Fall Ketchup

I wanted to write this post awhile ago. After all, I was planning on at least an extra two days before baby came... but now that I have a spare 10 minutes so it is time to play a little catch-up.

This fall was a very special time for us. We had some unseasonably warm weather and tried to get out of the house as much as possible in between the numerous projects we scheduled.  We wanted to spend some special alone time with just Ellie before adding to the mix. It was such a weird feeling to know the family dynamic was going to change just around the corner.

We took a lot of walks and visits to the park. Sometimes we picked up grandma after she got out of work and took her along with us. It was nice to have the extra set of hands when it was getting hard for me to wrestle the skinny 2-year old through her tantrums.

Me? Tantrum? Say What?

We went to Binder Park Zoo which was a very fun trip! Ellie loved feeding the giraffes and riding on the train. She also had a chat with the kangaroos and almost got attacked by a flying monkey.

A highlight was a fall visit to Klackles orchard. I've never seen such a crazy fall oriented place. We picked apples, ate amazing donuts, went to the petting zoo, pet a snake, rode on a fire truck, played on ginormous inflatables, played in a giant sandbox, sat in a school bus, spun around in a giant apple... you know, the usual...

Scott and I carved pumpkins while drinking cider and eating even more donuts. We haven't included Ellie in this tradition yet.

Final touches on Ellie's new big girl room!

Trick or treating was especially fun this year. Scott stayed home and passed out candy while I took the strawberry out. She was not digging  the experience at the first house, but as soon as she got her treat, she opened her eyes wide and screamed "I GOT CANDY!" and the rest of the trip was no problem. Everyone thought she was adorable and gave her handfuls of candy (I ate most of it). She said "thank you" all sweetly and they gave her more (which I also ate). After every few houses, I took handfuls of candy out of her basket and stuffed it in my coat pocket so she could carry her basket without dragging it. The beautiful weather combined with her stellar attitude had us treating for over an hour. One couple thought she was so cute they asked me if they could take her picture. Another fun loving family got out the hose in case I went into labor on their driveway. Awesome!

Well, I think that's it. I can't believe next year we'll be toting 2 little spookies around the neighborhood!

Dad got peed on

"Dad got peed on" is a typical statement with a newborn in the house. Only this morning it was the 2 1/2 year old toddler doing the deed. She wasn't happy that we weren't letting her watch TV so she ran over to Dad, asked to be picked up, and went all over him. This outweighed the time she wasn't happy about Dad changing Kyla's diaper so she ran into the center of the room, spread her legs with her hands, put her on her hips, and let loose.  I was expecting potty regression, but not with such blatant defiance!

Kyla - 1 week!

What you looking at?  Trying to count my chins???

Always a Tiger!

It's hard to believe it has been over 1 week since Kyla was born!  It has been flying by, especially since she has been such a good baby. Though whoever said that babies sleep those first two days has not met Miss Kyla. She ate constantly. Feed me, hold me, feed me, hold me... over and over again.  Our first day home was the same story, only she REALLY wanted to be held, all the time, making that first night home really rough.  I was up the majority of the night...feeding and holding!  Gradually, she's let us put her down more and more but the feedings are still constant.  Sometimes I need to close up shop for a half hour just because I said so.  She's not happy about it.  Anyway, we are totally in love with her and now I know that it is possible to love two children endlessly (I had my doubts before).  Here are some things about her:

• Did I say she LOVES to eat? As of Monday, 5 days after she was born, she was only 4 oz under her birth weight. The pediatrician was impressed.
• She has daddy's blue eyes for now, but they're dark and should turn brown soon. I continue to pollute the blue eyed population on Scott's side
• She has a mono dimple, like her mom, only on her right cheek
• When not eating, she likes to be sleeping. She sleeps way more than Ellie did at this age. She'll sleep a couple of good stretches at night too. What a good girl!

Kyla's Birth Story and Homecoming

WARNING! LONG =) ONLY MILDLY GRAPHIC

I was finishing my last few days of work and heading to my OB appt on Nov 1, 1 day before my due date.  I'd been a basket case the last few weeks trying to finish everything up.  I had 15 meals in the freezer, both kids' rooms almost ready, and was in the middle of deep cleaning the house.  I was finally feeling more in control, yet excited for a few days off from work for the final touches. 

At my appointment, my blood pressure was the highest it has been yet.  It spiked over the last two weeks, which is the same thing that happened with Ellie, only I was having higher readings earlier in the pregnancy with Ellie.  They weren't able to get it to come down very much, so that combined with a few other issues and my OB had me in the books to come in to the hospital the NEXT DAY at 5 am for an induction.  I was extremely disappointed.  I was mostly disappointed because I did not want to be induced.  I was technically induced for Ellie, but had been in labor about 8 hours prior to my induction time so it didn't take much extra effort from the induction.  Plus I had taken much better care of myself during this pregnancy with diet and exercise and I thought it was helping to avoid the complications I had last time.  So I got done with the appointment, tearfully called Scott to him the news, got my parents lined up to come at 4:30 AM the next day, picked up Ellie from daycare, and moved on with the day.  Scott didn't get home from work until after 7 pm, so by the time we went through the nightly routine, finished a little cleaning, writing Ellie instructions, and getting ready, it was past 11.  I was completely on edge and only slept 2 hours.  I got up really early and painted my toe nails and flat ironed my hair just to pass the time.

