Thursday, October 28, 2010

Blog Relocation

Hey all! Just in case you didn't get the Facebook memo, I got a new email address and had to move my blog to a new address. You can find me, Chris and Emily at the Tyre Life:

http://tyrelife.blogspot.com/

Thursday, October 21, 2010

2 weeks old!


Emily Jean is two weeks old today! The past 2 weeks have seriously flown by and I feel like she's grown so much! Everyone we run into thinks she's at least a month old. We went to the pediatrician today (btw, I love Dr. Stinson at DS Pediatrics, she is great!). Emily now weighs 8 lb 9 oz- she's up half a pound already, yay Emily :)

She is 20.5 inches now and is measuring in the 56-58 percentile for weight, length, head size, etc. She's pretty consistent. The nurse had to poke her poor little foot to get some blood samples and Emily did NOT enjoy that. Poor baby screamed her head off until the very end. I felt so bad for her. After it was over she went right back to sleep.

Her sleeping schedule is slowly getting better. Last night she slept from 10-2:15, was awake until about 4am, and slept until 8 when I woke up. Those 4 hour stretches are the best thing in the world, I actually feel rested when I have that much time. She eats for longer periods of time at night and eats more often during the day. When she's awake she is generally pretty happy. She gets fussy at times but it doesn't last very long. Chris and I are so lucky, I couldn't ask for a better baby!

A guy came by the house today to fix our AC (we had a leak). He set off the smoke detectors a few times and Roger chased him around barking and Emily slept through it all! She woke up once, but it was because she was hungry, not because the noise bothered her. I'm so glad she can sleep through everything, we don't have to tip toe around her during the day.

Here I am, 2 weeks PP. As of last Friday, I was down to 161, about 20 pounds less than I weighed at my last doctor's visit before Emily was born. I still have about 15 pounds to go. I don't fit into my old jeans yet, and barely fit into my maternity jeans from before summer! My hips and thighs have definitely grown and I'm afraid the hips won't be getting any smaller. Add one more complication to shopping for jeans, haha. I'm still in stretchy pants most days because all of my jeans are uncomfortable but I'm not upset or unhappy with my body, I think I look great considering I just had a baby :)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Emily's Birth Story

On October 7th, I woke up at 4am and started getting ready for our trip to the hospital. I made sure we had everything packed, Chris helped me carry it to the car, and we arrived at the hospital at 5:30am. We walked up to the front doors and all the lights were off. Weird. I was scheduled to be checking into L&D on the 2nd floor at 5:30. The doors were locked so we tried to wave someone down that was inside. A nurse came and opened the door, she told us that they had been testing the emergency power generator that morning and it was taking longer than expected to get the power back on.

Awesome.

We had to take the staff elevator and get to L&D the back way because nothing else was working! They got us checked in and settled in our room [Seton SW has amazing rooms! We never had to move to another room- labor, delivery, recovery and post delivery were all in the same place]

I had Chris take a picture of me before we got started.


It was early, but we were both so excited to finally meet this baby! At 6:30 they had me hooked up to 2 monitors for Emily's heartbeat and my contractions (turns out I was already having very mild contractions that I couldn't feel), a blood pressure cuff and an IV with saline and pitocin drip. I hated having the IV in, I couldn't move my left wrist. I hated the monitors strapped to my belly. The one on top that monitored contractions wasn't flat on the bottom and it was so uncomfortable having it poke right into my uterus. I also hated the blood pressure cuff later on when I was lying on my side- it started squeezing way too tight, to the point that my arm would go numb and my hand would cramp up into a fist. I had Chris massage it to get the blood moving, but he couldn't unclamp my fingers until the cuff let some pressure off. Annoying.

The contractions started to get stronger over the next few hours. At 10:30 I decided to ask for the epidural. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer because it took the anesthesiologist forever to get to my room. I think he showed up around 11:30.

While I was waiting, they had me sit on the edge of the bed so I was ready when he got there. They had me lean forward a little and Chris was sitting in front of me. The contractions were horrible towards the end, I squeezed on his shoulders so hard he almost passed out. I think I was cutting off blood supply to his head, oops. He stayed there through the contractions and talked to me while I got the epi.

