2 week baby check up

Baby O's 2 week appointment was today (28 Sept. 2010). I can't believe my little OCHO is 2 weeks old today! She seems so much older for some reason.

So at birth she was 7lbs 15oz and 20in. At her appointment the day after we checked out of the hospital she was 7lbs 7oz and still 20in. Today, she's gained a whole pound since her first appointment after we got out of the hospital! She's weighing in at 8lbs 7oz! And she's grown half an inch and is now 20.5in! She seems like she's a ton bigger than she actually is. She's like a little beefcake. Bradford thinks differently...but whatever. She feels like a beefcake.

She's doing amazing at breastfeeding -- latching on really well and eating for a decent amount of time. Except today when she had a lazy day. But I think most of that was because she had a doctors appointment. All she wanted to do was sleep. Poor thing. I also feel overwhelmed with doctor appointments.

I need to make a phone call to see about the test results of her newborn screening...but I forgot today, so I'll probably do it tomorrow. Though I would assume that they would call if something was wrong -- the newborn screen tests for all kinds of ridiculous diseases, so if they didn't call, I would be horribly disappointed and would probably be suing someone.

Her pediatrician also wants me to schedule her for an ultrasound. Apparently, since she was breech for so long into my pregnancy (she flipped somewhere between 30 and 33 weeks or so...) she has an increased risk for hip dysplasia. But all the research I've done suggests that it happens mostly in baby girls who are born by c-section because they are breech, or are born breech vaginally. It's pretty common for babies to be breech up until the very end of pregnancy, and they don't even start to worry about it until between 35-37 weeks. I'm waiting until they get the order at the radiology department at Tripler to schedule it...and I have to wait till after she's 6 weeks old anyway, but what I'm a little irritated about is that out of everything I've read, there is generally a reason that they will send you to have an ultrasound done -- generally there is a clicking/popping feelings when the doctor moves babies legs...they never mentioned anything at the hospital. Or at her discharge appointment. Or at her 2 week appointment. It just bothers me so much that they are basing this decision on the fact that she was breech in-utero, when that's generally the norm, and there are no other factors that would lead them to believe that she needs to be checked out. It's just frustrating to me, and I don't know why....but she'll be getting an ultrasound done anyway...*sigh*

Other than that -- she's just an amazing baby. She's great at sleeping at night, and basically has a schedule already. She'll wake up on and off between like 6 and 10 at night, and she'll eat and doze, and be awake, but then somewhere between 10 and 11, she decides that she's tired for the night and she goes to sleep for 4 hours or so. Then she'll wake up to eat, then go back to sleep for another 4 hours-ish. It's so awesome. With Reilly I always felt like I was up all the time with her, and Ophelia is so easy, especially at night. She is a little diva though. She hates being naked for the most part. She hates any kind of wetness or poop in her diaper. She hates her bouncy seat...she barely tolerates her swing. She doesn't like the car too much either. She loathes binkies. I just hope that I can get her to take a bottle before my parents get here. I should probably try that sometime soon. Like I said in a previous post, I've been pumping, so I have a small supply.

I'm just going to continue crossing my fingers that she keeps being an amazing baby. With the exception that she shits A TON. Haha. Also, very excited to see Grandma and Grandpa next week, and then Nanny in about a month and a half! YAY! I've missed my parents soooo much since we moved and I can't wait to hang out with them! Of course, I'm just as excited to see my mother in law! Absolutely can't wait.

Success!

I am excited. Super excited. Why? I have successfully pumped about 10oz of breast milk. I have 5 little bags in my freezer at this time that have the very best thing for my baby in them. This is exciting for me for a couple of reasons. First, it was more than I ever pumped with Reilly. With Reilly, I was so stressed that I couldn't pump, no matter what I did. Even when I was engorged, it didn't work for me. I had an amazing pump too, so it wasn't the pump. It was me. I physically unable to pump because of how stressed I was. Second, if I keep on pumping the way I am, I won't have to supplement for any reason. I feel accomplished!

This was something that I really wanted to do. Really bad. I felt like a big time failure after I stopped breast feeding after three months with Reilly. Even 4 years later, way after I would have weaned her if I had continued to breast feed, I still feel guilty after all this time. Maybe I was too young when I had Reilly to really stick to my guns, and what I knew was the best thing for her. I guess I shouldn't feel guilty...she's a happy, healthy, well rounded 4 and a half year old. I just feel like I could have done so much better with her when she was a baby. I guess I'll have to get past it eventually...forgive myself in a sense for not doing the very best for my little lady.

