oh hey, there you are:)

I've just been MIA for about 2 years so don't mind me. I'm sure i've lost all followers by now.

A quick overview of what's going on in my world

•  I'm pregnant with baby #2, another boy!
• my sister lives with us again.
• we're moving. you wouldn't expect me to go through a pregnancy without completely turning my world upside down at the beginning of the 3rd trimester, right?

that's it. that's enough, right?

someone answer me....haha j/k.

I know I dissapeared

I know I disappeared. My sweet sweet boy is almost 2 months old and I’ve updated you once.

He is so sweet and cuddly. He is independent and strong.

At 6 weeks he rolled over on his own from belly to back. He loves tummy time and stretching out as soon as he breaks free from his swaddle. 

I spend more time than I’d like to admit watching him sleep. His smiles make me cry.

His playmat is by far his favorite toy, and despite how hard I’m trying he just isn’t clinging onto a lovey yet.

Here are a couple photos. He’s getting bigger by the day.  At his one month appt. he weighed 10 lbs 3.5 oz and next week we’ll see how much he’s gained this month.

 

As for me I feel great. I have weight to lose but it will happen, I’m not rushing. I’ve started a weight loss challenge with some of my internet friends and that is certainly helping to keep me accountable.   Ben and I haven’t had post partum sex yetL as soon as I got the clear I started my period. Yes, I’m that poor soul that stars their period waaay too soon after having a kid and I’m breastfeeding all day every day!! It’s not supposed to happen. Anyways as soon as I was good to have sex Ben got poison ivy, which I’m highly allergic too…and of course I’m not trying to have a baby with poison ivy. Blah.

I hope everyone is having a good summer! I promise I’ll be back soon.

bad bad blogger....

I spend my days watching the kid sleep. I can't get enough of his milk coma smiles, or the funny faces he makes when he's eating.  He is grunting and squealing all the time, especially when he eats. 

I just want him in my arms and close to my heart.

The Story of Bear's birth

On Thursday May 29, 2014 I had my 40 week checkup with my midwife. My cervix looked good and was 3-4cm dilated and was about 75% effaced. I was so excited. I had discussed with the midwife the week before stripping my membranes at this appointment to try and get things moving on their own. I really didn’t want an invasive labor and delivery. She stripped my membranes and then went to look at my chart. My bp was high for me 143/94 and I had a lot of protein in my urine. My midwife looked at me and said, we have to induce you tonight.

I was scared. Before labor even started I knew that my labor with Bear wasn’t going to go the way I wanted it to. But at the same time I was optimistic. I kept telling myself that as long as the boy is healthy in the end than I’d be happy. I went into to work and told only my direct boss that I was going to finish up a couple things for him and then head home. I needed time to try and get my labor going. I was home by 12:30 and headed out on a hike with the dogs and my MIL.

Around 2:00 the hospital called me to say that my induction would start at 2am. Once back home from my hike I started using my breast pump, anything I could do to get contractions going I was going to try. I used it once an hour for 15 minutes at a time all afternoon long.

I sent a text to my doula, Abby, and let her know what was going on. She told me to continue on with what I was doing and to make sure my H and I had sex when he got home and to let her know when we were settled into the hospital. By 6:00 I knew I needed to bring my dogs over to my IL’s so that they could watch them while we were in the hospital. I was so sad saying goodbye. I felt sad for how their lives were going to change, coming home to a house with a baby that would take up soo much of my time. But I dropped them off and went home to rest.

H finally got home from work at about 8:30 that night. We ate some dinner, spicy creamy taco mac. We crawled in bed, did the deed, and I went to sleep. 1:00am came too quickly. I couldn’t believe I had actually fallen asleep, but I did. I ate a bowl of cereal since I knew it could be a while before I ate again, and we got ready to head out the door.

We arrived at labor and delivery at 2:05 am. They got me set up in a room, hooked up and IV and monitors, and started the pitocin. It was about 3:30 by the time all of this was done. I sent Abby a text to let her know what was going on, she was just getting out of the shower and was going to head to the hospital. She arrived at about 5:30. they started the pitocin at 2 ml and were increasing it very slowly for me, but by 6:00 the pitocin had been upped to 8 ml. I sat on the birth ball for several hours and rolled around.

