Saturday, January 23, 2010

First Run Post C-Section

So I have been *dying* to go running since the Dr. gave me the green light, but finding the time for Alan to watch Benjamin has been difficult with his schedule. Not to mention the weather here hasn't been all that great; you either need a snow plow to get to the streets or a boat. So this morning was clear of snow and rain. Benjamin had just eaten and Alan was home. As I was lacing up my running shoes that haven't been worn in I'm-not-sure-how-long; the newscaster said something to the effect of "a hostage standoff located at ____ and ____. SWAT team has just arrived, one person has died." Are you kidding I ask myself? Why on the one day that I have the chance to go running is there a standoff about two miles from me?" Now the question is, do I stay or do I go? They haven't caught the shooter, but they aren't saying much. I decide that I will take my cell phone and just run up to the corner and back, that will be one mile. And that will be a good start post c-section and all, plus no one dares mess with a new mother who hasn't had much sleep and just got the chance to be baby free for a few minutes! So I ditch the idea that the SWAT team is just a few miles from my home and out the door I went.

I am so excited about getting to run that I am almost laughing out loud, I refrain for the neighbors may think I am truly nuts. I tell myself I am going to take it easy and not run fast and to start out walking for 5 minutes. I walk, look at my watch, walk some more, look at the watch, 5 minutes is taking forever, so I ditch my 5 minute rule and start running. As I start running I begin to assess the damage that pregnancy has had on my once fit body.

My legs and feet have not had the extreme effects of pregnancy that my hips have had to endure, so they were off and running like their old self and attempting 8 minute miles. My hips were loose and not wanting to go fast. It was a weird feeling not to have your legs and hips working together. The legs and feet were about fifty feet ahead of the rest of my body. As I am running to keep up with my legs, I assess the boobs. Two sports bras have done a pretty good job of keeping the girls from making more of a bounce than what is in my stride. So I ignore the boobs and focus on why my legs are now at the corner and the rest of me is still half way back. So I stopped to walk and try to get myself back to one person. I stretch and off I went again. A little better. And just the time it was actually starting to feel like I was back to my old self again, there in front of me was my house. Already? I questioned. Insane. How am I already done? Darn.

Maybe next time I will be able to run a little farther and a little faster and as a whole person!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I'll Love You Forever....

"as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

The things I love about you;

*your big brown eyes
*tiny fingers grasping my finger
*how you sleep with your arms up above your head
*how inpatient you get if I don't feed you the second you start screaming!
*bath time; you love your bath and will stay in it forever, in fact the only time you cry is when I take you out because you start resembling a rasin.
*love it when daddy tells you, you can stay in our bed until you fall asleep; you and I both know that you will be snuggled between us until morning.
*I love listening to you sing and talk to the ceiling fan and your mobile; those two things are your favorite right now.
*Even though its frustrating when you get fussy in the evening and I am trying to fix dinner; you just want me to hold you.
*I love your sleepy eyes that say rock me to sleep mom.

There are so many more things that I love about you and I am sure there will be more to come!

Monday, January 11, 2010

My New Year's Resolutions...


A little late getting started, but better late than never! Life changes when you have a baby! So I am focusing my resolutions to help Alan and I transition from couple to parents. With the opportunity to work for Demand Studios and write articles from home, I will be able to focus more on keeping our life a little more organized and less chaotic. I am hoping that I stick to these resolutions and will make them part of our life. I want to start good habits now, instead of trying to figure it out when we have more than just Benjamin to take care of. So here they are;

  1. Home: Set the timer for 15 minutes and straighten the house. Also, complete one cleaning chore a day. This works out to be; Monday: laundry day Tuesday: vacuum and mop the floors. Wednesday: run errands. Thursday: clean bathrooms. Friday: clean kitchen. Saturday: big projects. Sunday: planning for the week ahead.
  2. Cook healthy meals: follow the Mediterranean food pyramid. Develop a weekly menu (this will help ensure healthy meals and cut costs at the grocery store)
  3. Exercise 4 times a week. I would like to run the mini marathon (aka 1/2 marathon) again this year, but with Alan being gone 3-4 nights during the week, I'm not sure how it will go.
  4. Read one book a month
  5. Date night at least once a month
I may have to tweak them as I find out what works for our little family.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Snowy Days...










































