The Lineup

We had a reunion with our child birthing class tonight at the home of our teacher now that all the little one's have been born!  (It took me three hours to cut up vegetables for our vegetable tray and Jack ate the Olive Penguins that I had started to make while I was tending to Kate.  I will probably never try to make them again...and I will also probably just buy a pre-cut vegetable tray for our next soiree.)

Now that's a nice looking class!

We talked about our babies and our labors and deliveries and enjoyed some delicious food and wonderful company.  We also lined all of the sweet babies up on the couch to snap a quick photo.  What resulted was pure comedy:

Brian's view.
Kate is in the pink dress.

Erin's view.
She was such a darling!

She was not quite sure what to think of the whole thing,
but she was so sweet sitting there.

It was really nice to see everyone and meet their new additions after spending five weeks in class with them!

Congratulations to all the new Mommies and Daddies, and Happy Holidays!

The Elusive Hippo

Kate wonders why her parents insist on hanging blue hippopotamuses above her head.

"Why, if that thing falls on me..."

As if being toted around in a carrier seat isn't enough...

Guess What Time It Is!!

HINT: This is a jerry-rigged photo studio.
Yes, our paper towel holder doubles as our
light source.  And, yes, that is a painter's light.

If you guessed it's time for our annual Christmas card photo shoot, then you guessed right!!  Yep, we are currently working on this year's masterpiece and we are very excited to include a new prop our sweet baby girl!!  (I meant that in the sincerest of terms, Kate...)

For your viewing pleasure, here is last year's holiday card and cards from years past and a sneak peek for this year's card:

Jack *loves* this time of year!

Happy Holidays!

He's Baaack!

I would tell you, but you wouldn't believe me...

...So I will show you:

Matt came back into town.  He loves him
some Buckeyes...and chili dogs...and
extremely short trips to the states as seen
here and here and here and now this post.

He had never attended an OSU vs. Michigan game and
both Brian and he decided what better game than Urban's
first season and the very last game of the Buckeye's
so far undefeated season.

Meanwhile, Kate supported her Daddy and
his Buckeye's from home with her
Mommy, who, unfortunately, did not don
any scarlet and gray that day...

They chose a good one.  They were both
able to revel in the glory of the Buckeye's
defeating the Wolverine's in the 12-0
victorious first season coached by
Urban Meyer. 

I don't think this is a game that either will forget anytime soon!  Thanks for making the trip, Matt!

This Year's Prize Turkey

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with a stop at Brian's Dad's and a stop at Brian's Aunt's.  We had a double dose of turkey!  Kate was such an angel at both places and slept soundly in everyone's arms!

Courtney, Kate's cousin, put it perfectly - who is this year's prize turkey?!  Why, Baby Kate, of course!

Our first Thanksgiving together!

We have so much to be thankful for this year, but Kate certainly tops our list!

Happy Thanksgiving from our turkey family to yours!

Theme Songs

I come up with some pretty random things in the middle of the night.  This is one of them.  Last night I was overcome with the desire to list our current theme songs. 

What in the world, you ask?

Well, our current theme songs are those that are playing in our individual heads throughout the day and night.  No one else can hear them, but they capture the emotion/moment/melody of our current life or the happenings in our life.  Each one of us has our own song, currently, but it is very possible to have a family theme song.

On November 20, 2012, these are our current theme songs:

Brian's current theme song is I Don't Give a Damn For the Whole State of Michigan - with the looming OSU football game this weekend against archrival University of Michigan, Brian sees only in scarlet and gray.

Erin's current theme song is Dream by Priscilla Ahn - this melodic myriad of emotions captures the wide spectrum of emotions that she is currently experiencing.

Kate's current theme song is No Sleep Till Brooklyn by the Beastie Boys - our sweet little girlie has been pretty consistent at giving us four to seven hour chunks of sleep since we returned from the hospital; however the last couple nights have been more like two hour chunks...

Bun's current theme song is Another One Bites the Dust by Queen - for Bun knows all to well what happens when another member is added to the family.  I actually think Bun is singing this song to Jack...

