A Slow Cooker Thanksgiving
3 days ago
Monday, October 10, 2011
April's birth story
Both kids are napping at the same time! So, I'm taking advantage of feeling relatively rested today (oh yeah, I had a cup of coffee this morning too) and will attempt to capture April's birth story so I don't forget.
I could not believe that on September 21st, the day before my due date, that I would still be pregnant! The Dr's had warned that we may always have premature babies and so I was prepared for an August baby but understood that if I was careful it may be possible to extend my pregnancy and go longer if not full-term. When Labor Day came and went, then the 37 week mark (full-term), then 38 weeks, 39.... I started wondering if I was going to go PAST my due date!?! My back pain had continued for most of the 3rd trimester and while the beautiful weather helped some, I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. I started thinking about what natural ways I could speed things along and remembered that with Bethany my water broke shortly after I had a massage to try and help my severe back pain. They had said they would not use the massage to induce me, but sometimes just being really relaxed causes the body to go into labor if you are otherwise ready. Even if it didn't I'd get a massage out of the deal :)
So, on the 21st I had a wonderful massage and got a lot done around the house that evening while Dan went to sleep early around 8:30 as he was getting over a cold. I chatted on the phone with my dad while cleaning the entire kitchen, doing laundry and picking up the house (can you say nesting?). At about 10:30 I was getting tired and climbed into bed. Just as I got all my pillows situated around my large belly I felt my water break! I ran into the bathroom while telling Dan to get up and 5 minutes later poked my head out the door to make sure he was awake (he wasn't). He called his parents to come stay over with Bethany so we could head to the hospital, and I called Methodist to let them know my water broke and to see if we should come right away or wait for the contractions to be closer together. They were glad I called as they were over capacity and needed to divert me to another hospital. I was not prepared for that and had tons of questions about whether our insurance would cover another place, if my Dr would be there, where was the next closest hospital etc. A few friends had delivered at Waconia and loved the birthing center and it was only a little farther from Methodist anyway so we had them send my files there. They were actually pretty busy too so I started checking with Maple Grove to see if they had room but when I called back to Methodist they said Waconia would be expecting me and it would be fine. I tried to figure out the insurance situation too by calling Health Partners but being after hours I couldn't get an answer and so we ended up just packing our bags and going. At this point my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and remembering stories of other moms quick deliveries of 2nd and 3rd kids made me think it was important to just get to a hospital. Dan didn't want to deliver a baby in our car :)
We checked in around 12:30 a.m. and my contractions started getting farther apart so we tried walking the hallways. It was a long night and I was tired! They wanted to speed things along after I started to stall so gave me a very small amount of Pitocin and it worked immediately. I started having contractions 1-2 minutes apart around 5 am and after my epidural tried to rest for a little bit. Just like with Bethany, as soon as I started to rest I started feeling a lot of pressure and asked the nurse to check me. The Dr. came by at 7 on his way to a twins c-section and said "wow, I wasn't expecting that - you are crowning!" He couldn't do the delivery since the other mom was already ready so they called another Dr. who lived nearby to come over quickly and deliver our baby! I felt like I needed to push but they told me to try not to (ha!) so every couple minutes I wanted someone to make sure she wasn't coming out too quickly - Dan did not want that job so thankfully the nurse stayed nearby. Finally, the other Dr arrived and got on her scrubs and we were ready to push. I tried to remember what to do and 3 pushes later, April Faith arrived! As I was pushing my water burst again and was very memorable seeing the floor flood (Dan jumped out of the way). The other thing that was scary was that the cord was wrapped around April's neck and body twice. They said it was a long cord but thankfully they got her unwrapped and since it was a quick delivery everything was fine. I got to hold her right away and hear her cry... the most amazing sound! They got her cleaned up, she weighed in at 8 lb 1 oz and was 20 in long born at 8:12 a.m. on her due date, September 22nd, 2011. I had a reminder on my outlook calendar telling me it was her due date from 8-8:30 so she came very promptly during that meeting invite to arrive at 8:12!
It was so fun to look at her, her chubby little cheeks and count her fingers and long toes. We were so thankful she was healthy! Big sister Bethany came with Papa and Grandma later that morning and Auntie Amber and Mormor and Morfar came that afternoon. Like a big sister, Bethany shared her cold with Bethany immediately upon meeting her with a big sneeze. I was scared she would get sick, and she did get a cold, but thankfully no fever.
