Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Ty's birth story!

I wrote this post mid May, but for some reason never published it? Anyways, here's Ty's birth story! I don't go into details of him being in the NICU, but everything else is here! I'm so happy to have him in our family, he's amazing!

{WARNING: I get very wordy in this post, and probably over explain everything. I also might explain it in details that you don't want to read.. as in, TMI. If that is going to drive you crazy, you probably shouldn't read this. Basically, Ty came 5 weeks early, was in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 2 weeks, and is now the perfect baby living with us at home! YAY!}


It is such a blessing having Ty here! If I would have gone full term with the pregnancy, I would still be pregnant!! For another 2 weeks, actually! Which actually blows my mind, seeing as Ty is only 6 pounds 11 ounces right now, and I can't imagine pushing him out of me at this size, let alone how big he'd be in 2 more weeks!

Anyways, on to the story!

I was super lucky with my whole pregnancy, had hardly any pains, no sickness (not including the random strep throat I got, and the one night of food poisoning) and no complications. I was being really hypochondriac-ish and thinking that everything that happened to every other pregnant person I knew would happen to me, and many women recently have had their babies early. So of course I thought I'd go into labor early.. and I also really wanted Ty to get here sooner than expected because I was sick of waiting! I was preparing paperwork in advance at work just incase anything happened, but I figured it wouldn't be necessary, just helpful for me to have it done before things got hectic. My doctor was very confident that I would go full term or more, and I had just come to the conclusion that he was probably right.. that was on Thursday, April 24th.

Monday the 21st, I had a doctors appointment that showed that I had higher blood pressure than normal, and was scheduled to go back in that Friday the 25th for another appointment where they would do a non-stress test to see if I had preeclampsia.

I came home from work on Thursday afternoon and read a blog post that talked about how some women go in for a routine OB appointment, only to find out they have preeclampsia and are immediately told to pack their bags and go the hospital for delivery. I figured that wouldn't happen to me, but I just wanted to be sure, so I curled my hair so that it could look decent, just in case. Everything was still normal, and I had parent teacher conferences the following morning that I was prepping for.

Cody and I went to bed at 9:30pm, fell asleep really fast, and then I suddenly woke up at 12:30am feeling like I started my period, which is weird because.. hello, I'm pregnant! I just layed there for a while trying to figure out what to do. Finally, I told Cody "Um.. Cody? I think my water just broke.." and his response was a very hesitant, "Oh. Okay." I got out of bed, walked the two feet into our kitchen, and it just started running down my legs onto the floor. I'd heard of pregnant women peeing their pants and not knowing it, so I was worried/embarrassed that that was the case. I went to the bathroom and was just kind of freaking out.

We hadn't even taken any birthing classes, we were supposed to do that this weekend. I've never been in the hospital where I was supposed to deliver. I did register for labor and delivery a couple weeks prior, but was I just supposed to go to the hospital? Should I wait a few hours? Days? I don't even know the hospital phone number! Was I supposed to be feeling contractions? What do they even feel like? What do I need to put in my hospital bag? I had just barely started looking at ideas, but hadn't even gotten stuff ready! What size clothes should I pack for Ty? Our carseat base isn't installed. Do I need to bring the stroller? Do I even need to be worrying about this? Because maybe I did just pee my pants. But if I didn't and my water did really break... HOLY CRAP. I'M GOING TO BE A MOM IN THE NEXT DAY OR SO!
On the way to the hospital! Crappy lighting because it was 1:30am!
I asked Cody to look up the number for the hospital and I gave them a call. I asked them what I should do, and they told me to come in. I asked how to know for certain if it really was my water breaking, and they said that if it's still leaking (it was) then it was my water. Cody and I got ready, and walked around the house a million times trying to find everything we'd possibly need to pack in our bags. It took us about an hour, and then we were finally on our way. We had originally had plans to take Dexter to Cody's parent's house, but since it was the middle of the night and we weren't sure that I was even going into labor, we left Dex at home.
Just chillin in the hospital before they took me up to labor/delivery! No pain, so happy, so nervous!
We finally get to the hospital, and ask for directions to labor and delivery. Once we're up there, we were put in a room and they hooked me up to monitors, confirmed that my water broke, and said that I was dilated to 1cm. They told me that since I wasn't having contractions, they were going to start me on pitocin to induce labor. We got transferred into a delivery room. By this time, it was about 3:00 in the morning. They started the pitocin and I was starting to feel the contractions. They were tiny and super manageable, but they escalated pretty fast, and were going every 2 minutes. I was curious how long I could labor naturally, but wasn't opposed to getting an epidural. At about 5:25am, I decided I wanted to get an epidural. The contractions were super strong, and I was about to start crying, and when I cry I get headaches. I didn't want to have a headache for the rest of the day, hence why I wanted the epidural. Little did I know that I'd be crying the rest of the day anyways! They gave me the epidural around 6:20am and I was dilated to 5cm. Once I got the epidural, it was magical! It worked instantly and I was able to finally get some sleep! It was only about 45 minutes, but that was an awesome 45 minutes! The nurse woke me up at 7:50am and said, "Um.. are you ready to have a baby?!" Apparently I was all the way ready! 
Our first family picture.. not my favorite of any of us and the quality sucks, but it is what it is (:
Cody came over to the bed and I started pushing! Cody counted about 9 contractions and I pushed three times each contraction. And voila! Ty was here! I wasn't in pain, but I was very much there. I felt everything, and it was magical! Cody cut the cord, which he really didn't want to do beforehand, but apparently felt fine enough to do it when the time came.. probably because the delivering doctor (I had no idea who he was, but I didn't care. A doctor's a doctor, and he was bringing my baby into this world!) said "Alright, dad, come cut the cord!" The nurses took him, measured him, wrapped him up and I looked over and thought, "That is my baby. We just made a human being and he's right there!" I started tearing up a little, and then they brought him over to me. I held him in my arms and even though he was swollen, I thought that he was the most amazing little thing I'd ever seen! And then he grabbed my finger with his hand and I lost it. I know that's just a reflex, but it melted my heart. I was a mom! I told Cody to go with Ty as the nurses took him down to the nursery to do the routine things, and I stayed in the delivery room. I had a complication with the placenta, so that took a while. I ordered some breakfast, ate it, then got transferred to a recovery room. It was the weirdest feeling when they told me to get onto the wheelchair because my left leg had almost all the feeling back, but my right leg was still completely numb! I couldn't move it at all. 
Ty holding my finger with his tiny hand!
I got down to the room, and was dizzy and lightheaded, and my legs were still partially numb from the epidural, but I really wanted to see my baby. I sent Cody to retrieve Ty and I layed down to try to get rid of the dizziness. Cody came back and said that Ty had to stay where he was, but that I could see him when I felt ready. Cody's mom came into the room and asked how I was doing, and I started bawling. Not something I was expecting! And then everyone else who came into the room for the next few hours was greeted by me starting to bawl rather than a "hello!" I still didn't even know that Ty was in the NICU, or that he'd have to stay in the hospital longer than I did. 
The routine things they do with baby right after being born. Glad Cody could be there with him!
My legs were finally getting feeling back, and I was less dizzy, so I went to see my baby. By this point, it was about 3 hours since I'd given birth to Ty but I'd only seen him for about 2 minutes. The fact that I was a mom hadn't really sunken in yet, but I knew I had a son waiting for me in the NICU. When I walked in, I noticed how tiny he was! They had him bundled up in about 3 blankets and had the heating lamp on above him, and he was perfect! I picked him up and just cried happy tears that I finally was able to hold him (:

