Noah's Birth Story (Part 3)

You can read Part 1 HERE.

You can read Part 2 HERE.



So when we last left off the mean, mean anesthesiologist had the nerve to leave me before giving me my well deserved epidural. He did return about 15 minutes later and proceeded to give me the drugs. This time around the epidural seemed to hurt a bit more than the last time. I could feel some "pinching" going on as he was getting it in. But once it was in it felt SO good. There was instant relief! (When I got my epidural with Logan there was no instant relief. And now that I've had another one I am thoroughly convinced that it wasn't done correctly the first time around.) My legs instantly began to feel tingly and from this point on when the nurses checked to see if I was dilated anymore they had to move my legs for me because I could not really feel them. I also now had to really concentrate to feel when a contraction hit. They did not cause any pain which was a nice change. At this point I was able to get some sleep and it felt so good.

I'm pretty sure I slept off and on for the next couple of hours. Everything up until when the pitocin started is a quite a blur. I remember the doctor coming in and talking to me a little bit. But the next thing I know they are talking about giving me some pitocin to get me to 10 cm (at this point I was at around 8 cm). I had been given pitocin when I had Logan but this time it was MUCH different. I think because this time around it was given just right at the end and not gradually it was a bit more painful. And by a bit I mean ALOT. I began having one contraction after the other without much of a break. And they were hurting again.

At this point the nurse checked and said that when I had the need to push to go ahead and do it. I held out for about 2 contractions and then told them I needed to push. Once I began to push I could not stop. One of the nurses told me to just push a little but there was no way I could just push a little.

I guess this is when one of the nurses went out to get the doctor. By the time he came in I pushed one more time and Noah came out. I pushed a total of THREE times and he was born. I had been in labor for a long time but when it came to the pushing part I don't think anyone expected it to go that quickly. I could not believe how tiny but yet how big he was at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed Noah's story.

Noah's Birth Story (Part 2)

You can read Part 1 HERE.


So after I got comfy in the bed one of the nurses came in and checked to see if I was dilated. I was at about 2 cm. Which was good because at my last doctor's appointment I was at about 1 1/2 cm. She then began to get everything hooked up. She strapped on the contraction monitor and then strapped on the heart rate monitor for the baby. The only problem was Noah did not want to be found. She would locate his heartbeat and I would move just the tiniest bit and he would move. We had this problem for at least the next FIVE HOURS!


I then began to get everything else hooked up. I got my IV put in and they began filling me with fluids. I also began to get my first dose of antibiotics for the Group B. Boy does that burn when it goes in! All together I received 2 bags of that stuff. After my IV was in the nurses allowed me to get out of bed and we took a lovely walk around the second floor of the hospital. We walked over to the nursery and walked up and down the hallway. Every time a contraction would hit I would have to stop. But like I said before, they weren't nearly as bad as when I was laying down. My contractions were still coming about 7-8 minutes and not really intensifying in pain.


We got back to the labor/delivery room and I started complaining to Mike that I was HUNGRY (it was around 10 AM by now). Mike went out to the hall and asked the nurse if I could eat anything. She came in and said that she would check to see if I had progressed and would give me the answer then. She examined me and then said that she had some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I was now dilated 3-4 cm and that I would now be officially admitted into the hospital since things were progressing. The bad news - since I was now "officially" in active labor I would not be able to eat anything. But I could have water and ice chips, which as we all know are VERY filling.


So since I wouldn't be able to eat anything I decided to get in the giant whirlpool tub and soak for a bit. OMG did that feel good! (Funny story about the tub that I'll write about later. Let's just say that Mike became a temp. for the hospital that day.) The water felt wonderful and the jets felt amazing! I could have sat in there forever!! I think I was in the whirlpool for a good 45 minutes but decided to get out because the pain was beginning to get a bit worse.


