Way to go!

After days of searching and a some time sucking on his index finger, my little peanut finally found his thumb this morning! Good job son!

Exhausted

Well, yesterday didn't start off so well. Justin was up at 6:30 and didn't want to go back to bed. I guess it was okay because I had so much cleaning to do. Our 2nd annual Thanksgiving Feast was a success. We ended up having 29 adults, 4 kids and 3 babies. We went through almost 50 pounds of turkey! Everything was delicious. Justin slept through most of the day but then work up around 4:30 and then charmed everyone for about 3 hours. After everyone left he was fighting to stay awake- I think he was all wound up from getting passed around so much. He ended up getting waaay overtired and was pretty crabby during the night- poor little guy...and poor mommy. I took him for all the night feedings b/c I'm trying to get used to it before Jody goes back to work Tuesday. I can't believe that it's already been a month since we started our leaves. I can't imagine how strange Tuesday will be. Even though we've been together all day, everyday for the last 30 days- I wish it could be more =(

I know I haven't been posting many blog pics but here's one from yesterday. 2 weeks old- Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Day!

Just wanted to blog real quick before I start a whirlwind of Thanksgiving cleaning. It's our 2nd annual Thanksgiving Feast (for 28 people) at our house. I'm about to put a 36 pound turkey in the oven... yep- my dad's turkeys turned out HUGE!

I am so thankful this year. How could I not be? I have a perfect, gorgeous, amazing son that I love more than life and a perfect, gorgeous, amazing husband to share him with. I'm thankful that Jody took 2 night feedings so that I could sleep 11-6:30 and feel well rested today, haha. Most of all I'm thankful that all of my family is healthy and will be together today.

Growing up

Last night Justin's cord "stump" fell off. My little man is growing up already!

A little a head of myself

I stare at Justin... a lot. I can't help it, he's the most perfect, gorgeous baby on Earth. This morning after he just finished eating, he was just staring at me with those wide baby eyes and all I could think was, "Please don't grow up. Stay this way forever!" I know he's only 10 days old but he's just so precious I wish he could stay exactly like this- always.

The 1st Week

I can't believe that he's over a week old! Well- 9 days today. With the exception of our little jaundice scare, life with baby Justin has been quite wonderful. At his 1 week check up he was up to 9lbs 14oz, my little chunker. His jaundice is clearing up just fine. He sleeps like a champ. Every night I have to set my alarm to wake him up to eat. The Dr said it's important to make sure he eats every 3 hours to finish flushing the jaundice out. Jody and I have always been on kind of opposite sleep schedules so it's worked out well. I started pumping so that I can have bottles ready and daddy can help with the feedings. I can feed Justin and be in bed by 10 or 11. Then Jody takes the 1 or 2am feeding (he's up anyways), then puts him in his bassinet and I can sleep until 4 or 5. Honestly, 5/6 hours of sleep was all I ever really needed anyways. Justin got to meet all of his cousins this week- it was really cute. Avery, Reese and Rory are all pale blondes so he sticks out like a little sore thumb.

He makes the cutest faces. I know, I know- newborns don't smile but he makes a "smile-like" face. He gets so alert during the day. I just can't put him down when he's all wide eyed and awake. He just looks so adorable. I know it's gross but I have to mention it. I have never hear a baby toot the way Justin does. He's not a good burper but when he does pass his gas- it's from the basement and I can hear it like 3 rooms away. It cracks Jody up. The kitty is doing well adjusting. He smells Justin alot but seems to care less.

My recovery has been pretty good. The swelling in my feet and face has gone down almost all the way. My skin has started to clear up again- thank god! I braved the scale on his 1 week "birthday" and was shocked to see that I had lost 18 lbs- yay! I mean I still have like 23 to go but that's okay. I'll get there. I got to wear pants that buttoned this week- granted they were my "fat pants" but it felt great.

ER

What a few days these have been. On Sunday we had a home care nurse stop by (just to check in and for a lactation visit). Well she said he looked a "little jaundiced" so we should make a pedi appt. No big deal. Monday at 1 we took baby Justin to the Dr who sent us to the MAC center for bloodwork. All the nurses loved his hair- he's a little lady killer already. Well we finally got home and settled in when his Dr called me. His jaundice levels were above the safe level and she wanted us to take him to the Children's Hospital ER as soon as we could. He would need to be admitted overnight. I went hysterical. I kept kissing him and saying "he's so little, he's only 4 days old" I just felt soooo horrible for him. My understanding of jaundice was "oh, ha ha the baby is a little orange put him in the sun" now all of the sudden we hear about blood transfusions, super high levels doing brain damage or signs of liver failure.

