This last weekend I went on a getaway to celebrate my sweet SIL's 40th birthday. It was just moms (her sister, sisters-in-law on her side, and me) and we went to Universal Studios AKA Harry Potter World! Leading up to the trip I was so anxious. JJ was supposed to have the week off and ended up getting scheduled. My Mom and Dad came and their patient reassurance should've been enough to calm my nerves. One of the biggest wrenches in the plan for me was N baby. He does not like a bottle or whole milk. Also he goes back and forth with sleeping through the night. How unfair is that --- leave him in the capable hands of my parents, who can't give him the one thing he thinks he needs. UGH!!! Plus the other irrational thought running through my brain is all this violence, all these tragedies. What if?? WHAT IF.
But seriously friends, we can't live our lives like that!! Thank you, Matthew 6:34 -- Therefore do not worry about tomorrow... All that worry was pointless. There was nothing gained and if I had let it get to me, it could've made me miss out on all the fun waiting for me.
So anyways, I went on a weekend away. And IT WAS SO FUN!! The company was amazing, the park was a blast (even if I was the only one who REALLY LOVES ALL THE RIDES), and the food was on point (Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, anyone??!!!). I missed my babies, but not in an overwhelming sad kind of way. In the end, I truly feel like we needed some time away from each other to freshly appreciate one another. Even if L told me I needed to GET OUT OF THE VAN AND GO BACK TO THE AIRPORT when I first saw him!
Moms-- do something just for you!! (It doesn't even have to cost money or be a big trip [but bonus if it is!!]!) You deserve it and if you're like me, you might just need it!
Daddy, Mommy, Big Sis, Big Bro, and baby #3!
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Monday, November 6, 2017
Baby N's birth story!
With each baby's birth, I found it so much fun to record the birth story. I love hearing and sharing birth stories. And I love reminiscing, especially on each child's birthday, about my children's birth stories. SO, how is it that a little over a year after baby N entered the world that I still have not written his story out??! Poor, poor fourth kid! So the details may not be AS sharp as the others' stories, but the heart of the story remains the same.
Saturday, November 5th, 2016.
JJ was working, of course (he was on a medicine rotation -- same as when baby L was born!). The three kids and I met up with the H family at a fun park. It was a beautiful day, especially for November in MN/ND! The kids played and played until supper time. I was too tired to cook so we ate at Qdobas in MN. Not sure if it was the spice, the time being on my legs, or what, but I started having contractions! At Qdoba! I remember C being a bit alarmed, but I assured him all was well. We went home and I'm pretty sure the kids watched a show as I tried to clean up a few things and maybe get their clothes picked out ? Can't remember if I went that far with prep! I know MY bag was packed! I put the kids to bed and reminded them about the plan we had been talking about for probably about a month (!): Auntie L or Grandma/Grandpa may one day be at our house in the morning or maybe will pick you up from school. That just means that Mommy might be having the baby! You will never be left alone - someone will always be there, but it just might not be Mommy!
JJ got home later that evening and I said, "We're going to have a baby tonight!" It didn't seem like he necessarily believe me, but he decided to go to bed in the event that I woke him up. I started tracking my contractions on my phone and alerted both LJ and my parents to my current activities. I also looked up info on when to go to the hospital and the like. My contracts were coming relatively intensely, but spaced out quite a bit around 9/10pm. LJ said she would be sleeping with the phone by her bed and signed out. My parents made the decision to come early Sunday morning, since we were in no way headed to the hospital at that time.
I kept timing my contractions until maybe 11pm and then decided I should try to sleep. I would lay in bed and just crumple from the pain every maybe 10-12 minutes. Around midnight I called the hospital. The nurse said those dreaded (for me) words: "This is your fourth baby! You know your body! Generally we want contractions spaced more closely together for things to really be happening." I just am always like, "NO! I don't know! I can't tell!! Am I moving up in dilation??! You tell me!!" :) So anyways, At around 1 am I told JJ that things were pretty intense and lasting a long time, but not consistently spaced close together - I feel like they were coming around every 5-6 minutes at that point. He was like, well, according to the pamphlet, you don't need to go in yet, and rolled over to sleep some more. UGHHHHHH. I was on my knees in the livingroom, which felt like the most comfortable position for about another hour until I was like, "This is crazy. We are going in." I believe right around 2 (?) we called LJ and she rushed right over! I was feeling like I would barely make it to the hospital. We were living in MN at the time and didn't live all that far from the hospital, but I had probably a handful of contractions on the way.
