Party in the back?
No thanks!
Friday, June 6, 2014
Sadie
My niece, Sadie Mae, was born via scheduled C-section on November 19th! The procedure went well but Sadie developed respiratory distress soon after her birth. In the NICU again, Jess and Nate were reunited with some of the nurses that cared for Carter during his prolonged hospitalization. Sadie required external ventilation (CPAP) for several days until she was able to breathe better on her own. Luckily Sadie was able to come home within the week and has done well ever since.
Halloween
We attended several events for Halloween! These pictures were taken at the Sacramento Zoo's Halloween celebration. Ais and Lilly (Minnie Mouse #1 and Minnie Mouse #2) loved dancing on the stage with the other kids, while Cameron hung out with the parents! We also returned to Bayside's Trunk or Treat event with the Van Winkles and had Travis' family over to dinner on Halloween night before Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood with Cameron and Lilly. Brady, unfortunately, did not dress up for Halloween!
Bishop's Pumpkin Farm
It wouldn't feel like fall without a trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland, CA. This year we went with the Rinderle Family.
Aislinn's 3rd Birthday Party
Ais wasn't forgotten. It took a lot of effort to throw a party for Ais just a month after Brady was born, but the guilt of not throwing her a party would have eaten away at me! We kept the event small (or at least that was our intention) at the park down the street from us. It was a low-key event with park play, chalk, a pinata, and food. Surprisingly, Brady slept the entire time! Ais had a blast and our friends and family that hadn't had a chance to meet Brady were finally able to do so.
Two Kids = Busy Life
Last week we took a mini vacation to Washington to visit Travis' family. It was our first time flying with both kids and they did surprisingly well (maybe we should attempt Hawaii???). My neglected blog was mentioned and I vowed to make an effort to update it. After all, Brady is 9 1/2 months old now and he has not made his debut here! A few catch up blogs are in order :) Let's start with Brady's arrival...
Brady Lee’s Birth Story
We found out that we were expecting on
January 6th when we took a home pregnancy test. Our second baby was officially
on the way after several months of trying to conceive. We were nervous about
making the transition to having multiple children but excited about the many
possibilities our future would hold with this special new gift.
At our twenty-week ultrasound I chose to keep
our baby’s gender a mystery while Travis insisted on finding out what we were
going to have. Surprisingly, he was able to keep the secret until our little
baby boy arrived.
My labor started on Wednesday, August 21st.
I had been home on maternity leave for three weeks and was 37 weeks into my
pregnancy. Travis and I had put Aislinn down for bed and gone to bed ourselves
around 11pm. I was uncomfortable in bed (which was becoming increasingly
common) so I went to the living room to read. Around 12:30 I went to the
bathroom and then headed to the bedroom to attempt sleep. Before I was able to
lie down, I felt a gush of warm fluid and was surprised to realize that my
water had broken.
I woke Travis up and told him what had
happened. When 15 minutes passed and nothing else occurred, I started to second
guess whether or not I had imagined it all together, but decided to shower and
start packing for the hospital just in case. By the time I had finished my
shower and dressed I had had a few contractions with water leaking and I knew
that our baby was indeed on his (or her) way. I started timing my contractions.
They were hardly painful at all and coming 12-14 minutes apart.
I went to the bathroom where more amniotic
fluid gushed out, making my contractions far more intense. My contractions went
from being mild and infrequent to intense and painful, coming every 2-3
minutes. Feeling a little panicked at how rapidly my labor was progressing at
this point, I asked Travis to finish packing and to call his mother so that we
could drop Aislinn off on our way to the hospital.
We got into the car and Travis drove like a
maniac as my contractions became faster and even more painful. Contractions
were coming every 2 minutes as Travis ran every red light and barely slowed for
stop signs. Luckily it was after 3am at this point and there wasn’t anyone on
the road with us! Even though Travis’ mom lived only a few minutes away and the
hospital was fairly close to us, this felt like the longest and most torturous
drive of my life.
We arrived at the hospital around 3:45am and
were briefly taken to triage before my nurse realized how much pain I was
having and decided to take me directly to a room for admission. The nurse
started asking some basic questions and set up to put in an IV. I was curled up
against the side of the bed in pain and I asked her early on about calling for
an epidural. She insisted that we had to take care of a few other things first.
At this point, I hated her and everyone else in the world…. Except for Travis,
who was rubbing my back and feeding me ice chips between contractions.
The nurse checked me after starting me on IV
fluids, calling the on-call physician for orders, and hanging my antibiotic.
She said I was 5 cm dilated and that she would call the anesthesiologist. It
was about 15 minutes of sheer torture before he arrived. When the nurse
attempted to help me sit at the side of the bed, I could hardly tolerate the
pressure and told her I needed to push. The nurse had me lie back down to
recheck me and realized that I was already completely dilated and that our
baby’s head was already low in my pelvis. While it was too late for an epidural,
the anesthesiologist pressured me to get a ‘spinal’ dose of fentanyl. Being so
close to delivery, I was hesitant to take a medication, but after several
moments of contemplation, I agreed. The medicine helped with the pain and I got
into position to push.
The OB/Gyn arrived and after only pushing for
three contractions, our baby boy came shooting out like a torpedo! He was
placed on my chest where he promptly urinated all over me! The little guy
weighed in at 7lbs 2oz and measured 20 inches long. The nurses put him on my
chest while the physician placed stitches. He was born at 4:51am on Thursday
August 22nd. Although my labor was short, I was so thankful for it
to be over, and thankful that our family was complete and I would never have to
be pregnant again! Welcome Brady Lee!
P.S. No, I didn't just write this for my blog (I know you're wondering... and thinking that I'm crazy). I documented these precious moments just a few days after returning home from the hospital so that I could use it in Brady's baby book.
P.P.S (or P.S.S?) Ok,Yes. I am a little crazy.
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