We got to the ER and my eyes already burned from crying so much. We had to get his little stats checked and then we went to one of the "ER rooms". They told us we were waiting to be admitted to the 7th floor and they needed to run more bloodwork- that it would be about an hour. They started him on light therapy right away. I had to leave the room b/c they gave him and IV and it made me want to die- I'm not exaggerating. I could hear him scream down the hall and I almost puked. He was crying so hard and he had already been tested a bunch of times that day. Well we waited... and waited in that little room. The ER at children's is an absolute shithole. I promised I would never sugar coat my blog so there it is. The people are rude- it was filthy disgusting and our "1 hour" turned into 6 hours. I was beyond exhausted. Not exactly the "4 days postpartum" rest I was supposed to be getting. Finally after Jody started really laying into people, things got done. We were transferred to the 7th floor at 1am. What a world of difference! The upstairs nurses/rooms/facilities everything were just amazing. I cannot say enough about how fantastic everyone was. We were so well taken care of. They had beds set up in the room for us since he needed to be in one of those "tanning bed" light therapy tank/cribs and monitored. Here is the medical back story- I guess that his bili- reuben levels measured 22 at the MAC center. 25 is serious danger and 30 is organ failure. Anything above 18 needs light therapy. They said he could need up to 2 days of treatment. He was eating/pooping fine and there were no other problems with his blood tests. I guess it's just a normal, random "body getting used to processing" occurrence in some babies. When he was retested at Children's he was an 18.8- WAY lower than we had originally thought/been told. By 5am he was down to 17.6 then by noon he was at 14.6. We were released in 24 hours, last night at 7.

He was SUCH a little tough guy. I cannot believe how much he had to go through. I'm so proud of him already. It was without a doubt the WORST day of my entire life. I thought I felt my heart break before... HAH! Seeing my 4 day old son hooked up to tubes, covered in bandaids from bloodtests. It was torture. Now I'm just so glad he's better and we can go back to life as normal with our sweet little peanut =)

Worth the wait...

Our gorgeous son was FINALLY born Thursday night. His story is long (and I mean LOOOONG) and a little boring but here it is...

Wednesday morning I woke up with a little bit of a tummy ache. I attributed it to the 3 brownies I ate for breakfast. I decided to head to Target to look for a computer desk- Jody "gave me"/set up his old computer since we're both on so much. I had some starbucks, shopped at Target, stopped at Walmart and came home- still a little crampy. While Jody put together the computer desk around I made him a big breakfast. I was putting the dishes away and I felt a warm squirt of water. I though- no way... so I went in and peed and went back to the dishes. 10 minutes later another squirt. I thought that maybe at 41 weeks I was becoming one of those preggos who pees themselves. Well, this went on for like 45 minutes. Around 1:30 I went to the bathroom to check on it and whoosh- water came spilling down my legs. We both were SUPER excited. I called the Dr who said get right to the Hospital. We both showered, packed and were on our way.

We checked in and I was given a test (like litmus paper) to see if it was indeed my water. Of course, it was and the monitors showed I was having contractions 7 minutes apart. Since I was only 1.5 cms we decided to go on with the induction procedure as scheduled. The fact that my water had "ruptured" was going to help speed things up. I had cervidil inserted at 6pm and my contractions moved to 4 mins apart. Well all it took was another good woosh of water and the cervidil actually fell out after only 2 hours (instead of 12). My Dr said it was fine since my contractions were already getting stronger on their own. Justin was posterior aka facing the wrong way- so I was having all back labor. L&D was dead that night. We were moved to a jacuzzi suite and I got to lay in the tub for awhile. I found out that pitocin would start at 6am. I slept for 20 minutes that night. I was so anxious and excited, plus I was strapped to like 3 monitors- not exactly comfort.

