Tiny Dancer?

9:22 PM Posted In , Edit This 56 Comments »
Today, while teaching a dance camp at our local studio-- I found out that there will be a "Tippy Two Toes" dance class! A class for two-year-olds???? I have an *almost* two-year-old that would looooooove to dance!!! At $60.00/month I'm not too sure about the cost, but I think this little chica needs to dance!!!

Pregnancy Update...

10:04 AM Posted In , , Edit This 3 Comments »
Well-- somehow, I have made it to 20 weeks (20 weeks and 2 days, actually) without documenting almost anything besides a camera phone snapshot of my belly at 15 weeks!!! So, just for my personal memory, I am going to post a few facts about this pregnancy;

March 13, 2011-- First positive pregnancy test (so VERY faint!)
March 17, 2011-- Told family we were expecting #2!
March 29, 2011-- First Doctor visit, pregnancy confirmed
April 2011-- Nausea, but no throwing up
May 20, 2011-- Hit second trimester-- feel AMAZING!!!
End of Mayish-- started feeling baby move!!!
June 13, 2011-- Doctor visit-- heart rate: 169
June 28, 2011-- BIG ultrasound! Everything looked great!
July 2011-- Nesting hit...HARD.

So here we are--This baby is a banshee, practicing kickboxing on the daily in my belly, JUST like big sister Haddie! I started feeling her around 14 weeks and she hasn't stopped moving since! The ultrasound was a little tough, but I am still amazed (and impressed!) that we didn't find out the sex of the baby. All along I have said that I only really every wanted a girl, so anything else would just be bonus! So, hopefully in November, we will be blessed with a big fat surprise! I have also been nesting like crazy, something I never experienced with Haddie. I get something in my head about cleaning and I have to do it immediately-- I have been up until 1am the past few nights organizing or straightening up! We are loving it because I am not normally such a good housewife, haha! I go back to the doctor this week for a 20 week check up and I am hoping this pregnancy progresses without any drama, but knowing what I know about my previous pregnancy, I have it in the back of my head that something could pop up-- praying for a smooth 4 months!!!

Now, even though we didn't find out the gender of the baby doesn't mean I don't think about it very second of every day--so some fun (and not factual!) gender quiz results!!!

Chinese Gender Chart: Girl!
http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/genderpredictor/default.asp

Baby's Heart rate: Girl! (which I TOTALLY don't believe heart rate has to do with it!)
http://www.babygenderprediction.com/babys-heart-rate.html

Old Wives' Tales: 60% boy, 40% girl!
http://www.babygenderprediction.com/old-wives-tales/index.phtml

If I had to guess I would say it is a boy...but tomorrow, I may feel like it's another girl! Either way I'll be so excited, but honestly, I feel like its a boy right now!!!



Well...

5:25 PM Edit This 6 Comments »
It's been a while. I understand that nobody probably looks at this blog anymore except for the random spam comment I get every once in a while...but after some persuasion from the hubs and my sister, I have decided to take up blogging again. At least, for today.

It's been over a year since I last blogged so the next few posts will probably be just to catch up on what has been going on. I want to update on Haddie's life while I can still remember it, and document baby #2's upcoming life as well!

While I understand that nobody is reading this, for the most part, if I happen to have a rogue reader out there that would like to continue reading, leave a comment because I believe I will make the blog private since I will be sharing pictures of family events, etc.

Have a wonderful evening and 4th weekend!!!

Breastfeeding

1:20 PM Posted In , Edit This 4 Comments »
Since I have decided to begin posting again, I think I will post about our breastfeeding journey.

Being a preemie, Haddie was taken promptly to the nursery for evaluation and then admitted into the NICU for closer observation. I did not have the chance to feel my brand new baby placed on my belly, I didn't have the chance for that first feed, letting her route around and find my breast herself, and I did not ever get to have her "room in" with me throughout my hospital stay. I held her once in our labor and delivery room for a moment, and then a brief moment before they admitted her into the NICU. Hubs was not able to hold her until her second day of life. After crying to the lactation consultant and the nurse practioner, I was finally able to attempt breastfeeding, even though the NICU staff acted like I was an idiot for wanting to try. They kept telling me that she could recieve formula and would be fine, but that isn't what I wanted. I called my sister, who also had a NICU baby 3 years prior, and she reassured me I was doing the right thing by fighting for the RIGHT to breastfeed, something that I shouldn't have had to do!

