Our Little Family Begins (Corbin's birth story)

On the morning of April 23 I woke up kind of early and felt like my body was trying to clean its self out. I also had light contractions, that I have had since the 18th because I had been in "early stage labor" since then, contractions ever 5 to 10 min but not intense. But this time everything felt a little different, for instance I took a nap which I never do. The contractions started getting stronger but not enough to really bother me until after I made dinner. I ended up not being able to eat it because it did not look appetizing any more and my body was focused on getting Corbin out.

Around 7 pm the contractions kicked up even more and I started to feel like it was not going to stop and by the end we would have our baby boy in our arms very soon and Garret and I decided to go on a walk. At 9:10 pm I was leaning over the bed to get some relief to my back during a contraction. When the contraction stooped I sat down  on the floor and felt a big gush I went to the bathroom and my underwear were soaked. I changed my underwear and the on call midwife and explained the situation and she told me that it sounded like  my water had broken. She also told me to try to get some sleep if I could and to come in when my contractions were getting intense. Then I called my Mom to let her know that she should make her way to Corvallis (she was in Heppner, OR taking care of my Grandpa Wilson after having hip surgery). So Garret and I went to bed and tried to get some sleep. I would fall asleep and wake up with every contraction until around 12:30 and then I could not lay down anymore. For another hour I tried to let Garret get some sleep and deal with the contractions on my own. At about 1:30 am I woke up Garret and had him help me with the contractions. He would rub my back and help remind me to "blow away" the contraction while doing other things. At 2:30 I decided it was time we go to the hospital and I called my Mom to tell her to do the same. We arrived at the hospital at 3 am and my Mom pulled in right behind us. At that moment I told my Mom I wanted her in the delivery room, I had not told her earlier because I did not want her to hurry on her 5 hr drive and get a ticket or get in an accident. We went up to labor and delivery but the midwife who was on call at the time did not want to check me because she did not want to introduce bacteria since my water had already broken. I was then put on monitors for 20 minutes and then they let me do some laboring on the ball, where my mom rubbed my back, and in the tub.

Laboring on the ball (there were three, one for each of us)

Around 7 am they had a shift change for the on call midwife and now I had Katie Robins as my midwife. At 8 am Katie decided she wanted to check me to see if I had made any progress. She checked and said I was only 4 to 5 cm dilated and his head was  stationed at a -3 (I say only because I had been at 3 cm since the 18th), I was very disappointed.. She also said that it seemed that my water had broken up high and there was still a pocket of amniotic fluid between the baby's head and my cervix. She asked if I would like her to break it but warned me that it would make the contractions longer and stronger, and that I would have to stay on the monitors for 20 minutes again. I told her right away that I wanted it broken. Right away I felt the difference in the contractions they were much much stronger and I hated being in the bed. After 20 minutes they took the monitors off and asked me to walk the length of the hall 3 times, I only made it one and a half times with stopping and "dancing" with Garret and then decided there was no way I could walk any more. We went back in the room and I felt like I needed to have a bowl movement (biggest sign that you are ready to push) but the nurse just told me that I would most likely not be able to go and brushed it off like it was nothing. I got in the tub where I labored for about an hour. At the end of that hour I could not handle the pain any more and told Garret that I needed to get something for the pain. He said ok and went and get the nurse and she told me my options were either a drug called Fentanyl or an epidural. I said I wanted the Fentanyl. The nurse said that was fine but I would have to get on the bed to be checked, then would be given the drug and then be monitored for another 20 minutes. I said that was fine and Garret helped me get out of the tub and onto the bed.
At this time it was about 9:30 am Katie (the midwife) came in to check me and we were all surprised when she said I was fully dilated, 100% effaced and his head was stationed at 0.

It was time to push!!!!

