Wee Man #2 is here!

Bubbie's little brother has made his big arrival. Here's my birth story!

I was due on Dec 10 but after going to my appointment on the 8th, I was 80% effaced and locked up tight. My doctor was pretty sure that he'd see me the following week and that we'd end up with a scheduled repeat c-section on the 16th. I was really hoping for a VBAC so I was pretty bummed.

We were doing lots and lots of walking and trying to naturally induce labor. Saturday night (12/11), we wandered over to Walmart to walk around. I started having some pretty gnarly Braxton Hicks contractions while we were there but they stopped after I got home.

Fast forward to Saturday morning (12/12), I get up at 6:24am (yes I remember the exact time) to use the bathroom and when I laid back down I felt a contraction. I had been having a hard time distinguishing a real contraction from a false one, but when they say you'll know, it's really true. About 10 minutes later, I had another one. So I let B know while he was getting Bubbie out of bed. I got up around 7 and started to time them. Around 7:30, I called my mom to give her a heads up and told her that if my contractions kept up for an hour, we were heading.

8:30am rolls around and we decide to head in. The hospital was an hour away, so I wanted to hit the road before they got too painful. My parents showed up and my dad took DS to his house and my mom followed us in her car. The drive in was okay to start with but by the time we got there, the contractions were pretty rough.

We checked into triage, where I started moaning through the pain. The triage nurse checked me and I was only 1.5 cm. I about cried. She asked if I could walk around even though I was in so much pain because they couldn't give me pitocin. I begged her to let me stay because of the drive and as she looked at my stats my water broke. I was stoked because I knew I would be admitted but scared because I knew the contractions were only going to get stronger. At one point, I was moaning so loud that I joked that I was ghost. B was cracking up but being super supportive while I basically tried to break his thumb.

By the time we got to the L/D room, we had been in triage for 2 hours. I got an epidural and finally began to feel better. The nurse checked my progress and I had already gotten to 5cm! The next few hours passed somewhat slowly but my mom and B kept me entertained. Around 3:30, I was feeling pressure and was about to ask B to get the nurse to check me. Right before he went out, the on-call OB came in to check and shocked me by saying I was fully dialated.

I started pushing at around 4pm and was able to feel pressure but no pain with my epidural. I pushed and pushed and pushed for 2 hours when the nurse asked if I wanted to use the mirror to help me focus my pushing. I wasn't sure, but decided to give it a try. The mirror completely helped and after another 30 minutes of pushing, Z entered the world at 6:25pm. Seeing him come out in the mirror was the most amazing thing I have ever seen and I am sooooo thankful that I was able to get my VBAC.

He had a lot of fluid and mucous in his lungs that they got out and he has a hydrocele that will eventually drain on its own. Once he was suctioned, they gave him to me for skin-to-skin time for at least 2 hours. It was awesome.

By 1:30 the next day, he was in the NICU for some rapid breathing and a possible infection, but he is doing fantastic now and will be coming home on Monday. My recovery has been awesome, especially compared to my previous c-section.

Due dates

So here we are...December 11. My due date was yesterday and there is no baby in sight. I had my last doctor's appointment on Wednesday and while I'm 80% effaced, I'm not dialated at.all. I'm on edge since I'm trying for a VBAC and doctor is giving me until the 16th before I have a repeat c-section. So any of you out there that actually read this blip of a blog, please send me some labor dust!! I want to meet this little guy!

38 weeks!

So, yeah, it's been awhile. Looking back at my last post, I was going to my 3 hour glucose test and we hadn't had our second ultrasound yet. I passed the 3 hour test and Deuce's ultrasound came back clear - no more cysts! Yay!

Now we are just in a holding pattern, waiting for Deuce to make his appearance. I hoping for a VBAC but have a c-section scheduled if I go a week over because they will not induce a VBAC. I'm crossing my fingers that it all works out okay because I really don't want to have another c-section.

Bubbie is doing well. He's speaking very well and only having a little bit of a set back with the whole potty training thing. We've just had to remind him more to tell us when he needs to go since we've been slacking.

So, we wait!

Hello September

Well, I'm officially in my 3rd trimester. I can't really believe it. I had my 1 hour glucose test on Wednesday and failed, again. So I have the fun of going back in a week to do my 3 hour test. I'm not looking forward to it. They end up doing the blood draws out of the same arm each time because they have such a hard time finding my vein in the other arm. It's not fun.

The pregnancy hasn't been too difficult, aside from the whole tiredness thing. I'm usually exhausted by the end of the day from chasing Bubbie around all day. I've also been getting awful heartburn. Aside from that, we're just waiting for the next ultrasound and appointments. I'm almost at the every other week mark, which is crazy.

As for Bubbie, he's doing well. We're still working on the whole potty training thing. He's doing great - except for going #2. I'll save you from the details, but will say that the kid's stubborn. He's also been having a lot of fun with the plethora of instruments he has. His current favorites are his guitar and kazoo, or kazooti as he likes to call it.

About a week ago, we took Bubbie to visit my brother at work. Big Bro is a firefighter so Bubbie was super excited. BB took him in the fire truck, the ambulance, showed him the station, and gave him a little Jr. Firefighter badge sticker. It was pretty cool.

Wish me luck on my 3 hour test! I'm really hoping I pass.

Boy oh Boy!

I just realized that after my last post, I never updated with the results of my ultrasound. Everything went really well, aside from having to keep my bladder full for an hour and a half. We also found out the sex of the baby. Let me just say that we were absolutely shocked that we are having another boy. I was so sure that we were having a girl just based on how different my pregnancy has been going.

My parents didn't want us to tell them until they could have my brother and his family over the next day. So, I baked a cake, dyed it blue inside, and covered it with about 2lbs of cream cheese frosting. Okay, maybe not 2 lbs, but it was a lot. Anyway, after dinner with the parentals, we cut the cake. My mom about fell over because she was sure that we were having a girl too. The family is super excited since my brother has 2 girls and now Bubbie will have a little compadre to get into trouble with.

Waiting for Tomorrow

We have our big ultrasound tomorrow and I'm so anxious! I know everything's okay, but until I get in there and actually get to see the baby, I'm going to be nervous.

We're hoping to find out the baby's gender, but my parents don't want us to tell them until Friday night. My dad is out of town on a business trip and my mom wants for find out with him. We're very close, my parents and I, so having to wait, especially since I have to pick up Bubbie from their house after, is going to be super hard!

My brother and his family are going to come over too. They're just getting pizza and I'm baking a cake colored with either pink or blue for them to cut into.

So, fingers and toes and eyes crossed that the baby is baking well in there!

Heartbeat

We got to hear #2's heartbeat yesterday. It was a strong 158 bpm. Bubbie's heartbeat was always high, up around 180-190. I have a feeling this one is a girl, but I don't have my big ultrasound until July 15.

I'm actually a lot more nervous this time around - I blame the internet. I feel like I know too much, not as blissfully ignorant as I was with Bubbie. I go to a pregnancy/parenting message board a lot and there are a lot of women who end up miscarrying or having other problems. There are so many things that can happen that I just didn't really consider when I was pregnant before. Needless to say, I've been a nervous wreck.

I just have to tell myself that everything will be okay and we're going to have an amazing and healthy little brother or sister for our little boy.