my baby story #3

Let's see where should I start?  How about the morning of August 30th at 5:30 am.  This was the day I was I scheduled to be induced.  I was 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  My first delivery went all wrong and my son has problems now from all the complications that took place from my delivery so each delivery afterwards has been scheduled a few days early with my doctor on hand in case any complications arise.

So here I am at 5:30 am calling the labor and delivery department to find out when I am supposed to come in for my induction.  I did this same exact thing with my last pregnancy so I expect the nurse to tell me to eat a little something and head on in to the hospital.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen this time.  This time 10 women went into labor the previous night and the labor and delivery department was packed.  I was told that I would be called as soon as a bed opens.  I'm totally bummed but try to go back to bed and rest up since I am certain they will call very soon.

12pm- I was losing hope that they would ever call.  My husband kept telling me to call my doctor, to call the hospital back, to call my senator, etc. Ok, the last part was a bit dramatic but you get my point.  I called my friend Jessie and complained about how bummed I was.  She came over shortly after with a box of baby clothes and diapers her little boy grew out of and a bottle of castor oil.  Up until this point I was certain that I did NOT want to try the castor oil but I was depressed and feeling like I would never have this baby (yes, totally dramatic).  Jessie made a mint chocolate chip/castor oil shake and I drank it up.  Looking through the baby clothes she brought over helped me feel a little better and so I decided to join my family on a walk a few blocks away to get some tacos for lunch.  I quickly realized that leaving the house was a BAD idea after drinking the castor oil and I basically ran home to the bathroom (yes, tmi) avoiding food entirely and feeling like I was gonna die.  My stomach was cramping so bad.  I started to have contractions but was in so much pain that I couldn't tell what was a contraction and what was gas from the castor oil.

3:15 pm- Sure enough, while I am laying on the couch doubled over in pain the nurse FINALLY calls and tells me they are ready for me.So we pick up my son from school and give the kids a kiss goodbye and get in the car.  We live over an hour from the hospital and shortly after getting on our way my contractions started to get worse.  They were about 10 minutes apart.  We stopped to get some food before we got to the hospital and at this point I was in a lot of pain.  I honestly can't even remember what I ate. 

5:30 pm- We arrive at the hospital and I am in labor with contractions 2-3 minutes apart and I'm dilated to almost 6 cm.  They decide to skip the pitocen since I no longer need to be induced cause I'm in labor.  The doctor pops my bag and they start entering my information as fast as they can.  My sweet husband lets the nurse know that I prefer an epidural and they better get on it soon.  Yeah, he's a keeper.  The nurses were afraid that there might not be enough time for the epidural and gave me a pain pill of some sort.  The pill works and I am now as high as a kite.  The doctor finally shows with an epidural but I don't remember much of that.  By the time I get my epidural I am 7 cm dilated and moving along fast.  They keep informing me to let them know when I need to push which makes me think my little boy is coming soon.  I still feel the pain from the contractions and let the nurse know so she ups my epidural.  Looking back now I realize that was a mistake because I'm pretty sure now that I was feeling so much more pain cause it was just about time for me to start pushing. 

9pm-ish- I am 10 cm dilated and my doctor is on her way.  I am told that there won't be any practice pushes because this baby is coming too fast.  She shows up and I start pushing.  I realize now that the extra meds from the epidural was a mistake because I don't feel the urge to push like I should.  I pay really close attention to my body and the nurse and push with the next contraction.  I do this 2 more times, each time it's easier for me to feel when to push and on the third set of pushes my son is born.

9:48pm- Our sweet boy is born and nothing else matters in the whole world as I hold him and fall madly in love with him. 

My labor was very easy and short but the downside of this was that my legs were numb for quite some time afterwards since my epidural was given to me just an hour or so before the birth.  Both baby and I ran into some problems after the birth but we are both doing better now and he is a happy and healthy little boy.  I honestly couldn't have asked for a better labor.

We are so blessed.

Baby is here

As you probably already know the baby has arrived. He arrived a month ago. I'm hoping to post my birth story soon but at this very moment I'm typing this on our iPad which is hard for me to do. Imagine me typing one finger at a time while holding a newborn. Not easy.

So I'll share a quick picture with you until I can get my birth story up with some good pictures.

a shared room

When we found out we were having a baby boy we had some serious thinking to do over the bedroom situation in our home.  We have an extra bedroom BUT it's on the opposite side of the house and I like my kids all sleeping near my room at night in case of an emergency or something.  Yeah, I'm kinda crazy like that.  And the extra room is about half the size of my kids' current rooms so we would be downsizing furniture and more.  Oh, and did I mention that my kids when babies, rarely sleep in their own bed.  My toddler is still snuggling with me at night. 

So it was an easy peasy decision to keep all kids on one side of the house and make two kids share a room.  I figured that since my 7 year old son is the only kid who actually sleeps in his room and sleeps through the night (not to mention he has school and doesn't need to be woken up by a baby at night), that he would keep his room to himself.  He was kinda bummed though.  He wanted to share with the baby.

This is the only photo I can find of my daughter's room before we started turning it into a boy/girl shared room.

