Friday, February 6, 2015

Baby Boy's Birth Story (long edition)

Baby girl: 21 months
Baby boy: 12 days 
:)

Hello friends!
Sorry I have been absent for so long - I've written a million blog posts in my head, but that doesn't really count, does it?

Yes, little brother is now on the outside!  And with that comes a TMI birthstory for my ladies, yes?

First of all I'd just like to say how thrilled I am to have this little baby boy.  I am so grateful we had even on healthy baby, I still can't believe we have two now.

And I love this little cuddlemonster to bits!  He's really quite a good baby.  We really lucked out!  A bit of gas now and then - but he's got less than his sister, and we thought she was a good baby.  :)  I was hoping for a little snugglebum, and I got one.  Every day I reflect on how blessed we are.

And a little pause - if you are awaiting your first birth - your story won't be like this one.  This is a second, short, birth.  In fact, maybe don't read on, there's a bit of doom and gloom (but of course you will, right?)

So I had been feeling contractions on an off for a few days.  They say this is common in second labour - false starts.  So I wasn't too worried.

But I did think he was coming Friday Jan 23rd, because I'd had quite a bit of contractions Thursday night.  No dice.  Then I had a bunch of contractions Friday night and Saturday morning, so I thought fo' shizzle he was coming Saturday.  No dice - no further contractions during the day on Saturday.  Pippa was out with my sister in law all day, and I thought that would have been an excellent time to birth, but no.

So Saturday night (Jan 24th) around 10pm, I started having some contractions again - but this time they were harder than before.  They weren't the classic 3 min apart, 30s long - but they were 30-60s long, and about 7 min apart.  We decided to page the midwife at 11:00pm.

We ended up with a midwife we haven't met before calling us back, that was kind of a surprise.  But my primary mw was off call for the weekend, and my secondary had two overnight births the preceding days.  But she was totally nice, it was fine.

I told her about my pattern (we were timing using an app), and she said she'd come by and check me out.  I felt kind of bad to drag her out of bed if labour was going to stop, but she said it was fine, she'd rather check me out.  (Babies uber alles!)

She came by and checked me and I was 4-5cm (100% effaced) - thank goodness, these things were starting to hurt!  (or so I thought at the time).  She stayed for about an hour, but things didn't really pick up while she was over - they sort of dwindled - got farther apart and not as hurty.

She left, saying to page her when I had 4-5 strong ones in a row.  Well, pretty much as soon as she left they got a lot stronger.  Very much stronger - I went from breathing through them to making the eyes-shut-screaming-face (no actual noise).  We paged her and she arrived back at 1:40am.

I had the idea maybe a hot shower would help - and it maybe did a little for like 2 contractions.  Then I decided to sit in the tub - that was probably not a good idea.  By this time I was in a LOT of pain - it felt like every little movement hurt.  No more 'rest' between contractions.

I was 6-7 cm by this time.  "That's it?  Are you kidding me?" I thought.  She said she thought the rest of labour would go fast, and I kind of agreed.  These contractions hurt too much to not be opening my cervix, I thought.  She called the backup midwife (there are always two at every birth - one for the mom, one for the baby).

The tub was useless and hurty, I decided to get out.  I made my way to my bedroom, I arrived on the bed and got onto all fours.  Not glamorous, but there you have it.  I couldn't take the idea of rotating into some other position, I was in too much pain.  Already my contractions were at the "this is too much, I can't handle this" level.  It was awful.

3:51am the backup midwife arrived.  I did not care.  I was already pushing.  Pushing baby girl out was different than baby boy.  This pushing stage lasted 14 min (according to the paperwork), but it was WAY more pain than I could handle.  (For reference, I pushed baby girl out for like 2.5hours - yikes).

The midwife put some pressure on my hips with every push - at one point I started a contraction and she wasn't there, and I had forgotten her name and was just like "Midwife!".

With my first labour I yelled "OW" really loudly - this one I just screamed.  I kind of felt like a cow.  ??  Serious.  It was awful.  Really, really awful.

He was born at 3:58am.  Baby girl slept through the whole thing, but we did have my sister in law come stay the night just in case.

DH and I decided to not talk about a #3 for a year (well, it was mostly me) - but I don't think I want to go through that again.  It sounds selfish...but it was really awful.  "Awful" is the word to describe this birth.

On the other hand, recovery has been WAY better than the first time around.  And so far I haven't been sad - huge improvement over last time, where i was inexplicably (well, due to hormones) sad for two weeks.  Nursing is going fine, baby boy gaining weight like a champ.

He's a great baby.  I loves.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Ninja baby gender reveal

It's going to be a ....