Jack's current theme song is the acoustic version of As Long As You Love Me by Justin Bieber - Jack is still working out where he fits into the mix with a new family of three.  We are working together together to make sure he knows that no matter what we still love him.

We are quite a musically diverse bunch, I tell ya!  Now I wonder how long theme songs last...

Scrub a Dub-Dub

Kate's first time in the tub!

Kate's umbilical cord came off on Monday.  I found it plastered to her leg with poop that exploded from her diaper, so we didn't save it.  But we did give her her very first bath and got her smelling so fresh and so clean, clean!

Daddy is very daring holding that naked butt
with no protection!

Testing the water temperature, sans baby.

Kate's not too sure what to think of this contraption.

And decides to watch with only one eye open.

Mommy assures her all will be well!

And makes sure all her bits are clean!

Uh-oh...our one and only crisis moment.

Phew!  Crisis averted.

Warm, snuggly, and clean after our first bath!   ♥

Bunny Toes

Our sweet Kate is 110% cuddly all over, but how can you do anything but smile and snuggle these toes when you find these sweet little footsies beneath the covers?!

Soooo cute!

You can't.  Trust me, you can't!

Sleepy Smiles!

We know that we still have a few weeks until Kate smiles from true emotion, but in the meantime we are enjoying the innocent smiles we witness while she sleeps!

Today we caught one:

Somewhere fun in Slumberland!

Bless her sleepy little heart!

Capture the Moment

Kate received her very first sponge bath today!  Her umbilical cord is still very much attached so we got some towels, washcloths, warm water and a bit of soap to get our baby clean!  (Not that she was very dirty or anything!)

Shortly after Kate's bath, we wrapped her up in her towel to keep her warm and she quickly found her thumb.  (Yes, we have a thumb/finger sucker on our hands!)  She looked so absolutely adorable that we couldn't help but capture the moment!

Adorable!

A Walk in the Park

With the unseasonably warm weather, we got out of the house for a little bit for Kate's first walk around the block despite the headaches that I am still having.  Yes, still.

Kate slept through the whole thing!

This is our first official walk together as a family.  Although it was short, it was monumental to us in every way!  This is only the first of many walks we will be taking!!

Daddy drove on our very first walk as a family!

Back To The Hospital

It had been my intent throughout our entire pregnancy not to resort to getting the epidural unless I needed it.  I knew it was available, but I wanted to be able to make the decision to get it, if we needed it, on my terms.  I had absolutely no idea what we were getting into, but I did know that women have been giving birth to children for thousands of years.  Many of them without epidurals.

My reasoning for not wanting an epidural, initially, is threefold.  First, it scared me.  Anything that gets that close to your spine and that you have to sign a release for is serious.  I had heard so many different stories about epidurals, some good, some bad, but if we didn't need to tempt fate, then I wasn't going to sign up for an epidural.  (For the record, I had to sign a release when I went sky diving and didn't think twice about it.)  Second, I am not a huge advocate of medicine.  I will certainly take something when I need to but I don't like the abuse that is too common in modern medicine.  When I need to take medicine, I want it to work.  I don't want my body to be immune to it and have to take a larger dosage or resort to alternate methods.  And third, I absolutely can't stand side effects.  I don't like not feeling like myself because of medicine, and I didn't want to incur any side effects if we didn't need to, especially after the birth of our very first child.

I kind of went into our labor and delivery with the thought that my body will produce the contractions that I can handle.  I had confidence in my own body.  I wasn't going to be laboring in anyone's body but mine, it was all me, and I believed that my strength and pain tolerance would help me through.

And it did, but the fact that I went into labor so quickly and was under the impression that I was only dilated 4 cm when I was at 10 cm and was shaking non-stop because of the pain AND had heard the lady down the hall screaming bloody murder just hours before it was our turn, I chose to get the epidural.

