Gall Bladder

Eh, who needs it, right? Last Tuesday after dinner my stomach started hurting. I thought maybe it was indigestion because I had eaten really fast. It continuted to hurt and around 1:30am I woke up with A LOT of pain. Nothing seemed to help. I got nauseated and gagged a few times in the toilet, but never threw up. I wasn't sure what was going on. Justin told me it was all in my head (actually honey, it is in my stomach) and told I just had gas. Men! I took some Mylanta and had a few sips of Ginger Ale and laid back down. After about an hour of being in pain, it started to subside. So I figured well, maybe it was gas after all.

Friday morning just before 6am, I got up to make a bottle for Alaina. As soon as I came back down, the pain came on suddenly again. It seemed to be steadily increasing. Justin rode his bike to work that night and I called him to see if he could get a ride home. I needed to go to the ER. As the pain got worse, I called him back and said forget it! Meet me at the ER(the police station is right by the hospital). I packed up Alaina (Kate was already in Spokane) and took off. The pain peaked as I was driving. Sort of felt like I was in labor again, except there was no break in the pain. So it figures, the second I sit down with the nurse, the pain stops.

Anyway, I had an IV, they took some blood, and I got an ultrasound. It turns out that I have gall stones. I get to see a doc tomorrow and I'll probably end up having by Gall Bladder removed. Fun, fun.

tummy troubles

She cried for 35 minutes last night. And the night before too. Poor baby. It makes me feel so bad, but it's easier when Justin is here to help. I hope the next two nights go ok while he is at work. I got a prescription for Levsin drops from her doctor. It is my mission today to find a pharmacy that carries it. It is said to help with colic. Oh, I could just kiss on this baby all day long.

Alaina

Alaina just had a check up on Thursday. She is 21.5" long and up to 8lbs 6oz. She eats like crazy and is growing so much. I don't really know if she has colic, but she has had some colicky episodes. I got really excited today when I realized she is almost 4 weeks old. With Katelyn, the first 6 or 7 weeks were the toughest. She had some colic and it was tough. So, I am hoping that in a couple more weeks Alaina's tummy will be a little more settled as well.

colic anyone?

early day

What else is there to do when your baby wants to be awake at 1:30am? Blog? I don't know...maybe.

What to blog about? I don't know....

I'm struggling. Having two kids is hard right now.

Stress, anxiety, irritability. I am not loving the newborn era. But I do love my newborn, like crazy.

My Katelyn is taking the brunt of my anxiety. I am not responding to the demands of an infant and toddler well. I knew this about myself. I expected it, but I don't want to hurt Katelyn (not physically, of course). I think she is stressed out too. She wet the bed last night...our bed. This has never happened before. Ever! She went to Spokane today with my sister and wet her pants and pooped in her pants too. I feel terrible.

Time goes so fast when you have children. They grow up too fast. So I feel ungrateful if I wish time would speed up just a little. Oh, just about 5 or 6 more weeks.

I always thought that I would have a least three children. I'm starting to think that I may need to rethink that plan. Either that, or I may need some stronger medication...LOL.

Good Night.

what makes a good mom?

I think I can say pretty confidently that the majority of us wonder, or question, at times, whether or not we are a good mom. I certainly do. I have been pondering this topic for a couple of days now. I ask myself, what does it mean to be a good mom? What would my children say? How can I be the kind of mom they will look up to?

I am wondering what you think. What do you think makes a good mom?

Time

Time flies. I can hardly believe I just gave birth to our second daughter nearly two weeks ago. There are moments when I want time to stand still and wish the memory did not fade so fast. I love watching them grow, but sometimes secretly wish that I could preserve them in their fresh from Heaven forms. I feel so blessed.

911, what's your emergency?

We were able to get a copy of the 911 call Justin made when we were on the way to the hospital to have Alaina. It was so crazy listening to that. My heart was pounding and my palms were sweaty. The next few times I listened to it, I was able to laugh. It only got one swear word recorded...LOL. Sorry to ruin my image, but yes, I did swear a few times. Oh well. I am so glad we were able to get a copy.

sympathy pains

Today Katelyn came upstairs into the kitchen, kind of moaning like she was in pain. I said, "what's wrong?" She was rubbing her chest and said, "my boobs are kind of hurting." I got a real good laugh out of that one. I said, "oh, I'm sorry, I definitely know how you feel."

