36 Week update

Yep, I"m officially super pregnant.  I went for my 36 week check up, they did the group B strep test, and then a quick check to see if anything was going on.  Dr. was surprised to say that I was 2 cm dilated.  I know you can stay dilated at 1-3 cm for a long time, but my body is giving me plenty of signs to say that things are already starting to happen.  I'm kinda nervous.  I envy first time moms who have no idea what is about to happen when the baby is born.

I stopped working at the office on Friday, and I was supposed to work this week doing hair, but with the doctors advice to relax and get off my feet, I decided it was time to be officially on maternity leave.  I hate cancelling appointments, but I don't think its a good idea to keep working all week.  So its official.  I am on maternity leave!!

Here are a few more happenings :

-I know this is repetitive  but heart burn is my worst enemy right now
-My hips are definitely stretching.  I wake up every morning feeling sore like I had a hard workout the day before
-Lots of cramping and Braxton Hicks contractions, but I don't think any real contractions just yet
-Gained 25 pounds so far
- The swelling has started... by the end of the day I have big feet and hands.  My rings are officially retired til after the baby is born.
-I am done with my Hypnobirthing classes, birth plan is prepared, and I am mentally ready to go
-The girls gave me a surprise Sprinkle last weekend.  It was great to get some time to celebrate the new baby.
- I am in need of a double stroller!  I still think I want a good double, not just the sit and stand kind, but I have to do some research and see what kind of money we want to spend
-The nursery finally got painted yesterday, so I can set up a gray and white neutral  nursery.  I"m not doing anything major right now, I'll wait to meet the baby before really decorating

I'm excited, nervous, anxious... all of the above.  Fingers crossed the baby waits til after Christmas before making its big entrance!

(36 weeks with Ryan on the left, Baby 2 on the right)

Just when we thought things were crazy enough... Surprise!

Life has been unsettled this year... so much up in the air.  I am pregnant and preparing for a new baby, We are trying to buy a new house.  We are having trouble selling our current house.  Its been kind of stressful doing it all at the same time.  Just when we were starting to think we had enough... we got a huge surprise, Mike lost his job.

Long story short, his entire company got laid off about a week before Thanksgiving (when I was about 33 weeks pregnant).  We were expecting some big changes with his company, but we were literally shocked when he was let go.  He has a great reputation with the company, his numbers have been great, and he has had several discussions with management about him training to move up as a manager himself.  But I guess none of that matters when they left go of the entire division of his company.

We went through a roller coaster of emotions.  First was shock and fear... would he lose his benefits right before the baby?  Would he get any kind of severance package?  What happens now?  But then a few days later he got his "package" that explained everything that was going to happy.

There are a lot of great things and opportunities that can come about with this layout, but there are also plenty of really scary parts.

The good news first-  Because they laid off so many people, they have to give a 60 day notice.  That means he stopped working immediately after that phone call, but they company has to pay him until the end of January.  For our particular circumstance, that works well because he will be home around the holidays and home more often when the baby is born.  This is the perfect time for us to have Dad around more often.  We also found out that because he was with the company for so long, we get to keep his health benefits until July.  That takes off some of the pressure because we know the family will have insurance for a while.

The other positive is that I really feel like it will lead to a better long term position for him.  Mike has been extremely loyal to his company for 8 years, and recently they were not offering any opportunities for him to grow.  So this lay off will force him to step outside of his comfort zone and find a new opportunity that will be great for our future! 

Bottom line, its not the worst thing in the world.

The bad news-  For right now we are trying to be super positive.  Things are not bad as long as he gets a new job and has something lined up to start in February.  Of course there is always the chance that  he won't get a job right away, and that will change everything.  But for now... lets think positive... he will get a new job after the New Year and things will be great.

Then there is the car situation.  We lost his company car this morning.  We are officially a 1 car family from now until at least February 1.  I'm a little bit nervous about this, 2 months is a long time to only have 1 car, especially with our crazy schedules.  It doesn't make sense for us to buy a new car in the mean time, because almost all jobs Mike is looking at will also offer a company car.  So for now we wait.  We will take it one week at a time and have to be really really good at planning out our schedules in advance.  Tonight is night #1, Mike is out at a holiday party with the car and Ryan and I are home hoping we have no reason to need to leave.  The next few weeks before I go on maternity leave will be extra interesting.  Wish us luck.

