Pregnancy #2: 4 Weeks Postpartum

24 Apr

I keep having good intentions of blogging but for some reason, whenever I have time to write a post, that’s the last thing I feel like doing. So even though I had wanted to do a postpartum update before now, almost a month has already gone by since I gave birth.

Physical Recovery

I didn’t need any stitches this time, which I was extremely thankful for, because I developed this horrible cough after being in the hospital. Coughing a lot is not what you want to do after giving birth, not only because it surprisingly involves pelvic muscles, but also because you need all the sleep you can get and laying in bed hacking up a lung does not help.

Similar to my recovery with Emma, I again found it hard to be up walking around for about a week after giving birth — I’m guessing that’s from the lack of ab muscles? Luckily, that resolved itself and I went for my first postpartum run last Friday, at 3 weeks postpartum. I took it really slow and conservative, but it was nice to be back out there. I am so ready to get back into shape! I’ve also done yoga and pilates a few times each. In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to put together my triathlon training plan and start crack-a-lacking once I get the official green light at my 6-week followup.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m more used to being sleep deprived or if I’m getting more sleep with Annabelle than I did with Emma, but I actually feel pretty energetic and awake most days (after the morning fog wears off). I have more energy now than I did while pregnant with Annabelle, which has been nice. But nursing takes up so much time, and Emma is so busy busy busy, that I’m still accomplishing next to nothing each day besides surviving.

Speaking of nursing, it’s going really well. Annabelle has gotten a little fussier as she’s gotten older, but nothing like Emma was when she was this age. Nursing still involves plenty of tenderness and discomfort the second go around, but it’s so nice to know what I’m doing and not have to fumble through the first couple of months!

The most lasting effect of recovery from birth is that I am sweaty all night every night while sleeping. It is getting old. I’ve tried wearing less warm clothing and putting a lighter comforter on our bed, but then I’m freezing. I’ve also had a few instances of extreme temperature swings — I’ll be shivering, teeth-chattering cold one minute and then roasting, peeling-off-all-clothing hot the next. Hormones are crazy.

Body Weight / Image

At 4 weeks postpartum, I’m about 7 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.
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Soft stomach aside, I actually feel pretty good and normal. But my pre-pregnancy pants beg to differ. None of my pre-pregnancy pants/shorts/skirts fit yet, even the ones that I bought at about 3 months postpartum with Emma. So I’m embracing the maxi skirt trend, and I also bought a new pair of capris that fit me right now. Hopefully once I get into tri training, my old clothes will start fitting again. Until it’s capri weather, maternity pants it is!

Emotional

The emotional adjustment to having another baby has been so. much. easier. than adjusting to the first one. Yes, it is challenging having a toddler with a newborn, but in my experience, it’s nothing compared to getting used to just being a parent for the first time. I had such a hard time adjusting to being a mother with Emma that this feels like a walk in the park.

The best part about not being an emotional wreck with a newborn is that I get to actually enjoy her! It sounds horrible, but I hardly enjoyed Emma at all during this stage because I was having such a hard time with everything. But Annabelle is such a good baby and so cute, and I’m so happy that I can enjoy her, even at the 2 am and 5 am feedings. And after dealing with a strong-willed toddler tornado that throws a fists-clenched tantrum over me not wearing the flip flops she picked out when it’s 40 degrees outside, even Annabelle’s little newborn cry is just adorable.

Travis and I are also handling this addition to our family better than we handled Emma. It helps to be getting more sleep! Since Annabelle nurses and goes right back to sleep most nights, I get up with her and Travis gets to sleep for a full 8-9 hours. For the relatively few times she doesn’t go right back to sleep, I ask Travis to get up and get her back to sleep, so that I don’t have spend precious night time hours doing something other than nursing. He’ll also get up early and take care of the girls so I can sleep in on Saturdays. It has worked well for us so far!

And that’s life at 4 weeks postpartum with baby #2!

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Easter 2015

14 Apr

Even though Miss Annabelle decided to arrive early, our Easter plans pretty much stayed the same and were executed with success! We ended up going to the second church service at 10:45 instead of the first one at 9:00, and only planned to stay for the worship at the beginning. Emma had thrown up the night before (from teething mucus we think) so we didn’t put her in the nursery like we usually do, and she doesn’t have a very good track record of making it through a church service. But when the worship was over and both girls were still content, we decided that we’d just stay until one of them started to crack. And we made it through the whole service! Annabelle ended up being held by Travis, and I had to entertain Emma with games on my phone but I was impressed that we were able to stay for the whole thing.

