Random Thoughts: Xmas Edition

Hi All!

I know I haven't been around much lately, but I'm still alive. A little sleep deprived and more random than usual, but happy, slightly hormonal and loving the mother of two gig so far.


So let's get started...

I recently bought a pair of slip on black Sketchers that I love. They are comfortable and fairly stylish (at least I thought so when I bought them).

Last weekend I discovered that my husband's grandmother has the exact same pair.

Sweet...

Apparently, I'm just way, way ahead of my time when it comes to fashion...like 50 years and 5 great grandchildren ahead of myself.
**************

I am now the owner of a two feet tall, talking Pillsbury dough boy cookie jar.

I totally believe that it's the thought that counts.

But sometimes I wonder what inspires the thought. What about my kitchen decor or myself makes somebody thinks that my secret desire is a huge talking dough boy?

All joking aside, I made out like a bandit on Christmas. I'm a very spoiled woman.

But not as spoiled as the little man. It really looked liked a toy store exploded in our living room.

What we bought was a very small percentage of what he received.

It's kind of mind boggling...I'm just trying not to think too hard about it.
***************

We had company for over three weeks. It came in really handy to have help with my son and a built in baby sitter for all the doctor appointments, but it's nice to have the house back to ourselves. I'm ready to get things back to normal (or at least try to find a new normal).
***************

All and all, life is good. I'm tired and a little overwhelmed, but I'm starting to get my feet under me.

Hope you all are doing well and have a great Tuesday!

The Big Baby News

Well, it's been an exciting week in our house.

My little girl did in fact decided that Monday was too long too wait. (I think she just wanted her birthday to fall safety before Christmas.)

Audrey Ann was born on Wednesday, December 16 at 4:24 pm. She was 6 lbs 1 oz and 18 inches long. She is a peanut, but a healthy, cute little peanut.

I showed up at the hospital Wednesday afternoon with contractions 8 minutes apart, dilated to almost 4 so she was delivered by c-section within two hours of our arrival. The c-section wasn't as bad as I was anticipating (although I'm sure all the drugs they gave me helped me chill out a bit).

Everybody is doing well. We even escaped the hospital a day early on Friday to avoid the massive snow storm that hit our area. (We got about a foot of snow on Saturday, which is a ton for the DC area.)

The mystery of the breech baby was also solved. She had a cord wrapped around her neck and there was no way she could safety turn. I've definitely made my peace with the c-section and am just really thankful for modern medicine at this point.

So far, Miss Audrey is showing plenty of spunk and is letting us know exactly how she likes things done. Last night she took pity on us and actually let us sleep (well, at least we got to sleep in between feeding her every 2-3 hours).

I don't usually share photos, but who could resist with a brand new bundle to show off?




And here's one of the new big brother holding her for the first time.



So far, he absolutely adores her. If anything, he is a little too into her. He wants to carry her around and put her into the crib by himself. which isn't going to happen for obvious reasons. He's has been singing her a lot of songs (hopes she likes Bob the Builder's theme song) and giving her lots of kisses.

I'll post as I'm able, but right now I'm just trying to survive and get a little sleep. We have some family coming into town for Christmas and things will be a bit crazy until next week, but I'm excited to see what the little man thinks of all the presents.

My family is truly blessed and we're all just overjoyed by our new addition. It's one heck of a Christmas present.

Hope you all have happy holidays.

Backing Her Way Into the World

Well, first off no baby yet. This is probably a good thing because she'll have a little more time to grow, but it means a little bit more time of being on high alert.

The doctor tried to flip her yesterday. Apparently, he's the best at what he does and all the nurses appear to worship him (he has a lovely Italian accent and wore a bow tie), but my little girl wouldn't have any of it.

One of the nurses told me that whichever way they come out, breech babies enter the world behind first.

So apparently this baby is bound and determined that her first act on this earth will be to moon everyone. I wonder if this is an indication of things to come?

She is a feisty little thing already. She's moves way more than her brother ever did and spent the entire hour we were kept for observation after the flip attempt assaulting the fetal heart monitor. I really think we might have our hands full with this one.

I am now scheduled for a c-section on December 21st, which will get us home on Christmas Eve as long as all goes well.

This puts the c-section at 38 weeks 2 days, which is only one day later than my son came so there is a chance I'll make it to my appointment. All the waiting is tiring, but at least we have a deadline. (I even bought a ridiculous babies first Christmas outfit and ornament today because I could.)

I'm still under strict marching order to get my behind to the hospital if I even think I might be in labor. In addition, the plan is to go to the doctor twice next week to check how things are progressing.

As of yesterday, not much had happened in the last week so we're going to try and give her a bit more time since I'll only be 37 weeks tomorrow.

I probably won't be posting very often for the next week or two. My brain is entirely filled with boring baby worries and pink fluffy thoughts so I'll spare you all, but I'll try to update if there is any news.