But on the bright side, I feel totally ready and willing to breastfeed for at least 6 months with Ophelia. That is my goal. If I go longer, then yay, but if I get to 6 months and decide to wean, then at least I made it to my goal. I don't know what's going to happen in the next 6 months, and maybe weaning will be the best choice for us, especially since I want to get into the learning and what not. We'll see...we'll see. I'm just proud of myself for being so pro-breast feeding right now. I don't even freak out about feeding her in public, especially when she's in her wrap...its so easy. And you can tell its working...today we had to switch her out of newborn size diapers, which I believe fit babies up to 8lbs, into her cloth diapers because the disposables were too tight on her. YAY! I am so excited about that too. I'm hoping she has another growth spurt soon since the diapers go halfway up her stomach.

So that's where we're at with breastfeeding. Really, its amazing this time around. I mean, I'm a walking food machine, and sure, sometimes its a little bit of a pain in the ass -- like when we're on our way home and Ophelia wants to eat RIGHT NOW, or every 30 minutes or so for hours on end, but its worth it. She's happy. I'm happy. Reilly thinks its awesome. Brad seems happy with my choice...mostly because he gets to be pervy and look whenever I'm feeding Ophelia. It just works with our household.

And that makes me happy.

I am so in love...

I lay here in bed with my week old daughter on my chest and I just want to cry. I want to cry, not out of sadness or regret, but out of happiness and love. I am so in love with my new daughter, it is ridiculous. It's hard to put into words how happy I am right now. One of the things that I worried about with getting pregnant and having another baby was if I was going to be able to love another baby as much as I love my Reilly Roo. But I can. And I do. This little girl makes my heart swell, even when she cries. Even when I'm sleep deprived.

I feel a little bad. I feel like I failed as a new mom with Reilly after having Ophelia. I wasn't in a good place emotionally. I felt for a very long time that I didn't have the support from Reilly's dad that I needed. I had a full time job after Reilly was born, and watching her wasn't the only thing I was doing. I wasn't sleeping, and when I did, it wasn't good sleep. I was very frustrated when she was a baby. I have so much more support with Ophelia, and I feel like I can enjoy her as an infant. Brad has been such an amazing support with, not just Ophelia now, but with my whole pregnancy. He understood that I was tired a lot and that I had a hard time doing things. He was so supportive while I was in labor...he believed in me. He's been amazing since we've been home from the hospital, making dinner, doing chores, and just in general, helping out when I need it. He's supportive of my breastfeeding too, which I adore. He helps with Reilly and helps her feel not so alone, because lets face it, adding a new baby to a balanced household will turn it upside down!

We're all still getting adjusted, and it gets easier every day...not just for me, but for all of us. I'm more energetic because I had a non-medicated, all natural child birth. I WANT to do things, even though I try to take it easy. Reilly is getting better at understanding that Ophelia doesn't care about her toys or her games....yet...but that doesn't mean that she won't soon. Brad is adjusting to our sleep schedule. I have no doubt that this will be the easiest thing that we've done in a long time.


I am so in love right now. With my baby, my princess, and my husband. I feel so close to him right now. I look at Ophelia and I wonder how we got something so amazing. I look at Reilly and know how lucky we are to have such an amazing, smart, funny little lady. I can't imagine being anywhere else in my life right now. I remember being depressed with Reilly -- enough that I was put on anti-depressants. And while I'm emotional right now, I'm not sad. I'm not depressed. I'm happy. I am so happy.



I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been at a loss of things to say. I wanted to complain so much about my worries about giving birth at a military hospital with a doctor that I didn't know. I was frustrated about being in Hawaii and not liking it and wanting to move so badly. I wanted to complain about how all I wanted was a beer and a cigarette. I was a negative person for a little bit. I was stressed and sad and frustrated. It's not that I wasn't happy, but all those other things took place of any good feelings I could have had. I haven't been stressed at all lately. Even the last couple weeks of my pregnancy...even when I was ready for her to come into the world, I wasn't upset as much, or stressed, I was just ready for her to be here.


