Our Little Man is Here!

Jared has arrived! We are so excited to finally be a family of 4 and can not wait to see what our two boys grow up to be! I did want to take a second and say thank you to everyone who supported us and helped us through the entire pregnancy and also the last few days! And now, I won't keep you waiting heres my birth story of Jared!

Last week on the 19th of June, I had my 38 week appointment with my doctor. He pretty much gave me two options; when he realized in a week I had only gone one more cm (putting me at 2cm); his first option was to come back Monday and get checked, and see where I was and decide on an induce date, or two, get induced on Monday. My due date fell on a weekend (June 30), and I honestly was so miserable I could barely sleep at night. I pretty much jumped at the chance to be induced on Monday! My doctor made the phone call and our induction was set! I was going in on Monday and I was going to have this baby one way or another.

38 Weeks Pregnant

 The hubby and I spent the entire weekend walking, cleaning, and enjoying our Brian man! We really wanted to have Jared naturally, so we tried a few small things during the weekend to induce labor but nothing worked. Mango-kiwi-blueberry smoothie was delicious, but does not induce labor. I tried the spicy food by pouring packet after packet of hot sauce from Taco Bell all over my food, and that did not induce labor. We tried walking and galloping and bouncing on the ball, all without any luck of inducing labor. So, sadly, but yet excitingly Monday was here, and we were headed to the hospital at 7am!

39 Weeks Pregnant, last day being pregnant!

When we reached the hospital my nerves were at an all time high. I was so nervous about being induced, and what it would feel like, and how quick or slow it would work... I was ready, so ready; that, I did know. Once we got our room, Labor and Delivery room #4, we were set and in for the ride! I had a friend, Aida, who is also working on getting her midwife license, who was there to support me and also observe the birth of our little guy. The induction started at 10am with cervadil, which is a small applicator that is inserted behind the cervix to help it dilate and soften. I was thinking that it would start some seriously painful contractions right away, but it was totally the opposite. We sat and waited while I was monitored on the computer for awhile, then we walked, then we were monitored, then we walked... we had lunch, and when I was checked late in the afternoon I was only 3 1/2cm. I was devastated.

At the hospital getting the party started!

Just getting comfortable.

All day we had walked, we had talked, I had relaxed, I breathed, and it wasn't getting me very far. At this point I was only having front contractions which for me were super easy to handle. I eventually sat on the ball and did a lot of moving, and swaying; and thats when the back contractions started to slowly creep in. I was so frustrated at that point, because thats all I asked not to have, and here they were... When the back contractions started to get worse, I had to climb back into the bed and sit on the monitor. It was around 11:45pm that I just could not handle the pain in the bed and sitting, so I asked for something to help the pain. I received fentonal, which was awesome!

Fentonal is just a drug they slip into your IV and shortly after your feel warm and fuzzy inside. I was so loopy feeling and after a short few minutes I closed my eyes, and everyone got some rest.

6-25-2013

1AM rolled around and the contractions were back and I was in pain again. I received another round of fentonal, but this time it did NOT seem to do anything. All the nurses, and Aida warned me that the second time you get it, it probably wont work as well as the first time. The nurses let me labor for another hour with the fentonal and came back to check in on me around 2am. By 2:13am I had the nurse setting up my IV flush so I could receive an epidural. I labored for another hour with the IV flush and by 3:01am the anesthesiologist was in the room and walking me through the procedure. I had received an epidural with my first, so I knew what to expect, but for some reason this one hurt a lot more. By 3:06am the epidural was in and I was laying on my back waiting for the pain to subside.With an epidural you have to have a catheter placed so you don't go off peeing the bed.I had mine placed and I was off to sleep!

Contractions!

Once everything was a green light, I went back to sleep, with very very little pain! I slept extremely well from 3am to about 8am. The nurse came in to do the morning checks and let us know what the plan was for the morning. They had two c-sections scheduled and after the doctor was done with those then they would come back to us and get the pitocin in my IV started. We waited around for a little while and shortly after the nurse came in with my bag of pitocin. This was around 10am or so. We all hungout, had lunch, watched the contractions on the monitor as they got stronger and stronger.

Noon the doctor and nurse came in and checked to see how my progress was, which was now at 5cm. Not great but after all that pain during the night I had only progressed a few cm. I was crushed, but the doctor had a way to get things going. She decided we would pop my water and see where that took us. So, noon my water was broken, the pitocin was pushed up a little more and I was set off to enjoy the ride.

