RSV and Hospital Time

My sweet, new little munchkin is in the hospital and has been since Sunday night, very late! He has RSV which we probably gave him as the version of the sickness that we have. He has to maintain his own oxygen for 24 hours before we can go home and the longest he has made it so far is two hours.

The story is a long one and I will tell it later. Right now I am so exhausted and juggling between the hospital, keeping myself smelling like a decent human being and trying to be around the the twins, even though the short times make it really hard. Tomorrow night I will be staying with them all night though so that Santa can come visit them and I have pumped my brains out so my awesome mom can do a night of hospital duty with baby.

Just wanted to pass on the information! I am really hoping we don't have to spend the whole weekend there. Nash is in isolation so I can't walk around with him and I hate leaving him alone in the room, I only leave to walk down and get some water and then hubby and I switch and I go home to rest, clean up and then go see the twins. This sucks, but I am grateful we are only there for a virus because there is some sad shit going down in that hospital. This is all very ironic, considering we wanted to get baby out before Christmas so we didn't spend Christmas in the hospital and here we are, spending the whole week of Christmas there!

Nash is doing great though! He is still eating, gaining weight, going potty and getting a little sleep so it's just the oxygen and congestion issue. He is such a good, sweet baby!

Here is my baby boy on his oxygen . . . .

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!

Baby 3 Has Arrived!

Last Monday I had a doctor's appointment. I was physically just done being pregnant and my blood pressure was a little high, not to mention, we have been plagued by nasty sickness in our house for weeks, so  it was also my last day of work. My cervix was checked and I was only 2 cm but still a little thick. I went and walked a quick mile. I had tons of contractions all night and thought again it was going to be the big day.

Tuesday morning the contractions stopped. Boo.

Wednesday I fell down the stairs. It sucked hard. I had just gotten a wonderful massage and ruined it all by texting and walking, which apparently I can't do. I got in bed and cried because I realized if falling down a flight of steep steps doesn't put you into labor, nothing will and I was trying to come to terms with a csection on the 19th.

Thursday I stayed in bed all day.

Friday through the early hours I felt like crap, respiratory business and coughing and snot and all that good stuff. Osh man was feeling the same. When he got up he said that his ear hurt. I told him we could go to the doctor and check it out and he said no, he just needed to stay home with mommy. I thought "what the heck," may as well, and we played together. We were hanging out in jammies when I felt some cramping and went to the restroom and there were chunks of gunk and blood in the toilet. I was feeling pressure in my lower back and having the occasional contraction. I went ahead and called the doctor at 12:30 but they were busy and were going to call back later. I decided to take a shower, wash my hair and pack the rest of the bag just in case.

The doctor called back at 1:00 and said that I should go straight to L&D. I told her that I had two wild two year old running around in jammies so it may be awhile. They said get their as quick as I could. I called Hubby to ask him to come home from work and called my grandparents to see if the twins could come over for awhile. I put on my make up, complete with primer, because no one wants to meet their child looking like a hot mess, right? My back pain and pressure and contraction were still not consistent so I didn't put a lot of stock into this being the big day.

We got to L&D at 2:30. They put us in a triage room to just see what was going on. We didn't even bring in the suitcase. She checked me and I was still at only a two. She said let's just give it an hour. I was uncomfortable, but nothing terrible. She came back and said a 2 maybe a 3 but no major change and she said she thought I would probably be sent home. I called my grandparents to tell them we would probably be done soon and I told Hubby I really wanted to go to the mall down the road and pick up an almond pretzel because I was starving. I told him perhaps even 2-3 almond pretzels because I was so starving. She came back to check on me to see if anything was happening, she said contractions were registering consistently, but I still wasn't really that uncomfortable. She checked me and I was at a 3! Hubby and I high fived and she said to stay just one more hour. We decided to walk the halls.

That is when it hit. Like a ton of bricks.

I had one hard contraction and grabbed the wall. We kept walking and another one hit and I had to grab the wall again. This kept happening. On our third lap I grabbed the wall and said "this fucking sucks balls" as a group of people were walking by. I assumed they were young because they were wearing tights as pants so I think I may have prevented teen pregnancy, you're welcome society (did I ever say how much I hate when people wear tights as pants? I really, really hate it). Two feet later again I grabbed the wall, Hubby put pressure on my back and I let the cursing rip again. I decided since I clearly had labor induced touret's I should get back to the room because not everyone really wanted to hear my potty my mouth. We stopped at the restroom and were greeted by diarrhea  blood and another curse filled contraction all at once. Hubby told me that he is now gay and we would never have sex again. I told him fine by me mother beeper! You may recall that I read the Bradley book for natural birth and we went through a bunch of techniques together. Well . . . that all went out the window immediately.

