Meeting Michael

 

When I was pregnant we didn't tell anyone until pretty late in the pregnancy. We kept it a secret and only told immediate family until we had already found out we were having a boy. After the miscarriage I was nervous that everything would be ok so we waited extra long to share the news. We waited just as long to tell Ellie because we didn't want her running around saying "Mommy has a baby in her belly!!" When we told her we tried our best to make sure that Ellie understood what was happening. We would tell her that she was going to be a big sister and that baby Michael was in my belly. We prayed for him every night that he would grow big and strong and that he would be healthy. She would talk about him and she heard his heartbeat when she went to a few of my midwife appointments with me. I really didn't know how much she actually grasped and wondered how much it would rock her world when he actually arrived.

 

When I went into labor Ellie stayed with my brother and sister-in-law Andrea while we were at the hospital. Andrea sent us lots of pictures of Ellie having fun while she stayed at their house. We couldn't believe how big she looked now that we had another little baby in our family.

Doesn't she look so big!!

We had told her that I was going to have baby Michael and she was going to be a big sister. The day after Michael was born they came up for her to meet him and I was so curious how she would react. I am so thankful to Andrea for capturing these first moments of us as a family of four! Ellie was excited to see her daddy and I and knew right away that this was baby Michael.

I told her that baby Michael was here and wasn't in mommy's belly anymore. She kept saying "aww he's so cuuuute." and "he's so liiiiiittle." She knew that this was baby Michael and this was her little brother. It was so sweet and warmed my mama heart to see her loving her little brother so much.

 

She was so gentle and sweet with him I couldn't believe it. After a little while my brother and SIL held Michael while Ellie and her little cousin entertained themselves playing in the hospital room. It was such a sweet time and I was so glad that Ellie was able to come up and meet her little brother.

 

 

Since we have been home she hasn't asked if there is a baby in my belly and she absolutely adores Michael. She looks for him first thing in the morning, she always strokes his head and says he's so cuuute, when I burp him she pats his back and says "he's such a good baby", and she covers him with a blanket; and not his head either. She will just put it over his legs and say "there ya go". She tells me she loves him and is just so sweet.

 

She seems to have adjusted so well and hasn't had really any behavioral changes or jealousy outbursts. She has never tried to hit him, or ask when he's going back to the hospital. She was in heaven after he was born because Mike took some time off work and she got to play with daddy all day. I love her sweet spirit and am so thankful that it was a pretty smooth transition for her. I am so excited to watch them grow up together and I pray the become the best of friends in the years to come!

 

 

 

 

Birth Story Part II

Part II

You can read Part I here.

So where did I leave off-Oh yeah, I was admitted to L&D around 4:00 and was starting to have more painful contractions that were still about 2 minutes apart. I was still talking and joking while Mike and Bonnie (my doula) were setting up and tub and every time I would have a contraction I would lean over the bed and Bonnie would come press on my hips. Once the tub was finally set up and full enough for me to get in I happily stripped down to my sports bra and got in. The water was warm and felt amazing. It really helped me to relax during contractions.

Around 5:30ish (I honestly lost all sense of time during labor) my midwife came in and checked me and said that I was at 5cm and asked me if I wanted her to break my water. I looked at Bonnie and she told me that it was up to me, and I said that I didn't want them to because I was afraid that things would start to progress too fast and I wouldn't be able to handle the contractions anymore. When I was in labor with Ellie all hell broke loose when the broke my water so I was afraid the same thing would happen again-even though I didn't have any pitocin this time. I had Mike find The Desert Song on his phone and play that on repeat. Bonnie found a Christian worship station and that played in the background for the rest of my labor.

During contractions I tried a few different positions in the tub. I sat with my back against the tub and Mike and Bonnie would push my knees in towards my body, I laid on my side and Bonnie would push my hip down towards the bottom of the tub, and I laid like a frog with my head resting on the side of the tub and Bonnie and Mike would do the hip press during every contraction. The last position was the most comfortable and really let me relax my whole body during a contraction so that was mostly the position I was in. During contractions I would close my eyes and do the "singing the baby down" moaning that instinctively just comes out of you. I never asked for an epidural and I knew it was an option but getting one never crossed my mind. When I was having contractions I would just moan and breathe and tell myself it will end, just wait for the break. And when the contraction was at it's peak and the pressure was so intense I knew that it was almost over.