After church, we headed back to the house to pack up the rest of our stuff, I nursed Annabelle, we loaded up the dogs and girls, and were on our way to Nevis by 1 pm. We got there an hour later and poor Emma woke up the minute we parked the car, so her nap was very short. She rallied though and had plenty of energy to enjoy her new toys from G&G and Auntie, and do her first Easter egg hunt.

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She also went on the swing and slide.

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Annabelle met her Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Matthew and Cousin Drew for the first time.

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We ate Easter dinner around 4 pm. It was delicious. After dinner, the guys went out to move snowmobiles into storage and jockey boats. We bought Travis’ parents’ old fishing boat and were going to tow it back but didn’t have the right ball hitch. (We tried towing it back last weekend too but couldn’t get the trailer lights to work. I told Travis, one more strike and it just wasn’t meant to be. 😉 )

Around 6 or 7, we ate strawberry shortcake for dessert and then packed up our stuff to head home. It was a short but sweet trip! Both girls did really well.

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Without fail, Travis always makes a goofy face in the best picture of the rest of us.

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Annabelle Lyn: 2 Weeks

10 Apr

Our little Annabelle is 2 weeks old already!
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So far, she is a really good baby. She is nursing well every 3-4 hours during the day and usually gives me a 4-5 hour stretch between feedings once a night. The last couple of nights, she’s been nursing every 2-3 hours and hard to get back to sleep, but I’m hoping that just means she’s going through a growth spurt, and will go back to longer stretches soon. Otherwise, Annabelle sleeps pretty much all the time. She doesn’t seem to mind her carseat at all (yet…), is totally content to sleep in her swing with the vibration on both day and night, and doesn’t wake up even when Emma is yelling loudly and standing right next to her. I don’t get to hold Annabelle as much as I would like (since I’m chasing Emma around) but I’m thankful that she is as content as she is to sleep on her own. Emma wanted to be held all the time.

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Annabelle went to her first pediatrician appointment the Tuesday after she was born. She had been discharged from the hospital at 7 lbs 8 oz, and at her appointment was up to 7 lbs 9 oz, so we don’t have to go back to the doctor until she’s a month old. Her eyes turned a little yellow from bilirubin, but she is peeing and pooping a ton (which helps get rid of jaundice) so I’m not worried. I don’t remember this with Emma, but Annabelle’s farts/poops are SO loud and wet! I keep expecting to see a total blowout when I change her diaper, but there’s usually just a little squirt of something in there. It’s impressive that a person that little can make such a loud noise.

Annabelle doesn’t cry much (yet…), but when she does, it’s because she’s getting her diaper changed, her clothes changed (she really doesn’t like being cold), wants to be swaddled (loosely — she does not like a tight swaddle!), or is uncomfortable from gas or an air bubble. Most of the time, though, she wakes up to nurse and falls back asleep right afterward. When she does stay awake for a little while, she is mostly content to just look around, whether she’s being held or not.

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Big sis is adjusting to Annabelle well overall. Emma loves checking on “Baby” as we call her (since Annabelle is a little tricky) and is obsessed with making sure that Annabelle wears a hat at all times. She also loves to “hold” Annabelle — meaning I place Annabelle on Emma’s lap and hold her there while Emma “holds” her. Emma has been pretty good about being gentle, though there have been plenty of times already that she is too rough. I’m sure they won’t be the last. Nothing too serious though. Annabelle has only cried a few times from things Emma has done.

So far, the hardest part about having 2 young kids has been Emma’s need for attention while I’m nursing Annabelle. Poor Annabelle gets her nursing sessions interrupted fairly often. Just today, Emma emerged from her room with a sheepish grin as I was sitting on the couch nursing Annabelle. I called Emma over to find out what she was getting into and discovered that she was buck-naked. I had taken her clothes off for lunch (we had spaghetti and I hate dealing with sauce stains) and she had then removed her diaper. Other problems during nursing have been Emma getting into lotion, toothpaste or soap (she is getting very clever in reaching things she couldn’t before!), wanting to sit on my lap or cuddle, wanting a refill on food or drink, or needing me to do something for her and refusing to be patient.