We got to go home on Saturday and while she was jaundiced similarly to Bethany, they expected it was breast milk jaundice and that she'd get better around the 2 mo mark like Bethany did. We had a follow-up pediatrician appointment on Monday that confirmed the high levels and they also detected a heart murmur so we went to Children's the next day for a cardiologist appointment where they showed us exactly where the small holes were. There were two holes but were very tiny and should close on their own within a year. However, we want to document them because any dr that sees April will hear the murmur and want to be sure it isn't dangerous (which it shouldn't be because these holes are very common).
Dan went back to work on the 29th and Bethany, April and I tried to figure out how to all be home together. Bethany thankfully has been very loving to April so far. She has limited listening skills to me, but loves to hold and talk to April whenever she can. We are staying busy with visitors and play dates and are loving the beautiful fall weather. The first 8 days of October had temperatures in the 80's! Bethany is going to be going to Koala Bear one day a week to keep some consistency with her new friends so we don't have another transition in December and hopefully that will be a nice thing for her to look forward to. I know I am looking forward to having a day to catch up on sleep with just April at home. For some reason April hasn't been sleeping during Bethany's naptime so "sleep when the baby sleeps" hasn't been working with the 2nd child at home for me. I'm also hoping that once April's cold clears up that she'll sleep better at night. So far she has been wanting to cuddle and nurse ALL NIGHT LONG. It is sweet to have a newborn so cuddly, but I also know sleeping is important when you have an active almost 2-year old during the day to keep busy. April will be 3 weeks on Thursday so hopefully by then we'll have some longer stretches at night where she is ok sleeping in her pack n play.
April, you are an adorable little girl and we love you so much! Thank you for joining our family and while big sister Bethany may be very loud sometimes and not understand that she shouldn't get so close to your face and point out your eyes, nose and mouth so forcefully, she loves you very much too!
I could not believe that on September 21st, the day before my due date, that I would still be pregnant! The Dr's had warned that we may always have premature babies and so I was prepared for an August baby but understood that if I was careful it may be possible to extend my pregnancy and go longer if not full-term. When Labor Day came and went, then the 37 week mark (full-term), then 38 weeks, 39.... I started wondering if I was going to go PAST my due date!?! My back pain had continued for most of the 3rd trimester and while the beautiful weather helped some, I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. I started thinking about what natural ways I could speed things along and remembered that with Bethany my water broke shortly after I had a massage to try and help my severe back pain. They had said they would not use the massage to induce me, but sometimes just being really relaxed causes the body to go into labor if you are otherwise ready. Even if it didn't I'd get a massage out of the deal :)
So, on the 21st I had a wonderful massage and got a lot done around the house that evening while Dan went to sleep early around 8:30 as he was getting over a cold. I chatted on the phone with my dad while cleaning the entire kitchen, doing laundry and picking up the house (can you say nesting?). At about 10:30 I was getting tired and climbed into bed. Just as I got all my pillows situated around my large belly I felt my water break! I ran into the bathroom while telling Dan to get up and 5 minutes later poked my head out the door to make sure he was awake (he wasn't). He called his parents to come stay over with Bethany so we could head to the hospital, and I called Methodist to let them know my water broke and to see if we should come right away or wait for the contractions to be closer together. They were glad I called as they were over capacity and needed to divert me to another hospital. I was not prepared for that and had tons of questions about whether our insurance would cover another place, if my Dr would be there, where was the next closest hospital etc. A few friends had delivered at Waconia and loved the birthing center and it was only a little farther from Methodist anyway so we had them send my files there. They were actually pretty busy too so I started checking with Maple Grove to see if they had room but when I called back to Methodist they said Waconia would be expecting me and it would be fine. I tried to figure out the insurance situation too by calling Health Partners but being after hours I couldn't get an answer and so we ended up just packing our bags and going. At this point my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and remembering stories of other moms quick deliveries of 2nd and 3rd kids made me think it was important to just get to a hospital. Dan didn't want to deliver a baby in our car :)
We checked in around 12:30 a.m. and my contractions started getting farther apart so we tried walking the hallways. It was a long night and I was tired! They wanted to speed things along after I started to stall so gave me a very small amount of Pitocin and it worked immediately. I started having contractions 1-2 minutes apart around 5 am and after my epidural tried to rest for a little bit. Just like with Bethany, as soon as I started to rest I started feeling a lot of pressure and asked the nurse to check me. The Dr. came by at 7 on his way to a twins c-section and said "wow, I wasn't expecting that - you are crowning!" He couldn't do the delivery since the other mom was already ready so they called another Dr. who lived nearby to come over quickly and deliver our baby! I felt like I needed to push but they told me to try not to (ha!) so every couple minutes I wanted someone to make sure she wasn't coming out too quickly - Dan did not want that job so thankfully the nurse stayed nearby. Finally, the other Dr arrived and got on her scrubs and we were ready to push. I tried to remember what to do and 3 pushes later, April Faith arrived! As I was pushing my water burst again and was very memorable seeing the floor flood (Dan jumped out of the way). The other thing that was scary was that the cord was wrapped around April's neck and body twice. They said it was a long cord but thankfully they got her unwrapped and since it was a quick delivery everything was fine. I got to hold her right away and hear her cry... the most amazing sound! They got her cleaned up, she weighed in at 8 lb 1 oz and was 20 in long born at 8:12 a.m. on her due date, September 22nd, 2011. I had a reminder on my outlook calendar telling me it was her due date from 8-8:30 so she came very promptly during that meeting invite to arrive at 8:12!