At 7:00pm there was a shift change and a new midwife came in. I was in the zone and don't remember her introducing herself but she checked me and I was 7-8cm and again asked me if I wanted her to break my water. I declined again since I was handling contractions fine and planned on just letting it break on it's own. At this point I got a little afraid because I knew this meant that I was going to have to push without and epidural and that scared the crap out of me. The midwife-Amy- told me I was doing a great job, and I just remember thinking Lady you just got here, how do you know?? Contractions started getting really intense and I was relaxing my body so much during them that while Mike pressed on my hips, Bonnie and to hold my head above the water because my mouth and nose kept dropping. So in between contractions Mike had to try and bail some of the water out (It was a free standing tub filled by a hose from the shower so it didn't have a drain) and Bonnie gave me apple juice and fed me ice chips. By this point I was just so tired. I told Bonnie "I'm ready to be done; I don't want to do this anymore." She said you don't have to.

Amy checked me again a little bit before 7:30 and I was 9-9 1/2cm and this time I told her she could break my water. She did and there was some meconium in the water so she said that there were going to have to be a few more people in the room to make sure the baby was ok after he was born. I had another contraction and I said I have to push. He's coming. She said "Ok, let's have one more contraction in the tub and we'll see where you are. I had another one and I said (more so groaned/yelled)  "My body is pushing. He's coming." And Bonnie said "He really is, he is right there." So Amy said "Ok Michelle it's time to get out of the tub." And I said "No." She said "You have to get out of the tub." Mike (who was pissed and scared that we waited this long to get out of the tub) and Bonnie grabbed my arms and lifted me up and told me to step over the edge. I told them I couldn't-How in the heck was I going to lift my leg when there was a baby coming out? They told me I had to so I got one leg out and then the other and immediately squatted on the ground. Amy said "No, you have to get to the bed." Somehow I walked to the bed and was leaning over it and someone stripped off my sports bra.

There I was in all my glory in front of a room full of strangers-but honestly at that point I didn't even care. They helped me crawl onto and up to the top of the bed facing the back of the bed on my hands and knees and I tried pushing in that position and I looked at Bonnie (with terror in my eyes I'm sure) and told her I couldn't push like that. So after a contraction I laid down on my side and Mike held my one leg while I pushed. I'm not even going to lie pushing hurt like a bitch. Ring of fire my ass-that doesn't even begin to describe it. I felt like I was going to tear every which way. I was grunting/groaning loudly and almost kicked the midwife in the face and was clutching the arm of a nurse I hadn't yet met. I remember thinking there was no way this baby was coming out. There was the typical encouragement, you're doing great, he's almost here, push like you have to poop, etc. Finally he was out and Amy brought him up to me and he had the cord wrapped around his neck and wasn't breathing. I had wanted to have immediate skin to skin and delayed cord clamping but instead the took him over to the warmer to get him breathing and make sure he was ok. His health and safety was obviously the most important thing.

He was over on the warmer with the dr's and nurses for about a half hour while they cleared his lungs and made sure he was ok. Thankfully he was perfectly fine and they brought him over to me and he nursed for about an hour. I couldn't believe that I had a baby boy and was now a mother of two!

The day seemed long, but I was only really in active labor for about 3.5 hours. I pushed for 10 minutes and thank the Lord didn't need any stitched. Michael James was born at 7:45pm May 15, 2013. He weighed 8lbs and was 21in long.

I had such an amazing labor and there is no way I could have done it without the help of Mike and Bonnie. And the tub! If we have any more kids I will definitely be hiring Bonnie again. She is just amazing!!

And for the record doing my hair and make-up was pointless because I was a hot mess by the time he was born!