One thing we have done with Emma that has proven helpful is buy child safety knob covers. We put one on our bathroom, one on Travis’ office, and one on the door that leads to the stairs from the basement (so that she can’t go upstairs without me). I’m thinking about buying some more so that we can keep her out of the other two bathrooms and the utility room too. Otherwise, Emma can get into any room she wants and to truly childproof everything would be sort of ridiculous.

The dogs have adapted to a new baby well. Katy pretty much ignores Annabelle and Charlie just sniffs her every once in a while.

I plan to do a postpartum update soon so I’ll save the details on how I’m adjusting to being a mother of 2 for then, but for now I’ll just say that it’s going WAY better than I thought it would. I know a lot of that has to do with Annabelle being a good baby, but I think also that it’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking about a new situation before it happens, but once you are actually put into the situation, you find a rhythm or routine that works for you and your family, and realize you were freaking out unnecessarily. It’s also easier to respond to the specific reality of a situation when you’re actually dealing with it, instead of just thinking (and worrying) about all the different “what ifs” ahead of time. (And can I just say that after having an extremely busy toddler to chase after all day, the days that Emma is at daycare and I have only Annabelle seem like a walk in the park? That’s not meant to discredit the major life changes a new mom goes through — because I had a hard time with them myself — but to just muse on how different things are the second time around. Like that Luvs commercial where they contrast the mom’s actions with the first child and second child. First child: Require anyone who holds your baby to douse themselves in hand sanitizer. Second child: Ask the car mechanic to hold your baby while you write a check. They’re funny because it’s true!)

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Emma’s 2nd Birthday Party

8 Apr

Today was Annabelle’s due date. Since Emma’s actual birthday was just yesterday, we decided to have her party early so that we didn’t have to worry about having a newborn and throwing a party (or having to cancel the party because I was in the hospital). Good thing we did because Annabelle arrived the weekend after we had Emma’s party!

Since Emma loves dogs, we decided to have a puppy theme. We kept things pretty lowkey, though, because she’s only 2. There’s plenty of time for more elaborate parties later on. For party decorations, we did balloons, streamers and paw prints that I printed at home (and colored in by hand, since our printer is out of yellow ink).

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We invited all of our immediate family, as well as a few of Emma’s friends. We had a great turnout! My parents, Travis’ parents, Trav’s brother, and Emma’s friends all came — so there were 6 kids under 5 including Emma (though one was a baby). (I now realize we didn’t take pictures of Emma with all the grandparents or her friends that day! Bummer.)

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For the one activity that I planned, I cut dog ears out of paper that the kids could decorate with markers and stickers, and then make into a hat/headband, but the kids were much more interested in playing with toys, so that’s what we did for the first hour of the party.

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Then we ate lunch — again, we kept it simple with Papa Murphy’s pizza, fruit salad, carrots & dip, and puppy chow.

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For Emma’s birthday cake, I made a pawprint — which was just a 2-layer round cake with 4 cupcakes for the toes. The red frosting did not turn out how I had envisioned. Next time, I will just buy the can of frosting with a cake tip instead of trying to squeeze it out of a ziploc bag! At least it tasted good.

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After the kids were done eating, we sang Happy Birthday and had Emma blow out her candles (she had help from mommy).

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The kids ate cake and then we opened gifts. Emma received fun toys from her friends, a pair of rain boots from G&G Kluthe, a Radio Flyer trike from mommy and daddy, and a stool from G&G Moen.

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The party ended “on time”, but I told everyone to feel free to stick around as long as they wanted, and they left about an hour later. We gave each kid a goodie bag with a couple packs of Scooby Doo fruit snacks, puppy stickers and a small bottle of bubbles.

It was a great party!

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Emma Grace: 2 Years

7 Apr

Emma is 2 today! Since we celebrated her birthday with a party a few weeks ago, today will be a pretty normal day. Emma’s at daycare and I’m home with Annabelle. But I did let her have fruit snacks for breakfast and I’ll make her some of her favorite foods for dinner — probably macaroni & cheese with fruit. She’s been sick lately so her appetite is kind of unpredictable right now.

Here’s what been happening this past month with Emma:

* She now has 2 of her 4 2-year molars (the bottom ones). I am so ready for the other 2 to come in and for teething to be over!