We arrived at the hospital and went to our delivery room. We had an AWESOME nurse named Kirsten who took amazing care of me the whole time.  I explained what I didn't like about my last birth and she really made me feel like she was going to do everything possible to make it a better experience.  I nervously changed into my gown and answered a bunch of questions while they got everything ready.  They hooked me up to the pitocin by 6:00 and I immediately started regular contractions.  A little before 7, my OB came in and broke my water.  I was really nervous everything would be super painful by this point, but I wasn't feeling much.  The water was just a trickle and they said her head was probably acting like a cork and more would come later.

At this point, they kept upping the pitocin every so often. The contractions were coming between 2 and 3 minutes apart. I had to switch laying from side to side and occasionally on my back.  It was pretty boring!  I didn't keep detailed account of my progress, but I was admitted around 2cm, and went to 3 shortly after my water broke.  I was managing the pain and was fine without the epidural at this point.  It was somewhere around 11 they told me that if I didn't get the epidural within the hour they'd have to re-run my labs which could add a lot of waiting time if I was suddenly in pain. That was all the encouragement I needed so I said let's do it.  I think I was approaching 4 cm.

I was amazed at how quickly after I asked for it, I got it.  Last time was well over an hour and this time was 5 minutes.  It was placed very quickly and felt a little funny going in but not bad at all.
Shortly after the epidural, my blood pressure dropped and I felt really warm in the chest.  I thought I was going to pass out or die.  Thankfully neither happened but it was a really weird sensation that lasted about an hour.  I felt the best laying on my right side but I still had to rotate a bit.  I did notice the epidural didn't make me quite as numb as before and i could still move my legs and hips a bit. 

A few hours later, I was extremely bored and felt guilty for feeling this way.  I wasn't progressing very much.  I was also very worried I would end up with a c-section.  My awesome nurse was getting ready to go home.  She was hoping I would go during her time, but I was only a 6 and had been stuck there awhile.  She was leaving at 3:30 and we only had a half hour left.  I met the next nurse who was also very nice.  We were joking that I would probably have the baby at 3:45.  The first nurse left and just a few minutes later, out of nowhere, I felt pain and pressure.  The nurse asked if I wanted to be checked and I said no because I had just been checked.  The same sensation came back two more times and the rest of my water broke and I said "ok, check me!"  When she did, she got a surprised look in her face and said she had to call the doctor immediately but to yell for her if I got pushy.  The baby was on its way!  Then I got all weird and started sobbing uncontrollably and shaking.  I'm not sure why but I'm sure I scared everyone there.  5 minutes later and the doctor and a few extra nurses were ready.  It took 3 pushes and Kyla was born.  3:42. I also want to shout out to my awesome husband who was a GREAT support person the entire time.

The first thing I said was "she looks just like like Ellie!"  They put her right on me, but then had to take her away for a few minutes to go under the lamps. The doctor showed us her umbilical cord.  It had a "true knot" in it which he said he had only seen a few times. It was loose, which was a very good thing. If it would have tightened up during the pregnancy or delivery, we could have had a completely different outcome. We are very thankful! 

I was so happy with how things went. I thought the staff was amazing.  I was very scared of the induction and heard many horror stories with how painful they are, but mine was fine and relatively pain free. Sign me up for that again!

The rest of the hospital stay was fine. We got up to the recovery room after 7 pm, so it was a little late to start calling visitors over. Kyla was already being fussy, so I had a rough first night as Scott went home to stay the night with Ellie.  Thankfully the nursery took her around 1 am so I got a little bit of sleep.  The next day was filled with more visitors, including Ellie who did not seem very impressed with her new sister.  Feeding was going much better and she was pretty content by the end of night 2.  I had yet another great nurse who made sure I got better sleep that night and Kyla spent quite a bit of time in the nursery, except for a few feeding breaks.  Overall I was really annoyed with how often people check on you.  For awhile it seemed like every half hour someone different would come in and ask the same questions (have you had gas???)  the previous person just asked.  Except for the fairly good room service and unlimited cranberry juice, I was ready to go home!  Thankfully they let us go nice and early the next day so we really only had one full day to suffer =)

When we got home, Scott and I rushed to see Ellie and showered her with all sorts of love and kisses (and a few gifts from her sister too!)  She seemed pretty unsure.  Then we went upstairs and Scott picked up Kyla.  She said "no, that's my daddy" all quietly.  Her lower lip quivered and she started to cry.  Not a whiny cry, but a truly sad cry.  It was a little heartbreaking.  Thankfully she is warming up to her little sister. There are still a few rough patches (especially when it is daddy that is giving Kyla attention) but things are getting better!

10 hours of medicated labor was nice and easy! I should show a comparison
photo of last time but I don't hate myself that much =) 

All dressed up and ready to go home!