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Birth Story Part I

Part I

On Tuesday when Mike got home from work he needed to mow the lawn but said he was going to take a nap instead and mow on Friday. I was 39 weeks and told him "You might not be able to on Friday!" Needless to say, he still took a nap. That night I was feeling pretty emotional so I told Mike I had to get our of here and met my mom for dinner at Olive Garden just her and I.  As soon as I saw her in the parking lot I started crying. I told her I was just feeling really overwhelmed. And that I was scared at the thought of having two kids soon and I was anxious about labor and delivery. She told me "Well just get an epidural then." I wasn't really nervous about the pain, it was the anticipation of having NO idea when I was going to go into labor. It wasn't like that with Ellie-with her we went into the hospital for another reason and they told me I was going to have a baby that day. I felt a lot better after chatting with my mom and having some alone time out of the house. Even though I'm old and married now and a mom myself-sometimes I still just need my mom. I was having braxton hicks through out dinner and while we were shopping at the Christian book store but I had a lot this pregnancy so I didn't really think anything of it. Once I got home I watched some TV and went to bed. 

I woke up a little before 4:00am feeling pretty crampy and having to go to the bathroom and thought maybe this it it-but there was no way I was going to get out of bed to try and jump start labor. I knew that I would need my rest and figured if it was labor then it would happen no matter what. I kept feeling crampy and dozed off and on until 7:00 and finally fell back to sleep when Mike got up for work. Ellie woke up around 9:00 and I got out of bed and went to the bathroom and put in my contacts and thought "Yep. that was a contraction." When I went to her room to get her out of her crib I thought "Yep, that was another one." Then we got breakfast and I thought "Yep. That's another one." I sent Mike a text and said "don't get all excited but you might be coming home from work today..." He called me and told me to time my contractions and I told him I didn't have time for that, I was doing stuff. I could still talk through the contractions and they weren't super painful so I figured that I had some time. If I was going to have a baby there was stuff that needed to get done. I washed the dishes, cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed the living room, folded the laundry, etc. And I took a shower and did my hair and make-up because darn it I was going to look good in pictures right after I had him. (Ha, yeah right.)

Once I finished everything I decided that maybe I should time them so I used my handy dandy contraction timer app and timed them for about a half hour and sent Mike a screen shot of the data. My contractions were about 2 minutes apart and about a minute long. He told me that I needed to call Bonnie our Doula and let her know what was going on. 

She instantly called me and told me I needed to tell Mike to come home and this was the real deal. I was still pretty skeptical because of the false alarm we had 2 weeks prior, and because I wasn't really in much pain. I was expecting the horrible pain like I had that night. I told both Mike and Bonnie I didn't think I was close but they both thought I was. So I finally told Mike to come home and asked my dad to come over and watch Ellie at our house instead of his. I was supposed to have a prenatal appointment with my midwife that day at 1:20 and my dad was going to watch her but I told him instead I might be having a baby. He got to our house around 12:15 and Mike and I headed out shortly after. Thankfully our bags were packed for all of us so we didn't have to worry about any of that. 

I told Bonnie we were on our way and we headed for the hospital. I wasn't really looking forward to the car ride there with contractions that were 2 minutes apart but it wasn't too horrible. Just a lot of pressure. I told Mike not to get pulled over (which would be his MO) and closed my eyes and had him blast The Desert Song on repeat the whole way there. 

We met Bonnie up at L&D and went into triage and got hooked up to the monitors. My contractions were indeed about 2 minutes apart and the midwife on call checked me and said "You're 2.5/3cm" I looked at Mike and said I told you I wasn't close. They monitored me for a little bit and said that Michael's heart rate wasn't reactive enough so they did a biophysical profile to check on him. It was so cute to see him on the ultrasound doing practice breathing and opening and closing his hands and kicking around. Everything looked fine so they told me I could go walk around for a little bit and see if I progressed at all. 