It was so fun to look at her, her chubby little cheeks and count her fingers and long toes. We were so thankful she was healthy! Big sister Bethany came with Papa and Grandma later that morning and Auntie Amber and Mormor and Morfar came that afternoon. Like a big sister, Bethany shared her cold with Bethany immediately upon meeting her with a big sneeze. I was scared she would get sick, and she did get a cold, but thankfully no fever.
We got to go home on Saturday and while she was jaundiced similarly to Bethany, they expected it was breast milk jaundice and that she'd get better around the 2 mo mark like Bethany did. We had a follow-up pediatrician appointment on Monday that confirmed the high levels and they also detected a heart murmur so we went to Children's the next day for a cardiologist appointment where they showed us exactly where the small holes were. There were two holes but were very tiny and should close on their own within a year. However, we want to document them because any dr that sees April will hear the murmur and want to be sure it isn't dangerous (which it shouldn't be because these holes are very common).
Dan went back to work on the 29th and Bethany, April and I tried to figure out how to all be home together. Bethany thankfully has been very loving to April so far. She has limited listening skills to me, but loves to hold and talk to April whenever she can. We are staying busy with visitors and play dates and are loving the beautiful fall weather. The first 8 days of October had temperatures in the 80's! Bethany is going to be going to Koala Bear one day a week to keep some consistency with her new friends so we don't have another transition in December and hopefully that will be a nice thing for her to look forward to. I know I am looking forward to having a day to catch up on sleep with just April at home. For some reason April hasn't been sleeping during Bethany's naptime so "sleep when the baby sleeps" hasn't been working with the 2nd child at home for me. I'm also hoping that once April's cold clears up that she'll sleep better at night. So far she has been wanting to cuddle and nurse ALL NIGHT LONG. It is sweet to have a newborn so cuddly, but I also know sleeping is important when you have an active almost 2-year old during the day to keep busy. April will be 3 weeks on Thursday so hopefully by then we'll have some longer stretches at night where she is ok sleeping in her pack n play.
April, you are an adorable little girl and we love you so much! Thank you for joining our family and while big sister Bethany may be very loud sometimes and not understand that she shouldn't get so close to your face and point out your eyes, nose and mouth so forcefully, she loves you very much too!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
April Faith
She's here! April Faith arrived on her due date, September 22nd at 8:12 a.m. She weighed 8 lb 1 oz and was 20 inches long. I'll post a longer version of her birth story soon, but we are home as of Saturday and Bethany came home from Grandma and Papa's on Sunday afternoon and we're adjusting as a family of 4! Dan goes back to work on Thursday so I'm figuring out how to be the best mom of two girls that I can be.
Monday, September 19, 2011
You're still here?
Yep! No baby yet. This pregnancy has been crazy with my emergency appendectomy, headaches, a broken toe, a condition that caused me to have ultrasounds every 2 weeks at Methodist, moving out of the cabin, moving into our house, moving out of our old house, remodeling Bethany's room, changing daycare, moving Bethany into a big girl bed, back pain etc.
With our due date just days away, it just goes to show that every pregnancy is different! I think it could be for a number of different reasons and here are a few...
- I've done it before. Now that I have gone through this, I'm paying much more attention to warning signs and being more careful about doing too much (not going on 20+ mile bike trips without a cell phone for example)
- We have a Sleep Number bed. I know Dan works for Select Comfort so this may seem like a shameless plug, but I seriously sleep soooo much better than I did before we got the bed. Since our bed arrived the day my water broke with Bethany I didn't get the benefit of sleeping on it last pregnancy, but this time it has been wonderful!