It was the middle of the night (again -- see L's story) but I don't remember any crazy events getting to the floor this time. Maybe I went with JJ into the parking garage and walked into the building with him? In either case, by the time we got to the OB floor, the first nurse we talked to was the one who had answered my phone call earlier in the night. She said, "OK! Looks like you knew when to come in!" No triage this time (thank goodness) and they got my set up in a room right away. Contractions were definitely coming and I was fully effaced. I can't remember exactly what I was dilated to. I feel like it was 8 cm. So, it was go time. Also, it was Daylight Savings Time, so I remember they had to manually write everything in because my labor at home was an hour more than recorded based on the time on the clock. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said, "YES DEFINITELY." (I always like that opinion to be known early and often -- see M's story). The anesthesiologist (maybe nurse anesthetist?) came up and gave me two options. They could do an epidural OR an intrathecal instead. She went over pros and cons of both. And my nurse was discussing it with me as well. Based on all the info, I felt like the inrathecal would be my best bet. They prepped for the procedure as I was about a 9 at that time. And. then. nothing. ALL my labor stopped. No more contractions (not just that I wasn't feeling them, but they were nonexistant). The nurse felt SO BAD. She felt like she had talked me into this and it had not been the right decision. She was supposed to be on her meal break, but came in thinking of another thing we could try. We tried different positions, the bean thing to help everything drop, etc. etc. etc. Nothing. At all. The intrathecal (I believe) was supposed to last a little over an hour and that came and went. I was comfortable and baby's heartrate was fine, everything just STOPPED. I almost cried. Actually I might have and just don't remember?! :) Well, THEN the contractions started again and I felt the full brunt of them going from nothing to NINE CM DILATED CONTRACTIONS! I felt woozy and not quite sure I could do this. My blood pressure dropped very low, SO they gave me a saline drip and an epidural.
Shortly after that commotion, the nurse said, "Why don't you try a practice push." and then "STOP!!!" She called the doctor, I pushed about two times, and baby came into the world at 5:23 am on November 6th!! JJ said, "This baby has a ton of hair!! Do you still think baby is a girl???" I was absolutely convinced this baby WAS a girl!! BUT, we are so, so blessed that baby NAJ is a wonderful and fun BOY!! He was our biggest baby by far, weighing in at 8 lbs, 5 oz (a pound and an ounce over the next biggest sib) and 20 3/4 inches! He was a great eater from the start and loved to be bundled up and cuddled! He has fun, little curls and BIG beautiful brown eyes! He is ours and we love him so! JJ cuddled him, loved him, then took a shower and went up one floor to work. (sad face). We were discharged from the hospital the following day (Monday, Nov 7th) and N even had his first photoshoot in the hospital AND at home with Nikki Englund!
Saturday, November 5th, 2016.
JJ was working, of course (he was on a medicine rotation -- same as when baby L was born!). The three kids and I met up with the H family at a fun park. It was a beautiful day, especially for November in MN/ND! The kids played and played until supper time. I was too tired to cook so we ate at Qdobas in MN. Not sure if it was the spice, the time being on my legs, or what, but I started having contractions! At Qdoba! I remember C being a bit alarmed, but I assured him all was well. We went home and I'm pretty sure the kids watched a show as I tried to clean up a few things and maybe get their clothes picked out ? Can't remember if I went that far with prep! I know MY bag was packed! I put the kids to bed and reminded them about the plan we had been talking about for probably about a month (!): Auntie L or Grandma/Grandpa may one day be at our house in the morning or maybe will pick you up from school. That just means that Mommy might be having the baby! You will never be left alone - someone will always be there, but it just might not be Mommy!