Alaina's Birth Story

Alaina’s Birth Story

Tuesday September 1, 2009
The day started out like most of the other days leading up to it. I had already given my Dad a hard time for “cursing” me. He really wanted me to have the baby in September, rather than August because we have so many birthdays and anniversaries already in August. Justin was at work and I stayed home with Dean and Joyce. They were helping can peaches that day. I guess they weren’t really “helping”, they were doing all of it and I sort of watched and asked questions here and there. I made a nectarine pie earlier in the day and was really looking forward to eating it after dinner. I felt pretty low key the whole day. I was trying to remain relaxed and patient as we waited for the baby to come. I was feeling somewhat restless though, and I was able to get some dusting done. Just after 6pm, I decided to go lay down on the bed for a little while. As I was laying there, I started to have some contractions, but they didn’t seem to be a big deal and weren’t painful. I had been having contractions like this on and off for several days now and decided not to get too excited about it. Besides, they didn’t last or progress, so no big deal.
Justin worked late that night and I was still resting when he got home. My mother in law made dinner and I came out to eat around 8pm or so. After dinner, I completely indulged in some nectarine pie and vanilla ice cream, having a little more than I should.
Sarah had done some acupressure on my ankles earlier in the evening and she was encouraging Justin and I to take another walk after dinner. We left the house around 9pm and as we were leaving, Katelyn came running out crying. She wanted to come on the walk too and it just about broke my heart seeing her upset and running to us. She was probably wondering what we were doing and why she was being left out this time. We like to go on walks as a family.
We didn’t go on a very long walk, but we found one small hill to go up. Katelyn got tired after walking up the hill and wanted Justin to carry her back. She fell asleep on his shoulder-it was really sweet. On the way back to the house Justin said to me, “you know, this might be the last walk we take as just a family of three.”
We got Katelyn to bed and decided we would try a few more “at home” induction techniques. I hardly had a chance to fall asleep when I felt my first contraction. I looked at the clock and it said 11:11pm. It was a fairly strong contraction, so I decided to pay attention and see what would happen. About 9 minutes later, I had another one. These were a lot stronger than the contractions I had previously been having and I wasn’t able to try and sleep through them. I decided to change into my “labor clothes”, managed to put some fresh deodorant on and just started walking around trying to breathe through the contractions. I started writing them down as they came. Here is what it looked like:

Contraction:
11:11pm
(9 min)
11:20pm
(6 min)
11:26pm
(5 min)
11:31pm
(4 min)
11:35pm
(contraction while on the toilet)
11:41pm
(3 min)
11:44pm
(2 min)
11:46pm
I Stopped keeping track after that.

I could not believe how strong the contractions were. I called Amanda, my Doula at 11:52pm. I told her I was going to try and stay at home for a while and she told me she’d be here in an hour. I really didn’t want to wake Justin up because he had been up since 4 am and had just barely gone to bed. I did go in and tell him that it was happening though. However, he has no recollection of that. After I called Amanda, I went down to tell Sarah that things had started and she came out to help me. I had been trying to use the breathing techniques I had been practicing, but it wasn’t working very well. I could not sit still. I had to keep walking or rocking. I tried to sit on the birth ball, but it was really uncomfortable. The contractions were getting more and more intense and I started thinking to myself that there was no way I was going to make it several more hours like this without any pain medication.