BOY!!!!!!!

Hooray!  We kind of wanted a boy for #2.  :)  We're so blessed!

And I get to decorate a nursery in nautical theme, a silly dream of mine for years.  :)

Let's see if we can actually have that happen before he comes?  I am doubting it.  ;)

I was a bit nervous about changing a boy's diaper (I had only ever baby sat girls), but I've been assured it's no big deal.

Now I need a few new unisex cloth diapers to replace some outrageously girlie ones we have.  DH is against this, he doesn't think it matters - but we're only talking about a couple of diapers here, and I do think it matters! (even if it's just to me)

Hooray!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Baby girl is a year and a half today!!

And the inside baby is 26weeks along.

Babygirl sort of kicked off her half-birthday with some vomiting last night.  Hello, last-night's-dinner!  Poor girl.  Everything is all laundered now, I'm home with her today - she's down for a nap now.

I felt so bad taking away her favourite soft toy last night, but it was vomitous.  It is now cleaned and back in her arms.  :)

Eating:
Baby girl is getting a bit pickier, and clearly says "no" when she doesn't want something.  She's in that throwing things on the floor stage.  Not fun for Mommy to clean up (bending is beginning to be less fun for this pg Mama!).  I don't really know how to stop it - she doesn't care that I react negatively, and time outs take too long to take her out of the high chair and wipe her up.  Someone at work suggest moving the whole high chair into timeout.  We'll see.  She'll out grow it soon enough.

Cloth Diapering:
We've outgrown our wool diaper cover!  Poot.  I need to order the next size up.  This is because I crazy stuff them to catch her copious amounts of night pee.  We're only left with Pampers in the house right now - means a trip to costco!  I can't STAND the smell of scented diapers, we plan to send them to be used at daycare (who insists on disposables, if you'll recall).  I think it is leftover from my IF days, the fake baby smell drives me crazy.  Real babies don't smell like that anyhow (mine, anyway).

Milestones:
She's doing pretty good, I think, right on track.  Lots more talking, animal sounds, body parts.  We're working on colours, but so far no dice.  (Although she can say "yellow" and once brought me a yellow book when I asked...but not to be repeated).  She can count up to about six (well, ten, but a number might be missed), but I'm pretty sure she doesn't really get counting yet? The other night I brought her a book to read in bed, and it's one we don't read very often, and I was surprised she knew it was about hugs.

Fav Songs:
Hearing her sing songs is THE BEST, but so far I haven't been able to capture on video.  She sings Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle little star, Rain is falling down (which she actually brought up on her own while it was raining yesterday!), ABCs, How are you, Wind the bobbin up (we are working on knowing where the ceiling, floor, window and door are.  I think we've got Window so far).  They all are sort of loose connections to the real song.

Baby Health:
Still has daycare running nose almost all the time.  As mentioned, she vomited last night, but in general she's been ok.  A bit of a rash last month that went away eventually.  I found some really great cod liver oil for kids, so I've been dosing her.  I even like it - not fishy at all, which I take to mean it's quite fresh.  It really does have a nice orange flavour.  So we're doing four things to prep for fall flu season:  vit D, pro-biotics, cod liver oil, and she'll get the flu shot. (Not that its supposed to be that good this year)

Sleeping:
We do have some nights of full sleep, but it isn't consistent yet.  We were giving her milk in the night, because we think she was hungry, but our dentist scared us away from that, we only give water at night now.  I still think she needs 2 naps a day - she easily naps twice a day on the weekends when she's home with me.

My Health:
Doing good!  So far this pg isn't too bad at all.  :)  Inside baby is starting to become more active.  I'm starting to get rather big, so things are becoming less comfortable.  Doing a bit of waddling, getting hard to bend down, that kind of stuff.  3rd trimester kind of stuff!  DH has been pretty good at taking care of me and my food cravings.  But I could be eating healthier.
I haven't measured my weight at all this pg (I want to wait for the big number at the end), but I feel a bit ginourmous at times.

Monday, September 1, 2014

16 months/19 weeks!

Again, sorry I'm late!

We've been traveling - to visit my step-sister in Calgary, and then for a wedding of a very close friend in B.C.  It was at a ski resort - fun!  She was my maid of honour, and I was in her wedding party - fun!  Even if I felt like a whale in the dress.  ;) 

This last week I've been home with her - daycare is closed, so I took vacation.  But we've had family in town, and it was a nice transition from being away, so it's been lovely.  I miss mat leave!

