September 29, 2014

Work, work, work!

Keeping up with a blog is more challenging than I thought it would be, especially with working full time all while being a full time mommy.

To say that life is incredibly busy would be an understatement. We just moved for the second time in less than a year into a beautiful, big house. I'm so excited to redesign Dax's room into a wilderness theme! It is a work in progress but the finished product is going to be such a cool room for him to grow into.

Dax is growing so fast. He is crawling, standing with one hand supporting, and even doing a little cruising while holding onto furniture. He babbles all day and uses "mama" a lot. He is always so happy and smiles all day long. Most recently he has learned to scrunch his while face when he laughs. He loves food of all kinds, but I think mango and pears are his favorite. We have started giving him while foods and he is learning to pick them up and sometimes successfully make it into his mouth.

Besides solids, Dax is still exclusively breastfed. Pumping at work sucks but it's so worth it to me. If I can't stay home to care for him, the least I can do is give him the best nutrition possible while I'm away. I'm hoping to make it to a year, but wouldn't be too upset if I couldn't.

We are planning our first Disney trip for December, I can't wait, even if Dax won't remember I know we will all enjoy it.

Now off I go to make a late dinner for the hubby and I!

Until my next post in 500 years...........

July 21, 2014

Time Flies

No seriously, time flies when you have a little one consuming all of your days. There just isn't enough time in the day to get done everything that needs to get done. Dax takes 2 naps each day, usually lasting 2 hours each. 2 hours sounds like a lot of time, but it really isn't when there is so much to do. I use that time to relax, lord knows that is a must, clean up a bit around the house, and now that school is quickly approaching I have been getting things together for that. When he is awake, usually for 2-3 hours between naps, I don't want to just put him in his jumper and wash the dishes, I want to spend time with him! I want to be a part of his learning process even if I am just a spectator, he is too fun to ignore!

Dax is in the middle of some crazy growth spurt that is never ending. I guess there is just so much to be learned! Since about 4 months old, he stopped sleeping through the night with a few night wakings here and there. Now, it seems as if I have a newborn in the house again. He will usually give a good 4-5 hour stretch in the beginning of the night (8 p.m-12 a.m/1 a.m), but then he is up every hour to 2 hours. Last night he woke up at 3 a.m and did not go back to sleep until 5 a.m, and that was after he had already woken up 2 other times. It was rough and this mama is tired!

He is at the age where he is realizing distance and relationships, learning to crawl, learning to babble, learning to eat, learning to communicate a little more effectively, and showing his personality so much more so I know his brain and body are busy. Did I mention teething? I am hoping that explains the middle of the night melt downs that happen at least once a night.

Speaking of eating. Dax loves pears and mango! It took awhile to figure out something he would eat without shaking his head, making a disgusted face, or gagging. I am doing a mixture of purees (which I am making myself) and baby led weaning. Baby led weaning is when you give them whole foods that are soft enough to pretty much dissolve when them munch with their gums. He loved getting a whole slice of watermelon and later this week we are going to try whole steamed or boiled carrots. The point of baby led weaning is to not force feed them, just like breastfeeding they are able to eat how much they want and at their own pace. He is also learning to drink out of a sippy cup, though that has become more of a teether right now.

Pictures below are from Dax's first family vacation. We visited family in Pennsylvania, saw a battle in Gettysburg, and spent some time hiking in Shenandoah.


First 4th of July                        
     
 Real grass in Pennsylvania!

First watermelon

Hiking with daddy

Hiking with daddy

Taking a break on the top of a mountain

June 10, 2014

Playing Catch Up

School is out for Summer, which means (well, lets hope) a lot of free time! I am looking forward to spending each day with my little Bug doing summery things like swimming and taking walks.

Month 3:
Dax celebrated his first Easter! He loved getting new toys and having to sit through yet another one of my amateur photo sessions. He is totally not angry in that tie picture, he was telling me something with a ton of expression! This was also Dax's last month in our first house. Moving on to bigger and better things!!










Month 4:
Dax had his first pool experience this month....he LOVED it! He also started being able to sit up unassisted for short amounts of time. Looking forward to month 5 and all that it brings!












