Welcome Lachlan!

This post is WAY delayed because it turns out that having a baby around really occupies your time!  I'm going to try to be much better about posting (even if they are just short) so that way I can keep people updated and have something to look back on for myself.

This post will go through my labor and birth of Lachlan on 12/13/2011!  

5:37am:  The day started with a phone call that completely jolted me out of a deep sleep.  The hospital said they were ready for me, so Dustin and I had one last snuggle together in bed and then were up showering and getting ready!  I was not expecting to get called so early and were just told it would be sometime that day.  We snapped one last picture before leaving the house to capture me at 41 weeks.  It was a dreary, rainy morning and took us a while to get to the hospital cause was rush hour- I was just relieved we were going for an induction and I was not in labor stuck in the traffic! 

7:30am:  We checked in and they put me in my room, gave me the gown, and got the IV going.  I was dilated to 3cm.   The IV did not hurt, but just grossed me out to look at this tube going into my arm...so I actually covered it with a towel for the first few hours so I didn't have to look at it.

9:00am: They gave me Pitocin, which is a drug used to start contractions.  About 20 minutes later the doctor came by and broke my water.  There was an initial gush of fluid that came out and basically just feels like you peed the bed, but I was not prepared for it to continue to leak out for hours afterwards.  I frequently asked them to keep changing the pad I was laying on cause it just felt disgusting  laying in this wet fluid-- was not prepared for how that was all going to feel/work!  We had brought dvds to watch, so we popped in Season One of 30 Rock since we had not seen those episodes before.  The contractions were either not noticeable or not too bad at the beginning here.  However, then they started getting noticeable—they were not crazy painful, but on about the same level as menstrual cramps.  My back was killing me around this time and I wanted a heating pad we had brought from home, but that was not allowed- so they brought me a hot towel to put back there which helped some.   I wanted to get the epidural in BEFORE they got really bad, so I asked about getting the epidural at 10:40. The nurse recommended I wait just a bit more maybe until 11:00 and then she would have the doctor check to make sure I was progressing and had moved past 3cm.  I was a little skeptical of this because figured come 11:00 everyone would be busy and I'd be sitting around waiting long past that.   

11:00am:  Luckily the doctor came almost right on time and said I was at 4.5cm, so they called for the epidural and got that put in pretty quickly and was not a painful process.  After that point, I went back to feeling no contractions at all for a while.  Woo-hoo!  For the next few hours I'm thinking this delivery is going to be a breeze because of how well this epidural is working.  They said to plan on dilating about 1cm/hour.  I continued on slightly faster than that... 
12:30pm:  6 cm dilated

1:10pm:   7 cm dilated- the nurse and doctor comment on how well my body is responding to this and hopefully the delivery will be a breeze and go as smoothly as everything else has so far. 

2:45pm:  9-10 cm dialted and ready to start pushing soon.  So it seemed that I was well on my way to having a baby in the next couple hours and the pain was perfectly tolerable- I could only feel slight pressure when having contractions.  Life is great at this point!

3:00pm:  Now all hell starts breaking loose!  So the nurse explains to me how to push and I felt like I just could never do what she was asking.  As I’m laying on my back she wants me to basically do a stomach crunch and curl up around the baby and then push 3 times for 10 seconds each whenever I have a contraction.  My problem was that the baby was so big and I’d been uncomfortable for so many weeks, I just couldn’t hardly “curl up around the baby.”  And when I did that, I couldn’t breathe in adequately to effectively push for so long.  It felt like my lungs were crushed that I couldn't breathe.  So we just kept trying over and over and over.  It was discouraging cause the progress was so little each time-- she commented after lots of pushing that the baby had moved a few millimeters (yes, MILLIMETERS)...and I thnk she was just saying that to be nice and keep my spirits up! 