* Emma still has problems with getting nasty coughs that linger for weeks (she has one right now). It’s the worst at night, and over the past month, we’ve (well, mostly Travis) “camped out” in Emma’s room by sleeping with her on a mattress on her floor. We’re talking about bringing up her toddler bed so that it would be easier to lay with her while she falls asleep and then sneak out, but we haven’t yet. She just flops around so much in her sleep that I don’t know if she’d be able to stay in the bed. We’ve talked with Emma’s pediatrician about the possibility of asthma but she hasn’t been willing to confirm anything yet.

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* Emma is still obsessed with shoes and socks, and has now added hats. She changes her socks several times a day, wears shoes around the house for fun, and points out when Daddy’s wearing a hat, when Baby Annabelle is missing her hat (and runs to find it), and always need to find and put on her hat before going outside.

* Emma’s vocabulary is increasing exponentially. It seems she has finally figured out how to attempt to say words that she hears us say. A few new ones since last month are: “hockey”, “purple”, “papa” for grandpa, “ucky”, “poopy”, “peepee”, “pease” for please, “chew” for juice, “ba” for bottle or ball, “da” for down, “up”, and “hop”. Her favorite words by far are “mommy”, “daddy”, and “baby”. She says them all day long at random times.

* Emma still has practically no interest in TV. The only time she will sit and “watch” a show is when she has just woken up and wants to cuddle, or is sick. While I kind of wish she would watch a show every once in a while, I’m glad that Emma is more interested in reading books and playing outside. She has taken a liking to playing games on our tablet or smartphone though. I downloaded an animal matching game and she has gotten really good at it! She plays it for 5-10 minutes before getting bored.

* She still loves making messes (this was helping mommy make her birthday cake):

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* Emma LOVES being outside. It doesn’t matter if it’s cold, rainy, windy, or nice outside. She enjoys swinging and going down slides, but she also loves just walking around picking up sticks and rocks, pointing out dog poop and ice, and “driving” the car. I can’t wait until the weather warms up and it’s also enjoyable for mommy to be outside! I am not as gungho as Emma is.

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* Emma still loves dogs and gets really excited about our dogs, as well as any other dogs she sees, even if they’re on TV. Whenever we go play downstairs, Emma wants the dogs to come with us.

* Emma can jump with both feet off the ground, run like the wind, spin in a circle and dance. She loves bubbles too (what kid doesn’t?) and can sometimes blow bubbles with the wand (not without ingesting some of them though).

* Emma loves her baby sister (though she doesn’t love to share mommy) and gives her kisses, hugs and pats on the head. She has been gentle with Annabelle for the most part, but is too rough every now and again. Emma will also give hugs and kisses to those who ask her (at least most of the time).

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* Emma loves looking at pictures of herself and people she knows on Facebook and my computer.

* She loves when we sing her songs and has started to sing the melody of ABC herself (as a request that we sing the whole thing). Her favorites are ABC, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Choo Choo (a song from ECFE), and Baby Blowing Bubbles (from a CD that her speech therapist has).

* Emma has started to love wearing “jewelry”, as well as pointing out and inspecting other people’s jewelry. She points to my earrings and says “E” for ear and/or earring.

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* Emma is OBSESSED with drawing, especially with markers. She has a little table in a corner of our kitchen/dining room with her crayons, markers, stickers, paper and coloring books, and she spends hours there doodling, covering things with stickers and drawing on herself (mostly her hands, which I think is really her trying to trace her hands like her grandmas have helped her do). She also loves drawing in the tub with special markers and crayons made for bath time. She has been pretty good about only drawing on paper, though she has doodled on some of her toys, gotten marker on her clothes and accidentally made marks on some furniture. The washable markers come out of almost everything though, which is good. She has also decorated many things in stickers, including the floor, sliding glass door, dishwasher, books, other people and herself.