At 8:30 my midwife arrived and I was measuring 3cm. she also told me my bp was totally normal and I didn’t have any protein in my urine. I was so mad, but what could I do? My midwife said maybe they checked the wrong urine….but the induction was underway and I couldn’t change that. She broke my water in the hopes that it would get things moving and they continued to up the pitocin.

I had requested to be able to walk around. The nurse rolled her eyes at me but I continued to ask and they finally brought me a monitor that would hang off my iv/pitocin stand so that I could move. I walked and walked and walked…but my area of range with the monitor was limited so I walked the same area over and over again. This is where things get a little fuzzy. While I was walking the monitor kept falling off my belly so they had a hard time watching the baby’s heart rate, so they asked me to lay in bed for a little while. Once in bed the contractions felt stronger. They continued to up the pitocin and I really had to concentrate through them. We listened to music for a while, Ben and Abby gave me a foot rub with some massage oils and I just took it one contraction a time.

Once the pitocin was turned up to 18ml the contractions were coming about a minute apart and were strong. I labored like this for about 3 hours. I stood and rocked through the contractions, labored in bed for a while, and also labored on the toilet for about an hour and a half. I asked repeatedly to be able to get in the shower but they wouldn’t allow it since I was getting pitocin and needed to have the IV in.

For some reason decided that I needed to get back into bed. This is where the contractions became completely unbearable. I’m not sure if it was my position but I just couldn’t take the pain and consistency of the contractions any more. I decided I wanted the epidural. They checked me before they would order it and I was dilated to 8 cm. We requested that they turn down the pitocin so I could continue to labor without the epidural but they wouldn’t do it. I had handled the contractions with the pitocin at 16ml really well and we thought that might help and I could avoid the epidural.

So it was about 6:00 that I got the epidural. Abby stayed in the room with me and Ben took a walk for this part. He was really struggling to see me in so much pain. Having a doula there turned out to be an amazing thing.

The epidural felt awesome. About an hour after getting it my midwife came in with the nurse to inform me that the baby’s heart rate had dropped really low. She checked me and found that there was still more water that needed to come out so she moved the baby a bit and I felt another gush. While she was doing that she rubbed the baby’s head and his heart rate went back up to normal. She said, oh this baby likes head tickles…which was hilarious because my husband asks me every night for a head tickle. I was like, oh hell no I’m not going to have 2 people asking for head rubs every night haha! They decided to give me more fluids to see if that helped things and it did. From this point until the actual birth I was given about 5 bags of fluids.

I rested and snuck some peanuts and m&m’s into my belly. I wasn’t checked again until about 8:30. I had progressed to 9cm but the baby wasn’t descending and there was still a lip on the right side of my cervix. They decided to just let me labor down.

At 11:00 my midwife came in to say she was leaving. She introduced me to the doctor that would take over, Kelly, and was on her way. Kelly let me know that she was going to be back in about 1.5 hours to check me and then we would discuss the next step. At this point I started feeling a lot of pressure. The epidural was wearing off and I was hopeful that the pressure meant Bear was coming soon. When Kelly came back at 12:30 I hadn’t progressed at all. Bear hadn’t moved down and I still had that lip on the right side of my cervix. She looked me in the eyes and told me that it was almost impossible I could give birth vaginally and that I would need a c-section. I insisted that I was strong and wanted a vaginal birth and said she would give me 1 more hour to labor and then we were going to have to have a serious discussion. We did a couple of practice pushes at this point to see if I could push Bear’s head past the lip. Unfortunately every time I pushed he’d move past the lip and then he’d regress. I was so frustrated, but knew I needed the time to see what my body could do. During this pushing Kelly also realized that Bear wasn’t positioned correctly to come out. He was turned on his side, and we really needed him face down. Kelly manually tried to turn him but wasn’t successful.