At this point I begin to lose track of time. I guess my focus was elsewhere ;)


I got out of the tub and we took another walk around the hospital. The contractions were beginning to get a little closer together and were starting to become more painful too. When we got back to the room I went back to bed. I was getting very tired. I tried to sleep in between the contractions and I think I did get some sleep but pretty soon I was waking up crying because the pain - IT WAS BAD! Mike took this as his clue to see if I could get something for the pain. The nurse came in and checked on me and asked if I was ready for the epidural. I think I contemplated kissing her at that point because YES I WAS READY!! She called the anesthesiologist and he came shortly thereafter. He began going over the medication with me and asking me the necessary questions. This part is a bit of a blur because did I mention the pain?? IT WAS BAD! He had me sit on the side of the bed and began to prep my back for the needle. He started putting soap back there and was just about to put in the epidural when he got a page. He then had to stop and he LEFT. That's right - he had the nerve to leave without giving me the drugs!! He said he would be back as soon as he could. Did he not realize how much pain I was in? Didn't he realize not to tease a woman in labor by coming in to do her epidural and then having the nerve to leave?? The time was now about 1 PM....to be continued.

Noah's Birth Story (Part 1)

OK - I finally have a little bit of time to write Noah's birth story. Mike took him up to his work and Logan is napping right now.

Before I start the official story let me just say that I completely jinxed myself and if you are pregnant you should NEVER - I repeat N-E-V-E-R joke about going into labor!! Saturday we were busy preparing for Noah's arrival by getting some stuff done around the house. I was out running errands around town and Mike & Shelia (my Aunt) were at the house working on completing the pirate ship. I got most of my errands done except some grocery shopping and mailing a gift for my friend who is due in October (Hi Minh!!) I was feeling a little tired so I decided to just come home figuring I could do those either later that night or on Sunday. Fast forward to later Saturday night and I jokingly make a comment to Mike that because I didn't make it to the grocery store I'll probably go into labor that night. We laugh because we figure "what are the chances that that will happen?". Fast forward to Mike & I lying in bed Saturday night. We're talking before we go to sleep and Mike decides to tell me that he really doesn't like the name Isaac (which is the name I had pretty much decided we would use). I ask him if he's serious and he says that yes, he is. I completely blow up and start crying saying that I can't believe he waits until NOW to tell me he doesn't like that name. Up until then I was pretty sure that we would use that name and now he decides to tell me THREE days before baby arrives that he doesn't like the name - AT ALL! I was so worked up. So those two things alone would explain why Noah decided to make his entrance Sunday afternoon. Ok - here is the story.

Early Sunday morning (around 2 AM) Logan got up to go to the bathroom. Mike went in to help him and I felt a little crampy, but didn't think anything of it. They didn't hurt too much and I kind of thought it might have been really bad heartburn. Go to about 5:30 AM and I wake up and feel really bad cramping and think "hmmm, maybe this is what early labor feels like" (since I didn't go into natural labor with Logan I wasn't too sure). I nudge Mike and ask him what time it is. He mumbles "about 5:30". I then ask him what time exactly which he then asks why and I tell him that I'm pretty sure that I'm having contractions. That grabs his attention so we then lie in bed and begin timing them. They are coming about 9 minutes apart. And then one hits at about 6 minutes.

Mike decides to start packing my suitcase for the hospital. Luckily, it's only about 7 minutes away so we figure if we forget anything he can always come back to the house later. Mike calls my Aunt Shelia to see if she can come to the house to watch Logan (my Mom & Dad were up at the lake). While she's on her way over I get into the shower. The contractions aren't nearly as bad while I'm standing and the shower is feeling really nice. I get out and get dressed and Mike gets in the shower. Shelia shows up and by looking at her face I don't think she thought I was in labor. She said I looked much too calm. Which is weird because I wasn't really freaking out and in a situation like this normally I would be completely freaking out. We get our stuff ready to go and say goodbye to Logan (he had woken up at about 6) and head out to the truck. By this time it's about 6:30 AM.

