Ruby Macaul Johnson

I apologize in advance for this post.
I am also warning you that it will be long, there will be lots of pictures and I will be talking about giving birth. Quit while you are ahead if any of those turn you off.

Ok...I'm a mom! How crazy is that?

It all started on Valentines day...

At this point I was well past the point of being a week overdue. I had an induction set for the following Tuesday and I was willing to do anything not to make it to that day. (mainly because I have heard horror stories about being induced and also once you go past your due date, being pregnant is the worst thing ever.) I had tried everything short of Castor oil to try and get labor started (including having my membranes stripped).
Nothing. I was so discouraged that nothing was happening, but at the same time I was nervous to start this whole new chapter in my life.
As I mentioned, being overdue is the worst. Every day more and more people would ask about the baby, or if I was in labor, or if I had tried to get labor started. This made me feel even more discouraged because not only was I impatiently waiting to have my baby, but so many people kept reminding me that she wasn't here yet. 
Anyways...on Valentines day, Travis and I went to a Stake adult dinner/dance. (I got a whole lot of "you're STILL pregnant?" and "I was hoping you wouldn't be here!" from people the whole evening) The food was really yummy and the dance was lame..so a few other couples and us headed over to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. It was such a fun night out, but Travis and I both agreed we would have rather been in the hospital having our baby! After the  ice cream, we went home and went to bed because Travis worked early the next morning.

Valentines day 2014

The next day (saturday the 15th) Travis left for work at about 5:40am. I'm not really too conscious to even notice when he leaves, but that morning I had woken up right as he was leaving with this funny feeling that was slightly painful.
Was that a contraction?
 I wasn't really too sure, so I went back to bed for a few hours. The rest of the morning I felt that same feeling again very sporadically. I didn't want to let Travis know because I knew he would come home right away and I want even sure if I was having real contractions. I decided if they became a little more noticeable, then I would let him know. But I didn't want to let anyone else know, because if I was in labor, I could be in  labor for a looooong time, and didn't need the extra harassment. (And I knew my mother would drop everything and drive out to Medicine Hat if I told her I was feeling contractions!) Anyways, a little while later I texted Travis to let him know I had felt a few contractions during the morning, but it was probably nothing. Sure enough, he came home right away. I already had a scheduled stress test that afternoon at the hospital in order to prepare for my induction, but we decided to go in a little earlier than planned.
It was about Noon when we arrived at the hospital and I was hooked up to the test for about 30 minutes. Of course I didn't have any contractions during that time, so I let the nurse know what I had been feeling and she then told me I wasn't having real contractions. Don't tell me what I am and am not having! Discouraged that the test showed no progress, we decided to go to Target and buy some discount valentines candy and wait some more for this baby.
Once we got to Target, things started to get a little more regular and stronger. Exciting! We then wandered over to Sears and tried to set up a baby registry to pass the time. Well turns out nobody in Sears knew how to set up a registry, but at that point I was in a lot of pain, so we ditched the registry and went home.
We decided to throw on a movie and time my contractions. If they became less than 5 minutes apart, lasting at least a minute for an hour, we would go back to the hospital.
An hour into Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, we were loading the car! (my bags had been packed for almost a month)
It was about 4pm when we went back to the hospital proclaiming I was in labor. The nurse looked skeptical, but hooked me back up to the monitor for over an hour. The good news? I was in labor. The bad news? I was only at 2cm and they won't admit someone unless they are at 4cm. 
Blast! I was sure I was further along! I was in so much pain, so the nurse gave me a shot of morphine and told us to go home. This was my first experience with morphine...I'm not sure it did a whole lot for my pain but it made me LOOPY. I was instantly drowsy and I felt like I was slurring my words. The only thing I remember about the drive home was how it took a lot of effort to text my mom because I couldn't focus and I kept falling asleep between contractions. When we got home, I crawled up my stairs and laid down in the shower. Travis started the water for me and said to call him if I needed anything
.
*Side note, earlier at my stress test I noticed that I had really hairy legs...how embarrassing!

So a few minutes later, when I was coherent and awake enough, I called for Travis and he came RUNNING to the bathroom. When he asked me what was wrong I said:
"Can you pass me my razor, I might as well shave my legs"
He looked really confused...but got it for me anyways. After falling asleep for a while in the shower, I decided to haul myself to bed. By the time I laid down, I had the feeling we needed to go back to the hospital right away. The only trouble is, I was still SO drowsy. I kept falling asleep between every contraction...so it took me almost an hour to gather my thoughts, wake up and tell Travis we needed to go.
By the time we returned to the hospital again, it was about 815pm.