We painted the pink room a neutral green and pulled the crib none of my kids have ever actually slept in back out of storage and set it up. 

I made a few little decorations and a simple mobile to go over his crib.  I kept it simple. 

 I may add a pillow or another pop of color though.

The baby boy has the left side of the room and my daughter has the right side.  Behind his crib is a little toy/ cubby nook where each kid has a few shelves and toy bins.

I bought a super plush crib sheet hoping it may help the baby love napping in his crib.  You can buy one here.

I attempted t o get a good picture of my daughter's side of the room but the kids were having so much fun playing that I didn't want to shoo them out of the room.  As you can see it's still a work in progress (like much of my home life).  I need to figure out window treatment and some wall art still.

My kids love playing with the baby's car seat, swing, and well all his gear.

I know I am a bit biased but they are the cutest kids in the world.

my baby must haves

Seeing as how this is my third pregnancy I have managed to get down what is worth the money at the baby store and what is a waste of my money and space.  Of course things change over time and I had my first baby in 2004.  It seems like every year there are these new fabulous items for baby that were unheard of the year before.  Here is a few of my favorite things and I even threw in a few new items I'm excited about trying so I bought them to try with this baby.


The Moby Wrap.  I made my own with my last baby and loved it.  This time I'm going for the real deal. 

If you want to make your own.  Buy a queen sheet and cut it in half (longwise).  Sew the two top parts of the sheet together very securely and you have a Moby wrap (minus the logo).  The nice part about making your own is that you can choose a patterned fabric which is much more forgiving when baby spits up.



Another great carrier for when baby is older is the Baby Bjorn.  I used my baby carrier so much with my last baby that it broke.  To be honest I hardly even used a stroller cause my little girl was always strapped to me. 

 

I have nursed both kids and plan on nursing this one as well.  The Nursing cover up  (mine is a Hooter Hiders brand) is fantastic.  The boning around the top opens up the blanket and allows air flow and a chance for you to see your little one while nursing.  I love mine. 

We purchased a fancy digital monitor with my daughter thinking it would keep us from hearing our neighbors with monitors.  To be honest it was a great monitor with a clear connection until it broke.  When it broke I realized all my neighbors are older and there aren't any babies on this block so I went with a cheap monitor.

I often get static but we have found different ways to avoid that (moving the monitor to another space usually works).  Unless I was having a problem picking up other people's monitors or found a killer deal on an over priced digital monitor I'd go with these cheap-o safety first monitors.

Super soft over sized burp cloths are a must!  Here is the link to the one I pictured above from Etsy.  I have always made my own and usually use flannel because it's absorbant.  This time I made some using chenille (like the photo) and they are soooo soft.  If I have time I'll try to put up a tutorial for these because they are so easy to make and so worth it.

Another great Etsy find is the car seat canopy.  These are so nice to keep out rain, wind, or even nosey people who want to touch your baby.  I love this version because it has an openning in the front so you can check on baby or crack open without having to remove the whole cover.  Here is the link to this cover.

 This is another item that would be so easy to make.  You could even convert anice baby blanket into one of these by adding velcro straps.  I plan on making one soon.  We'll see how it turns out.

A definite baby favorite is the Halo Swaddle Sac.  My babies (like most) loved to be swaddled so I bought myself a few of these for this new little guy.

I also bought some of these muslin blankets which are supposed to be great for swaddling as well.  I figured that since I am having this baby at the end of summer it might be warm.  I have never tried these but I'm hopeful.

Last but certainly not least is this cd.  I must have the world's loudest stomach because my kids were comforted by the vacuum or lawn mower as infants.  I put this cd on when we are in the car and the baby is crying and she went right to sleep and slept longer with it.  I am a big fan of The Happiest Baby on the Block book and dvd as well. 

Well, those are a few of my favorite things.  I'm sure that once I hit the publish button another thing will come to me.  Do you have a favorite thing that I didn't mention?

and then there were 3

If you are a friend of mine you already know that I am pregnant again.  If you are just a fabulous reader of mine I will share the good news with you now.  We are expecting our third child in the beginning of September. 

The ironic thing about me getting pregnant again is that at one time it wasn't such an easy thing for me.  In the beginning of our marriage (back when we lived in Arizona) we struggled to conceive my son for over a year.  As soon as we made that 1st appointment with a infertility specialist to get some answers I ended up pregnant without the help of any doctors.  Unfortunately, my pregnancy ended in a miscarrage.  This was devastating but also a sign of hope for us since we knew we could get pregnant.  About 6 months later I was pregnant again with this guy.

  My son was a hard baby to care for.  Some people think it was because of his difficult birth and maybe that had something to do with it.  He grew out of it and turned into the best toddler I could ever ask for.  So when he was a toddler we decided to try for another baby without any luck.

We moved to North Dakota when he was 4 years old.  Only 5 months after moving to North Dakota I was finally pregnant.

My son had a baby sister.

and only 5 months after she turned one...

we found out were are expecting again.