If anyone has any c-section insights or advice, please let me know. Anything I should definitely take to the hospital or prepare ahead of time? Anything that I should know that the nurses might forget to mention?

I've done this whole baby thing once, but I've never had a c-section so I'm not sure how different the experience will be.

Thankfully, my mother in law is willing to hang out until Christmas so we have a little help and somebody to watch the little guy if we need to disappear quickly. (And I am smart enough to just say thank you and not look a gift horse in the mouth. All pros definitely outweigh any cons of having family here for three weeks.)

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. Enjoy your holidays and I hope to be back to blogging at least somewhat regularly before too long.

No News Yet

...hello?

No... There's no baby yet.

No... Nothing exciting to report just yet.

Baby is still breech. So far it's looking like I'll make it to my appointment on Thursday.

My mother in law is in town. All the preparations are done.

Nothing to do here, but wait.

I've never felt so much like a watched pot in my entire life.

There is something truly bittersweet about these last days with just my son. I've enjoyed our time with just the two of us and I'm not sure I'm ready for it to be over.

But I'm also very excited to meet my new little one. This is such an intense week...

If I get sent home still pregnant on Thursday, I'll write a quick update and let you all know what happened.

Otherwise, I'll be in touch as soon as I can.

Hope you all have a great week.

My Little Drama Queen

Yesterday I had my 36 week doctor's appointment. (I'll won't actually be 36 weeks until tomorrow, but it was close enough and my son was in preschool).

And it looks like it might be an exciting week in our house.

I went into the appointment convinced that the baby was still breech.

The midwife checked the heart beat and heard it pretty low and she thought she "felt a head" when she checked my cervix.

So it was looking like I was just being a paranoid, annoying patient again. But she decided to do a quick sonogram just to double check.

And my little one is in fact still sitting on my cervix. And this time she was actually sucking her toes...because what else would be doing, right?

I can't imagine that is more comfortable than just flipping head down, but what do I know.

And I'm also dilated to 2...just to keep things interesting.

Combine all this with the fact that my son came right at 38 weeks after a 4 hour labor and I definitely got the poor midwife's attention.

I think this little one might just be a drama queen in training. She already knows how to make an exciting entrance.

After talking over the options, we decided the best course of action is to try to do a version where they turn the baby from the outside and if that doesn't work...c-section.

(Click here to see a u-tube video of a verson being done.)

My appointment is next Thursday and I will probably not leave the hospital pregnant whether it's successful or not.

If they are able to flip her, I will most likely be induced so that she doesn't have a chance to flip back since my body is already gearing up. And if she stays put, they will probably do a c-section because nobody wants me to go into labor with her breech and my habit of popping babies out in a hurry.

In the meantime, I'm supposed to rest as much as possible and get my behind to the hospital immediately if I have any consistent, painful contractions of any sort.

It looks like I really might be holding her by this time next week. It's kind of blowing my mind.

The in laws are coming in this weekend to help.

But I think the husband and I will be on pins and needles until the appointment on Thursday.

And I'll be crossing my fingers (and legs) hoping she doesn't decide to come in the next six days.

Frazzled and Slightly Broken

Do you ever just have one of those days?

You know...the one where you feel like you're an embodiment of every frazzled stay at home mom stereotype?

(If the answer is no, please don't tell me right now. I'm not ready to hear about how somebody loves every single second of motherhood and feels like they channel Mary Poppins daily.)

I attempted to run a couple of errands this morning with the little man in tow. It was a pretty big debacle.

I'm spare you the details, but it involved the works...tantrums, screaming, throwing stuff out of the cart, begging for treats, etc.

I'm guess everyone has a breaking point and mine is apparently 35 weeks pregnant, sleep deprived with a wild two year who has started to act out. Good to know.

(I didn't actually cry in the store for the record. I waited until I got to the car.)

I'm pretty sure I was walking ad for birth control. Non parents who witnessed the scene were probably traumatized.

Which got me thinking about all the condom commercials where they show all these lovely, happy couples making out. (I mentioned I haven't got a lot of sleep lately right? My mind just jumps to strange tangents right now.)

That is not the most effective way to sell birth control.

I think all that is needed is a couple strong shots of some good old reality.

Just show a mom during her rock bottom, worst moments. Show that to your average young man and you won't be able to stop him from stock piling birth control.

Or just show a few moms having a really frank discussion about the first month postpartum.

Just to add a quick disclaimer: This isn't to say that I'm not glad to be a mom. I am.

It's just sometimes it's a pretty challenging gig. (I'm sure it's nothing a little nap time, chocolate and tea can't fix. He's been asleep for a half hour and I'm already feeling much better.)

Deep breathes...deep breathes.

I can handle this whole two kid thing right?