.First Week.

Our first week home with Jace was wonderful! Lots of love to go around and lots of helping hands from big brothers.

 

Jace is a good feeder and a good sleeper (as good as my newborns can be I guess).  He was predictable right from the get go so that has been so nice.  He didn't ever really have his days and nights confused.  He feeds about every 3-4 hours during the night (with the random 2 hour night) and every 2-3 hours during the day. 

 

.Baby Day.

I had mentioned in a previous post that my doctor was now on vacation and I had to see a recommended doctor while he was gone.  I went to a scheduled appointment on Friday the 3rd and it was a good appointment, I felt good, confident and happy with the doctor.  He had a good feel of my belly and told me, "Ohhh, you won't make it through the weekend!" so I cheekily replied, "You know, Dr Beck said the same thing last week and I made it through the weekend and plan to make it through this one too!"  We all had a chuckle but that was about it.  He did give me his cell phone number to call him if I went in at any stage and he said he would be more than happy to come deliver baby boy.

I felt pretty safe as I had had a stellar week prior and felt I could/would make it to my due date.  I took it pretty easy I thought, I look back now and realize I was totally nesting all weekend, but I did get a rest in each day.  I went to bed on Sunday night and said to Cory, "Man this is nice, this is the first night in a long time that I haven't been contracting." Cory said, "Oh that's great, get some decent sleep then!"  I had a really good night, only woke twice with heartburn and had to take tums and then the regular 50,000 bathroom trips but I was able to get back to sleep pretty quick.

I woke at 6:00am on Monday the 6th, with bathroom pains, so I went and the pain didn't ease.  I was contracting, but much lower in my abdomen, like period pain, subtle but there.  I started to time the contractions.  3 and a half minutes apart lasting anywhere from 55seconds to 1min 45seconds (thank you iphone app!)  I refused to give in to them, I DID NOT want to be the girl who cried wolf and end up back at the hospital for monitoring as I have been contracting for some time now (like 3 weeks) with nothing happening.  I got everything situated, got the boys organized and woke Cory at 7:20am and asked him how he slept and that he better have had enough sleep as I am contracting every 3 minutes and have been for over an hour. That woke him up!  Whenever I had contracted previously I didn't get too excited just gave him a heads up just in case.  He wanted to know what the plan of action was, do we just head right up to the hospital?  Wait it out?  Does he go into work?  Do we call his mom to get on the road?  Organize a sitter?
In answer, "Hospital - HECK NO!  I am not going up to be monitored!"
"Yes, wait for a while, I will call the doctor when they open at 8am to find out what I should do."
"Go to work! I can call and organize the boys with a sitter just in case."
"I'll call your mom so she knows whats going on and to be ready to hit the road running."
Cory ended up going to work, for maybe 20mins, he was a bit of a nervous wreck, the total opposite of me at the time which was kinda funny.  I decided we HAD to go to the store for last minute baby items before dropping the boys off.  We were still waiting to hear back from the doctor and I did not want to head to the hospital for a false alarm.  In my mind, I thought if I completely changed what I was doing, took my mind of it, then the contractions would stop.  We got to the store and I could barely walk through the contractions and then at the second store I knew I needed to just go to the hospital as this was by far different from what I had previously experienced.  So we headed to drop the boys off at our dear friends house.  I was so calm.  Cory was freaking somewhat thinking why the heck does my wife want to shop for random, 'needed' items, GET TO THE HOSPITAL!!

On our way in the doctor called and I gave him the run down and he stated, "It might just be baby day today Kathryn, not worth the discomfort and stress it might be putting on you and baby." I asked, "So if today is indeed baby day, do you feel ok to come deliver him for me?" He was lovely and said, "I'd be honored.  They will do a labor check on you and I will monitor your contractions here at the office and we will be in contact."