4:00pm:  Eventually the pain started getting horribly bad on my right side to the point where I couldn’t even attempt the pushes anymore.  The pain was extending down my right thigh.  So I keep telling the nurse that I’m having really bad pain- and she always comes back with asking if it is "pressure" or "pain" because I should be feeling pressure, but not pain.  Since I’ve never had a baby I didn’t know if I was just being a wimp and this was normal or not.  Finally it was so horrendous I just broke down crying and was borderline freaking out cause there was no way I could go on pushing under these conditions and didn’t know how I was going to get the baby out.  This was just the worst feelings and pain that I never want to live through again.  So she called the epidural people to come back and see if there was anything they could do.  Luckily, they were able to adjust some things and have me lay on my right side to get that numbed a little more.  I then went back to trying more pushing…I could tell from the nurse that still no progress was being made, but at least it was a little less painful. 
6:00pm:  Finally the nurse called the doctor in to look at things and the doctor said the baby’s head was at -1 and needed to move to a +3 to get out, so I wasn't even close.  She said basically no progress had been made in the baby’s position from the start—just what you want to hear after going through all that excruciating pain!  She said I was probably looking at like 3 more hours of pushing and maybe I would get to that point…or the other option would be to do a c-section.  Immediately I’m like- give me the c-section.  A huge sigh of relief came over me and I've never been so happy to have surgery before!

6:30pm:  A crew of people came in to give me drugs prepping me for the surgery.  Dustin got his scrubs.

7:00pm:  They wheel me down to the operating room.  Everything just seems now to start happening really fast and my memory may be slightly fuzzy for events in the room cause I wasn't feeling the best.  Dustin was by my side for the surgery and the main thing I remember is I started shaking really badly.  I look over at my arms and they are flopping around like a fish out of water- so this scared me some that I was going into some sort of shock of having some reaction.  However, they assured me this was common and okay.  I couldn't see or feel the lower part of my body, but I was scared it was shaking too and they weren't going to be able to do the surgery or I was going to jerk and then they would splice something open they shouldn't.

 7:13pm:  Lachlan is born and I hear his little cries!  However, the moment is not all joyous as I hear someone say, "Call the NICU" immediately when he is pulled out...so I am so scared that something is majorly wrong with him that they were able to determine that so quickly.  For those that don't know, NICU is basically where the babies go when they would have something wrong or born prematurely, so it is not good news.  The other 2 things I hear from the other side of the table are, "Whoa- he is such a big baby!" and "Look at all that red hair!"  I kept telling Dustin all along that I want a blonde kid and not a redhead....so was not happy to hear about the red hair at all...but was the least of my worries at the time!

So now they start the about 20 minute process to sew me back up.  They bring Lachlan over to the side to perform tests, weigh him, etc. so I can see him during this time and Dustin can be by him.  The first thing I do is just inspecting him head to toe trying to see what is wrong.  For a second I thought he was missing a finger, but it then popped up and was just folded back.  So I can't see anything wrong with him...and he looked HUGE....and his hair did not look very red to me- maybe strawberry blonde.  He weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz and supposedly pooped twice before he hit the scale.

Finally a nurse tells me that they had to call someone from NICU because there was unexpected merconium, so they have to make sure he didn't swallow any...which he didn't.  I'm also feeling just very naseaus while they are sewing me up and feels like it is taking FOREVER.  They get me a bucket and I'm freaking out what is going to happen if I throw up. I'ts so hard on your stomach and body and obviously they are trying to do surgery, so this can't be good if I start puking.  I'm also still just shaking really badly.  Poor Dustin was over by Lachlan and taking all sorts of pictures that I had asked him to do...but I called for him to come over by me cause I just needed him there to hold my hand and be there in case I did get sick.  This time period was really the only downside to the whole c-section process.

8:00pm:  We go back to recovery room and it was kinda nice to just get some time for the 3 of us and to just relax and take a deep breath!  I got to hold Lachlan and I'll have to say that it really just was kind of weird...to be holding this little guy that is now our son and that just less than an hour ago was that painful thing inside me.  I thought he looked so adorable though and was so happy!  Dustin left for a few minutes to go out to the waiting room to tell his family and I called my mom and sister.  After a while, they took Lachlan to the nursery so they could clean him up and do tests, so Dustin went briefly with him, but then came back to hang out with me.

9:45pm:  Unsure of the time here, but they take me to our room and get us setup in there.  All I can think of is WHAT A DAY!  Was glad that it was over, we were all healthy, and just exhausted!