In the morning. I had my "last meal" of cereal. I was given an IV of fluids, an IV of antibiotics (since my water broke the afternoon before we wanted to avoid infection) and pitocin later at 7am. The pitocin dose starts at 0 and can increase to 30. They turn it up by "2" every 15 minutes...boy does it get intense fast. I was fine until the dose got to about 12/14. My contractions were all in my back/hip bones and they were every 2-3 minutes. I tried the ball, I tried standing/swaying, massage, watching TV...everything. When you're on pitocin you have to be constantly monitored so you can't walk very far. I'm not going to sugar coat it- I felt like my hips were going to explode like dynamite. I could tell Jody felt terrible. I was sweating a ridiculous amount and on the verge of tears. The pain only got worse from there. The nurse checked me and said I was about 3 cms. I was begging for the epi. I think of myself as tough.. I'll tell you right now. On 20 minutes of sleep after 20 hours of contractions, if there was no epi I would have said right there that Justin would be an only child forever. I got my epi at 11:00- it didn't hurt too bad, just a little sting. It was almost impossible to sit still through the contractions though.

Life after the epi was amazing. I had visitors and I took 2 naps.The Dr said to expect 1 cm of progress an hour. So we figured around 6'ish I would be ready to push. Well, with the pitocin at 26 now I was fully dilated by 3:30. My dr wanted to let him "naturally descend" as much as possible so we waited until 4 to start pushing. Pushing is THE hardest, physical and mental thing I have ever done. We had expected about an hour, maybe 2 of pushing. They turn off the epi so that you can "feel" when to push. Well- 3 and a half loooong hours later, there he was. I wanted to give up so many times. I was so tired, nauseous, I had blurred vision and could barely lift my head. I kept snapping- I can't do this anymore, I can't. THANK GOD for Jody. I always pictured him just kind of hanging out near my head waiting for the baby. No way... he was holding my legs, lifting my head, counting contractions, getting ice- getting towels. Honestly, they should have paid him. He was AMAZING. He stood right with me forehead to my sweaty forehead encouraging me. I just am in total awe. He is the best most amazing man alive.

To wrap this up our peanut came out at 9lbs 11oz. Pushing out his shoulders was the worse 20 seconds of my life, lol. I went hysterical when I saw him. I couldn't believe that we finally did it. I never saw a baby that looks so much like his dad. I ended up needing about 15 stitches which were not pleasant- but eh. Due to his size he had to be tested for low blood sugar and he spent his first night under the warmer getting formula supplements.

Recovery is not horrible, honestly. Breastfeeding is challenging but we'll get it. I'll be on iron supplements for awhile due to blood loss during the long labor.

He is the most gorgeous, most special, incredible baby alive. Jody has adapted SO well into being a doting father. I'm beyond impressed. Just the thought of how much I love our little family brings me to tears. I'll keep posting updates and pics =)

I win by default

Never in my life have I heard of a baby "lasting" longer than his entire baby pool. That means that I win by default, haha! It's just so funny that everyone, including my doctors had me convinced I would be early. Like I mentioned before, I'm excited for this whole full moon thing because I'm so superstitious. However, it made me think- L&D is probably going to be packed if the myth really is true. That's the only part that kind of sucks. I have to call ahead before my induction Friday to make sure that there is a room available. Jody and I have been dying for a private room b/c he really wants to stay with me. I think my chances are gonna be slim to none =(

1 week late

Today officially makes this baby one week late. It also means T-minus 3 days until we start my induction. I can NOT imagine how I am going to sleep Thursday night. My Dr told me that there is no prep for an overnight cervidil induction, just have a big "last" meal and gets lots of rest. Yeah right! I just read online that Thursday night is a full moon! All of my superstitions have been wrong this entire pregnancy but I'll give this one last "sign" a go. Plus, the 13th is the anniversary of Jody's grandpa's death. They were extremely close. The twins were born on his (Grandpa Wilson's) Bday- so hey, you never know!

It's official!

That was my last Drs appt. We are officially scheduled for an induction this weekend. I will be admitted at 6:30 Friday night so that they can give me a dose of cervidil and monitor the baby overnight. Saturday morning if I'm not progressing, I will rise and shine to an IV of pitocin. I didn't even want an IV at all so it does make me a little nervous. Plus, from my understanding- the drug forces your body to contract, making the pain reeeally intense.

I was sort of hoping that they would move my induction up a little bit but it was a no go. This stubborn little baby passed his NST with flying colors. It IS really great news, it means that even after almost 41 weeks he's still "thriving" in the womb. He cooperates great for Drs but not for mommy. I was on the monitors for almost 1/2 an hour and they did show I had 2 "good contractions". They aren't regular or painful yet so it's not really any news. I did dilate a little more from my last appt to about 1.5 so that was good. I had the "stretching/sweep" done for a 2nd time so maybe that will do something.