Mike and I went and walked up and down the stairs (and went and got him a pizza from the cafeteria-they have amazing food!) to try to get things going. During every contraction I did lunges on the stairs or did the pelvic tilt standing up against the wall. I said "This is crap I'm tired. I know why people get induced, I just want to go into labor-I don't want to have to work for it." I was getting hot and the contractions were getting more painful so we went back into the waiting room and I walked around there for a bit. We finally went back into triage and hooked me back up to the monitors. Bonnie could see on the monitor when I was having a contraction and she and Mike would push on my knees when one came until it was over. It really helped relieve the pressure. The midwife came back in and checked me and I had progressed to a 4. Hallelujah!! She asked me if she could do a membrane sweep and I swear she checked my tonsils while she was in there! She said alright let's get you admitted and then I started to cry. Not big sobbing alligator tears, but I got a little emotional knowing that we were going to be meeting our son soon and a little afraid about labor and delivery. I really wanted to go natural, but there was a HUGE part of me that didn't really think that I could do it. Bonnie said "You didn't want to get sent home but now that you're being admitted you're crying!?!" 

We were sent over the a birthing room and Bonnie and Mike started to get the tub ready while coming to do the hip press every 2 minutes when I was having a contraction. After about 30 minutes the tub was filled enough for me to get in and I gladly got in.

Well time to feed a baby...Part II coming soon.

You can read Part II here

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Maternity Photo Shoot

My sister(in-law) is an AMAZING photographer. When I was around 32 weeks she took our maternity pictures for us and they turned out perfectly! I LOVE  them! I was a little nervous (not that the pictures wouldn't be good, but because I am always really hard about how I look in pictures and nit-pick every little thing, but I am SO happy with these!!)My other Sister(in-law) did my hair and make-up for the shoot and it was so nice to have my own little team of stylists. It was so nice to feel beautiful and have a day all about our little family. 

If only we would have been able to get more pictures with Ellie, but what are ya gonna do?! You can only bribe a 2 year old with cookies for so long. 

Now This Is A Story All About How...

Mike and I met when I was a freshman in high school and he was a senior. 

Let that sink in for a minute!!!

He played on the Varsity soccer team-along with my brothers. 

When I first met him he was dating one of my friends but that didn't stop me from telling her he was cute. Long story short-they broke up and he asked me out a little bit later.

We dated for a few months then I broke up with him (I was really dumb when I was younger. And maybe a wee bit boy crazy) but we ended up getting back together that summer. Then we broke up-again.

We got back together my junior year of high school and we were still together when I went off to Tennessee for college.

We ended up breaking up again that fall but continued to keep in contact. 

When I was home for winter break from school I decided the night before I was supposed to drive back down that I was going to drive down, pack up my stuff, and move home. Nothing like last minute decisions. 

Mike and I weren't together, but we still hung out all the time and he kept asking me if we could get back together. I kept blowing him off because I was 18 and single-and pretty hot stuff if I do say so myself. Instead of gaining the freshman 15 I lost almost 60 pounds and wanted to enjoy being single. Which included a lot of girls night at da club. 

 Finally that summer we got back together and things were pretty serious. We were talking about getting married and even went and looked at some rings. In December of 2006 I moved down to North Carolina to live with my sister-in-law (who I really didn't know at the time-what were we thinking?!) while my brother went on tour in Iraq, and I was going to help watch my brand new little niece who was born on December 15th.  

Mike and I maintained our relationship and I drove home in February to surprise him for a visit. He was actually planning on driving down to NC to see me for a week but I conspired with my best friend to drive up and see him instead. On February 23, 2007 I went over to his house and he showed me a scrapbook that he made...

and on the last page he asked me to marry him. 

I wish I could say it was all smooth sailing-but it was a long hard year to make it to the altar...

My Sickling

On Thursday we had a sick baby. And I don't mean of the runny nose kind. 

Mike didn't have to be into work until 1:30 and I had an appointment at 10:15 so I was getting ready to head out the door at 9:40 but Ellie was being fussy and wanted up so I picked her up to give her a smooch good-bye.

First mistake.

 A few seconds after she was in my arms she projectile vomited all over me, the couch, and the floor. Twice. 

So after I stripped her down and changed my clothes I left and Mike won the prize of cleaning up the gigantic mess. She has thrown up before and then been fine so I figured it was just a fluke. ha!