At the end of the day, I’ve had such a positive experience with the c-section and the recovery so am glad I got to go that route.  And if there are people like me that were very scared and apprehensive on the whole labor process, I would seek out a doctor that will voluntarily give you a c-section.  Who knows, maybe if the baby was smaller and that epidural had worked better, the labor would not have been bad….but I know I NEVER want to experience the pain and feelings like I had that day.  There was very little pain/discomfort with the c-section process.   They give you tons of drugs for the recovery and at the 1 week mark, I was completely off all medication and had essentially no pain.  The scar is down so low that no one will ever really see it- can still wear a bikini if I desire.  And I liked that we got to stay in the hospital longer- it gave us more time to get help breastfeeding and having the nurses monitor the baby. 

Here were our predictions vs. actuals-- we ended up in a tie :(
Time of phone call: Amy- 9am; Dustin- 6am; Actual- 5:37am (Dustin wins!)
Baby's Weight: Amy- 7 lbs 9 oz; Dustin- 8 lbs 5 oz; Actual- 9 lbs 4 oz (Dustin wins!)
Baby's Length: Amy- 21 inches; Dustin- 24 inches; Actual- 22 inches (Amy wins!)
Time Baby is Born: Amy 5:16pm 12/13; Dustin- 11pm 12/13; Actual- 7:13pm (Amy wins!)

Get ready for many more posts all centering around baby Lachlan now!

Tomorrow is THE DAY!

So, I'm sitting here tonight at 40 weeks and 6 days...so basically I have the dreaded 41-week post since this stubborn little guy refuses to come out!  However, I'm not using my normal format and just writing down some thoughts-- I'll have to take a bump picture tomorrow when I look better than now!

So as of last Tuesday, my doctor setup the induction for tomorrow 12/13 and I was 6th on the list to be called.  However, I'm sure some of the 5 people ahead of me had their baby this last week, so I've probably moved up a little.  They usually start phone calls around 5am and will just depend on how busy they are with people coming in for natural births.  If I haven't heard anything by noon, then I can call and get a status update.  So we sit around tomorrow and wait for THE CALL!

We are both really ready cause feel like our life has been on hold lately cause keep thinking the baby could be coming...so almost every day we have spent just sitting around the house...watching tv, playing some games, etc.  I've been working from home and Dustin is technically on vacation, but basically was working from home.  The one good thing with the baby coming late is that we had time to explore 3 daycares and think we have decided on one.  As much as we are ready and excited, it's also just really hitting me and kinda makes me sad that the life Dustin and I have known will come to an end and take a whole new direction starting tomorrow...although I know it will all be for the better!

This last week has been brutally uncomfortable, but some of it could just be in my head since I know I was overdue.  Sleeping has been really difficult and generally only sleep for about 2 hours at a time before I wake up and either my ribs or back is throbbing.  The heating pad has become my new best friend!  It's been tough cause it's so hard to get comfy-- if I sit too long, it's killer....if I stand or walk too much, it's killer...there is just no good position to be in!  Dustin has been so good to me the last few days cause there's been a few crying meltdowns when I'm so uncomfortable and don't know what to do....usually a good backrub cures that then!  I've already decided for the next baby that I will need to make sure I have a doctor that will induce a little earlier- like maybe 2 days after the due date or something.  Waiting a week was just too much!  And considering he was last measuring 9 days ahead of schedule, I'm paranoid now he's HUGE.

I must say that I'm not near as nervous as I thought I would be.  I've been dreading the actual labor FOREVER, but I think I've been so uncomfortable that I really am just ready to get it over with. I would be way more nervous if I was doing some sort of public speaking thing tomorrow, so just goes to show how much I hate that I guess!  I think I just know I gotta get through whatever pain...and hopefully in a few days I am feeling SO much better than right now :)

Just for fun, we made a few predictions so we'll see who gets the most right:
Time of phone call: Amy- 9am; Dustin- 6am
Baby's Weight: Amy- 7 lbs 9 oz; Dustin- 8 lbs 5 oz
Baby's Length: Amy- 21 inches; Dustin- 24 inches
Time Baby is Born: Amy 5:16pm 12/13; Dustin- 11pm 12/13

Hopefully next post is to share a POSITIVE birthing experience and the fact we have a HEALTHY baby! 