And last but not least... the new house.  This new situation changes everything.  Do we still buy the new house?  Can we even get a mortgage on the house?  What if we don't sell our current house, we definitely can't get a 2nd mortgage now?  What if he finds a new job in a different location?  Ugggghhhh just when I thought this decision and process was hard enough, this bomb shell has put me over the edge!!  We have lots to decide and with my due date quickly approaching and our next payment towards the home right around the corner... we have to decide like right now!

In the meantime.... while we are weighing all of this out... I am trying to work as much as possible.  With Mike being home, I can go into the office more and try to build up my hours before leave.  The days are busy and hectic, but soon enough we will both be home and able to concentrate on the holidays and the new baby.  It is very very strange going to work every day while Mike is home being a "stay at home dad"... not going to lie, I am a bit jealous!

Quick Ryan Post

In the mix of everything going on with the baby, Mike, the new house... I don't want to forget about some Ryan updates!

-We are 99% potty trained.  Day time he is great and rarely ever has an accident (and if he does, its normally just a dribble on his way into the potty), he wakes up dry from his nap, and he has mastered poopy on the potty.  The last step is overnight potty training, but I don't think he is ready for that yet.  So for now its still pull ups at night.

-He is having some 2.5 year old sleep regression.  Getting him to settle at night is hard!  He frequently calls out to us, cries, and does whatever he can to get us to go sit with him.  I think he is going through an "afraid of the dark" phase.  He just seems very unsettled at bedtime. Then once he is finally asleep, he has been waking up a few times a night.  Some time crying because he is scared/nightmare, some times with this awful lingering cough, some times for no reason at all... but he is not sleeping through the night (just what I need with a new baby on the way).

- He has some of the cutest things he says (or at least they are cute to us)
When I ask him what he wants for Christmas he says, "Underpants!"
When he is being silly the answer to every question is "apple juice"
He can quote a silly commercial on Nick Jr. and is always saying "Awkward"
If he doesn't know the answer to a question, he formally says "I do not know!"
He keep saying "ho ho ho, Merry Christmas everyone, Bad boys get nothing"

I am sure there is so much more, but thats what comes to mind.

-I think he is excited about the baby coming.  He is always asking questions, helping us set up, and showing me things that are for the baby.  He also likes to pretend that his Tiger is his new baby.  At night he will sing songs to my belly and give it kisses. 

-We are already enjoying Christmas.  He looks forward to finding Jack the Elf every morning, watching old Christmas movies on TV, playing with his Santa's sleigh toy, and today we got his picture with Santa.  I am looking forward to cutting down and decorating our tree tomorrow and going to Storybook land for the Christmas parade. 

-He is a little fiesty these days, spending a lot of time in time out.  He has a mind of his own and we are frequently in battle... I guess that is just toddlers.

-My favorite time of the day with him is cuddle time in our bed first thing in the morning.  We normally have a few minutes before getting ready for work/school to watch a little TV and cuddle.  I love this time!

Thats it for now, on to some cuteness!

35 weeks prego... what!!

I am officially 35 weeks pregnant today.  I can't believe it.  I am definitely feeling the anxiety and anxiousness of having a baby soon.  Here are some updates...

-I have gained like 23 pounds
-Heartburn is my worst enemy
-The baby is super active and moves all over the place, all of the time
-I am pretty sure the baby is in good position, head down and ready to go
-I am pretty uncomfortable, but that is to be expected.  My hips and low back hurt a lot.  I am grateful for  a good chiropractor and a a good prenatal massage every once in a while
-I feel waves of nausea and exhaustion, but it is not all of the time
-I get up to pee 3-4 times a night
-I feel pretty light headed and see sparkly stars floating around a lot, but I felt that way with Ryan too.  I have to be extra careful with what I eat and drinking plenty of water
-I am still working a lot.  One more week in the office and then one week after that for hair and then I am finally done!!  I am soooooo over it, but circumstances are crazy and I don't get a true maternity leave, so I am trying to work as much as possible.  Hopefully I can get some relax time before the baby is born.
-Baby has the hiccups very often, such a weird feeling
-Hypnobirthing classes and preparation is going well.  I am happy we decided to do this.
-Life has been super crazy the last week weeks... more about that in the next post.  But I am doing well staying calm and going with the flow!



I am starting to get anxious/anxiety about the baby.  Of course I am excited, but I am also well aware of what life is like with a new born.  Ryan gave me such a hard time  as a baby... colic, hours and hours of crying, didn't sleep for months, trouble breastfeeding, eczema, awful cradle cap....he just was not an easy, happy baby by any means.  I know all babies are different, but I"m nervous to start the process again.  I am kind of envious of new moms expecting their first child, because they have no idea whats about the change lol.  Plus its just so hard to believe its actually here... this pregnancy went SOOOO fast.  I have gotten so comfortable with our family of 3, that I can't imagine what life will be like with our new dynamic.