I could not sit down at admitting.  I told Cory I contract and then it eases a tad and then I get a WAM of pain again and then it's gone.  When Jace would move it would be worse. We got admitted and I was hooked up and checked.  Contracting less than every 5 mins with a burst of contraction at about the middle so I technically was contracting every 2-3 mins.  It hurt, but was bearable.  I can see how people would feel nauseated during this stage but I was doing fine.  I really hadn't felt baby move this whole morning, just one or two huge hurty movements but he was a happy little man on the monitor.  They checked me and I was SOOO LOW apparently, 80% and at a cm.  The nurse said she was going to call the doc to see what the plan was but I could pretty much be guaranteed a csection today.  We told her we would be more than happy to wait until later in the day as they were really busy with surgeries etc and she said that would be awesome if the doc was on board.  I thought, phew, I can get my mother in law here and all will be well. This was at 10:50am.  At 11:05am the nurse came back, told us the doctor wants baby out ASAP as he is descending and they don't want to risk it and we are scheduled for noon. Holy smokes!  She gave me a shot to slow my contractions and it was all a go from there.

 

Baby Jace was born at 12:39pm weighing in at 8lb 1oz.  He was perfect! 

 

My csection went really well, I was yanked and pulled on a fair bit as they had to push him out of pelvis and they push him back down out the incision. I felt a ton of pressure this time and 2 days later I seriously felt like I had major internal bruising. Not fun. 

I mentioned before that I found out about Jaces lungs in recovery, they were lovely and wheeled me back to see my sweet little boy on my way to my room.  I was in my room by 2:30pm and it felt strange not to have my baby rooming in with me or see him in his daddys arms. It was very humbling and overwhelming.

 

I tried to rest (shyeah right!) but was obviously distressed about my sweet new little.  At 6:30pm the nurse got me up and out of bed and we walked over to the nursery so I could hold and feed my boy.  I was tickled!  I thought being hooked up and monitored meant I wouldn't be able to do that - I was so grateful. Jace was nameless that first day, we just could not decide between our final names and I wanted to spend some time with him to get a feel for a name I naturally gravitated toward.  Those first 2 days were very hard,  I now have a new understanding and appreciation of mothers with preemies or sickly little bubs.  It is an all new emotion watching and waiting and having a selfish need to want to just unhook them and run away, praying all will be fine.  It was particularly hard seeing Jace in there, big, healthy, pink and robust.  Just like he was on the tubes and monitors for kicks and giggles as some big joke.  The hardest was his IV's kept failing, which is really common with newborns but he was poked no less than 13 times those first 2 days. In the end they had to put it in his head (I could cry each time I see this photo).  If this was to fail and they could not get another solid IV line, they would have had to do it through his umbilical cord and I wouldn't have been able to hold him if that was the case. 

 

There were so many blessings and small miracles that occured during this time too and I know so many I don't even recognise, but his nurses (the main ones) were wonderful and even a sweet lady from our ward was his nurse those first days and she was soo good for me.  I would slip and and sit in the nursery while they attempted IV's and I would listen and see how they loved my little boy.  His head nurse, Tracy, was in early mornings and would check on each baby (she would do Jaces IV's if no one else could make them work), she would kiss on and love him and it just touched my heart each time.  She had no clue I could see or hear.

The boys were well taken care of and my in-laws arrived that evening and my boys were in heaven.  They adore them and vice versa.  True blessing.  Cory's work was amazing, they were so flexible and understanding and just excited and happy for us and wishing Jace the best.  I recovered considerably quick in the hospital and was able to walk to each and every feeding and was able to pump and feed what he didn't nurse at the next feeding and he took a bottle like a champ.  There are so many to name and I am just so humbly grateful.

 

By Thursday (day 4), Jace was able to room in with mommy and the boys were finally able to love on there little brother!

 

.An Introduction.

Jace Turner Teancum made his appearance Monday August 6th at 12:39pm weighing in at 8lb 1oz (the same as his mama) with a length of 20inches and a head circumference of 36 1/2cm (the same as big brother Cade).

He came out crying and looking loving and pink, getting 9 and 9 on apgar and 20 minutes later he turned dusty and was trying a little too hard to breath so an xray was done and he had cried so hard he gave himself a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung) in both lungs.  I found out while in recovery and they were able to wheel me in my bed to see him, I am forever grateful for wonderful nurses who break rules!  I was a bit of a mess, trying to process, but seeing my little man struggle was by far the hardest thing, it was a great motivation for me to recover quickly in order to get in to see him at every opportunity while he was in level 2.  There were a million blessings that also came during this time and something I will never take for granted, and I know that some I haven't even been able to recognize but I am grateful none the less.  Jace never got worse from that first day, he just kept having to be poked because of his veins blowing out. The poor little man.