Chicken and Dumpling Casserole

We made a very easy casserole Sunday night, which has provided us with yummy leftovers for the week.  I seriously love Plain Chicken's blog and used another one of her recipes for Chicken and Dumpling Casserole.  This was better as leftovers than it was the original night because it thickened up a little more.  It had a great flavor and we'll be making this again!  (I'm thinking next time it could be good with some onion, mushroom, and celery thrown in here too)

Chicken & Dumpling Casserole
1 rotisserie chicken- shredded
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup skim milk
1 can Campbell's cream of chicken soup

Preheat oven to 400.

Melt butter in the microwave and pour into bottom of a 9x13 pan. Shred the chicken and spread it on top of the butter.

Whisk together the milk and the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly pour over the chicken. Don't stir.

Whisk together chicken broth and cream of chicken soup. Pour soup over the flour and milk mixture. Don't stir.

Bake uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown.

Nursery Progress- Modern Yellow/Gray

While we've made a ton of progress with the Nursery, there is still a little left to get done.
As I posted earlier, my mom painted the nursery a dark gray color instead of the beige color that our entire house was painted.  We also installed some room darkening disposable shades-- I highly recommend these as they are less than $10 at Lowe's, EASY to install, and the gray color conveniently matched the room.  We'll eventually replace or do something different with the windows, but it works for a quick fix for now.  Our main pieces of furniture were a white crib and dresser we had delivered from Amazon and then a gray rocker chair.

Let's talk the crib first.  We didn't feel like we needed anything expensive and went with one of the cheapest options, but should work fine to get the job done!  We went with the Graco Sarah for about $150 from Amazon.  We also ordered our mattress from Amazon and is one that can be used as a more firm side for babies and then slightly softer side for toddlers eventually.  Instead of purchasing a whole bedding ensemble, it is much cheaper to just get the pieces you actually need.  We got a solid gray fitted mattress sheet.  And then I bought fabric in the color scheme of our room for a DIY crib skirt.  I had seen this on Young House Love blog which gave me the idea to just use the iron hem and velcro to simulate what a crib skirt would do.  What I liked about the method I used is that I got to use 2 coordinating fabrics and as the mattress height gets lowered as the kid grows, then I can easily adjust the polka dot layer to be smaller.  (I cheated for now and just did the front...will work on the sides later!)   I found that Michael Miller fabrics were the ones that really caught my eye...unfortunately I didn't find some superstore in St. Louis that carried these that I could go look at them.  But many sellers on etsy offer these in coordinating bundles and www.fabric.com was a good price and retailer to use.
For anyone wanting to use fabric for a DIY crib skirt, I recommend looking around the internet for ideas.  I can share my steps at a high-level, but really differs based on your crib and the look you are going for.  Step 1 was taking measurements for your areas on the front and sides of the crib for the pieces of fabric.  Hopefully you ordered the right amount and the next step is cutting it down to size.  For the polka dotted fabric, I was lucky and able to cut one long piece for the front.  For the striped fabric, the longest length I could get a piece was 44 inches and I needed more than this, so I had to cut 2 pieces and sew them together.  I was terrified I would screw this up, but it really turned out looking fine...even though it was sloppily done! 

For the polka dotted fabric, I didn't need to do any nice looking hems after cutting because the edges are all hidden (either under the mattress or behind crib parts.  For the striped fabric, I had to hem (or make pretty) the edge that is displayed near the floor.  I am in love with this iron hem tape- which you can find at wal-mart or any craft store!
I just followed the directions on the tape.  I used a measuring tape and folded over about an inch and ironed that. 

Then I placed the tape in the 1-inch seam I just created. 

I then ironed the seam with the tape inside pressing for 3-5 seconds each section.

 We then used some velcro and just assembled to the crib where it made sense!  End result:

Now, on to the dresser- this thing was a pain to assemble, but in the end was worth it cause we didn't want to spend a lot of money and just wanted something functional that looked decent.  We ordered from Amazon, but usually Wal-Mart has slightly cheaper.  On top we have the changing pad along with a basket full of diapers, wipes, and supplies.  Above the dresser I bought white frames from Target and then just made my own pictures and printed.  Etsy was a great source of inspiration for DIY nursery art, so definitely recommend looking around on there and then just doing yourself to save some money.

