Things I've learned

So little man has survived two weeks with us!! It seems amazing to me that my life has been completely changed and its only been two weeks. In some ways it's flown by in others it's been a long hard two weeks. I'm so thankful for friends and church family, they've kept me grounded and looking at the bigger picture. They've also taught me that no matter how hard I've had it or feel like I've had it someone else's story is much worse than mine. At the end of the day my baby is healthy and growing, and his problems were temporary where as some people's baby stories are the beginning of an extremely long hard road, our journey always had an end in sight even if at the time it was hard for me to see. So here's what I've learned, I'm an emotional wreck after birth, my husband is more my rock than he will ever realize, my mother is my hero, and my father and brother always have my back. I've learned how thankful I am my husband gets to stay with me and how unprepared I was to be a mom no matter how much I thought I had it all together, I've learned that having a plan is great but always expect the most unexpected to happen even if you think that wont happen to you. I've learned that at the end of the day my husband my have this down, but I'm still learning. I do better tossed in the sea and left to figure it out on my own, that sometimes you just have to make me be independent so that I learn in my own way I can be a mom. And finally I've learned that I am a mom, I already worry, my life isn't and will never be what it used to be and my marriage has so many new meanings and layers, I still have to pinch myself at being so blessed.

Noah's birth story 2/11/13

So our little bug is officially here! Three weeks and one day early weighing in at a whopping 6lb 10oz 18 1/2 in long. My labor was long and hard, lasting 24 hours from start to finish. my water broke around 4:55 am and it wasn't a trickle I gushed!! and I broke all the rules and woke up casey because NOTHING WAS PACKED!! I mean I was supposed to have approximately 3 more weeks. So, I showered he packed and we meandered into the hospital with my water still running. We hoped we could get checked and go back home, no dice though I was 3 weeks early and premature rupture of membranes I had earned my ticket to stay. I tried going somewhat natural and then using an IV pain med, eventually I wound up with an epidural. He was stationed so high my hips felt like they were on fire as they tried to widen and the med they have me to start labor cytotech caused my contractions to continually peak without really subsiding. And once I got the IV pain med they wouldn't let me stand and labor any longer. Once the epidural was in it was much better, but I worried that he would miss because I had uncontrollable shivers. Once the epidural was in things were much better although my right side was much number than my left I could finally relax or so I thought. As the nurse and hubby are turning me back and forth to get the medicine spread evenly little mans heart rate drops, and not just a little like a lot like down into the 70s a lot. The nurse was amazing though she remained quite calm upped my fluids put me on oxygen while my husband is pulling pillows out and rolling me back to the other side. His heart rate dropped two more times resulting in me getting two doses of ephedrine to speed my heart rate which in turn would speed up his. We came very close to having an emergency c section. But little man had his own ideas and plans for his grand entrance. At some point I realized I pretty much had full control of my left leg and was feeling a lot of pain around my left pelvis area. Come to find out my pump wasn't working appropriately so anesthesia was called to push mess and fix my pump. Around midnight I do believe we started making some progress to the point I could start trying to push. I pushed for an hour, but my contractions weren't frequent enough to push him where we needed. So, pitocin was started and she had me lay on my side to see if we could get little man to turn from his sunny side up position. Casey and I dozed while waiting for progress and next time she came in I was 9cm and he was down and we were ready to get this baby out!! I think I pushed for another hour and then there he was my little trouble maker complete with cord around neck and everything. He cried before they could suction him and he was the most amazing thing I had seen in 24 hours.

Today's the day what?!

Ok so this post may be done in parts mainly because who knows what today holds!! My water seems to have broken at approximately 455 this morning, and I was a bad girl and woke my husband up. I had to it caught me totally off guard and I guess I needed someone else to confirm that today was the day!! I mean he's early like by almost a month!!! Now I'm worrying whether or not he's ok and is something wrong. Also, I needed Casey to wake up because we had nothing done. The bag wasn't packed clothes I needed weren't clean nothing. So while I'm showering he's getting stuff done! And then I'm jus t leaking away, TMI I know but do you know how hard it is to get stuff done when you keep dribbling?! Utterly ridiculous. So here it is 650 in the morning and we are headed to breakfast and then the hospital.

Sunshine on my shoulders

So, it's an absolutely gorgeous day in Georgia, I'm in short sleeves its that pretty!! The bug and I have officially made it to 36 weeks one more and he's considered full term!! Eegags that's crazy! His movements continue to get stronger and stronger and I think he's making practice drops. Every now and again I get this zing way down yonder. It feels like when you smack your funny bone. We have our next appt tomorrow and hopefully they will tell us how big they think he is. They were able to tell us last week that his head is down, so that's fabulous. I think Casey and I are somewhat ready for this next adventure. I don't think I'll ever feel truly ready, but the to do list is getting smaller. My toes are pretty and blue in honor of the bug and I'm getting my haircut next week. We're also going to pack the hospital bags next week and install the baby mirrors in the cars. Casey's still working fairly frequently but I'm down to just my weekend days, which is fine by me. I'm working on getting into a daily routine to prepare myself for labor. I've gotten back into my prenatal yoga, I'm doing upper body exercises during commercial breaks, and I'm really getting into walking at least two miles everyday. I'm also trying to lose some of me while still being healthy for him. Stood on the scale this week and I'm officially at 26 pound weight gain!! I was a little disappointed in myself my goal was 25 for the whole pregnancy. So, now I have to work at really watching my gain and what foods I eat. I think it's this sweet kick I've been on I could literally eat a bag of cookies a day!!! It's really quite ridiculous!! My child and I were doing so well at staying away from sweets because they made me fell gross and now I LOVE them! I'm trying to find balance lol. Plus my BP was a little elevated last weeks visit, so I'm keeping an eye on that too. And, I've officially stopped wearing my wedding rings. It makes me sad they still fit and all but by the end of they day they can be a little snug and I don't want them to get stuck, so I just put them up. Until my next update I leave you with the current bump picture and a little funny.