Amelia Jane

• Born November 1st at 7:55 AM


• 7 pounds 2 ounces and 19 inches long

We set our alarms for an early rise Tuesday morning, November 1st. Our bodies thought otherwise as both Tom and I slept through both of our alarms and didn't wake until 4:45 while needing to be at the hospital by 5:30. Whoops! We both did manage to get showered and dressed in time and pulled up to the hospital doors at 5:30 on the dot. After we checked in with the front receptionist we headed up to the second floor/peri-op where we would spend our time directly before and after delivery.

Everything was pretty routine with lots of paperwork being completed and IV's being administered. It was finally time and they wheeled me to the OR while Tom waited in the hall. The dreaded moment came to get my spinal, man do I hate that part. Finally they laid me down and Tom was allowed to come in. In typical fashion my body starts shivering and I begin to throw up, a lovely way to welcome your child to the world. After what felt like an eternity Amelia was finally born! I was almost done when I felt pain in my belly. I looked at the nurse who was messing with my medicines the entire procedure and calmly advised her that I'm on the verge of freaking out. At that point I could feel pain, I was still vomiting and my arms where shivering so hard that I looked like I was having a seizure. If I had feeling in my legs I might have sprung off that operating table! The whole c-section was miserable and felt like the longest to me.

Finally, they get me ready to wheel me back to periop where I would spend my recovery and I get to hold her. My second sweet baby girl. After we get to recovery the nurses start right away checking her and I. Amelia's blood sugar was too low so the nurses had me give her a bottle of formula to get her sugar levels up. After that she was doing good and snoozed most of our stay in recovery. I was surprisingly in a ton of pain, not how I remember the first two c-sections. The nurses gave me medicine but it wasn't working, I was supposed to be in recovery for two hours and I was there nearly four because my pain and blood pressure would not get under control. At one point my blood pressure reached 199/115 and the pain was like something I had never experienced before.

Once my pressures came down we were transferred to our hospital room. Everything went pretty well with the exception of around 7:00 pm the first night. The nurse at the time came in and advised us that Amelia would be under the bilirubin lights because her blood type is B positive and my type is O positive and the two don't mix. What a terrible night that was, she hated the lights. She was not allowed to be held unless she was eating so that the lights could break up the bilirubin and get her levels down. All in all we made out okay and got to leave the hospital a day early.

It's a week later and I feel like crud but I'm hoping that will pass soon. Amelia went to the doctor's office Monday and is down to 6 lbs 8 ozs. I went to my doctor Monday as well and my pressure is still high 160/100 so they put me on blood pressure meds.

She is a great baby, she mostly sleeps and during the day I have to wake her up to feed her. The kids have gotten used to her very quickly and love being around her and loving on her. I'd say having three children is about like having two children...so far ;)

What happens when we attempt to get a picture of all three, lol:

Party of Five

Tomorrow is the big day! We'll finally get to meet this little one that's been causing so much trouble.

Tom and I will report to the hospital at 5:30 in the morning and surgery is scheduled for 7:30. Hopefully we'll be out of surgery and recovery by lunch time or near there.

I wasn't feeling too panicked or anxious until I hugged my in-laws and hugged my kids and Mom a little bit ago. I felt like I might just cry but was keeping it together. Then Tom called and I just started crying. Funny how talking to your husband just draws out those emotions you can otherwise conceal. It's safe to say that my pre-baby jitters have finally kicked in, briefly. Hopefully that was my only mini meltdown because I know there is nothing to cry about. I'm super excited to meet Amelia!

I'm off to find something around the house to do and keep my mind occupied until bed time!

The Insulin Bullet

I almost dodged it this pregnancy. With 7 more weeks of baby cooking I was finally put on insulin today. I thought I'd be bummed out, I really wanted to say I made it one pregnancy without gestational diabetes. I did everything I could to stay off insulin but with my new-found bed rest the inactivity made my sugars slightly elevated. Just enough to require insulin.

I'll still be reporting my blood sugars twice a week to the diabetes center but today was my last appointment and I don't have to go back until January! I feel like I graduated from the endocrinologist today ;)

All in all  I'd say this is a pretty good day.