At around 9:40 am I started to push on a birthing stool, to me everything seemed to be going great. But what I was not hearing was that the baby's heart rate would drop to about 60 bpm every time I would push. So they ended up putting an internal monitor on his head to get a better reading and make sure it was not my heart rate the monitor was reading. Once they got the internal monitor put on the told me that I could push again, but his heart rate still was dropping every time I pushed. So they decided I needed to get on the bed and push from there. (moving from the birthing stool to the bed was one of the worst parts of labor) When I got on the bed I was really ready to push our baby out. They had me lay on my left side (Garret holding my right leg and my Mom holding my left) at first and tried pushing that way, but his heart rate was still not good so they gave me an oxygen mask and asked me to stop pushing a few times which I did not realize the reason why at the time. His heart rate still did not get better so they decided to have me move to my right side and push from there, Garret and my mom changed sides too. When I got on my right side I started pushing and could feel his head coming out, again trying to distract me from pushing they had me reach down and feel his head. Only a few pushes later and our baby was born!

Corbin Gabriel Ascherl was born at 10:24 am on Tuesday April 24, 2012. Weighing 6 pounds and 12 ounces!!!!!

Over all I would say labor for me was not that difficult and did not get difficult until I felt like I should be pushing and I was no pushing. And it was 100% drug free, including recovery! I would do it again in a heartbeat to get the cutest little boy I could ever dream of!

Our Little Family has Begun

Garret cutting the cord

Garret holding Corbin for the first time

 

Holding daddy's hand

Proud Nana and Proud Mommy

Holding mommy's hand

Our cute little boy

"Where go my Preggo?" Creation of Corbin Gabriel Ascherl

During the summer of 2011 Garret and I decided we would try using the method that I call "Catholic birth control." It is where you use a calender to determine when you are fertile and try to not get busy on those days, unless you want a baby. In early July 2011 I thought I had missed my period. I took a home pregnancy test and it was negative so I waited longer, still no period. So I went to a great nonprofit organization called Pregnancy Options Resource Center in Corvallis, that I was told about by my friend Michelle who volunteered there. I took their pregnancy test and it was negative.Another week later I had my period.

The next month the same thing happened, so I decided just to wait two weeks and still no period. I did an at home pregnancy test and the first one was negative. The next day I woke up and I just had a feeling like something was different, I took another pregnancy test (there were three in the box) and it was positive. I couldn't believe it so I took the third one and it was also positive. I went back into our bedroom and woke up Garret and said "We are pregnant!" he responded "I knew it." He had said a few days before that he thought that I was pregnant. I made another appointment with the Pregnancy Options Resource Center and took their pregnancy test and theirs came back positive also. At that point they wanted to have us have an ultrasound to find out how far along I was. I was 6 weeks along.

Our baby at 6 weeks along, the diamond on the ring

I was scared (Garret was just excited from day one), Garret and I had just decided that we would want to get pregnant around May or June of the next year and instead we were having a baby at that time. We went to Washington for a visit and told our parents the news. Everyone was a little concerned with us both being in school. Also I found out that my insurance did not cover being pregnant. That scared me even more. I ended up applying for Oregon Health Plan and they pay for everything form appointments to ultrasounds and more. After the insurance situation was solved I started getting more excited and less scared.

The next time we saw our baby was 3 weeks later. I was so surprised by how much the baby had grown and changed. The baby went from a little dot to a little person with a head, torso, arms and legs. We decided to call the baby "Little" until we found out the baby's sex, which we did not decide on if we wanted to know until 24 weeks. We decided if the baby was a girl her name would be Austen and if the baby was a boy his name would be Corbin.

Our baby at 20 weeks

We did not get to  see our "Little" again until the 20 week ultrasound. They asked if we would like to know the sex of the baby and we said no, but then the ultrasound tech asked if we would like him to write it down, put it in a sealed envelope and we could open it if we changed our minds. The baby was beautiful and we were so excited to see "Little" again. The next week was Christmas and we decided to go up to Washington and spend time with our families. The day after Christmas, I thought it was weird that I had never felt the baby kick from the outside so I drank a lot of water and sat with my hand on my tummy and I felt our baby move! That same day a few hours later Garret also got to feel our baby move for the first time. I twas a great day. After that I decided that when we got home we would have to see if we were having a boy or a girl because I couldn't wait any longer. We got home and opened the envelope and it said it bold hand writing "IT'S A BOY!" I really wanted a boy and I couldn't contain myself and started jumping up and down, Garret was really happy too but he wanted a girl but he was no where near disappointed. He was just happy that we had a healthy baby.