I mentioned in our labor and delivery post that when we did get the epidural we were given some time to relax.  This is because had we not received the epidural we would have started pushing right then and there.  Everything happened the way it was supposed to.  We know now what to expect should there be a next time, but this first time took us both by surprise.

What was even worse was the fact that I had to go back to the hospital on Monday after our appointment with our pediatrician to get a blood patch because I was experiencing severe spinal headaches as a result of the epidural.  Fear #3 came to fruition.  I was experiencing a side effect of the epidural, except this one would end up lasting two weeks.  (Yes, this post is back dated.)

The persistent headache that began a few hours after delivery was terrible.  Any position other than laying 100% horizontal caused a severe throbbing, aching pain in the front of my head.  These headaches were worse than any headache I had ever had before and have been told they are worse than migraines, but I've not experienced a migraine so I cannot say if that is true.

We had a couple of days where my headache subsided enough for me to function.  It kind of went like this:

Wednesday, 10/31/12, 3:38 am - Kate was born.

Wednesday, 10/31/12, 7:30 am - An anesthesiologist checked in on me and I explained my headache.  She said that wasn't uncommon, especially when the epidural had to be administered twice and to drink some caffeine and stay on the fluids.  We learned that when our first epidural was administered, apparently it was not placed correctly, so the needle went in and did not hit the right spot so they had to put the needle in my back a second time...  Fear #1 also came to fruition.

Thursday, 11/1/12 - Another anesthesiologist checked in on me and my headache had subsided, but was still semi-present.

Friday, 11/2/12 - Our going home day - My headache was worse than it was on Wednesday.  I was told to keep up the caffeine and drink a lot of water.

Saturday, 11/3/12 - My headache was nearly gone.  I thought this was the end!

Sunday, 11/4/12 - My headache was back with a vengeance.  I tried to continue with the fluids.

Monday, 11/5/12 - I could barely function.  My headache was worse, and at the recommendation of our pediatrician, we headed back to the hospital for a blood patch.

Once again, I was getting an epidural.  A blood patch is where they give you an epidural but use your own blood in lieu of the pain medication that would normally be used.  I, at this point, had received two epidurals with this labor - a serious tempt of fate.  This would be number three.

We were told that the procedure would take approximately one hour. I fed Kate and then Brian and I headed to the hospital while my Mom stayed with Kate. We figured we had at least two good hours which seemed like plenty of time for an hour procedure.

Boy, were we wrong. FIVE AND A HALF hours later, we were home.

The blood patch was not fun and here's why:

1. I told one anesthesiologist that I have small veins and that it is sometimes hard to get blood.  Seven pokes later in both arms and he finally believed me.  He ended up pulling blood from an artery in my right wrist (WARNING: Close your eyes if reading blood descriptions is too graphic.) which started spurting blood everywhere.  And I thought if I didn't die or become paralyzed from this third epidural, I most certainly would be bleeding to death.

2. I had to lay flat for an hour and a half after the procedure was done.  This whole procedure took place in the recovery ward where patients were slowly coming to after surgery, so there were moans and groans and weird conversations everywhere.

3. Brian couldn't stay with me, so I had to do all of it alone.  And I was scared this time too.  Luckily, the nurse held my hand.  And, Brian was allowed back after the procedure, so he was able to comfort me then.  (THANK GOODNESS!)

4. My breasts were so engorged because I hadn't fed Kate in so long that they started leaking and they hurt.  How embarrassing.

5. We ended up having to pump some milk to get to Kate since we were at the hospital so long.  Brian ran the bottle of milk back home to my Mom and Kate, but when we started pumping my right nipple started bleeding...Seriously?!

6. The blood patch, which we were told had a 90% success rate and you start feeling better an HOUR after you get it done, didn't work.  I had headaches for another week and a half after the blood patch and a total of two weeks after our delivery.  They weren't nearly as severe, but they were definitely still there.  I think that was part of the reason that we got so far behind in our posts.  The anesthesiologist said that if we get the blood patch done a second time, there was a 99% success rate.  No.  We weren't going to get a FOURTH epidural.  Especially since the third didn't work.