It has snowed here and thankfully I don't have to be out in it! I can enjoy the beautiful snow from my couch with a hot cup of coffee and a sleeping baby in my arms! However, we did venture out (just to the front and backyard) to take some picture of Benjamin in his first snow. Benjamin looked a little confused but okay with the fact he was bundled up so much that he couldn't move. We took a few pictures and then I went to go inside with the little man. Headed up the steps and went to open the door, when the door didn't open I knew we had locked ourselves out. Told Alan and he thought I was joking. Haha...no! We got back in and unbundled Benjamin who was nice and warm in his snowsuit.

He ate and then took a nice long nap! We have about 4 inches of snow and its sticking around for more than a day or two. Temperatures have been freezing; lows have been about 10 and high's around 20 give or take a couple of degrees each way.

Best get going, never know how long these naps of his may last and so I try to get as much stuff done as possible!

Till we see you in person, lots of love and hugs!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

How Time Does Fly





We have survived the first month, Benjamin is now almost 6 weeks old. That first month was the hardest but the most rewarding month of my life. He has grown so much already, little fat rolls have now appeared on his once skinny bird legs. When he cries crocodile tears run down his face and when he smiles it melts my heart.

Benjamin had his first fever last weekend. He had been coughing and sneezing and when I woke up Saturday morning, he felt warm. I took his temp (yep, stuck it you know where) and it was 101.3 I called the Dr. and they wanted to see him right away. They tested him for RSV and checked his white blood count. RSV came back negative, but he wanted to see him back Monday morning to recheck. We went home with instructions to give him infant Tylenol, watch his fever, and how fussy he gets. If he gets so fussy he can't be consoled or his fever stays high despite the Tylenol head to Kosiar Children's Hospital and call him and he would meet us down there. I never thought I would be scared for my child to have a fever. But as the Dr. said with a baby at 5 weeks having a fever it wasn't good. Thankfully his fever stayed down and only spiked once on Sunday. Monday my mom and I headed back to the Dr. and Benjamin checked out just fine.

So now with that behind us and a mark added in the book of parenthood, I am feeling a little more confident and experienced. However, I know I have a lot more to learn!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Birth Story (from laboring woman's point of view)






Benjamin's estimated due date, Nov. 24th came and went without Benjamin showing up or any sign that he may be making his entrance into the world anytime soon. Only 5% of babies are born on their estimated due dates, so I didn't think too much of it. Thanksgiving was spent over at Kim and Hugh's house, ate turkey and lots of other good food. We threatened Benjamin that this was his last meal if he didn't start making any progress! Guess it worked because Friday morning at 2:30 in the morning I woke up with contractions.

The contractions weren't too painful and nothing timeable, so didn't wake Alan. We did things around the house Friday and then went to Lowes and Meijers to stock up on food and other items since we figured that we would be having a baby by the weekend. I'm sure people at Lowes and the grocery store thought we were crazy since I would have to stop walking and breathe through contractions. We came home and Alan finished painting the closet doors and I did some cleaning. The contractions were all over the place, time wise; they would be 10 minutes apart for an hour and then go to 6 minutes and then back to 8 minutes and then 5 minutes. When they got to 4 minutes apart for an hour, we decided it was time to go to the hospital; that was at 7pm Friday.

Ok, before I go any further, let me tell you what I had pictured Benjamin's birth to be:
1. go natural, but not against the epidural if necessary
2. have Alan cut the cord
3. do NOT want a c-section

Three simple things...ok, back to the story.