- I'm a Type A personality. Because I want to be able to plan for everything, God must have wanted to keep my on my toes with a 5 week early baby and now a full-term (or past!) baby this time. It has been so strange trying to plan for a 7 week time period that I may be out on leave for work.
- This baby is going to be laid back. Bethany was ready to face the world early and that fits her personality now, so maybe this baby will be different.
So, baby girl, I'm learning a lot about myself during this process and about you! We can't wait to meet you and although I'd love some sort of message telling me exactly when that will be, I will be patiently waiting.
With our due date just days away, it just goes to show that every pregnancy is different! I think it could be for a number of different reasons and here are a few...
- I've done it before. Now that I have gone through this, I'm paying much more attention to warning signs and being more careful about doing too much (not going on 20+ mile bike trips without a cell phone for example)
- We have a Sleep Number bed. I know Dan works for Select Comfort so this may seem like a shameless plug, but I seriously sleep soooo much better than I did before we got the bed. Since our bed arrived the day my water broke with Bethany I didn't get the benefit of sleeping on it last pregnancy, but this time it has been wonderful!
- I'm a Type A personality. Because I want to be able to plan for everything, God must have wanted to keep my on my toes with a 5 week early baby and now a full-term (or past!) baby this time. It has been so strange trying to plan for a 7 week time period that I may be out on leave for work.
- This baby is going to be laid back. Bethany was ready to face the world early and that fits her personality now, so maybe this baby will be different.
So, baby girl, I'm learning a lot about myself during this process and about you! We can't wait to meet you and although I'd love some sort of message telling me exactly when that will be, I will be patiently waiting.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
No baby on Labor Day
Although I thought it would be quite humorous to have a baby on Labor Day, this little girl is content to stay put for the time being. I'm now 37.5 weeks pregnant and feeling great! The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful and it looks like it is going to last all week.... I love fall. We had a fun filled weekend getting a bedroom set for our bedroom, building storage shelves for our basement storage room for all the boxes to unpack someday, going to the fair and then the Minnetonka Orchard. Dan and I even got in a boat ride together to finally figure out a baby name. We're down to only a couple options now so I think we're ready!
Here are some pictures from the last week or so of fun.
Waiting for the bus to go to the fair - Bethany talked about the bus all day and woke up the next morning reminding us of the bus ride and who went on it ("mommy, daddy, Charlie, auntie" (and yes Brent we know you were there too:)
This one looks good
on the hayride at the orchard
She loved all the baby animals, and we're hoping for a miracle of birth soon too!
This is her current favorite book counting all the items on each page. There are 10 buttons which Dan and I have had to count many, many, many times and she does a great job counting along with us
Cutie pie at the Gale Woods farm last week before we found out we got free state fair tickets (thanks, Mike!)
which way do we go at the orchard? yummy apple donuts please!
cute little farm kids
checking out the chickens
Fun to grill yesterday with my whole family and just enjoy the nice weather at the lake. It will never be as easy as it is now once baby #2 comes, so I'm enjoying every minute!
Here are some pictures from the last week or so of fun.
Waiting for the bus to go to the fair - Bethany talked about the bus all day and woke up the next morning reminding us of the bus ride and who went on it ("mommy, daddy, Charlie, auntie" (and yes Brent we know you were there too:)
This one looks good
on the hayride at the orchard
She loved all the baby animals, and we're hoping for a miracle of birth soon too!
This is her current favorite book counting all the items on each page. There are 10 buttons which Dan and I have had to count many, many, many times and she does a great job counting along with us
Cutie pie at the Gale Woods farm last week before we found out we got free state fair tickets (thanks, Mike!)
which way do we go at the orchard? yummy apple donuts please!