* Last but not least, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention anything about what a strong-willed, determined little girl Emma is. She is very curious and busy, and gets into a lot of stuff she shouldn’t (not dangerous things, just things we don’t want her to play with like our camera, cords, phones, chapstick, wallet, etc). This is even worse now that I have a baby to nurse several times a day. Emma has also started to be aggressive when told no (throwing toys and hitting) and throws tantrums frequently over seemingly small things (like being told that we can play in the car later but not right now). I realize that this is pretty normal toddler behavior, and that it’s a phase that we have to coach her through and have patience with, but man it is hard! I frequently find that I lack the patience I need to respond well. There are days when I feel like all I do is tell Emma no and listen to her throw a tantrum. On those days, I try to take a break from whatever I’m doing and just spend time with Emma, either playing with toys or cuddling with her before she goes to bed. I need those positive interactions to keep my heart from becoming bitter.

Anyway, that’s Emma at 2 years!

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Annabelle’s Birth Story, Part Two

2 Apr

If you missed it, here’s Part One.

The pediatrician came and checked on Annabelle at 8 am Saturday morning, at which point Travis and I decided to ‘get up’ for the day (which meant opening the blinds and ordering breakfast). His parents and Emma came and visited us for a couple hours around 10:30. Emma fell asleep on their lunch run and took a short 20 minute nap. She was more interested in the room, our stuff, and the balloon they had bought than in Annabelle, but it was still fun to have her there. I had missed her! She got sibling pictures taken with Annabelle.

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My parents came for a visit at 2:30 and left around 6:30.

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We ate dinner and got Annabelle’s pictures taken.

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Then our friends Brenda and Jake brought us ice cream. They left around 8-ish, at which point Travis and I watched a couple of breastfeeding videos (required… and awkward) and the end of the Wild game. After the nurse shift change at 11:30, we settled in for a night of Annabelle cluster feeding and only wanting be held. So that night was not very restful but that’s life with a newborn.

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The next day was Sunday and we were finally going to go home! My doctor checked on me around 8:30. The pediatrician came in around 9:30. Our parents and Emma arrived around 10:30 with coffee. I took a shower and packed up all our stuff. Travis and my dad made a run out to the car – we had so much stuff to take home! Finally, around noon, we were all discharged and ready to go.

I’d say that this experience of labor, delivery and our hospital stay far exceeded our experience in Denver. I think that having been through it once, I felt more empowered to ask for what I wanted (and knew what to ask for!), which made a huge difference. I also feel like the hospital made the experience very special with all the little ‘extras’ (like a free video monitor, photo session, fruit basket, birthday cake, etc). They also did a better job of leaving us alone during nighttime hours to sleep, but being available if we needed them. Or maybe the experience was better just because we weren’t first-time parents! Who knows. It was a great experience overall. And I’m still more than a little amazed that I gave birth with no pain meds. The doctor asked me what I thought about the experience of not getting an epidural, and I said, “I’m glad I had the experience and can say I did it, but I never want to do that again.”

And that’s Annabelle’s birth story!

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Annabelle’s Birth Story, Part One

31 Mar

On the morning of Friday, March 27, my alarm went off at 6 am. As I rolled over to get out of bed, I felt a pop and then a bunch of warm fluid.

“Trav, you’re not going to believe what just happened,” I said.

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied, waking out of a dead sleep. (He later remarked that my statement made it sound like something bad had happened, but my tone of voice was happy.)

“My water just broke.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Can you get up and get me a towel? … Now?”

As Travis got up to retrieve a towel from the hall closet, I thought, “What are the odds?” Only 10% of women have their water break before labor starts, and here I was, with my water breaking before labor started for the second time in two babies. Not only that, but I was in bed rolling over when my water broke with Emma too. I must’ve jinxed myself by saying repeatedly that I wanted labor to start spontaneously and to avoid being induced.

Continuing on with the similarities to Emma’s birth story, I was positive for Group B Strep again this time, and after my water broke, nothing much happened.  A glorious difference, however, was that my water broke at the sensible hour of 6 am instead of midnight. Also different, I was only 38 weeks and 2 days this time – last time, I was 39 weeks and 6 days (Emma was born on her due date).

Since this wasn’t my first rodeo with my water breaking and nothing happening, we took our time getting our stuff together. Travis jumped in the shower, took our recycling to the county disposal, and filled out his timecard for work. I washed the sheets from our bed, finished packing our hospital bags, took a shower myself, got Emma up and fed her breakfast, and tidied up the house a bit. We had called Travis’ parents after his shower and they were planning to be to our house by 9:30/10 to watch Emma, so we decided to just wait until they arrived to head to the hospital, though we did have a contingency plan with friends in case things started getting serious before his parents arrived.