Around 12:30pm I was asking Aida and my husband to call the nurse because the contractions were so painful and I was sure my epidural ran out. When the nurse came in to check on me I begged her for more medicine to be placed in my epidural, but to do so we had to see where I was at. I was in so much pain, and I could move both legs without any help. I could feel the catheter and also the internal monitor they placed at noon. I knew this epidural was gone. I just didn't realize how painful this was about to get. The nurse checked me and I asked if I could have more pain medicine, and she said "nope, you need to push, your at 10cm!" I looked at her like she was crazy! My contractions felt like someone was placing bricks on my tailbone and pelvic bone and pushing them with all their strength outward. It hurt like hell. The doctor was called in at 12:39pm and I was told to push. I pushed, and struggled to stick with it because the pain was so extreme. I screamed a few times "I can't do this anymore," as if I was just going to get up and walk away, yeah right! I pushed for only 24 minutes, and Jared was born at 1:04pm! Yes, it only took me an hour to go from 5cm, to fully dilated, to delivering my son!

First sight!

 I was just shocked how fast that last hour went. I was out of my mind. However, it was real, he was in my arms and I was looking at this chubby cheeked boy who was so dang cute. Our Jared was born of June 25, 2013 at 1:04pm, weighing in at 8lbs even, and a short little 20 1/4in baby boy! He seemed very happy to be here in the world, and we were so happy to have him here with us. Aida, headed out shortly after I was stitched up and Jared was cleaned off! I have to say a big thank you to both my amazing husband and Aida for making me laugh, and helping me through some of the most painful moments of my life. I am so lucky to have had such support around me. I wanted to thank the nurse Espy, and my midwife who helped me through those last few moments of pain and really pushed me that extra mile.

 I can not believe he is here, even to this moment as I look at him sitting here beside me. I am a happy mother of two and I hope Brian is an awesome big brother!

Our sweet little Jared!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
Sarah

Laptop Case- Attempting to use a Pattern

My husband is the best husband ever, and got me an early Mother's Day gift a few weeks back. It of course was a MacBook Air!! I am in love with the small size, the light weight, and the super compact style! However, we spent Mother's Day looking for a case to travel with it in. I had no luck. I hated almost everything I saw. Too simple, not enough padding, to hard, and not enough room for other stuff (ie. the power cords, my ipad, his ipad mini, those cords, etc.). So, after what felt like forever... I decided, whatever; Ill just go find a pattern and make my own! 

Note: I have used a purchased/store bought pattern ONCE before this. Remember, I am a self taught sewer, and have learned lots from the wonderful internet!

We headed over to walmart, and found this pattern at a decent price and it had several options too. I liked the idea of a top loading case because then when I slide it into my backpack it will just be a flip of the top and there it is. I also liked the idea of adding extra pockets for cords, or the ipad mini. The pattern called for velcro, but if you know me, you know I hate velcro. Never works well, and never stays shut. I like my snaps. So, a little planning ahead and I was able to add the snaps where I wanted them!

From the pattern I used the D bag. Now this pattern called for a pocket on the outside and one on the inside. I did not add the outside pocket, as I do not like those on my cases. If you put stuff in the outside pocket and slide it into a back pack thats already full the items in the pocket tend to either fall out or get in the way. I also, did NOT want a strap. I find those pointless as everything goes into a back pack and like I said, I want a case not a bag! Ok, so with all my modifications this is what I finished up with!

Not going to lie, this pattern was tough to follow as it jumps from D to bag A and then back, and its just confusing! I feel like when I am reading a pattern its in a foreign language. I struggled to understand it a hundred percent but in the end, I had a case! I think thats all that matters!

The entire collection.

I made a divider for when I add the laptop and my ipad to the case. This way they stay separated, and don't end up banging into each other, causing scratches or marks. I used Mink fabric, and some layered batting which I quilted.

Ipad, (green binder would be laptop) Laptop, and divider in the case.

I also made this small pocket, for the power cord or cords. I eventually finished it off with a snap closure. Its perfect for the power cord!

Inside pocket with snap.

I am glad I figured out how to make the inside pocket work, plus add the snap closure! It worked out great, and its lined with mink so if the ipad mini needs to go inside it wont get scratched (as its screen is exposed).

The entire case closes with two snaps!

Completely finished and divider is ready to be used!

