Yep, I'm emotional

Today brought quite a few emotions and they were not all pleasant. I'm extremely emotional, as I have been during each postpartum period. I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm exhausted, I'm elated, I'm EMOTIONAL! I think I've cried 3 or 4 times today and my poor Husband has been left to pick up the pieces. Everything sets me off. I'm frustrated that I can't clean my house like I want. I'm frustrated that my Kids are all wanting my attention and I can't figure out how to divide it out fairly. I'm sore from just having had a Baby. I'm tired from end of pregnancy and now breastfeeding. I'm anxious about keeping everybody healthy and happy. I'm just overwhelmed.

I know this is all part of being postpartum but it's still hard. My Husband has been so wonderful to me. He's taking care of our "older kids" so I can rest. He's taking care of the meals and housework. He's also playing psychiatrist and nurse for me. He's such a blessing to our family! I'm really so very thankful for him!

Thank you Lord for my Husband. And Thank you Husband for being such a Godly Man!

Released Early!

So, I know I had said I was going to take the full two days of hospital stay BUT I quickly remembered how much I really do hate hospitals. I couldn't get comfortable in the bed and as soon as I would fall asleep the nurses would come in needing to do their job. So when my OB asked if I wanted to go home I quickly said yes! It didn't help any that my Husband was home with our "older kids" all day on Tuesday and I was missing them all. So I was discharged and we came home to get life started as a family of 6!!!

Micah finally warmed up to Adalee and asked to hold her!

Siblings!

Our "older kids" came to the hospital to see their new baby sister yesterday. They LOVED her! Ok, Cobi and Shaelyn loved her, Micah…he was not so sure.

Shaelyn was the first to hold Adalee! She was timid at first but quickly fell in love!

Cobi was next up and he took to her instantly! He loved calling her Baby Adalee and was so gentle with her!

Micah didn't hold her in the hospital. He wasn't sure what to think of her but we didn't push anything on him. We wanted him to learn to love her in his own time vs rushing things and possibly causing more stress than good.


They all three love their Baby Adalee now! They fight over who gets to hold her and are always upset when Mama is feeding her and they can't.

Birth Day!

Well, as you know, I was to be induced today at 6:00am. The plan was for me to be started on pitocin and then my OB would arrive around 8:00am to break my water. We were hoping for a shorter 4-5 hour labor like our first induction.

Fortunately Adalee, and the Lord, had other plans! I went into labor naturally in the middle of the night! No induction or pitocin needed here! Praise God!

Now for the details:
I went to sleep on the couch around midnight, praying that labor would start on its own. I woke at 2:45am to a contraction and thought "I don't want to go through an induction - pitocin contractions will hurt more than this and this really hurts"! I fell back asleep while praying again that labor would start on its own. I woke again at 2:53am to another painful contraction. I thought maybe I was getting the contractions from a full bladder so I used the restroom. It wasn't from a full bladder as they immediately started coming every 2 minutes and were doubling me over with their intensity. I got into the shower hoping it would slow things down a little. That was a bad idea! The contractions instantly started double peaking. It felt like the contractions were pushing my baby out through my skin. I knocked on the shower wall a couple times to try and wake my Husband. Finally I got out of the shower and frantically started calling his name. When he finally heard me I told him it was time, I was in labor! At this point it's 3:06am and I thought I was in transition already! I was shaking and couldn't stay on top of the pain. It felt like I was losing control. I got dressed while my Husband threw out bags in the car. I raced downstairs to warn my Mom we were in labor & headed to L&D. I even told her, as I was walking out the door, "I think I'm in transition"!

On our way to the hospital my Husband called his Sister who was supposed to be at the delivery. She thought he was playing a joke on her. After he convinced her to race to L&D we called the hospital to warn them of our arrival. During the car ride, which is only 5 minutes, I had to have him stop driving. And yes, he did drive CAUTIOUSLY through a red light.

When we arrived at the ER my Husband ran in to get me a wheelchair. This was the first labor I actually felt I NEEDED a wheelchair to ride to L&D. An ER nurse came out while I was in the middle of a contraction and seemed surprised when she noticed I was in labor. She walked me up to L&D while my Husband parked the car. I filled out the sheet of required paperwork before my nurse brought me back to my room. She asked if I had other fast labors and giggled nervously when I mentioned my last labor was 2 hours long. I was feeling pushy by the time she got me to my room so she checked me right away and I was 6cm.

She hooked me up to the monitors and confirmed that my contractions were double peaking. She started an IV right away since I had a history of postpartum hemorrhage. Two attempts later the IV was in and fluids were pumping. I was laying on my side, since they require 15 minutes of monitoring upon arrival at L&D. The contractions were unbearably painful at this point and I almost cried from the pain.

