I could have sworn I have only missed a month or two since my last post here. Apparently my ability to feel and tell time sucks haha.
Christmas last year was good. Not my favorite year for sure. It was an off year with the kids so we didn't have them on Christmas Morning. We also gave up our New Year's Eve and Day with the kids to their bio mom because her side of the family was in town so we let them be with their visiting family they rarely see. So all in all, being majorly pregnant, not having the kids for the majority of the events and working full time the whole time, did not make it my favorite year at all.
On a super sad note, my Aunt Jeri died. I was contacted by a friend of the family through Facebook to let us know. Crazy how Facebook has become one of the leading tools in human communication these days. I'm starting to forget what life was like without it. My aunt was a great woman. She died too young. She was in her late 50's. I loved her very much. She loved me too and I am grateful I can say that knowing it was true. Sometimes I still think she's in Ohio and I can just message her online to say hi. It's never easy to accept that someone is truly gone.
In January Mitchell turned 8! His baptism was the first weekend in February. He was so excited to be able to have this opportunity. Owen was able to baptize him and I was so grateful baby Aria held on from coming early so we could get through that awesome day. His bio mom did the decorations and I did the food. I was grateful we could get along long enough to get through this event with all the family involved. Mitchell was so cute that day. I cannot believe he is growing up so fast. Getting so big and so smart but still keeps his cute funny humor about him.
February 23rd marks a huge day in mine and Aria's lives. I went into the hospital to be induced to have Aria. I was already 1 week late. I had tried everything to go into labor; spicy food, stepping up and down on the curb outside and my stairs, exercising, being intimate, the prego pizza at Cafe Trio, foot massages, squats, talking to baby, putting music down low so baby would respond and maybe try to vacate....etc. I did literally EVERYTHING. But on February 23rd, I was still pregnant. Scheduled to go in at 8pm. The hospital ended up being busy that night so they asked me to come in at 9 instead. We arrived at 9 and got checked in. Owen made comfy on the couch and I got all strapped in to the monitors on the bed. They gave me the first phase of a three phase process. Phase one was to soften my cervix by taking a pill every three hours until the morning. Phase two was to begin the Pitocin to get me contracting and induce the baby. Phase three was to begin pushing, etc. After the first pill to soften my cervix, I went into labor on my own. I started contracting. My contractions moved to 7 min apart then 5 then 2 minutes apart. They hurt so bad. I didn't know if I could get my epidural yet because I thought we were still in phase 1. So I asked for pain meds and the nurse gave me a narcotic. For one hour I felt relatively good but could still feel the contractions come on. Then I had to pee. I got up with the help of a CNA. Once I got into the bathroom, I started to shake uncontrollably. I asked for help but no one came. I managed to make my way to the door and get it open and called for Owen. He had been sleeping on the couch. He woke up and jumped up to come help me before he was even fully awake. I startled him for sure. He came over and helped me to the bed. At this point I was shaking so badly he was getting freaked out. I got in the bed and he called for the nurse. She came and hooked me back up to the machines. I started to get a fever at this point. She said she was going to get the Anesthesiologist to come in and give me my epidural. All in all, I was contracting every 2 minutes for about 3-4 hours. Finally the anesthesiologist came. I sat up and forward. He tried to put the needle between two lower vertebrae but kept hitting bone. He tried 8 times. Finally he had to go higher than usual. Apparently those lower vertebrae are fused together. Lovely. I knew I had back issues but I wasn't sure what exactly was the issue.
So he administered the epidural in between the higher vertebrae. A few minutes later, machines were beeping. people were running in the room and they were laying me back on the bed putting a mask on my face trying to figure out whatr was going on with me. My heartrate was dropping, the baby's heartrate was dropping, our bloodpressures were also dropping. They gave me a shot of terbutaline. Once they got me stabilized, I was able to try and rest. My pain for my contractions was alleviated for a while and I tried to sleep. After that kind of event though, I felt so much anxiety and my lungs felt weird to breathe since the numbing agent was put in higher than normal. Needless to say, I didn't really sleep after that.
The labor was going well for a few hours. I was dilating steadily and they were saying I might be done and have my baby there by 3pm.....
By 8pm, however, they started talking about C-section options. the weird thing is, I had been dilating fine, until they suggested to take Pitocin so we could speed it up even more. I almost didn't take it because I felt weird about it. But instead I trusted the doctor to know what we were doing. So I took the pitocin...and then I stalled. Go figure. I really thought for a minute there that I would be forced to do a C-section. Owen and I really didn't want that to happen. By 8:30, they did my last check and luckily (miraculously) I was at full dilation and they started prepping me to push. I have to say, I feel like the true thing that helped me be ready to push was my nurse. The one I had all day was nice, but the one that changed shifts and came on in the evening, came in and took over with ideas like the peanut ball and changing my positions, etc. She was amazing! She prepped me when ready and I started to push. Owen and I had talked about it and we didn't think he would want to watch the actual birth. But he was by my side and holding my leg and helping me breathe through it. So when it came time, he was actually really excited to be able to see Aria being born. My mom was also in the room as moral support.