Travis’ parents got to our house around 10 and after giving them the update on Emma and trying to put turkey decoys out in the backyard (ground was still frozen solid), Travis and I headed to Erbert’s & Gerbert’s for an early lunch. It was amazing. I had missed eating cold deli meat.

Around 11:30, we arrived at the hospital and got checked in. After testing to make sure my water had indeed broken (which it had) and checking my cervix (I was still only at 1 cm, 50% effaced), we were officially admitted and started talking about our plan for the day. I shared with our nurse, Valine, my experience in Denver since it seemed that history was repeating itself. I told her that I wasn’t opposed to Pitocin since I didn’t want to be there all day, but I also didn’t want things going gangbusters so fast like they had last time. She agreed and reassured me that I could call the shots when it came to being induced, and at what rate.

After walking around the delivery floor a couple times and bouncing on an exercise ball for a bit with no change in contractions, I told Valine that we could just go ahead and start Pitocin with my first round of antibiotics for the Group B Strep. So around 2 pm, we started antibiotics and Pitocin at a rate of 2. My contractions started getting a little more noticeable, but were still pretty worthless, so after an hour, I requested that the Pitocin be turned up. My new nurse, Jill, monitored the baby for a bit and at 3:30, increased my Pitocin to a 4.

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Travis and I ate a late lunch (I only had cottage cheese and peaches, and a Jello), and then I labored in the tub for a while. The jets provided a nice counter-pressure to the contractions, which had gotten more intense with the increase in Pitocin. While I was in the tub, the doctor that was on call came and introduced herself. I hadn’t met her before, but she seemed nice. Jill also started my second bag of antibiotics.

Around 6 pm, I got out of the tub and leaned forward on the exercise ball during contractions, both standing up and kneeling on the bed. My nurse had to put the contraction and baby monitors on me about once an hour, so I had to crawl back in bed for that every so often. The contractions were getting pretty intense at that point, and I was still on the fence about whether or not to get an epidural. So I asked Jill to do a ‘flush’ of my system (which was required and would take about an hour) so that I could request an epidural if I wanted one. The flush was started at 6:30 pm.

At 7:30, Jill checked my cervix and I was between 6 and 7 cm dilated. She remarked several times that I was doing great and that it wouldn’t be long before I’d be fully dilated and could start pushing. She paged the doctor to come to the hospital. Her confidence gave me the encouragement that I needed to hold out on the epidural just a little bit longer. I told Travis, if I’m not ready to push this baby out by 8:45, I’m getting an epidural.

That was one of the longest hours of my life. The contractions were so intense and painful, and were concentrated mostly in my back (though thankfully, unlike my labor with Emma, the back pain went away between contractions) that the only way I could get through them was bounce on the exercise ball, scratch my legs (I know, weird, but it helped!), breathe deeply and moan loudly.

At 8:10 pm, Jill checked my cervix again. I was at 8 cm. She could feel a little bag of waters that hadn’t completely broken so she asked if I wanted the doctor to come break it. Yes, please. So Dr. Rice came and did that.

Things didn’t progress quite as quickly as Jill expected but by 8:50, I was at 9 cm. A few more contractions and I started feeling pressure to push. The doctor came in and started getting dressed for delivery as a contraction came and I needed to push NOW.

I had heard the pain during pushing described as ‘the ring of fire’ so I honestly thought that if I could just get dilated to 10 cm without an epidural, I’d be home free. Ha. So not true. Whoever thought ‘ring of fire’ was an accurate description of pushing a baby out without pain meds is a liar or a man.

At 9 pm, I started pushing and immediately realized that this was going to be the hardest part. In addition to having painful contractions still, I now had to push a baby out too. And can I just say, there is no way to describe that kind of pain other than it feels like you’re taking the biggest poop in the world and it’s tearing your insides out with it? While I was relaxing after the first contraction of pushing (and screaming), I said, “Oh my god, that feels SO WEIRD. It feels like I’m taking the biggest poop ever.” The doctor, 2 nurses and Travis all laughed.

