Five Whole Months!

You are five months old today.  FIVE!  Where has the time gone?  Seems like only yesterday that I was feeding you 24 hours a day :)  Out of all your months so far, I do think that this one has been the most eventful. You have grown so much this month, and you are doing many things you have never done before!

You have settled in to daycare nicely.  You are a favorite among the teachers, and they all talk about what a good baby you are.  You only fuss when you are hungry, and you eat like a champ, so once you have your bottle...you are good to go!  You sit at the table with the big boys, and you even play in the exer-saucer.  Very big boy activities if you ask me.  You talk and make so many different sounds, and, before long, I think you will do a full on back bend on your changing table.  You are probably about 13 1/2 pounds now, and you wore your six month pj's for the first time last night.  You are very long, so you are still small for your length, but you have definitely filled out your little legs, and you even have a double chin.  My little, teeny baby has a double chin!

You eat some real food now.  So far, you have had rice cereal and bananas.  You hate rice cereal and you love bananas...so we mix the two together so you can get your iron from the cereal.  You cannot eat fast enough, and you chase the spoon with your mouth and get angry when you aren't fed fast enough.  When you had bananas for the first time, it was like a whole new world!  You were so excited to eat and eat and eat.  We quickly realized that you could easily work the spoon when there was something other than rice cereal on it :) Right now you are eating twice a day, and doing great with it.  And when you nurse these days, it is twenty minutes or less.  Who would of thought we would ever see that day!

We made it through our first sickness.  You had a horrible cough and congestion that led to a fever and ear infection.  You were never overly whiny or upset, but you could definitely tell that you didn't feel good.  You looked very tired and did not have the energy you usually did.  Shortly after starting the antibiotic, you were back to your old self...happy as could be!  You are still congested, and you still get stuffed up when you sleep, but you don't let if affect your mood.  After you, mama and daddy also had to go through the same sickness, but we all came out good as new on the other end.  Guess this is what comes with daycare.

You now like to be tickled, and you are generally a very happy, giggly, smiley baby.  You even laughed for the first time at your Granny.  You love to play with a cloth diaper, and it can keep you entertained forever!  You play peek-a-boo with yourself, and you love to put anything you can get your hands on over your face.  You also like to sit in your chair and watch the baby channel on TV.  It is like your very own easy chair.  Also, we got to use the jogging stroller for the first time because you are finally big enough, and you love it...promptly falling asleep shortly after we get started.  Same goes for the Baby Bjorn.  We read lots of Dr Seuss these days, and you love looking at the bright pictures.  You still love your mobile, and anything that hangs over head.  You take your bear with you to school everyday, and you love to put him over your face when you nap.  Seeing you cuddle with your bear is just the sweetest thing ever!!

You are now a roller!  Most mornings you flip yourself over when you wake up, and this means that you get to sleep on your tummy at daycare.  Your naps in your crib went from one hour to two and a half.  I am sure this makes your teachers very happy :)  You hold you head up really well when you are on your tummy, and you have no problem rolling from tummy to back...you haven't gone from back to tummy yet, but I am sure that is just around the corner.  Your favorite things are still eating, your pacifier, and anything that moves.  You still fall asleep on most car rides and stroller strolls.  I love to give you endless kisses, and you just smile bashfully up at me.  You are the cutest baby ever by the way.

We have gone a little backwards with our sleep these past couple of weeks.  You are waking up to eat in the middle of the night again.  When you were sick I let you sleep instead of waking you for your last feeding because you had a hard time going to sleep.  So, this would mean you would usually need to eat in the middle of the night sometime.  Now you are all better, but still eating in the middle of night.  Maybe you just got used to it again, or maybe this is a growth spurt...but, hopefully, as we add more food you will sleep better.