In the corner between the crib and dresser, we have a rocker chair.  It was around $350, so definitely one of the more expensive items in our room, but we felt like it was worth spending something decent on....and this is still cheap compared to some of the rockers out there!  We had to get it custom upholstered with this gray fabric, so took about 7 weeks for it to come in and we ordered from Philips Furniture here in St. Louis.  I have some other Yellow/Gray Michael Miller fabrics, so will probably sew a pillow to sit in here too.

Above the chair are some floating white shelves we got at Lowe's.  I really didn't have anything to put on these, so had to scramble a little!  I bought some wooden letters at Michaels to spell his name and then spray painted them gray and yellow.  This cost less than $10 to do since I already had the spray paint at home.  I then put some baby books we've received up there with some metal bookends purchased from Amazon.  I had started making some felt-stuffed owls for a mobile, but decided to nix that idea and use them with the bookends.  I filled the bottom of the owls with popcorn kernels to weigh them down....then filled the top half with pillow stuffing.

One items we still need to install in the room and will be here Thursday this week is a large vinyl wall decal.  I ordered this from etsy and is similar to this listing shown below, but I've changed the colors to make it basically white, gray, and yellow.  It will be 5 feet by 7 feet and go on the right side of the crib...slightly extending some over the crib too. 


That's about it for the nursery progress!  Will share more as the room changes!

40 weeks

Okay, so I guess I shouldn't complain that I have a 40-week post...it should be expected....but here's to REALLY hoping there is no post titled 41 weeks!  If I do make it 41 weeks (12/13), then I will be called in to be induced some time that day....so I guess at the VERY latest we know by 12/14 we'll be new parents!
How I'm feeling? 
I'm okay at times, but just completely miserable and uncomfortable at others.  I mainly get frustrated because doing anything for a lengthy amount of time gets uncomfortable.  So I just can't plop on the couch and watch tv for 3 hours at night....after an hour my back is hurting or stomach/ribs ache that I have to get up.  Or if we are out shopping/standing/walking for quite a while, then that just wears me down and can't take it.  So it just gets annoying constantly having to change things up.  And almost every night for the last week I wake up around 3:30 and is really hard to get good sleep after that point cause am so achy.  I can only lay comfortably on my left side and is hard to just stay in that same position all night long.  Then I got a completely new pain yesterday that left me nearly unable to walk...seriously thought I'd have to resort to a wheelchair until I delivered.  Basically the baby's head is lodged so far down into my pelvic region so is stretching things out and makes it hard to walk after sitting for a period of time.  The doctor said his head has turned a little from last week causing this discomfort.  It is so much better today and just slightly there...so just hoping it doesn't come back like yesterday.
Luckily Dustin is on vacation starting yesterday throught the end of the year.  Although he still has a lot of work to do, so is moreso just working from home until the baby comes.  I am most likely going to be working from home until the baby comes just cause it's more comfortable at home and then the 2 of us are together in case I go into labor...especially since we only have 1 vehicle.  Anyways, we wake up this morning to hear from co-workers and the news that the roads were terribly icy and the interstate was shutdown at Eureka...so we kept figuring this will be the time that I go into labor and we need to leave!  Luckily that didn't happen...and we're just hoping for no more ice/snow for the next week now!
Dr. Appt: 12/6/2011
Weight: 157 lbs
Belly Circumference: 40 inches (keeps growing!)
Internal Exam: nearly 3cm dilated
BP, Fundal Height, Heartbeat: Didn't really pay attention to these stats or ask since was at the end- they were all normal
Appt Notes:  As mentioned at the start of the post, she set up the induction date but really doesn't expect us to make it that far.  90% of babies are born by this point, so hopefully I fall into that category.  I was more dilated so things have been moving along, but still don't have any recognizable contractions.  When she did the internal exam, she also stripped the membranes around the uterus some which can trigger contractions to start...not a pleasant experience and am doubtful it's going to work.  I'm convinced baby is just as terrified as me for this whole labor process so he's just procrastinating and wanting to stay put.  Next time I see the doctor will be 6-7 weeks from now...such a nice change from these weekly appts!
Picture: