Colin's Birth Story

Colin Gabriel, 7 lbs 7 oz & 20 inches

2/11/16 10:45PM. I got up from my yoga ball only to have intense pelvic pain and pressure. I walked around the house. Pain didn't relieve itself, became more intense so I squatted next to the bed to relieve the pain and I heard a splash. My water broke. 38w1d Off to the hospital after loading our sleepy children into the van and took him to their grandparents' house. PH level test, FERN test and visual inspection All positive test results, meaning it was indeed amniotic fluid. 

2/12/16 12:00 AM 4cm, 70%, 38w2d. Plus one cm from last week. Admitted into L&D. Walked the halls for a few hours then tried to rest. 4:30 AM no change in cervix despite regular contractions, about 3/10 minutes. 7:30 Pitocin added after I was allowed to eat a good breakfast (breakfast burrito). Melissa arrived around this time. She and Paul were a great support. Walked the room. Contractions not painful until... 

11:45AM, cervix hadn't changed much, nurse thought baby was posterior (as Anna and Charlie were... I braced myself for another vacuum delivery), fore membrane broken by Dr Johnson, membranes stripped. Baby definitely LOA (anterior facing)... Yay! More intense contractions came. Nothing I couldn't handle at first. But as the hour passed, became painful, intolerable, lots of pain on my hips and lower uterus and pubic bone. Music was a great distraction for a while. 1:00, exhaustion finally got to me so I climbed into bed where I was checked again, 6-7cm, Phentanyl given after I requested an epidural, knowing the hardest part was coming. The nurse said I could go all natural. No thanks! 

1:30 epidural given and worked. Three anesthesiologist was amazing. 

1:50, checked again and 8cm, measured by nurse as well as a student named Taylor. The nurse said I could day I got my epidural at 8cm! I said I'm glad because I'd feel like a wimp if it was fewer centimeters.

Complete by 2:30! 3:12, started pushing 3:44, Colin Gabriel was born @ 7 lbs 7 oz, 20", 13.5" head, after 32 minutes of pushing, he was immediately put into my chest where I checked him to see if he was a boy or a girl... And cried for thankfulness. We had one hour of uninterrupted skin to skin... Beautiful hour, followed by breastfeeding. 💕 Afterwards, my OB prayed over us. It was an amazing, healing birth experience. My older two needed vacuums, I had to push two hours and we're immediately checked by care teams/NICU. Went home 2/13/16 weighing in at a hefty 6 lbs 14 oz LOL 

 Funny story, he was born 4 minutes after my scheduled 38 week appointment with my OB!

Baby #3, 37 Weeks

My 37 week appointment went well. 3cm dilated, 70% effaced, -2 station. The doctor said he thinks I'll go into labor once my cervix is more anterior and the baby drops down a bit. Bought an exercise ball, bounced on it for a few days and today waved adios to my MP. I don't care if it's too much information for the random person who reads this blog, but not only am I a note-taker at heart, but it's also nice to be reassured I won't be pregnant for the next century.
Oh, in addition, if I don't go into labor on my own before then, an induction date will be set for my 39th week. I asked for it because I fear shoulder dystocia recurring in this little one and the longer I'm pregnant, the more likely it becomes that this issue will happen again. There's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Baby #3, 35 Week Appointment

I didn't realize I'd been leaving appointment notes on this blog and I think it's a great idea for this pregnancy as well. I like comparisons. Anyhow... I am now almost 37 weeks, but here are my 35 week notes:

I had the GBS test and the doctor checked my cervix: 1cm and 50% effaced. I've never been checked this early, so there really is no comparison. BP was normal. Weight 148. I also was able to get an ultrasound done to check the baby's weight. Charlie was so big and he had shoulder dystocia, which can be dangerous, and puts me at a greater risk of having another baby with SD. Baby was a normal size, estimated at 5 1/2 pounds and appx 8 lbs at 40 weeks, so pretty normal. The highlight was being able to see the baby's face in 3D! He or she looks so much like Anna and Charlie as newborns. :)

This Friday is my 37 week appointment and I'm going to bring up the idea of induction at 39 weeks to avoid SD. Although baby is average, weight estimates are as much as a pound off in either direction. I think waiting until 40 weeks is pushing my luck.

Until next time...

Hello, baby!

We're Here and We're Home

It's been a while since I have blogged. I guess I didn't feel like I had much to say. A lot has happened over the last couple of years.

We're back in our home state! Praise God! I'm so much happier here. I'll admit that I was depressed in Washington. I was cut off from the family I knew and I'm too much of an introvert to make friends easily enough for it to not matter that I'm not near family.

The biggest blessing, besides being near family again and finally getting involved in church activities (outside of Sundays) is that we have a home. WE HAVE A HOUSE. No more apartment living in Washington state... the sound of music blasting, the smell of marijuana wafting through the open windows... WE HAVE A HOUSE. 1300 square feet. (Our apartment had just under 900 square feet!) Sky lights! Thank God for sky lights... I get S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) and sunlight is the best therapy.

The kids once again live near family, Anna is beginning to make new friends (although she misses her dear friends Sanaiya and Maggie) and seems much more at ease in her new surroundings. Charlie is happy as a clam because he has a back yard! Sometimes he'll go outside and just dig and dig and dig. I think he might be part dog. ;) Anna has snapped two branches from the trees because of climbing on them. She's part monkey, for sure. ;) Her nickname has been Monkey since she was a baby. Did you know she could cross the monkey bars when she was just three years old? I wish I had gotten a picture of that because it just sounds like a wild story without solid proof! But she did! And nothing's changed... she still rocks the monkey bars! I think the second biggest challenge for her, besides leaving friends behind, was figuring out how to go from Common Core math curriculum to a... erm, regular curriculum. I guess, the silver lining is that now she knows how to do both and can use the CC as a strategy that other kids aren't familiar with. We had a lot of tears over that.

