Thursday, September 29, 2011

He loves her

 

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I never would have expected Liam to love Lucy (or as he calls her "DD”) as much as he does. Little man can’t get enough of his little sister. He came to visit today with my parents and ran to the bed yelling “DD” and trying to climb up to look at her and touch her. We are so blessed!

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Welcome Lucy Anne

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   September 28, 2011

           1:02 am

6 pounds 10.5 ounces

    19.75 inches long

 

Lucy’s birth story is one that none of us will ever forget!

I was scheduled to come in to start my induction on Tueday night at 7:30pm. On Monday i was a “good 2-3 cm” at my office visit and after telling my doctor around 8pm that i had been having contractions all day/evening Monday he was not surprised when he checked me to find that i had dilated to a 4 since the day before. He told me that I was dilated enough that i did not need the foley catheter that they planned on putting in that evening and that he would order me a sleeping pill and they would start the pitocin induction first thing in the morning. He then sarcastically added “unless you go into labor tonight”.

By 8:30pm I started having contractions every 2-3 minutes. They were much more painful than what i had been having the last few days and by 9:30 i decided to call the nurse to ask to be put on a monitor because they were very regular and strong. After 15 minutes of monitoring it was confirmed that i was contracting regularly. At this point the contractions hurt, a lot more than i had ever experienced with Liam (i got an epidural at 4cm with him when the pain wasn’t very bad yet). I am the kind of person that doesn’t like to whine of make a fuss over being in pain because 1. it won’t make it go away and 2. incase what i was feeling wasn’t even close to the worst pain during child birth i didn’t want to come across as a wimp. Because of this and my positive attitude when i asked the nurse if she was going to check me she said “well just looking at you i would highly doubt you’d be past a 4” but she decided to check me anyway and i was “oooooh a gooood 5cm” … that's right!

At this point, around 10pm,  the admitted me to the hospital and confirmed that i had gone into labor (yes, before they even started the induction i went into labor at the hospital). I knew that i wanted an epidural but the nurse said that if i get it now it may stop the contractions that i was having on my own. Because of this i decided to hold off a little while. I knew that i needed one full bag of fluids (about an hour) before i was even able to get the epidural so i put in the request to have it as soon as i could.

this is where it get foggy for me

**Note, i was positive for beta strep so they didn’t check me after the nurse confirmed i was a 5 because they didn’t want to disturb anything to make me progress faster because they wanted me to get the two full bags of antibiotics**

After 10pm the contractions got extremely painful.  There was a lot of silent foul words being thrown around during those contractions, many attempts to deep breathe, and a whole lot of “when the heck am i getting that epidural”. The anesthesiologist knew that i still needed to finish my bag of fluids so he went into surgery and was not able to leave until the procedure was over. He finally came into my room at midnight. Getting the epidural was not fun, it was definitely  much more uncomfortable than it was with Liam, it felt like he was shooting far to the right in my spine (yeah not fun). He finally got it in, after saying “i had a really nice back that made it easy” and i was told to lay down for it to take effect…but it didn’t and the contractions were getting a lot worse.

Around 10:30 the contractions were so bad i just started crying. I couldn’t help it. I knew that epidural was not working and no one seemed to be trying to do anything to fix it. The contractions started coming one right on top of one another (hello transition) and i just knew she was coming and coming soon…….and i knew i was going to be doing it without pain meds.

I have never been so scared in my entire life.

things get super foggy here

Contractions were bad, i was crying, i thought i had lost my mind, my water broke and my body started pushing. If they would have told me to stop there is no way i would have been able to. The nurse decided to check me and then started screaming into the hallway like you see on the movies to get the doctor. The doctor ran in, jumped on the bed, and out came Lucy. It was crazy intense and i honestly don’t have words to describe the last 10 minutes of my labor.

She was out, it was immediate relief, she looked just like Liam, she had lots of dark hair, i cried tears of shear joy.

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Liam came to visit with my parents at 11am and just LOVED his baby sister. He petted her and just wanted to love on her. I could not be more happy!

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Our new family of four, blessed beyond words!

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

39 Weeks, my final pregnancy post

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Total Weight Gain/Loss: i actually lost 2 pounds this week, not sure how that happened since my appetite is still in full force but my total weight gain this pregnancy was 23 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: what little still fits, everything is short

Gender: it’s a girl! Lucy Anne

Movement: her movement has slowed down so much these last two days, baby girl is ready to come out!

Sleep: I GET TO SLEEP ON MY BACK AND BELLY IN A FEW DAYS!!!!!!! 