"Its a Boy!!!"

A week after we got home from Christmas break I got a call from my doctor saying that our baby had a spot on his heart in the ultrasound. It was called a echogenic focus, and it can sometimes be a sign that your baby has downs syndrome. Because we chose to not do any genetic testing we would need to do another ultrasound to look for other signs of downs syndrome and if the spot was still there. So at 26 weeks along I went to a specialist in Salem to check if there was any other signs. There weren't any other signs of downs syndrome but I did have a lot of extra unexplained amniotic fluid. So they decided to have me come back and have another ultrasound at 33 weeks.

Corbin with his foot on his face at 26 weeks

At 28 weeks along I thought my water broke. I was really scared and so was Garret. We called the midwife and she told us to go to the hospital right away. We went there and they did a few tests and decided from that, that my water had broken which was likely because of the high amount of amniotic fluid I had. They said if the baby was born they would not be able to take care of him very well there so they sent me to a different hospital in Springfield. Garret and I decided that he would drive down while I was taken in the ambulance, so we would have a way to get home. They had us stay over night in the hospital and the next morning retook all the same tests and did an ultrasound. From their tests they concluded that my water did not break and the tests were not done correctly the first time.

Corbin's face at 28 weeks

At 33 weeks I went back for another check with the specialist to look to see if the spot on the heart was still there and to check the amniotic fluid levels. They determined that the spot was gone and the amniotic fluid levels were back to the normal level. So there was nothing to worry about. I was so excited to hear it that I called Garret and my mom right away with the great news.

Corbin's profile at 33 weeks

Sense then everything was going great. Then at my 38 week appointment they took my blood pressure and it was high, I also had let them know that I was up for 2 hrs the night before throwing up. They were concerned and decided to send me over to the hospital, next door, to be monitored. After monitoring me for an hour they decided i could go home but I have to be on modified bed rest (only getting up for showers, bathroom, and making food) and I had another appointment on that Friday (April 20th). The appointment was an stress test and them taking my blood pressure. They determined that I am developing preeclampsia and need to stay on modified bed rest until Corbin is born. But I also have another appointment on Tuesday and they might induce me if things are not looking any better.

BTW "where go my preggo?" is a phrase Garret came up with and loves to use.

Moving to Corvallis

We moved to Corvallis in September of 2010. We lived in the upstairs apartment of a daycare (talk about a great way to wake up in the morning as a college student lol). Garret knew some people but I did not know anyone. We decided that it would be best if I took a year off school to get instate tuition to make it cheaper ($1200 cheaper to be exact).

So I started looking for a job. In October I ended up getting hired as a nanny for a baby boy named Dexter who was 1 and 1/2 months old. I started my day at 7:30 am and was there until 5 pm Monday through Friday. And on the days where there was no school for the kids i was also responsible for watching Alex, 3 years old, and Sophie, 5 years old (without a pay increase for watching 2 more kids).

It was hard being with the baby everyday and then going home and only having Garret to talk to. I started not liking my job but we needed the money so i kept at it. The hardest part I think of being a nanny was not being able to do things like I would if I was the parent. I did not agree with the nap schedule for the baby and I was not allowed to leave the house except for short walks and meeting the mom for doctor appointments. So when Dexter was 5 and 1/2 months old I decided that it was too difficult to work for them and to quit.

I did not realize how hard of a time I was having being lonely and not having friends. I started looking for a new job and did not get one until May 2011 because of the economy. The job was being a janitor at the Lowes' Distribution Center in Lebanon. I worked there for a 2 months and then my manager decided she wanted to train a new woman for the weekend shift. I said it would be ok if she trained during my shift for a week.

At the end of that week I called my manager to ask what the next day was that I needed to come in and she did not answer, so i left her a message and never got a return call. A few days later that same manager called and asked me to come in that morning for a shift that the new woman needed to miss because her grandmother died.