Month 5 will bring better updates and more photos. The last few months are too busy to think back on to pick out details!


May 15, 2014

Slacking

I was hoping that even with returning to work, that I would still be able to find the time to keep this blog updated. Let's be real...there is no time! I plan to write a catch up post with pictures and the low down of what has happened these past 2 months but for now this is what pushed me to write.

While I'm sitting here putting my baby to sleep for the 2nd time (you know, since toes won the first time), I stumbled across this blog posting and it is so perfectly written. I really don't know how people could think crying it out this young, or younger, is acceptable. Why would you want your helpless baby to "fall" asleep based on his fears that he is not loved? My baby cries only when he has needs that need to be met, and I will always be there to meet them..even if that means taking an hour out of my day or night just to put my baby down to sleep happily. It honestly breaks my heart to hear him cry and when he is old enough for me to be okay with crying it out, I know it will still kill me. I want my baby to learn trust, and that when he cries, he will get what he needs. It is his only way to communicate right now. I know there are plenty of people who see crying it out as okay, but at such a young age it does more harm than good and that is not worth it to me. I love knowing that my baby feels loved and secure, not lost and alone.

Okay, enough of my rambling, I could go on forever with a topic like this. Just read the blog that I have posted. It's incredible if you have views similar to my own. Oh and did I mention, it took a whole 10 minutes for my bug to quietly fall asleep safe and sound in my arms? So not worth crying it out! They only stay little for so long....

http://nurshable.com/2012/07/19/the-wio-wait-it-out-method-of-sleep-training/

March 17, 2014

A Day in the Life of a 2 Month Old

So many people give "advice" on how to raise a kid that is not theirs, including how to schedule them. I mean seriously. People try to train babies to get on a schedule? How stressful and ridiculous. When my baby cries in the middle of the night, it is because he is hungry and as a good mother, I will get up, change his diaper and feed him half asleep. Many people see that night waking moment as the perfect opportunity to pop a pacifier in their mouths to be able to "train" the baby to sleep longer and for the parents to get more sleep. Good for them if it works, but that strategy is not for me.

In a way, I did "train" Dax, but not using the method listed above. The kid won't take a pacifier so that option would not be there anyways! In the beginning, with all the weight he lost and the issues with feeding, our pediatrician recommended that we wake him up every 2 hours around the clock to feed (many newborns will sleep through their feedings if you don't). The 2 hours started counting at the start of the feed so if he ate for 30 minutes, then was rocked for 20 minutes, there was only an hour and 20 minutes left until his next feed. Needless to say, we were both exhausted and probably a little nutty. Once he started gaining weight consistently, we were able to stop waking him at night and allow him to wake up when he was hungry...this still ended up being every 2 hours throughout the night and day for awhile though.

We started a routine pretty early. At night when it was bedtime and time to eat, we turned on a dim lamp in his room and we put on his jammies. When he woke up for night feedings, lights stayed off, voices stayed off, and we did only what needed to be done...diaper and feeding. In the morning, lights came on, jammies came off. Now in the beginning it did not make a difference and he did not know day from night, but we still kept the routine going and eventually he started to sleep a little longer at night, maybe 3 hours instead of 2. But his sleep was so restless!! He grunted and squealed all night long keeping us awake.

It was only when I put Dax down for a nap at 8:00 one night (he napped on his belly), and he did not wake up until 1:00 a.m. that we realized we needed to switch him over from his back to belly at night, regardless of the risks. Belly sleeping saved our sanity. Keeping with the routine above, Dax started settling into a 8-9 bedtime, sleeping 4-5 hr stretches, sometimes as long as 7 hours. When he does wake in the middle of the night to eat, he falls right back to sleep.