During all of this I had been texting my mom and she was really torn about whether or not to make the drive out to Medicine Hat...I could be in labor all night and who knows when things would actually get going. At around the same time we got to the hospital, she decided to start driving. 

From our car to the ER doors, I had to stop about 4 times to hunch over and get through a contraction. I literally thought I was dying. What little effect the morphine had on me had worn off and I had never felt such intense pain in my life (up to that moment). We got into the ER and Travis told the triage nurse that I was in labor and we began to walk up to Labor & Delivery...however I couldn't walk, so I got wheeled up in a wheelchair. When we got up there the same nurse who we had just seen earlier was surprised to see us back so soon. I quickly (ok...not so quickly, still unbelievably drowsy) put a gown on and was hooked up to the monitor for the 3rd time that day. It had only been a few minutes until I begged the nurse to check and see how dilated I was. I must have been moaning enough, because she checked me right away. 

Then she said:
"Oh...we need to move you into a delivery suite, it's time for you to deliver right now"

Panic. The only thing that was going through my head (other than sleep) was drugs for pain. I was quickly informed it was too late (I'm sure my jaw hit the floor at this point) and the next thing I knew I was already being helped up to move to the next room. Travis texted my mom and told her we were moving to the delivery room...she was only at Taber. I'm sure she only sped a little bit from there...

The next hour went as follows:
Sleep, scream/yell/push, drink water, sleep. 
(Even though I was sleeping between my contractions, doesn't mean that it wasn't the most excruciating pain I had ever experienced in my life.)
After about an hour, the doctor and a resident came in the room and gowned up.
Then Travis asked if he could help deliver. The doctor looked at him like he was a crazy person until Travis told him that he is an EMT, then Travis gowned up and all eyes were on me. (I can't even tell you the number of people who saw all of me in that delivery room...good thing I was sleeping & delirious half of the time)

The nurse at my side kept telling me "You are going to feel some pressure" Pressure?? It literally felt like I was being ripped in half. The next thing I remember was them mentioning how much hair she had and then all of the sudden I watched my husband bring our baby into the world! There was so much going on, and I think I was in total shock...but at least I finally felt like I had woken up! Did that just happen? I had a tiny little baby laying on my chest that was mine. What a miracle. (It was nice because they let her lay on my chest for about an hour before they took her to be weighed and measured.) Once she was out, Travis clamped and cut the cord and the Doctor took over to deliver the placenta. Then the nurse cleaned me up, called the Doc. back to give me a few stitches and then my mom was able to come in. About an hour later, I was able to walk the distance (about a block) to my room in the mat/child ward. I was surprised how fantastic I felt that quickly giving birth. I think the fact that I was up walking so soon after labor made my recovery a lot better!

Just a few minutes old! 

Proud daddy

First family photo.
Nice zebra sports bra..at least
 I wasn't completely naked.

Proud grandma

Travis got to sleep on that chair for 4 nights!
 Lucky

7lbs 11oz 19.5" @10:37pm

Tiny girl with daddy!

That is just the basic story of how that day went down. There are so many little moments that I hope I never forget.  I woke up that saturday morning pregnant and went to bed that night with my perfect little Ruby beside me in the hospital.

 I am so lucky that I had a super easy pregnancy and a smooth delivery. 

We stayed in the hospital 4 nights because Ruby lost about a pound in her first 24 hours and she was jaundice. We had so many friends and family come visit us in the hospital...but we were ready to get out of there by day #2. (our hospital experience would have been better if we had some decent nurses...) Within an hour of being discharged, we were on the road to Lethbridge for a few days relaxing with family. 

Ruby & Gma

She loves to tear her face off. Facepalm. 

Fun fact! Ruby was born with a few extra digits.
She has a small skin tag on her right pinky
and a small nub of a finger on her left pinky.
We have an appointment with a plastic surgeon
 this summer to get them removed. (Dang girl
cooked so long she started growing
 extra fingers!!)

None of the clothes or diapers I had bought fit
her when she was born because she was so tiny!

Isn't she precious??

