Nick’s Birth Story

WARNING – This is a birth story.  I may drop the words dilation or pushing or mucus…

Nick was due November 7^th.  Aubrey was late, and I tried to keep that in mind when Joey said that he had to go to Texas on Monday, October 29^th and return on the 30^th.  I was only 1 cm dilated and Nick didn't look like he was coming anytime soon, so while I was hesitant about being alone, I just accepted the reality and moved on.  Of course the weekend before he leaves, we see that there will be a full moon and some of my mucus plug comes out (this didn't happen with Aubs until I was in labor).  I continued to push these things out of my mind and got through Monday the best I could.  Aubrey was catching a cold, so I hung out with my mother in law and sister in law to get some help during the day.  My mom spent the night on Monday night and on Tuesday morning, I woke with light contractions. 

I had a doc appointment that day anyway (gotta love the 2x a week high risk appointments), so when I went in, I told them to hook up the contraction monitor just to ease my mind since Joey wasn't due home until later that evening.  All that ended up proving was that I was in very early labor.  I tried not to panic and called Joey and told him what was going on.  He said he would try to get an earlier flight, I told him not to worry, that he was supposed to get home in 12 hours anyway so I was sure everything would be fine.  I went home with my mom and Aubrey and tried to just take it easy and hope that things would slow down and/or stop.  Around 2pm the pains picked up and were about 6 minutes apart.  I kept downplaying it, but since I didn't want to go to the hospital for no reason if things picked up even more after hours, I went back to my doctor after dropping Aubrey with my mother in law. As luck has it, Joey caught that early flight and met me at the doctor’s office.  She checked me and sure enough I was dilated to 3 cm.  Dr. Walker said I could go on to the hospital or I could just wait it out at home.   I decided to go on home and get some laundry folded, get Nick’s room cleaned up and caught up on “The Voice”.  The pains stayed at 6 to 6.5 minutes, and then went away as soon as I went to bed.  I’m so glad I didn't go to the hospital right away and got a good night’s sleep.

The next day, I made Joey go on to work and I just hung out with my mom.  The contractions came back a little bit, but nothing significant.  I decided to do some light housework to go ahead and see if I could get things moving.  Halfway into cleaning up the kitchen, contractions picked up to about every 4 minutes and were causing me to catch my breath.  I had to make the call, so I decided to go ahead and get to the hospital just in case things picked up quickly.  By the time we got everything packed and got to the hospital, they were consistently 3 minutes apart and causing me to have to concentrate to get through.  I went into triage and got hooked up to everything.  They checked me and I was 3 cm. THREE cm?!?!?!?  I was getting a strong sense of déjà vu.  Dr. Walker came in and said that while they wanted to send me home, but with the history of the past couple of days, she wanted to  go ahead and admit me because she was pretty sure I would just be coming back in a couple of hours.  I got admitted and settled in to have a little Halloween baby that evening.

Well, I didn't have a Halloween baby.  As the pains started increasing, I went ahead and got an epidural and they started Pitocin to get things moving along.  By 6 pm I was at a whopping 4.5 cm.  Dr. Walker came back in and said that we would just keep going how we were going and maybe things would speed up.  He was still at a very high station and she didn't want to break my water until he had come down a little more.  I was so frustrated with my body and with myself for feeling like I had cried labor too early.  This same thing happened last time with Aubrey.  I came in with strong contractions, was barely dilated and then I just sit there feeling like I was wasting everyone’s time.  I just laid there and willed Nick to drop.  I tried to relax my body as much as possible and just get some rest.  Then 1 am came.

The nurse wasn't checking me as much since I was Group B Strep positive and there wasn't a lot of change going on, so when she came in around 1 I asked if she could check because I felt like he had been moving down and I was feeling some pressure.  Sure enough, I was finally at 6cm.  I kept feeling changes, and by 3 am I was 9.5 cm and my bag of water still hadn't broken which was causing ridiculous pressure.  The epidural stopped working and I was moaning through contractions and fighting the urge to push.  At around 3:15 I was hysterical with the pain and the re-dose didn't work on my right side.  Dr. Walker came back in and broke my water.  I felt instant relief, became complete and got down to the business of pushing. 

After 3 rounds of pushing, there he was at 3:32 am, perfect and screaming – such a difference from Aubrey, who had the cord around her neck and had to fight to breathe that first breath.  He looks almost identical to his big sister, which was noted by Dr. Walker as soon as he arrived. He scored an 8 and 9 on his Apgars and peed all over the nurses.  He’s 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 21 inches long.  I got to watch Joey cut the cord and we settled in with Nick in our room.  I had barely any tearing – I have 2 stitches just as a precaution, and minimal bleeding.  Later in the morning, he started grunting, which apparently can be a sign of fluid in the lungs and a possible infection.  He was sent to the special care nursery for observation and we just hoped that we wouldn't have to be admitted there again.  Later that morning, we had a consult with the neonatologist.  The fluid was determined to be residual from him delivering so quickly and not having time to squeeze it out of his lungs on his way out, and his CBC was negative for infection.  We had him with us by lunchtime on Thursday.  He was circumcised on Friday evening and is healing really well from that. 

