Project Update: Kitchen Rejuvination

This past week, Justin's cabin fever led him to stain the kitchen cabinets. We are so happy with the outcome, especially because it was a $30 cost as opposed to the couple thousand it would have been to get new cabinets. I am so proud of my hubby!

Before:

After:

Currently, he is tiling and painting our fireplace surround. Bathrooms will get done when his handy dad comes to visit.

The Many Faces of Stella

She makes the funniest faces! These are the few I've captured so far.

The "I just projectile vomited on Mommy and I'm proud of it" face

The "I just pooped all over Dad" face

My Husband Is Getting Cabin Fever!

Justin is feeling so cooped up since he's not working and we are at home with the baby. He hit a point last night where he needed to do something so he spent the night building a countertop for our laundry room. It turned out amazing!

Today, he finished our bathroom vanity project. The stain looks amazing and I am so happy how it turned out. He loves it too and decided to tackle the kitchen. So all the doors and drawers were quickly removed. Then he realized what a disaster zone our kitchen had just turned into and apologized, but it is too late to turn back now. Hopefully, it will get done quickly.

Next weekend he plans on tiling the bathroom floor and shower, which I have been bugging him to do for years.

My house is a renovation zone and while I have total faith in him, I'm a bit nervous.

Week 1: Sleep Deprivation and Recovery

Stella is one week old and here is how we spent the first week:

We adjusted to life at home running on empty. For the first few days Justin and I were taking separate shifts. He would be up on baby watch from 8pm-3am while I slept. Then I would take over while he slept. It left us both so sleep deprived. Now we go to bed together and I wake up every two to three hours with the baby. Every now and then I wake him up to change her. He's been so great doing tons of diaper changes.

I had to run to Target and the grocery store and left her with Justin without much worry because he is so great with her. Justin had the hardest time leaving the baby to run to pick up one thing two miles away. He had to be pushed out the door. It was sweet. He always says how cute she is, which is true!

We had a nurse practitioner come to the house to check on the baby and me. Stella weighed in at 5lbs 7oz, which was a great weight gain. Because she was born at 37 weeks 6 days and 23 1/2 hours instead of 38 weeks (a 30 minute difference), she was put in a higher risk bracket so the nurse had us take her for some more blood tests to make sure she was doing well. She passed with flying colors. Next check up is in another week. As for me, my blood pressure was still high so they put me on medication to lower it. My swelling has gone down a lot, which is good. I actually have ankles!!

I had to go get my blood pressure checked two days later and there wasn't any change. Still high blood pressure and still losing protein so I have to go back in another week. Hopefully things look better.

My mom is here until next week and she has been the greatest help. I don't know what I would have done without her. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye. She makes me feel confident about being a mom. Now, our goal is to get her to move out here. We went out looking at homes to entice her.

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful baby. She is so quiet and sweet. No screaming unless she's naked, which is understandable. We are so in love with our daughter.

The Last 12 Gruesome Hours of Labor

So, after 25 hours of no change at all, I had dilated to 6cm and the balloon was removed and they broke my water to see if they could speed things up a bit. The second day if the stay brought in a lot of familiar faces. All the nurses and doctors from the previous day were back for their next shift and all felt so bad that I was still pregnant.

The one good thing about the slow progress was that it gave my mom the time she needed to jump on a plane and make it in time. She, my best friend Sarah, and Justin's parents were all in the room when I started feeling a lot of pain. I had them all leave and the anesthesiologist came back to see what was going on. She tried upping the medication, fixing the port, and finally said the only other option is to reinsert the whole thing, which was no guarantee or I could just deal. I refused to try again after the problems I had the first time so I decided to just continue on without it. About an hour later, around 11pm, I started feeling like I needed to push. I called the nurse who was hesitant that I was at that point. She checks me and all she says is "Yep, that's a baby's head!" Justin looked at me and started crying because he was so happy and ready to meet our daughter. The nurse had me push twice while the doctors and staff were called to set up the room. The doctors came in at 11:15pm and after two more pushes over only 15 minutes, she was born. They held Stella up and put her on my chest while they finished up. Justin and I were so overwhelmed with joy and emotion as we looked at our beautiful daughter. She was so tiny, weighing in at only 5lbs 11oz and 17 1/2in long.

I thought the worst was over and that it was going to be easy from that point on, but I was wrong. The doctor said that the placenta and cord had broken inside and they had to go in and manually extract it. It was horrifying to say the least, but all the while I just stared at my new baby girl and watched as her eyes explored the world. That moment was when the past 37 hours of labor and pain became worth it.

It was about an hour later that we let my mom, his parents, and Sarah into the room to meet her. They were all so overwhelmed by how beautiful she is and everyone took turns holding her. I still was confined to bed for the next day because they needed to keep me on the magnesium. That was awful because I was unable to pick her up or change her without help. Justin was so great and did absolutely everything for me and the baby. It made me love him so much more than I ever thought possible. He's the most amazing dad and he is so in love with his daughter.

After they removed me from the magnesium, we were moved to the Mother Baby Unit. The nurses were all so helpful and nice, which made it much easier for me to recover and for Justin to get some much needed rest.

We were (finally!) discharged on Friday the 16th after what seemed like forever in the hospital. My mom was waiting for us at home and had cleaned the entire house. It made it so much easier to transition into life at home. I can't thank her enough for all her help.

25 Hours and Counting

Here's what has happened so far. It is no picnic and not what we expected. Everyone says birth plans change and they were right!