Drowning in her snowsuit and not happy about it!

Visiting great grandpa

She hates hats. 

First dress...way too big for her. 

She does this every time we put her snowsuit on.
Funniest thing!!

My whole world.

Sorry for the LONG post and tons of pictures! I can;t help but gush about her...she is so perfect!

;

Funeral Planning.

I have probably said this before...but weekends in Medicine Hat can get pretty boring.

The other weekend however, was a little bit different.

First of all I worked everyday during the week and on Friday night I had to work until 1015pm and then be back at 830am the next day! (Cha-ching! Weekend AND evening pay!!) So when 445 rolled around on Saturday, I was prepared for the remaining portion of the weekend to be quite and boring, as per usual. Medicine Hat was having a Home&Leisure show that night, so we decided to check it out. I was hesitant because it would cost us $5 each to get in and I was pretty sure it would not be worth it. Since Travis could use his student ID and get a discount, we decided to go inside. It was pretty empty...we entered lots of draws and tasted food samples and Trav even got his flu shot from one of the booths...nothing too exciting. (Although we did end up buying some delicious sausage and beef jerky. yumm!) 

That night we were also scheduled to help clean our church building with another family, but since there was a Stake emergency preparedness fair going on that evening, we had to wait until it was over...so we figured we could just kill our time there until we had a chance to clean. Since we had gone to the Home&Leisure show, we were about 20 minutes late and a man in charge told us there were two different classes going on: Winter driving and food storage. We figured the winter driving class would be more entertaining, so we decided to go to the last 15 minutes of the food storage class and then switch over to the winter driving class. 

Little did we know, we were NOT going to the winter driving class. 

After the food class we sat down in the other class expecting to sit through a winter driving class, until the guest speaker was announced...a gentleman that works at a local funeral home. We were in a funeral planning class. Travis and I looked at each other and just laughed. We couldn't just leave, so we sat through it..so if you have any questions about pre-planning your funeral...we know all about it!

After the class, we were invited to the gym for refreshments (score!). Little did we know, funeral planning wasn't the only surprise we were in for that evening. Various people from the Stake had made food that could easily be made with your food storage...let me tell you, some of it was disgusting!! But surprisingly there were a lot of really tasty thing too! The favorite for me and Travis was a rice-type casserole. I got the recipe and made it the next day! So yummy and easy! (Very similar to the taste of fried rice).

The rest of the weekend was great with the Calgary Temple dedication! (Travis and I even got to babysit some cute little boys while their parents went to a session! That was so fun!)

So even though we had a weird time learning about planning our funerals, the weekend turned out good!

(Especially because Travis's name was pulled for one of the draws at the Home&Leisure show and he won $500!!)

One Dish "Fried Rice"

1 1/4 Cup Uncooked Rice

1 1/4 Cup Water

2 TBS Onion Soup Mix

2 TBS Oil

1 1/2 TBS Soy Sauce

1 Can Sliced Mushrooms

1 Cup Frozen Peas

Combine first 6 ingredients in casserole dish. Cover and bake 45min @375.

Remove and stir in peas and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

I am all about easy and delicious dinners! We made ours with spicy sausage on the side. So yum!

Latest Creations

I like to make things...a lot. Here are some of my latest creations:

*We had some friends move away, so I made this sign:

Just ignore the horrible picture, it was in the
process of drying!

*I made this cork board for my sister-in-law who just moved out of home:

*I made this garbage can for the car: 

I literally have zero sewing skills, so I am quite impressed with this. You can find the
tutorial HERE. 

*I made this delicious meal: 

This was super yummy! Just make sure your chicken is mostly cooked/cooked before you begin. You can find the recipe
HERE.

My husband and I also did a little rearranging of our apartment! 

BEFORE: 

AFTER:

Just cleaned up a little bit! 

Oh look! We have acquired another
couch that matches our current
 couch & chair!(But you probably
don't want to know where
we "got" it.)

That's about it! Thanks for reading!

Latest Pinterest Creations.

Here are the latest things I have done all thanks to Pinterest! 

1.

These were super yummy! You can find the recipe HERE. 

**I added extra banana! Yum! 

2.

Delicious homemade garlicky/cayenne fries. You can find the 

recipe HERE.

**I used sweet potatoes instead. 

3.

Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs! You can find the recipe HERE.