We are so lucky to have such a happy, loving, precious little man.  You cuddle, hug, and love on us every day all the time.  You love to be picked up and toted around the house.  You make me happier than I ever thought possible, and I just can't wait to see your smiling little face when I get off work...and even when I wake up in the morning.  You are usually in such a good mood, and it is infectious to all of us around you.  You just can't help but smile when looking at your beautiful face.  You have changed our lives completely, and even when it is overwhelming and tiring and stressful, it is still infinitely better than before.  You have made us a family, and I love you endlessly.

Love,
Mama  

38 weeks and 2 days...otherwise known as...THE DAY!

It all started at about 7:00 in the morning…

I woke up, having contractions, but I had been having contractions for weeks, so this was no different.  I got up to go to the bathroom, sat on the toilet, and then…POP…and out came warm water.  My immediate thought was, of course, did my water break?  Then I remembered people saying you couldn’t stop the flow of this water like you can pee, so I tried to stop it and I did, so was this it or not?  Then my next thought, how lucky am I to have it break while I am on the toilet…no clean up!  I told Jonathan I though this was it, so I called the doctor and explained what had happened.  She told me to change positions and see if I noticed any changes, I did, so it was my water breaking.  We were having a baby!!! 

First I was a little nervous, then excited, and then I had my first contraction after my water breaking, and OH HELLO THERE CONTRACTION you were very different than all those before.  Then it set in that this is what an actual contraction feels like, not too pleasant, but not unbearable…yet.  I had my bag packed, knew what I was going to wear, and was told by the doctor that there was no need to rush, so I took a shower, made some breakfast, and then started getting ready to leave.  As I was finishing up making breakfast though, things were starting to get more intense than I expected, so I told Jonathan it was time to go then, and I was eating my breakfast in the car…oh, and guess what time it was…about 8:00 on a Friday morning and we have to go down 400 to Northside Atlanta.  Yeah traffic!  So we get on the road and the contractions are getting worse.  I am convinced we will be using the emergency lane and the entire time I am asking Jonathan “should we get over and use the emergency lane”, and he is saying “should I call a hero unit?” and I am saying, “I don’t know just get to the hospital as soon as you can”.  He goes “I am”, and I ask him to run red lights (after looking of course) once we are off the highway, and he doesn’t and is patient.  And no, we didn’t need the emergency lane or to run red lights.  Jonathan is right again. 

I am breathing and trying to not be in so much pain, and we pull up to the front of the hospital and go in.  I waddle, slowly, up to the front desk to check in, and the lady is not in any hurry.  Does she not see I am in pain?!?  Why isn’t she rushing me to my room?!?  I was a little irrational at this point.  This lady sees this all day everyday and knows there is plenty of time, but all I can think is what is taking so long!? 

We are waiting in the lobby for our room, and next thing you know…Mary Beth and Smith (our neighbors) walk in!  Turns out MB’s water had broken early that morning, and we were going into labor on the same day!  She was a couple of days early, and I was 12 days early, so it was crazy to be there at the same time!  We chat with them a bit, and then the contractions are getting worse.  I have Jonathan ask how much longer it will be.  Tell them I am already dilated!  Like I said, irrational.  The nurse comes out and calmly tells me my room will be ready in 5 minutes, so I try and breathe through the pain.  You are not having the baby in the lobby Brandy, chill out. 

We finally get up to the room and I get changed and hooked up to the monitors.  Family has started to arrive (we called everyone on our way down), and we are settling in for the delivery.  I went in three centimeters dilated, and I was still three centimeters at about 10:00, so I was trying to hold off on the epidural until 5 or 6.  I was doing okay, and then they became much more intense and closer together.  Also, I had to constantly go to the bathroom, not fun.  I was hurting more than I ever have in my life, but I was trying to breathe through them because I didn’t want the epidural to early, and I was scared of not being able to move my legs.  My plan was to wait and see what I was doing as far as the epidural went, but I quickly figured out I was getting one, I just didn’t know when J  The nurses asked me if I wanted one because of my obvious pain, and I said I didn’t know, and then came the vomit.  The pain was getting so intense it was making me physically sick, so I guess it is time.  I was kind of upset with myself because I figured I was maybe 4 or 5 centimeters, and I wanted to hold out longer, but it wasn’t happening.  They came in to give me the epidural, and when they did, I immediately felt better.  I still could move and feel my legs, and I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, which I liked, so I was very happy with my decision.  The doctor come in and checked me again (it was probably about 1:00 now), and I was 9 centimeters!  I flew through the dilation process, and I was probably a 6 or 7 when I got the epidural.  So I held out as long as I had wanted!  Yeah for me, and no wonder I was puking J  