JJ got home later that evening and I said, "We're going to have a baby tonight!" It didn't seem like he necessarily believe me, but he decided to go to bed in the event that I woke him up. I started tracking my contractions on my phone and alerted both LJ and my parents to my current activities. I also looked up info on when to go to the hospital and the like. My contracts were coming relatively intensely, but spaced out quite a bit around 9/10pm. LJ said she would be sleeping with the phone by her bed and signed out. My parents made the decision to come early Sunday morning, since we were in no way headed to the hospital at that time.
I kept timing my contractions until maybe 11pm and then decided I should try to sleep. I would lay in bed and just crumple from the pain every maybe 10-12 minutes. Around midnight I called the hospital. The nurse said those dreaded (for me) words: "This is your fourth baby! You know your body! Generally we want contractions spaced more closely together for things to really be happening." I just am always like, "NO! I don't know! I can't tell!! Am I moving up in dilation??! You tell me!!" :) So anyways, At around 1 am I told JJ that things were pretty intense and lasting a long time, but not consistently spaced close together - I feel like they were coming around every 5-6 minutes at that point. He was like, well, according to the pamphlet, you don't need to go in yet, and rolled over to sleep some more. UGHHHHHH. I was on my knees in the livingroom, which felt like the most comfortable position for about another hour until I was like, "This is crazy. We are going in." I believe right around 2 (?) we called LJ and she rushed right over! I was feeling like I would barely make it to the hospital. We were living in MN at the time and didn't live all that far from the hospital, but I had probably a handful of contractions on the way.
It was the middle of the night (again -- see L's story) but I don't remember any crazy events getting to the floor this time. Maybe I went with JJ into the parking garage and walked into the building with him? In either case, by the time we got to the OB floor, the first nurse we talked to was the one who had answered my phone call earlier in the night. She said, "OK! Looks like you knew when to come in!" No triage this time (thank goodness) and they got my set up in a room right away. Contractions were definitely coming and I was fully effaced. I can't remember exactly what I was dilated to. I feel like it was 8 cm. So, it was go time. Also, it was Daylight Savings Time, so I remember they had to manually write everything in because my labor at home was an hour more than recorded based on the time on the clock. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said, "YES DEFINITELY." (I always like that opinion to be known early and often -- see M's story). The anesthesiologist (maybe nurse anesthetist?) came up and gave me two options. They could do an epidural OR an intrathecal instead. She went over pros and cons of both. And my nurse was discussing it with me as well. Based on all the info, I felt like the inrathecal would be my best bet. They prepped for the procedure as I was about a 9 at that time. And. then. nothing. ALL my labor stopped. No more contractions (not just that I wasn't feeling them, but they were nonexistant). The nurse felt SO BAD. She felt like she had talked me into this and it had not been the right decision. She was supposed to be on her meal break, but came in thinking of another thing we could try. We tried different positions, the bean thing to help everything drop, etc. etc. etc. Nothing. At all. The intrathecal (I believe) was supposed to last a little over an hour and that came and went. I was comfortable and baby's heartrate was fine, everything just STOPPED. I almost cried. Actually I might have and just don't remember?! :) Well, THEN the contractions started again and I felt the full brunt of them going from nothing to NINE CM DILATED CONTRACTIONS! I felt woozy and not quite sure I could do this. My blood pressure dropped very low, SO they gave me a saline drip and an epidural.
Shortly after that commotion, the nurse said, "Why don't you try a practice push." and then "STOP!!!" She called the doctor, I pushed about two times, and baby came into the world at 5:23 am on November 6th!! JJ said, "This baby has a ton of hair!! Do you still think baby is a girl???" I was absolutely convinced this baby WAS a girl!! BUT, we are so, so blessed that baby NAJ is a wonderful and fun BOY!! He was our biggest baby by far, weighing in at 8 lbs, 5 oz (a pound and an ounce over the next biggest sib) and 20 3/4 inches! He was a great eater from the start and loved to be bundled up and cuddled! He has fun, little curls and BIG beautiful brown eyes! He is ours and we love him so! JJ cuddled him, loved him, then took a shower and went up one floor to work. (sad face). We were discharged from the hospital the following day (Monday, Nov 7th) and N even had his first photoshoot in the hospital AND at home with Nikki Englund!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)