After 45 minutes of pushing, Aria was born at 9:14pm on February 24th, 2016 weighing 8 lbs 8 oz and 21" long. She came out and they laid her against my chest. They had told us she may need immediate care because there was marconium in the water when they broke it. Meaning she had pooped in the amniotic fluid. This can cause her lungs to be full of merconium so they needed to have pediatricians on stand by at the birth in case she needed to be suctioned.
When she came out, she took a big breath and began to cry on her own. This, of course, made both me and Owen cry. They laid her on my chest and she continued to cry. Then I spoke to her and handed her my finger. She gripped it in her hand and stopped crying almost immediately after hearing my voice. I love our little angel. She touched my soul the moment she was born and owns my heart.
She latched right away when trying to breastfeed and would stop crying when she was comforted by people who love her in the room. Such a good baby.
I was able to eat a sandwich then was taken to my room to begin the recovery process and spend time with my husband and my baby. They took her sugars, weight and all other pertinent things. But, by 5am, they took her blood sugar again. Instead of being 75 like the night before, it had dropped to 24. My nurse fed her a bottle of formula to see if they could get her sugars up. Afterward, her sugars was still too low. so they took and admitted her to the Special Care unit with an IV put in her arm.
For the next 4 days, I was hiking back and forth from my room to the special care unit. I basically never slept and stressed for days on end about the health of our baby. Friday night, we were discharged but Aria was not. The hospital let us stay in the family courtesy room near the special care nursery so we could be near her and I could still feed her. The room was at the end of a weird hallway. It had no windows and no wifi and flourescent lighting. Basically, the worst possible room a new mother who hadn't seen the sky in 4 days and who has walked off an emotional cliff hormonally could stay in. Don't get me wrong, I was sincerely grateful they had somewhere we could stay to be near her. But the truth is, that was some of the hardest days of my life. My anxiety levels were escalated ten fold by the sleep deprivation and stress of Aria being in the special care unit. I don't wish it on anyone. On Saturday, they were able to ween her off the IV and test her after a few feedings to make sure her sugar levels were high enough to sustain without assistance. They also cleared her of any infections since she was born with a slight temperature. I honestly started crying on Saturday when they told us she could probably be discharged. I was so extremely grateful.
Because she had to do the Special Care nursery, they hadn't done any of her normal things yet like the hearing test or even her first bath by daddy yet. So once they cleared her from that unit, we were able to do the bath and her tests and my personal favorite, remove the IV from her arm. The nurse had her taped up so horribly, it really did a number on her tiny baby skin. I was so grateful to get all of that removed and hold my baby the way nature always intended....without cables needles and wiring separating us.
A week later, the doctor was nervous about the weight loss she was experiencing. She dropped to 7 lbs. 9 oz. that is a little more than 10% of her birth weight. Due to this, I had to start supplementing formula with breast milk. I was able to keep up the breastfeeding for about 2.5 months before she stopped accepting the breast milk. She was doing great with both but eventually, I just wasn't producing enough for her to really benefit anymore from it. Luckily, I had breastfed enough that she was able to get the benefits of the good parts of it and we were able to truly connect. Happily, after a few weeks of supplementing, her weight started going up really well. I'm proud to say we have a chubbier happy baby on our hands now :) I love her so much! I am so proud of her strength and her ability to get through everything we went through like a champ.
We are now at about 3.5 months old and she is darling as ever! She started cooing more. Squealing, humming and shouting is a major part of her vernacular right now. :) She loves her kicky toys and is learning to shake her rattles. Her favorite movie is Disney's Tinker Bell. Before you go off blaming me of coersing her to like fairies or these movies, I have tried many different movies and shows but she honestly watches and giggles at watching Tinker Bell. Other movies, she'll get disinterested and look away. But with Tinker Bell, she watches intently and loves it.
She has been finding more of her voice lately and screeches at a very high pitch when she is excited. Her tummy time has gotten even stronger and her smile is so infectious. She is my heart.
The changes in everything have been good. It's been a huge culture shock but it's good because this has begun my self searching for the next chapter in my life. I'm so excited to see where the future takes me and my husband and my family. I love little Aria. She is absolutely wonderful to have. Even though raising a baby is a difficult chore, it has been such a huge blessing in my life.