Here is what a "typical" day looks like with Dax:

7:30-8:30 a.m - wake up/diaper, play, eat
9:00 - nap
9:30 - 10:45 - diaper, play, eat
11:00 - nap
11:30 - 12:45 - diaper, play, eat
1:00 - nap
1:30-2:45 - diaper, play, eat
3:00 - nap
3:30-4:45 - diaper, play, eat
5:00 - nap
5:30-6:45 - diaper, play, eat
7:00 - nap
7:30 until bedtime - diaper, play, eat
9:00 p.m. - 4:30 a.m. - sleep
4:30 a.m. - diaper, eat
5:00 a.m. - 7:30 - sleep

Now some days, he is like clockwork and goes down for a nap right at the 2 hr mark every time, other days it is a little shorter or longer. Same with sleep time, sometimes it is as short as a 15 minute cat nap, sometimes it will last an hr. In between sleep is not really scheduled, yes we diaper, play, eat, but it is not always in that order. I feed him based on whether or not he is hungry, so sometimes it is as soon as he wakes up, other times it is right before he goes down for a nap.

He is starting to love exploring the world around him so he will play on his play mat some mornings for a good 40 minutes while I get things done around the house. Of course, I stop over and play a bit...how could I not?!

Love my little bug, so proud of the little guy he is turning into and the life we are creating together. It's a bug's life! (and not the movie!) =)



March 10, 2014

Finding Mr. Right

...in a bottle, that is.


Rewind to when Daxton was 1 week old and having latch issues. Since he lost about a pound due to not eating enough, we had to supplement a bit with formula. As someone who wanted her baby only to experience the goodness and amazing benefits of breastfeeding, I was devastated...but that is another story for another time. Anyways, he took a bottle with no hesitation, no preference to me, nothing. He just took it and chugged it down. We used the wide neck Dr. Brown bottles I received at my shower. I had done a lot of research on bottles and got feedback from others and those seemed to be the best bottles for everything such as gas, spitting up, and even breastfed babies. This obviously proved to be true when my new baby took to it so willingly.

Fast forward 6 weeks when I had my postpartum check up and left Daddy to hang with baby. Since breastfed babies eat every 2-3 hours, it was inevitable that he would have to give Dax a bottle while I was out. So Dad got a bottle ready and just like before, Dax took to the bottle with no problems and ate like a champ! Not so much. He hated it. Wanted nothing to do with it. Didn't even know WHAT to do with it. He clearly knew that this oddly shaped silicone thing in his mouth was not human and he did not want it. Luckily in this case, Daddy was able to get Dax to sleep so he did not have to hear him wailing with hunger the whole time until I got home.

This stressed me out. How come my baby decided to dislike the bottle that he seemed to enjoy just a short 6 weeks ago? Well, I decided to try out some more bottle and nipple types in hopes of finding the right bottle.

Bottle's We Hate:

1. Dr. Browns - with more research, I found that these really aren't that great for breastfed babies. Look at the nipple...unless your breast is shaped in a 90 degree angle, this bottle is not going to work for a breastfeeding mother (with a picky baby).

2. Avent Natural - nipple was a little better shaped, but way too long. Dax gagged every time we tried this one.

3. Avent Classic - shaped similar to the Dr. Brown wide neck bottle nipples so this one did not work either.

4. Nuk Orthodontic - the one bottle I thought he would take because the nipple has a flat part at the tip, it is shorter, and the milk comes out to where it would hit the roof of their mouth rather than the back of the throat. Nope. Still fussed and wouldn't take it.

5. Playtex Drops-Ins - I tried both the silicone and latex nipple with this one. He seemed to play with it a little more but still could not get him to suck it....or put it past his gums and his crazy pushing tongue.

 7 nipples total. What a waste!


SO. I did more research. Researched bottles and best nipple shape for breastfed babies. This is when I found that Dr. Brown wide neck nipples and others similarly shaped are actually the worst for breastfed babies...go figure! I also stumbled across this gem of a website: http://www.babygearlab.com/Baby-Bottle-Reviews

Complete with reviews on multiple types of bottles including ratings for nipple softness, ease of cleaning, the vent system, etc.

The #1 bottle on the site is made of stainless steel (this reasoning put it at #1), really not something I was interested in so I went to the #2 bottle, Tommee Tippee. I thought about trying this one, but the nipple was still pretty firm and reviews were 50/50. So I played around the idea of the #3 bottle, and finally decided to go for it based on the raving reviews by breastfeeding moms.

I introduce to you, Mr. Right. (or Comotomo)



Cute, right?

This bottle is a little on the expensive side, I paid $12.99 (free shipping) on amazon for one 5 oz. bottle. Call me crazy? No, because this bottle is amazing!