Operation Organization

Last weekend my Dad and I worked on the family room. I seem to get along best with my Dad on projects like this because we have the same mindset. We're practically twins ;)

Dad and I set forth on cleaning my family room which had somehow began to look like a room that a hoarder lived in. We threw away some things, hung shelves, cleaned some more and finally ended up with a pretty decent looking room. After Dad went home I organized DVDs and began putting them on the shelves, hung pictures, put out Tom and I's unity candle and a few more odds and ends. In between organizing the family room I worked on sanding, staining, sanding, staining and sanding some more. Voila! I had a completed handrail.

This weekend I hung more shelves and put the books up. Finding bookends proved futile so for now I just have heavy stuff sitting on the shelf to keep my books from falling in the floor. I'm itching to do more will need more money for the big items like a small loveseat/big chair and a TV stand. Once we have that this room will be all set for the kid's toys!

Big Girls and Sleeping Babies

In the very near future we are going to upgrade Hannah to a full-sized mattress. When I pictured in my head her room I always thought of  Mermaids! I looked and looked last year and couldn't find a single mermaid and if I did find one the bedding wasn't what I had pictured in my head for her. Today, since I am now in the position to purchase a mattress for her I went ahead and started looking for bedding again.  I jumped on google and typed in 'Mermaid Bedding,' with no real hope of finding something for her. Much to my surprise this popped up:



I could hardly believe it! It is adorable and age-appropriate.  I bit the bullet and went ahead and placed my order. Operation Hannah's Room Re-do will soon commence! I'm so excited to be re-doing her room and anxious to see how she handles a 'Big-Girl Bed!'

Mister Carter is doing so well lately! He is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!  Thank God!!!

Every night with the exception of Tuesday he slept through the night without a peep! Tuesday I think we threw him off by going to a dinner party and messing with his routine. Thankfully his routine is back on track now and he has continued to sleep through the night! He goes to bed around 10:30 PM and wakes up around 8:30AM. I have noticed that when he gets up a little bit earlier, then Hannah will sleep later than normal and vice versa. I think they might be conspiring against us!  j/k

I can tell my attitude has greatly improved since I have been able to get much-needed sleep!

A Sweet Little Angel

I was so pleased with Hannah yesterday at the mall. While getting her ready to go I'm running through all the possible issues we may run into especially since we are going to the dreaded mall. I wanted to get her picture with Santa and I am running out of time...especially since I avoid the mall on the weekend.

We get to the mall and I made the executive decision of no stroller. Typically I bring the stroller she doesn't want to sit in it and then she ends up walking or being carried. I could just see me trying to carry her and push a stroller by myself, that would for sure end in disaster! So we walked hand in hand through the parking lot and through the JCPenneys all the way to the Santa area. We entered the line and she peered through the rail to look at Santa. When the line moved forward I called to her and she came. If we stood for a little longer she would sit on the floor and wait. I could not believe my eyes! No matter what if she started to wander just a little I would call her and she would come. I was so impressed I wanted to cry.  It was eventually her turn, she smiled and seemed to enjoy her Santa time, we paid and walked back through the mall. With no incidents, no crying and no meltdowns!

I was astonished and glad to see that we can go to the mall and it is not a total disaster. Her next test will be doing actual shopping!

A Day of Change

Today marks the first day of Tom going back to second shift. It feels weird. I'm sure Han and I will get used to by the end of the week. Both Tom and I have all new daily routines and I think it is a little bit more lonely without him around at nights.

We officially own the house that we live in, yay! Settlement went very smoothly and we have no worries. I did get to thinking while I was there that Tom and I really need a will set up in case we both croak. I'll have to put that on my to-do-list.

I was stunned to hear that Hannah jumped out of her crib today. Tom was in the shower and she decided she didn't want to wait in the crib for him to finish. She jumped out landed on the floor and kept on trucking into the bathroom. I believe Tom said she didn't even cry!

I'm anemic now with this pregnancy. I've been taking iron for about two weeks or somewhere close to that and still feel very tired so I guess I'm just tired. I will also have to have ultrasounds every week until I'm due which begins this Wednesday. This is just to measure the size of the baby and to make sure nothing weird is going on since I have diabetes and HBP.

Good News!

