Labor & Delivery

No pregnancy or delivery is the same... supposedly. My pregnancies were incredibly similar even down to the amount of weight I gained.

Labor was another story completely.

I was in labor with Kenzie start to finish 38 hours. I labored 30 hours at home with relatively no pain. Just mild cramping. The last 6 (non-pushing) hours I was at the hospital with an epidural, which left me completely pain free for the remainder of active labor. The last 2 hours were spent pushing out a sunny side up baby, painless, but  it was HARD work!

Labor selfie...

 With Ketcher I was in labor 13 hours start to finish. I woke at 5:30am with contractions that were 10 minutes apart. By 10am the contractions were strong enough to make me breathless and they were 6 minutes apart. I was 4 cm and the doc sent me straight over to the hospital because she could already feel the baby's head pushing down. When I got the epidural they were coming at 4 minutes apart at 1pm. Then things slowed way down. The pain went away with the epidural and I could feel myself getting more and more hungry.

Dan secretly gave me some yogurt pretzels at 4:00pm and then within 10 minutes we could see on the monitor the contractions were coming steady at 2 minutes apart. It's amazing what a little food will do for labor. At 6:00pm the doc came in broke my water and said we are ready to go.

First photo... not happy it took
11 minutes. Impatient already.

Oh the pain! I could feel tons of pressure in my hips. It was excruciating. At 6:24pm she came back in the room in her scrubs and said. "Ready to push?" I said. "I'm ready to put this med button to up my epidural!"  They wouldn't let me, even though I was in tons of pain. They had me push in my next few contractions and 11 minutes later Ketcher James Young was born.

I honestly can't say the faster labor was better, but the recovery is 120% better!  The first 24 hours were uncomfortable and after that, I felt like me again. A weepier, more sleep deprived version... but me.

 My beautiful boy

So far it hasn't been easy but I will get to that later. This blog has been very therapeutic for me and it will continue to get me through the rough newborn weeks. Thanks for reading and for all the support.

My 2 favorite guys.

I missed the cup... Twice

Time for an update. If you have been following my facebook posts, don't worry I won't go too debbie downer in this post.

Pregnancy, 38 weeks, 143 lbs

I am sick with a cold which is horrible.  The worst part is wetting myself when I cough or sneeze. Like I needed one more thing to be embarrassed about. 

My doctors appointment was this morning, and she decided to torture me by having me give not one, but two urine samples. Since I can't see what I am doing down there, I ended up peeing all over my hands the first time, and somehow the floor the second time. That will teach her to order 2 samples. Just kidding, I grudgingly cleaned up after myself.

Otherwise baby seems well. Docs are a little concerned that I am measuring small right now, but they are going to wait and see how I have grown next week.  They said it's best not to do anything while I am sick. 

Kenzie, 17 months, 20 lbs
She woke last night with the stomach flu and it continued through the morning. She is napping right now, so we will see how the afternoon goes.

The toddler bed is going great. Although she naps all throughout her room. Mostly in her reading chair, and yesterday on the floor, next to the ladybug light her grandma sent her. Bedtime hasn't changed at all and she doesn't get up at night. 

We are dealing with a perfect storm of teething.  Her bottom molars and top canines are all coming in at once. Nothing has broken through yet and she is in lots of pain. She can be playing quietly one minute and on the floor crying in an instant. There isn't much we can do except Tylenol and let her munch on frozen blueberries.  The house will be covered in purple finger prints by the time these teeth appear. 

Dan, too old to be this clueless, about to have a LOT less time to work out 

Dan is starting to realize what the weeks will entail after the new baby gets here. He took 3 weeks off work to "help out." Sure. We had our first conversation about post baby, which he initiated:

     Dan: So... what's going to happen once you have this baby?
     Me:  What do you mean?
     Dan: How will you take care of Kenzie in the morning?
     Me:  I won't. You will.
     Dan: What? Every morning?
     Me: 7am every morning you will need to be in her room.
     Dan: Do I have to sleep with the monitor?  Can I just set my alarm?
     Me:  No this is isn't a job, this is parenting. She might wake up at night or extra early in the morning and start crying. You will need to take care of her while I am with the baby.
     Dan:  Oh. I didn't realize.
     Me:   (Getting angry) What did you think your man-ternity leave would consist of?  Sleeping in and doing whatever you want?  You are supposed to be home helping me.
     Dan:  I didn't think about it!  I didn't realize... (trailing off with a glazed look in his eyes)