Christmas last year was good. Not my favorite year for sure. It was an off year with the kids so we didn't have them on Christmas Morning. We also gave up our New Year's Eve and Day with the kids to their bio mom because her side of the family was in town so we let them be with their visiting family they rarely see. So all in all, being majorly pregnant, not having the kids for the majority of the events and working full time the whole time, did not make it my favorite year at all.
On a super sad note, my Aunt Jeri died. I was contacted by a friend of the family through Facebook to let us know. Crazy how Facebook has become one of the leading tools in human communication these days. I'm starting to forget what life was like without it. My aunt was a great woman. She died too young. She was in her late 50's. I loved her very much. She loved me too and I am grateful I can say that knowing it was true. Sometimes I still think she's in Ohio and I can just message her online to say hi. It's never easy to accept that someone is truly gone.
In January Mitchell turned 8! His baptism was the first weekend in February. He was so excited to be able to have this opportunity. Owen was able to baptize him and I was so grateful baby Aria held on from coming early so we could get through that awesome day. His bio mom did the decorations and I did the food. I was grateful we could get along long enough to get through this event with all the family involved. Mitchell was so cute that day. I cannot believe he is growing up so fast. Getting so big and so smart but still keeps his cute funny humor about him.
February 23rd marks a huge day in mine and Aria's lives. I went into the hospital to be induced to have Aria. I was already 1 week late. I had tried everything to go into labor; spicy food, stepping up and down on the curb outside and my stairs, exercising, being intimate, the prego pizza at Cafe Trio, foot massages, squats, talking to baby, putting music down low so baby would respond and maybe try to vacate....etc. I did literally EVERYTHING. But on February 23rd, I was still pregnant. Scheduled to go in at 8pm. The hospital ended up being busy that night so they asked me to come in at 9 instead. We arrived at 9 and got checked in. Owen made comfy on the couch and I got all strapped in to the monitors on the bed. They gave me the first phase of a three phase process. Phase one was to soften my cervix by taking a pill every three hours until the morning. Phase two was to begin the Pitocin to get me contracting and induce the baby. Phase three was to begin pushing, etc. After the first pill to soften my cervix, I went into labor on my own. I started contracting. My contractions moved to 7 min apart then 5 then 2 minutes apart. They hurt so bad. I didn't know if I could get my epidural yet because I thought we were still in phase 1. So I asked for pain meds and the nurse gave me a narcotic. For one hour I felt relatively good but could still feel the contractions come on. Then I had to pee. I got up with the help of a CNA. Once I got into the bathroom, I started to shake uncontrollably. I asked for help but no one came. I managed to make my way to the door and get it open and called for Owen. He had been sleeping on the couch. He woke up and jumped up to come help me before he was even fully awake. I startled him for sure. He came over and helped me to the bed. At this point I was shaking so badly he was getting freaked out. I got in the bed and he called for the nurse. She came and hooked me back up to the machines. I started to get a fever at this point. She said she was going to get the Anesthesiologist to come in and give me my epidural. All in all, I was contracting every 2 minutes for about 3-4 hours. Finally the anesthesiologist came. I sat up and forward. He tried to put the needle between two lower vertebrae but kept hitting bone. He tried 8 times. Finally he had to go higher than usual. Apparently those lower vertebrae are fused together. Lovely. I knew I had back issues but I wasn't sure what exactly was the issue.
So he administered the epidural in between the higher vertebrae. A few minutes later, machines were beeping. people were running in the room and they were laying me back on the bed putting a mask on my face trying to figure out whatr was going on with me. My heartrate was dropping, the baby's heartrate was dropping, our bloodpressures were also dropping. They gave me a shot of terbutaline. Once they got me stabilized, I was able to try and rest. My pain for my contractions was alleviated for a while and I tried to sleep. After that kind of event though, I felt so much anxiety and my lungs felt weird to breathe since the numbing agent was put in higher than normal. Needless to say, I didn't really sleep after that.
The labor was going well for a few hours. I was dilating steadily and they were saying I might be done and have my baby there by 3pm.....
By 8pm, however, they started talking about C-section options. the weird thing is, I had been dilating fine, until they suggested to take Pitocin so we could speed it up even more. I almost didn't take it because I felt weird about it. But instead I trusted the doctor to know what we were doing. So I took the pitocin...and then I stalled. Go figure. I really thought for a minute there that I would be forced to do a C-section. Owen and I really didn't want that to happen. By 8:30, they did my last check and luckily (miraculously) I was at full dilation and they started prepping me to push. I have to say, I feel like the true thing that helped me be ready to push was my nurse. The one I had all day was nice, but the one that changed shifts and came on in the evening, came in and took over with ideas like the peanut ball and changing my positions, etc. She was amazing! She prepped me when ready and I started to push. Owen and I had talked about it and we didn't think he would want to watch the actual birth. But he was by my side and holding my leg and helping me breathe through it. So when it came time, he was actually really excited to be able to see Aria being born. My mom was also in the room as moral support.
