No One Told Me

Everyone tells you how much sleep you're going to lose, or how much you're going to love your tiny human, but no one could wholly prepare me for life with a newborn.
1.  sleep No one told me how well I would learn to function on 3-4 hours of sleep. Not 3-4 hour stretches, but 3-4 hours total.  When we brought Remington home he was sleeping 3-4 hours at a time, and we thought we hit the jackpot. We then came to learn that because he had lost so much weight after birth, he was lethargic and had very little energy.  Once he started packing on the pounds, he started sleeping less and less, and so did we. It's amazing that I used to be able to sleep until noon, eat, and go back to bed until 3pm, and now I can function on less sleep than I've ever had. 

2.  poop No one could have prepared me for poop... the amount, the consistency, or the smell.  Lord, the smell. No one could have prepared me to be pooped on, or how hard I would laugh when Remington pooped on Jackson.  There was also no way to convey how quickly babies go through diapers.  We go through 20 on a good day. He's peeing and pooping his way through our bank account. 

3. snuggles No one tells you how sweet baby snuggles are, or how much you'll cherish them, or how much fun they can be.  Remington loves to play opossum, and he will lay there with his eyes open until I look at him, and then he will close them. He's a ham, that's for sure, but boy does he love the snuggles. 

4. patience I am not a patient person, but no one told me how much a newborn would test that patience.  I remember after our third day home, I was crying and asking my mom why he wasn't sleeping more than a couple of hours, and she said "Baby, he's six days old. He won't do that until probably six weeks".... and I bawled. 

5. love No one could have prepared me for the love I'd feel for my sweet boy... or how my love for Jackson would change.  I watch them together and I am just in awe of how amazing this life is. And to think, our love story started 13 years ago with me stealing his shoe and throwing it down the hallway. I remember laying in the hospital the night before we were discharged bawling because I thought it was all a dream and that they were going to make us leave him for someone else to have (hormones, am I right?). I'm just in awe at how much I am blessed with these boys.  

Remington's Birth Story

How is it that my sweet baby boy is a whole four weeks old? Why did my pregnancy crawl, but his being here has been a blink of an eye.  I figured I needed to sit down and write his birth story; with every passing day, the details get fuzzier and fuzzier.  
At 35 weeks, I had the flu. That week, I started taking Tamiflu, and then subsequently started itching all over my body, but especially my hands and feet.  I did a little Googling, which I know was a bad idea, but I stumbled across a condition called Cholestasis. It was me to a T.  I e-mailed my doctor and she had me come in for blood work the next day. At our 36 week appointment, my bile salt test had finally come back, and my doctor said I absolutely had cholestasis, and we would be meeting baby Monday.  I was dilated to a 4, and everything looked great, so the C-Section we had discussed wouldn't be necessary.  
We were checked into the hospital Sunday night at 11:30, and by 1:30 were changed and in our delivery room ready to start induction.  Our nurse got my medical information, and then started my IV.  She put it in my arm, took blood, and between taking blood and attaching my pic line, I started feeling light headed.  Jackson was holding my hand and I looked at him and said, "I'm feeling really light headed" just before I passed out.  I woke up to him waving an alcohol swab under my nose, and the nurse calling my name.  After she had me all hooked up, I started feeling really weak contractions.  We started Pitocin, and the ball started rolling.

