Welcome, Baby!!

I'm proud to announce the arrival of my newest little man to my blog family!! Baby came supposedly 5 wks early on June 30th, and I'm so excited that I was able to have the VBAC I longed for.

Here's my birth story... it may have bodily-related details you aren't interested in, just warning!

I'd begun noticing my Braxton-Hicks contractions picking up over the last couple of weeks, but they were so irregular they never caught me off guard or anything. I do remember feeling impatient with the pregnancy in general, all the diabetes complications, and just the huge feeling of discomfort I'd been having. I began asking Hunny and my doctors if I could have been any further along, but the simple answer was "who knows." I didn't share all the issues that had surfaced with my maternal-fetal appointments and the huge disappointment that I felt when told I'd no longer be able to try for VBAC due to the large size of the baby, and I'll admit to feeling frustrated that I'd have to endure another surgery and still be Mama to the two at home. I even asked at my latest appointment, "What if I go into labor before the 13th (my scheduled amniocentesis date); will I be able to labor then?" with the answer being "no." Needless to say, I was crushed and trying hard to deal with the disappointment.

On Sunday the 28th I began noticing a pattern to my Braxton-Hicks, but while they were still "weak," they were very noticeable. I contracted from 6:30 pm to about midnight, and remember getting very excited and telling Hunny, "This could be it!" However, they completely stopped after midnight, and I went to bed and woke the next morning with no new changes. I assumed I'd just experienced "false labor," and Hunny was golden in gently reminding me that all contractions are practice and thus a "forward" motion, not backwards as I was making them out to be! :)

On Monday, my back was hurting all day, which I just chalked up to sleeping fitfully (wondering if I was in labor or not), and the contractions came back, but they were on again/off again so I didn't think much of them. I asked Hunny what he thought of me trying some of the so-called "natural induction methods" out there, and he admitted some skepticism but was willing to do whatever I wanted to do. We'd already eaten a spicy curry on Sunday, I'd increased some of my physical activities, and I was getting so ready to be unpregnant, so I asked him to pick up a bottle of castor oil. (DISCLAIMER: this was not sanctioned by my OB (I didn't ask her opinion) and thus I in no way offer this as medical advice!!) I took a tablespoon in some juice right after dinner, and proceeded to clean the house a little more vigorously (vacuumed and swept, etc), and waited for the horrible bowel symptoms that are supposed to result from the castor oil. They never showed up! I was tired and decided to lie down, and when I did I realized my contractions increased. Seeing if they would help, I started to manually stimulate my nipples, and sure enough, the contractions both increased in intensity and regularity. I wanted to stay lying down in case it was the real deal and in case it would be a really long night, but I found that my anxiety and excitement kept me from sleeping at all! I called Hunny to pack some things (because as of this point, I'd only made a to-do/to-pack list, not actually packed anything for the hospital!), and this is when the light clicked on in his mind/heart and he just KNEW this was when we'd deliver! Unable to sleep, we traded places so I'd be out in the living room and he'd try to sleep as long as he could. I spent the next few hours surfing the Internet for first stage labor symptoms (!), and my water broke at 3 am on Tuesday the 30th. When this happens, I go wake Hunny up to tell him, and we spend the next bit of time trying to figure out what the best course of action was regarding the boys and me getting to the hospital: do we wake them up or me drive myself? We chose the latter, much to Hunny's chagrin. So, around 4 am I drove myself to the hospital, and it's funny the things I thought! I remember being happy there wasn't any traffic, being happy it was June and not July (Bear's birthday is in 2 weeks), and just happy that driving was a pretty decent distraction from the definitely increased contractions (they got much worse after my water broke).

I get to the hospital and check in, and of course am immediately subjected to all the IVs, and monitors. I was literally tethered to the bed, and even though I knew (and remembered from Bunkin's birth) this would make labor more difficult, I was still attempting a natural labor. I kept asking the nurse if it was okay if I continued to try to VBAC, and that's when she was like, "oh, there was an issue with this?" DOH! keep your mouth shut, Misty!! :)

After 7 am I began doubting my ability to keep going med-free. I hadn't heard from Hunny and I was beginning to panic if he'd even make it to the hospital since I had the car. My nurse was awesome at encouraging me to do whatever I needed; she helped me breathe and low-moan through the contractions, but I began to lose control because all I could focus on was Hunny not being there for the birth! I finally got a hold of him and he let me know that my sister B was coming home from work to pick him up, take the boys to her house and drive them to the hospital. At this point I gave in and asked for medicine because I just didn't feel I could do it without help anymore. I am actually really happy I got the epidural; it helped me relax, and I went from a 3 to 9 within an hour!! (I'd arrived 80% effaced and 3cm dilated) When my OB showed up she said it would be okay to just let my body keep working and see if we could wait for Hunny to show up, but I got to a point where I couldn't resist the urge to push any longer, so the nurse directed me to push a few times, and in walks Hunny and B, just in time to actually see me deliver Baby!! I was so glad they got to be there! I didn't tear and the delivery itself was mostly uncomplicated (I had a little extra bleeding than they normally hope for, but it was well-controlled quickly).