My life is perfect right now. Sure, I don't really want to be living in Hawaii. Sure, we have a couple bills that we might be stretching money over. We have stress in our every day life just like anyone else. But right now, none of that is as important as how much I am in love with my family right now. I don't need anything else. We could be living in a box tomorrow and I wouldn't care. (Okay, I would, but you get it.) My two girls are the lights of my life. They are the most amazing and gorgeous little ladies in my life. They are gonna cause trouble in a couple of years. :)

I have the most amazing husband who I love with a passion. I couldn't have asked for a better person to live my life with.

This is amazing.

Birth Story -- Welcome Baby Ophelia

On September 13th, around 3:30pm or so, I started having contractions that were between 5 and 15 minutes apart. They weren't really uncomfortable or anything...I could talk through them and be pretty active for the most part. I had spent the majority of the afternoon cleaning, so I just figured that my cleaning spree had started the contractions. I figured that they would fizzle out after a couple hours.

Things went on normally for the next couple hours. We made dinner and ate, put Reilly to bed, I took a shower, and we got into bed. I was trying to time my contractions, but they were still erratic...lasting anywhere from 30-45 seconds and coming every 2-5 minutes or so. Around 12:15 am, I decided that we should probably start getting ready to head to Justin's house to drop Reilly off to stay the night. I didn't see any need to rush, but we couldn't really diddle around for very long since we had quite the drive. We got Reilly up and loaded into the car. My contractions by this point were still pretty erratic. I wasn't at all worried, I just wanted to make sure we got to the hospital in time.

We dropped Reilly off at Justin's house around 1am or so and promptly drove to Tripler. By the time we got to Tripler and up to Labor and Delivery, it was almost 1:30am. We had to stop multiple times on the way up to the L&D floor because I was having contractions. Thankfully there was no one in the hospital walking around since it was so early in the morning. I got there and they got me into triage so that I could get checked and see what I was at. I told the OB how far apart my contractions were and everything. She didn't really seem to think that I was in labor, but I think that was mostly just me. I got into triage, only to find out that I was dilated to 5cm. It seemed like I was doing a lot more work than apparently my body thought I was. They monitored my contractions, and like I had been feeling, they were pretty erratic. The OB (the midwives didn't arrive to L&D until 6am) said that I had a couple options...I could be admitted or I could go walk around for a little bit. I didn't think I could go for a little stroll, but I didn't want to get admitted because that would mean I would have to be put on constant fetal monitoring, which I didn't want. The nurse said I could stay there for a little bit and think it over, so I stayed in triage to think it over.



By this point I was having a really hard time coping with the pain, and told Brad that I wanted an epidural and pitocin because I just wanted to get this done and over with. I was so tired and the contractions hurt so bad that I couldn't get a handle on them. Everything that I could try to use for coping wasn't working. I was getting really frustrated with myself and the pain and all I wanted to do was stop it. Right around the time I made this decision, my water broke (officially at 2:40am). The nurse came back in to verify that my water had broken and that there was no meconium in there. The OB came back in to check and see how far I was dilated. No meconium in my water (yay!) and in the hour or so since I had initially been checked, I went from 5 cm to 8 cm. I told the OB that I had decided that I wanted to get pain meds. She brought in paper work for me to sign. I kept having contractions that seemed to be getting closer together by the second. They brought me a wheelchair to get me to a delivery room, but the contractions got so bad and suddenly, I felt this really intense urge to push. And let me tell ya, it feels EXACTLY like you have to take the biggest crap you've ever had to take in your entire life. True story. I told the nurse that I felt like I had to push. She quickly checked me and after that it was such a blur. I was still in triage, and there were people rushing in left and right with birthing utensils . I didn't have the chance to get an IV (I didn't want one per my birth plan) and they barely had a chance to get the fetal monitor on my stomach. I started pushing with my instincts for the most part. They coached for a few of them but for the most part, I pushed all by myself. When she started crowning, they notice that she had meconium in her hair, so I had to give super big pushes at the end so they could get her out fast.