At about 5am, our doctor came in to check and said we were sitting at about a 6, and she would be back later to check on us.  Our families arrived at the hospital about 7am, and came in to visit.  The day was full of visitors coming in and out.  At about 8:00, Dr. Norman came in to check, and we were between a 6 and 7.  She broke my water at about 8:30 (which, why did I never read up on what that includes? It was the weirdest feeling in the world.) and I immediately had an intense contraction. I told her I passed out with my IV, and that we should probably go ahead and get the epidural ordered.  The anesthesiologist came in about 9:45 to do my epidural.  At that point, the nurse I had was incredible, and I could not have done the epidural process without her.  We go to church with anesthesia queen of St. Thomas, and she called in a favor for us.  We had a great anesthesiologist who talked me through it and kept me distracted.  I remember focusing on Remington's heart beat on the doppler, and keeping my eyes on Jackson. After my epidural kicked in and each of my legs weighed 300 pounds, I was able to take a 3 hour nap, straight through contractions, straight through visitors. It was the most comfortable I had been in weeks.  
The nurse kept thinking we would have Remington here by about 4pm or so, but as she was checking, we realized we were stuck at an 8.  While they were watching my contractions, they decided that they were strong enough, and spaced far enough apart, but in between, my resting pressure was not low enough which could have caused uterine rupture.  They started tweaking the pitocin levels to get the resting pressure low enough.  Once that happened, we were back on the road to baby.  At 11:00 that night, I had finally reached past a 9, but not quite a 10.  They had me sit up and let gravity do the work. I was feeling intense pressure at every contraction, and the anesthesiologist offered a block. I was going to pass until Jackson told me not to be a hero, so I accepted. Twice. I remember watching the television and seeing an IHOP commercial saying that March 7 was National Pancake day. I told the doctor and the nurse that it would be fun to have a pancake day baby, but I could not do another hour. At 12:35, we started pushing! My nurse, Megan, was a Godsend and helped keep me calm through every contraction. Once he started crowning, she had me wait until Dr. Norman could get there.  
There was another woman in labor, and Megan was watching her monitor on my computer next to mine.  They had called Dr. Norman for the other woman, and apparently she had fallen asleep after they called her to come in, but she was on her way.  Megan said that the lady was at the point that if she put her feet up in the stirrups, her baby was coming out.  We kept watching her monitors, and a note popped up saying Dr. Norman was there, and Megan had us watch the monitor saying that when the baby's heartbeat disappears that means the baby was born.  It wasn't 45 seconds after Dr. Norman checked in that her baby was born.  
She scrubbed in and got everything ready in my room, and we started pushing.  He was moving perfectly, but then Remington got stuck right at eye-level.  She told me she saw his eyebrows, but I needed to push again because he was stuck.  She then had me stop because I was no longer contracting.  So he sat stuck for a whole minute, and we pushed again.  After his head was out, he turned himself from face down to face up, and his shoulders were stuck.  She asked if I could feel the contraction coming, and I couldn't because everything felt like pressure.  I started shaking because of the adrenaline, and couldn't push, so they laid my bed all the way back and a nurse started pushing on my belly to get him out.  When he wasn't coming, Dr. Norman told the baby nurse to call the NICU just in case his shoulders were stuck for more than a minute because it could have caused nerve damage. After about 25 seconds of the nurse pushing and Remington not moving, Dr. Norman reached in and loosened one of his shoulders, and the other followed.  
They laid my goopy alien on my chest, and I cried tears of joy, relief, and pain.  The nurses started wiping his face, and all of a sudden, he let out what Jackson describes as a crow.  The nurse said thats what she wanted to hear, and took him to the warmer.  I told Jackson to go with him while they stitched me up.  All of my stitches were internal, but I was not completely numb, so it took a while for them to finish stitching.  Once they were done, Remington was brought back to me to try to feed him. I had no milk yet, so we fed him 30mL of formula to get his low blood sugar back up. They checked it again, and it was up to 49 which was perfect.  He was perfect. Bruised, swollen, but perfect.  

Remington was born at 1:32am on March 7, weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces, and 19.5" in length.  He rocked our world and was more than worth the 24 hours and 2 minutes of labor. 

 

Welcome, RemyJones

Well, I have been absent for a couple of weeks because I've been tending to the new boss in the house.  Remington ("Remy") Jones entered our lives 19 days early on March 7 at 1:32am, weighing 9 pounds, 2 oz, and measuring 19.5 inches long.

I will be back soon to share his birth story, but for now, I'm soaking in all of the snuggles I can possibly get. :)

Happy Friday!

1. The carseat has been installed just in case. 

2. I had two days with the cat and the couch due to the flu this week.  PSA: Don't go to work sick. You never know who's going to catch your crud. It could be the resident pregnant gal. 

3.  Our appointment Thursday went so well. They hooked us up to the monitor again and his heart was perfect. No skipped beats, the perfect accelerations and decelerations, and best of all, they think my fever is what caused Monday's nonsense.., which makes me feel worlds better. 
4. The Easter Bunny came by and left Remington's Easter present for him a little bit early. It's here and waiting for sweet baby's arrival

5.

We both finally have a weekend where we don't have obligations, and it's Friday and nothing has come up yet. I'm sleeping in, staying in my PJs all day, and maybe packing a hospital bag if I'm feeling frisky. 

Our Week So Far....

This has been one of the longest weeks of my life lately.  
Monday, we went to the specialist, per usual on a Monday. While doing the ultrasound, they noticed Remington's heart rate was over 200 beats per minute, and detected his PAC (premature aortic contractions) again, which was one of the reasons they sent us to Vandy a few weeks ago.  They sent me downstairs to see my OB and sit on the monitor for an hour to watch his heart rate.  

She saw the racing, but it settled and she felt comfortable letting us go home.  She said that if we see it again Thursday, we will go ahead and go over to the hospital, start on steroids for his lungs, and work on a delivery plan.  

Monday when I got back to work, I started feeling exhausted, achy, my head was throbbing, and I couldn't focus.  I kept feeling like I was running a fever with chills and all.  I got home, took my temperature, and sure enough I was running a fever of 100.5, I called my doctor's office and she said it sounded flu-like enough to call in Tamiflu. 

Tuesday was spent on the couch, in and out of sleep, counting kicks and rolls of my sweet boy to make sure he's all good in there.  

It's only Wednesday and I'm exhausted.  I hope your weeks are going much more smoothly! 

Things No One Told Me...