We got the room. The pain was so shocking, I literally felt like my uterus was getting ripped in half. It hurt so bad I couldn't even cry. I could not sit down. I couldn't function. Hubby was such a major trooper I couldn't believe it. I yelled to him to please get the nurse. The nurse came in and said it looked like I was clearly in labor and she wanted to check me. We waited for a contraction to pass and she checked. She couldn't find anything. She decided she needed the nurse with the long fingers. Hubby and I both looked at each other and laughed until I wanted to climb the walls with another vicious contraction. The long fingered nurse came and checked me and said I was a 4, they were going to admit me. She asked if I wanted an epidural and I said please, please, let's get that puppy right away.

I walked down the hall to my official room, grabbing the wall all along the way through several contractions. I  did not want to get in bed, for some reason, laying down seemed awful. Finally my sweet relief of an anesthesiologist arrived, all while hearing me yell that I couldn't do it, please help me, oww this hurts, and this is bullshit. They waited for a break to put in the epidural and as soon as it went in I yelled for it to come out. She hit a nerve the first time. Then I had more contractions and it took THREE tries to get in. I was so scared it wasn't going to work.

And then it did.

Wow. It was amazing. It was heaven. I was so relieved. Since I was finally calm, they checked me. I was still only at a four! She talked about giving it a few hours and we could discuss pitocin maybe and we also had the csection discussion. It didn't panic me then because the ball was already rolling. I asked questions and then the Hubs and I just relaxed.

And that's how it was. Relaxing. Nice. Hubby and I had conversations and watched TV. She came back in and I was at a 7! Two hours later I was ready to roll, 10 cm and head fully engaged. It was easy. I could feel contractions but they didn't hurt. My grandma was there. It was so enjoyable, really.

They set the room up for delivery and then I started pushing. It wasn't hard, like I imagined. It was so peaceful. I could feel the contractions like tingling and pressure and then pushed. Doctor said I was an excellent pusher. In between pushes I closed my eyes to rest a little. We all chit chatted and it was truly lovely. After an hour I gave a push and baby came out before doctor was ready. I could feel baby coming out and I couldn't wait to find out if I had a son or daughter and hear that first cry.

At 12:58 a.m. on Saturday, December 15th, our beautiful baby BOY arrived, peacefully and sweetly! He weighed 8 lbs. even and is 20 inches long.

They put him on my chest, hubby cut the cord, and the rest is history! Without further ado, here is our sweet boy, Nash Edward!







My recovery has been far easier than with the csection. I am so happy I went for the VBAC. This boy is the sweetest little piece of heaven.

The next post will be about the twins and their adjustment. It hasn't been easy, but when they come around and get into the baby, it is the best feeling in the world!

Stubborn Baby

On Sunday, I decided I wanted to push myself to the limits. And it was a gorgeous day out! And I just wanted to do something fun with my monkey's because we have been super sick for several weeks.

So we ventured out to the zoo.

Hubby bitched and moaned and said it was a terrible idea and I shouldn't do it and I was going to go into labor and he was going to be far away working. I went anyway.

We picked up some friends and headed down to the zoo! My BOB tires were totally flat but they were out of strollers so I had to work my rear off pushing that thing. We stayed in the front area, but we did everything we wanted to do, walked, rode down slides, looked at animals, rode the carousel. It was fun.

In the night, I was so excited because I started having contractions. I got to a point where they were waking me up and had one that really hurt. I felt pressure and went to the restroom and there was my mucus plug! I touched it. That's gross but I never experienced that before so I wanted to see what it was like. It was definitely the plug. My contractions weren't awful and were about 8 minutes apart. I got so excited I ran downstairs and washed a load of new baby and nursing laundry in Dreft and then started packing my bags. This happened from about 2:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.

At 6:30 I started feeling really sleepy. I got in the shower to shave and clean up and then got in bed. I passed out around 7 and little Peanut woke me up at 8:30. That meant I slept for a good hour and  half and had no contractions worth mentioning. Boo!

I had to get some sleep so I called my boss and told her that I had a majorly sucky letdown of pretend labor so I need to sleep awhile before I came into work.

Wednesday I had an appointment and was SO ready to see what was going on. I was hoping for good things. As you know, I have to get this baby out before December 19th or I get sliced and diced again. My doctor mentioned stripping my membranes as soon as she could get in there. She checked me. I couldn't wait to find out!