The next contraction was where it got serious. The pain was so amazing and different than anything I’d ever felt before that I got scared and started freaking out. I tried to straighten my legs instead of leaving them bent. I tried to get off the bed. I tried to feel if the baby was coming out so the doctor had to ask the nurses and Travis to hold me down. “Kathy, you need to push. We’re going to have a baby right now,” they kept saying. “I can’t! I can’t!” I screamed. “Yes, you can. You need to push.” In my dazed state, I finally relented and pushed through the pain – I honestly did not think I had it anywhere in me to keep going but somehow, I did. With lots of screaming I might add.

FINALLY, the baby was out. I laid my head back and for the next 10 minutes, even after they said it was a girl and put Annabelle on my chest, I just laid there saying, “Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap.” The placenta took a little encouraging to come out (consisting mostly of painful pushing on my tummy) but it finally did, and I could breathe. I did it.

And it was a girl! I honestly did not think Annabelle would be a girl, but lo and behold, she was. After the initial shock of birth wore off, I told Travis I was hungry and wanted to eat the pizza I had ordered earlier. I also requested my phone for some reason, and played a round of Trivia Crack. Travis laughs about it now, saying my brain was fried for a while after that experience.

Annabelle and I did skin to skin for about an hour and a half after she was born. She nursed a little bit, but she honestly wasn’t all that interested in breastfeeding until she was about 24 hours old. After those first 90 minutes, I got up to use the bathroom and Annabelle got weighed, her first bath and her Hep B vaccine.  She was 7 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long.

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By about 11 pm, the commotion had died down and we were left alone to sleep. My night nurse Megan came and checked on me once but left quickly when I said I was fine. Around 2 am, I called her in to ask if my bed went any lower (it didn’t), and if I could get a snack and more pain meds. Annabelle slept like a champ that night. I woke her up a few times to nurse, which she didn’t do, and put her back down in her bassinet. Unfortunately, after falling asleep for about an hour and a half right around 11, I was wired for the rest of the night. I couldn’t turn my brain off. So I had a hard time getting back to sleep, but I eventually did here and there.

Read Part Two.

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It’s A Girl!

29 Mar

We welcomed our newest baby girl, Annabelle Lyn, on Friday night (March 27) at 9:16 pm. She was 7 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long — with a full head of dark hair! (Same hairdo I had at birth.)

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We’re heading home today. Birth story to come soon!

Bisky Junior Nursery Tour

25 Mar

At long last, here are the pictures of Bisky Junior’s nursery! Since we don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl, the nursery had to be mostly gender neutral. But I felt ok with making it slightly girly because I’ll be the one spending the most time in that room (besides baby of course, but he/she won’t care how it’s decorated for a while).

We had an extra gallon of paint left over from painting our living room (Rolling Pebble from Behr), so that’s what we used on the walls.

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I was inspired by pictures on Pinterest (here’s the link to my Nursery Inspiration board) to buy gold dots from WallsNeedLove.com. So fun! I bought the poms from Luna Bazaar — they are super easy to make yourself but I couldn’t find the tissue paper colors I wanted in brick ‘n’ mortar stores. There’s way more selection online. The blue pom isn’t quite the right color, so I ordered a navy blue one off Etsy. It should be coming any day now.IMG_6197The glider was a gift from my parents. We tested out chairs in a store, but ended up buying online because it was way cheaper. It’s the Dutailier Grand Gilder from Babies R Us. Love it so far! We decided on a more traditional glider this time because we found our Best recliner glider to be slightly too deep and short for our comfort — though don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great chair and we use it all the time with Emma.

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We moved Emma’s changing table out of her room (using the top of her dresser as her changing table instead). You may be wondering where the crib is… well, we don’t want to buy a second one and plan to use the Rock n Play for the first 4-5 months anyway. So we’re hoping to transition Emma into a toddler bed by the time the baby needs the crib. We might also use our Pack n Play to fill in if the timing isn’t perfect.

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This bookshelf is a built-in, and the people who built it really designed it for books only. The shelves are fairly shallow and not adjustable height-wise at all. We were at a loss on how to utilize this space (since taking the bookshelf out wasn’t an option) and discovered that old diaper boxes were the perfect size! I covered them with fabric (another Pinterest idea) and plan to use them in lieu of a dresser.