What? I am exhausted just thinking about all the after-baby arguments we are going to have. <sigh>

Lessons Learned
1. Stop going to playgroup. I started going 1 month ago and Kenzie and I are now horribly sick.  A bunch of toddlers putting the same toys in their mouth over and over again... how did I not see it coming?
2. My clothes washer is amazing! Blueberry vomit all over sheets, sleep suit, white pajamas and Ernie. All came out sparkly clean using the stain cycle.
3. Get the sick out of the way. If the predicted due date is 2 weeks away, we have plenty of time to get over all this sickness. The most important thing is that the newborn doesn't get sick. So let's just get through this.
4.  Dan is clueless. I have nothing else to say on that topic...

Am I really ready for baby 2?

I have had the luxury of chasing a toddler around almost this whole pregnancy, so when I really consider if I am ready to throw a newborn in the mix, I actually have to think about it.

The short answer is: Yes, of course!

The long answer is a little more complicated.

I spend my days playing with Kenzie and tending to her needs full time (squeezing work in when I can). So am I ready for the guilt that will inevitably come from tending to another child? No.

Am I ready for the panic all over again, when I can't figure out what's wrong, and he won't stop crying? No.

Am I ready to face sleepless nights and exhausting days, with no breaks? No.

Am I ready to start working out again?  Ugh, definitely not.

This is more likely...

However...

Am I ready to get rid of this back pain and moodiness from pregnancy?  Hell yes!

Am I ready to cuddle a sleeping baby in my arms again?  Definitely.

Am I ready to meet my little boy and finally pick a name?  YES!

Am I ready to burn the polyester panel on my maternity jeans?  You know it!

Nothing says sexy like 30 lbs of extra weight and 12 inches of fabric to keep your pants up.

I may not be ready, but...

I will get through the newborn phase, which mysteriously disappears from memory once you are done with it.

I will help Kenzie through the mixed feelings she will have as I hold her little brother.

I will suffer through a 7am Jillian Michaels workout and be screamed at for 45 minutes to get back to my old self.

"Ok chubs... no more cinnamon toast crunch. Get off your a** and  GET MOVING!"

So am I ready?  If anyone asks: Yes, of course!

The 3 Final Baby Names

This is it, we have 3 weeks and 3 names picked out. We know a lot of people won't like the choices, but please feel free to leave your feedback.  We will read all the comments and go ahead and do whatever we want anyway. :)

Hudson - This was my favorite for a really long time. However Dan could only picture this guy whenever we talked about it:

Don't ask me why...

I wouldn't be opposed to having an NFL player as a son, but since neither of us are really football fans, or have an NFL body type it, is unlikely that will happen. 

Case - This became our next favorite. Dan wanted Casey, but that didn't seem unique enough. Plus I am pretty sure he was naming him after the Grateful Dead song, Casey Jones. Anyway, this name grew on me, until I saw another mom that lives in Summit County with a child of similar age with the same name! What are the odds in a county with only 2,000 people? 

Me: "How does the song go?"
Dan: "Ridin' that train, high on cocaine..."
Me: "No we are not naming our kid Casey"

 

Ketcher - The newest addition to the mix. Dan seems to be adamant on this one. Short name: "Ketch"  I google imaged the name Ketcher and this kid came up.  I would be ok that.

We do love fedoras in this family.

That's it, short and sweet. Please leave your comments below or on facebook. All are welcome, good and bad.

Remember he is probably going to come out looking similar to this:

Maybe Hudson would work after all...

Are we there yet?

My blog posts will become fewer as the last weeks dwindle on. I lost my sense of humor, along with my bladder control, at some point a week or two ago. Also, my creativity and memory are fading, faster than my view of my feet.


My feet are here somewhere.