Ophelia Caedyn Harlowe Oberklaus was born at 2:54am on September 14, 2010. They put her directly on my chest, and cleaned her up from there. I had two small labial tears, neither required stitches. After they cleaned all of us up, they moved us all from triage to an actual labor and delivery room so they could take her vitals and I could get cleaned up more before they transferred me to the mother/baby ward. She weighed 7lbs 15.8oz and was 20" long, with a head full of red hair and blue eyes.



Aside from the normal pain that comes along with childbirth, I feel fantastic! I felt so much better this time than after having an epidural with Reilly. And as much pain as I was in, I'm really glad it happened fast enough that I didn't really have a choice in what happened. Ophelia has a little bit of bruising under her eyes and some little spots on her forehead from coming out so fast.




The whole thing was absolutely amazing. Brad was an amazing support person. He was behind me 100%, even when I felt like giving up, he had total faith in me. What surprised us the most was how fast she was born! I got talked to by many doctors and nurses about giving birth really fast, and in triage...AND NATURALLY....none of which happens very often! I was literally the talk of labor and delivery. :D



We're both doing amazing. She's doing really well at breastfeeding...and she hates sneezing. She's such an amazing little thing. I'm so glad I have two little ladies to call my own. <3<3

unfortunate events...

So the day after we got to Hawaii (July 4th), we got some unfortunate news…that a good friend of ours died while deployed to Afghanistan. He was pretty much the first person who worked with Brad that I felt at least somewhat of a connection with…who made me feel at least liked a little bit. He was always down to go hang out. He was the first person I gave a hug to the day Brad came home from Iraq. He was a great guy.
I’ve been lucky so far…I haven’t personally known anyone who’s died while they were deployed….Brad’s known a couple guys that have died while being overseas, but they’ve only been people he’s known of…not friends of ours. I honestly knew it would only be a matter of time before someone we personally knew…who we were pretty decent friends with…but I didn’t think that it would be Aj…and honestly, I didn’t expect it, especially on the year anniversary of another friend of mine passing away from breast cancer. The funny thing is about that whole thing was that I got piss drunk at Aj’s house LAST 4th of July to deal with Lisa passing away…and a year later…we find out that he’s gone. Apparently the 4th of July is not the best day of the year for me.
I’m also really upset that we can’t (or couldn’t…?) make it back for the memorial service in Washington, but since we just got here, and we really don’t have the funds to fly back…not to mention a plane is the absolute last place I want to be right now. It’s so unfortunate. So I think the best thing I can do is just remember Aj for the person that he was, and remember that he died fighting for what he believed in, and wanted to do. I honestly can’t imagine him doing anything else either. That doesn’t make the fact that he’s gone any easier…in fact, every time I see something, or hear something, or read something about it, I still can’t believe it. Nothing can ever make death easier – I’m still sad 6 years later over the death of my grandfather, and I do get teary over it every once in awhile. And nothing can prepare you for death…even knowing about it before it actually happens, which is the reason why I’m so upset about this. Of course I’ve thought about death – my husband was deployed in Iraq. My brother-in-law has been deployed twice since Brad and I have been married. Two of my uncles. Numerous friends. Death is often in the front of your mind when a loved one is deployed, even when you try to push it out of your mind. It’s just one of those things that you didn’t think would happen to you or someone you know. And me being the kind of person that I am, I immediately went onto my brother-in-laws facebook profile and everyone else I had on my friends list that was deployed and double checked when the last time they posted something, or responded to someone was to make sure I wasn’t missing out on anything. Overly worrying never did get me very far, except for more worrying…
As unfortunate, and sad as death is, it is a part of life…it happens every day, to hundreds of people…thousands…? If I wasn’t pregnant, I would have raised a Corona to Aj on the 4th of July (I actually had a little bitty sip) and toasted to my friend.
So to Aj – thank you so much for your service, and your sacrifice. You were a great person, and a great friend. I hope to see you again someday. May you rest in peace. You’ll be remembered always.

A new adventure.

We are close to 5 hours away from boarding our plane to Hawaii. Never living outside of Washington is going to mess me up for a little bit, but I have faith in myself that I'll be able to deal with it. That might mean crying on hubby's shoulder a night or two, but over all, I think I'll be able to handle it.

I've said all my goodbyes...well, almost all of them...and I've got my bags packed (barely!)...and I'm ready to go.

We'll get there around 9pm and promptly go to the hotel so I can crash the fuck out. Granted, it'll only be 9pm in Hawaii, but my body will be in a different time zone...