The whole bottle is made of silicone, giving it a almost human like feel, and yes it is squishy. The nipple on this bottle is the widest out there giving it a rounded breast like shape, making it so baby can latch on naturally. Since this bottle is made the way it is, you do not have a lip to get the last drop of milk around as it is straight in the inside all the way to the nipple. The nipple is also the softest on the market making it more realistic for baby as they don't have to try and suck out of something much harder than they are used to.

Basically, it was designed with the breastfeeding mother in mind and mimics breastfeeding making it easy for baby to switch back and fourth between mom and bottle without nipple confusion or adjusting the latch for each.

It is also dishwasher safe which will be great when I go back to work and am having to wash bottles like crazy.



The bottle was delivered Saturday and we tried it out for the first time yesterday. He did the same thing he did with the other bottles and played with the nipple a bit, but I knew it was going to be different when he pulled it deeper into his mouth and sucked a bit. We took a small break and then went back to trying it, as I did not want him to get too hungry to the point of crying otherwise the bottle was out the window for that feeding. He starting sucking a little more and eventually pulled the whole nipple into his mouth and latched on as if he had done it before...well he has, just not on a bottle!

I did not force the bottle into his mouth, nor would I ever, as doing so will just make him mad and I'd rather him not hate having to be bottle fed because it was forced. I had the bottle filled with a single ounce so if he did not take the bottle the milk would not be completely wasted. To my surprise, he drank the whole ounce! I was incredibly proud of him. Since it was only an ounce and he eats probably close to 3, I did feed him more afterwards and he switched back with no issues.

Needless to say, I felt a little stress go away. I had no idea what I would do if I could not get him to take a bottle. I couldn't go back to working hoping he would be starving enough to take a bottle from whoever will be watching him. I would never put him through such a horrible thing. Just having him cry because he wouldn't take a few of the other bottles was difficult. (Can you tell that I don't believe in letting a baby cry? He should never cry because he is frustrated with eating...among other things.)

Although it is expensive, it is totally worth it to have my baby content with eating from a bottle. And it is definitely worth my peace of mind knowing that he won't be miserable while I am working. I just hope that the 2nd kid takes these in the future...I refuse to go through this bottle charade again!

Next: to find a paci, or not to find a paci.......maybe his fist will do just fine!

March 2, 2014

As of Now

Daxton is growing and changing everyday. 3 weeks ago or so he started to make the smallest of baby noises every now and then. Now he does this all the time and even smiles along with it. The social smiles are the best because I know he is actually smiling and reacting to me and not just smiling as a reflex in his sleepy state. He is enjoying play time/tummy time more and more and enjoys when we lay him on his back and talk with him. He enjoys being awake with us for that short time before I feed him and put him down for his nap. Although, he does cry when he fights sleep--which he likes to do during the day, there is just so much excitement that he does not want to miss I guess! He is a happy, smiley baby!

A few weeks ago it was much crazier around here. Daxton was crying at all hours. He would cry when he woke up and would not stop until he was fed, then he would cry until we got him to sleep which could sometimes take hours and after the next feeding. We did not put him on his back much because the spitting up was happening way too often. The pediatrician recommended we keep him upright for at least 30 minutes after eating before we lay him down to sleep, as hard as this was over night, we did, and then he would still spit up. He would even wake up from a deep sleep screaming just to spit up. His pediatrician thought that acid reflux was the problem and started him on Prilosec, the only change I noticed was that the spitting up was happening at least 4 times per feeding, and more times in between. It was also a bigger amount and almost seemed as if he was spitting up everything that he had ate. I decided to skip a dose the next day only to be pleasantly surprised when he only spit up about twice during the day. The next day we gave him his dose, and sure enough he was spitting up again. We used our better judgment and stopped giving him the medicine. While this was happening, he was also diagnosed with a milk protein allergy so I was told to avoid all milk and soy products. We think this is the sole problem as we have seen much improvement over the last couple of weeks. We are glad to see him happier and having less belly pain. He still spits up, but not nearly as much as he had been.