At this point, the folks who aren’t staying are asked to leave, and we start prepping to push.  And here starts the long, long process of pushing…2 hours and 45 minutes to be exact.  I dilated like lightning, but our little man was face up and not fitting through, so the pushing took forever.  The pushing was hard, confusing, and the pressure, OH THE PRESSURE!  I had an epidural, and was still in tons of pain because of the intense pressure.  I couldn’t believe it hurt as much as it did, but I was going to be fine, I was going to do this!  After pushing for so long, I started to get a fever, and they started to worry about junior being in there for so long, so then came “the talk”.  My doctor said that they had to get the baby out now, and that they would try the vacuum two times, and if he didn’t come out then, it was off for an emergency C-section.  My response was to do whatever it is they needed because I just wanted a healthy baby!  So, in come the whole crew of doctors and nurses to try the vacuum…but first, I had to be cut to make room.  Ouch, and thank goodness I got that epidural.  Well, we try the vacuum the first time and it doesn’t work, then it pops off on its own (so doc doesn’t count that one), so here we are at my final push before an emergency C-section.  If he doesn’t come out now, I will not only be cut “down there”, but also across my stomach.  Not cool.  This one nurse comes in, grabs my leg, and tells me this baby is coming out now!  So here we go, I push with all I have, everybody cheering me on, and then…he comes flying out and there is instant relief.  No more pressure, and there he is.  Jonathan turns to me and goes its James Macneace, and we find out we have a boy.  A little bitty baby boy J  6 lbs, 8 oz, and 20 inches long, but I am pretty sure three of those inches were due to his giant head from the vacuum!!  Jonathan said I wouldn’t have believed how hard the pulled on that thing to get him out!

They put him on my stomach first, then took him to get his first check up and bath.  They did all they needed to do to me (get out the placenta and stitch me up) and him (clean out nose, ears, lungs, bath, etc), then he came to me to be fed for the first time.  That was interesting to say the least, but he did well and we made a perfect little team.   

It was scary, exciting, confusing, intense, difficult, life changing, but whatever the process was, it didn’t matter because we had a beautiful, healthy baby boy.  

33 and 3 days to 38 and 1 day

So here we are at 33 ½ weeks, and I get to leave the hospital on two conditions.  I have to take Procardia twice a day (a low dosage blood pressure medicine that is thought to relax the uterus), and bed rest…the dreaded bed rest, but, it turns out, that bed rest for a week really isn’t so bad, so long as it only lasts a week.  The doctors told me the big thing was to get to 35 weeks, so bed rest it was until 34 weeks and 5 days…

I started out the bed rest doing just that.  Recovering for the hospital stay was actually a little more difficult than I expected.  Being in the hospital bed doing absolutely nothing for 3 days, strangely enough, really makes you tired.  We have an adjustable bed (no we aren’t 60), so that was where I stayed for the next week.  It wasn’t super strict bed rest, as I could shower, sit up, etc…I was really just supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible.  I was at a client’s office the day I ended up going to the hospital, and she was such huge help in making it through my bed rest without going crazy.  She scanned in all the documents I would need, so I was able to do exactly what I would have done that week from the comfort of my adjustable bed J  I kept myself busy with my actual work, and it helped me save some vacation time.  She is a great lady to work with!