So to my dearest Washingtonian friends and family, I love you all, and I will miss you terribly. But I'll have a nice tan the next time you see me!!



See you in Hawaii blog!

two weeks

TWO WEEKS!! It is two weeks until we get to Hawaii. There is such a serious mix of emotions going on with me right now. And for different reasons too. I'm excited and nervous and stressed out all at the same time. I have taken care of everything I can from Washington State. I've done as much prep work as I possibly can. All that's really left when we get there is getting a place to live, and waiting for all our crap to get there. Though some of it is going to beat us there by a couple days. I also lined up our rental car for the 9 days we'll be without a vehicle...which, to be honest, is a little irritating...I'm pretty pissed at myself that I didn't push to have our car shipped earlier than we did. But there's nothing I can do about it now, just deal. The only other thing I'm worried about right now is money. I'm worried that the move into the house will completely break us financially. I know it'll all work out in the end, because it always does, but it's just one of those things that I worry about. But we have been able to find at least a couple places that we're interesting in at least going to look at. Hopefully we can find something almost as soon as we get there. And not have it break the bank. haha.

We're planning our going away party for June 27th -- should be a good time. Trish (my sister in law) and my mom have been a big help and it'll be great to see everyone, including my cousin, who I haven't seen in years! Probably since right after I got married! She's one of the only female cousin I have who is close to my age, so of course I relate to her super easy -- plus, we both have kids. I just wish that my in-laws could be here to visit with us. :( It's so hard living so far away from everyone sometimes! I dislike the fact that the baby won't get to be born around any of her grandparents -- though almost all of them will be coming to visit shortly after she is born...but it makes me sad. Maybe I'm just mostly sad for myself since I won't have a support system there for me like I did with Reilly. I'm confident in Brad being there for me when I'm in labor, but I did quite enjoy my mom and other family members being around shortly after I had her. It was really comforting.

Speaking of baby -- I'm just two days into the start of my third trimester! Three more long months to go. Sometimes I question, what is better? Being pregnant, or having a new born? I dislike both things for certain reasons, yet, why do women decide that they want to go through them? I suppose all I really have to do is look at Reilly and remember. Even though all the crappy moments of her being a baby, and all the crap of hers that I've dealt with over the years...and having her around makes all the shit worth it. But that still doesn't mean that pregnancy, or having a new born, are entirely awesome. With baby girl #2, I had worse morning sickness, I got way big WAY fast, and now, I get cramps on my sides when I try to go to sleep, and as of today, she's up in my ribs. I sometimes get the feeling that I am seriously getting too damn old for this! But -- other than MY complaints, she's doing just fine. :) We still don't have a name picked out for her, and I don't see that changing any time in the near future...but we do have about 80% of the baby gear we need (I still need to get more clothes and at least a baby bath) -- I've been buying diapers whenever I get a chance, which is great. I'm so excited to cloth diaper her little tush. I just hope that when she's born, she's big enough to be put in cloth diapers right away instead of having to use disposables for awhile. She's movin around in there -- still breech as of 7 June...hopefully that changes soon. I'm not worried about it, as my doctor isn't going to be concerned until I'm like...I dunno, 35 weeks or something along those lines? So I'm erring on the side of caution with that...and the placenta thing...*sigh* I'm still worrying about a lot of stuff. It's a mix worry for myself and the baby, and a worry about how the birth is going to go. It's always in the back of my mind. I have this perfect image of how I want it to go and sometimes I let everything get the better of my thinking...but I'm trying really hard to think positively about the birth experience and I'm crossing my fingers it turns out for the best.

I posted an article from mothering just the other day about kids being there when their siblings are born and the effects of it, including a tighter bond between the two siblings. I've been contemplating having Reilly around...but I don't think the military community would be too keen on having a child in their labor/delivery rooms. I know Reilly could handle it though. How this birth goes is probably going to decide if we keep the kind of insurance with the Army that we have right now. I might need a little more freedom the next time around. BUT we will cross that road when we get there I suppose.

I'll try to update again before we move -- I know the week before we leave is going to be busy. The weekend before we are having our going away party. I'll try to make time. Until then...

<3

the end is near...