The push is on for last minute projects. It's now or never. I spent the weekend revamping Kenzie's room to make it more like a Montessori room, encouraging independence. Since I have nothing else to write about I will post pics and updates later this week.

I was struggling with when to convert her crib into a toddler bed. Do I listen to the expert advice and wait until 3-4 months after the new baby gets here?  So just when the new baby starts sleeping longer stretches at night, I can be up with Kenzie all night?  At 5:00am this morning I made the decision to switch. Of course I waited until everyone was up and fed before breaking out my toolbox.

Her afternoon nap was the first test. She was already waiting in bed when I sang "Naptime!" and went into her room. I did the usual prenap ritual and left the room. She fell asleep within 10 minutes, without getting up. So far so good... The real test will be bedtime tonight.

Success!

Yesterday I had mounted a stuffed puppet lion above her bed for a decoration. Last night at bedtime, she was crying hysterically... sure enough, it was the lion. So tonight might bring other fits of mass hysteria. I doubt I can sleep any less than I am now, so it's probably good time to make the switch.

In other news, the dogs have decided to wage a full on war with Dan and I. Every single day, there is an accident. Pee, poop, vomit... they are much harder than dealing with Kenzie.  Today Hero peed in Kenzie's room while I was facetiming with my mom. Last night she peed in the upstairs hallway. Yesterday morning Tully threw up in the bedroom. The day before Billy peed on the bed and floor. The day before that Starchip threw up on the chair. The day before that... seriously it goes on and on and on... all the way back to about the end of December.

We have a vet appointment scheduled for Friday. I am hoping they have a two for one special. Put two down for the price of one... ha ha ha, just kidding... am I?  Seriously, I can't get down and scrub the floor one more time without going into labor. 

Hospital Bag - What to Pack

Task for the day: Pack up the hospital bag.

When I packed my hospital bag last time, I WAY over packed. All the lists online and in my pregnancy books are ridiculous. Here is what I am packing this time:


A few hours before
Kenzie was born

Baby Stuff:

• Nail file - They come out with sharp little nails and mittens do NOT stay on at all.
• Receiving outfit - One outfit to bring him home in.
• 1 Newborn Swaddle Sack - I am not great at swaddling with a blanket, so I am going to save myself some grief this time and bring one of the 10 swaddle sacks I have at home.

My Stuff:

• 1 short sleeved night gown - No pants, lesson learned last time when I had to keep taking them off. Short sleeves because of the pokes, blood pressure cuff, etc.
• 1 bag of giant super sized pads - which are still significantly smaller than the diapers the give you at the hospital. If you think I am kidding, I am not. They are actual baby diapers instead of pads.
• Toiletry bag - with makeup, for pictures.
• 1 maternity dress to wear home - I am excited to see my feet again, but I know I will still look 5 months pregnant when I leave the hospital.
• Sleep mask - To attempt to get shut eye at the hospital, even though I didn't sleep at all after Kenzie was born until she turned 6 months. 
• Breastfeeding Shield - Last time I was hoping they would tell me I had to formula feed because I was in so much pain. This $10 shield is my saving grace.
• List of items to grab that day - some items like my glasses, phone charger, ipad, computer, & phone will need to be packed that day so I have a written list on the dresser.
• Snacks - Yogurt pretzels, granola bars, chips, mmm...

What NOT to bring:

• Pants - Do not bring pants, unless you want to get in and out of them over and over and over.
• Something to wear during labor.  Why would you ever want your clothing ruined by the mess of labor? Use the hospital gown during labor and before you take a shower.
• A bunch of stuff for the baby. You will get shirts, diapers, blankets and hats at the hospital, so do yourself a favor and pack light.

That's pretty much it. Short and sweet. Kind of like that baby I will be holding soon!

A few hours after Kenzie was born.

A Day in the Life... part 2

Continued from part 1...

It hasn't been long, only about 4 minutes before my eyes pop open because I smell something horrific. No way I can smell Kenzie's diaper all the way upstairs. I roll out of bed and carefully start searching the floor. I take 2 steps and see the big pile of steaming dog poop at the top of the stairs. I let out a guttural "ARRRGGHH!" and grab the Resolve carpet cleaner from the laundry closet. Of course the carpet cleaner bottle won't spray unless it's upright.

10 minutes later I am under the hot water scrubbing off the stench of poop and diapers. After I reluctantly turn the water off, I spend another 5 minutes using half a bottle of Palmers cocoa butter lotion. My only friend in the battle against stretch marks. We have been through one war together, one more to go, and it's almost over.  No marks yet.  Four weeks to go, we can do this Palmers.

I am heading back downstairs and Dan and is heading out to the mountain. I don't blame him. It's his weekend too. If I could take a few hours off, I would.

I spend the next hour in Kenzie's room reading her books. There is no easy way to sit on the floor. If I sit cross legged the  baby pushes up into the left side of my rib cage. If I lay down on my side, it feels like the baby is going to rip right OUT of my side. So I lean back against her toddler chair and try to ignore the pulsing ache in my lower back.



Hurry it up Ma!

Time for a walk to the post office, to snap us out of our funk. We go out to the garage and get the stroller. I have to keep one eye on Kenzie to make sure she doesn't step on any of the defrosting dog poop.  
I strap her in and we head off. I am walking like a bow legged, wild west cowboy at this point. When strangers pass by I say "Howdy" just for shits and giggles. The walk is probably a little under 2 miles round trip. I have to keep stopping to catch my breath. I point out all the birds, dogs, cars and trucks we see. She loves our walks and so do I, pains and all. We make it there just fine.

We turn around for the walk home and within 3 minutes I can feel contractions. They feel like real ones, not the Braxton hicks ones. I stop and sit down on a bench, and we both drink some water. Kenzie is trying to climb out of her stroller. It takes another 4 stops before we make it home.

She was ready for her nap.
Brought me her sleep suit
on her head.

As soon as I sit down on the couch the contractions stop. 12:30 We eat lunch and then it's nap time. I go through the ritual of closing curtains, changing the diaper, stuffing her into her sleep suit, and turning on the sound machine. I pick her up and snuggle her. She laughs and tosses her head back. I pretend to drop her into her crib and she laughs again. I actually drop her into the crib, which luckily she does enjoy, because I am too big to bed over the crib railing and set her in.  I leave the room and she is still laughing.

10 minutes later I check the monitor before I log into work. She is sound asleep. I smile. She is perfect and I take a minute to think about how grateful I am to have her. Tantrums and all. Now, I have 90 minutes to get as much work done as possible and then the fun starts again.

Sound asleep, water cup in one hand, seahorse in the other.

To be continued...



A Day in the Life... part 1

I can feel the sun coming in through the curtains of the loft. I crack one eye open and feel a searing sting. I am guessing it is 6am. I shut my eye and hope to fall back asleep for another hour.

Who am I kidding?

I am laying sideways in bed over my pregnancy pillow, Bob. It takes me three attempts to roll over and look at the monitor to see if Kenzie is up. Nope, not yet. I shut my eyes again and wonder how every day I can wake up more tired than the day before.

With my eyes still stinging, I reach to check the time on my phone: 5:50am. I know I won't fall back asleep, so my choices are to get up and take a shower, read the discipline book I downloaded the night before, or check my facebook. I almost always check my facebook.

6:20am The monitor kicks on. Kenzie is up, but it's way too early to get her. She rolls around and plays in her crib until 7:00am. She's a good sport.

I roll out of bed and head downstairs. I can hear her sippy cup of water clanging against the bars of her crib like a trapped prisoner. I force a smile on my face and open her door. "Hi Baby!!"

She sits up and squints when I open her drapes.  Her hair, what little of it she has, is sticking straight up. She smiles her sweetest smile at me.  In that moment, I can't wait to pick her up and snuggle her before she regains her strength and pushes me away.

I turn off the sound machine and scoop her up in my arms. She curls up with her head in my neck, rubbing her eyes. It's tiny seconds like these that make me grateful to be a parent. She then spots a toy, a book, a bird outside and starts pointing and squirming. My attempts at bending over and sitting down at this stage in pregnancy are futile.  I end up getting her to the floor and then I carefully squat down and fall to the side. It is anything but graceful. I take a moment to catch my breath.

We sing the alphabet song and itsy bitsy spider. I can tell how the morning will go during her first diaper change. If she is pleasant, and singing along, we will have a good morning. If she is squirming and starts crying we are in trouble. Looks like today will be trouble, much like the 5 days prior.

What else can I cry about
in the next 10 minutes?

I finish up and she starts grabbing books and chucking them around the room. I am on all fours attempting to get up and she starts crying because she wants me to read.  I sing "Breakfast! Are you ready to eat?" and she runs from the room. One crisis quickly averted.



After being up for 10 mins.

I meet her in the kitchen where she has a hold of the fridge doors. I reach for the oatmeal in the cupboard and she melts into the floor and starts crying. Obviously it was an unacceptable move to heat the oatmeal BEFORE getting out her milk. I ignore it and she stops when the timer goes off.

Breakfast lasts until she acts like she is gagging. Time for me to eat.  My morning cuisine consists of scarfing down a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch standing at the counter and drinking a glass of pure-absorb iron water. Not exactly the breakfast of champions I probably need.

I hear some noise above. Dan must be up with the dogs. I can almost feel the sweet relief of a shower on my aching back. I go sit on the couch and await the multitude of books that Kenzie will bring me. She has one of the library books we checked out this week. We read it together and then point out all the animals, then we do it again, and again, and again, and again.


<sniff> why do you keep
taking my picture?

"Ok Kenz, I think we got this one down, go get another." She melts onto the floor and starts crying. I am starting to think I should have read my discipline book instead of messing with facebook this morning.

Dan comes into the living room clean shaven and dressed. I am still in my bathrobe and glasses. "Did you take a shower?" he says. I can feel my blood starting to boil, but I keep my mouth shut and head upstairs. It's 9:30am and I have already dealt with more melt downs in 90 minutes today, than all of her first year.

Instead of hurrying into the shower I stop and curl up on my bed in the loft. I shut my stinging eyes and decide to hide here until they find me. They always find me...

To be continued...

Pregnancy and Kenzie Update

Ready for my close up.

I have been getting bombarded with two questions: 1. How are you feeling? 2. How is Kenzie?

Here is a little update for all our friends and family:

Kenzie - 16 months

Kenzie is blowing my mind with her skiing. I can't believe how much joy she gets out of it. Obviously, she got that passion from Dan. It is truly a joy to see Dan's face glowing when he gets home from the hill with her. I have never seen anyone more proud.

Other new developments: Screaming. I guess she has found the volume of her voice and she is testing it to the extreme. She screams because she is happy, mad, or sees a dog.  She can say Hero, dog, cat, duck, ball, hi, bye, and daddy.  She tries to say elephant, bird, banana, gorilla, I love you, and probably a bunch of other words I haven't picked up yet.

She has mastered her threading farm as of Sunday, which made me almost as proud as the skiing. She is also playing her harmonica, and has started to feel more comfortable playing solo in her room while I work in the living room or kitchen.

She knows where her eye, nose, ears, teeth, foot, toes, mouth, and belly button are. New this week: Elbow. 

Pregnancy - 6 weeks left

Kenzie screaming, I was trying to smile
but my ears were bleeding.

My energy level is plummeting again. I have been trying to go on walks just to get out of the house. When we come home I plop down on the couch and slide slowly into a coma, until Kenzie starts shrieking and pulls me back out.

I started sleeping in the guest bed, which has helped significantly. We just can't fit 2 adults, 3 dogs, and my gigantic pregnancy pillow, named Bob, in one bed. Plus the dogs were taking turns throwing up at 3am all last week.

Unfortunately the baby is 100% a night owl already. I fall asleep and he wakes me up punching my bladder, rolling around, and last night stuck some body part in the side of my pelvis, waking me up to excruciating pain. The irony was, it was probably his elbow.

Pregnancy 1 vs. Pregnancy 2

Pregnant again? Congratulations! Thinking about getting pregnant again? Here is what you are in for...  5 of the major differences between my first and second pregnancy.

You don't have time to think about being sick. The first pregnancy I was so obsessed with every little feeling, because I had time to obsess. When you are chasing a toddler or tending to another child you don't have time to dwell on how you feel.  The 1st trimester nausea will be there lingering in the background... but you have diapers to change and toddlers to force feed.

 

You appreciate what your body can do, instead of being scared of it. I was scared the first time I was pregnant. I was scared of stretch marks, extra pregnancy pounds, aches and pains, that when googled... always say something about "preterm birth, call your doctor NOW". Now I know my body will do its thing, and go back to normal when it's ready. Yes I will see my feet again, in the hospital, about 24 hours after the baby is out. That lower back pain will just get worse, until about 3 months AFTER the new baby is here. I will have a full nights sleep, when my youngest turns 18.

Tired in your first pregnancy, HA! When I was tired in pregnancy 1, I took a nap or went to bed early. Pregnancy 2 exhaustion, is unbelievable. Maybe because Kenzie was less than a year when I got pregnant, so I was probably still partially recovering, but my 1st trimester was horrible! I remember laying on the floor of Kenzie's nursery while she crawled around playing. I couldn't move, I just had to lay there. 2nd trimester gets better, but by early evening, I would count down the minutes until my head could hit the pillow.



Baby gate open, 10 seconds later

Pregnancy workouts are a sham.  I did a lot of prenatal pilates, yoga and walked every day in pregnancy 1. This time my doctor asked me what I was doing to work out... I said "raising a toddler."  There is no amount of prenatal workout that keeps the extra pregnancy pounds off like chasing a toddler that has just learned to run. The sales clerk at carters asked me if I wanted to sit down because I was winded trying to catch Kenzie dodging between in the clothing racks. To be fair to her, it did seem like a kickass game of hide and seek.

The celebration is over. All the nasty things you have to put up with for 9 months is balanced by the joyful attention you receive in your first pregnancy. The excitement of planning your announcement to friends, family and facebook. You spend hours talking about names, what activities they will be involved in, and what your first born will look like. Finding out the gender is probably the most exciting part in the whole 9 months.
Let's look at pregnancy 2 (this is just my experience and Kenzie was only 9 months when I got pregnant again).  Been there, done that. Yes the gender ultrasound is still exciting. We found out we were having a boy this time, and while one of each is ideal, my dreams of tea parties, Barbies, and playing dolls with my girls were over.  I am sure there will still be some tea parties, but I have seen Kenzie play with her doll... it usually ends up being run over by Dusty, her ride on airplane.

Add your pregnancy differences below!

Emotions of the young and pregnant.

The worst part of pregnancy for me is the uncontrollable emotions of the 3rd trimester. I don't consider myself an emotional person, although my mother would beg to differ, because if you can't share your emotions with your mother who can you share them with? 

This brings up a good point: How different are the emotions of a pregnant mom and a toddler?  I cried yesterday because one of my dogs got out of the yard. I cried this morning because of my crazy work load. I cried 10 minutes ago because I read a heartwarming article.

That being said, my daughter cried yesterday because there was a stranger in the house. She cried this morning because I walked upstairs to take up a load of laundry. She cried 10 minutes ago because she couldn't reach something in her crib.

I try my best to be patient and be the serene nothing-gets-to-me parent that all the books request of you. The constant whining, and all time high separation anxiety, grate on my nerves and before I know it, my perm-a-grin fades and I say things like "Ok now, that's enough" or "Kenzie stop."  Her emotions are just as crazy and valid as mine, right?!

If you can't share your emotions with your mother who can you share them with?  

She wants to share her emotions with me. She runs to me when there is a stranger. She cries for me when I leave the room. She grabs my hand and points to what she wants. I want her to be able to share her emotions with me for the rest of her life.

Although it might be easy to blow it off now, there will be a day when she resents the fact that I am blowing off her emotions. That day turns into years of not speaking to me, running to her room as soon as she gets home, and looking to her friends for support because she doesn't get it from her mom.

From here on out, I will do my best to be supportive of all her emotions, even if I don't agree with them. I will acknowledge them and give them a name, so in the future when she starts talking she can tell me how she feels.

I know I won't be perfect at keeping my cool, but I will try and remember that even though we are 32 years apart, my emotions are just as crazy as hers... at least while pregnant.