What a roller coaster ride.  I am 150% thankful that we no longer have these headaches, but it was not easy taking care of a newborn and suffering.  I am also extremely grateful for my Mom and Brian who were huge helps while I was laid out flat. 

I cannot say that we will never get an epidural again.  It did take every ounce of pain in my body away.  But I do hope that if we do, it is a one time thing, and we don't have a spinal headache to contend with for two weeks.

I seriously doubt I could take care of a toddler and a newborn with a headache like I had!

Kate's First Week

Our baby girl is one week old today!  She is an absolute angel!  Kate has had a plethora of visitors, but instead of talking about them, we'll show you all the excitement in Kate's very own album:

Click for more photos!

I can assure you that this is only the first of many Kate albums!!

Visit to the Ped

We took Kate to her very first appointment yesterday!  It was with her pediatrician.  Unfortunately, someone broke into the electrical box and stole all the copper wiring the prior night, so there was no electricity, but we made it in and got all the vitals and introduced our sweet baby girl to her pediatrician, Dr. O'Brien!  (Kate meet another doctor from this same practice at the hospital.)

When Kate was born, she weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19" long.  When we left the hospital on Friday, three days after she was born, she weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz.  Yesterday we found out that she weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and has already grown an inch!!  She is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight!

We are just so overjoyed and over the moon in love with our precious baby girl!  We cannot get enough of her adorable face and we are so happy that she is healthy and growing!

(Is it bad that she is only six days old and I already don't want her to grow up?!)

2, 3, 4...10!

When it comes to labor and delivery, no story is quite the same.  You have fast labors, slow labors, easy labors, hard labors, etc.  Ours is no different.  And, like a lot of my posts, I can get quite winded, so here is your warning: this is a long story, but it is our story and we want to share it, so if you want to hear it, read on!  Or, if you'd rather do the picture-book version of our story, click on the photo at the very, very bottom of this post!

This is our labor and delivery story.

We went in for our normal doctor's appointment at 2:15 pm on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.  We were five days overdue.  We found out that I had lost two pounds, that our baby's heartbeat was right on target, that we were dilated to 3 cm (this was the same as the last appointment), that we were 50% effaced (this was also the same as the last appointment), and that our darling girl had scoot her way down to a zero station (we were at a -1 station at the last appointment). 

I wasn't having any painful contractions and there were no signs of us going into labor, so our doctor said that it was time to induce.  She said, "How about tonight?!"  She mentioned that they typically didn't want the Mommies-to-be to go over 41 weeks and we would be at 41 weeks on Thursday.  She was on call and being that we absolutely love our doctor and would be honored if she was able to deliver our little girl, we decided that that night would be it.

Brian and I were both pretty giddy, a little shell shocked, slightly nervous, and very excited!  That night it was!  We were going to be induced!  We were going to have our baby!!  We were going to meet our daughter!!!

We were hooked up to the non-stress test monitor once more to be sure that all was going well with our little bambino inside the womb and our induction was scheduled for 8 pm - October 30, 2012.

We headed home, grabbed a few last minute items, let our family and friends know the prognosis, and headed back to the hospital.  It was game time, seriously!

We left our house shortly after 7:30 pm and when we arrived at Riverside Hospital we pulled around to the Women's Center and parked in the Labor and Delivery parking.  That was so surreal.  Are we really going to have our baby tonight?!  We were both relatively calm.  I, for one, did not envision us coming to Labor and Delivery so calm and together.  I thought more of what you see in the movies, you know, woman crying out in painful agony, man all disheveled, confused.  But that was not us.  We parked together, got our bags together (Brian was the gentleman and carried both of our bags!), and walked up to the hospital entrance - our home away from home for the next few days - together!

We took the "Patient" elevators to the third floor which we learned were not necessarily for "patients" and got checked in for our induction.  Our labor and delivery nurse, Jamie, got us all set up in room 3204, and assured us that she would be by our side at least until 7 am when her shift ended.  She made it very clear that she didn't expect to meet our little girl with us.  (Little did we all know, she was going to be mistaken.)