Here are some photos of those first 3 days for Jace.  I will have to do the 'labor and birth' rundown in the next post.

.Day Before.

Loads to catch up on, but here is my 'day before' photo and the last taken before our little man made his appearance. I am 39 weeks exactly and less than 24 hours after this photo was taken I was in recovery.

.38 weeks.

Here I am in my 38th week of my 3rd pregnancy and feeling pretty good actually.

I had my regular scheduled ob appointment on Monday 23rd for an ultrasound to check fluid levels and cervical change etc to see if there was any indication this baby boy might come while my doctor is on vacation.  Fluid levels were great, baby was great (with a big Anderson head again of 33cm already!) , I was thinned out but barely a fingertip dilated, so no indications anything should happen.  I was more relieved than bummed.


We had a few little dramas that same week that were a bit of a stress.  I had some really painful pulling on my internal incision that took my breath away right away and I could barely make it to the bathroom during storytime at the library to make the call to my doctors office to see what was going on.  Make it I did, and I ended up at the hospital that night being monitored for a couple of hours.  I was contracting but I honestly couldn't feel them so 2 vicoden later and off home again.  I was sobbing to have to go to labor and delivery as I was NOT ready to have this little boy that night!  I am just glad Cory's meetings 6 1/2 hours out of town ended a day early and he was home to take me to the hospital and organize someone to watch the boys so late at night.

On Friday I had another ob appointment, and I was still about 50% thinned out but still very high and only a possible fingertip dilated.  My doctor suggested that we get an amniocentisis and check if this boy was ready and we could have a baby!  This was a HUGE answer to a prayer as I had not known what to do, I wanted to hold out until my due date if I could but with the dramas of the week I was concerned I wouldn't make it and they DO NOT want me contracting or dilating when I am having a third csection.  I have had this underlying worry about babies lungs if I was to have him earlier than my liking as my doctor had push my dates forward at that very first appointment and I had thought I was pretty spot on. Once we got the boys organized with a sitter, (thank you for wonderful friends) we went back to labor and delivery and had our amnio at about 11:30am and waited for the results.  We got those at about 2ish and they came back that he wasn't ready.  We were all really surprised as my ob nurse actually had her 4th csection 3 months prior at the same gestational age and her baby was perfect. I was 37 weeks 5 days on Friday. I am glad we knew that he wasn't ready.  My doctor then said although his lungs tested not ready, I was contracting every 4-5 mintues and needed to stay and be monitored to see if it progressed into anything.  I then wanted to know the ins and outs of what about his lungs, will he be in NICU etc, etc. I bawled. Just so overwhelmed and hormonal. We got that all sorted and 4 hours later I stopped contracting.  It was then my doctor told me I would most likely not make it to my due date.  I bawled again. My doctor was leaving on Sunday for 2 weeks vacation and I would be needing another doctor deliver me if I went into spontaneous labor within the next 2 weeks.  I was so upset.  Stupid as it may seem,  I just put so much stock in my doctors, I rely on them as I would a family member considering I have never had family members close when having my babies.  He felt awful and so did I.  I understand more than anyone how important time with family is and I hated him to feel that pull.  It was just an overwhelming day to say the least. 

I came home, rested up and saw things much clearer and logically the next day.  I am just set that this baby will stay and grow until he gets back and if not, I have faith all will be well.  The doctor he lined me up with is booked solid so I have to see one of her partners for the my next 2 ob visits and then my regular doctor wants me to call him the night he gets home to let him know if baby is here and if not, we will have him no later than the 14th.  We shall see.  So much for the only perk of a csection - knowing WHEN you will have your baby and with YOUR doctor, but such is my pregnant life, if ever I feel in control, it is taken, that has happened each time. Faith Kathryn, faith.

This week has been much smoother than last (lets hope it stays that way), I have been able to do fun things with the boys each day and rest when we are home which has been a saving grace I think.  I am still contracting at night but I figure if I can fall asleep I am ok. 