At my 34 week appointment, I was still one centimeter, so things didn’t seem to be progressing that quickly.  I finished out my bed rest and watching a lot of TLC and HGTV…again, and I was allowed to go back to work the next Monday…two days before I was 35 weeks.  I was still to take it easy, but most of my restrictions were lifted.  At my 35 week appointment, however, I was told I was two centimeters.  The doctor checking me told me this was actually a good thing because I wouldn’t have to go from zero to ten on the delivery day.  It was exciting to start thinking about my little guy coming!

This is also when I had to start counting contractions.  And, when you have tons of contractions, you do a lot of counting.  I had little pieces of paper in my office, in my car, in my living room, next to bed.  They were everywhere!  I felt like all I did was count contractions!  The little man was moving and grooving, and so was my uterus.  However, they were never regular for more than a couple of hours at a time.  When I would get nervous about it and call, my nurse would be shocked when I told her how many I was having, then I would explain that I had been having lots for a while, so then we would assess the situation a little differently.  Apparently, I had a ridiculous amount of contractions for a ridiculous amount of time.  Also, when you walk around dilating for a few weeks lots of things make an appearance on your tissue if you catch my meaning.  My plug came out slowly over the course of a week or so, and there were plenty of other…umm…snotty things to deal with.  Of course, I made multiple calls to my nurse over this time, and was reassured that this was all normal.  Toby, my phone nurse, is a saint J 

On Friday, September 9^th, I thought my water broke in the bathroom of Cinco’s.  We were eating dinner with Brian, Jeni, Lindsey, her husband, Smith, and Mary Beth (who was also very pregnant and jealous of my possible delivery J), so we went up to Northside Forsyth (because it was so close) to get checked out, and turns out, it wasn’t my water breaking, so either I have horrible aim, or pregnancy made me incontinent too among all the other things.  Sure it could have been some other fluid too, but we will never know.  Hospital visit number 2 was under my belt.  And, we even made it back to the restaurant before everyone left!

During the next two weeks, I had several nights when I thought it was time.  I was having tons of contractions that were much more painful, but I would relax, lie down, do some deep breathing, and eventually they would subside.  I would try and go to sleep knowing that if it were true labor, it would wake me up, and, sure enough, I would wake up the next morning still very pregnant.  It was a constant guessing game, and I was a huge mix of emotion.  Nervous, excited, confused, elated, pretty much everything but sad J  I also had all my showers during this time, and was unbelievably blessed by all our friends and family.  We got so many wonderful gifts.  The generosity of everyone was astounding.  We hardly had anything left to buy…which is a very good problem to have!

I went to my 36^th and 37^th week appointments, and I was growing great and Mac’s heartbeat was sounding fantastic…and at my 37^th week, I was three centimeters.  I was dilating at a rate of about a centimeter every two weeks.  At this appointment, my doctor remarked that she probably wouldn’t see me for my 38^th week appointment, but I had always thought from the beginning that I would make it to 38 weeks, and it seems that Mac had the same idea.  I don’t know why, but from about August on, people would ask, and I would say that I thought I would go to at least 38 weeks.  No real reason, just a gut feeling.  Another client of mine (who is a wonderful lady) was praying for me to make it to 38 weeks.  I had told her about my first hospital visit, and at her own selection she decided to pray for 38 weeks.  I had not told her that I thought I would make it that far…it was just a coincidence, or, as I like to think, God at work.  So, we surprised the doctor and showed up for our 38^th week appointment, and three days later Mac decided it was time to make his debut…

33 weeks...or my first trip to the hospital.

Picking up from where we left off in the previous post…

I went in to the doctor to be checked out for my cramping.  I saw a midwife that I had never seen before, and she was great!  She had the foresight to swab me for some protein before she checked my cervix.  If this protein is present, then the odds of preterm labor are high…if it isn’t there, chances are you aren’t going in to labor.  The thing is, once you have your cervix checked, you lose your chance of testing for the protein because touching the cervix messes it all up.  After she checked my cervix, she was very proud of herself for swabbing for the protein…as she should have been J 

So I talk to her about my cramping, she checks my cervix, and then she looks at me and says, “I am going to send you to Northside.”  And my reaction is…Really?  No nervousness, no worries, just really?  She proceeds to tell me that I and dilated one centimeter, and that I need to take the swab and head down to the hospital.  She says there is no reason why I can’t drive myself, so I hop in the car and head down the highway.  I call Jonathan, and he meets me there while I am waiting in the lobby. 

I am first put in a very small room because they think I will just be there for a few hours.  The first thing they do is hook me up to the monitors and start an IV for fluids.  The baby sounded great, but one thing I didn’t know was that I was having contractions…and some pretty big ones at that!  I had absolutely no idea.  The nurse would ask, “did you feel that one,” and I would say No.  Come to find out, the tightening of my stomach was a pre-water breaking contraction, and I just didn’t know it.  I could feel them.  They didn’t hurt.  And there was a lot.  About every 8 minutes or so. 

The first thing they gave me was a shot in the arm.  I forget the name of everything now (except magnesium, I will never for get that stuff, but that comes later), but it made me extremely jittery.  Hands shaking, heart racing jittery.  That did not stop the contractions, so I have another shot a few hours later.  Jonathan sleeps in the chair, me and my mom watch Dance Moms, and I continue to have contractions.  They then decide they will keep me overnight and monitor my contractions.  They give me a sleeping pill, and off I go to sleep in my tiny room with Jonathan sleeping in the chair. 

We wake up Thursday morning, and I am still continuing to have contractions, and I had plenty of them throughout the night.  They then decide that I will need to stay and have some steroids to help Mac’s lung grow just in case he is born early.  Also, I have had more cervix checks than I would like to count, and they are all about the same.  So, we get a bigger room and settle in for the long haul and lots of TLC and HGTV which Jonathan was super excited about.  I get one steroid shot, and I will get the next one in 24 hours.  In the mean time, since my contractions have not subsided, they start me on magnesium.  May you never have to have magnesium.  It is not a pleasant experience, and I had to have it for 24 hours.  The entire time, I felt like me eyes were swimming, just my eyes.  I couldn’t focus on anything and it made me nauseous for the ENTIRE 24 hours  It was awful, and, by far, the worst medication I was given while I was there.  So, here I am on my second “stop the contractions” medication, and I am still having them, but the silver lining is Mac was sounding great, moving a lot, and doing well. 

After my second steroid shot, and the completion of my magnesium (hooray!!) on Friday morning, I was still having some contractions.  They took me for an ultrasound, and everything was looking great.  They estimated him to already be 5 lbs...which will turn out to not be the case.  Mac was the constant in this whole process.  He was doing awesome J  So, I have taken two medications, and I am still having contractions, but not dilating any further, so they decide to try one more medication.  A pill that I can take home with me and take until 35 weeks.  They decide to keep me overnight again just to make sure, and then I can go home on Saturday if everything goes well. 

I wake up on Saturday morning still having some contractions, but still not dilating anymore, so I get to go home!  After three days of hospital food, an uncomfortable bed, and more medicines and cervical exams than I care to remember, I am on my way home!  The only downside, I don’t get to hear Mac’s heartbeat all day anymore…guess I will just have to settle for feeling his kicks J Personally (and based on how things progressed from here), I think this was just how my body was going to do things.  I continued to dilate very slowly over the next few weeks, so I think my body was just readying itself and was going to take it's sweet time.  However, I have a beautiful, healthy boy now, so I wouldn’t change a thing!  Also, I was never nervous, anxious, or worried the entire time I was in the hospital.  It was like deep down I knew that everything was going to be okay, and I had nothing to worry about.  I am sure prayers helped too J

And now, it is on to bed rest…