Needless to say, she didn't want to breastfeed. She was tired, had leads all over her, and unable to latch effectively. I knew that breastfeeding was something I wanted to do, no matter how hard it would be. I pumped and bottle fed for the first couple weeks, putting her to breast to almost no avail. We met with a WONDERFUL lactation consultant that was 100% sure we could get Haddie breastfeeding and thriving with some work. And magically, right around 4 weeks, she started breastfeeding, and by about 7 weeks old, she was no longer getting expressed breast milk. We finally hit our stride.

At this point, 7 months and counting, I can't imagine stopping. I am very fortunate to work at a job where I can feed Haddie on demand and I am very much looking forward to summer when she no longer has to spend any of her time in day care. I started her on solid foods around 6 months and she has enjoyed applesauce, bananas, avacados, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, carrots, peaches, and she even liked the prunes she had to have when she was a little, eh hum, stopped up.

While our journey in breastfeeding wasn't the easiest road, I am so happy I stuck with it and I am proud of myself for being Haddie's sole source of nutrition for her first six months of life. There is no way I could have done it without the support of my lactation consultant, sister, and hubs with me every step of the way. Whenever I thought it was too much I always had someone that could encourage me I was doing the right thing. I know as a parent I won't do everything right, but I feel confident that I made the best decision with breastfeeding my sweet little baby.

Yoooooo-k...

8:25 PM Posted In , , Edit This 0 Comments »
So it looks like I haven't even finished posting my birth story. Yikes. I also now have a seven-month-old that pulls herself up to stand. Seriously, I just want to push on the brakes as hard as I can and slow life down!!!

So, before I forget-- This will most likely be the abridged version of the story.
We went to the hospital and I went to triage before being admitted. It didn't take much time at all to be admitted since my water had broken, but from the time I arrived in triage to the time I was placed in my labor and delivery room my cervix had dilated 4 1/2 cm. . . which was pretty major progress in about 30 minutes. Then, a nurse came in and let me know that if I wanted an epidural, I needed to get it quickly because I may pass the point of no return, so, even though I initially thought I wanted to do it au naturel-- I chickened out. And boy, oh boy, was that epidural AMAZING! I could finally relax! It was the first time I felt good in over a week. I kept dilating pretty steadily, until I was 8 1/2 cm. I got stuck. We decided to wait it out a little and a monitor was placed on Hadleigh's head to keep better track of her heart rate.

I was still "stuck" when they decided on giving me pitocin, much to my dismay, but it didn't seem to do the job. The on call doctor was ready to give me a c-section, but luckily he had to do an emergency one so that gave me 45 more minutes to dilate to 10! By the time he came back in to check on me, it was about 10 minutes before my OB was in the hospital to do rounds. He told me I could hang on and wait for him. This was 7am...mind you, on call dr. said he would have already taken me to have a c-section. I was relieved when MY doctor showed up at the door, he is very calm and would never pressure anyone into anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. He said as long as her heart rate wasn't dropping and I wasn't developing a fever, I could keep her in and try to deliver vaginally. FINALLY, at about 10:40am I was ready to push. I pushed a few times, and I refused to take a break even though the nurse kept asking me if I wanted to "sit out a contraction" NO WAY- at that point, I wanted my baby OUT OF ME! At 11:03am my sweet little baby was welcomed into the world.

She looked perfect, but sounded like a goat when she breathed. I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was pretty scary. She ended up being admitted into the NICU for further care. That was hard, I don't think I was emotionally prepared for that. She didn't get a chance to breastfeed until she was almost 2 days old and she never got to stay in the room with me. Her breathing problem cleared up on its own and she had the "all clear" on Wednesday around noon, we were discharged together around 6pm. Talk about scary, but that is another post entirely.