I drove 30 minutes to get there and found my shift mate....and the woman who had taken my spot. She said that she had someone else doing the funeral arrangements and "forgot" to tell the manager she no longer needed her shift covered. So I ended up driving an hour round trip for only 30 minutes of work. I was very frustrated. The next day I called my manager to ask when I was going to work next, she said that she would have to check the schedule and call me back. I never got a return call and tried calling her throughout the next few weeks and never got a response. (I did not go to the office because they did not have one) While waiting for a response from her I got a call from the Benton County Fairgrounds asking if I would like to work for them during the fair. I said yes and then called my manager's boss and quit, because I still could not get my manager to answer her phone.

While working for the distribution company Garret and I started to attend Suburban College group (Sub U). The first one we went to was a bbq and we met a lot of great friendly people. When we arrived the first people we met were Hannah, Allison and Evon. The only reason I remember is because one of them said that there was going to be no way for us to remember everyone's names so we should just remember the first three people we meet, and I still remember today almost a year later. We had a blast and started attending Sub U almost every week. One of my favorite things we did during the summer with Sub U was the skeet shooting. I love shooting guns even though I do not have my own, at least not yet. I got to know some of the girls a lot better.

Also during this time I started singing with the worship group at Church where I met my lovely friend Michelle Sullivan. After a little while of getting to know each other she invited me to a girls night that happened at her house every Thursday. When I started going to the girls nights they jokingly said "don't drink the water you'll get pregnant," I should have taken them seriously lol.

The next job I had was on the coast. I wold drive a hour and a half one way and work between 4 and 6 hours as house keeping. But it was much better then being home all day long. I did not like the people I worked with because they would lie about each other to the boss and try to get each other fired all the time. They even tried to get me fired even though I did my best everyday, because I had never done house keeping before. I decided that when fall came I would have to quit because I was starting going back to school and it was too much driving to be driving 30 minutes to school one way and then 1 and 1/2 hours to work a different way. So I did not work there very long. Sense then I have not had a job, first because I couldn't find one and then because we had a wonderful surprise :)

The Engagement and Wedding

On Christmas of 2009 Garret purposed!

I knew it was coming because earlier that day we had been opening presents at Garret's sister's, Monique, house and he had me open his present last, which was a pajama set that i loved. Monique said "I thought you were going to....." and Garret interrupted and said "ssshhh be quite," I of course heard everything so I knew it was happening that day!

(before he purposed, that is my promise ring on my left-hand ring finger)

Garret and I decided a few days before Christmas that we wanted to go to Canada on Christmas because we had nothing to do after noon on Christmas, and also we had Enhanced drivers licenses which made it easy to go to Canada when ever we wanted. So we decided that was our plan. To stay the night in Canada and come back the next morning and go to the Latendresse (Garret's mom's side) family Christmas party the next day.

When we got to our hotel Garret was frantically searching for his parent's camera. At this point I had actually forgotten that he was going to purpose. So we looked for the camera for about a half hour before he found it in his bag. When we got up to our room we started looking for somewhere to eat because it was late and we hadn't had dinner yet. We couldn't find anything open and ended up going to a McDonald's.

When we got back to the hotel Garret said he had another gift for me. He handed me a card a cute and funny card. Inside it he wrote "I have a question for you." While i was reading the card garret had gotten into his bag and was now be hind me. When I turned around he was on one knee and had the ring box in his hand and said "will you marry me?" I said "Yes" and was so excited! I called my parents and then my best friend Kat and told them the great news (I guess they already knew he was doing it that day).

The next day we went to the Latendresse family Christmas party. When we walked in Garret's mom said that we should announce it, we both were shy and didn't want to. So she got everyone's attention and said "Garret has an announcement" and everyone looked at Garret and he looked at me and then said "Heather and I are getting married." Then everyone clapped and cheered....it was embarrassing.

The next week Garret had to go back to school at OSU and I went to find my wedding dress. I had one in mind that i liked a lot but because we were both in school and didn't work much we didn't have the money to buy it. So i took a picture of that dress in to David's Bridal and said I wanted one that was similar but from their $99 sale. I tried on a few dresses and then tried on one that I fell in love with. It was the dress that I had brought the picture of and cost $800 which i did not have. I ended up getting a different dress that i did not love but i liked, I think it was because i had just tried on my dream dress. (Now looking back I really liked the dress i chose and wouldn't have changed it for anything) Another week later i went back to George Fox and Garret and I started planning our

wedding.

