Timing is everything, right?
Yes, our baby was 3 weeks early. Technically, he was a preemie (1 day away from 37 weeks!). But his timing was perfect.
1. We wouldn't have been any more ready by his due date, honestly.
We had just gotten the nursery painted. Beyond that, we still didn't know what we were doing. We knew nothing about babies. So the only plan was to have one more baby shower, then attempt to figure out what stuff we had in case we could think of something else we needed.
Somehow we had managed to get all of our canning done before the baby was born, but hadn't really gotten into making meals ahead of time to throw in the freezer. Honestly, I'm not sure if I would have gotten to that anyways. My energy and ability to move was very quickly disappearing.
Him coming early just meant we had an excuse to not be ready...
2. Chris got out of a bad situation at work.
There was a client that was creating a LOT of stress for Chris at work. The baby coming early gave him the ability to hand the project over and walk away from the stress. It was perfect timing too, because the situation was resolved in a way that Chris wouldn't have been able to do. There was less stress because someone else was able to look at the situation and just end it, rather than suffering through it.
3. Mom got to hold the baby.
My mom has been having hit after hit with the cancer, then pneumonia, then shingles, all on top of blood issues and other problems. With the baby coming early, she was able to get to the hospital and hold him a little. Now most of our interactions are through video chat so she can at least see him.
4. We skipped the stress that would have happened leading up to the due date.
Let's be honest. If your due date approaches, you stress out about it, wondering when it will happen, what's going to happen, will there be a mad rush to the hospital, will I be at work, will Chris be available, will blah blah blah... Chris and I can stress with the best of them. We got to skip that.
5. Both my mom and Chris' mom were unavailable, so we had to learn to ask others for help.
My mom has been sick. Chris' mom was going in for shoulder surgery the day my water broke. We had no idea what we were doing. Plus I was having headache issues and couldn't actually function very well for the first week.
We were forced to ask for help.
Luckily, there are lots of "moms" for us at our church. We had ladies come in and clean while I slept, hold the baby while I slept, make me lunch, make us dinner, and fill our freezer with some meals that all we had to do was stick in the oven.
We also had some friends on Facebook step up and volunteer. I've got more meals coming next week. I had a dear teacher from my middle school years come and hold the baby and even clean our bedroom and the bathrooms (WOW!). I've had people drop off things that they thought we might need (and we did, we just weren't sure when we'd get to the store to find it!).
It was and is fantastic. And humbling. And not easy. But we're learning to be okay with asking for help.
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So weighing all of these things together, we looked at the top few names we were thinking of for our new little boy. One name meant protector. One name meant fair. One name meant God is gracious. God is very gracious to us. So that's what we chose for his first name.
His middle name means beloved and is from one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament.
He will be our constant reminder of God's grace.
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gra·cious
adj.
1. Characterized by kindness and warm courtesy.
2. Characterized by tact and propriety
3. Of a merciful or compassionate nature.
4. Condescendingly courteous; indulgent.
5. Characterized by charm or beauty; graceful.
6. Characterized by elegance and good taste
7. Enjoying favor or grace; acceptable or pleasing.
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Friday, September 28, 2012
An unexpected day...
Wednesday, September 12 - 4:30am
Water broke. At least I think that's what that is. Yep. Pretty sure that's my water... Well, this baby wants to come 3 weeks earlier than we thought...
Wednesday, September 12 - 5:30am
Well, I can't sleep. Doctor said not to call unless I was having contractions or hemorrhaging. Neither is happening. Guess I'll start to pack a hospital bag (because why would I have gotten around to packing it 3 weeks early?) and take care of those old bananas by making some muffins.
Wednesday, September 12 - 6:30am
Guess I should wake Chris up. How do I break the news to him so that he doesn't panic? Slide it into a very nonchalant sentence:
"How did you sleep?"
"Okay. I noticed you got up a lot again."
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep because my water broke so I made some muffins."
"Mmm... Muffins... Wait... Did you say...?"
Wednesday, September 12 - 7:00am
Well, doctor office doesn't open until 8am, so I might as well go to work for just a little while so I don't sit at home and get stressed out.
Wednesday, September 12 - 8:00am
Finally got a hold of the phone nurse. My doctor isn't in the office until 1pm. Yep, sounds like my water broke. They'll probably want to admit me in the afternoon unless contractions happen sooner, so head home and get a bag packed for the hospital.
Wednesday, September 12 - 8:30am
Break it to my department that my maternity leave is going to start today. Word spreads like wildfire. Suddenly 20 people are surrounding me, asking me why I'm not at the hospital RIGHT NOW. Regardless, they're all excited for me, so I wrap up what I can, hand off my projects and head home.