Everyone gives you advice when they learn you're pregnant. Everyone includes the mamas who adopted and tell you that you wouldn't know anything about infertility, the mamas who had children 20 years ago, 30, and even 60 years ago, and the mamas who were never mamas to their own children, but classrooms full.  The advice has always been welcomed, albeit most of it unsolicited.  Now that I am nearing the end, I realize that there are things no one tells you... or things that no one told me. 
1. No one told me that your shopping habits change drastically.  There's nothing I love more than shopping for my baby boy, when I used to love shopping for my clothes, home decor, etc.  I used to look for frilly shirts and cute shoes, and now my eyes are always peeled for something with ducks, or something to monogram, or something for Remington to wear. Current obsession, baby jackets:

2. No one told me that I would always have someone to talk to, whether friends or strangers, because of my belly.  Everyone at the doctor's office in the elevator asks if he is our first, how far along we are, and what his name is.  Friends ask how I'm feeling, how they can help, and relay excitement to meet our sweet baby.  
3.  No one told me how strange it feels to see your nose and your husband's lips and chin on another human, and to picture what that will look like in non-fuzzy black and white. No one told me how anxious I would be to know simply what color his hair is (now that I know he has a head full).  No one told me what it feels like to let your mind run through how incredible the whole process of pregnancy is, start to finish.  

4. No one told me what exactly the kicks and punches and pokes feel like. No one told me that they would always come when I was feeling down, scared, anxious, as if to remind me that he is there and loves me and isn't going anywhere.  When we had our scare at 12 weeks, he was there to cramp tight and remind me he was there.  When we had a scare with his heart, he backed his little butt up into my ribs to try to get as close to my heart to remind me he was okay. 
5. No one told me how much love you'll have for this little gummy bear looking blob on a screen that you meet at 8 weeks old, and how that love will grow and change the bigger he gets.  I don't have words for the love I feel for our son, and how much I can't wait to see Jackson hold him.  I have had a 9 month head start on keeping this child of ours safe, and I can't wait for Jackson to experience that feeling.  

Our Week: 33 and counting!

1.  Following Monday's visit to our specialist, we got to take a trip to Vandy to their pediatric cardiac unit so a specialist could take some time with his heart.  Our sonographer spent 45 minutes, took over 160 pictures and videos, and laughed with and talked to us the whole time.  She was phenomenal.  So we then went into the consultation with the cardiac specialist, and she walked in and said, "I believe I have great news to share with you today." I cried tears of relief and thankfulness.  She went through picture by picture, explaining what we were looking at.  She said that each chamber, each valve, and each ventricle looked great, and that she did not think she'd be seeing us again.   I cannot say enough about this hospital. I hadn't been in there since my sister was a baby, but it is amazing. You walk in, and if you're a child, you would have no idea you were at the hospital.   Although I'm an adult and was scared out of my mind for my baby boy, it eased my fear. 

(via)

2.  My new medicine has my blood sugars where they should be unless I have to chug soda to get rid of the headaches it causes.  

  3.  We hired a nanny!! She will start in July after Jackson's mama keeps Remington for the first 6 weeks after I go back to work. She's really sweet, kinda quirky, and has great experience with newborns (which he won't be, but he'll still be new-ish).  I found her on care.com after a month of people telling me they charged $600 a week for childcare. Insert eyeroll here.  She'll keep him until we have a spot in a daycare, but we are excited to have her!! 
4.  Remington is measuring 3 weeks ahead! She joked with us and asked if we for sure knew that our due date was the 26th and not the 6th of march. haha. We shall see what my doctor says next week about him!! 
5.  I FINALLY have a Saturday with no plans. No cleaning, no family plans, nothing. I'm so pumped! 

Remington's Nursery

Building a nursery is a daunting task. Your sweet baby is going to live in this room, so you want it to be equal parts cute baby and something that reflects something you hope he'll love. 
Of course, Remington's room is duck hunting theme.  What else would you theme the nursery of a baby named after a shotgun?

 Duck decals: etsy  Tree stump foot stool: The Company Store Fabric for curtains: etsy Ducks Unlimited Sign: Hobby Lobby Striped Rug: Target

How Do You Handle...

How do you handle the sonographer taking just a little bit longer looking at your baby's heart... measuring it's beat, taking pictures from all angles? 
How do you handle being left in the room with the ultrasound machine because she's looking for a room to put you in... for 25 minutes?
How do you handle her coming back in and saying she needs just a couple of more pictures, and she's followed by the doctor... not the nurses you're used to... the doctor? 
What about when the doctor tells you there's a thickened valve in your baby's heart and she wants a fetal echo-cardiogram and a second opinion on what she sees? She's not sending you today or tomorrow... it'll probably be the end of the week. 

I panicked, I hyperventilated, I cried all of the way back to work. Not to mention, it was one in three appointments Jackson hasn't been able to be there for, and I had to call and relay all of the information to him.

I'm trusting that the Lord will keep our baby safe and healthy, that He will bring Remington into our arms just like the perfect little baby he is.  

Maternity Pictures

These are some of our absolute favorite maternity pictures from last weekend.  Enjoy!