What I miss: I am so excited to see what it feels to function without being hugely pregnant. I seriously cannot wait to feel physically normal again! So ready!!! Oh and fall clothes shopping!!

Cravings: i have really been wanting Mexican food this week but that is about it

Best Moment this week: being on the finally countdown to meeting Lucy, finally!

I had a great appointment yesterday. I am already 3cm (thanks to constant irregular contraction the last three days, how she is still in there cooking is beyond me) so hopefully the induction will be fairly quick. I go in tonight to start with a foley catheter and then pitocin in the morning, so Lucy should be here sometime Wednesday afternoon. I will probably be updating on twitter (sgh131) thought the day and will post pictures on here and facebook Wednesday night.

I have been having such bittersweet feelings these last few days. There is no doubt about it that I have wished this pregnancy away (meaning I have wanted it to be October 1st for MONTHS now). It has been a LONG and very stressful 9 months. We found out we were moving to PA, I prepped a house to go on the market while battling horrible morning sickness, we sold a house, we packed a house, we bought a house (without seeing it), we moved, we unpacked a house, we didn’t know if Lucy was healthy or not and had a very scary experience, i went through the last 5 months of my pregnancy as a high risk patient.  So all the while i have just wanted it to be over, i just wanted her to be here so i knew that she was okay but now i sit here knowing that i may only have a few more hours of feeling a baby kick on the inside for the rest of my life. I am not one that really enjoys being pregnant, i’d much rather just have the baby, but I am sad to think that this may very well be it. Alex and I plan on Lucy being our last. We are beyond blessed to have two children and lucky enough to have a boy and a girl and just feel like two is the right number for us (two parents, two hands, two spots for car seats, two college educations  pay for, ect.). Luckily, we are young enough that if we change our mind in five years and want to add another to the bunch we will still be young enough to do so.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Weekend Randomness

** Yes, i am still here and Lucy is still on the inside. I will post my 39 week (and finally pregnancy) post tomorrow (given she doesn’t decide to come tonight). I went to the doctor last Tuesday was 2cm and 50%, they let me schedule an induction for Tuesday but said “ i doubt you are going to make it until then”….well i am still here with only a few days to go (way to get my hopes up doc). I hope she is right and Lucy decides to come today or tomorrow  but we will see. Either way she will be here by Wednesday. YAY!!!! **

My big boy eating a cupcake on Friday (showing  me that he got icing on his hand)

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Liam already likes to pick on girls. Alex has taken over bath time because it is just too hard for me to do this late in the pregnancy game so i get to sit and watch. Liam immediately says “fishie” and then gets me soaked, every.single.night. It is so funny, he squeezes that fish so hard and does his battle cry.  IMG_5608

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…and because we are absolutely insane and have lost out minds we put Liam in a ‘big boy bed’…this weekend. He has been sleeping horribly lately and normally when we go through these phases of bad sleep two or three days of “crying it out'” solves the problem. Well Liam quickly learned that he could easily throw himself over the side of the crib during this event so needless to say we needed another option. He never actually got the chance to jump out because i would sit outside his door with the video monitor making sure i got in there before he’d go over.

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I didn’t think Liam would be one of those kids that got excited about being in a big boy bed, poor kid i didn’t give him a chance that he’d understand but boy oh boy does he. He LOVES his new bed, loves it! He loves having the control over climbing in and out. He was so excited and proud to show Grandma his new bed today. I could not be any happier that last night went well. He only ended up getting up and out of bed once at 2am, he started crying at his door for me to come get him. I let him go for about 2-3 minutes then went in and told him it was time to go back to sleep in his big boy bed and laid him back down. I sat on his floor but didn’t talk to him or look at him (thanks super nanny for that tip) and he went right back to sleep. He slept all the way to 6:30 this morning which is so much better than 5am!

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I pulled out my camera tonight for the first time in a while and Liam would not stop saying “cheeeeeeeese’, just running around posing and screaming cheese. It was too cute!

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Monday, September 19, 2011

38 weeks

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Total Weight Gain/Loss: somewhere around 23 pounds (my appointment is tomorrow)

Maternity Clothes: yes the few things that still fit….it is just so wrong that you outgrow maternity stuff at the end

Gender: it’s a girl! Lucy Anne

Movement: she is stretching out her legs more than anything and wiggling her head around like she is trying to get out (fun times…)

Sleep: my hips are so loose that they get very very sore when i lay on one side more more than an hour

What I miss: i feel like i have finally reached the point where i am just as mentally done as i am physically done. I am a very non-hormonal preggo but the last few days i could just cry because i want it to be over so bad. I am so ready to feel normal again and to be holding this little girl and pass her off to Daddy to hold for a while :-)

Cravings: pumpkin ice cream YUM!