While Jamie left to get the orders from our doctor as to how our doctor would like us to proceed, I undressed and suited up in the oh-so-flattering hospital gown and Brian checked the room and scoped out the floor for all the necessary items we learned about in our birthing class - birthing balls (we had FOUR of various sizes!), hot water in the shower, ice chips, etc.  It appeared we were all set!

(Side note: While we were getting situated with Jamie and filling her in on our pregnancy history, we heard this woman cry out in a very shrilly, screechy, bloody murder kind of scream.  I must've gotten a bit pale because Jamie said, "That woman screaming scared you, didn't it?"  I nodded.  I wasn't going to lie to my nurse.  What I had just deemed was going to be the "best night ever" had taken a drastic turn.  Jamie explained that that was probably the final push and we probably won't hear anything else...Well, a few more screams later and this woman was still screaming.  I tell you this story because my intention this entire pregnancy was to not receive an epidural.  I, obviously, had never done this before and I knew the epidural was available, but I wanted to approach labor and delivery as natural as possible and resort to it if I needed it on my terms.  Fortunately, the woman down the hall stopped screaming, but her screams left a lasting impression on what we were in for.  I'm not going to lie to you either, that was when I started to get a little scared about what was to come.)

Anyway, when Jamie returned, we learned that our doctor's orders were to break my water, have us do two 45 minute walks around the hospital floor and go from there.  So, a resident was called to get us started.

I was hooked up to an IV and we were placed on monitor to keep an eye on our baby and to establish a baseline to measure all future stats against. 

The resident broke my water at around 9:30-9:45 pm, and after I was dressed in oh-so-sexy hospital panties and a protection pad, it was time to start our first 45 minute walk.  Hospital attire is just top notch, wouldn't you say!?

Brian's Dad, Andy, and stepmom, Kathy, joined us for our first walk.  We walked around the labor and delivery floor and the postpartum floor numerous times.  The laps weren't necessarily very long ones so the scenery didn't change much during our walks!  I still didn't feel very many strong contractions.  I could walk, talk, and breathe the whole time.

Upon our return, we were hooked up to the monitor again to check the stats on me and our sweet girl.  Our nurse wanted to be sure that we were all doing alright before she sent us out again on our second 45 minute journey.  Andy and Kathy headed home after our first walk so our second was left for us to traverse alone.  We started our second walk slightly before 11:00 pm.  And shortly thereafter, maybe 20-25 minutes, I started having contractions...real contractions - you know, the ones that have you doubled over in pain?!  Yeah, those kind of contractions.  The contractions I had been waiting for. 

It was definitely time!

Toward the end of our second 45 minute walk, my contractions were very strong and about 4 minutes apart.  I could not walk, talk, or breathe through these contractions.  I had to stop walking, stop talking, and really concentrate to breathe!  Jamie saw that we were progressing well and met us back at our room to check our progress.

We arrived at the hospital 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and baby at a 0 station.  After our water was broken and we had taken two 45 minute walks, we were 4 cm dilated, 70% effaced and our baby was still at a 0 station.  We were hooked up, again, to the monitor to keep an eye on progress.  And in a matter of 15 minutes, my contractions were right on top of each other - like 30 seconds apart.  The moment one ended, I could feel another beginning, and they were not lousy contractions.  They were strong, they packed a punch, and they left me completely drained. 

Knowing that we were at 4 cm and had 6 cm more to go AND we were having contractions right on top of one another, I opted to get the epidural.  I was scared from that freakin' lady screaming earlier on, I was in pain from contractions - like I could not stop shaking - they had me on oxygen because they thought our baby girl's heartbeat was low but we just weren't getting a good reading because I was shaking so much, and I was very nauseous.  I didn't think I would be able to do this for 6 more centimeters without some pain meds.