I know these are all normal worries for pregnant moms, but I had to get it off my chest!

Week 33

Week 34

Attempt for a Natural Labor and Deliver

When Ryan was born over 2 and half years ago, I thought I new a lot about labor and delivery and how to have a healthy pregnancy.  I took the childbirth classes, asked the doctors lots of questions, researched all my questions online, read the breastfeeding books, you get the point.  But what I have learned and the people I have met over the past 2 years has taught me soooooooooooo much about whats really going on.  I consider myself lucky to work in a place where I am surrounded by amazing, smart, professional, and knowledgeable birth experts.  I have decided that even though I had a pretty good labor with Ryan (all things considered), I want this birth to be different.  Here is my recap on how things went with Ryan, my new goals, and what I am doing to prepare myself!

Without re-telling my birth story, the short version is this...
My water broke at 3:30 am when I was just over 38 weeks pregnant.  Almost immediately I started with contractions about 4 minutes apart.  We left for the hospital at 4:30 am.  From 5 am- about 9:30 my labor progressed pretty normally.  Regular contractions, progressed from 1 cm dilated to about 6 cm in those 4 hours, and I was managing the pain.  Of course as the contractions got closer together and stronger, the pain increased... but nothing abnormal to labor.

At that point the nurses asked me again if I wanted an epidural.  I felt like I didn't truly NEED it at that time (I have a pretty good pain tolerance), but I wasn't sure if I could get through the next part without it.  She then told me I could get it then or I would have to wait a long time.  There was only 1 anesthesiologist working and he was about to go into surgery.  I felt like she gave me a now or never offer.  So I wimped out and got the epidural.  Without knowing ahead of time, they also gave me some Pitocin through my IV along with the epidural shot.

This is when things got interesting.  Since epidurals tend to slow down labor, they normally give the Pitocin along with it to keep things moving along (I know, that's crazy... the more interventions the more chance for troubles... but more on that in a minute).  This process caused two issues for me.  First the Pitocin made things move along very quickly... too quickly.  I went from 6 cm dilated to ready to push in about 30 minutes.  It got very intense very quickly.  Second issue was that the epidural didn't 100% work for me.  I still felt all of the pain on my right side, I could still move my legs, it didn't really offer any relief.

After these two drugs, I was pretty much ready to push... the problem was my VaJayJay was not quite ready because it didn't have time to prepare considering how fast things changed.  I did a few rounds of normal pushing, which lead to considerable tearing.  At that point Ryan's heart rate started to drop and the doctor got very nervous when we couldn't get it back up to normal.  So it became an emergency situation.  They gave me an episiotomy on top of the tearing I already had, and then used the vacuum to help deliver Ryan.  At 11:17am he was born.

It took about 45 minutes of stitches, I didn't get skin to skin time with Ryan, and before I knew it I had a room full of visitors. Its all a blur, but the naive me at the time thought this was all normal/standard procedure.  And of course, I was super happy to have a healthy baby in my arms.

Why I want something different...
What I have since learned about inductions, Pitocin, epidurals, assisted deliveries, C-sections, etc.  is that as soon as you do anything at all to interfere with the normal birth process, you are much more likely to cause distress to mom and/or baby which will then lead to even more interventions.  AND all of these interventions end up having lasting effects on mom and/or baby.

For example... I was proceeding with labor totally normally until I got the epidural...

-Once I got the epidural they thought things would slow down so they gave me Pitocin
-The Pitocin then made things speed up, but much faster than my body and the baby was ready for
-Because things moved so fast, Ryan wasn't in the right position to be pushed out (leading to the cord being wrapped around his neck and him going into distress with the heart rate)
-Also because it moved so fast, my lady areas were not prepared to push out a baby... leading to lots of tearing and an episiotomy
-Then because he was in distress they needed to use the vacuum
-The vacuum ultimately caused more damage and pain to my lady parts and ultimately caused neck and muscle issues for Ryan
-Once he was finally born, because I had so much tearing and the episiotomy I needed to be worked on for at least another 45 minutes
-Also because Ryan's birth needed intervention he needed to be with the doctors immediately for extra help/evaluation
-Because I needed to be stitched for so long and Ryan needed to be with the doctors, I didn't get to hold him in my arms, attempt to nurse, or do skin to skin time during the first hour (which is the most critical time to bond and get nursing off to a good start).