Well, we've kicked off our final month in Washington. I honestly never thought I'd see the day I'd ACTUALLY be leaving here. It's a little bitter sweet to tell you the truth. I've gotten so accustomed to having my parents, siblings and best friend only minutes away that I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with myself other wise. As long as I can remember, I have been telling my parents that I want to get outta Washington. I want to move somewhere where its warm and sunny (like California) or ridiculously exciting (like New York, or a foreign country), but after having Reilly, the likelihood of me actually leaving the state with her in tow was pretty much doubtful. But now that we will be basically forced to move every 3 years or so, I have the chance to live in different places! And the stability to be able to do it. Right now my main concern is Reilly getting adjusted to the new surroundings, and the fact that everyone she knows won't be right down the street. But there are some good things for her to look forward too, like the fact that she'll be starting school in Hawaii (preschool just a couple months after we get there) and she'll get to see the beaches and the turtles and all kinds of cool stuff that most kids won't see in their young lives. Of course it'll be an adjustment, and I imagine more than one night of her crying saying she misses her neighborhood in Washington and wants to go back to her house, but I think that after we get her room put back together, and get into the swing of things, all will be better. We're all excited about it....just Reilly and I will have to make the adjustments. And my parents/family/friends. Brad's done it before, so its really nothing new to him. Jerk. HA!


So I'm 26 weeks officially today. Time seems to be completely flying by right now. Of course, that always happens in the second trimester...time just flies by and you look around and say "wtf just happened?!" I have 98 days left (as of today) and a week until I'm in my third trimester. It just seems like I have so little time left before I have this little girl, and I'm not sure what at all I should do. I still have quite a few things I need to get, and right now, it looks like I'm just going to be buying as I go while we're still in Washington, and hope that we can get a house and settled and my parents will be alright with shipping things to me. Or just wait and see what I can get over there. I seriously have one box of baby things -- clothes, diapers, etc....and I don't feel like that's enough. I'm trying to rack my brain for how much shit I had when Reilly was born, but I don't at all remember. Luckily, the weekend before we had all our things packed up, we went out and were able to get a bouncy seat, swing, and pack n play to use as a bassinet. So that I'm pretty relieved about. It's just that the next month and a half or so are going to be pretty hectic and stress-filled for me, and when that happens, I just keep stressing and stressing and stressing and eventually I'll probably break down and cry. I'll stress about things that I seriously DON'T need to stress out about and the mental breakdown just continues from there. It's always the worst when I'm pregnant, but I'm like this anyway. It's ridiculously irritating.....back on topic. I had my follow up ultrasound on Monday to double check and see if my placenta had moved since it was low lying the last time -- it has by the way. They don't see any problems in the future, thank goodness! I was seriously worried that I would be forced to have a c-section that I didn't want, just because my placenta decided to be a bastard. I even got taken off of pelvic rest -- woohoo! Reilly got to see her little sister this time too! She was so super excited. She's getting more and more on board with this baby thing every day, which I am totally thankful for. In the mornings we get to wake up later, she'll rub my tummy and feel where the baby is at -- she hasn't felt her kick yet, but that takes time. She's still pretty hard to get to kick on command. But Reilly is loving being a big sister so far. She kisses my stomach and sings to the baby. She loves every minute of it.


So I guess that's all that's been going on. Or at least, that's all I feel like writing about right now. The last two weeks have been hectic, and while the next week will be relatively calm, I know there is more coming up. Thankfully I have my massage appointment a week from tomorrow, so I'm going to take some time and relax by myself and get massaged. Then I have a hair appointment on Saturday! I'm so excited! Also...hello at least 9 days of nice weather! This weekend its supposed to be almost 80 one day! I love when Washington summer finally decides to come around.

I'll try to update a little more. We'll see how that goes. I have been completely lacking in things to write about lately, and I don't feel like I have the time or the energy to keep up with this. But I will damnit. I DO however need to post pictures from our moving. Granted...our house was still messy, but it was a little hard to see our house all empty. :( I miss it already. I especially miss having cable in our bedroom and Reilly having her own room. Though she LOVES her cubby hole (which, I still have to take pictures of THAT too. See, I'm behind)

I'll update later.

it's bee a long time...

I haven't blogged in weeks. I feel like I can't just take the time to sit down and actually WRITE anything. I could write short little things, but for the most part, I've been too fucking busy! But now I'll take the time to write something. Aren't you lucky?