cute little farm kids
checking out the chickens
Fun to grill yesterday with my whole family and just enjoy the nice weather at the lake. It will never be as easy as it is now once baby #2 comes, so I'm enjoying every minute!Monday, August 29, 2011
Chatterbox
Someone told me that once Bethany started talking, it would be tough to get her to stop. Well that is certainly proving to be correct. In the last month or so her vocabulary has really taken off! I'm sure I'll miss a lot in my quick list, but here are some things she is saying these days:
my shoes (especially when she wants to go outside, and is usually followed by mommy shoes? or daddy shoes? if she wants us to come too)
oh no! (exclaimed anytime someone else is talking animatedly - like she wants to participate in the conversation)
clean up (sung to a song Auntie Amber taught her to pick up her toys - but everyone around must help clean-up time or else)
boat ride or dock, usually followed by saying fast (very excited to go fast on the boat and she has a favorite spot to hold on while she jumps up and down when we speed up)
thank you and please (still working on those but sometimes said spontaneously)
ABC's (she sings the entire song along with us, sometimes hard to hear each letter, but she knows what comes next in the song)
A bee! (stated at every bug, bee or fly that comes near us)
Mommy eye, mommy nose, mommy owie (puts mommy or daddy in front of everything she is talking about us for)
A week or so ago Bethany and I were outside and she saw a fly buzzing around and she said "bee!" I told her it was a fly, which she repeated, but then I told her to say "shoo fly" and she had the most confused look on her face. She slowly bent down and took off her shoe and started shaking it at the fly saying "shoe fly!" Too funny. I'm sure a lot of what we're teaching her is confusing like that, but I don't stop to think about it from her perspective which is what made me laugh so hard at this.
Bethany is also jumping, real jumping! She gets so excited if we say we're going to see cousin "Charyee" or friends "Ayish" or "baby E" she says yay, yay, yay while jumping with both feet off the ground. She loves to try and jump off anything, which we try to discourage, but she is really coordinated and seems to do just fine pushing her boundaries if we feel it is safe enough. Her interest in balls to kick, or bounce or throw is also really interesting and I wonder if we have a little athlete on our hands?
Bethany - we love you so much! At 22 months you are an active, busy full-fledged toddler and we love you to pieces. We're so proud you've adjusted so well to your new surroundings and pray that you continue to love to sing your Bible songs and read our Bible stories each night. I love when you point out Jesus in the stories and remind us to pray for dinner or before bed if we happen to forget. You love routine and know exactly what we need to do for simple things, like going for a boat ride - you get your shoes, towell, and then make sure mommy and daddy get theirs too :) We can't wait for your new little sister to arrive because you will be a great role model for her to look up to - her big sister!
my shoes (especially when she wants to go outside, and is usually followed by mommy shoes? or daddy shoes? if she wants us to come too)
oh no! (exclaimed anytime someone else is talking animatedly - like she wants to participate in the conversation)
clean up (sung to a song Auntie Amber taught her to pick up her toys - but everyone around must help clean-up time or else)
boat ride or dock, usually followed by saying fast (very excited to go fast on the boat and she has a favorite spot to hold on while she jumps up and down when we speed up)
thank you and please (still working on those but sometimes said spontaneously)
ABC's (she sings the entire song along with us, sometimes hard to hear each letter, but she knows what comes next in the song)
A bee! (stated at every bug, bee or fly that comes near us)
Mommy eye, mommy nose, mommy owie (puts mommy or daddy in front of everything she is talking about us for)
A week or so ago Bethany and I were outside and she saw a fly buzzing around and she said "bee!" I told her it was a fly, which she repeated, but then I told her to say "shoo fly" and she had the most confused look on her face. She slowly bent down and took off her shoe and started shaking it at the fly saying "shoe fly!" Too funny. I'm sure a lot of what we're teaching her is confusing like that, but I don't stop to think about it from her perspective which is what made me laugh so hard at this.
Bethany is also jumping, real jumping! She gets so excited if we say we're going to see cousin "Charyee" or friends "Ayish" or "baby E" she says yay, yay, yay while jumping with both feet off the ground. She loves to try and jump off anything, which we try to discourage, but she is really coordinated and seems to do just fine pushing her boundaries if we feel it is safe enough. Her interest in balls to kick, or bounce or throw is also really interesting and I wonder if we have a little athlete on our hands?
Bethany - we love you so much! At 22 months you are an active, busy full-fledged toddler and we love you to pieces. We're so proud you've adjusted so well to your new surroundings and pray that you continue to love to sing your Bible songs and read our Bible stories each night. I love when you point out Jesus in the stories and remind us to pray for dinner or before bed if we happen to forget. You love routine and know exactly what we need to do for simple things, like going for a boat ride - you get your shoes, towell, and then make sure mommy and daddy get theirs too :) We can't wait for your new little sister to arrive because you will be a great role model for her to look up to - her big sister!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
New baby's nursery
Here it is! Having baby #2 is so nice when you can reuse everything you had the first time around. The furniture fits in the room so well, now all we need is baby in a few more weeks!
Thanks Dan for getting the ceiling light and fan and closet shelves done and Roger and Monica for painting and helping Dan move in the furniture last weekend. And Amber for helping get the tiny diapers and clothes in the drawers :)
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