First family picture

Aubrey meeting her brother

We came home Saturday afternoon and have been settling in well, he’s nursing like a champ and is a pretty mellow kid so far (we’ll see how long this lasts).  Aubrey stayed with Nana and Papaw last night since she has an ear infection and is still getting over her cold, but our whole family will be together tonight and we will start this next chapter with hopefully minimal crying and a lot of fun.  She has seen her brother a couple of times and seems to think he’s really cute and she also knows where his nose is.  She likes to rock him in his sleeper and wants to hold him, so I’m sure I’m going to have my hands full just trying to keep her from loving him a little too much.  I have been feeling great and have to keep reminding myself to take it easy even though I don’t feel any pain.  I took some Advil before bed last night, but other than that, I haven’t really needed anything for pain since I left the hospital, which is a total blessing considering the monumental task that is at hand for the next few months. 

Hey!

So there you have it, Nick’s story.  While my 2 labors have had some similarities, they have also been different in their own beautiful ways.  At the end of the day, I have so far been blessed with 2 gorgeous and healthy children and at the moment I couldn't ask for anything more.  Stay tuned for my post on what we have been up to the past couple of months (we've been a little busy and my blog has suffered) and also my thoughts on whether or not we are going to go down this crazy road again in the near future.

 Headed home!

LOL, SAHM, WTH?

Not only are we adding an additional family member this fall, there are also some other changes that have been brewing in the Barbeauld household.  After much thinking, pondering, crying, worrying and praying, I have decided to become at stay at home mom starting in September. 

That last sentence is something that I thought I would never write, in fact, if you had told me I would be writing this blog entry 5 years ago, I would have laughed at you.  Everything changed when I had Aubrey.  When I was pregnant with Aubs, I requested and generously received a 6 month leave from work, and in that 6 months I found, much to my surprise, that I didn’t need work as much as I thought I did, in fact, I didn’t miss it at all.  Honestly it scared me a little, but while I found that while working gave me a little break from the constant work that was caring for Aubrey, I missed her a ton and started to feel like I was missing out on her life.  During busy season, it only got worse, and when we discovered that we would be adding to our family in March, it became unbearable.  Add that to Joey being out of town quite often for work and the decision became very clear. I need to be home with my babies while I can.

While I was making my final decision on coming back to work, one of the reasons was that I wanted to make sure that I would have no regrets about staying home.  Yes, there will be days where I will miss having hot meals and adult interaction, there are so many more years down the road to enjoy those things, there are a very few number of years to enjoy those baby smiles and the excitement of your little one accomplishing something big or just giving you a hug for no reason. 

While I will no longer worry about missing out on my kids’ lives, there are now other things to worry about.  Money for one – thankfully Joey has a great job that will allow me to stay at home with way less sacrifice than I would have expected.  Another question I have pondered is will my kids have it better than I had growing up?  When I was little, I thought that the rich kids had side by side fridges and access to the Disney Channel, and thankfully those are two things that we will be able to provide our children, as well as everything that they need - not always new, but they will have what they need for sure.  :)

Finally, there’s the question of how can a career girl hang all that up to spend her days covered in spit up and jelly.  I don’t know the answer to that one right now, but I’m hoping that everything will fall into place.  Actually, I know it will because this is exactly what I’m meant to do right now.  I also have the awesome benefits of a family that lives here in town and a great group of mom friends that I will be hanging out with regularly. 

I very much understand that I am very lucky to be able to stay at home with my babies, and to all those full time working moms out there, I salute you.  I just couldn't cut it as a working mom, and I very much admire and love you all.

Will I eventually get back into the workforce?  Yes, of course, just not where I was before these little blessings came into my life.  My priorities are so different now, sometimes I wonder how I became and enjoyed that person that I was.  I guess I did enjoy that life, but this one is so much richer. 

Wish me luck!

The more things change…

While there have been many things that are the same about this pregnancy, such as morning sickness, fatigue and the inevitable weight gain, there have also been quite a few changes this time around.  For one, while there has been morning sickness, it only lasted about 16 weeks instead of the 20 weeks that I endured last time.  The fatigue seems to be more prominent this time, although, I’m not sure if that’s the baby or the fact that I have a rambunctious one year old this time around. 

I do seem to be carrying lower this time, and the round ligament pain is much more prominent.  I am going to look into prenatal yoga and maybe some other exercises to ease the discomfort.   Gestational diabetes has also come back with the new baby.  I had to test about 4 weeks earlier than before, and I unfortunately will have to monitor my glucose levels again.  I should be able to remain diet controlled like I was last time, so other than trying to remember to check my sugar when I am supposed to, I don’t think the diagnosis will bring many changes.

I’m not really sure that any of the changes have to do with boy versus girl, but overall, I am pleased with how this pregnancy is going.  I’m so glad to have my energy back and I’m looking forward to a smooth second half to this pregnancy.

I’m not much for belly shots, but here is how things are looking at 21 weeks J.

Happy Father's Day!!!

We had a great Father’s Day this year with a ton of family time and get togethers with both sets of grandparents.  Aubrey got everyone stepping stones with her foot prints, and the gifts were a big hit.  I also had the yard mowed for Joey and got him of book of information for Dads that includes how to make a PBJ sandwich and how to get rid of monsters under the bed.  In honor of Father’s Day, I just wanted to let Joey know how much we appreciate what he does for me and for our family.  He works so hard and often has to go out of town, but we know that he’s doing it for us and would love to be home if he could.  He also takes care of the manly things around the house, from building an amazing new deck to coming back home to chase a mouse around the kitchen.

We love you Daddy!!!

And then there were two...

Joey and I had decided a long time ago that we wanted more than one child, and we are so blessed to be expecting a baby boy on November 7^th.  That will put the baby and Aubrey 18 months apart, which sometimes seems incredibly daunting, but at the same time, I think it’s going to be great down the road, when they are older and will hopefully become close.  Needless to say, I have been a bit exhausted lately and I hope that now that my energy is back, I will be able to post more entries and give some more perspective of the 2 under 2 world, I guess I will just start here and fill you all in on the past few weeks.  

I had started feeling just odd in March, not good or bad, just different.  On a whim I took a pregnancy test and so our new journey began.  I have been sick again this time, and terribly exhausted, although I'm sure that some of it has to due with the fact that there's a one year old running through my house at all times.  

While I have had morning sickness again, it only lasted until 16 weeks this time and was not as severe as last time, and for that I am grateful.  It's been a little more difficult to pay attention to my diet and work on exercising with a crazier than expected work schedule, I'm happy to say that I'm getting there.  Here's hoping the second half of this pregnancy is better than the first.

Keeping true to form, we decided to keep the gender a secret and reveal to family all at once.  Only this time, we decided to find out at the doctor's office ourselves, and then tell our families that night over dinner.  I was convinced that it was another girl, and boy was I in for a shock.  It actually took me a couple days to wrap my head around it, but I am getting there.  I have bought a couple outfits and luckily, we will be receiving some hand-me-downs from my cousin that had a baby last December.  

She actually was happy at one point, we promise!

So here we are, and we are so grateful to be able to add to our family.  Stay tuned!

The Year in Pictures

Since we have taken a picture of Aubrey every month, I thought it would be cool to show them all in one place so that you can see how much that she has grown over this past year.  Enjoy!

One Year Old!

Here we are, over a month since Aubrey’s first birthday, and I am just now getting to post about it on the old blog, that being said, I’m going to go ahead and sneak in what has been going on during month thirteen as well.  As you will see in upcoming entries, it has been a little bit busier around here than I expected.    At any rate, it has been a great past couple of months, and it seems like Aubrey has been doing something new every day.  I look forward to waking up every morning to see if there is something new that she has learned to do, and she usually comes through, or at least finds a way to make us smile.

While Aubs is very energetic, she is also incredibly loving and sweet; I have lately been calling her my sour patch kid.  She’s into something she shouldn’t be one minute, and then giving you a big hug and a kiss the next.  She has really gotten into her books and always wants me to read them to her, or at least flip through the pictures.  As an avid reader, this makes me incredibly happy, and I hope I can pass my love of reading to her.  I can’t wait to be able to catch her under the covers with a flashlight, finishing that last chapter as I often did when I was younger.

Other big developments these past couple of months have been several steps (our record is eight).  She still prefers to crawl, but I have a feeling that will change here in the next couple of weeks.  We of course went and got her some big girl shoes, and she loves them.  She has also started talking a lot more, while it is still gibberish to us, usually starting her sentence with “Aubee”, and she will repeat the same thing over and over, until we say “yes” or “really?”.  I just can’t wait until the day that we actually know what she’s saying.  I’m sure then that we will never hear the end of it after that.

We also had our one year appointment last month, and the doc says that Aubs is right on track on doing great.  She weighed in at 18 pounds (5^th percentile) and measures 28.75 inches (50^th percentile), while she’s still out little peanut, she makes up for it in sheer energy.  I don’t know how she stays so slim considering she could probably eat most 3 year olds under the table.  She hasn’t met a food she didn’t like, although her current favorite is any type of fruit.

She also had her birthday party last month, she really showed her cake who was boss and she loved her presents.

I can’t believe that I’m here with a one year old and that time has flown by so quickly.  Aubrey is such a joy, and although there are the days where I wish she would slow down just a little, I’m not sure that I would really want change a thing.