The epi was NOT bad. I thought it was going to be this huge painful needle, but it felt like the shots you get at the dentist. It hurt and stung a little, but it was nothing compared to the contractions.

It took a little while for it to completely work, but once it did I felt a million times better. My right side went numb pretty quickly and I was still feeling mild contractions on my left side. I finally got a couple of hours of pain free rest. Chris got a nap in and my mom stayed with me and talked to me for a while.

Initially I thought I would want only Chris and myself in the delivery room before, during and immediately after labor. My mom came and went all day and all I can say is thank goodness for my mother. It really helped to have her there for support. Chris did a great job, but I think my mom being there took a little pressure off of him feeling like he constantly had to be helping in some way. I'm glad he was able to rest, I'm sure it was stressful to watch me in pain and not be able to do anything about it.

Around 2:30 I started feeling contractions again on the left side. They started to get stronger and stronger and I asked if I could get more medicine for the pain. They checked me first and told me that Emily was ready! I was so relieved. The pain was her head pushing down in my hips.

They had me push twice to see if I made any progress and made me stop because she was coming out pretty quickly and my doctor wasn't on her way yet. They called her and she headed over from the office on Brodie. It was hard not to push while she was on her way, everything in me really wanted to.

They were afraid that Emily was going to come before the doctor got there so they had another doctor waiting outside of my room just in case we couldn't wait any longer. The nurses got ready (they looked like they were heading into a rainstorm, apparently my doctor is notorious for being a bit messy!) and Dr. Eduardo finally showed up at 3:35. She got ready, had me push, and asked if I wanted to feel Emily's head.

Craziest feeling ever. My eyes got huge and my mom and Chris started laughing at me. I knew there was a baby in there, but after feeling her head I KNEW there was a baby there! It was enough incentive to have me try my hardest to get her out. In between pushes, Dr. Eduardo rubbed Emily's head. It was the first thing she felt on the outside, and she still really likes her head to be rubbed. Washing her hair really calms her down :)

I pushed a couple more times (I only pushed for 10 minutes!), suddenly felt all the pain and pressure relieved, and they put her on my chest at 3:50pm.

I can't explain how it felt to hold her for the first time. It was incredible. I was so happy to finally meet her, relieved that the delivery was over, and thrilled that I was no longer pregnant! They cleaned her off a bit, let me look at her, then took her across the room to examine her. She weighed in at 8 lb, .05 oz and 20 inches long. I can't believe I was carrying that around!

When she came out, she had swallowed a lot of fluid and had the cord around her neck. She was breathing, but grunting for air. They had to give her a bath to get her screaming so they could get all of the fluid out of her lungs. They cleaned her up, patted her back and she went from a really pale white to a healthy pink color pretty quickly. After half an hour, they handed her back to me so I could feed her. It's such an amazing feeling to know that I have everything needed to sustain her tiny little body.


After a while, Chris got to hold her. She looks just like him. She's a tiny, soft, pink, female version of her daddy. She's got his eyes, his nose, his long feet and his hairline. Good thing I married a handsome man, Emily is beautiful! Chris' mom and sister were waiting outside and finally were able to come in to visit. Like I said earlier, I thought I wasn't going to want any visitors, but I really enjoyed having them there and watching them meet Emily for the first time.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Overdue October

Happy October, friends! Fall is in the air and Emily is still in my belly.

I'm 4 days overdue today and having mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I'm happy that she wasn't a premie, I'm able to prepare for my trip to the hospital (instead of waking up in the middle of the night wondering if my water broke or my bladder gave up on me), and that I haven't had to deal with the contractions and labor part of this story. On the other hand, I cried for an hour yesterday afternoon because I felt like my body and my brain could not take one more second of being pregnant. It really is exhausting, I feel like my body knows it should not be pregnant anymore and is just shutting down on me. On top of that, I've been sick and the medicine I take (just Tylenol cold) makes me super drowsy.