It is now very clear to me that the way Ryan was born definitely influenced my struggles to nurse, his mouth/jaw/latch issues, and my very long healing process.

Unfortunately, this is a common story.  Women are induced all of the time for many different reasons.  These inductions interfere with the normal process of labor and delivery, and complications almost always arise.  Because of these complications, you almost always end up with an episiotomy or an assisted delivery, or severe tearing, or a C-section.  The baby very often goes into distress because of the addition of all of the drugs and then of course the doctors have to step in to help the baby.

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with intervening with there is truly an emergency... do anything to keep mom and baby safe.  I just feel like most of these issues could be avoided to begin with if we weren't so quick to interfere with natural labor.  If I did not get the epidural, leading to the Pitocin, I am sure I would have continued to labor normally... suffered through the pain and discomfort, but could have delivered Ryan without all of the other complications.

My attempt at a natural deliver...
This leads me to why it is important for me to try for a more natural delivery.  I have NO idea what will really happen when the day comes.  So many things can go wrong or I could totally wimp out and start screaming for the drugs.  But because of what I now know about the importance of natural delivery, the long term effects on the mom and baby, the importance of skin to skin bonding time immediately after delivery, the impact on post pardum depression, etc etc ( I could write a whole separate post on the long term effects of assisted deliveries and C-sections on the health of moms and babies, but I'll save that for another time.  It is definitely not as "side effect free" as people have been lead to believe).... I am really determined to be strong and to deliver this baby as close to naturally as I can!  Honestly, its a scary thought, but it is super important to me. 

How I am preparing...
The biggest thing I am doing differently is with my childbirth preparation.  With Ryan, I just took classes on birth and standard deliveries.  This time I am doing research and taking classes that are specifically geared towards a natural delivery.  I have been listening to webinars and interviews of midwives, doulas, OB's that all specialize in preparing for a natural birth.  I read blogs from moms that have had natural labors.  The information is priceless (thanks Dr. Rob for the connections to all of this information). 

We are also working with a Doula and taking her Hypnobirthing class.  I have worked with Nicole over the past 2 years through the chiropractor, and we have become friends.  This connection has helped because of course I trust her, but she is also giving me a great discounted price for both her doula and hynobirthing services.  Its now something we can afford and I feel its definitely worth it.  Having a support person in the room during labor, helping me through the hard parts and  keeping me calm and focused will be a huge help.  Tonight is our first hynobirthing class, so I will be able to explain in better after we do it... but my understanding is that it is a class based on teaching expectant parents how to stay calm and relaxed, the best birthing positions for an optimal labor, and what to really expect/how to get through all of the hard parts.  She will work with me to develop a birth plan, answer my questions, and give me things to do before labor to prepare my body.

Lastly, things are different this time because I am being more proactive.  I still exercise and stretch  a lot.  I do my kegels every day:)  I get adjusted weekly.  I am doing perineal massage to help avoid tearing/episiotomy.  And soon I will be doing whatever Nicole recommends at the hypnobirthing class.



Again, we will see... know one can predict how their labor will progress, but I have a much clearer picture of what I can control when it happens.  I will post all about the outcome when it happens!

31 weeks

Not sure what happened, but I hit 31 weeks (exactly on Friday) and all of the pregnancy symptoms kicked up big time.  Overall, I still really feel pretty good... but now I feel super pregnant!

- Heart burn is officially waking me up at night.  Yuck, I am sleeping sitting up now.
-My back hearts (and of course Dr. Rob is on vacation this week, I sooo need an adjustment)
- The baby moves A LOT!  I really think it might be an octopus in there because I am feeling movement all over the place, and all the time. 
-The movement is starting to really hurt.  I have pretty tight stomach muscles, so the pressing and kicking against the tight spots gives me pretty sharp pains.
-I have officially gained 20 pounds as of last week.
-Baby's heart rate is about 155 still... pretty constant the whole pregnancy
-Sitting for any length of time is uncomfortable.
-Rolling over and getting in and our of bed is hard work... which is making my 10 pee breaks in the middle of the night more difficult
-I think my blood sugar levels are low again (like normal and like what I experienced with Ryan at this point).  I"m pretty light headed, and I see twinkly stars floating around when I start to feel yucky.  I need to be good with my diet from here on out!
-I am thirsty alllll of the time. 


My only other concern is the baby's position.  I really really want a natural delivery (more on this next post) and I know its still early... but I am starting to feel like the baby is not making its way into the head down, anterior position just yet.  I will talk to Dr. Rob and my doula about this next week just to make sure we are proactive in doing things to help the baby find a good position.