Birth Story-- Part One

8:51 PM Posted In , , Edit This 1 Comment »
Let's see here, I wanted to document my birth story so just FYI-- this may not be for the faint of heart...I am SURE this contains WAY too much information for the general public!!!

It all started on Wednesday. . . .

Wednesday: September 16
I was having a pretty "normal" day at work until the end of my morning when I began feeling a little light-headed. I was also feeling about as swollen as ever so I called the hubs to see what he thought I should do. He thought I should go to my Ob's office incase I was light-headed because of elevated blood pressure. So, I called my Ob's office, got down there and they sent me to Triage because my OB doesn't work in his office on Wednesdays because that is when he has his surgeries...soooo, long story short-- I went to triage where we found out I was severely swollen, had low potassium in my blood, was 1 cm dilated, and was 80% effaced. My Ob decided to keep me over night for a 24 hour urinalysis and to watch my swelling. While in the hospital I was steadily having contractions about 5-7 minutes apart. I needed to have an ultrasound to see how big the baby was measuring and to see what my amniotic fluid was measuring. At about 35 1/2 weeks the baby was about 7lbs 11oz and my amniotic fluid was borderline too high. My Ob told me that we would not stop my labor if it happened naturally. Knowing that I had an appointment the following Tuesday he said to me that "I could have the baby on Tuesday if I wanted to..." but I knew this wasn't up to me!! After spending the night in the hospital, I was released to go home on bed rest.

Friday-Saturday: September 18-19
I still felt pretty miserable, having contractions all day and all night. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't enjoy eating, I was miserable. My sister kept assuring me that "I would *KNOW* when I was in true labor" and I kept thinking, this haaaaaaas to be some sort of labor! On Saturday night we went over to my sister's house to watch a football game and I continued to complain about my pain...we went home and went to bed.

Sunday: September 20
I woke up in the morning on Sunday in extreme pain, contracting about every 3 minutes. I went back to triage to be checked again and I was still only 1 cm dilated but now 100% effaced. The nurse was a total butthole and tried to give me medicine to stop my labor-- the exact medicine that my Ob said he didn't want me to have because he didn't want to stop my labor-- however, he wasn't the Ob on call so she said she had to take orders from the on call Dr. I refused the meds and continued to contract. Luckily for me (NOT my Ob!!!) my mom tracked down my Dr. @ church and asked him about the meds. He said I did the right thing refusing the drugs and to just try to wait it out. The nurse turned out to be nice in the long run and even told me to take a hot bath when I got home because it was probably the only way to ease my painful contractions. I was given the option to stay for the day in the hospital or go home and wait it out-- I chose going home and waiting it out. I think I ended up taking about three baths that day. Around 8:00pm I realized I couldn't pee-- I felt like I needed to pee, but I couldn't get anything to come out...soooo frustrating.

Monday: September 21
Around midnight I got out of bed to walk out some of my contractions. I had taken one tylenol pm to try to get some rest and I decided that I needed to take another one. I tried to pee again, to no avail, took another tylenol, and then tried to lay down in bed and get comfortable. I tossed and turned for about 5 minutes and then I felt something like gas bubbles in my belly...I thought I was going to have to pass gas until I felt the warm gush of water that now filled my bed-- my water had just broken.

Where has the time gone?

8:44 PM Posted In , Edit This 3 Comments »
Well...sweet little Haddie-Girl came 4 WEEKS EARLY!!!

Even though she was early, she was still 8lbs!!! One day I will post my labor story, but for now, a picture of my angel will have to do.


Photo by Emily Porter


My, my, my...

12:01 PM Posted In , , Edit This 1 Comment »
How life gets in the way of blogging.

I'm not quite sure where to begin since it has been so long, so I'll give a brief recap of the past few days.

I am on bed rest. Boo. It all started when I was leaving work on Wednesday and felt a little dizzy. Being the supportive hubs that I have, he suggested I stop by my OB's office in case it happened to be high blood pressure. Well, my Dr. wasn't there because he was in surgeries all day so some of the nurses that work for him made me go ahead up to triage because it would be possible for me to have more tests done way more quickly there than what they could do in his office. By the way, at this point of the day my legs were so swollen they resembled tree trunks more than actual legs. Boo again. So I get to triage, they put a fetal monitor on the baby and a contraction monitor onto me and of course the baby is perfect, me-- not so much.

My Dr. ended up keeping me over night for a 24-hour urinalysis to check for preeclampsia and to watch my swelling. After 24 hours, and an additional 3 hours for the results to come back in I was discharged to strict bed rest, meaning I can only get out of bed to go to the bathroom and or to go to my Dr.'s appointments. When meeting with my Dr. throughout this experience, he informed me (from my ultrasound) that sweet little Haddie girl is already 7lbs11oz so if I don't deliver her soon (i.e. before 37 weeks) she will not be able to be delivered vaginally and therefore I must have a c-section which I hope to avoid at ALL COSTS.

So, here I am, writing from my recliner and trying to talk this little baby into coming into the world on Tuesday because that would work with every one's schedule, including my Dr.'s--haha...so now it is just a waiting game.

PS- from the ultrasound, this little chunk in my belly has the chubbiest cheeks and the pouty-est lips...I am so in love!

Update.

11:20 PM Posted In , Edit This 1 Comment »
Well, I haven't posted in a very long time YET again...I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but here I am again. Once again I am going to post a brief recap of what has been going on since my last post.

1. I am huge. No two ways about it, everybody says I look like I am "going to pop" even though I keep assuring them I have about 7 1/2 weeks left.

2. I left my job at a year round school to pursue a career in half-day head start. I am very much looking forward to this job, but I don't get students until September 1.

3. I am taking a huuuuuuuge pay cut to be able to stay at home with Haddie for half the day, something that I think is totally worth it, even if I did shed more than 5,287,362 tears over it.

4. My sister is going back to work tomorrow (2 days a week) for the first time since her oldest was born and I am pretty sure my mom and I may feel almost as nervous as her.

5. I will be keeping one of my nephews in the afternoons while my sister is at said job, even though I will be 7-8-9 months pregnant and then on maternity leave, I would have it no other way. I would keep him (and the older one too!) all day every day if it meant somebody they knew would be with them, but things don't work out that way so 1/2 day will be good enough until the little one gets potty-trained!

6. I am slowly beginning to realize I am terrified about giving birth so I have been avoiding the topic at all costs.

7. I am hoping *at all costs* that I will go full term with this baby. I keep reminding her that 37 weeks is ok with me, but I really don't want her to come out before that unless she ABSOLUTELY has to. My oldest nephew was 7 weeks early and luckily he was healthy as a horse, but still had to stay in the NICU for a week...I really don't want to have to go through that.

8. I just want a healthy baby. Whenever she gets here, however she gets here, as long as she is safe and happy!

9. I am beginning to feel "first-trimester sleepy" again so goodnight all.

ps- I will try to post a "belly pic" soon so you can see just how huge I am getting!!!

In Case You Were Wondering...

9:22 PM Posted In , Edit This 1 Comment »
1. I am still alive and well.

2. Hadleigh is still doing great.

3. I didn't mean to take a blogging hiatus.

4. I finished the school year, went to the beach, and am already back at work again.

Now that that clears up a few things, onto the more important stuff...

We have gotten Haddie's room pretty much in order, we cleaned, painted, put up new baseboards, and assembled her crib. Now we just have to make the bedding, wait on the *unfinished* dresser that we have to finish, figure out if we want a rocker/glider in her room, and then wait for her arrival.

In terms of me, I have probably gained way too much weight, started feeling uncomfortable when I sleep and when I am on my feet, and have begun showing signs of preeclampsia. I am waiting to get my test results back from the blood work at the end of the week and hoping for the best, but I will just have to wait and see. I have my blood glucose test tomorrow morning so I am also hoping for good news on that front. So, if you have a second and think about it, I would appreciate your prayers on the preeclampsia thing, I don't think I would be diagnosed without further testing, but I am really hoping to hear good news tomorrow. That is all for now...anything I can pray about for you?