I started to feel sick to my stomach and went in the bathroom. I had pooped about three times already, which I was happy about because I really don’t like to do it while I am pushing. I threw up big time. That nectarine pie wasn’t so good the second time around. Sarah came to check on me and I told her to go get Justin up. He came down to see if he could help and turned the bathroom fan on right away. He asked if I was ok and I told him, “no! we need to go!” I asked him to bring me the phone so I could call my mom and then he went upstairs to get our bag and get some clothes on. My mom answered and sounded like she didn’t know who I was, which admittedly, kind of annoyed me at the time. Like who else would be calling in the middle of the night. I couldn’t talk because another contraction was coming on and I put the phone down and told Sarah to “tell her”. Apparently my mom didn’t hear me say, “hold on” and they got disconnected (I think). Eventually she got the message. It was about 12:15am when I called her. Justin was about ready and got the car started. Sarah was trying to get Audrey’s things together to take her out to my mother in law in the trailer. I remember saying to Justin, “screw the birth plan.” I had to go to the bathroom again and went upstairs. I was having another major contraction and suddenly I felt my body bearing down. I think I was in shock and I called for Sarah and told her, “I think I’m pushing, I think I’m pushing! We have to go, we have to go now!” I tried to breathe. I wiped off and saw some thick blood. I grabbed a towel and headed out to the car. The cool night air felt so good to me. I threw to towel on the seat and got in the car. Justin was close behind and I started having more contractions along with the urge to push. I became very vocal at this point. I think I may have howled as we backed out of the driveway and went over some bumps. I was so thankful that Justin wasn’t poking along. Things got crazy at this point. With every contraction, my body was pushing. I felt my water break in the car. I absolutely felt zero control over what was happening. I was yelling and screaming and telling Justin, “I’m pushing, I’m pushing!” I heard him floor the gas pedal. Luckily under normal circumstances, the hospital is only about 10 minutes away. I believe the clock in the car said 12:26am when we left the house. Justin remained very calm, but drove fast. I seriously was howling and hollering and screaming with each contraction. I could not believe what was happening. I was trying to breathe fast and keep my chin up like I remembered hearing you were supposed to do if you were trying not to push. Nothing was working though. I kept screaming, telling Justin, “hurry! I’m pushing, I’m pushing! She’s going to come out, she’s gonna come out!” He got on the phone and called 911 to let them know what was going on. I swear they were asking a million questions and I was getting a little annoyed. Couldn’t they hear me screaming in the background. We were a few blocks from the hospital and I was very worried that this baby was going to come out in the car. Justin was great. He was holding my hand and saying, “don’t push, don’t push, you’re doing great!” I felt slightly hysterical at this point. I yelled some more. “She’s coming out, I can feel the burning, I can feel the burning!” They were waiting for us at the ER entrance with a bed. They tried to help me out, but I could hardly move. I managed to get on the bed and continued howling and yelling the whole time. I lost a shoe getting on the bed. I remember saying, “help me, help me! She’s coming out, she’s coming out!” They ran me down the hallways (luckily it is a smaller hospital), and I was yelling the whole time, like a mad woman. I saw one woman come out into the doorway of one room. I could not help myself. I was telling the medical staff, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I never thought I’d behave this way.” On the way into the room, I said, “can I get a shot of something?” I don’t think anyone heard me or answered me. They managed to get me onto the delivery bed, take my pants off etc. My body just felt rigid. I was grabbing the bed rails with all my might. At some point Justin made it into the room. He tried getting me to grab his hands, but I wanted to bed rails. He was cute. I remember him asking if I wanted the music. HA! I declined. The staff was telling me to bend my legs and don’t be scared. One of the nurses only managed to get one glove on and another one’s glove was all crooked and had some fingers in the wrongs spots and some fingers not in any spots. I got my legs back and my body kept pushing. It felt like the baby was coming out of my crotch and a huge turd was coming out of my butt. It hurt. I felt more burning and pressure, but there was nothing I could do. There was not one push during the entire process that was of my own will or choice. I could not believe what I was feeling. Her head came out and I felt some relief, then some more burning and her body was out, then more relief. Alaina was born at 12:40 am. She was delivered by Dr. Brooks. We barely made it into the hospital room and it was the most horrifying, intense, exciting, exhilarating, coolest, most amazing experience that has ever happened to me. I got the natural birth I was hoping for, just not nearly in the way I had imagined. So much for all that practicing. I felt so bad for Sarah and Amanda, who along with my midwife, missed the birth. But it was incredible. Total scene out a movie, type birth story. All of it true. We have a beautiful, healthy girl and are so happy.

Alaina Jane

Here are a few pictures to tie you over:

Just after delivery. Don't worry, she gets cuter :)

Stats: 7lbs 9oz - 20"long
Born: 9/2/09 @ 12:40am

I call this my "what the heck just happened?" picture.

Daddy

Our Beautiful new baby girl

Just before leaving the hospital.

We are so excited she's finally here.
I will post the whole story later on.
It was a wild and crazy ride!