Best Moment this week: We got all of the baby gear set up this weekend: swing, pack n play, bouncy seat and the newborn hammock in the little tub. Her room and 99% done (pictures to come soon) thanks to the help from my Mom this weekend on getting the finishing touches done. :-)

and I am adding: Best “got your hopes up” Moment this week: Saturday night when i was having contractions every three minutes for three hours that we were getting progressively stronger and then poof….gone….arggg!

For comparison sake here i am 37 weeks with Liam and 38 weeks with Lucy in the same shirt (limited choices when you have been pregnant all summer and suddenly fall arrives)

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

37 weeks, 4 days = FULL TERM!

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Total Weight Gain/Loss: 23 pounds

Maternity Clothes: yes and and i have outgrown many of them

Gender: it’s a girl! Lucy Anne

Movement: she is still head down, yay for no flipping in the last week! She is still moving around a lot and loves to stretch her legs out to the side.

Sleep: is just painful!

What I miss: being about to move like a normal person LOL stand up, roll over, ect without the need of a crane … I am getting so excited to shop for fall clothes!

Cravings: nothing much at all this week

Best Moment this week: reaching 37 weeks and being full term, Lucy can pretty much come at any time now because all of her organs have developed and are ready for life outside the womb. I had my last growth ultrasound with my high risk doctor on Friday and Lucy was in the 55% and weighed 6lbs 5oz (and  is “right there” aka ready to come out)!! YAY!!!! It was bittersweet to have my last appointment there since the doctor I saw provided so much positive energy throughout this pregnancy, i will miss him! I had another great doctors appointment on Monday with my regular OBs(appointments have been great since i have only been going to the new doctor in the practice, love her!) I didn’t get checked this week so no updates on progress.

Alex was out of town last week and I got a lot of stuff done around the house plus a lot of projects finished for Lucy that I had started months ago. YAY, for baby girl stuff being done!

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I feel like she has dropped a lot since last week, what do you think?

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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Long Weekend

Liam and I finished up our last day on the Letter A with a great project. We stamped a picture of an apple with a half of an apple and decorated it, it was by far his favorite thing we have done. We have an apple tree in our from yard so I grabbed a small one, some leaves and mulch to do our project. I cut the apple in half and stuck a lollipop stick in it since I knew Liam wouldn’t want to touch it for fear of getting paint on his hands. It worked great and he had a good time stamping his apple and gluing on the leaves. Up next is the letter B :-)

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I gave Liam his first haircut at home last week, the boy was shaggy! Since he was not a huge fan of letting someone cut his hair last time (and it looked pretty easy) I decided to give it a whirl. I put him in his bumbo chair…yes my 30 pound nearly two year old fits in a bumbo, gave him a dum dum and put on Seasme Street and cut away. Overall, I think i did a pretty good job for my first time.

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Rock star Liam

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Even though Alex and I went to Penn State we are big Florida Gator football fans so Alex and Liam were all dressed up for the first game on Saturday.

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On Saturday my Mom and I went to lunch and then to see The Help which we both LOVED. I don’t think I have ever read a book and then saw the movie that I liked just as much. I thought they did such a wonderful job adapting it to the big screen! Liam and I before I left.

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On Sunday we had our “Friends and Family” league fantasy football draft. All of us (and i do mean all of us) set up on our computers.

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Liam playing on youtube watching Thomas videos.

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Today I made this chicken and wild rice soup that i had pinned on pinterest and it was just too good not to share. Perfect for an easy fall/winter meal!

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36 weeks (and a few days) 9 months

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(Did you notice a big difference in this weeks picture? NO MORE PINK BATHROOM!!! My Mom painted the bathroom last Tuesday and we just LOVE it! Thanks Mom, without you are house would have never become a home!)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 22 pounds

Maternity Clothes: yes and and i have outgrown some that are not too short, that is just wrong!

Gender: it’s a girl! Lucy Anne

Movement: still lots of movement but at my appointment today she was head down (at least for today) so that was wonderful news

Sleep: still not great, it is just so hard to get in a position that makes is easy to breath and rolling over is just HARD!

What I miss: being about to move like a normal person LOL stand up, roll over, ect without the need of a crane … I am getting so excited to shop for fall clothes!

Cravings: everything almond….granola with almonds, almond butter, almond milk

Best Moment this week: I had a great appointment today, Lucy was head down which was great news and I was dilated to 1cm which is a start…..only a few more weeks!!! :-)