(My engagement Ring)

Once back at school we attended an pre-marital weekend through my school. It was a one weekend long trip with a bunch of other engaged couples. It gave us a lot to think about for our future. We also did pre-marital counseling through Garret's close family priest Father Rowan. We talked about children and how they would be raised, and how our lives as a couple (one being catholic and the other a nondenominational christian) would pan out. We also had a meeting with Pastor Steve from my home church who taught us in an argument there is never a winner or a loser because you are a team and that when you are arguing try to identify why you keep making a circle of escalation and hurt feelings. I think during this time we learned a lot that helped us during our marriage.

(One of our many engagement pictures, this one is my favorite)

I was done with school for the year at the end of April and got to go home, earn some money for the wedding and finish up all the details. We decided to get married on June 18, 2010. It was actually because we did not have much of a choice. You see it was very important to Garret to get married by Father Rowan, but he was leaving June 19th for Europe, and Garret was in school until the week before. We also did not have much choice in the location of our wedding, this was because Garret is Catholic and you must be married in the Catholic church you attend (you can get it changed you just have to fill out a lot of paper work and it takes a lot of time which Garret did not have because of being in school). While I was home Garret and I decided that our colors would be yellow and white and we would have a western theme. Also because our wedding was not until 5:30 we decided just to do hor dourves in my in laws' yard. All the food was made by both our parents and was really yummy and Garret's mom made us a beautiful cake. Our wedding cost us only a total of $3,000-3,500 including everything, even the honeymoon.

(one of my favorite pictures, i was swinging our hands during a really long song during our wedding and Garret made us stop so i pouted and for an instant Garret pouted back, is shows the true us even during our wedding)

(The kiss! Father Rowan on the right, Pastor Steve on the left)

(Mrs. & Mr. Garret Ascherl!)(and my wedding dress)

(cutting the cake)(and my second dress)

The Adventures in Love Begin

One day in January of 2008 my sister, Amber and I, decided we wanted to go clubing just the two of us, and ended up at a club called One3One in Seattle. We were both single and young, I was 18 and she was 19, and decided it would be a fun place to meet some cute young men. So we went and while we were dancing I saw one of my classmates from EvCC. I started talking to her and my sister started talking to this very attractive young man (other than the facial hair) who was in the group with my classmate. When we walked away I asked who she had been talking to and she said that it was Garret Ascherl. I went back over to the group and started talking to Garret and he actually talked back to me this time instead of being shy like he was the year before lol. We ended up dancing together, then the three of us went to Denny's and I asked him "do you have a cell phone?" he answered with a puzzled "yes" then i asked him "can i put my number in it?"


The next week we started dating and i decided i really liked him.  We both were working and going to school and didn't have much time so most of our time hanging out was at the mall. On our first date official date, were we went and did something other then hang out at the mall, we went to a movie and had dinner at Taco Time, it was kinda lame. But at the end of the date we heard it had been snowing at Steven's Pass and we decided to grab my sister and my best friend, Kat, and go play in the snow. It was so much fun and I would say it was the best date I had ever been on!
Then we both got super busy during finals week and lost touch for two weeks. One day I got in contact with the classmate that I had who knew Garret. I asked her if she had seen/heard from him and she said "yes and WE ARE DATING." I was so mad! Garret and I were getting more and more serious and had been dating for a month but we were not officially boyfriend/girlfriend and not "exclusive." So I decided that this would be the end to our relationship and did not call him.