As of 7 weeks, he likes listening to music...pink, Jack Johnson, Fun, Maroon 5, etc., but don't put on Jason Mraz-I Won't Give Up On Us, it only makes his bottom lip quiver and cry. He also thinks that ceiling fans are the funniest thing put in this world, he just stares away at them smiling and laughing. They don't even have to be on! He likes trying to find the birds outside and sunbathing on the deck. I am pretty sure the outdoors are his favorite place to be, he is going to love hiking! We also started putting him down at night on his belly since sleeping on his back only causes him to wiggle and make the craziest of noises (well, 2 nights now) and it has been great. First night he slept two 4 hr stretches, and the 2nd night he slept a 5 hour stretch, followed by a 3 hour stretch. Woo hoo! Sleep!

Next on our list of things to conquer....finding a bottle that he approves of because he dislikes Dr. Brown, Nuk, Avent, and Mam. Playtex drop-ins latex nipple, here we come, don't let me down!!




Dax's 1 month picture (even though we are closing in on 2 months):

 
Oh yes, expect one of these tie pictures each month! =)

P.S. He was supposed to be nakie, but I freaked about having him pee on Devin's tie!

February 18, 2014

Strong Feelings

In the first few weeks of post partum life, there are some intense feelings going on that are hard to read or even explain. Sadness, excitement, happiness, anger, guilt, selfishness, regret, love, indifference, to name just a few feelings that go through your body at different times...sometimes all at once.

I loved this little baby the first time I laid eyes on him when he was placed on my chest in the hospital, but that first week home is incredibly scary and trying. I had so many thoughts about how I must have been crazy to want kids, and how I am too selfish to share my sleeping hours with a hungry little being. There were times where I wanted nothing to do with my baby and where I felt that I would never love him unconditionally. I felt I was a horrible mother when I could not get him to latch to eat and that I was doing everything wrong when he would cry and I could not calm him down. There were times that my own husband worried about my well being because he could tell that something was off those first couple of weeks.

Crying was a nightly occurrence and usually peaked when the sun when down. I broke down every single night. I could not stand the thought of another night of a screaming, starving baby every 2 hours, and being a failure of a mother again. Sleep deprivation takes a toll on the body like nothing else, not to mention the pain from labor that lingers well into the first week of being home. You forget that you are new to this, as is your baby, and that you both have to learn how to do things right, not everything comes naturally just because you popped out a baby or because you think it should.

It is truly scary having a tiny 7 pound baby that relies on you for survival and it is easy to think that having a baby was not your best idea when he is screaming bloody murder for an hour straight at 2 a.m. But, it is all part of the post partum experience!

We sought out help when we could not get baby to latch correctly and he wasn't gaining weight and it helped to solve the problem in no time at all. Now he latches and eats like a champ.

We sought out help when he was crying all day and spitting up a million times, I cut out milk and soy products and his personality has improved, he is much happier, and he is spitting up a whole heck of a lot less.

We definitely learned not to be scared to ask for help when it was needed or when we thought something was wrong. We also learned to go with our own gut, like stopping his acid reflux medicine which seemed to be causing more harm than good. We also learned that we do not need take his temperature 10 times just because he is crying...crying happens!!

A facebook post from a few weeks ago that I wrote:

"It really is easy to lose touch with the wife side of who I am. Between the stress, exhaustion, frustration, sleepless nights, and everything else that comes with caring for a new, helpless life..I sometimes find myself missing the days of having just the 2 of us anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little guy, and being just his and him mine. If I could go back to the day before I went into labor, I'd make sure to spend as much time possible with the man I fell in love with and not take that alone time for just another routine day. I'd let him know that I love him more than I ever had and that I always will. I would let him know that even though we would soon have a baby taking up all of our together time, that just being near him would push my fears aside. I would let him know that when I ask him for burp cloths more than I ask how his day was, that his happiness and well being is on my mind at all times. I would let him know that even though this little sweet baby will steal my heart, he will always be the most loved person in my life. I never want to lose sight of who we were before having a baby. I want to always be on his mind, and not just the image of me holding a baby with 3 day old spit-up clothes and bags under my eyes. I want to always have time for husband snuggles, just like we have time for baby snuggles. I want to always feel the overwhelming feeling of love when he hugs me close. I will always strive to be his wife first and not take for granted what we had and still have. Don't get me wrong, I love this baby with everything I have, and although this stage of life is short and precious, I am looking forward to the days when our little guy is older and I can be his wife again."