So we'll start out with the obvious. The pregnancy. As of today I'm 24w3d...but I feel much farther along. I'm not sure if that's because I realized that there is only about 3 more months left in this pregnancy. Three more months? Are you kidding? I don't feel like I have ANYTHING done yet. I don't have nearly enough little baby clothes....yesterday, Bradford and I went out and bought the last big things for baby girl (a swing, bouncer and playard) that are going to be shipped with our household goods. I'm not AS worried about clothes, or diapers, or anything small and light because we can either try to shove that into our suitcases, or we can have mom and dad hang on to it until we get a house and we'll have them mail it to us. The big things were what I was worried about. Anyway...so the pregnancy has been going good...baby girl is moving like crazy and keeping me up at night now. Bradford gets to feel her more and more (when he's actually trying) Reilly is still excited to have another girl -- though, we're still trying to talk her out of the name Princess Baby. *sigh* I've been trying to reason with her that if she names the baby Princess, SHE won't get to be a princess anymore. Unfortunately, she keeps saying that they can both be a princess. Whatever Reilly. We STILL don't have a name for the baby picked out...there are a couple that we have that we're thinking about, but nothing set in stone at all. But I have no doubt that we'll have a name picked out by the time she comes.

Only a few people know about this, but I had to go to Labor & Delivery last week. I had some bleeding and cramping and my doctors wanted me to go just to make sure everything was okay. So I called Brad and I went and picked him up at work so he could go in with me to L&D. The only reason, I believe, that they had me go in, was because at my first ultrasound, I had a low lying placenta, which, if it doesn't correct itself, could end up covering my cervix -- which would mean a c-section for me. So they had me go in and lay down in L&D...monitored me to make sure I wasn't having contractions (I wasn't), they listened to the babies heartbeat, then they did an ultrasound to make sure everything was the way it was supposed to be. From the looks of the ultrasound and what the OB said, everything seemed fine. I just needed to take it easy for the rest of the day. He also put me on pelvic rest until my next scheduled ultrasound so they can double check to make sure that the placenta has moved. Apparently, he couldn't really tell...he said "it looks like the placenta has moved....I mean, I don't see it by the cervix..." -- he seemed like he didn't know what he was doing to me....butttttt whatever. He gave me a green bill of health, just pelvic rest until 7 June.

We move to Hawaii in about a month. 3 July is our OFFICIAL departure date. We have movers coming this week to pack up all our stuff...which is why we've been trying to get everything taken care of before hand...we have to get everything in the room we want it in, and we're working really hard on getting everything together that we DON'T want, so we don't take it to Hawaii when we don't need it. In the last couple days, I've compiled 3 bags of clothes that Reilly doesn't fit into anymore. wtf. I didn't realize we still HAD that many clothes still that she didn't fit into! Holy crap. Now, if I was smart....or cheap....I'd be saving all that stuff for baby girl. But seriously? Who wants to keep cloths around for at least 3 years? Not this lady. Anyway...we're all pretty excited. Today and tomorrow are packing days.....kinda sorta. I gotta get together all the stuff that isn't ours, (Jake & Trish!!) and I gotta get a couple things back from Brooke (cookbooks!) and I gotta start packing out bags for mom and dad's house...including getting Reilly's DS & iPod together with chargers, and getting our laptops separated. I also have to set things aside for Friday, which is when we have our unaccompanied baggage packed up, and I gotta figure out A- what we want to ship and B- how to get it all together easily.

So that's the next couple days. Just going through stuff. Blah.

I PROMISE I'll take the time to blog more...not that anyone reads this. But whatever.

<3

Mother's Day

I know I'm a day late, but Happy Mothers Day to all the mommies!! For my Mothers Day post, I actually wanted to post my birth story from Reilly. It was written over 4 years ago, about a day and a half after I got out of the hospital...

Just wanted to remind myself that it's all worth it...