Anyways, to wrap it up- I'll have this little peanut in my arms this weekend. At this point I don't care; natural, pitocin, c-section... I just want him to be healthy and snuggled up with his parents.

Just for fun...

I was thinking about all the Old Wive's Tales I have tried to get this baby out...
*Drinking Raspberry leaf tea (up to 3 cups a day)
*Taking Evening Primrose Oil supplements
*Eating Eggplant Parm
*Eating fresh pineapple
*Eating Several Spicy Foods
*Walking, walking, walking
*Going up and down stairs
*Cleaning (vacuuming, sweeping,moping) my floors
*Bouncing on an exercise ball for hours
*Jumping Jacks and squats
*"Bumpy" rides in the car
*Massaging pressure points above ankle and on hand
*warm bath
*s-e-x (shhh)

...nothing . Well, there is my personal favorite where Jody give me a really tight wrapped hug and slides his arms down my back slowly- he claims he is squeezing me like a tube of toothpaste.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Alright, so not anymore but we did get snow last night. Don't get me wrong I am not a big snow fan. I like this very first dusting and then snow on Xmas. I think it's so peaceful and pretty with just a light snow on everything. Every year I make a big deal out of the 1st snow. I just stare out the window and make Jody snuggle because it's romantic to me. I have to admit I felt optimistic last night. I was thinking, this is it- this would be the perfect moment, the "magic" of the 1st snow! Cue the water breaking! Yup- nothing. I have my "non stress test"/fetal monitoring at 1:30 today and then an exam. I'll post an update when I get back.

I just wanted to C&P an email I got and plug a good website. I am on thebump and babycenter everyday. Both of those websites are set up for me to "have a newborn" and I get all kinds of reminders/emails about my new baby. It's depressing that they assume everyone gets their baby on time. However, I get a daily "what to expect while you're expecting" email and there has not been 1 mention of a newborn. It's comforting. I don't know...being overdue makes you even weirder =)
The big due date came, but your baby didn't. Don't feel bad; you (and your baby) are in good company. Fifty percent of expectant moms don't deliver before their due dates, and ten percent have pregnancies that last 42 weeks (or longer). By now, your practitioner has probably discussed labor induction with you, but that doesn't mean that you won't still go into labor on your own; some babies just need to take their time.

Weather

Oh this weather is just horrible! 2 days ago we were walking Hamburg beach and now it's freezing cold hail?!? EW. No baby updates. Last night before bed Jody had a "heart to heart" with him. I know my husband- he is very charming and persuasive so let's hope it works =)

Still here.

40 weeks and 4 days pregnant...wow. At 37 weeks when the baby's head was "soo low and already engaged in the pelvis" I spent every night thinking- oooh this could be it. Installed the car seats, packed the hospital bag and faxed in pre-registration to Mercy. Now I have kind of settled into the fact that the baby is comfy and stubborn so I'll be meeting him next Friday at his induction. It's impossible to describe until you actually are overdue. You are so pumped up and excited but then so disappointed every day. Last night we went out to dinner and all of the "babies" were there (Our nieces/nephew). I rubbed baby Reese and baby Rory on my bump for good "mojo" as Linda calls it. I'm not stupid- it's not that I literally think that baby will never come, it just feels that way some days.

Like watching grass grow...

Ok, so the minutes are ticking by veeeery slowly as I wait for this baby. Today there is a "Thankful Thursday" post on our nestie board and I thought it was such a great idea! I could have posted 800 things to be thankful for but I try to keep it short. I do feel very thankful (well, probably just hormonal and emotional) today. I really have had a fantastic pregnancy. Even at 2 days overdue I'm honestly not in any discomfort. I'm still up taking care of the housework, cooking and shopping like before, just a little slower. I still sleep great and I even painted my own toenails the other night. It's a gorgeous day, like 65 degrees and tomorrow is supposed to be 70! It's nice to have the time off to relax with Jody in our last few before-we-become-parents days. Usually we only have a few hours together after work. At first I regretted starting maternity leave at 39.5 weeks since the baby would be late. Now I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm so glad we planned (and saved, lol) to have this time together.

Optimistic!

"My original guess was 10/31 but for some reason the date 11/6 has been sticking out in my head. I think he's going to be fashionably late." <-- I blogged this on October 3rd. I think maybe I jinxed myself.