There have been some VERY exciting updates in the IF blogger community lately, that's been wonderful.  Against all odds, TCIE is pg!  Hooray!  I cried when I heard that.  Amazeballs, right?  Love it!  (Want more details!) And JellyBelly is really ready and close to adopting!  Hooray!  LOVE that.  (And using such positive adoption language!) And JBTC's baby girl is now doing so much better - hooray!

Eating:
Good.  Which makes me so happy, still!  We were eating kinda junky on vacation (lots of pasta/pizza, oh my!), but we're home now and we're back on track. Well, at least the baby girl is - Mommy has not been eating enough vegetables.

Cloth Diapering:
It's been nice to use 100% cloth diapers while we're home!  Now including night diapers, thanks to our fancy wool cover.

Milestones:
She's getting to know some body parts now!  She knows ears, nose, belly button (which we call bee-bo, but close enough), and I think she knows belly now too.  :)  She really likes pointing at Mommy's bee-bo (as it ever expands!).  She follows more complicated directions now (time to go upstairs/go put your shoes on) - not that she can put her own shoes on yet.

Fav Songs:
Still Old MacDonald, If you're happy and you know it, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which she kinda sings!  cute!)

Baby Health:
She's had daycare runny nose since she started.  Even while on vaca. 

Sleeping:
She's been sleeping a LOT since we got home, it had me a bit worried.  I'm talking like 18-20hrs a day!  I was a bit freaked out after she had a really lethargic awake period, but her awake periods seems to have gone back to normal.  I think it's a growth spurt?  Good think I was home to allow for all this sleeping. 

Sleeping is still a major beef I have with the daycare.  Girl needs 2 naps, they only give her one.  They have all sorts of blahblahblah about it, but it boils down to she needs it/too bad.  Grrrr.  I think sleep is VERY important, this does really upset me.  But there's nothing to do but get a nanny, which we're hoping to do for when I go back to work after #2.

My Health:
Baby #2 (Ninja!) seems good in there!  I've started to feel some kicking in the last few days, so that's good.  :)

I had some pretty bad back problems while on vaca.  They seem to be fading in and out now.  Like, sort of a pinched nerve kinda deal.  I think I need someone to nag me about my posture!  It's time for ball-sitting at work now anyway (since we've passed 18 weeks), so hopefully that will help my posture.

I take that whole spinning babies thing very seriously.  I do think it helped while my labour for baby girl, because her position was good.

ttys!

Friday, August 1, 2014

15.5 months/15 weeks!

Sorry I am late!

We've had a lot of changes in the IF Me household this month - DH got a full time (although contract) job, and Pippa started....daycare.  wah wah.

We've certainly had some trouble adjusting, but I *think* things are smoothing out, now after our second week at daycare.  (Really, it's a Montessori).  I'm so glad I'm only working for ~6 more months, I dislike this lifestyle heavily!  I barely see her, it's mostly for eating/bathing/bedtime (and she's tired and cranky) - and then after she goes to bed it seems all we have to do is housework then to bed for me!  Bah.  (We just finished another reno, so the house was EXTRA dirty, so I am hoping that's why it seems like a bit overwhelming right now, and will calm down).

I've had some crazy evenings with her this week, but hopefully she's adjusting a bit more.  She does like daycare I think - since she is very social.  They made us sign a year contract, and we talked them into at least letting her go part-time in March.  It probably will be helpful to have her at school during the day when i have the new baby around, but after a month or two I would like to have her around!

Eating:
Mostly good - except when tired after a day at daycare.  Oh man.  Then it's Mommy feeding her on my lap while I say soothing words, and her not really eating a ton.

Cloth Diapering:
One of the worst things about daycare is the won't use cloth diapers!  Grrrr.  I HATE disposable diapers.  I think this is really lame - my friends were all shocked, and said their daycares take cloth diapers.  I did order that wool diaper cover and it DOES work for overnight diapering - hooray!  But using disposible all day means I can really only use cloth on the weekends, plus thurs/fri nights - because you can't leave the diapers sitting all week, there is a 3-4 day limit after which you should wash them.

Milestones:
We've blown past 20 words - I stopped counting.  She says quite a lot of words, and knows what sounds quite a lot of animals say.  (Lion, doggie, cat, monkey, snake....)  She only knows where her ears are right now.  If you ask where he nose is, she'll point at her ears.  :)  She can say a couple of two word phrases, but I'm not sure it counts - like "all clean!" or "all done!".

Fav Songs:
5 Little Speckled Frogs.  She says "E I E I" and we take that to mean she wants to sing Old MacDonald had a Farm.  Which she loves.  We have this horrendous kids CD in the car which calms her right down if she's freaking out on a car trip.  But it's super mega awful (songs are slightly 'wrong' to how I know them, kids have bad accents, music is poor, timing of some songs are 'wrong' to me...ugh).  So we're going to try this car trip this weekend with Raffi in the car (which I love, and listened to as a kid!), and hopefully she likes it.

Baby Health:
Well, she started daycare, so she has had a runny nose for the last two weeks.  Nothing major yet.  Also some teething going on, we've had a few rough nights.

My Health:
Good, fine.  Due date is ~Jan 20th.  I have had a few headaches which I'll be speaking to the mw about (very unusual for me to have headaches that aren't related to eye strain).  I have more energy now (back in the land of the living!), but work then putting the baby to bed does really drain me.  I like to go to be at or before 9pm now - getting up at 6:30am has been hard for me.

We're trying to have a 'cook day' (aka, Sunday) to cook the food for the week, so that lunches/dinners go very fast.  So far so good, but Sunday is a lot of work, and takes longer than I'd think!  I need to get more efficient, me thinks.  DH complains I dirty too many pots. 

We're away this weekend, which is going to throw the whole system for a loop anyhoo.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

14 months!

14 months!
~9 weeks!

Times flies, right?

Working is going a little more smoothly now, we're settled into a routine (I go to work early!).  It still breaks my heart when I hear her say "Mama" over the phone though!  (We have several phone calls throughout the day, that's nice)

Eating:
Good!  She all of a sudden doesn't like sweet potatoes or squash...?  I'm hoping this is just a passing fancy.  Like avocado was - she's all over that now.  She's been a bit fussier about eating her veg now.

Cloth Diapering:
Still good.  I ordered a wool diaper cover, am quite excited about that.  Going to try night diapering again.  Also, I am trying to get involved with a charitable organisation around here that gives used cloth diapers to families in need. 

Milestones:
She's saying many more words now, it is exploding all of a sudden in the last few days.  They are still baby versions of things, but still cute.  She's starting to repeat after us when we're like "Say banana!" she'll go "nana".  Good enough!  And so cute!  In peekaboo songs, she'll now often  go "peek boo".  :)

Fav Songs:
"Rain is falling down, SPLASH" (specifically verse two about peekabooing).  She's starting to get more interested in "Mr. Duck went for a walk" which is a fun puppet song (or hands, if no puppets available).

Baby Health;
Still excellent.  Our normal easy sleeper has been taking a long time to put down lately.  Let's hope this is just a stage!  We're maybe shifting her bedtime up a bit to try and counter this?

She FELL OUT OF HER CRIB last week, ohmygoodness.  We put a thin mattress on the floor in case she does a jail break again....we also try and put her in a summer sleep sac, but so far she breaks free of it every night (it's homemade).  I'll keep you posted.

My Health:
Weirdly good.  I don't feel pg most of the time.  So far this has been much easier than the first time around.  I do need to make sure I eat, but its really easy to avoid feeling sick, no big shakes.  Last time there was high drama now and then.

Going for another u/s next week to check on dates.  Oh, had first mw appt!  That was fun.  Mostly I have questions about nursing a toddler and a newborn.  She's says that's tots ok.  I still have some Qs.

I am so casual this pg, it's so weird.  My Dad asked me how big the baby was, and he was expecting some kind of fruit answer, and I was just like "still really small".

Oh, and my mw went over my bloodwork with me.  All good!  I am particularly proud of my iron levels, I will commence bragging - 144!  I guess it's all that grass fed beef?  (Nah, I'm sure it has to do with body chemistry - I know beef farmer wives who have low iron).  Anyhoo, no need for iron pills here.  And since they do icky things, I feel quite happy skipping the whole caboodle.



Saturday, June 7, 2014

Ninja's first u/s

7 weeks, 2 days

I had our first ultrasound earlier this week.  Turns out I am now 7 weeks, 2 days, +/-3 days.  Due date is January 21.

We sort-of saw a little heart-beat like flicker, but its rather early.

The Ninja is a singleton, good to know (twins frighten me).

That's about it!

I still don't "feel pregnant" mostly, but now we know that's probably because it's so early.  Maybe.

Special thanks to Feather for coming up with "the Ninja" nickname - DH loves it.  It's a good one, this baby is like a ninja, sliding in under the radar like that!

First midwife appt is in a week, I'm looking forward to that.  I have about a billion fewer questions than last time!  :) My main questions are about nursing while pregnant.

I am hooked up with our midwife from last time, that's great.  We had a good experience, and of course the fewer people all up in your lady bits the better, IMHO.

Hooray!  All is well!  We're so blessed!

Appleseed grows

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