I really have no complaints physically.  My pelvis has been much better since baby has dropped and is now low in my pelvis.  I have had pretty bad heartburn but it seems to be ok if I stay on top of it with tums.  I have been getting charlie horses in my calf muscles which are killer but they are few and far between.  I haven't gained a lot of weight this pregnancy, 14lbs at last weigh in, granted I was 20lbs heavier pre-pregnancy.  I gained exactly 30lbs with both boys but don't think I will get to that this time round. 

This little man moves constantly when I lay down at night and his movements almost hurt as the placenta is behind him and so you can see his feet and leg movements, very alien but pretty neat at the same time. He is still very nameless, we like to think we have narrowed it down to 5 top names, but I know there will be a wild card thrown in there as always.  We definitely have to wait and see this little guy to be sure.

I think that is the run down.  Here's to the next 2 weeks being very kind to me and little man!

.Life.

Sad state of affairs when it's been 2 months since I posted...

We have just been enjoying the weather and getting out and about when/while we can.  I have promised myself and the boys that this will be a good summer as life is going to get really busy with another little boy come August.

I have been home a lot as I have been watching a friends little boy, who is 7 months old and I have been trying to keep him on somewhat of a schedule but we have been trying to get out and about a few times each week.  I am still working part time and enjoy that, I usually work 2 evenings and half days most Saturdays.  It works out awesome as Cory just gets to have fun time with the boys while I work. 

We just bought ourselves a brand spanking new car and oh how I love the space!  It is amazing and I feel a little prideful in enjoying such a 'luxury' but it was time to bite the bullet and buy, just not the greatest of timing, as I planned on hanging on to my loved and trusty Camry until the new year, but it's a done deal.

Cory starts a new position at work tomorrow, which is great in the long run but means a hit in the pocket with no overtime.  Yes, timing, not so great, with a new baby, a new car etc, but we'll plug along and like I said it is good for the long run.  We were spoilt and now need to get back to reality I guess. 

Newest little man is growing, growing.  He is a mover and a shaker and loves to move his hands and prop his feet next to belly button.  In doing so he did something to my nerve in my stomach and it hurt like no other for a few days, but seems to be fine now.... I hope!  My pelvis is not near as bad as it was as I have been seeing a great chiropractor.  I do get a flare of ache and pain and then I go see him and all is well in the world again.  This pregnancy seems to be flying by now that I no longer feel ill with morning sickness and he will be here in no time.  I am now 31 weeks and getting big, well I feel like I am but am happy to be mobile and healthy none the less.

He is still very nameless, the list is getting longer not shorter but we usually go with a list and choose from that regardless, just more to choose from this time round. 

My doctor is out of town until my appointment in July so I have to see a fill in for my next appointment and then hopefully at the July appointment, we will know a c-section date.  Initially he told us the 5th, but that falls on a weekend and I doubt he would want to do that.  He keeps indicating that he doesn't think we'll make it to that date,  hasn't said it in so many words, but Cory agreed that we get a vibe he thinks I'll go on my own, my water will break (which he has said actually) or something.  He is a tease though so I take it all as jest as I haven't had any such happenings in previous pregnancies.  I would be happy to go clear to my due date, or the Friday prior, being the 10th, but I know my doctor doesn't want me to go that far. At this stage we are thinking July 31st - 6th.  I know that the 31st has been thrown around but I think that is too early for mine and the doctors liking, although I will be 38 weeks 2 days....we'll see.  Cade was 2 days early, Ethan was 8 days early so we shall wait and see. 

The boys are doing well, being great helpers and loving my growing belly.  They have had giggles at watching it move with all the tumbling and kicking their brother is doing.  They are excited for a new little one to love as both enjoy children and babies so much.  I don't have any concerns about jealousy at all.

 

Our yard is going to have to wait another year to get done, we have had a landscaper come and give us a quote but I swear everyone in our neighborhood is doing some sort of landscaping so we can't get in this year.  Cory is contemplating doing it himself and I would gladly help next year when I am not uncomfortable with a large belly.  Cooper, our dog, is enjoying the jungle of weeds out there and loves the backyard and chasing the birds that tease him.

I think that is the run down for you,  I need to stay up to date so my pregnant brain doesn't forget the details I guess!