Once I got home and after he left for work Ellie was being super snugly so we just sat on the couch and watched some "Micka Mouse". I wanted to keep her mellow and sitting in one place and this was the only way to do it. 

I tried to put her down for a nap around 2:00 but she didn't want me to leaver he in her crib so I told her that she could take a nap in Mommy's bed but she had to sleep. I didn't have very high hopes because she NEVER sleeps when we bring her in there but in less than 5 minutes she was O.U.T. I dozed for about 45 minutes and then I just laid in bed and played on my DS while she slept. She was out until 5:00!! This girl never sleeps that long. Her naps are usually only an hour long. 

Homegirl took OVER the bed!!

I figured once she woke up she would be feeling better so I brought her back out to watch some more "Micka Mouse" and fed her a few crackers. 2 seconds later she was fussing and threw up all over me again. Poor girl. I cleaned up the mess, put her in the bath and let her play for about a half hour or so. Once she was in bed she slept through the night and I assumed she would be a-ok in the morning. (You know you have watched too much Mickey Mouse when you are singing yourself to sleep with the hot-dog song.)

Wrong again.

I gave her some toast for breakfast on Friday and she couldn't keep that down so I made an appointment for the Dr's. While we waited for her appointment we watched a little more "Micka Mouse" and she was sitting on the couch and then just flopped over and cashed out. I don't think in her 21 months of life she has EVER fallen asleep on the couch. 

We used towels for "blankets" for obvious reasons

In the office's lobby she was saying she wanted a (s)nack so I figured that meant she was feeling better if she wanted to eat. I gave her a plum organics pouch and less than a minute later it all came back up again.The Dr. said it was just a bug and to keep an eye out for dehydration because she couldn't keep anything down. She suggested Pedialyte but we later found out that was a bad idea because Ellie would just chug it and you guessed it-couldn't keep it down. She took a short little nap and I packed to head up north for my BFFs bachelorette bash. I felt so bad leaving my little sicking but I knew that she would be fine with Mike. I called him a little after we left and she said she was doing ok but kept saying "Mommy. Where's Mommy." It broke my heart. He said she was asking for me on Saturday morning too. She's so sweet. 

We had made plans with my mom to watch Ellie on Saturday but told her that it didn't ;look like it was going to happen because it wasn't looking like she was going to get better any time soon. I felt really bad because I know how much she was looking forward to it so when Ellie woke up Saturday and was able to keep everything down she went to my moms for the afternoon...after daddy took her to Olive Garden for lunch of course! I was so happy to hear that she was doing better and it let me relax enough to enjoy the weekend. 

All better. And sporting her new converse kicks. Man she looks like her daddy here.

Seeing Ellie sick broke my heart. I just felt so bad for her. A 21 month old doesn't understand what's happening when they're throwing up and I can just imagine how much it freaked her out. I am so glad that she is feeling better and I am seriously contemplating wrapping her up in a bubble so we NEVER have to deal with that again!!

So now we I get the fun job of breaking her from thinking she gets to watch "Micka Mouse" all day. 

Oh Joy. 

Show and Tell-Going to the Chapel

 Are you married? If so when did you get married, and tell us about your special day. If not? How would you describe your dream wedding?

Mike and I have been married for 4.5 years. We had a winter wedding on 2/2/08 when I was the ripe old age of 20. We were married in my hometown and then had the reception about 45 minutes away. I was a huge procrastinator when it came to making decisions and didn't even order the invitations for our wedding until the end of December. Which is a good thing because we had to change the date from 2/23 to 2/2. In the middle of December my brother (who was one of the best men) told me that he might be in the field (He was in the Marines) on the 23rd and wouldn't be able to make it to our wedding. Thanks for the short notice....but luckily everything worked out and the only person that couldn't change the date was our photographer (who was a friend of the family) but luckily we had a back-up. We also had a little fiasco with the flowers. I bought some offline that "look and feel real" and I hated them. They were white calla lillies and the tips were supposed to be dipped in a "cranberry" color but it looked more like fuchsia.  They didn't arrive until Thursday before the wedding (the day of my bachelorette party) and when I picked up the grooms boutonniere the "cranberry" part of it rubbed off. The lady shipped out more flowers and they didn't arrive until like an hour before the ceremony. I definitely wish we would have had different flowers. For the most part I am happy with our wedding, but there are 1000 things I would do different now; thanks to Pinterest. Darn you Pinterest. 