Monday, June 16, 2014

Dear Ty - 7 weeks

(June 6-12, 2014)
Baby boy, you are so wonderful! You are the cutest little tiny thing I've ever seen! I am absolutely loving watching you grow! Here are some things that you've been doing this past week!

You are staying awake more times during the day! Instead of being awake once during the day and once at night, you have started waking up about 3 or 4 times during the day! I love seeing you so alert and attentive!

YOU SMILED AT ME! I didn't catch a picture of it, but you were looking right at me, I called you my cute boy, and you smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen! Immediately afterward, you went back to your little scowl/stare and didn't smile again until the next day or so. I love your many facial expressions!!
When you get hungry, you love sucking on a pacifier until you actually get fed, but if I'm not fast enough to put the pacifier in your mouth, you start sucking on your fingers/whole hands. It's adorable! You don't quite have the control to keep your hands in your mouth though, so you get really frustrated when your hand decides to move out of your mouth!

Baby boy, you finally slept for 5 1/2 hours straight! You aren't the best sleeper and usually require me to hold you in order for you to sleep, but you slept in your bed for 5 1/2 hours, and my goodness, it was amazing! Keep it up, alright?

You are still always holding onto something with your tiny fists! The more hungry you get, the tighter your grip gets!

You are still pretty small, so as far as clothing goes, you still fit in newborn clothes and diapers. Carters brand clothes run smaller than all of the other brands that we have, so those newborn onesies are getting a little bit tight.. which means you're growing!

Speaking of you growing, you are getting chunky! You've got little puffy cheeks that I love poking, and instead of wrinkles on your arms and legs, you've traded them for rolls! I love watching you grow, and you've got some pretty adorable clothes to wear once you get bigger, so I'm excited for that as well!

Dexter is becoming more aware of you these days! If you're in your bouncer and start crying, Dexter will run over to you, then look up at me with his ears flat against his head as if to ask, "What's wrong with him, Mom?" It's adorable! He is always wanting to lick your head, hands, feet, and smell your bum (:
Being your momma is the best thing I've ever done. I'm so glad that you chose me to be your mom and that we can be on this crazy adventure together! Please be patient with me as I try to decipher what you want from your one form of communication: crying. I'm doing my best, bud, I promise! I love you to the moon, but further!

-Love, Momma

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Nevada Mini Book

Three years ago, I bought a mini paper book from Elise Blaha and was so excited to use it and had such high hopes that I'd do something with it soon. And then three years went by, and I realized I needed to either use it or.. well there was no other option. I just needed to use it and move on! When Cody and I went to Nevada in March, I took a bunch of pictures, and it was a pretty big event for us! Our first amazing hotel, our last vacation before Ty came, and it was Cody's birthday weekend.

I didn't need any more excuses, so I printed the pictures and got to work! I finished about 1/4th of the book before Ty was born, but then that took a little toll on my crafting time. But yesterday I decided to just go for it, and I finished the book! I loved working on it, and even though it's super simple with hardly any embellishments, it's perfect for capturing our weekend into a book that we can look at later on and remember the fun that we had!


Here it is on my shelf with my other handmade books! The far left was made by my mother as a wedding present and it's gorgeous! I'm loving making little mini books along side Project Life!