Those feelings have come and gone and we are really getting into the swing of things here. We are finding out what works, what doesn't, and learning so much about this little baby. We are learning what his different cries tell us, how to entertain him, how to hold him, how to rock him, how to calm him, etc. We also learned that being outside is one of his favorite things...he LOVES to feel the wind and sun on his face.

The only strong feeling I have left now is this incredible love that I have for our baby. It is an indescribable feeling when my little guy smiles at me, even at 3 in the morning when I am trying to feed him and get him back to sleep. The love one has for a baby is seriously the strongest love of all. I am loving spending every day with him and seeing him change and grow. The feeling I get when he looks me directly in the eyes and "talks" to me is amazing and it melts my heart when he holds my hand while he eats. He is growing so fast and I dread the day that I have to leave him to go back to work and the heartbreak that will come with it. He is seriously my everything!

Just a Thought

Whenever I log onto Facebook, all I see are women who are pregnant. (No, really, I have a total of 12 people that I can think of off the top of my head who are expecting on my friends list.) Then there are those who aren't pregnant but have serious baby fever and want to join the maternity club. To all my friends who want to be pregnant and want to start a family, don't take that feeling of longing for granted. The feeling of wanting so much to have your first baby is a special feeling that you will never have again. Yes, I'm sure the second baby is amazing as well, but so is the excitement of planning for that first little one.

It is the first time you are thinking of having a baby, the first time talking with your significant other about starting a family, the first time you have to venture to the drug store to buy a HPT, the first time getting nervous about actually taking that test, the first time of being let down when only 1 line appears in that little window, the first time finally seeing those 2 pink lines that tell you that you are indeed pregnant, the first time announcing to your SO that in 9 short months he will be a father and you a mother, the first time announcing to your family that they are going to be grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles, the first time sending your SO to the store again for more tests just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and the first time experiencing all those little moments of your baby growing inside you.

That first time baby feeling of longing is quick, but definitely something to hold on to while you wait to start your family. It is such an exciting time in life to be at that stage when a sweet little baby is all you can think about!

The Birth of a Baby Boy (later to be know as "Bug")

The Story.....

On Thursday, January 9th, at 10:30 p.m., I had literally just drifted off to sleep after a long day at work when I was awoken by a huge gush of liquid. Before realizing it was my water breaking, I may or may not have thought that I just peed the bed. I had the Hollywood movie gush that just kept on gushing. So much for just a trickle as so many people will tell you!

Devin wasn't home, but he had texted me to let me know he was on his way. He probably thought I was playing a nasty joke when he received this reply: Good, because I am pretty sure my water just broke.

On our way to the hospital, I realized I had left my wallet (which had my insurance card and license of course) at home and we had to turn around, luckily it was so late and no one was out. When we finally arrived at the hospital at around 1 a.m. we found out that I was 3 cm, (I had been at almost a 2 the week before at my appt.). We got into the delivery room and got hooked up to all the monitors. I was pretty relaxed considering life as I knew it was about to completely change.

 I had decided long ago to have a natural un-medicated birth and was going strong breathing through the most painful of contractions. It was when my contractions started to not let up, and when I started throwing up with every contraction that I could not breathe through them anymore, which meant I no longer had a means of coping with the pain. I reluctantly asked for an epidural which was put into place by 4:30 a.m. AMAZING.

My nurse decided to check me right after hoping I would be at least 5 cm, imagine my surprise when she said “or, how about 8?” I, of course, joked around saying “you mean, I almost made it?”

About 1.5 hours later, I was completely dilated but baby was still at 0 station so we wanted to give him a little time to move down on his own before I started pushing. The nurses and OB's were sure that I would have this baby out by 7 a.m. due to my quick progression.