A few minutes later I was moaning with each contraction and shortly there after I was pushing. I told my nurse that I would have to push with the next contraction or two and her response was, "I hear that"! She called for my OB who was in the hospital parking lot. Thankfully by the time I needed to push my on-call OB had made it into my room. She didn't have time to remove her sweater and just started slipping on gloves and gown as quickly as she could.

The next four contractions were very "short and wonky" as the OB called them, only last about 30 seconds, so I was unable to get any decent pushing done. The next two contractions were decent lengths and I was able to deliver miss Adalee! She had passed her first bowel movement or mecconium so she had to be taken straight to the warmer to be checked over. She was fine, thankfully!

She had a FULL head of black, curly hair and the sweetest little cry!

She latched on wonderfully right away and has been a breastfeeding pro ever since! She weighed 8lbs 9.4oz and was 21.5" long - EXACTLY THE SAME SIZE as her older brother Cobi who was also born at Woodwinds in October!

So we now have two Boys and two Girls - two October birthdays and two February birthdays!

Tomorrow is the BIG Day!

I cannot believe that tomorrow morning we will begin the induction process to bring this miracle child into our arms! I'm so anxious to meet her and hold her, to smell her and snuggle her, to nurse her and share her with our older children. I have butterflies!

I'm anxious about the pain of labor, especially one induced with pitocin. I'm anxious about the increased chance of a c-section with the use of pitocin. I'm not looking forward to the recovery weeks after delivery either.

Thankfully, all of the anxieties are greatly overshadowed by the fact that I will soon be holding my last little lady in my arms! I'll get to see who she looks like, what her personality is, and finally tell her face-to-face how much I love her and how we longed for her to join and complete our family! I'm so excited for her to join us and make this family whole!

I can't wait for my older children to meet her! I wonder how they'll react to her. How they'll react to Mommy being gone for two days. How they'll react to little lady's noises, movements, sounds, and the fact that she'll be taking more of my attention. I can't wait for them to hold her and kiss her!!! I am excited to see how Shaelyn responds to the Baby she's always talking to and kissing in my womb!

I'm trusting the Lord for protection and health for this little lady and myself. I'm praying for an easy transition for my children and my Husband and myself. I'm believing this time will bring us closer together as a family and renew our zeal for the family the Lord has so graciously blessed us with! I honestly can't wait!!! Sleeping tonight is going to be a chore!

*I will post pictures and stat's as soon as possible! Thank you for your prayers!

To gift or not to gift...

With our induction date quickly approaching I've been thinking about Sibling gifts from Baby. I know plenty of people who give gifts to the older siblings from their new baby and I know plenty of people who don't give gifts. We never have. When my first became a big brother he was only 15 months old and I didn't think he would even understand a gift from his brother, much less need one.

When my second became a big brother he was only 12 months old and again, I didn't think he would even understand why he was getting the gift.

Now that my oldest is almost 4, my second is 2.5 and my third is 1.5, I'm wondering if a gift from their new baby sister would help ease the transition. On the flip side, I think of their sister as a gift and don't feel the need to give them extra gifts…

So, here I am, trying to figure out if we do give a gift what should we give, why would we give it and what will that show our children? I'm still on the fence about this one. I'm thinking I'll just carry on the tradition of not giving any gifts and just make it very exciting for them to be the Big Brother's and Big Sister. I hope they'll be just as smitten over their little sister as we will be. Hopefully offering her hugs and kisses will be enough of a present for them! I guess we'll see…

Your turn! Did you or did you not give older siblings gifts from their new baby sibling? WHY or why NOT?!?

Really Frustrated

Last night I had an acupressure/acupuncture treatment done.  I ended up having contractions every 4 minutes for over an hour and headed into L&D.  I arrived around 6:00pm and was dilated to 3cm.  I was monitored until 6:30pm and then able to walk until 7:30pm.  At the 7:30pm check I was 4 cm.  At this point I was put back on the monitors and my blood pressure taken.  Unfortunately, my pressures were up again at 158/102.  An IV was started because I was feeling very nauseous, wanted something to settle my stomach, and with my hemmorage risk needed an IV for precautionary reasons.  Following the 3 IV attempts I then got into the tub.  At this point labor pretty much fizzled out.  I was checked again around 10:30pm and was now 5 cm but not contracting well.  So we headed home. 

I'm really trying to trust my body and my baby but all I feel like doing is crying.  I'm so frustrated that I'm already dilated half way but am not actively contracting.  I so badly want to meet this little lady and no longer be pregnant.  I want my body and hormones back.  I want to be pain-free again.  

I have an appointment with my OB today.  Monday brings a medically induced labor.  I'm upset, disappointed, frustrated, tired and overwhelmed.  I guess we'll just wait and see what happens between now and Monday.