It was not until 6 months later that i next saw him, he came into where i worked and we talked for a bit. I found out that the girl had been lying when she said they were dating. They had never dated and she had a boyfriend during that time and is still with that same guy today. Garret and I hung out one time but it was very awkward and we did not see each other again for another 6 months.
One day I was trying to decide if i wanted to have a super bowl party, it was the Seahawks vs. the Steeler and living in Washington made it a must to watch the game. I decided i did not want to have a party but instead invited Garret over to watch the game with me. I was really nervous when I called him and thought he would say no to coming over but instead he said he would love to come : ) After that we started dating, and it wasn't long until we were boyfriend/girlfriend. This actually ended up happening because I told my best friend, Kat, that we were boyfriend/girlfriend and then told Garret about it. This was about 2 months after we had been dating again. This time we got serious much faster. He introduced me to his friends and he already knew mine by the time we were official. Also we went on a lot more dates; he taught me how to snowboard, we went bowling, and played pool.

After being together for about 4 months Garret decided that he wanted to attend Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR to further his education in Nuclear Engineering. He was doubting he could get in and i told him to go for it and that they would be crazy not to except him. A few weeks later he got a letter in the mail telling him he had been excepted into OSU and would be starting the next September. I was so proud of him that I bought him his first OSU gear, a sweatshirt that he still has today. I decided that I wanted to follow him to Oregon and applied to George Fox University in Newberg, OR thinking that it was the closest school that had a Nursing program, i was sure wrong about that. I was accepted into George Fox and was told I would be starting in August. So I moved to Newberg and a month later Garret moved to Corvallis. This was the hardest time in my life. I went form knowing tons of people i was surrounded by everyday to knowing no one. Garret adapted well to his new surroundings, he had two roommates who were both seniors in the Nuclear Engineering program and taught him a lot (I lived in the dorms at my school). We did not get to see each other much, only on weekends and some Wednesdays.

That same year on Christmas Garret perposed and I said YES!!! We had been together almost exactly a year at that time.

From the beginning

Hey everyone, I am Heather Marie Ascherl. I think I should start my blog from the complete beginning.

My parents are Lisa and Gary Green, they both are from eastern Oregon they moved to Bellevue, WA around July 1987. At the time they did not know it but my mom was carrying my sister, Amber, who was born on May 6, 1988. A year later I was born on July 26, 1989. After my birth there were some complications. I was switched with a baby BOY during the night. It was figured out the next day and we were returned to our correct mothers (this has become my greatest fears with starting my own family). After coming home with my correct parents i had failure to thrive. I got up to about 13 lbs (starting from 6lbs 6oz) and then plummeted under my birth weight. I ended up having to go to physical therapy to catch up on what normal babies were doing (e.g. rolling over, crawling, and walking) when i was 1 year old. Ever sense then I have had a bunch of stomach problems including a stomach ulcer when i was 18 years old. When i was 2 my parents bought land and had a house built in Gold Bar, WA. I graduated high school in 2007 and started going to school as a Nurse. After a few years of going toward this goal i changed my major to ASL/English Interpreting.

Now about Garret Evan Ascherl. He was born on January 14, 1989, also in Bellevue, WA, to Teresa and Joe. Garret has 4 siblings Corina, Monique, Anton, and Brittney. When he was 2 his parents bought land and built a house in Multby, WA. He graduated high school the same year as I did and started going to school to become an engineer. It was not until later that he decided that he wanted to be a Nuclear Engineer which he is graduating with his Bachelors on June 17, 2012.


When Garret and I were 7 or 8 years old we joined 4H. I was involved in cats, dogs, guinea pigs, and sewing. Garret was involved in guinea pigs, rockets, motor cycles and dogs. I had a crush on Garret from the first day i met him. I remember one time in particular when Garret's parents baby sat for mine; Garret was playing a computer game and I asked him if i could play and he said "No you have cooties!" LOL I remember being very mad at him. Garret always had the prize winning guinea pig and did really well at fairs. My sister was always jealous. Around the age of 13 we both quit 4H, and because of going to different schools we didn't see each other again for a long long time.

(L to R skipping the fist person: Anton, Me, Brittney, Garret, Amber, and Teresa)

The next time we saw each other was during a track meet our senior year of high school. Garret did throwing events and sprinting and i did long distance running. Both of our schools were invited to a track tournament and that is were i saw garret. I tried to talk to him but he was shy and did not say much then walked away. After that day I did not see him again until winter of the next year.