In the time that it took Jamie to call the anesthesiologist, wait for the anesthesiologist to arrive, and have the anesthesiologist administer the epidural (approximately 40 minutes), we dilated from 4 cm to 10 cm, but we didn't realize it until after we received the epidural and our doctor came in a checked us.  We were at 10 cm, we were fully effaced, and our baby was at +2 station.  (+4 is crowning, mind you.)

Our nurse said to us, "No wonder you were in so much pain!  You were going through transitional labor!"

Our doctor told us that we would've started pushing but since we had just received the epidural she would let us enjoy it for a little bit and then we would start pushing.  We were given an hour, and I didn't feel a single thing.  The epidural took every ounce of pain away.  It was really kind of strange.  We joked that we would be naming our baby girl Jamie Grace - Jamie for our nurse who stood by our side and Grace for the anesthesiologist that took our pain away!

(Another side note: I wish our nurse had realized we were going through transitional labor and checked us once more before the epidural was administered.  We know now what to expect if we are lucky enough to bring baby #2 into the world, but we were doing this blindly and put all of our trust in someone else telling us where we were.  We went through the entire labor, minus the pushing, without an epidural.  And I'm told the pushing doesn't even hurt as bad as labor.  Hindsight is 20/20, I know, but I just wish we would've known we were nearly there and didn't need an epidural since that is what I had wanted to begin with.)

Anyway, so there we were - at the hospital and ready to push...just about to meet our little girl!

We "relaxed" for about an hour.  (I use this term loosely because even though you are not feeling any pain, I don't know how "relaxed" you can be knowing that you are about to meet your very first born...Oh, AND push a BABY out of your nether regions...)

When it was time to push, Jamie walked us through our breathing and we got started.  We pushed for about 15-20 minutes and it was time to grab our doctor.  Our little baby was crowning and we waited...and waited...and waited for our doctor to join us.  Apparently, our doctor who was right outside our door had stepped away, so we waited, watching our little girl's head make its way out slowly until our doctor arrived.

She gasped when she came into the room not realizing how far along we were and grabbed a pair of gloves, she didn't even bother with her surgical scrubs until after our baby was born, and delivered our baby girl.  At 3:38 am on October 31st, 2012, Brian and I became parents to a healthy, beautiful, 7 lb. 9 oz baby - Kate Madeline.

The moments were completely and utterly surreal.  We were in the wee hours of the morn, and it was relatively quiet. The lights in our room were dim and calming except for one bright light for our doctor.  I had no pain.  I watched my body give birth to our daughter.  It felt like there was no other world outside of the room we were in, and, to us, there wasn't.  Our entire world was right there in our arms - happy, healthy, beautiful.

Our doctor placed Kate on my stomach and Brian cut her umbilical cord.  Another nurse, not Jamie, whisked Kate over to clean her up, weigh her, and give her a once over.  Ten fingers?  Check.  Ten toes?  Check.  Healthy, beautiful baby girl?!  Check!  Check!  Check!!!  Kate's Apgar score at one minute post-birth was an 8 and at five minutes was a 9.  We did good! 

Our doctor then delivered my placenta and made sure it was healthy too.  She stitched up the 2nd degree tear that I received (the worst degree is 4th), and assured us that she would check up on us in a few hours in the postpartum area.

Jamie took care of us for the next couple of hours while we did a bit of Kangaroo Care and then took us to our pimp postpartum room - room number 3116.  Yes, I said pimp, and I say so because it was three times the size of all of the other postpartum rooms.  Only the finest for our baby girl!  So, yes, P-I-M-P!

We stayed in 3116 on the postpartum floor until Friday, November 2, 2012.  All of the nurses that tended to us over those few days were fantastic!  Our entire experience (aside from the spinal headaches which is an entirely separate post) was phenomenal!  It's no wonder that people have more than one child!

We will never, ever forget this day or the moments that we brought our sweet baby girl into our world.  She is everything that we could ever ask for and she has already tugged on our heart strings.  We are so, so in love and even that doesn't describe the depth of our feelings toward her.

Welcome to the world, Kate!  We love you and are so excited to experience life with you!

Our labor and delivery story in photos.