We went to our appointment with the doctor yesterday morning at 10:30am and after taking my blood pressure and looking over my tests, she sent us to the hospital. She said it was likely that they would induce, but I needed a full work up because I have preeclampsia. It's a condition only found in pregnancy that affects the mother's liver, kidneys, and can cause seizures. The only treatment is to take the baby out.

So at the hospital, the doctor came in and said we are absolutely inducing because the baby is full term (37 weeks 5 days) and the high blood pressure is worrisome. I got the nicest and biggest room, which is great. They started me on a magnesium drip to calm my muscles to prevent a seizure and to lower my blood pressure. I have to stay on it until 24 hours after the baby is born. It also means I'm completely confined to the bed because any activity will boost my blood pressure.

I was not dilated at all so the doctors gave me medication to jump start that, however, it did not work. So, although I'm having contractions, my cervix is not dilating. At about 4am, the doctors decided to insert a balloon to try to get it to open. I had been begging for food since all I had eaten was a bowl of cereal at 8am and they finally have me chicken broth. It was the most wonderful thing ever at the moment. I got an epidural before to minimize the pain, but getting the epidural made my blood pressure bottom out and I almost fainted. They got me stabilized and inserted the balloon which was ridiculously painful despite the epidural. Then my pressure bottomed out again and I vomited up the chicken broth. I have never been so mad about throwing up. That was the one thing I had in my stomach and the one thing that was a perk of the whole day and it was gone.

Justin and I have been trying to sleep when we can, but nurses and doctors come in every hour so it is really hard. We are both exhausted, sore, and so ready for this to be over. No change as of yet, so we will see what the plan is next.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue through this. Thank you all so much for all the well wishes via text, Facebook, email, and calls. We will keep you all updated.

Greatest Husband Ever

This morning I got a call from the doctor and she said my tests from yesterday showed that my liver needs to be monitored closely. So, we had to pick up a 24 hour urine test kit, which is, simply, a giant jug. This isn't the worst case scenario, but it is not the best. If the test shows that I'm not processing protein properly, they will induce me because it is pre-eclampsia. If the test comes back good, they will let it happen naturally, but we still have appointments every few days to make sure things don't worsen.

Yesterday, Justin was so great at keeping me calm while we were told all this and today he is even better. He has to stare at my pee jug every time he opens the refrigerator (did I mention that it has to be kept in there? Ick!) and he is keeping me hydrated to make sure I can fill my jug. This could be a totally embarrassing situation, but he has made me feel at ease. Not just that, he has begun a major deep clean of the whole house just to make sure we are ready if the time comes within the week. He won't let me help much and just tells me to relax and fill my jug. I promised to clean the fridge completely afterwards.

We are two lucky gals to have such an amazing man for a husband and father. I tear up thinking about how great he is. I can't imagine my life without him. Who knew that I would love him a million times more because he cared so much about my pee! 

Best part: I dropped the soap dispenser while in the bathroom and he hears the crash and yells, "Don't you dare spill that jug! You have worked so hard at filling it and we are not starting over!" I love that he was concerned about starting over, rather than the fact that we would have to clean it all up.

UPDATE: We are waiting on the results of the jug. They could call anytime now to tell us it is time to induce if it shows pre-eclampsia. Today, my blood pressure was still high and there was too much protein in the small sample, but they said my liver looked good. Time to pack the bag!!

Week 37: Any Day Now

We had an appointment with our doctor today and unfortunately, they said my blood pressure was high. It's been normal throughout the whole pregnancy so they are concerned. They noticed the swelling in my hands and feet also, so I got sent for a bunch of tests to check to see if it is a problem with my liver. So, now I have to go to the doctor every 2-3 days to be monitored. Worst case scenario is they induce me as soon as the tests come back. Justin was so calm in the room and absorbing all the info, while I was on the verge of a panic attack. So glad he was there.

The baby is doing good. Her heartbeat was strong and we got to see her little face today, which she has always hidden. The bad news is she is a half turn away from being in the ideal position. Currently, she is head down, but facing my right hip instead of my spine. So, I need to get her to turn slightly or I'm in for a bit more painful labor. I've been sitting and leaning on a giant exercise ball to try to make it happen. C'mon stubborn girl! Turn for me!

In two days we will know what the plan is. That is what is scary to me - not knowing the plan. Instead of thinking I've got 3 weeks to go, I'm wondering what the doctors will decide for me. Whatever is best for the two of us works for me though.

Week 36: Yard Sale Fail

Today, Justin and I held a yard sale to try to purge the junk from our garage and house and make some money off it. Since we lost a room to the nursery, we have a lot of extra things which have piled up in our garage. So much so that our cars can't fit in there. With winter coming, I am determined to make room so I am not loading and unloading the baby and her stuff in the snow and freezing cold.

So, Justin home from the night shift at 7am and carried all our stuff to the front lawn and then passed out. I made signs and posted it on craigslist. My neighbor even joined in and put her own stuff out and her ten year old son twirled a sign at the corner. We sat patiently from 8am to 2pm chatting with the few people who stopped by, but mostly with each other.

I made a whopping $22 on some old DVDs and shot glasses. None of the furniture pieces that we really needed to get rid of went anywhere but back into the garage. Now, I am calling a charity that will hopefully come pick up the rest so we can at least get the tax write off.

That was all fine because we don't mind donating everything since it goes to a good cause, but here's the worst part of the day: someone stole all the jewelry I had out. Gold rings, necklaces, earrings - all of it gone leaving behind only the cheap stuff. Someone who steals from a VERY pregnant woman must really have guts. I would like to think that what goes around comes around but they will probably go pawn it and make money off it.

Lessons learned:

1.) Yard sales suck! They take way more work than they are worth. Never again!

2.) People will steal from a pregnant lady.