Honestly though, for some reason I feel very optimistic about tomorrow. I promised myself no crying today. I guess I should confess that I had a tad bit hysterical crying after the Dr's appt. I just felt so disappointed. Tomorrow is the most popular day of all in our baby pool. Tomorrow, we have an appt for the whirlpool guy to finish installing my new wall oven- FINALLY.(We have been waiting 5 weeks for parts but that's another story-ugh.) My "stretching procedure" yesterday gave me some pretty bad cramps but overall I feel okay. I bounced on that darn exercise ball until my thighs were on fire. C'mon kid, let's go!

Due

Well, today is my due date. I just got back from my 40 week appointment. Well, actually I got back about 1/2 an hour ago but I had to relax a little before I decided to blog. I can admit it, I was pretty upset. I thought for sure that I would get an induction appointment for this week. Nope. November 14th. You have got to be freaking kidding me! 10 days!?! I guess it's a good thing. I know that inductions can be high risk and they are typically more painful. My Dr said that she just does not see any medical reason to induce. The baby and I are perfectly healthy. I know that they baby could still come at any minute but 10 days seems forever away. I have an NST Monday afternoon. Basically, I will be hooked up to a monitor for about 45 mins to an hour to make sure the baby isn't it any stress by being past his due date. They will track his movement and heartbeat. If anything seems wrong they would move up the induction. Warning- gross info... My Dr did "stretch my cervix" aka "swept my membranes" today. Not to get too graphic but basically once you start to dilate the Dr can reach in and kind of swoop/stretch with their finger to loosen things up. It definitely was not the best feeling in the world but if it gets things going- it will be well worth it. Now I just sit and wait...and wait...and wait.

Considerate

What a considerate baby I have inside of me. He's obviously just waiting until his due date because he knows how much his mommy appreciates punctuality!
Tomorrow morning I have a Dr's appt at 9:45 where hopefully we will talk "The big I"...induction. It's not that I even really want to go through that process but it would just be nice to have an end date. My doctors claim that 80% of the time when they schedule an induction the baby ends up coming before the date. I am a very superstitious person so I hope they schedule away. I just have this horrible feeling that tomorrow I will go in and they will say, "well- why don't you come back at 41 weeks and we'll talk induction then". That's the problem with being the happy easy-going pregnant woman...seriously! Tomorrow I will be standing up for myself and what I want, darn it! The Drs keep calling me their "textbook" pregnancy and since I never have complaints my appts are like 2 minutes long. Well tomorrow I am going to put on a whiny face to make sure I get what I want- a threatening induction date for the baby. I know that they are already concerned about his size so I think that will work to my advantage. In the meantime, I think I will stay off of TheNest baby boards and just stick with my upstate board. These baby board girls are like 34 or 36 weeks pregnant making all caps posts like "I want my baby out NOW" and "I can't take this anymore". Oh please ladies- suck it up. The wait only gets worse. Well, I'm off for my daily morning walk. Ok, so it's only been like 3 days but that totally makes it qualify as daily now =)

T-minus 2 days

...until baby Justin's due date. I just wanted to point out that Saturday is over and I still don't have my baby. How will I spend that dollar my Dr. owes me from our bet? ha ha! Decisions, decisions...

Last night we went to a family Halloween party. I never bought a costume because I was so convinced I would be in the hospital for the party, lol. So I threw on some wings, a halo and some glitter with a white shirt and went as an angel. One of the little boys at the party asked, "Are you really pregnant or is that just a costume?" I thought that was just too cute =)

Roller Coaster

I felt so optimistic yesterday. Today as much as I hate to admit it, I feel really sad. I think it's just hormonal. I'm sure after this vent I'll feel much better. I see all these girls on TheNest baby boards or on BabyCenter with my due date (or earlier) who have already had their babies. I think I'm ready to admit it...I'm so insanely jealous. I couldn't even watch Baby Story on my sick days because I wished it was me so bad. Every night, with every cramp/twinge I secretly think, "oooh this could be it but I don't want to jinx it"- then nothing. The baby has been so big and so low that I would have bet a million bucks he was going to be early. My 1st day of maternity leave is Monday. Jody was going to start his leave Monday. Every day that the baby isn't here is one less day that we will have off- the 3 of us. I can already tell it's going to be so hard to see Jody go back to work after his paternity leave. Every one I see is asks "oh, no baby yet?" or "can't you just have the baby?". I know that they're excited and I LOVE LOVE that the baby is coming into a family already so excited/in love with him. I'm just frustrated because I'm excited too but I have to put on my "patient mom-to-be" face and I just don't feel patient any more. I want to hold my baby more than anyone, why won't he just come out? =(