Life with two kids at times has seemed completely impossible, and at others completely manageable and peaceful. Asher has been such an easy baby so far, or maybe it's just that James and I actually kind of know what we're doing this time around! He still sleeps away most of the day, and generally isn't too fussy when he's awake. He will sleep 5-6 hours straight at night, which means he only wakes up once, eats, and then sleeps again for another couple of hours. His schedule is actually pretty perfect at the moment, since he usually falls asleep around 9:00, wakes at 3:00, and then wakes again anywhere between 5:00-7:00.
Cadence has had a rough couple of weeks dealing with the excitement of having a brother (and thus not sleeping), the excitement of grandparents visiting (and thus not sleeping), her naptime being pushed back due to activities with the grandparents (and thus not sleeping), and dealing with a ton of bug bites--more on that later-- (and...wait for it...thus not sleeping). Last night she was not going to sleep again after about an hour and a half of being in her crib, but I told James I would try to put her down since she was crying for Mommy, and apparently she just needed some Mommy time because she slept until 7:00. Alleluia! I've tried to remain very patient with her, but James struggles with it when he's up all night, and then he is not the most pleasant person the next day, so I'm glad for his sake that she had a good night last night.
Asher had his first doctor's appointment last Tuesday and was circumcised. This week the rest of his cord fell off and the little Plastibell cap on his penis fell off as well so he can now take real baths instead of sponge baths--hurray! He weighed in at 8 lbs 15 oz and 21.5 inches long, so not quite up to his birth weight, but getting closer. Dr. Bigham told me I could stop waking him up to eat once the weekend rolled around, which was awesome news to hear!
We have been blessed to have so many people make us meals since Asher's birth, and between leftovers and eating out with James's parents, I think I have made 1-2 dinners in the past two weeks.
Re: Cadence's bug bites, we kept her inside for a few days so they could heal, but discovered that she was still being bitten, and thus the problem was an inside problem. We called Orkin and had them fumigate our house, and $350 later I think we are finally rid of whatever was wreaking havoc on poor Cadence. The weird thing was that she was the only one getting bitten--James and I, and obviously Asher, were completely fine. We are so ready to have our happy, bite-free girl back!
Cadence had her first violin lesson with Mrs. Mullen yesterday, and she did a great job after some initial shyness. We have a lot to practice, but she is catching on fairly quickly to the little things she needs to learn and is so cute to watch doing it!
Lilypie First Birthday tickers
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Asher's birth story
The story begins on Tuesday, June 10, when we had our final appointment with my doctor. At this point I was 3 days past my due date, so they required me to have a growth ultrasound and biophysical profile to make sure that the baby was doing okay. So I had the ultrasound first, then James and I went to the library and did one quick shopping trip before heading in for my appointment. My doctor thought that they hadn't done the BPP, so they hooked me up to a monitor and had me do a non stress test in the exam room. The results indicated that he was non reactive, so she said we could either go to the hospital to be admitted or do the BPP and then most likely be admitted. We decided to do the BPP because otherwise she wouldn't let us go and get dinner before going to the hospital. It ended up not mattering since it turned out they HAD done the BPP and the baby was great, so we went to Mr Chen's for Chinese food, stopped by Aldi for some snacks, and then got to the hospital around 6:00.
Shortly after checking in we talked with Dr. Jones who said that based on the BPP we could wait to induce until the morning in the hopes that I might go into labor that evening on my own. I had contractions about every 8-9 minutes for a couple of hours, but they went away once I decided to sleep. I slept pretty well, but was ready to go around 4:30. Our nurse came in to start me on pitocin at 5:30 and the contractions slowly but surely got stronger and closer together. At 7:45 Dr. Mills came in to see how things were going, and at that point she broke my water and things really started going! I wanted to labor for awhile on yay own before getting the epidural again, and around 8:35 I buzzed the nurse to say I was ready. She came in with the bad news that there was only one anesthesiologist available at the time and I was sitting third in line. I decided that I wanted to use the bathroom while I could still feel everything, so I sat on the bedside commode. The contractions were actually easier to handle sitting there, so I stayed there for awhile. At this point they were coming every 30 seconds or so and lasting anywhere from 1-2 minutes, with the peak of each wave going off the chart. The worst part was that the monitor also showed contractions of another woman that my nurse was watching, and her contractions were WAY calmer than mine...I got pretty jealous that we were essentially at the same point in our labors and mine was so much worse. Eventually the nurse came back in and asked me if I was pooping, and I said yes, and she hurriedly rushed me back onto the bad, shocked that I hadn't told her I was feeling rectal pressure and feared I was going to deliver this kid on yay own on the toilet. She checked me and I was at about 7 cm at this point, almost 9:30. She said that the anesthesiologist would be with me soon, and luckily he was. The only epidural process seemed to take a lot longer this time and I felt like it didn't kick in as quickly. It was still pretty quick once he got it in, and aside from one little spot near my pelvis on my right side, I couldn't feel the contractions- I guess the catheter was leaning towards the right so my right side was much more numb than my left. I told the nurse that even with th epidural I was feeling a lot of pressure, so she checked me again shortly before 10 and said I was complete!