Baby was allowed to nurse pretty soon, but when they checked his sugars (required because of my diabetes), they were way too low: 22 out of minimum 45. They took him to the NICU, and he's been there ever since, but I'm so glad the hospital has been so supportive of my desire to breastfeed. I've been on a strict schedule (every 3 hrs) to attempt to feed him at the breast, but we've supplemented every feeding to maintain his sugars, which he now has (PTL). We are getting him weaned off the glucose IV, and while I'll go home tomorrow, he'll prayerfully join us this Saturday!

I'm so blessed and happy that despite all my fears and obsessing over the "worst case scenario" that God saw and met the desires of my heart and allowed me to deliver this little boy with a normal vaginal birth with no complications other than Baby's sugars. He is a beauty and so sweet, and we are so in love with him!! Welcome to the world, sweetheart!

Boys, boys boys

Just a very very quick blog update.... we are having another little boy!!!! I'm very excited, and Hunny is .... beyond thrilled! I think he may have smirked a little. He, at least, has a clue of what is to come, whereas I am completely naive sheltered! So, here's to the next half of our pregnancy. Oh, and I did meet with my dietitian today, and she wasn't as alarmed by my glucose readings as I have been, so I hope that is good news. I'm still trying to be diligent.

On unrelated notes, I'm about to pull out my hair with this silly baby romper, and if anyone wants to volunteer to make it for me, help yourself! Lastly, if anyone wants to pray that our house gets well soon, we'll take it; I'm just very very ready for all of us to be healthy and well and stay that way for a while!

Why diabetes sucks and projects to distract me

Ok, I rescind all that about being fine with the whole diet thing. I was trying to be fine, but I'm not. Can I just rant for a moment and shout out to no one in particular that I HATE DIABETES. HATE IT. I was still encouraged by ranting talking to G (who also has this stupid disease), but after a whole weekend of eating correctly and my numbers still being out of whack, I feel like giving up, or to be more precise, drowning my sorrows in the largest slice of cake I can find. (That would be "happy birday to Edah cake," if it were Bear speaking--he's obsessed with blowing out candles and singing happy birthday to his cousin Ethan since his birthday a couple of weeks ago). While that kind of indulgence is highly impractical, it's also completely wrong, but I'm so aggravated that doing things the "right" way still isn't yielding the results I need. In fact, it's even more annoying given that I have to count calories, carbs, proteins, and all the while try to feed two little boys and menu plan for a family. Oh, and did I mention the whole pricking your finger thing? At first it doesn't hurt, but now every one of my fingers is calloused so I have to use the larger needle size and it does hurt! If you want, you can imagine me stamping my foot in a moment of childish petulance.

Ok, ranting done. Just needed to explain why I've been in a Lurch (again, a la Dr. Seuss; can you tell what I've been reading to Bear?) and terrible food-related mood. Chocolate chip cookies anyone?

However, I have been keeping my over-pricked hands busy today doing a project I've wanted to do for a long time. And that would be unraveling a sweater to recycle the yarn. Yes, I'm that amazing. :) I first read about it here, then read about it here, then was reminded how much I wanted to attempt this after reading she's doing it, too. A couple of weekends ago B and I went to the local Goodwill and there were a ton of sweater choices. I bought 3 for $12 and while I'd hoped to go with 100% cotton or wool, I did get two all-cotton sweaters and one mohair/nylon blend. I took a picture of all three sweaters, but then accidentally deleted it from my phone. I do, however have my first sweater, a lovely butter yellow cotton sleeveless turtleneck:

Following the above tutorials, I got out my scissors and starting ripping away. I ended up having to just cut out the neck because of all the "bad" seams, but I still yielded quite a bit of yarn for the $4 I paid for the sweater! Here's an in-progress shot:

And the final outcome! The only problem is I don't know exactly how much I have, and I can only guess at its gauge (I'm thinking dk or sport weight if you're curious).
This was way easier than I thought it would be, and I've already started my second sweater, which I thought was a beautiful variegated maroon and baby pink yarn; however it's actually two strands: a maroon wool and a baby pink thread. It was a little tricky beginning the unraveling of the sleeves, but once I figured out I was dealing with two strands, it made a lot more sense and went much faster. So far, I've done both sleeves and have two sizable balls to work with.
Now the fun part will be deciding what to make with my cleverly repurposed yarn, eh? The yellow will probably become a baby garment, and I'm thinking the pink would actually make a really nice scarf and hat, maybe some mittens?