But of course, 7 a.m. is shift change, so I had to wait awhile before my new nurse was ready. With the first set of pushing, baby’s heart rate kept dropping and even flat lined a few times which was pretty scary for us. I was put on oxygen and flipped to my side to help get his heart rate back up and more regular as all the pushing was continuing to cause his heart rate to slow significantly. I had another OB come in and check me and we decided to hold off on the pushing and use a peanut pillow (most awkward thing ever) to help widen my pelvis and naturally move baby down. It seemed to help because all pushing from then on did not cause the same heart rate drops as earlier, only small dips in which the oxygen between pushes helped—I did not have to use it the whole time.

My nurse thought baby was posterior--which means face down (confirming my thoughts that baby had changed positions just that week...but that is another story), but one of my OBs could not tell...thanks doc!

Long story short, baby was finally born Friday, 1/10, at 1:45 p.m...after 5+ hours of pushing and a little help from pitocin. I am lucky to have had a really awesome on call OB who stayed in the room with me for the last 2 or so hours and would not let me end up with a c-section. She decided that the first hour of pushing did not do anything but cause stress, and the hours on the epidural did not do enough. She actually let the epidural run out so I could start feeling contractions again, and boy did I, especially since I was going for so long. I absolutely LOVED that she did this and that I was able to feel the last bit of painful contractions and intense pressure to know when to push...what an AMAZING feeling, not just what my body felt like but that I was leading my own pushing and telling them when it was time. Turns out, baby was posterior which was most likely why my contractions were so strong and why I had to push for so long, when a baby is in that less than ideal position, labor intensifies and lengthens.

I could not believe how quickly I dilated for a FTM and that I made it all the way to 8 cm without the epidural. I also could not believe how long I pushed...I was “that girl who pushed 5 hours” that weekend at the hospital.

Believe it or not, I'm already looking forward to experiencing labor and attempting a natural birth all over again!




Baby Bug - First skin to skin

February 17, 2014

Our Parents


Mothers Day
 

Announcing we are expecting to our parents was seriously nerve wracking but fun at the same time. How do you tell your parents that their baby is having a baby? We knew we had to come up with something fun and clever.

 
My mom, being the huge Rays fan that she is, received a Rays Tervis as her main Mothers Day gift, and in the bottom we wrapped up a tiny Rays onesie. When she opened it she had the most confused look on her face and then was definitely surprised! I couldn’t handle the suspense and started crying almost before she opened it!

 
For Devin’s mom, we had re-done our whiteboard and took a picture of it. We edited it and turned the picture into a mosaic type deal which made it look really cool. Devin’s mom loves getting pictures so we stuck the announcement picture in the middle of a stack of pictures from our Disneyland vacation. She was looking through them and lightly screamed when she got to the picture…his dad could not stop saying “cool beans!!”

 
I was glad that both sets of parents were excited, and that the telling them part was over!!!
 
We were also excited to tell my mom that our estimated due date was January 10th, which just so happened to be her birthday. The date was later pushed back to the 15th.

The Beginning

How this whole thing got started......

Finding out I was actually for real 100% pregnant was almost as much of a shocker as it wasn’t. Does that sound right? When women say that they know they are pregnant BEFORE they know they are pregnant, they aren't always wrong. I just knew.

I kept jokingly telling Devin that I was pregnant and he kept urging me to take a pregnancy test to prove it, but I was scared to see either outcome. On May 6th, I drove home from work on a mission. I know most people say “taking a HPT in the morning is the best time!”, well it was 5:00 p.m. and I was not about to wait until morning, so upon arriving home, I got brave and took my first HPT.
Because no one ever believes the first test, I quickly tore open another test. 2 tests and 4 pink lines later, I was pacing around the house saying-yelling, “holy (insert choice word that starts with an ‘s’ here)” over and over again, literally. WHO did I call? WHAT should I do? No freaking way...

I was just as nervous as I was excited to tell Devin the news. I would have loved to have waited until May 11th and surprise him on our 1 year anniversary but that was not about to happen, my head would have exploded! I decided to use our notes/vacation countdown whiteboard on the fridge to announce the news. Complete with multiple pee sticks because if you didn't pee on a stick, did it really happen?

Devin walked in the house and immediately walked right by the fridge, (why would he have reason to look?) and asked if we were going for a walk. I replied like a fool who can't keep a secret, “only if you look at the whiteboard!”. The moment he read the words and saw the tests, he dropped his work bag and hugged me so tight with tears of excitement in his eyes.