I've given up on Emily coming on her own and I'm planning on seeing her sometime Thursday afternoon. I go to the hospital at 5:30am to be induced. My mom told me that she was induced as well, I guess the women in our family just have super comfy uteri and our children never want to leave. I've heard that contractions are stronger and more painful with induction, but I am trying not to think about that. I'm concentrating on the happy part at the end of those contractions.

Last night, I told Chris I planned on taking Wednesday off work. It's my last day to relax before I'm a mom and my entire life changes. He said he didn't know why I needed the day off since I was about to get 6 weeks off. I wish he wouldn't look at this as a 6 week vacation. I'm already physically and mentally exhausted. I think I deserve one day to rest. The next 6 weeks are going to be great, but they are probably going to be the hardest 6 weeks of my life. I've never had a baby before, this is all brand new to me and sort of a huge deal. I know I can do it, but I still have my moments and need to be reassured during those times.

Men just don't understand how hard it is, they never will! At the wedding I went to this weekend, I overheard the groom's brother in law tell someone "if men were the ones who had to be pregnant and give birth, the human species would be extinct." Amen.

I will give Chris some credit- he did go to the store last night to buy ice cream, he even shared it with me and scooped it for me. It's the small things. Sometimes he drives me crazy, but I love him more than anything and really would do anything to make him happy. I have already seen what a fantastic dad he is, and I know couldn't have chosen a more perfect person to raise my children with.

It's also really sweet to see how excited he is about Emily's arrival. He is taking off work Thursday and Friday, and maybe Monday to help out for those first few days. I'm sure I will need all the help I can get.

In baby development news, I believe she has completely run out of room. Some of her kicks and movements hurt and my belly button is almost an outie (I thought it would never happen!). The stretch marks have gotten worse but I really could care less about those at this point. I am happy knowing that she is fully grown and completely cute and fat by now.

I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon. I would say I'm hoping for some progress, but I really don't expect there to be any. I'm happy with Thursday. October 7th was my dad's birthday so it will be special to have Emily share that with him.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Happy due date to me!

Sing it with me!

Happy due date to meeee
but still no babyyy
How long will this go on?
We'll just wait and seeeeee!

I think I need some cake.

Still being pregnant on my due date is not quite as depressing as I thought it would be. I'm thankful that I have a healthy, full term baby in there. To be completely honest, as much as I hate being pregnant at times, I'm going to miss it a little. I will miss knowing where she is at all times. I'll miss knowing that she's completely safe, warm, and never hungry. I will miss the days of not changing any diapers, too.

But geez louise am I looking forward to finally seeing her sweet little face! I can't decide if I'm more excited to meet her myself, or to see the look on Chris' face when he finally gets to meet her. Daddy's going to fall in love with this girl.


In other news, can I tell you how proud I am that I have only gained 31 pounds so far? I totally deserve that cake. Or banana bread.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Advice and Answers


Have you had that baby yet?

No, I have not. She's still cooking. I will let family know first, and I will announce it to the rest of the world (and facebook friends) after my family has all had a chance to enjoy the news. Asking me won't hurt anything, but I'm running out of things to say. "Nope, not yet" doesn't cut it. You guys are going to force me to get creative!

I appreciate that everyone is excited about her arrival and I promise that I will let you all know as soon as possible. It means a lot to Chris and I that everyone we know is anticipating this almost as much as we are, it is great to see how loved she is by everyone already.



You should try: walking, getting in the shower, having sex, standing on your head, drinking lots of water, jumping up and down. It really helped move my labor along.

Thanks for the advice! (seriously) I do appreciate the advice, guys. I am trying walking, but last time my back hurt so bad I could barely walk the next day. I know, I'm out of shape, but what can I say. I'll keep walking, but really it's because I'm so out of shape, not because I think it will bring on labor. It is nice to feel like I'm doing something, I know that sitting on the couch isn't going to move things along.

As much as I do want the baby here, I don't want to do anything that will force labor or cause me to overexert myself (i.e. hurt myself or the baby). I know that she will come when she is ready.