So I mentioned once before that we are in the process of buying the house we currently live in from my parents. I got good news as I was about to leave work yesterday, our loan was approved and we are going to settlement on Monday the 28th! We got a super interest rate of 4.875% and our mortgage man even thanked us for having good credit. I gave myself a pat on the back for that!

My BF also found out that the offer she put down on the house she wanted to buy was approved! Good news for everybody yesterday!

"Now You Know The Birthdate"

A strange way to think about it but makes perfect sense. I received a call from the OB's office yesterday, the surgery scheduler was calling to let me know my C-section is scheduled for December 14th at 1:30pm. I had a rush of nervousness and excitement come over me. It will be exactly three months until I have another child, I don't know why but it scares me just a little.

I know this time is going to fly by, I will cherish this pregnancy as much as I can. This will most likely be my last.

An Ultrasound Day

Here is my little guy, he is doing well. Everything measured well and whatever was going on with the blood flow to my uterus seems to have cleared up because she said it looked fine today. He weighed about 1lb and 5ozs.



The front of his face, just the nose, lips and chin.

Thursday 5/21/2009

The baby is doing very well! The heart rate was 185. Today was cool, you could see the head, legs and umbilical cord. While we were looking in on him you could see him wiggling around and kicking his leg! So magical!



Yolk sac is the white ball with the black circle. Next to that you can see the bottom portion of the body. The umbilical cord is leading down. Head is to the far right-furthest from the yolk sac. The leg is right on top of the umbilical cord. Measured 8 weeks 5 days.

Thursday 5/7/2009

I had a very good appointment today! Everything is looking great and all of my blood work is really good! My hemoglobin A1C is a 5.6 which is super good!

I got to see the baby's heartbeat today! It was a moment of shear joy! I could also tell he had gotten much bigger since last week. He is starting to take shape!

The heartbeat was 124!

Here is a pic of the little guy:



I am measuring six weeks three days, giving me a new due date of 12/29/2009. This date is the official date and should not change in the future.

I do have to say this, I had to get an exam today while I was there. I hadn't had an exam with them since 2007. So they have me get undressed and put the gown on. Clearly this gown was Hannah's size. It was squeezing my fat little arms and it literally half covered the front of me. Ridiculous. It reminded me of Chris Farley and David Spade in Tommy Boy, "Fat guy in a little coat." I survived it but if memory serves me I think these people gave me a tiny little gown last time too!

Thursday 4/30/2009

Last week's appointment went very well! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me!

All of my blood work looks really good and the RE will continue to monitor me until I am 12 weeks. They estimated that I was about five weeks last week. My estimated due date is 12-20-2009. The lady that did my ultrasound sound said that may increase by a few days since it does look like I am five weeks and they will be able to measure the embryo next Thursday (the 7th).

The lady also hoped that we would be able to see the heartbeat this week! YAY!

Unfortunately, Tom is with Hannah so he hasn't been able to come to the ultrasounds with me and I don't think we will be coming to any.  :-(   At least that is how it looks so far.

Here is the little bean at five weeks:



I don't see two sacs in there so I am going to assume we dodged the twin bullet!  ;-)

Looking UP!

Finally got a call back today about my blood-work from Monday. My progesterone is way up thanks to the Prometrium! Went from 7 on Thursday with no meds to 36 on Monday! YAY!

They have me taking two pills in the morning, one pill mid-day and two pills at night. I'm quite thankful that it is working well!

I will be monitored by the RE until I am at 12 weeks. My first ultrasound will be Thursday at 9:00! I am super excited!!!

I have been uber paranoid about having twins this pregnancy. On my dad's side of the family there are three sets of twins. My grandmother had twins, her sister had twins and one of my cousins has also had twins so far. There is a pattern though. Your first baby is a single child and then the second time you get pregnant it is twins. So this will be my possible shot at having twins, lol! If this were to happen I would have a heart-attack, seriously!

So far my one best friend has decided that I am not having twins but that I am going to have another girl. My other best friend has decided that I am having a boy. My MIL has decided that I am having twins one boy and one girl. Since I have not yet fine tuned my psychic abilities I am unable to predict at this time what I will be having! Really I think I need someone to pinch me because I still am in shock. I was darn grateful to have been blessed with Hannah and to have another one on the way just seems so unreal. Maybe it will sink in when I see with my own eyes Thursday.