Show us some wedding pictures. Either yours or of some that you love.

I told my parents this was the last time they could tell me what to do!

The Flowers. Oh and my adorable niece.

Our wedding party

 How about the engagement? Tell us your story. If not engaged, what's your dream proposal?

I was living in North Carolina when Mike and I got engaged. Mike and my best friend Andrea were going to drive down and surprise me for a week, but little did he know I was planning to drive up and surprise him at the same time. I drove up the day before he and Andrea were supposed to leave and surprised him at his dads house. He had no idea, it was priceless!! I kind of knew that the proposal was coming and I remember waking up the morning of that day and thinking to myself "Am I ready for this? Is this what I want? Is this the day my life changes forever? Is this what I want to be wearing the day I get engaged?" It felt like time was moving in slow motion when I was getting ready to leave to go over to his house. When I got there I went up to his room and he said he had something to show me. He had made a scrapbook of all the years that we had been dating. Which at that time had been over 5 years. I took my sweet time as I flipped the pages knowing what was coming. On the last page of the scrapbook was a picture of Mike down one one knee holding the ring wearing the exact same thing he was wearing that day and the words "Will you marry me. Check yes or no." I obviously said yes and we went out that night with Andrea to celebrate. Mike had actually bought a different ring 6 months earlier and then exchanged it for the one I have now. We had looked at rings and I found one that I loved, but then not knowing he had already bought one, I decided I wanted something a little more timeless.

The Scrapbook

Celebrating with lunch at Buffalo WIld Wings

Oh to be so skinny...

Show us your wedding rings or an engagement photo! If not engaged/married ... show us your "dream" ring.

Tell us why you think marriage doesn't work out for so many? What can we do to make things last?

I think one of the reasons that marriage doesn't last is because no one thinks of it as a forever commitment anymore. If it doesn't work out you can just try again with your next husband. We are all so selfish in nature and have to learn to put our spouses needs and wants before our own. Along with marriage comes A LOT of compromise. I personally had to learn to pick my battles-instead of picking every.single.one. And we have to remember the vows that we made. For better and for worse. Not "only when I'm happy and things are good". A good marriage takes work, it doesn't just happen overnight. 

Friday's Letters

Dear Ellie: Could you please go back to sleeping through the night. Please? I know you have a stuffy nose, but we are going on a week of you being up from 3-4 hours every night, typically from 12-4. I am about to lose my mind. Mommy is cran-kay when she is tired. Just ask daddy. Tonight we will be giving you a little dose of Benadryl to dry up your nose-ok and maybe in hopes it will make you very sleeeeepy. (Benadryl is per the Dr's orders, we're not trying to drug up kid into sleeping)

Dear Mike: Thank you for putting so much work into painting our house. We are no where close to being finished, but I am so glad that you aren't whining the entire time we are painting. If you were I might just have to smother you in your sleep err I mean uhhh... moving on. 

Dear Awkward: You are everything I look forward to on a Thursday night. (Until the fall line-up of course) I love your one-liners, and the way you never fail to make me laugh. 

Dear Brain: Would you just shut off already. When my head hits the pillow I am ready to be ahhh-sleep. Not lie there for hours making lists and having you run wild. I need you to shut it down when the lights turn off, especially due to the aforementioned lack of sleep we're getting because of little miss screamy pants. 

Dear Liberals: It took everything in me not to jump out of my car and shake some sense into you during your little protest today. If I hear "we are the 99%" one more time I'm going to shove pencils in my ears. 

We get it, you don't like Romney, but do you even know WHY you like Obama? Hope and change, Yes we can, I want free money and food- I think this little video about sums it up. 

You're Welcome