I did schedule an induction for the 7th but I am very nervous about it. I want Emily to come when SHE is ready, and I may move the induction date back. Like I said, I don't want to force anything. It's quite a predicament, I feel like I'm in a hurry, but at the same time I want things to happen naturally.


Don't forget to tell me when she's here!

Okay, this is kind of like #1. I swear you will know. I am not going to be posting on facebook "on my way to the hospital," "3 cm dilated," "getting my epidural," "just saw the baby's head crown." I think most of you will appreciate that.

When she is here, Chris and I want to have some time with her, just the three of us. This is my first child and I'm already so emotional about her arrival, I want it to be a special moment for Chris and I. We will let family members know when we are en route to the hospital, and will invite them to visit us at the hospital after Emily has made her entrance.

You will know the baby is here because I will post something like "Emily Jean is here!" Something very clear, I promise. Chris says I sleep, breathe and eat facebook (I'm seeking therapy) so there is no way I wouldn't share this awesome news with all of you! I can't wait for all of our family and friends to meet this amazing little girl.


You must be miserable.

Some days I am! Thanks for being realistic, it's refreshing.


Don't worry, she'll be here before you know it.

Thank you, that is reassuring. I'm trying to be patient, but you know how I get.


Are you ready?

Yup!


You look like you're about to pop!

I feel like it!


You are so tiny, you don't look like you're 9 months pregnant.

Oh, don't make me blush.


If you think you're tired now, just wait.

I get it, babies don't sleep a lot. I was aware of this when we talked about having children. I know this is my first, but I'm prepared to take everything one day at a time. I honestly am taking your advice and I'm trying to rest when I can and stay relaxed this week. I am working from home so I can sleep more and don't have to deal with the stress of the commute. Chris helps a lot around the house so I don't feel like I am doing everything. I know I'm going to be exhausted.


As soon as you see her, your life will be changed forever. It may suck at times, it's going to be harder than you can ever imagine, but it will be worth it.

I sure hope so.

Friday, September 24, 2010

39 weeks. Or, "Yes, I'm still pregnant."

Here I am, one week away from my due date, and I'm still pregnant. At the beginning of my pregnancy, I was all about being pregnant until my due date. That's before I knew what it was like to be 37, 38, or 39 weeks pregnant. Now I just want her OUT.

She has dropped, so I'm eating and breathing better now. It's hard to find clothes to wear out in public because my belly hangs out of the bottom of most of my shirts now. I really don't leave the house anymore unless I'm going to the grocery store or over to my mom's to work. She lives closer to the hospital and it's nice to get a change of scenery every now and then. Roger and Charli enjoy their time together as well :)

In the next week, I have two weddings to attend. Yes, two weddings. The first one is tomorrow and it's at the Blanco courthouse so it's literally 2 minutes down the road. I think I'll survive that one. Chris' friend (who had the bachelor party in NOLA) is getting married.

The one I'm worried about is next Saturday. I'll either be 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant or I'll have a newborn with me. I know it's only a week difference and a little further away, but I'm kind of dreading it. One of Chris' best friends, Brandon, is getting married. They've been friends for the longest time and I've never met the guy, so I've been looking forward to this wedding. Chris is the best man in the wedding so I feel like I have to go, but I don't know how I'm going to be feeling at that point. It's hard to explain to Chris that I may be happier sitting on the couch than going to the wedding. Not because I don't want to go or I'm lazy, but because I will most likely be over 40 weeks pregnant and that just sucks.

I don't really like to be around people at this point because I'm large, uncomfortable and awkward. I just don't know.

I'm still working full time and they still haven't gotten my temp! Imagine if I had stayed at the office until that happened, haha. They have a 3rd temp starting on Monday. We'll see if I make it long enough to train her. I'm not too worried about that anymore, it's not really my responsibility anymore. I am glad to be working because otherwise I'd be going crazy with boredom and time would be passing a whole lot slower.

Hopefully my next blog will be welcoming Emily to the world! I can dream, right?