Just Leave Me Alone!

I am so in that kind of mood this week.

It seems like every moment I am at work I am pulled in a thousand directions. Then I get home and enjoy Hannah and when she goes to bed I am ready to just lay in bed watching TV or reading a book until bed time rolls around.

I haven't exercised in a week due to schedule conflicts and Christmas thrown in for good measure and just when I think this week is going to go well I ran late at work-what would have been my first day back exercising. Needless to say I didn't exercise Monday.

I am hoping my trainer doesn't think I am ignoring her on purpose because I was on a roll and hope to continue my progress sometime-eventually this week. I have also decided I am going to join the Y! I am pretty excited for that and am really hoping my husband will agree to come as well! My mom is going to go with me so that will be super fun. She used to be a fitness fanatic in her younger years so I am interested to see if she becomes that way once again.

I have set my goal to lose a minimum of 80 pounds by next October. With really trying to lose over 100lbs but I don't want to feel too overwhelmed so I just keep telling myself 80lbs. I have high hopes this will work! I need to lose at a minimum 10lbs a month and will feel successful with my goal. Hopefully the world around me can offer there support and encouragement with my goal. I need to get this body to a healthier weight to carry a child again!

As a side note, I find this terribly ironic and insensitive all at the same time...we had secret santa at work and my santa gave me DOVE CHOCOLATES! WTH! and HOT CHOCOLATE! This person mind you knew full and well that I am exercising and eating healthier so why on earth would he give me candy!

Other than my unsually crappy mood, Christmas was a lot of fun! Hannah opened her presents herself and played with all of her toys! I was pretty impressed since a lot of people were telling me that this Christmas wouldn't be fun. I beg to differ.

My MIL said to me, "Next year will be a lot more fun, she will be more interested in her toys." Don't ask me where that comment came from because neither Tom nor I complained about Christmas not being "fun." Sometimes I think people just talk to hear themselves talk.

A friend acquaintance of mine has recently made several attempts to re-kindle our friendship and even though she was given my phone number and email two months ago, she just now sent me an email on 12-23. I thought it rather interesting because I have not spoken to her in close to five years, our friendship did not end on good terms and I was fine with it. When I stop a friendship it is justifiable and the fact that she turned super shady and never paid my mother back a substantial amount of money was all the reasoning I needed to stop seeing her. So any-who, she sent me an email about how sorry she is and how she thinks about me often...blah, blah, blah. At first I replied that what happened that long ago is not a big deal anymore, etc, etc...but the more I think about her the more annoyed I get. I have all the friends that I need and really don't want anymore. If I cut you off it was for good reason and I am really not looking to re-kindle our lost friendship. I have two best friends that I have never had a falling out with and that is all I want. I don't need any fair-weather friends. Thankfully I managed to rid myself of all of them and don't want them back. Is this mean of me? I kind of feel like I am being mean, unkind and unChristian. But I really just don't want to let people that have done me wrong in the past back into my world...maybe that is too much to ask?

I think I need a vacation, but for now I'll settle on venting on this blog. Thanks to anyone that actually made it to the bottom of this post, your comments are appreciated!

Getting Organized

I finally decided that since we could no longer open the door to our spare bedroom that it needs to be organized...this is how I spent my Saturday night.

That room looks a world of  difference now! It had turned into a storage shed/things that had no place room. I hung all of my Vera Bradley's in the closet and neatly stacked my picture albums/scrapbooks on the closet shelf. Organized Tom's DVDs so that you could actually read the binding of the case instead of searching through every single one in a box. Stacked my books on my DVD rack and threw away a lot of  junk! Tried to assemble some sort of order to the baby items that no longer have a use. Thankfully the baby items won't have to move when time comes to make that into another bedroom.

The next day I decided I couldn't find anything in our pantry so my assistant Hannah and I organized that sucker. We also threw a lot out as well!

Hannah was on plastic bag detail and that kept her occupied while I was doing the rest of the pantry.

Next on my list of chores is the garage! Dun, dun, dun! The garage is the scariest thing you will ever see, seriously! There is a narrow and precarious trail that leads the length of the garage and boxes stacked out the wazoo!

I'll try to attempt that on a nice day when I can drag some stuff onto the driveway but if not I will drag it into the house. It needs done soon because I would like to park my car in there!