When little Jared (baby #2) decides to join us, ill pack up the ipad and laptop in this case and throw it into the backpack! So excited to use this! I am in love with the fabric, super cute and super modern! Not to mention on our drive to Beale AFB this case will be perfect for all the electronics!

If any of you try this pattern out, I would highly recommend opening it up and reading the instructions BEFORE you purchase it! Make sure you understand it, if you can't understand it, but still want to get it, I would recommend either trying to find some type of help, or maybe use the wonderful internet for a guide!! Ill be sure to do that next time!

Hope you all have better luck with the pattern then me,
Sarah

Father's Day 2013

Father's Day!

A lot of people love to celebrate Mother's Day with cards, candy, and of course roses! We on the other hand, we like to celebrate by just enjoying the day as a family and relaxing (usually). This year, for Father's Day; with myself being so big and pregnant, I didn't really find the time (or energy) to do anything huge, extravagant or crazy like I usually try to do! I often get creative and make something, or cook, bake, decorate, and or go out and have a crazy fun day! Nope, this year I said "I'll wake up with Brian, get him fed and let Daddy sleep or do whatever he wants in the morning".

It was just a lovely typical day in our house. Brian and I woke up and made cinnamon rolls for Daddy!

They were store bought, just unroll, cook and frost! However, everyone enjoyed them!

Even Brian enjoyed them!

After everyone was dressed and ready for the day, we did a few errands, and a little cleaning up around the house. The hubby spent a few hours cleaning the car while Brian napped. The day ended with lots of playing, wrestling, and all smiles!

Father son wrestling!

Playing games on the ipad!

At the end of the day, I hope my husband knows how much we love him, even if we didn't spoil him with toys and cards! He is an amazing husband, a wonderful Dad, and hopefully very soon he will be a Dad of two boys. I am blessed to be married to an Airman, a soldier, who has worked extremely hard to provide for us, give us what we need, put food on the table (and diapers on the little ones), and still have room in his heart to love each one of us with every ounce of his heart! We love you!!

I hope you all enjoyed your Father's Day!
Sarah

GD Update (36/almost 37 Weeks)

Another week down and another to go...

Here it is Week 36 and 6 days and I am so ready to have this little guy! I did want to take a moment and update you all on my GD (Gestational Diabetes) journey so far! I have to say the last 3 weeks have been even bigger challenges, and even more information! I wanted to say how it really shocked me, once I announced I had GD, how many people messaged me or commented saying they had it, and started to give me valuable information! I was frustrated a little too, because even with the good you get the bad; and  I had nasty messages from some people who were basically saying I was eating all the wrong food, and drinking the wrong drinks. Its a hard balancing act when you have a one year old, and to find that extra time to make his meals, his drinks, change him, clean him, play with him, educate him; and then make and eat all the correct food and drinks for yourself! Yeah thats a challenge.

Jared at 34 Weeks, yes thats a foot in his face!

Well, anyways... the last three weeks. Geesh, lets start where I left off last time. Last time I was talking about how I had to do a food log for the week to avoid taking the 2nd pill of my medicine. I believe that was week 33. Well, after a week, my numbers were still TOO high, and my fluid in my uterus was at a larger amount then my Dr. would have liked. After all that hard work, doing what I thought was healthy, correct, and the right way; I still had to take the 2nd pill a day. I was crushed. I was so good about not taking medicines or drinking coffee with my first, and now I am a coffee drinker (once a day, as we shouldn't have any more then that while pregnant), I am now taking 2 pills for my GD a day and I often take tylenol for bad headaches. I just feel like I am letting this little guy down some how.

34 Weeks

Now with my heart broken because I need to take the medicine twice a day, I had to tell my husband the news too. It was so hard to look him in the eyes and say "My body isn't doing what it needs to do, so I am failing for our son, now I have to take the medicine twice a day and on top of that the fluid I have is too much and could harm our childs health". Yeah, not exactly what every Dad wants to hear. Its hard to be this Mom who is giving life to a baby, and your body just wont work correctly. Its like your doing everything you can, but its failing you in so many ways. Its a daily internal struggle that I think only a GD mom would understand. This is my childs health, my growing baby, the baby I want to have naturally (that might not happen), the baby I want to hold in my arms right after birth (that might not happen), and so many other things.