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I have labels to put on the front, but am waiting until we know Junior’s gender, since that will probably affect how I label them. The fabric cost me about $45 (I used a yard for each) so they weren’t the cheapest things in the world, but they turned out well!IMG_6220

Yet another inspiration from Pinterest, I made no-sew bunting with some fun fabric. I was on the fence about whether or not this was worth the effort, but now that it’s hanging up, I’m glad I did it. If you have any questions about how I made it, let me know. But as I’ve remarked before, other bloggers do tutorials much better so I won’t go into the details here.IMG_6225

This room, like almost every room in the house, had no window treatments, so I sewed curtains (which actually turned out room-darkening enough to not necessitate blinds!) and we hung up a curtain rod.

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Since the built-in bookshelf is really close to the window, we couldn’t use traditional tiebacks. I had found an idea on Pinterest to use rope, but then I was at Michael’s and found these chains in the jewelry section. Cheap and ready-made! A couple 3M hooks later (the best we could find without putting a bunch of holes in the wall) and they were done!

And just for fun, here are some pictures from behind the scenes…IMG_6230 IMG_6211Emma has been all about ‘test driving’ baby’s stuff while we wait for him/her to arrive, and she now points at my belly and says “Baby.” Any day now!

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Pregnancy #2 Update: 9 Months

17 Mar

I am 37 weeks today, and boy do I feel it. I don’t remember the end of my pregnancy with Emma being this uncomfortable but it probably was. Regardless, I am so incredibly ready to be done being pregnant. Everything is five times harder with a giant belly and all the fun side effects that go with it.

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*Commence whining.*

Standing up makes me out of breath and hurts my back. It seems I’ve developed a pulled muscle on one side of my belly that is fairly painful if I twist wrong or get a Braxton Hick contraction standing up. Baby has dropped so I’m now getting up 3-4 times a night to pee — not because I really *have* to go that often but because having anything at all in my bladder makes my belly rock hard. In addition to that being extremely uncomfortable, it also makes me feel like I have to pee more than I have to. Baby being low also means I’m dealing with some sciatic pain. My tailbone is mostly healed from my fall down the stairs, which is good because that was very limiting.

*Whining over.*

I AM thankful to have a healthy baby, healthy pregnancy and to be finally getting some energy back! I think the nesting instinct is finally kicking in a little bit. I’m not going crazy rearranging closets and deep-cleaning our house, but I at least have had the energy to get the nursery organized, start packing hospital bags, pull out our infant carseat, and keep our household running with some semblance of order and healthiness.

But exercise… that has fallen by the wayside. Last week, the weather was absolutely gorgeous so I did get out on a few short (very slow) walks, but this big old belly is too large and in charge for biking anymore, and going to the gym to swim sounds like a lot of work. So yeah. Triathlon training hasn’t advanced as much as I was hoping but such is life. I definitely haven’t had the energy levels with this pregnancy that I did with my first. I blame running around after a toddler, and having not only my own sleep issues to deal with, but hers too. Oy.

I’ve gained pretty much the same amount of weight with this pregnancy as I did with Emma (a little over 30 pounds thus far), but it seems to all be in the belly. Shirts that fit me my entire pregnancy last time no longer fit this time, so getting dressed is a fun challenge! I looked for some more maternity clothes at Target but they always have the cute stuff when I’m not pregnant. I’m also so. over. pants going over the belly so I might just start wearing dresses more often, now that it’s nice outside (nice meaning in the 40s and 50s). Thank goodness I can wear flip-flops finally. Shoes were getting tricky. I have had less swelling this time around too, which has been nice, though the cankles have made an appearance a few times (usually on days when I haven’t been as good about drinking enough water, which makes sense). I did take my wedding rings off though, just to be safe.

At my prenatal appointment last Friday, my doctor tested me for Group B Strep and checked my cervix. Nothing is happening so far, but I’m pretty sure I tested positive for Group B Strep again. It’s not a huge deal — I had it with Emma and got antibiotics during labor — but I was kind of hoping to avoid that this time around. Ah well. My main goals for labor/delivery (after a healthy baby of course) is to not need Pitocin or a c-section! Other than that, I don’t really have a “plan”.

The nursery is finally done! I am planning to take some pictures in the next week or so, and post a little nursery tour here on the blog. I wasn’t so sure about how it was going to turn out but I like it a lot now that it’s done. Travis and I are also mostly decided on names, but I’m going to wait to share until the baby arrives.

And that’s pretty much it! Emma’s birthday party is this coming Saturday, so I have lots to do this week getting ready for that. It’s gonna be fun!

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