I'm not sure what this blog will evolve into, but if I have my way, it'll become a way to document a foster care journey. That's something that is very much on my heart... FC and adoption. But one step at a time.

In the meantime, I think we're just enjoying being able to live an average and happy life. Back yards, sunshine (Yes, it's sunnier in Oregon than in Washington!), family, smiles... and room to spread our wings a little bit!

8 years old... wants to donate her hair when it's long enough... an absolute sweetheart!

3 years old... this is Charlie with his new-to-him friend he named Shelly the Lion. He loves this thing!

Musical boy!

They love each other! I think they even argue less than the average sibling set! I hope. :)

2014 is Here

Well, I don't really update this blog very much, but maybe it's something I should pick up again. I got on the blog and the little map on the bottom, to my surprised, showed that I've been having regular visitors. I hope nobody is stealing my beautiful pictures! ;) I never really thought about photo security when I started this blog.

Well, a bit of an update: The kiddos are 7 and 2. Charlie is a bit of a wildman, sweet, silly and abhors sleep. ;)  Anna is a sweet little thing. She's bright and has developed a love for Harry Potter, Ninjago and a host of other odd things like that. She really is her own person!

I'd be lying if I said I was used to Washington. I guess I long to return to Oregon, to be close to family, far from rain and less lonesome on long days. I love staying home with my boy, but I need some sort of an outlet. I'm an introvert, so it's hard to create friendships and after two years here, I haven't created a new friendship, although I've maintained at least one old one! I sound pathetic, right? Well, that's the plight of the introverted person: I love people, but I have a lot of social anxiety. I start questioning whether or not I'm annoying people, and I just have a difficult time creating those relationships. It definitely blows. No, I'm not totally cut off from the world. I have created some "bus stop mom" acquaintances, I've been trying to be involved in small groups at church, and of course there's the internet! If I had a choice, I'd be in Oregon, I'd spend my days off with family and work while the kids went to school and things would be easier on my emotionally. I'm incredibly thankful for my husband, he's the truest friend. I'm so blessed by him! He works hard.

Lately, I've really been looking at Reece's Rainbow (reecesrainbow.org) and really praying for the kids there. I feel so drawn to adoption, I always have. I'd love to be one of these moms, out there in Russia or China, adopting a baby and bringing that child home. Maybe someday!!!! :) We wouldn't pass a homestudy or meet financial requirements at this time, though.

Summer So Far: Father's Day, 19 Months, Superhero Day, and Pirate and Princess Summer

Here are a few pictures of our summer so far...

Disneyland

Originally this post was titled "My Poor Lonely Abandoned Blog"! I guess it's been a while since I've blogged here. It's been easier to just jot down my thoughts in a sentence or two on Facebook. It's been really busy with two little ones, but summer is coming around and so is sleep! Anna finishes up kindergarten tomorrow, Charlie is 19 months old, and both are like little hurricanes in our tiny little apartment.

The big thing to happen this year was our April trip to Disneyland. We were finally able to return to the Happiest Place on Earth and we had a blast! Every morning, Charlie would climb into the stroller, all ready to go and excited. Anna of course loved it and loved meeting Merida. I was surprised that Charlie loved the characters, even the ones with the big masks and costumes like Minnie Mouse (he cried when we took him away from her so others could meet Minnie). We walked Main Street, saw the water show, rode rides, strolled through shops, ate Disney food, and basically spent a lot more money than hubby thought we would (I warned him about setting aside X amount of money for food, but he thought we'd spend less... I win!). hehe It was wonderful and I can't wait to return again. We skipped a lot of rides that the kids were too short to ride on or the lines were too long for our impatient little ones to sit through. Next time I think we'll hit the Radiator Springs Racers, the California Screemin' and many others.

Baby Belly Blues

Tonight, Paul came up behind me and hugged me. Then, he put his hands on my tummy (as he did when I was pregnant) and said, "I'm gonna miss the baby belly." My voice cracked as I said, "Me, too." He said that if he could, he would have a dozen babies with me. That's how I feel! I'm not sure why God puts a desire in our hearts to mother or father many kids when it isn't financially feasible. Maybe things will change in the future so that I wouldn't feel guilt about having more kids than my two little ones, but I can't see that happening. Then again, a year ago, hubby was unemployed and we were living with my in-laws... now we're in an apartment again, doing fine and paying our bills - but we're just right there. It wouldn't be fair to have more kids. God help me to heal this part of my heart and accept having only my two beautiful and perfect little ones. Help me to be the best mommy I can be to these children. Amen.

Boys Will Be Boys

Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with my 5 year old. She went downstairs and apparently saw her friend's 2 year old brother's penis (I'm guessing he got out of the bath or was running around, I dunno), so she drew it for me (apparently he's circumcised) and then wanted to draw it bigger for me to see. lol I said, "No, no, honey. We don't draw penises. That's not nice. Besides, your brother and dad have penises and I've seen them. I know what they look like." She looked at me with big eyes and then squinted at me: "You've SEEN daddy's penis?!" Yes, yes, I have.

It's Official! I have a kindergartener!

 Meeting Mrs. Donati

 Anna's Merida backpack

Anna became a kindergartener today. She's so excited! I made her lunch: almond butter and jelly sandwich, strawberries, carrots, a pumpkin cupcake (tastes just like pumpkin pie - thanks Pinterest!), milk and a strawberry straw. Her teacher is Mrs. Donati and she also has a teacher named Mrs. Goin. Paul and I got to stay for story time. We, along with other parents, stood around and snapped pictures! haha :) We love our little girl! She's growing up so fast. I'm nervous about habits she might pick up from other kids. I just hope it goes well.