We got to Baptist East and checked in, the nurse checked me and I was only dilated a centimeter! I wanted to cry, I had been awake and in labor since 2:30 that morning and I was only a centimeter??? REALLY??? The nurse said that they wanted to check out Benjamin's heart rate and then they will send us home. Sounded like a great plan, didn't want to stay in the hospital if I didn't have to. So the nurse got me hooked up to the contraction monitor and the heart rate monitor. Benjamin's heart rate was all over the place; up and down so they wouldn't let me get out of bed to walk around. Do you know how hard it is to lay in bed while going through contractions? Not fun. Two hours go by and Benjamin isn't calming down, I would have a contraction and his heart rate would go up (which its supposed to do) but wouldn't go back down after the contraction. He would be kicking me after the contractions, which made his heart rate stay elevated, which lead to me being admitted to the hospital. So much for laboring at home. The nurse finally let me walk around a bit and that seemed to help ease the pain.

Ok, here is where is gets a little blurry, now keep in mind I had been awake since 2:30 Friday morning.

I think it was Saturday morning and I had been awake for more than 24 hours, I was exhausted and had progressed to 5 centimeters, half way there (which is a lot further than you think!). I was throwing up and Alan did great, didn't puke! I remember laying in the bed hooked up to the monitors and watching Alan sleep in a chair and being so mad at him for sleeping. I was in pain and I needed his help, but every time I tried to call him a contraction would come on and I couldn't speak. My nurse came in to check on me and she said that I wasn't progressing and she suggested the epidural. I was all game at this point. Give me the drugs! I was exhausted! The epidural was great (other than Alan almost passing out when they had to give it to me) , actually there are no words for how wonderful an epidural is after you have been awake and in labor for more than 30 hours. Once the epidural kicked in, I returned to my normal self and not hating my husband and took back the words "this is it, no more kids, this is your only one!" I was able to relax and I think I slept, but not sure. Alan called my parents around 11am and then his parents. We had many visitors and everyone was so excited, won't be long now!

They broke my water and found that Benjamin had already had a bowl movement, so a neonatologist had to be present at the birth. The then had to slide a wire up me to attach to Benjamin's head so that the monitor more closely how he was doing. The also had to slip a tube up there to flush out the poopy amniotic fluid. Hours passed and by 4pm Saturday I was at 9 centimeters! Woohoo! We are all getting excited! However, little Benjamin wasn't quite in position, he was still very high. They cranked up the pitocin and tried to get me to 10 centimeters, but Benjamin wasn't dropping. The Dr. came in and said that we could wait one more hour, but then we would need to do a c-section.

I cried and I'm pretty sure I saw Alan wiping away tears. I did not want a c-section. Alan almost passed out when we watched a video of one in class! I needed him to be there! My mom and grandma were great (both nurses so they know what they are talking about) and said that we have to do what is best for Benjamin and me. I had been running a fever and my blood pressure was really low, 78/39

Around 4pm Saturday they started prepping me for the surgery. At this point I just wanted it to be over with. Alan said he would be ok to go back with me, he promised he would not look over the sheet to see the surgery. We said goodbye to my family and off we went. They got me ready and then they brought Alan in where he sat on my right hand side by my head. He kissed my forehead and told me everything was going to be ok. The anesthesiologist was a younger guy and was awesome. I was throwing up and he gave me meds to make me feel better. My teeth were chattering and I was shaking, which was normal he said. I asked him what they were doing and he told me every step. "They are making the cut..." "Now you will feel like some one is jumping on you, like a trampoline..." "They are pulling him out..." "He is here!" Alan saw him and looked at me and I said "go." Alan went over to the warmer to see our son. I still hadn't heard him cry, but they reassured me he was ok. I later found out that they had to intubate him and bag him so that the meconium wouldn't get in his lungs. Then I heard him cry! Alan took him out to meet our family. I wish I could have been there to see their face and hear what they had to say. After they put me back together, I went to recovery where Alan and Benjamin sat waiting. The nurse encouraged me to breastfeed and he latched on immediately, there the three of us sat for an hour getting to know each other. At that point it didn't matter how he got here, didn't matter that Alan didn't get to cut the cord, or that I wanted a natural childbirth. Benjamin arrived a healthy, 7 pound 9 ounces and 20 inches long at 5:07 pm Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009.

And that is all that matters.