And . . . . . .

I am a whopping ONE centimeter dilated. Woo hoo. Not. I am about 50% effaced. She did not strip my membranes because I am measuring at a whopping 43 weeks. 43 WEEKS! I am 37 weeks. Humans aren't pregnant for 43 weeks so I am now inhumanly pregnant. She was very worried that I was packing a 9+ pounder which is also against the rules for the VBAC. She could get her finger through and the mucus plug is out, so at least I didn't imagine that.

I was so bummed. I was hoping for better! I had a talk with the fetus and told him or her that this was unacceptable. Do NOT wake me up all night for a measly little centimeter, if we are going to do something, we will do it right and get this done! Baby so kindly did not wake me up last night.

I went to an ultrasound today to have another size check. Baby appears to have a rough estimate weight of 7lbs15oz. That is right about 8 lbs so we are only within a pound on the no go zone.

What does this mean?

This means this bitch is going to do everything I can to get this baby out ASAP! Walk, bounce on the ab ball, I'm drinking red rasperry leaf tea, shoving evening primrose oil up my lady (this was condoned by my doctor, I didn't at first because I've heard that it can act as a blood thinner and should I end up with a csection I didn't want to cause any complications, she said it should be fine) and a few other things will commence that I won't share with you. It's graphic.

My next appointment is Monday. Keep your fingers crossed that I get this kid out before then!

Almost Done

This last week I went to the specialist to get my VBAC approval. Wow, they really enjoyed spending their time trying to freak me out! I had to sign my initials by so many things that could go wrong saying that I understand everything that can go wrong. He said out of hundreds of births at the hospital a month usually three or less are VBACs. The last thing I signed off on said something along the lines of "I understand that a vaginal birth is much safer to me than a csection and that the risk of the above issues is 1%." I looked at the doctor with as much skepticism as I could muster from my tired body. He laughed and said he knows it doesn't seem to make sense and really it should be fine, just as many things can go wrong (if not more, as I already know from previous experience) in a csection but the insurance companies hate VBACs. He double checked via a cheap crappy ultrasound and baby is head down! Yay! That took some serious work. I did exercises, hung upside down from my bed and went to the chiropractor until this giant fetus flipped it's fat head down. This week I have to go get a better ultrasound again to see what baby is measuring at.

As much as I dread the thought of another csection, I did have to make some compromises and as it stands, I have a csection already scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on December 19th. I am doing everything in my power to not be there!

Here is the deal:

-I have a csection scheduled for the 19th, BUT it is just to have it on the books and have an end date for the doctor's. If I have given birth or am in active labor by 2:00 p.m. on the 19th we will not do the csection.
-I cannot be induced. My labor has to start and proceed naturally before the 19th at 2:00 p.m. I can't use medicinal measures to induce, but they will try all natural measures to help me out.
-If my ultrasound shows that Hulk Baby 3 is measuring at or pretty close to 9 lbs it will be automatic csection no matter when or if I go into labor on my own.

I've had on and off braxton hick's, only a few that have taken my breath away. Baby is definitely dropping and heading downward, I can breathe much better! I check my own cervix every now and then in the mirror. I know that's weird. It's changing, but definitely nothing too exciting.

Reality is upon us and it has finally hit. I am really, REALLY excited to meet this baby! I am super excited to find out what this munchkin is, a son or a daughter. I am counting down the minutes. Anytime I start getting crampy I get so excited hoping this is it. Clothes are being washed, I purchased swaddle blankets, my family helped us out with a crib, I just picked up a large pack of diapers, we hit up the Black Friday BRU sale and got buy one get one free bottles, although I'm hoping to breastfeed only I picked up a small package of formula, my sister in law is letting me borrow her pump, and almost everything is done. I would like to add that 90% of that happened this week, ha! I will be putting the car seat in the minivan hopefully this week.

The only thing I am nervous about is how the twins are going to feel about having a new sibling. They are spoiled rotten and I cringe at the thought of them not feeling special or loved to the max. We are going to find something to get for them to wrap and give them from the baby in the hospital and let them help with as many things right now as they can. They helped put the crib together and it was precious!

Here is me, 35 weeks and 2 days pregnant a day after a lovely bout of stomach flu. My face is pale and swollen, my hair looks like poo and I am packing about 34 extra pounds. Believe me friends, that did not stop me from stocking up on Reese's Christmas Trees. I don't know what it is about Reese's peanut butter cups in holiday shapes, but damn, they are delicious!