Wednesday, September 12 - 10:00am
Chris is also able to wrap up his day and come back home. We pack a few things in one bag for the both of us. Grab a pillow for Chris. Call our friends to see if they can watch Bree (the dog) for a few days. Pick up the house a little. Send Bree off. Sit around, wondering what to do next...
Wednesday, September 12 - 2:00pm
Phone nurse calls back. Yep! Time to head to the hospital to confirm that the water broke...
Now Chris and I are wondering if we got this all wrong. Crap. What if we have to go back and tell everyone it's a false alarm? Nope, we'd rather have the baby than be embarrassed. We are crazy.
Wednesday, September 12 - 3:00pm
All checked in, water confirmed broken. Now we give my body 24 hours from time of water breaking to see if labor will start on it's own.
Wednesday, September 12 - 4:00pm
Got an ultrasound. Baby is technically at 36 weeks, 5 days, but is measuring at 38 weeks. Position looks good!
Wednesday, September 12 - 5:00pm
Chris gets a really nice meal for dinner from the hospital. I get bread and broth. They promise another snack later if I don't go into labor.
Thursday, September 13 - 4:00am
No labor yet, so time to hook up the pitocin! It's what they use to induce labor. Your body usually makes oxytocin, but since mine wasn't kickin' in, they wanted to get things going because babies really need to be delivered once water breaks.
Thursday, September 13 - 10:00am
Absolutely no contractions yet... Turns out you can have multiple water sacks. During another check, my nurse moved baby's head and water broke! A LOT this time. And contractions were rolling by 10:15ish.
Blurry from here...
Contractions started. I asked for an epidural. Doctor came fast, but pain increased faster. Don't wait to ask for the epidural until your pain is at a 3 or 4 if you want it. I was up to a 10 with my pain very, very fast. Next time, epidural will happen sooner.
My doctor was in the hospital already delivering some other babies at the same time as I was ready. She had to wrap up delivering one, then go do a C-section, then she'd be back for me. So, no pushing until she was almost done with the C-section delivery for the other girl.
Once the nurse had me pushing, baby came pretty fast. Apparently I'm not only a good baby grower, but also a good pusher. Weird things to find out about yourself.
Baby boy, 7 lbs. 5 oz, and 18.5" long!
From there, you pretty much have to ask Chris. The next few days are quite fuzzy. Which is part of why it took so long to name the poor boy.
Water broke. At least I think that's what that is. Yep. Pretty sure that's my water... Well, this baby wants to come 3 weeks earlier than we thought...
Wednesday, September 12 - 5:30am
Well, I can't sleep. Doctor said not to call unless I was having contractions or hemorrhaging. Neither is happening. Guess I'll start to pack a hospital bag (because why would I have gotten around to packing it 3 weeks early?) and take care of those old bananas by making some muffins.
Wednesday, September 12 - 6:30am
Guess I should wake Chris up. How do I break the news to him so that he doesn't panic? Slide it into a very nonchalant sentence:
"How did you sleep?"
"Okay. I noticed you got up a lot again."
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep because my water broke so I made some muffins."
"Mmm... Muffins... Wait... Did you say...?"
Wednesday, September 12 - 7:00am
Well, doctor office doesn't open until 8am, so I might as well go to work for just a little while so I don't sit at home and get stressed out.
Wednesday, September 12 - 8:00am
Finally got a hold of the phone nurse. My doctor isn't in the office until 1pm. Yep, sounds like my water broke. They'll probably want to admit me in the afternoon unless contractions happen sooner, so head home and get a bag packed for the hospital.
Wednesday, September 12 - 8:30am
Break it to my department that my maternity leave is going to start today. Word spreads like wildfire. Suddenly 20 people are surrounding me, asking me why I'm not at the hospital RIGHT NOW. Regardless, they're all excited for me, so I wrap up what I can, hand off my projects and head home.
Wednesday, September 12 - 10:00am
Chris is also able to wrap up his day and come back home. We pack a few things in one bag for the both of us. Grab a pillow for Chris. Call our friends to see if they can watch Bree (the dog) for a few days. Pick up the house a little. Send Bree off. Sit around, wondering what to do next...
Wednesday, September 12 - 2:00pm
Phone nurse calls back. Yep! Time to head to the hospital to confirm that the water broke...
Now Chris and I are wondering if we got this all wrong. Crap. What if we have to go back and tell everyone it's a false alarm? Nope, we'd rather have the baby than be embarrassed. We are crazy.
Wednesday, September 12 - 3:00pm
All checked in, water confirmed broken. Now we give my body 24 hours from time of water breaking to see if labor will start on it's own.