As we're driving to the hospital I realize that I'm hungry. I think it's no big deal, I figure I can just get something once we get to the hospital but Mike reminds me that they will not feed me once we get there. We decide to hit Burger King but apparently Burger King is not open at 6:40 on a Sunday morning. Luckily, there is a McDonald's along the way so we hit that. I get a breakfast sandwich and feel much better. We get to the hospital and Mike drops me off at the ER entrance. I walk up to the admitting nurse and tell her that I'm in labor. She tells me to take a seat and someone will be out with a wheelchair to take me up to the labor/delivery area. About 5 minutes later someone comes with a wheelchair and we begin our way up to the second floor which is where the labor/delivery are is at. We arrive up there and I get changed into a SEXY hospital gown and situated in my bed. The time is now 7 AM....to be continued.

Welcome

Noah Jimmy
8/24/08
8 lbs. 5 oz.
21" tall
Reddish blonde hair
Deep blue eyes

Baby & I are doing fine. Will write more later, baby needs to eat.

Ya Think?

Do you think my child could use a haircut?? He is turning into our little hippy. We have tried to get his haircut four times in about the last 2 months and he absolutely refuses. I do not understand what is going on - he's gotten it cut before and did not have any problems then. We're not sure what to try next. Mike wonders how much trouble we would get into if we just strapped him down and took the buzzers to his head. He doesn't think it would scar him for life *rolling eyes*

Any suggestions? We've tried bribing, begging, threatening and everything in between and nothing works. We've even had other people take him to the hair salon and that doesn't work either.

Because I'm nothing if not a Procrastinator.

Yes, I realize I have other things to do besides blog - like, say for instance, prepare for a B-A-B-Y. But I love to leave things until the last minute which is why I have decided to take this time to update my blog roll. If you'll notice on the left I have a new category over there under the "blogs I read". Check out the new blogs and if you have any others to recommend please do!

What Am I Missing?

When Breaking Dawn came out I finally decided to "check-out" Twilight from work to see what all the hype was about. I am now reading New Moon and I still must be missing something. I am enjoying the series so far but I don't devour them like I have with other popular books. I'm not sure if I expected more action or what to go on in them, but I'm just not satisfied with them. I think I will continue to read the final two books but I don't think I will be recommending them when I return to work. Any thoughts?

Tour

We took a tour of the birth center this evening. I'm glad we got around to it because I think it's been about 11 years since I had been up to that area. At least now we'll know where to go on Tuesday morning! The rooms are all very nice and a lot bigger than the room I was in when I had Logan out in Washington. The only thing that is notably different is the fact that I will not deliver and stay in the same room. They have a separate labor/delivery area where I will have the baby. Then after 1-2 hours I will be moved over to the birth center which is right down the hall. This hospital is much more up to date than the one where I had Logan - they seem to have all the amenities that you could possibly need - huge rooms that include a couch, rocking chair, queen size bed, whirlpool tub and internet access. The two nurses who gave us the tour were both very nice - which is also a good thing!!

We Have A Date!!

I went in for my last check-up today. I saw a nurse practitioner since my doctor is out of town until Sunday. I am actually dilated to 1 1/2 cm - yay!! Since things are finally beginning to progress we went ahead and scheduled an induction date & time. We'll be going into the hospital next Tuesday (8/26) at 7 AM and hopefully by early afternoon we will be welcoming our baby boy into the world.

All Gone

Last weekend while Logan & I were at the lake Mike packed up Logan's potty chair. Our little guy is not so little anymore. He is now using the regular toilet which is SO much nicer than having to clean his out all the time. He has a step stool (or as he calls it stool step) that he uses to climb up there and he is almost completely able to get his underwear and pants up on his own. Anyone reading this who does not have kids will not realize the significance but trust me it is HUGE! This means I do not have to go up there with him every single time. And since I am now less than a week away (hopefully) from having a baby the less trips up and down the stairs the better! *grin*

First (or Second) Pick

I picked this out of the garden on Friday night. It is the second cucumber out of my garden so far this year and it is over 14" long. I think I planted some sort of super-sized cucumbers! My garden has not been the best this year. I seemed to have planted some sort of vine thing (my Grandma thinks it might be creeping Jenny) that tried to choke everything before they were able to get established. Luckily, I was able to save most of my tomato and cucumber plants. Unfortunately, my peppers and onions weren't so lucky. I haven't decided if I'm going to plant a garden next year or try to rid it first of the unwanted growth that surfaced this year.

Baby's Room

The room is almost done. My Aunt sewed the curtains (they look great!) (the picture below is a close up to show the pirate ship/treasure map print - they came out very blurry) and Mike & I finished painting the walls. They also look really good but I am NEVER painting stripes on walls again. OMG it took so much prep and all of those kudos go to Mike for taping off the two walls that we did the striping on.

I found the two cute pirate prints on eBay. They are so cute and I can't believe how well they match the walls. The two prints by the crib are ones that my Mom bought at Hobby Lobby. They are nusery rhyme prints - one is Jack & Jill and the other is Hey Diddle Diddle. They are absolutely perfect for a baby's room!

The one item that isn't in the room yet - the pirate ship. Yep, you read that right. Mike is building a pirate ship for the baby that will serve as a bookcase/changing table. He started on it this past weekend when Logan & I went up to the lake. It is almost complete construction wise but then comes the really hard part. We have to figure out how to paint it so that it will look like a true pirate ship. I think Mike did a great job and I can't believe how he was able to come up with this!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Still no baby)

I made these cookies the other day and I have to admit - they turned out great! They are a little crunchy on the outer edges and nice and soft in the middle. The recipe only makes about a dozen cookies but you only need one to satisfy that chocolate craving! I got the recipe from allrecipes.com - Next time I make them though I think I'll cut the vanilla in half, it was a little strong. I did use margarine instead of melted butter and I did not melt the margarine. I don't think this affected the recipe that much - they still came together nicely.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325*. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Cream together sugars and butter. Beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill dough for at least 1 hour. Drop cookie dough, 1/4 cup at a time, onto cookie sheet. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool.

10 Days

That's right I have 10 days (or less, hopefully) to go!! So remember yesterday how I bought some pants for the baby because I couldn't find the ones that Logan wore? Well this morning as I was finishing (what I thought) was the last load of baby clothes I noticed a tote by the laundry door. I opened it and sure enough there were some more newborn-3 month baby clothes. Including about 6 pairs of pants. Now I'm debating if I should take back the 4 pairs that I bought. I might keep them though because all of the ones I have seem to be shades of blue and the new ones I bought are tan, green, and dark brown.

Tuesday night we took Logan to the waterpark again. It will probably be the last time we go, I'm not sure when their last day is but the pools around here close as of August 15th so I'm sure they'll be closing soon after that. We all had a great time while we were there - it felt great to just float around the "river". Somehow though Logan managed to give himself a little bit of a black eye (under his left eye in the picture). They have a water squirter that you can push buttons on and it will shoot water out. The buttons tend to stick a little and one of the times that Logan was pushing on it he seemed to lose his balance and smacked his head on it. He instantly started screaming but I managed to calm him down pretty quickly. It must not have hurt too bad though because when we left the park he had to go over to it again and push on the buttons.

No Progress

I had my doctor's appointment today - nothing new going on. I return again next Wednesday for what will hopefully be my last check-up. My blood pressure was high this morning but they re-checked it before I left and it turned out to be fine. I also tested positive for Group B strep - which apparently is pretty common. There is no risk to me but could be to the baby if not treated. I will receive some antibodies when I go in to deliver to prevent the baby from developing it.

I started washing the clothes for the baby. Between all of Logan's hand-me-downs and the garage sale finds we are set for clothes. The only thing that I did buy were some pants. I'm not sure what happened to the ones that Logan wore when he was just born but I seemed to have just sleepers and onesies.

Doctor's Appointment

My appointment went well yesterday. I have gained 9 pounds so I am up a total of 12 pounds overall. I'm sure at least half of that is the baby because I can tell that he is running out of room in there!!

I had an actual exam yesterday to check if there was any progress going on down there. So far, not much. I'm not dilated at all. I go back for my next check-up on Wednesday. He'll check to see how I'm doing at that point and we will probably discuss an induction a little bit further.

We did briefly talk about me getting induced. The doctor is not against it which is good. I was induced 2 days early with Logan and everything went fine with that so I'm all for it again if the doctor agrees. Unfortunately my doctor will be out of town from August 19-24 so my days for an induction are pretty limited. It would happen either August 18th or the 25th so we should know more again after the next appointment.

I DO NOT want the baby to come late though. I don't think I've written about it on the blog yet but my brother is leaving on September 2nd to study abroad for his junior year of college. He will be in Ireland until at least next summer. Which means if the baby is too late Uncle Taylor will not meet him until he's almost a year old.

Recently Discovered

http://www.wearethatfamily.com/
http://blondechickbloggin.blogspot.com/
http://everydaybecky.blogspot.com/
http://www.donttryit.com/
http://thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/
http://amamasblog.com/
http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/
http://katydidandkid.blogspot.com/
http://mommainflipflops2.blogspot.com/
http://sahmmoney.blogspot.com/
http://motherhood-moment.blogspot.com/
http://mypreciouspennies.blogspot.com/
http://zimmerzoo.wordpress.com/

Tidbits

-I can no longer breathe when I have to put my socks on. I guess one bonus to being pregnant in the summer time - I've barely worn socks so my oxygen levels are good most of the time.

-Why is it when you're pregnant everyone wants to know when you're going to have the next one? Ummm, can this one finish baking and enter the world before I'm on to the next???

-My heartburn has been C-R-A-Z-Y!!

-Mike & I are arguing about names - particularly the middle one. Not sure who is going to win :(

-My next appointment is tomorrow (later today).

-Logan & I are going up to the lake this weekend. It will probably be the last time I go up this summer - let's hope the weather is good!

-This baby seems to be a night-owl. He is his most active from about 10 pm - 1 am.

-Baby's room is painted and things are getting organized in there. I will take a picture soon - I love the colors of the walls!! It is such a gorgeous blue.

Busy, Busy Weekend

This weekend was full of fun! Friday night we had Logan's birthday party. I think we had over 20 people at our house. Thursday afternoon he took a 3 hour nap and the day of his party - no nap at all. Which meant he ended up having a couple of time-outs spent in his room that evening. Other than that, the party was a great time. He made a haul when it came to presents and he loved his cake. I decided not to bake a cake this year - I figured it was one less thing that I would have to stress about. So I went to Sam's Club and got him a dinosaur cake (that he helped pick out) - he loved it! Saturday there was a craft show in town so we headed to that before it got too blasted hot (high for the day was 93*). We got up there shortly before lunch. They didn't have anything that I wanted to buy so we ate lunch up there, bought some kettle corn and then headed home so Logan could take a nap. The previous night + the fresh air must have worn him out because he went down immediately for a nap without protesting at all. Saturday night one of Logan's aunts babysat him so that Mike, Taylor and I could go and see Jeff Dunham - OMG I don't think I've laughed that hard or long in a long time! He is SO funny!! I just love Walter and Achmed - they just crack me up. I was crying at times because I was laughing so hard!Sunday we had a family reunion at one of the parks in town. It was for my Dad's side of the family. It was great to see everyone. And did you notice my ticker at the top? I now have 3 weeks left before the baby arrives! We finished painting his room on Saturday and now Mike gets to assemble the crib. We brought in all the baby stuff from the shed and I've begun washing the car seat pads, baby bjorn, bouncy chairs and all the other stuff that we'll need right away. This week I'll start washing all of his little clothes. I LOVE that part - getting to look at all the outfits!