**I used shrimp, meatballs, chicken, pineapple, tomatoes & peppers.

I also added chili flakes to the marinade. Oh yeah...and I don't have a BBQ,

 so I broiled in in my oven. So good!!

4.

Remove heat stains!! After a sad cupcake fiasco, my kitchen

table was left with awful stains. Then I found this sweet VIDEO

on Pinterest. Seriously magical. 

Delicious Dinners & New Specs

These past few weeks have been great for us! I have been working tons (even managing to get some time up in the Operating Room) and Travis is really trying hard to buckle down and study hard! I am so proud of him for all of his hard work in school! I know being a student isn't very fun, but I know if he tries hard these upcoming years will be a breeze!!

In our spare moments we have started watching the show Dexter...and we are hooked! I wouldn't recommend this show to many people as it is about a blood splatter analyst working for the Miami police department that is also a serial killer by night, only murdering the "bad guys". I am so hooked, this show is right up my alley...weird and bloody!

We also decided to be tourists for a night and went and checked out the giant Tepee here in The Hat and then took a drive out to the Saskatchewan boarder! (Ok...we were pretty desperate for something new to do!)

I decided a few weeks ago that I should try cooking some "bigger" Sunday meals just for practice. If you know me, I would be more than satisfied with Kraft Dinner for the rest of my life...but that probably isn't the most nutritious route (Unfortunately). 

Attempt #1: Pork roast topped with sweet chili sauce, rice, brown-sugar glazed carrots and green beans in mushroom soup. 

The Verdict: Delicious! I prefer beef, but pork is also delicious!

Attempt #2: Roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, brown-sugar glazed carrots, and yorkshire pudding.

 The Verdict: Super yummy! I was very proud of myself! The only thing was our potatoes weren't the freshest and I only had chicken gravy mix...but it was still so good! Thank heavens for my meat thermometer. I was super nervous about the yorkshires because I had never made them before and Travis had never had them! Luckily they turned out great!!

Unleashing his Dexter cutting up the roast!

Travis has joined the 4Eyes-club! Recently Travis went to the eye doctor and found out that he is slightly nearsighted. Luckily I know a place to get glasses! There was a sale at the time, buy 2, get the 3rd free...so Travis got 2 pairs and I only got one! I have so many pairs of glasses...so it was a big deal that I only got one pair!!

As soon as he put them on I said, "You look old...like a dad" How mean am I??

More glasses! I LOVE this new pair!!

Aw! Matching!

A couple weeks ago for a Relief Society activity we put together Family Home Evening books from President Hinckley's book, "Standing for Something". I loved this idea because often family home evening doesn't really get thought about, so now we have a binder with 10 short and easy lessons. However, going through the lessons, I found them to be pretty old school, so I decided to make my own version of the 10 lessons. A lot more work then I had planned! But hopefully it will all turn out! I plan on making some up for a few friends and family members, but let me know if you would be interested in a copy of the file!

Anyways...I came across these 2 cute sayings whilst working on my project and fell in love! So cute! The plan is to eventually print these out and hang them up in our apartment!

P.S. I am totally watching Titanic while writing this post. Such a devoted fan! You jump, I jump remember?

A bunch of random bits.

I feel like I haven't blogged in a super long time!
I have a good reason, I promise!
I have been putting in at least 40 hours a week at work! It has been madness! Switching between 2 departments is nuts! (For those of you who do not know recently I was trained to work up in the OR..10 hour shifts makes for a very long day!!)
So...basically I have been busy working and trying to spend time with my dear husband when possible!!
Here is what we have been up to in the past few weeks! :

One night I decided to clean out the fridge and ended up making a perogy,
taco meat, onion, salsa, sour cream, tomato and cheese casserole. It
doesn't sound or look the greatest but man! It was delicious!

My brother is so cool! We got to watch him wrestle in a tournament! 

He owned this guy! 

This is what I ordered Travis for valentines day! 

I could never find my dang oven mitts, so I came home one
day and there they were...hanging up! What a sweet guy I
have! 

Our table is finally in Medicine Hat! Happy days! 

I got a Scentsy!! (well...I got two) I LOVE them!! 

This is a wedding card I made for some really good friends
who recently were married! Yay! 

This is a card I made for a baby shower! 

 Well...these are just a few random things scattered about to semi-catch you up on our Medicine Hat life!