Christmas Shopping...

Is done! Thank the Lord for that!

 

I just have to get my Dad something, who of course wants nothing, sheesh!

Woo-Hoo!

So I've lost about 15 pounds thus far and am able to finally wear my winter pants that were a size too small! Yay!

I officially went through my closet and took out any and all maternity clothes and put them away...I'll admit it, I was still wearing some of the pants to work...I know.

I can RUN, that's right you read it, RUN on the treadmill...I have been working on doing it at intervals and was quite surprised that I could run and walk at high speeds for thirty minutes (or longer some days). Even still I'll be on the treadmill and I'll say aloud, "I can't believe I'm running!"

So that's made me pretty darn happy lately, I'm all proud of myself and what not.

Now that we have talked about me...Hannah Banana is trying to be a walking fool. She is pretty close to walking but it might take her just a little bit longer to master it. She is getting a lot braver and will walk with you if you hold one of her hands and she is starting to let go of things and walk a short amount before she loses her balance or a toy trips her up.

Yesterday I was really thinking something was wrong with her because she was falling down every two seconds it seemed. Then I realized why...she was letting go of whatever she was holding onto and trying to walk! I'll try to capture her on video this week so you can see this crazy little girl in action...she is a trip!

Bleeding To Death-*Update*

I went to the doctor on Thursday and I had my mom take me because parking is non-existent if you leave work and try to come back. We walked in the office (I had never been there before) and I looked at mom and said, "Man, this guy is going to be expensive! It looks like an Italian Cathedral in here!"

Finally I was called back to the exam room and the doctor is asking me a ton of questions. He seemed puzzled as to why my nose was bleeding so much. Then he does my exam and checks ears and everything. He FINALLY gets to the right nostril which had been giving me all the trouble and like a kid in a candy store he proclaimed, "I see it, there it is right there!" He then proceeded to have my mother come over and look in my nostril so that she could also see the issue. Apparently it was just a very small ruptured blood vessel but every time it was irritated it would bleed... like crazy!

 He stuffed a cotton swab of lidocain up my nose which of course angered the nasal blood vessel god and caused it to bleed. Then he got out silver nitrate and started to cauterize my nose with it. Then after all of this nasal irritation he has nerve enough to tell me, "Do not blow your nose for at least a week or you will dislodge the scab and you'll have to do this all over again." WTF!

After he messed with my nostril, if ever in my life I needed to blow my nose it was then. So of course I went to the bathroom and blew my nose. I didn't bleed so decided I could live with the rest of the irritation in my nose until a week passed.

I will say this, the whole process made my nostril extremely itchy on the inside and I was about to go mad sitting at my desk the rest of that day.

So far it seems to have worked well, I have not had a nose bleed since Thursday. The real test will be when it is healed and I can finally blow my nose again! Muhuwahaha!

Pump It Up

Well breastpumping is a rewarding challenge. It allows me the freedom to go without the baby when necessary but damn is it hard to get a good amount of milk stored. When I pump I get an ounce out of one side right off the bat. The other side however, does not let out any milk. I don't know if it is something that I am doing but it doesn't appear to be letting out any milk. So I basically will get an ounce every time I pump. Not sure if that is a good amount but I am hoping that with time it will produce more and maybe the one boob will cooperate and put out some milk.

I am really quite mind boggled as to why my one boob will not cooperate I do everything the same as I did on the other side, I have even tried a few different things but nothing happens.

Clearly I am going to need some sort of assistance from my mother in this matter. Or at least she can see that I am not crazy if it doesn't work while she is around!

My Grandmother who is clearly off her rocker came up with this lovely-ness this week while talking to my mom: "I just don't know about this breastfeeding, I could never do it with yuns." (Referring to my mom, aunt and uncle.) Then are you ready for this? "It must be because you and Heather have big nipples."

Excuse ME!?

When my mom told me this I was really quite shocked, then I wonder how she would ever possibly know what my nipple looked like. Then I laughed, because she is old and senile. God bless her but she is coming up with the craziest things lately. Grandma would really be a post all to herself, because ever since Grandpa died so has her mind and at times it is extremely frustrating to deal with her.

If anyone has any pumping tips please feel free to leave them.