After 45 minutes of pushing, Aria was born at 9:14pm on February 24th, 2016 weighing 8 lbs 8 oz and 21" long. She came out and they laid her against my chest. They had told us she may need immediate care because there was marconium in the water when they broke it. Meaning she had pooped in the amniotic fluid. This can cause her lungs to be full of merconium so they needed to have pediatricians on stand by at the birth in case she needed to be suctioned.
When she came out, she took a big breath and began to cry on her own. This, of course, made both me and Owen cry. They laid her on my chest and she continued to cry. Then I spoke to her and handed her my finger. She gripped it in her hand and stopped crying almost immediately after hearing my voice. I love our little angel. She touched my soul the moment she was born and owns my heart.
She latched right away when trying to breastfeed and would stop crying when she was comforted by people who love her in the room. Such a good baby.
I was able to eat a sandwich then was taken to my room to begin the recovery process and spend time with my husband and my baby. They took her sugars, weight and all other pertinent things. But, by 5am, they took her blood sugar again. Instead of being 75 like the night before, it had dropped to 24. My nurse fed her a bottle of formula to see if they could get her sugars up. Afterward, her sugars was still too low. so they took and admitted her to the Special Care unit with an IV put in her arm.
For the next 4 days, I was hiking back and forth from my room to the special care unit. I basically never slept and stressed for days on end about the health of our baby. Friday night, we were discharged but Aria was not. The hospital let us stay in the family courtesy room near the special care nursery so we could be near her and I could still feed her. The room was at the end of a weird hallway. It had no windows and no wifi and flourescent lighting. Basically, the worst possible room a new mother who hadn't seen the sky in 4 days and who has walked off an emotional cliff hormonally could stay in. Don't get me wrong, I was sincerely grateful they had somewhere we could stay to be near her. But the truth is, that was some of the hardest days of my life. My anxiety levels were escalated ten fold by the sleep deprivation and stress of Aria being in the special care unit. I don't wish it on anyone. On Saturday, they were able to ween her off the IV and test her after a few feedings to make sure her sugar levels were high enough to sustain without assistance. They also cleared her of any infections since she was born with a slight temperature. I honestly started crying on Saturday when they told us she could probably be discharged. I was so extremely grateful.
Because she had to do the Special Care nursery, they hadn't done any of her normal things yet like the hearing test or even her first bath by daddy yet. So once they cleared her from that unit, we were able to do the bath and her tests and my personal favorite, remove the IV from her arm. The nurse had her taped up so horribly, it really did a number on her tiny baby skin. I was so grateful to get all of that removed and hold my baby the way nature always intended....without cables needles and wiring separating us.
A week later, the doctor was nervous about the weight loss she was experiencing. She dropped to 7 lbs. 9 oz. that is a little more than 10% of her birth weight. Due to this, I had to start supplementing formula with breast milk. I was able to keep up the breastfeeding for about 2.5 months before she stopped accepting the breast milk. She was doing great with both but eventually, I just wasn't producing enough for her to really benefit anymore from it. Luckily, I had breastfed enough that she was able to get the benefits of the good parts of it and we were able to truly connect. Happily, after a few weeks of supplementing, her weight started going up really well. I'm proud to say we have a chubbier happy baby on our hands now :) I love her so much! I am so proud of her strength and her ability to get through everything we went through like a champ.
We are now at about 3.5 months old and she is darling as ever! She started cooing more. Squealing, humming and shouting is a major part of her vernacular right now. :) She loves her kicky toys and is learning to shake her rattles. Her favorite movie is Disney's Tinker Bell. Before you go off blaming me of coersing her to like fairies or these movies, I have tried many different movies and shows but she honestly watches and giggles at watching Tinker Bell. Other movies, she'll get disinterested and look away. But with Tinker Bell, she watches intently and loves it.
She has been finding more of her voice lately and screeches at a very high pitch when she is excited. Her tummy time has gotten even stronger and her smile is so infectious. She is my heart.
The changes in everything have been good. It's been a huge culture shock but it's good because this has begun my self searching for the next chapter in my life. I'm so excited to see where the future takes me and my husband and my family. I love little Aria. She is absolutely wonderful to have. Even though raising a baby is a difficult chore, it has been such a huge blessing in my life.