Wednesday, September 12 - 4:00pm
Got an ultrasound. Baby is technically at 36 weeks, 5 days, but is measuring at 38 weeks. Position looks good!
Wednesday, September 12 - 5:00pm
Chris gets a really nice meal for dinner from the hospital. I get bread and broth. They promise another snack later if I don't go into labor.
Thursday, September 13 - 4:00am
No labor yet, so time to hook up the pitocin! It's what they use to induce labor. Your body usually makes oxytocin, but since mine wasn't kickin' in, they wanted to get things going because babies really need to be delivered once water breaks.
Thursday, September 13 - 10:00am
Absolutely no contractions yet... Turns out you can have multiple water sacks. During another check, my nurse moved baby's head and water broke! A LOT this time. And contractions were rolling by 10:15ish.
Blurry from here...
Contractions started. I asked for an epidural. Doctor came fast, but pain increased faster. Don't wait to ask for the epidural until your pain is at a 3 or 4 if you want it. I was up to a 10 with my pain very, very fast. Next time, epidural will happen sooner.
My doctor was in the hospital already delivering some other babies at the same time as I was ready. She had to wrap up delivering one, then go do a C-section, then she'd be back for me. So, no pushing until she was almost done with the C-section delivery for the other girl.
Once the nurse had me pushing, baby came pretty fast. Apparently I'm not only a good baby grower, but also a good pusher. Weird things to find out about yourself.
Baby boy, 7 lbs. 5 oz, and 18.5" long!
From there, you pretty much have to ask Chris. The next few days are quite fuzzy. Which is part of why it took so long to name the poor boy.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Since October
What has happened since October? Let me tell you...
November:
I can't remember. Thanksgiving was in there. We had some turkey. I'm sure it was tastey.
December:
I got two kitties. Tesni and Ziva. Tesni is my little cuddle-bug, she loves to find an open lap, especially if it's mine. Ziva seeks attention by doing everything wrong. She steals things and breaks things and gets into trouble. Turns out Tesni does that too, but she does it when we're not looking – most of the time.
January:
We got a puppy! Her name is Bree. She's a Bernese Mountain Dog. She is currently 50 lbs and will grow to be about 120lbs.
February:
About a week after getting Bree, we found out... I'm pregnant! We are very excited. However, getting a puppy right in the beginning of the first trimester is CRAZY and not recommended. I got hormonal (ie very moody). Chris left for Texas for a week to do some training for work. It was a rough week for Bree and I, since I was the only one around to deal with her, and we weren't ready to tell anyone I was pregnant, so I couldn't easily ask for help. Now we know how to avoid certain situations that can set me off as I continue to learn how to cope with crazy hormones.
March, April:
Not much here other than doctors appointments and training for the Tulip Time 5k (yes, I had my doctor's permission).
May:
We celebrated our 5 year anniversary by running the Tulip Time 5k (I was under 40 minutes!) and then attempting to eat 5 hot dogs together. Even with Bree's help, we couldn't eat all 5 hotdogs (baby did not pull his/her weight in this eating challenge...). We (let's face it, I) wanted to eat 5 elephant ears, but that seemed even more daunting than the 5 hot dogs.
So there's your quick life summary.
November:
I can't remember. Thanksgiving was in there. We had some turkey. I'm sure it was tastey.
December:
I got two kitties. Tesni and Ziva. Tesni is my little cuddle-bug, she loves to find an open lap, especially if it's mine. Ziva seeks attention by doing everything wrong. She steals things and breaks things and gets into trouble. Turns out Tesni does that too, but she does it when we're not looking – most of the time.
January:
We got a puppy! Her name is Bree. She's a Bernese Mountain Dog. She is currently 50 lbs and will grow to be about 120lbs.
February:
About a week after getting Bree, we found out... I'm pregnant! We are very excited. However, getting a puppy right in the beginning of the first trimester is CRAZY and not recommended. I got hormonal (ie very moody). Chris left for Texas for a week to do some training for work. It was a rough week for Bree and I, since I was the only one around to deal with her, and we weren't ready to tell anyone I was pregnant, so I couldn't easily ask for help. Now we know how to avoid certain situations that can set me off as I continue to learn how to cope with crazy hormones.
March, April:
Not much here other than doctors appointments and training for the Tulip Time 5k (yes, I had my doctor's permission).
May:
We celebrated our 5 year anniversary by running the Tulip Time 5k (I was under 40 minutes!) and then attempting to eat 5 hot dogs together. Even with Bree's help, we couldn't eat all 5 hotdogs (baby did not pull his/her weight in this eating challenge...). We (let's face it, I) wanted to eat 5 elephant ears, but that seemed even more daunting than the 5 hot dogs.
So there's your quick life summary.
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