Lastly, I am trying to really enjoy these last 2 months of pregnancy.  Life goes by sooo fast (pregnancy, children growing up, all of the stages) and I want to take it all in and enjoy the special moment.  It is so easy to get caught up in the hard parts of being pregnant, but its such a short blip on the radar of my life, I don't want to rush it away.  Who knows if we will do this again or not, so I'm going to try to push away the other stresses and life in the moment of excitement and anticipation!

30 week picture

 30 week comparison... looks pretty much the same to me

 Not the best picture, it was the end of the night... but Mike and I at a wedding at 31 weeks

Building our Home- The First Decision

The process has officially begun!  We are building this house.  I am super excited, but a part of me is still not letting myself get to excited/attached until we know for sure what we are doing with our current home (Dear Lord... please send the right buyer to buy our home as soon as possible).

Anyway, in order to stay positive and excited, I want to document the whole building process.

A little bit of background....We have been eyeing this neighborhood for a couple of years now.  Our best buds have lived in the neighborhood since it started being built about 5 years ago.  Over the years we have considered buying at least 5 different properties in the neighborhood, but for one reason of another, all of the other homes have fallen through.  In May, we saw the listing for the property we are now in contact to buy/build.  A builder came in and bought 4 lots and was building a custom home on each of the lots. 

On May 7, 2013 we met with the builder and fell in love with the basic home they were offering... and even better, the price was right.  As we all know, that was the same week I found out I was pregnant.

Anyway, to make a long story short.  We went into contract in May but it was contingent on the sale of our home.  On September 1 we removed the contingency and gave them a go ahead to start the process.  It took about 6 weeks to go through all of the different permits and they officially broke ground on  October 18.

Here is the lot before anything was touched. 

 

 

Here is the lot the day after they started clearing.

 

And here is the lot as of this week... its hard to tell but the basement is dug our for foundation.





So now that the process has officially started, we need to start making some decisions.  The first upgrade we made right from the beginning was for a deeper basement.  We want to make the space very usable, so we upgraded for an additional few blocks of basement.

We met with the builders again 3 weeks ago to start picking out some of the options.  They went over things like exterior siding, roof, kitchen cabinets, floors, etc.  At this meeting we also approved the home design and added any changes we want to the structure of the home.  For the most part, we stayed with the design.  Two changes we did make were 1.  We are not going to have a wall that separates the living room and the dining room, instead we opted for the open floor plan where one room just flows to the next.  2.  We added additional cabinets to the kitchen to include a pantry.  This make the kitchen a little bit bigger and the dining room just a little bit smaller.  For the most part we can make a lot of these options decisions as we are going along, but we do have to pick out the exterior choices now.

Siding, roofing, shingles, and stone-  This is the first official decision we have to make.  Who would have thought it would be a hard one.

Since May, I kind of had my heart set on a darker gray siding for the house.  Here is an example of what I had in mind (this is not our house, just and example of the color I found online).

Buttttt of course, that color is not one of the basic options.  We have about 20 colors to choose from, but the darker gray is not one of them.  We quickly decided and upgrade on the siding color was not something we wanted to do (we would rather save that money for the kitchen and bathroom upgrades).  I needed to get past this color and pick one of the basics.

Our top two choices were the "Sterling Gray" and "Natural Clay". 

At first I was leaning towards the lighter gray color, but the more I saw example of it, the more I was leaning towards it being to light.  I really want some kind of color to the house, not a super light, blah color.  Here is an example of the "Sterling Gray".

 

 

That left us with "Natural Clay" as the winning siding color.  We like that it is not too light and still pretty neutral.  Here is the color  and an example of a house with the siding.

 

 

 

Lets hope we made the right decision once it is done.  Pictures to come in a few weeks.

 

After we picked the siding, the shutters and roof were pretty simple.  Because of the layout of the front of the house, we only have two windows with shutters.  That made it easy, because if we really hate what we pick, its not an expensive change in the future.  We picked a very dark brown/taupe kind of color.  Its sticking in the neutral families but a nice dark contrast against the house.  Then, I let Mike pick the roof color because I am pretty clueless.  He went with a darker brown/gray color... again to give a contrast against the siding.

 

 

I can't wait to see it all put together.  We still need to pick the stone color for the little bit of stone that will be on the front of the house, but we need to go back to the sales office to see the options first. 

 

Phew... glad step one is done :)