Dr . Mills came in and checked the baby's head position through a contraction and said that it was time to start pushing. Once they got everything set up we got going, and I probably pushed for a total of 5 rounds or so before he came out quietly at 10:23 am. The whole process seemed so much calmer than with Cadence and obviously went a lot faster, too. I didn't feel nearly as exhausted and luckily I only had a second degree episiotomy. Dr. Mills attempted to avoid it, but after a few rounds of pushing she decided it was necessary. Asher seemed so small compared to what I remember with Cadence, and although he was smaller, he was still pretty big-- 9 lbs 5 ox and 21.75 inches long. He had SO much black hair and looks just like his daddy. We were able to keep him for about an hour before he went to the nursery, so he got to nurse right away and snuggle with both of us for a little while.
Shortly after checking in we talked with Dr. Jones who said that based on the BPP we could wait to induce until the morning in the hopes that I might go into labor that evening on my own. I had contractions about every 8-9 minutes for a couple of hours, but they went away once I decided to sleep. I slept pretty well, but was ready to go around 4:30. Our nurse came in to start me on pitocin at 5:30 and the contractions slowly but surely got stronger and closer together. At 7:45 Dr. Mills came in to see how things were going, and at that point she broke my water and things really started going! I wanted to labor for awhile on yay own before getting the epidural again, and around 8:35 I buzzed the nurse to say I was ready. She came in with the bad news that there was only one anesthesiologist available at the time and I was sitting third in line. I decided that I wanted to use the bathroom while I could still feel everything, so I sat on the bedside commode. The contractions were actually easier to handle sitting there, so I stayed there for awhile. At this point they were coming every 30 seconds or so and lasting anywhere from 1-2 minutes, with the peak of each wave going off the chart. The worst part was that the monitor also showed contractions of another woman that my nurse was watching, and her contractions were WAY calmer than mine...I got pretty jealous that we were essentially at the same point in our labors and mine was so much worse. Eventually the nurse came back in and asked me if I was pooping, and I said yes, and she hurriedly rushed me back onto the bad, shocked that I hadn't told her I was feeling rectal pressure and feared I was going to deliver this kid on yay own on the toilet. She checked me and I was at about 7 cm at this point, almost 9:30. She said that the anesthesiologist would be with me soon, and luckily he was. The only epidural process seemed to take a lot longer this time and I felt like it didn't kick in as quickly. It was still pretty quick once he got it in, and aside from one little spot near my pelvis on my right side, I couldn't feel the contractions- I guess the catheter was leaning towards the right so my right side was much more numb than my left. I told the nurse that even with th epidural I was feeling a lot of pressure, so she checked me again shortly before 10 and said I was complete!
Dr . Mills came in and checked the baby's head position through a contraction and said that it was time to start pushing. Once they got everything set up we got going, and I probably pushed for a total of 5 rounds or so before he came out quietly at 10:23 am. The whole process seemed so much calmer than with Cadence and obviously went a lot faster, too. I didn't feel nearly as exhausted and luckily I only had a second degree episiotomy. Dr. Mills attempted to avoid it, but after a few rounds of pushing she decided it was necessary. Asher seemed so small compared to what I remember with Cadence, and although he was smaller, he was still pretty big-- 9 lbs 5 ox and 21.75 inches long. He had SO much black hair and looks just like his daddy. We were able to keep him for about an hour before he went to the nursery, so he got to nurse right away and snuggle with both of us for a little while.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
39 weeks
After getting my hopes up at my appointment nearly two weeks ago that this baby was going to show up early, I have officially resigned myself to the fact that I'll need to be induced again. Last week I had not progressed any further, and since that appointment I haven't had nearly as many contractions as I did the week prior. But then again, I went from 1 to 3 cm without feeling contractions, then had a lot of contractions and didn't do anything, so who knows what's going on! I go back to the doctor on Thursday, and I assume if I make it that far they will schedule my induction sometime the next week since they don't like for anyone to go past 41 weeks.
It's weird to think that my days with "just Cadence" are numbered, and I'm honestly a little sad thinking about all the fun things that James is going to get to do with her this summer while I'm sleep-deprived and dealing with a newborn. I'm sure there will be days when the baby is the easy one and Cadence has some toddler moments, but she really is such a happy girl especially if she has things to do.
Her speech has really taken off lately, and she loves to repeat anything that you say to her. Today at the park I kept asking her if she wanted to go back home, and she would say, "NO!" and then keep playing. A few minutes later, she just walked over to me and said, "Go back home" and started heading for her stroller. Wow, was that an easy way to leave!
It's weird to think that my days with "just Cadence" are numbered, and I'm honestly a little sad thinking about all the fun things that James is going to get to do with her this summer while I'm sleep-deprived and dealing with a newborn. I'm sure there will be days when the baby is the easy one and Cadence has some toddler moments, but she really is such a happy girl especially if she has things to do.
Her speech has really taken off lately, and she loves to repeat anything that you say to her. Today at the park I kept asking her if she wanted to go back home, and she would say, "NO!" and then keep playing. A few minutes later, she just walked over to me and said, "Go back home" and started heading for her stroller. Wow, was that an easy way to leave!