 5oz and was 19 inches long

 My sweet little princess has arrived. I couldn't stop smiling...

They were absolutely perfect! My heart was so full. We were now parents to two beautiful children and we truly felt the Spirit that day.

LaRee

Rudger

 Daddy got to go and assist in measuring them and gave them lots of kisses in the process...

Rudger (left) & LaRee (right)

First family photo

absolute bliss

 Once the babies were all cleaned up and ready, there is this time called the "Golden Hour" where the staff leaves and allows you one whole uninterrupted hour to spend with your baby and allow time for skin-on-skin contact. I could have done this all day. Those quiet moments were my favorite. They sure loved snuggling with daddy too. I loved watching this take place. These babes have the best daddy. He loves them so much it brings so much joy to my heart watching him attend to them.

The staff came back and got everything cleaned up and got us ready to be transferred to our room. We of course, had our cheering section outside DYING to come and meet their grand babies for the first time. These three couldn't keep the smiles off their faces! 

 After 15 hours these beauties were here. We couldn't feel more blessed than we do now. I truly can't imagine either one of them not being part of our lives. They are our sweet little miracles.

August 22, 2013 

Rudger & LaRee Hiatt

Best Day of the Year

December 31, 2012
I remember this day as if it was yesterday. We were sitting by the phone waiting for the call from our doctors office to say whether In Vetro had worked or not.

REWIND:
Dec. 13, 2012 - Egg Retrieval Day
This was a crazy day. My fist ever surgery. I was so nervous, excited, scarred, and emotional. We went into the hospital that morning full of hope. The medications that I had been taking were working. I was already developing many mature eggs and from that, we were hopeful. :)

Getting ready for the retrieval - Dec. 13, 2012

 They were able to retrieve 15 eggs that day. We were so excited. Then we found out that out of those 15, 12 were mature. Now it was the waiting game for the eggs to be become embryos and become fertilized. Out of the 12 eggs 7 of the became fertile and 5 of them made it to a main stage. We were still happy to know that we have at least 5 chances of having a baby. We were planning to freeze what ever was left so that just in case we needed to go through this process again, that we would be able to skip ahead.

Dec. 18, 2012 - Transfer Date
This was the day! The embryos would be transferred into my uterus and we would then wait (patiently) to see if they stuck. (crossing our fingers, toes, arms, legs, and anything else) We went in that morning discussing how many embroys we'd like them to transfer. One, two.... did we want to take the chance of them splitting and becoming multiple babies. So many decisions. We ended up deciding on two.

We then found out that out of the 5 embryo's that made it to the final stage, only 2 had survived and they were of Fair condition. Immediately my heart was heavy and I couldn't control my emotions. Tears started streaming down my face as the doctor was explaining to us the different conditions. There was Good, which was an ideal embryo. Fair, which was OK but poor quality, and then there was Poor, which is not the best case scenario and they would recommend placing more than one embryo.

So both of our embryos that had made it were Fair. Since there were only two that had made it the doctor recommended that we place both of them in and pray that one of them stick. This was probably the most emotional day for me. My hopes were so high thinking of the outcome of all of the work we had put in getting to this point and then just like that you're told that your eggs aren't the best quality and that it's likely that they could or could not stick.

After the transfer was complete I was on strict bed rest for about a week and then light duty for 2 weeks. It was almost Christmas and Brint's family had come out for the holiday. I wasn't able to do much of the active activities which was hard for me since I knew it was going to be our last 'vacation' in Hawaii since we would be leaving back to AZ shortly after they left.

FAST FORWARD:

Dec. 31, 2012
We had the opportunity to find out if we were pregnant while the family was out there, but we decided to wait until they all left and find out alone. We didn't want to ruin the vacation for everyone if we found out that we weren't and it would have just made it that much harder. So once everyone left I had called my doctors office to let them know we were ready for our results.

We waited eagerly for the phone to ring... I don't think I even set my phone down between that hour while we were waiting for them to call us back. The phone call finally came....

We're PREGNANT!!!!  

Shout for JOY! Brint and I held each other and cried for a long while. Our wishes, dreams, and prayers had finally been answered. We were overjoyed and speechless. Oh. My. GOSH!!! We're finally having a baby!!!! HOORAY!

Aloha, Hawaii.....

Our final days are here. I can't believe it... our adventures on the islands are coming to an end. We're on to bigger and better things. People keep asking us if we're excited, ready, sad, nervous, etc. The answer to all those questions is YES! We are extremely excited to start this next chapter of our lives together. For the future adventures and for what is to come. However, there will always be a part of our hearts here in Hawaii. There have been so many things that we have grown to love and cherish while living here. Those things are what we are sad to leave behind. Along with the great friends that we've made.

I will always remember the summer of 2009 when we were trying to decided if the University of Hawaii law program was the right choice for us. I remember going back and forth one night for a couple hours and making our pro's and con's list trying to make a final decision. See, I knew this was where we were suppose to be. I felt so right about the decision. (not just because it was Hawaii and I could lay at the beach any time I wanted...) But Brint had a dream to go to Duke Law and when he didn't get accepted he was crushed. So he wasn't ready to change that dream. He fought the decision to come here. Wanted to wait to try and get into Duke again. But he soon got his answer... Hawaii was the right choice for us. We had 3 1/2 weeks to get everything together and move to Hawaii before the school year started. (it was insane!!)

After our first year here at UH Brint got his answer to why he was meant to come to this school. He was able to do a joint degree. And with that was able to graduate with a JD/MBA. What a great accomplishment it's been for him and I. School has been good to us... we have been able to enjoy those weekends on the beach relaxing with friends or just our little family. I'm pretty sure Duke is going to miss running around on the sand and swimming in the ocean. He love, love, loved the water and playing fetch on the sand... great memories!

I would say some of our highlights have been all of our visitors we've had. It was so exciting to be able to show everyone where we lived and what we would do on a daily basis. Where we would go on the weekends and how spoiled at times we were for the beauty that surrounds us.

Aloha Hawaii...

moving to..... ARIZONA!!!

We are officially moving HOME!!!! 

So excited.... but really sad to leave this beautiful place! 

It's bitter/sweet! There are many things that we will miss about living in Hawaii, but it will be SO nice to be home with family and friends and finally be done with school and ready to move on with life! :)

Right now we are looking to be in Arizona the second week in January!! And as of right now it's looking like we might be staying put for a while! (YIPPEE!!)