I realize that this can be a bit of a personal thing to write about online for all the world to see.  My message isn't 'move to North Dakota to become fertile' but  maybe to give someone suffering from infertility hope.  In my case I learned to make the best of the blessing(s) I was given and to trust in the Lord and his plan.

sewing

 One day after finding out I was having a little girl a huge wave of excitement hit me.  I get to make girly dresses and fun bows for MY little girl. 

 I say one day cause that's how long it took me to accept that she was in fact a girl.

I love having a little boy and I've sewn my share of items for him but you can sew SO MUCH MORE for a little girl.  And now that's she's one and running around (cause it's hard to put a crawling baby in a dress) I've started sewing her tops and dresses.

Here's her 1st dress I made her a few days ago.

 From left to right: brown pillow dress/top (I made an inbetween version to wear with leggings), her dress pictured above, and a fall colored pinafore made from a pattern date 1964.  Cool, right?

I'm working on the matching bows and already picking out my next pattern.  I'm hoping to make more fall clothes and get ahead for next summer too.

one year

My precious baby girl recently turned one.  I'm sure every mom says that it's all gone by way too fast now that they are sleeping through most of the night but it's so true.  I have truly been blessed by the Lord with an amazing little girl.  She won our hearts over the first time we laid eyes on her.

She brings so much joy and happiness to our lives.

In just one year we've watched her grow so much.

 from sitting to crawling

 and big smiles

 to running

 and wet kisses.

I look forward to the next year with you my sweet little one.

birthday ideas

My occasionally sweet baby girl is now 8 months old and we have just 4 months until she turns 1.  I always hear people ask "where did the time go?" and I have an answer for them.  The last 8 months were full of sleepless nights, car trips with a baby screaming bloody murder, running my $500 vacuum for countless hours to get her to sleep, and holding her in my arms for just about every single nap she would take.  Don't get me wrong, I cherish these moments but I'd be lying if I said it was easy or the time just flew by easy.  At the end of each super long day I rock her to sleep and just stare at her little chest as she breathes in and out and thank the Lord for my little monster and pray for a lifetime of super long days with her. 

So when my husband is home and can watch her or she's passed out on my boppy after nursing I like to read other blogs and get ideas and inspiration for crafts, recipes, and home decor.  Lately, I've been checking out birthday ideas.  There are so many great ideas out there and when I came across Kara's Party Ideas I knew I hit the jackpot.  She has so many fantastic party ideas posted on her blog.  Makes me wanna throw a party right this very minute.

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The rainbow party is definitely a favorite of mine.  I LOVE the cake.

Another favorite is the classic pink 1st Birthday for a princess.  The pink poms poms are too cute and I just so happen to have some hanging in my daughter's room.

And last but certainly not least is the pink and orange princess party.  I am a sucker for flag banners and love the color combo.

And I know I should be looking at girl themes but the elephant theme was just too cute and can easily be transformed into a girly theme so I snuck this one in here too.  Look at these treat boxes.

There are so many more super great themes and party ideas for all ages and different parties.  I especially love the New Moon party ideas.  Love the Type O blood bottles.

milestones

My sweet little diva (well earned and deserved nickname at this time) is 7 months old and she is crawling.  She has servants us to take her where she wants to go so at this time she just crawls when she really wants something.  I have a feeling that once she understands the whole concept of crawling and the freedom it'll bring her we will be putting up the baby gates.  She still doesn't have any teeth but her gums seem to work just as well at mashing up anything she can put in her mouth.

4 months...milestones

My sweet baby girl is now 4 months old. She is babbling, laughing, starting cereal, and trying to sit up and scoot. Sleep through the night, you ask? No, not even close. She is up every 2-3 hours to nurse and every night I swear I am gonna do something different to change this awful routine we have.


But then she smiles at me in the morning and all is well. This sleep deprived mama forgets it all until later that night. I know this like many other things shall pass and I should cherish those midnight feedings snuggled up next to this cutie because soon enough they will be gone.

milestones

My sweet little girl turned 3 months old last week. Three. Months. Old. Where did that time go? And today she rolled over from her belly to her back for the first time. Do I sound like a proud mommy or what?

With eyes like hers it's hard not to be crazy about this girl. I didn't think I could love anyone as much as I love my son. It honestly seemed impossible but God has a way of making your heart grow to share even more love. It's amazing.

finally got a little sewing done

It seems like I am always altering clothing and never sewing anything fun so when my husband was off work I took advantage of his help and got sewing.

I saved a pattern a while back for a simple fabric ball and so I pulled that out and made one for the baby with some scrap fabric I had. I added a bell to make it a bit more entertaining.

I also got a new purse done for myself with some Anna Maria Horner fabric I had been holding on to for a while. Sometimes I love the fabric so much I don't want to cut it. Crazy, huh? I used a Simplicity pattern for the bag and altered it a bit to work for me.

And last but certainly not least I made a car seat cover for the baby. We have a few different covers and they all rest on her face when closed which I am not crazy about so I drafted up this one. I made an opening for the handle and used a minky fabric to line it so that it would be warm.

That's probably all the sewing I will be doing until after Christmas but at least I got my fix.