Hope you enjoy. (btw, this is direct cut and paste so apologies for anything that's off in the post. lol)


Late Tuesday night I started having contractions [around 12-1am] that weren't that bad...they just felt like I was starting my period. I was able to sleep through them. Around 4am I woke up to go pee and I noticed that they were a little stronger, but again I was able to sleep through them. Brett had to get up at 6am because him and Brooke had to go get Brett had to get up at 6am because him and Brooke had to go get his mom's truck for the day and I was the one with the alarm clock, who would actually wake up to it. So I got up at 6, with the plan being that Brooke was going to go get the truck, come home, get Xander and take him to the dentist and then school and I would sleep in with KK. Well, around 7am, after everyone had left, my contractions started getting really bad. I was still able to talk and walk [I was trying to call my mom and I ended up talking to my brother] through my contractions. When they were getting so bad that I was trying not to cry through them, I told Brooke that she needed to figure out something to do with this kids because I wanted to go to the hospital...this was around 9am. I was going on 2 hours of contractions by myself. I wasn't have a very good time coping with them. I couldn't breath right, nothing I could do was calming me down, and I was panicing, mostly because I was by myself. Brooke called Brett and told him to come home from work. Brooke came home to me sitting on to me sitting on the couch trying not to cry. She got KK ready [Xander got dropped off at school and was going with a friend after] and packed me a bag for the hospital while Brett was on his way home. About 15 minutes after Brett got home, we headed to the hospital.



I got there at around 10am and was immediately admitted in. By this point I had very much decided that I wanted an epidural and told them upon admission so that they would have it ready for me once I was examined. I got taken back to the exam room where they checked my blood pressure, and babies heart beat and my contractions. My mom met us there. I peed in a cup and got dressed into my gown [they are so hot by the way] and was on the table. The nurse checked me and I was at 6 cms. Holy hell. I didn't plan on staying home THAT long, but I obviously had no way of checking to see how far along I was, and I was in such pain I couldn't time my contractions, so I had absolutely no clue how far along I could possibly be. They got a room ready for me and I headed down there, having contractions the whole way. I don't really remember much of what happened between the time I was admitted and the time that my epidural started working because I was in such pain. They got me in the room, got an IV started and everything. They got Sharon, my midwife in the hospital. They got the epidural guy [I don't know how to spell it] and everything went by pretty quick. The epidural hurt, and it was hard to stay still through my contractions, but god damnit it was worth it! I would have had a horrible birthing experience if I hadn't gotten that epidural. I got that around 10:45pm. Between 11am and 12pm I was checked every ten minutes it seemed like. Blood pressure and temp. My dad and brother had shown up by this point, as had our friend Jessi. At 12:30, my midwife came and checked me to see how dilated I was and I was at 9.5cm. 3.5cm's in a little over 2 hours. The nurse said that like that it would be likely that I'd start pushing within the hour or so. At 1:40 or so, my midwife came back, checked, and I was at 10cm and it was time to push.

The pushing was by far the worst. Not because I was in pain, because I wasn't, but because I pushed for almost 3 hours. I started on my back [not flat] and pushed that way for about an hour and a half. They then flipped me to my side, which seemed to take hours to do. Then my midwife started suggesting that we use a vacuum and that was NOT something I was AT ALL interested in. But I protested a bit, and she understood, and we tried squatting with the bar, and then back on my back. About half way into my third hour of pushing, my midwife said that I would have to have an episiotomy. I was NOT about that. I tried protesting it, and she said we could try about 4 more contractions and if there wasn't progress, we'd have to or else we have to do something more...so I said okay. I ended up having an episiotomy, but from what she said afterward, I needed it. And knowing that she doesn't do them unless they are absolutely necessary made me feel a lot better. After that, a couple more contractions and my baby was born into the world! They layed her on my tummy, and since I had been pushing for so long they cut the cord immediately [:(] and put an O2 mask on her to make sure she was breathing okay...which she was. We came home on Thursday after spending a day and a half in the hospital with all the awesome nurses! We're breastfeeding and she is an awesome eatter! She latches on so well and just goes and goes! She's been liking to stay up and night and since Wednesday I've been running off of about 10-12 hours of sleep! But I never realized that you could love something so tiny so much. I'm trying not to cry right now I'm just so happy to finally have her here. I don't want to let her go and putting her in her swing or bassinet is just yucky for me. I love it when she sleeps right next to me, especially on my chest. *sigh* This is what heaven is. :)

Reilly Eryn, born March 29, 2006 @ 4:39pm. 7lbs 1oz, 20in




Happy Mothers Day!!! :D