The nurse rolled me onto my side and I put my leg up in the stirrup and I stayed like that for an hour letting my body labor down. I was upset and crying because I didn’t want the c-section. I was quiet for a while and then Abby asked me to open my eyes and looked at her. She said, Andrea I just have this feeling that if you put your hand on your belly and talk to Bear we can get through this without the c-section. So the boy and I chatted. At this point the epidural had completely worn off and I was exhausted. I was getting the urge to push and I did because what could it hurt? If Kelly came back and I hadn’t progressed at all they were sending me in for the c-section. Ben was at the end of his rope. He wanted it all to be over and he was in agony watching me in pain, he thought we should seriously consider the c-section. He and Abby stayed by my side though. They talked me though each contraction and rubbed my legs and the pain away. I was really surprised through my labor how I was handling the contractions. I was quiet and very internal. I breathed through them and didn’t talk at all, there was a silence in the room that I honestly think made Ben even more nervous.

When Kelly came back Bear had moved down!! It was truly a miracle. She made me open my eyes and look at her and she explained that she was willing to let me try pushing because Bear was handling the contractions really well but that I could be pushing for several hours. I told her I had continued to do RIPPED and Zumba until 36 weeks pregnant and I knew I was strong enough to get him out. My eyes were closed so I didn’t see how she responded to my comment, but thinking back on it now she probably thought I was crazy:)

And so I pushed. And pushed. I had a contraction every minute for an hour and 45 minutes and finally my little boy entered the world at 5:25 am on May 31st 2014. I seriously thought at one point there was no way that Bear was coming out. But he did. Giving birth is the hardest and most gratifying thing I have ever done. I am beyond in love with Bear and seeing my husband become a father and fall in love with our son brings tears to my eyes. So if you read all of this you deserve a cookie or something….

40 weeks: come out Baby Bear!!!

Happy 40 weeks to me!!  I am excited that I’m  here and ready to meet my kid.  I expected that I would go past my due date, and I’m not uncomfortable, I’m just excited to meet him. How do I get him to come out?! haha.

I’ve been incredibly emotional these past couple of days. I’m excited to meet the baby, I’m tired, I am sick of people asking how I’m feeling and “if I’m still here”…um yes, do you see me?  I just so happy and excited. Ben said to me the other day he couldn’t wait for Bear to arrive because he wanted to hold him and didn’t plan on ever putting him down.  I don’t think he has any idea what he’s in for but I do know he’s going to be an awesome dad and I can’t wait to see that. I cry thinking about it.

Please forgive my outfit. This is what I came out of my closet with today after I tried on about a million other options. Its hot and humid here and the options for outfits are slim at this point.

 

 

· How far along are you? 40 weeks. I have an appointment tomorrow to see if I’ve progressed at all and if we might meet this kid soon.

· Total weight gain: still 33lbs. I didn’t gain any weight at my last appt. and  they say that’s very normal toward the end.

· How big is baby? Somewhere between 7-8lbs still….getting bigger though. Its time he come out and play.

· Maternity Clothes? Yes, but I’m at the point where I can’t even wear a lot of my maternity clothes anymore. The weather has changed and so I’ve got some clothes that work for spring but nothing for summer really except some tank tops and I can’t wear those to work.

·Sleep? Oh I’m sleeping. I want more and more sleep every day. On the weekends I wake up, eat breakfast, go back to sleep, do some stuff, take a nap, do some stuff, and go to bed….doesn’t sound terrible eh?!

·Best moment this week? Putting my ass in a bathing suit and enjoying the water!

·Movement? He’s still moving. I love it in the mornings because Ben will put his hand on my belly and tap and the baby boy pokes him back. I told Ben that he knows that it’s his dad playing with him and that if he could kindly ask him to come out and play I would appreciate it….and I think he would listen!

·Food Cravings? Today I’m not hungry at all. But I did buy a hot air popcorn popper and I’ve been munching on that.

·Food aversions? nada

·Labor Signs? Cramping. Baby boy is as low as he could possibly get without dropping out of me.

·Belly Button in or out? in.

·What I miss? Being able to get off the sofa without some help from Ben:)

·What I’m looking forward to? Same as last week, meeting this kid!!

·Milestone? I’ve officially met  my due date…so I’d say that’s a milestone.

· Stretch Marks? I’m sure. I’m proud. I can’t wait to meet my boy.