35 Weeks Pregnant

Yes, its true. I was told that because my fluid was at a large amount I might have to be induced if my son was measuring large. Especially, if I wanted to have a vaginal birth and NOT a c-section. Trust me after several surgeries I am all for vaginal, no c-section if I can avoid it at all costs. Well, thats not even the worst news, I was told at my 34 week appointment that the 36 week appointment will be a very important one and that my husband should tag along. I was going to have an ultrasound that would measure the baby, measure the fluid in my belly and check on everything going on. This was a huge appointment because it could mean if Jared was measuring too big, the Dr. would want to do an amniocenteses test and check the lungs to see if he could be induced. Yes if he is too big, and ready to come out, then his lungs needed to be checked for their ability to function on the outside world, then if needed steroids and then induction. WHAT? This little man could be here in 2-3 weeks if this is true... um now I am scared! I went home from my 34 week appointment with my head in my hands, confused, exhausted and sick to my stomach.

35 Weeks and some days!

35 Weeks was not even a big deal. Too much fluid, sugar levels suck, but keep working on it. I also had blood work done which is a normal thing. I went home, and began my weekend as normal. I woke up the following Saturday after my 35 week appointment and felt miserable. I felt like a truck had hit me; my head hurt, I had a head cold and felt like I could sleep all day. I was dizzy when I stood, my eyes hurt with the light, and all I wanted to do was lay down or sleep. Thankfully, my husband stepped in and took over watching Brian most of the day and also cleaned the house as much as he could. I love when he does that! I ended up in bed most of the weekend, blowing my nose 24-7, and taking as little amount of tylenol as I could stand... Monday came, and I had a missed call on my phone, as I was putting my son down for a nap. I called the number back, informed them they had called, and sure enough my blood work had come back with an extreme low number of platelet counts. With my first pregnancy I had this as well. Now this time my platelet count was down to 113 thousand. Not too low, but low enough to be of concern. I simply was going to repeat the blood drawing/blood test at my next appointment and see how that looked. This low of a count would explain the extreme fatigue, the dizziness and the headaches. It all was making sense now.

Jared at 35 Weeks and some days!

36 Week appointment had arrived... Oh my goodness, I was a nervous wreck. I just needed to know what was going on and I just wanted to know now. The past week I had been having more and more Braxton Hicks, back and hip pain, as well as feeling just blah or ucky. To me, those were my signs of possible labor around the corner. Well, after the long ultrasound, and the long wait in the waiting room and doctors room I finally had a doctor in front of me. Here it was, the moment I had been waiting for for two weeks. This information was the most important information I was going to hear and it would be the information that would either give us a day when Jared was going to be here or give us the positive news that we could still have him naturally.

Jared at 36 weeks and some days!

The doctor started with my platelet count and how I now have gestational thrombocytopenia. Its a fancy word for you have a low platelet count during pregnancy! Tell me something new... I was okay with this information as I had it with my first and just took iron to help make myself feel better. However, I wasn't going to be giving iron that day, I first had to repeat the blood work. Thats frustrating, another week of feeling like a slug, bummer. Then the news, the real news. Jared was measuring at 7 pounds, and that was just in the range of a NORMAL baby size at that stage! Oh yes, thank goodness. Jared is not measuring large, he is right on track. I still have a large amount of fluid, but because Jared is looking healthy the amniocenteses test is out, which means steroids is out, and so is; yes, the induction!!!! I could go home, and attempt to get this labor started, and do this all the normal, old fashion, and healthy way! I was on cloud 9!!! My husband and I then got my blood work done again, set up our next week appointment and headed out the door with smiles on our faces!

The end result was exactly what we could hope for. Even though my belly is full of fluid, my son is healthy, measuring normal and not too big, and we could attempt to have him normal like any other pregnancy! Now its time to walk, bounce on my ball, and do my squats! Baby Jared is good to go, so now I am too! Lets do this!

The past few days all we have done is walk, walk, walk. I have been sitting on my ball as much as I can and doing my squats as daily as I can remember to do them! I really hope to see Jared with in the next week or two. Hopefully no longer then that. I honestly am not sure how much more fluid I can carry around, as my back and hips are killing me, but I am totally happy with it because it just means more pressure and hopefully my water will break this time!

Its the, almost, end of my story, and we are on a high note... lets hope we end this pregnancy with a happy blast of positivity! Come on Jared, were all waiting!

Happy Friday,
Sarah
(P.S. My birthday is tomorrow!!! Just more exciting news!)